KAY: If you go to the cinema midway through a ﬁlm...
you watch the second half ﬁrst, don 't you?
So you see how the characters end up in the story.
RADIO: In spite ofshortages of rationing...
KAY: What happened to turn them into the people they became?
It's like a riddle you have to solve.
RADIO: Many factories are still closed, transport links are severed...
(RADIO FADES)
(BABY CRIES)
(TUTS) Disgusting! Huh!
Get your paper!
BRYANT: No.
No.
Tw to keep an open mind, Mr Bwant.
- (SIGHS) No. - How about...this one?
New in last week. Enjoys dressmaking, walking and...
No-one in spectacles.
Here.
I haven't got time for this.
You know the type I want. If and when you get one suitable, call me.
(SIGHS)
It's like he thinks finding the perfect woman is his reward
for doing his bit in the war.
What about our Forest Hill lady?
He's after someone younger.
I had one this morning. Ex-RAF, married the girl next door.
Came home to a peroxide blonde chasing anything in trousers.
War changes people.
Not always for the better.
Our two o'clock will be along.
Better see if we've got anyone suitable.
ForeverAmheris on at the Odeon.
We should go one evening.
I'll bring my brother - he could do with a night out.
You can bring your chap.
About time I got to meet him.
Sounds like fun.
(CLOCK CHIMES)
(OTHER CLOCKS CHIME)
Don't they drive you mad?
Thought we'd treat ourselves to tea in the parlour this time.
Fish paste all right, dear?
You're done.
- You don't belong in this museum, Duncan. - (CLOCK CHIMES)
You belong at home with Dad and me.
It's not like you owe him anything, is it? It...
It's just not healthy.
Do you think if we keep having this conversation,
- it'll come out the way you want? - Can you not even visit?
Come home for Sunday lunch once in a...
I can't go back to that house.
- You bloody know why! - (KNOCK ON DOOR)
Mats and cosy, Duncan.
Cat...
...or cottage?
The cat. Why not?
MUNDY: Blessed...
...thank you for the gift of our food, 0 Lord, and we will keep in mind that lust
and covertness are powerless in the face of your forgiveness. Amen.
Amen.
Shall I be mother?
HUGHES: It's Section 58's call. 7'hey'll deal with it.
- (# RUN, RABBIZ RUN) - You know the bloody drill.
It’s not our hloody call/ You want to be thrown out of the service?
Is she worth that much?
(ouu n-Iuo)
Our legs are all mixed up.
You can't tell which belongs to who.
Can I see?
You look so glamorous.
You're biased.
Do you think it's wrong,
being so happy when there's been so much suffering in the world?
All the more reason not to squander it.
Do you think I do squander it?
I think you feel you've forfeited the right to be happy,
to atone for past sins.
- How about present sins? - Stop!
Behave!
Not untilyou say it.
You know I'll make you eventually.
I concede! I love you.
You'd better.
Hello, Duncan.
Fraser.
They said at the front desk I'd find you back here.
You haven't changed one iota. Not one bit!
How did you know where to...?
I phoned the parole office at the Scrubs.
Chatted up the secretaw. She said to tw here.
She said you got outjust after me.
Six months after.
I never thought you'd come looking for me.
I wanted to see how you were getting on.
I'd better let you get on.
- Give me your number? We can meet. - I'm not on the phone.
Here's my number.
Call me. We can have a drink, or drop round if you'd prefer.
Don't leave it too long, OK?
(HORN BEEPS)
Hello, gorgeous.
Hey, you know it's coming up for six years for us?
You're my life raft, Viv.
Only you keeps me afloat.
If you hadn't forgiven me...
...if you'd walked out of my life...
...I'd have no life.
My love.
My precious girl.
Reggie, we can't - not here.
My dearest love, let me in, please.
Oh, God, yes.
Say you'll never leave me.
Promise you'll never leave.
(MOANS IN ECSTASY)
Say it again, my love.
You'll never leave me.
Say it!
- All the best, love. - Thank you.
Paper!
- They say romance is dead. - It's for Dad.
I sometimes think he loves the royal family more than his own.
Pressie for you.
Peaches for a peach.
- (ENGINE STARTS) - 0i!
Watch it, mister!
- Miss...I should say. - Stop the car.
Stop!
- What... What is it? - I know her. I'm sure...
Paper!
