Complete Works of F. Scott Fitzgerald UK (Illustrated)
Page 398
Pat: I didn’t. But now I get frightened that I won’t come back.
Bobby: But one always does. I won’t let you go away while you sleep. I’m an old wakeful soldier.
(he extinguishes all but the reading lamp and goes out the door)
DISSOLVE TO:
193 THE MISTY STREET OUTSIDE
In the distance a roll of drums, distant shots, the scream of an ambulance. Bobby gets into “Heinrich” beside Koster and they roar away.
DISSOLVE TO:
194 ANOTHER STREET —
— crowded with truck-loads of police with straps, helmets, guns, gleaming in the lamplight. Young men in half uniforms are gathered in the doorways.
“Heinrich” drives through — stops. Bobby and Koster get out and walk to where a speaker is declaiming on an outdoor platform. In the general commotion we can only hear the speaker’s voice as it rises to a climax.
Speaker: This cannot go on! This must be changed! (etc. etc.): the audience roars applause. Bobby and Koster jump up on a doorstep and scan the faces of the audience — lower middle-class and proletariat.
Koster: He isn’t here — come on. There’s another meeting down the street.
DISSOLVE TO:
195 EXT. THE FACADE OF A BIG GRIMY APARTMENT HOUSE
Small stores in front. Two trucks of police waiting. A small crowd listens to a yogi in a turban, preaching beneath a sign which reads:
“ASTROLOGY — PALMISTRY — FORTUNE TELLING YOUR HOROSCOPE — 1 MARK”
CUT TO:
196 TWO SHOT OF BOBBY AND KOSTER
Bobby: What these people want isn’t politics. They want a bogus religion.
Koster: Sure. They want to believe in something again — it doesn’t matter what it is. Great Snakes! Look out!
CUT TO:
197 FULL SHOT OF THE STREET —
— along which comes a line of Sturmtruppen — simultaneously a bunch of young men and boys spring from the shadows and plunge a great plank into the door of the apartment house. A fight begins at the door. Some of those within resisting, some pouring out. Chair legs, beer glasses, etc., as weapons.
IN A MEDIUM SHOT, Lenz appears suddenly, grapples with a policeman. Koster grabs the policeman and in a minute, as the police whistles sound, the Comrades are safely out of the melee. They hide —
198 IN A DOORWAY —
— with a crying child, then they step forth and we truck in front of them as they walk down the street, side by side.
Koster (to Lenz): I should think you’d have had enough. After four years of war —
CUT TO:
199 ACROSS THE STREET, FOUR YOUNG MEN —
— stop and regard the Comrades. One of them, wearing new yellow puttees, darts across the street toward them.
Yellow Leggings: There he is!
He fires two shots, turns and tears away, his companions with him, as we —
CUT TO:
200 GOTTFRIED LENZ —
— shot through the heart, falls dead on the sidewalk.
201 KOSTER AND BOBBY —
— kneel beside Lenz, rip open his coat and shirt. Seeing the wound they stiffen.
Koster (getting up): Stay here — I’ll get the car.
(he runs off)
Bobby (shaking Lenz): Gottfried! Can you hear me?
Lenz’s eyes are half shut, his face grey. Bobby listens for breathing, for heartbeats. Nothing.
Koster backs “Heinrich” up with a rush beside the body. The street is silent, but there is a far-away burst of machine-gun firing as they pick up the body, lay it in the back seat of the car and cover it with an overcoat. Koster and Bobby get up in front and drive off hurriedly.
Lenz’s hand, with one finger outstretched, protrudes over the side of the car.
DISSOLVE TO:
202 EXT. FIRST AID STATION. NIGHT.
Bobby and Koster carrying Lenz’s body inside.
CUT TO:
203 INT. FIRST AID STATION
A doctor in shirt sleeves showing them where to lay the body.
Doctor: Over here. (he pulls down a light close to the examination table) What is it?
Koster: Revolver shot.
The doctor uses a swab, feels Lenz’s pulse, listens to his heart, straightens up.
Doctor: I can’t do anything.
Koster: But the shot’s over on the side. Maybe it’s not so bad.
Doctor: There’re two shots. (they all bend over the body) He died right away. (the doctor takes a probing instrument from the cabinet) You can leave him here.
(he works over the body)
Koster (as if starting from sleep): We’re taking him with us.
Doctor: Not allowed. I’ve got to notify the police. We’ll have to try to find who did it. Here’s one bullet.
(he hands it to Koster who looks at it stupidly a moment)
Koster (slowly getting an idea): I’ll drive to the police station.
Doctor: I’ll telephone.
Koster (stubbornly): No. I’ll go after them.
FOLLOW Koster out the door.
CUT TO:
204 EXT. THE STEPS OF THE FIRST AID STATION
Koster hesitates a minute — then his jaw sets and he goes toward “Heinrich.”
