Watch On The Rhine Page #2

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and that made Mama angry.

But all was forgiven a long time ago.

And now that they are coming home...

They're fortunate to be able

to get out of Germany.

Oh, they've been out of Germany

since the early '30s.

Oh?

- Where have they been living?

- They've moved around a great deal since.

Sara's letters

come from all kinds of places...

...Switzerland, Czechoslovakia,

Denmark, France.

Kurt is an engineer. But I'm not sure...

Well, you'll have a house

full of refugees soon. Us and the...

Are you a refugee?

I'm not sure I know

what you're a refugee from.

From Europe.

From what Europe?

- Just Europe.

FANNY:
David. David!

This is one of Mama's screaming days.

I'm going to the office before she finds

any more errands for me to do.

I've got to ask Penfield

about the best school for 12-year-old girls.

Ask Walton about a school for boys.

Buy boys' books, buy girl's books,

buy bicycles...

...three puppies...

From what Europe?

I'm not sure

what we're refugees from either.

Aren't you?

A great many mistaken people seem to have

given you a great many charge accounts.

It'd be nice

to be able to pay bills again.

Do not act as though

I refuse to pay them.

I did not sleep well last night.

I was worried.

We have $85

in American Express checks.

- That is all we have, Marthe.

- Maybe something will turn up. It's due.

David?

- Money does not worry you?

- It worries me very much.

But I just lie still now and hope.

I'm glad to be here.

We've come to the end of a road.

It's been true for a long time.

Things will have to go

one way or the other.

Maybe they'll go well for a change.

I have not come

to the end of any road.

No? I admire you.

Perhaps because you think the road

will lead you back to Europe again?

You can't give up that dream,

can you, Teck?

That you can get back

into their good graces again?

That they'll let you come back and play?

You ought to stay away from them.

- You have political convictions?

- I don't know what I have.

But I've never liked Nazis

and you should have had enough of them.

They seem to have had enough of you.

They're smarter than you are

and it's time you let them alone.

I think you're trying

to say something to me.

What is it?

That you ought not to be seen

at the German Embassy.

And that it's insane to go on

playing poker there with only $85 left.

Suppose you lose this time? I don't think

they'd like your not being able to pay up.

- I shall try not to lose.

- But suppose you do and you can't pay?

Everyone in Washington

will know it in an hour.

And we'll be out of here.

I think I want to be out of here.

I find that I do not like

the picture of you and our host.

There's no picture, as you put it,

to like or dislike.

Not yet, eh?

I am glad to hear that.

Marthe, you understand

that I'm not really a fool?

You understand it's unwise

to calculate me that way?

Yes, I understand that.

And I understand that I'm getting tired,

just plain tired.

The whole thing is too much for me.

I've always wanted to ask you,

since you play on so many sides...

...why we don't come out any better.

I've always wanted to ask you

how it happened.

I'm tired, see?

And I just want to sit down.

Just sit down in a chair and stay.

You have thus arranged it, with David?

I have arranged nothing.

But you are trying, eh?

I think not.

I would not like that.

I would not like that at all.

[TRAIN WHISTLE BLoWING]

BoDo:

I like to talk to foreigners.

It is not polite to speak of people

in a country you are visiting as foreigners.

Thank you. Thank you.

It was swell of you to take him

off our hands a while.

That little Joe.

He knows when he's with nice people.

- May I borrow him again?

- Yes.

He's a fine baby.

- And you have fine children.

- Thank you.

- May I come with you?

- Yes.

BoDo:
You are Italian?

- Italian, yes, but American.

Do you know a Tullio Tipaldi

who fought in Spain with Papa?

- No.

- You ought to.

He was a soldier

of much excellence in Spain.

So was Papa. Papa was brave, he was calm,

he was expert, he was resourceful...

My biographer.

And as accurate as most of them.

- You are German?

- Yes.

- What side do you fight on in Spain?

- I beg your pardon.

Be still, Papa says.

I fought with the army of the Republic.

I am not a Nazi or a fascist.

I'm a big fool. I beg your pardon.

Don't... Forgive me, please.

I might have known which side

a man like you would be on.

It used to make me feel good...

...that Italians and Germans

went to fight against the fascists in Spain.

Kind of showed people

that all Germans and Italians weren't...

- Are you just come from Europe?

- Yes.

What's happening over there?

I can't make any sense out of what I read.

Nobody seems to be doing anything,

and no fighting, I mean.

It will come soon now, I think.

But ain't there some chance the German

people themselves will kick Hitler out?

You read about men

in underground organizations.

- Is that just talk?

KURT:
No.

It is not talk.

These men, in what you call

underground organizations...

...work most hard and in great danger.

But...

Well, it looks bad to me.

It is not all black.

Take my word.

There are men in your country

and in mine who fight on.

I know.

- I have friends among them.

- What do you do?

- I mean, what's your trade?

- I?

I fight against fascism.

That is my trade.

[VACUUM BUZZING]

Try it there, Horace.

- It won't fit in there, Miss Fanny.

- Nonsense. Try it.

No, that's awful.

It looks like a dentist's waiting room.

Take it out of there.

MELLIE:

Fanny. Really.

I've been sitting here waiting

for an hour to drive you to Washington.

All you're doing

is messing up this lovely room.

Joseph. Joseph.

- Yes'm?

- Find a place to put that sofa.

Put it back where it's been doing all right

for 15 years.

And you'd better get back

to your gardening.

There will be children. My grandchildren.

They will climb on furniture. I always did.

My grandchildren

will be healthy children...

...so don't use any of your dainty,

sleazy materials.

- This isn't Mrs. Sewell's house.

- I had no children.

Therefore, it's impossible

for me to have grandchildren.

If I'd had a daughter,

I'd have named her Emmeline Lou.

Well, everything turns out for the best.

Have you got that list?

We're going into Washington.

[MUMBLING]

Very well.

You'll never have time to get all that.

I've got to have a fitting

on my evening dresses.

I never understand why you need

so many evening dresses, Mellie.

Do you lead a secret life at your age?

[SCoFFS]

MELLIE:

Oh, hello, Marthe.

Hello, Mrs. Sewell.

I think Marthe is a very pretty girl,

don't you, Fanny?

What? Oh, all the Randolphs

were good-looking.

- No matter what else they weren't.

- I reckon men find her most attractive.

Don't you think so, Fanny? Don't you think

she is most attractive to men?

I'm sure I don't know. I'm not a man.

Of course, Jennie Randolph

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