RADIO: Where's the fighting spirit that kept us going through the war?
Everywhere people are asking
how long they must go on lacking the basic things in life.
And they don 't only mean the food on their tables and the clothes on their backs,
hut decent housing and jobs.
It's not just our ﬁghting spirit that's struck...
(MUSIC BOX LULLABY TINKLES)
Glow be.
Finally.
(CLEARS THROAT) Better late than never.
Two years late.
I swore, if you ignored my last letter, it'd be the last one I'd send.
Tardy bitch.
5o, spill, what’s been going on with you?
I got left some money. My aunt in Holland Park with the antiques shop.
So, I'm what you call a lady of leisure.
Till the well runs dw anyway.
What, you didn't fancy running the shop yourself?
What on earth do you do with yourself all day?
Walk mostly.
- Walk where? - Anywhere.
Wherever.
Did you hear it?
Interview on the Home Service on her latest book.
Look at us!
Look at me.
You were the bravest person I knew.
No, Ithink it's easy to be brave in wartime.
Thought I was better than this, Nancy, stronger than this.
But evewthing always goes back to that night.
Most people you pass on the street have lost a heck of a lot more than me.
They've lost a child or...
They're getting on with their lives, aren't they?
Listen to me.
Going on about loss to you of all people.
I'm not fit company for anyone but myself.
Don't you dare run out on me now.
(SIGHS) You're human, Kay.
Join the bloody club.
Do you ever...think about it?
The Scrubs, our life there?
"Life"?
Living death more like.
How was it for you...
I sort of lost my bearings.
I had to get away so I did a stint up north for a refugee charity.
Salving my conscience, you might say.
Jews mostly, from all over Europe.
God, what those people have been through...
They told me terrible things.
They told me wonderful things, too.
The unexpected goodness of people.
Their courage and...
I started writing down their stories, sent them to the newspapers.
I struck lucky - the Westlondon Gazette took me on as a reporter.
God, nothing earth-shattering.
Anyway, I...
It's you I want to hear about.
How's that sister of yours doing?
I remember her from the prison visits.
Viv, isn't it?
She works in Soho now - one of those...
...introduction agencies.
You still living at home with she and your dad?
No, I'm in digsjust round the corner...
...off Wood Lane.
So close to the Scrubs?!
Half the reason I left London was to get away from the stench of that bloody place.
You should do the same, Duncan.
Make a fresh start somewhere.
Nothing to keep you here, is there?
Ah!
So, there is someone to keep you here?
You'll have to ask me back so I can meet them.
You know I'll worm it out of you eventually.
Coaxing information out of people is my stock in trade now.
I never take no for an answer.
Top-up?
Duncan?
Duncan!
H E LE N: How about this one?
26 years old, ex-commando, awarded the Victoria Cross.
Is that a glass eye?
(PHONE RINGS)
Do you suppose he takes it out at night?
West End Introduction Agency?
Hello, gorgeous.
Listen, it has to be Thursday instead of tonight.
The wife's roped me into some damn cocktail do with the neighbours.
What time Thursday, sir?
Seven o'clock, usual place?
I'm counting the minutes, my love.
Daddy! Daddy!
Do you have an appointment? You need to fillthis in, as much detail as you can.
Actually...I'm not here after a date.
It's you I want.
Viv, isn't it?
Robert Fraser.
I shared a cell with your brother in the Scrubs.
Iran into him the other day.
I'm concerned about him, as I'm sure you are.
The cafe at the top of Poland Street.
I finish in 20 minutes. I'll see you there.
- Duncan never said you were married. - I'm not.
Look, I know it's queer,
me dropping into your life out of the blue like this, but...
...when I saw Duncan with Mundy the other night, I...
You went to their house?
I mean, Mundy, of all people!
Didn't he get enough of him in prison?
A boy like Duncan, it's...
...it'sjust not right, is it?
A boy like him.
Why notjust say what you mean?
And why do you suddenly care so much about him, about who he lives with or...?
Oh, I see.
It's not like that. I'm not like that.
Is that what you think?
Maybe he went to Mundy's because he had nowhere else to go.
He couldn't come home.
"Never return to the scene of the crime" - isn't that what you cons say?
Sharing a cell, like we did...
The truth is, I wasn't always as kind to him as I should have been.
I want to do right by him now, if I can.