CUT TO:
205 INT. FIRST AID STATION — DOCTOR AND BOBBY
Doctor: Can’t you tell me how it happened?
Bobby (cautiously): I don’t know. Must have been a mistake for some one else.
Doctor (looking again at Lenz): Was he in the war? (Bobby nods) I thought so from the scars. He was wounded several times.
Bobby: Yes — four times.
Doctor: A rotten trick. (rather guardedly, guessing this is something political) And probably by some skunk who was in his cradle then.
CUT TO:
206 “HEINRICH” —
— pulling up at THE SCENE OF THE MURDER. As Koster gets out, a shabby old woman is passing — by the lamplight she sees the bloodstain on the pavement, starts and walks around it. Koster looks up and down the street — then at the bullet in his hand.
DISSOLVE TO:
207 CLOSEUP OF KOSTER’S FACE IN “HEINRICH”
— driving along a street, looking from left to right, stonily.
CUT TO:
208 INT. FIRST AID STATION
A policeman sitting at a table questioning Bobby. Another stands by.
First Policeman (moistening pencil stub): Your friend’s height?
Bobby About — (his voice falters) Five feet ten.
Second Policeman: Can’t you tell us roughly what the fellow who shot him looked like? Did he belong to any political party — wear any badge or uniform?
Bobby: I didn’t see a badge, but I noticed he had on —
Koster’s Voice (o. s.): We couldn’t see anything. (he comes in from the street) It was too dark and it happened very quickly. There were the shots and then we only thought — (his eyes fall on Lenz’s body) — of our Comrade.
First Policeman: Do you yourself belong to any political party?
Koster: No.
First Policeman (suddenly looking hard at Bobby): But you saw the man.
Bobby (on his guard now): No. I saw nothing either.
Officer: Extraordinary. (he sighs cynically) Then there’s not much chance of finding him.
(he bends over his statement)
Koster (indicating Lenz’s body): Can we take him with us?
The policemen hesitate.
First Policeman (to Doctor): Cause of death established all right?
Doctor (nodding): I’ve written the certificate.
First Policeman (to Koster): It’s not legal — (he sees the expression of suffering in the faces of the two men) — but if you want to, you can take him home. You understand that there may be a further examination tomorrow.
Koster: Yes.
Doctor (gruffly kind): You can take the stretcher. Bring it back some time tomorrow.
Koster: Thanks.
In
silence Koster and Bobby put the body on the stretcher. One of the policemen scratches his head with his pencil — the other yawns sleepily. FOLLOW THE STRETCHER out to the street.
209 EXT. FIRST AID STATION
Koster and Bobby put the stretcher in the back of “Heinrich” and cover the body with a coat. From the door, the Doctor watches.
210 TRAVELING SHOT — KOSTER AND BOBBY
— very grim as they start off through the thin bitter snow.
Koster: We’ll drive along the street just once more.
(Bobby takes a hammer out of a side pocket and lays it beside him): I have the feeling we’re going to meet them any minute.
They stop at a cafe on a corner. SHOOTING below its swinging door we see several pairs of legs but none in uniform. Koster opens the door cautiously, peers inside, shakes his head.
DISSOLVE TO:
211 ANOTHER STREET — BOBBY AND KOSTER IN “HEINRICH”
Koster (his eyes narrowing): Look!
CUT TO WHAT HE SEES:
212 GROUP SHOT OF FOUR PEOPLE UP THE STREET
— seen dimly through the snow.
CUT TO:
213 MEDIUM SHOT FROM BEHIND THE GROUP —
— including the four silhouettes against “Heinrich’s” approaching headlights.
The headlights go out as the car coasts up and stops with a roar of brakes a few feet away.
CUT TO:
214 KOSTER AND BOBBY —
— getting grimly out of “Heinrich” and approaching — to discover four harmless old people (comedy types) a little drunk. Koster and Bobby stop short.
The Old People (ad lib): I thought he was after me purse! A girl’s not safe in her own alley these days! The people you meet in the streets lately! Such wicked faces — scared me half silly!
Without answering, Koster and Bobby get into “Heinrich” and back away.
DISSOLVE TO:
215 “HEINRICH” —
— stopping at a sidewalk. By the light of a dim lamp one sees crossed flags over a doorway — a cardboard sign reads: “CLUB ROOM”.
Bobby and Koster get out.
Koster: Stay by the car. I’ll call if I need you.
He rings a bell, knocks at the door. It opens and he walks determinedly inside.
CUT TO:
216 BOBBY —
— lifting the overcoat from Lenz’s face so that the snow falls on it. He watches tenderly.
CUT TO:
217 INT. CLUB BUILDING —
— a dark hall. Koster holding a sort of porter or non-com by the shoulders.
Porter (intimidated): I haven’t heard any talk about anything.