I used to watch you, in that visiting room.
When you walked in, it was like in The Wizard OfOZ, you know...
...when suddenly it all goes into Technicolor.
Just for a few minutes, things didn't seem so utterly...bloody bleak.
I'd like to call you sometime. May I?
There's someone else. Of course.
As if I'd get that lucky.
Hello?
Wait, please!
Hello? Wait, please.
Please!
I knew it was you.
You did me a great kindness in the war. You loaned me this.
I saw you near here last week. I've been back even! day, hoping to find you.
You shouldn't have gone to the trouble. I'd forgotten all about it.
I'll never forget it - what you did for me.
God bless you.
(PHONE RINGS)
Streatham 212?
Viv! Viv, it's me!
Where are you, love? I'm here waiting for you!
l/iv? WV, 1 can 't stop much longer. One of the kids is ill.
Viv?
l/iv?
l/iv, are you there?
A ns wer me, l/iv/
(TWENTYQUESTIONSON RADIO)
(WATER RUNS)
Please, God, no!
(DOOR CLOSES)
JULIA: Hello!
It was an accident. I'll retype it for you.
- I'll start on it now! - What were you doing in here anyway?
- I waited supper for you. - I was at a concert.
Oh, God, what a mess...
What was it - the concert?
Mozart.
You were with Ursula, weren't you?
Fine. It's her birthday. She had a dinner party.
She asked me if I'd help her with it.
Satisfied?
I suppose there were others like her there.
You mean, like us? Yes, a matter of fact.
As it happens, she invited you, too.
Itold her you were unavailable.
Because you still can't cope with being around queers, can you?
You just can't deal with it.
- That's not true! - So, why is it I never meet your friends?
Or you never want to meet mine?
When I do go out, or do anything on my own,
I have to come back to another of your inquisitions,
because, apparently, I'm so bloody irresistible
that even if a girl isn't a raving lesbian when she meets me,
she will be by the time I've got my hands on her.
You know why I do it.
Because I'm afraid you no longer love me.
If you ever did.
It wasn'tjust about revenge.
- God! - (CUTLERY CLATI'ERS)
Must it always come back to that?
We can't go on like this, Helen.
Torturing each other over the past.
You need to find a place of your own.
Sort out who you are, what it is you want.
It's you I want!
Remember when we met? You loved me then.
I can be that person again, I can. I want to be that person.
(THUD)
(CLOCK CHIMES)
One sugar, just as you like it.
Sit a minute.
How was your day?
The usual.
Nothing more from Fraser?
We're better off without him, lad.
Dial needs a bit of a clean, if you've a mind.
(C0 NVIVIAL CHATTER)
(AMBULANCE BELL RINGS)
(CHATTER FADES)
(AIR-RAID SIREN BM RES)
BINKIE: You 're up, girls. Guesthouse in jocelyn Street
(BOMB WHINES AND EXPLODES)
Stop it! For God '5 sake!
HUGHES: It's Section 58's call. 7'hey'll deal with it.
You know the bloody drill. It's not our hloody call/
(EXPLOSION AND SCREAMING)
(BA 8 y CRIES)
(AMBULANCE BELL RINGS)
MAN: Bomb round the corner!
KAY: Two walking wounded,
one fatality, one still unaccounted for.
Bloody hours digging around, looking for him.
So much for a quiet night. I had in mind a couple of fractures,
maybe a nice old lady with a broken ankle.
Nice young lady, you mean.
Women's work, Harw.
People will talk.
You'd know all about that.
Sticks and stones.
I've heard it all before, lived to tell the tale.
Not if Hitler gets his way. He'd have you lot strung up by your tits.
-Just another reason to bash the Boche. - Break it up, you two.
He started it, Mummy.
(BOMB WHISTLES)
(ELECTRICITY FIZZES)
(CLA‘I'I'ERING)
- (PHONE RINGS) - Here we go, stand by your beds.
You're up, Hughes. Brandon Place, corner of Lavington Street.
Come on.
Don't get too comfortable, Langrish. Night's not over yet.
I suppose you don't hear much of the bombs down in your shelter?
We're not allowed in the shelters.
Only the guards are.
Still, safer here than you would be at the front, eh?
Hardly. They say, erm, Pentonville got hit by an incendiaw bomb the other day.
MR PEARCE: Your cellmate, isn't it?