Koster: You’re lying… A man with yellow leggings. (he points to a door at left) What’s in there?
Porter: A club room.
Koster (pointing to the other side): What’s in there?
Porter: A pistol range. But there’s been nobody here for an hour.
CUT TO:
218 EXT. CLUB BUILDINGS
Bobby standing beside “Heinrich.” Lenz’s stiffened finger seems to point toward the door of the building as Koster comes out, shaking his head. Bobby covers Lenz’s face again. They drive on.
DISSOLVE TO:
219 KOSTER AND BOBBY IN “HEINRICH”
It’s just before dawn and they are drenched to the skin. The car comes to a discouraged stop on a narrow street just before it goes into a highway.
Koster: It’s no use. They probably got off the streets. (he gets out, goes around and stares at Lenz, adjusting the coat a little as if he were still alive. He speaks as if to Lenz) We’ve looked everywhere. We won’t rest till it’s all right.
Bobby (impatient to act): Suppose we go to the police. They could at least help us find him.
Koster (fiercely): We’ll settle this ourselves. Do you think I’d let the police take care of it? (passionately) If they found him, I’d swear it was the wrong man so I could get him afterwards. (a clock somewhere begins to strike five in a weird minor. Koster’s voice becomes puzzled and bewildered) He wasn’t the sort of man you can spare, you know.
There is a crack of thunder and —
THE SCENE DISSOLVES TO:
220 A TRUCKING SHOT. THE SMOKEY REAR AREA OF A BATTLEFIELD IN 1918.
Along a battered communication trench trudge the Three Comrades. Lenz is in the center, giving a helping arm to Koster, who wears a bloody bandage on a head-wound — and to Bobby, who has swallowed a mouthful of gas. Bobby gasps and holds his hand to his chest.
Lenz (in a hearty, cajoling voice): Only a little way now. (to Bobby) Come on, son — you’ll have a week in bed with pretty nurses chewing on your ear. Won’t he, Lieutenant?
Bobby laughs and chokes. Koster stumbles.
Koster: I can’t see for this cursed bandage.
Lenz: Nothing to see, Lieutenant — not a lady in sight. Does the Lieutenant think he’s at the Kroll Garden? (he sniffs) No gas anyhow — Bobby swallowed it all. Keep moving — I want to get back and blow up the boys that got you.
With a burst of sound that might be gunfire or thunder —
THE SCENE DISSOLVES TO:
221 THE STREET. JUST BEFORE DAWN.
Bobby and Koster looking at each other across Lenz’s body. The stiff finger points toward the highway, along which passes a procession of market carts — but now they are wintry looking and snow-covered. Two of the drivers are singing a melancholy soldier’s song, “Argonnerwald.”
Koster: It’s morning. (then remembering) You and Pat are leaving at noon.
Bobby: Not now. I can’t go with —
Koster (sternly): You’re taking Pat to the mountains this morning. When you get back we can settle this.
Bobby (passionately): You swear you’ll wait for me?
Koster (nods): I’ll wait. This is something we have together.
They stand on either side of Lenz’s body as the last market cart clops by and a pale wintry light breaks in the East.
DISSOLVE TO:
222 A RAILROAD TRAIN —
— leaving a grimy city station in the rain.
DISSOLVE TO:
223 A THIRD-CLASS COMPARTMENT. EVENING.
GROUP SHOT favoring Bobby and Pat who stand watching at the corridor door. Some passengers, notably Rita, a Spanish girl, are playing guitar, mandolin and accordion, and others are singing. Several, but not all of them, are thin and pale. Bobby’s eyes are far away, expressionless — Pat is smiling.
Pat (to the performers): Bravo, Rita. Hello, Boris.
Rita: Buenas Noches, Pat. (Good Night, Pat)
Boris (a Russian): How do you do, Fraulein Hollmann?
Bobby (in a whisper to Pat): You know these people?
Pat: Yes, from two years ago; they’re going to the same sanitarium. All the birds migrate about this time of year.
Bobby (considering): Then it can’t be so bad.
As the music starts again they turn from the compartment and look out the corridor window, elbows on the rail.
Bobby: In the Spring you’ll be well enough to come back — all brown with the sun?
Pat (without belief): Yes.
(a strained pause)
Bobby (making conversation): Did you pack your silver dress? (Pat nods) It’s a beautiful dress — a dangerous dress. I hope it won’t make you unfaithful to me.
Pat (laughs sadly): I love you too much.
Bobby (producing a little flask with a cup on it): We deserve a drink. Pat, you’ve held up beautifully.
Pat: Not inside.
Bobby: That’s why we’ll have a drink. (she drinks the cognac) Good?
(Pat nods, leans against his shoulder)
Pat: Oh, darling, what is the good?
Bobby: Keep your chin up — I’ve been so proud of you all day. (holds her close) It’s just the day you leave. Then things get all right again.