The one who was at university?
You can telljust by looking at him he doesn't belong here.
Meaning I do?
He didn't say that, Duncan.
I thought the chap at the end was due for release.
They're letting him out next week.
Going to the Army.
Good on him.
What, so there's no shame in the Army making you into a murderer?
As long as it's for king and countw, it's all right to have blood on your hands.
- For heaven's sake, Duncan! - You want to talk about shame?
You wait till you're out of here
and you can't walk down the street without people pointing at you,
whispering about you and that boy.
If you're so ashamed, why bother coming to see me?
You're my son.
No need for that.
Be a man, eh?
(SNIFFS)
(KNOCK 0N DOOR)
Bloody chambermaid's on the prowl. Had to play hide-and-seek with her.
(MOANS PASSIONATELY)
Oh, Jesus, what a dump!
I should have come ahead and checked it out.
Ijust thought it would be a change from our Paddington one.
I have something for you. Not much.
- Oh! - They grow in the woods by the base.
Evew time I see them they remind me of you.
So unspoilt. Beautiful.
(BOTH GIGGLE)
(BED CREAKS)
- (KNOCK ON DOOR) - MAN: Oi! Keep it down in there!
These walls are like paper!
(AIR-RAID SIREN BLARES)
Eh, perfect timing for once.
(BOMBS EXPLODE)
- (SCREAMING) - Stay back!
(PANICKED SHOUTING)
HUGHES: Langrish! Langrish! What the hell are you doing?
- Go the other way! - It's all round the corner.
Use Dean Street!
- Come on! - Stay back!
(SCREAMING)
- Another one over here. - Go into the corner.
- Hold it! - Get back!
- Stay back! - (PANICKED SHOUTING)
I hear you've been up to your heroics again, Langrish.
Putting out incendiaries? How many times? It's not our responsibility.
So, what, wejust drive by, let an entire street get reduced to ashes?
You know the procedure. Either stick to it
or I'll put you on manning the damn telephone.
Loose lips.
It's for your own good, Langrish.
You'll pull that stunt once too often one of these nights...
I need a mortuaw run. Who's not done it this week?
Mother and three kids.
No survivors.
Parkside Road.
After identification, take them to the local mortuaw.
Er, I'll go with Hughes.
Maybe you are a bloody hero, letting O'Neill off the hook that way.
If you're a good boy, I'll let you drive.
(AMBULANCE BELL RINGS)
(SCREAMING IN DISTANCE)
Direct hit on an Anderson shelter. We think now it was four kiddies.
More limbs than we can account for.
(SCREAMING FROM RUBBLE)
MAN:Jeanie!
Jeanie!
(RETCHES)
(RESCUERS SHOUT)
We're going to get you out!
Tn! to stay calm!
WOMAN: My baby!
What on earth have you done to yourself?
Why do you have to go out there even! night?
No-one would think the worse of you if you didn't.
Iwould.
(WHIMPERS TEARFULLY)
You should get some sleep.
I'll sleep when I'm dead.
(FOOTSTEPS APPROACH)
(PEEPHOLE OPENS)
OK in there?
HELEN: What could I say?
He obviously thinks I'm your sister or your lodger.
You're my spoils of war, my darling.
- Hello, stranger. - (CLEARS THROAT) You rememberJulia?
We bumped into her at that Red Cross do at Christmas?
Of course, yes. Hello.
Shall we?
Your hair's different.
I like it.
Do you work round here?
Town Hall, housing department, relocating bomb victims. And you?
Helping survey bomb-damaged buildings.
Speed up reconstruction, if and when this bloody war ever ends.
I suppose you're still doing your trusty ambulance bit even! night?
Gets lonely, doesn't it?
- How's the writing? - Seems irrelevant, frankly.
Not to say pointless.
So many terrible things going on in Europe.
People still need entertaining, don't they?
Somewhere to escape. Now more than ever.
- Which way do you, er...? - Latham Road.
We must meet up for lunch sometime, since we're close by.
I'd like that.
Good seeing you again, Kay.
Why will you never talk about what went wrong between you?
You always change the subject, don't you?
It was a misaffection, that's all.
What we felt for each other wasn't entirely equal.
That's how I know it's so right between us.
(TYPEWRITE RS CLACKING)
(PHONE RINGING)
(WOMAN VOMITING)
(TOILET FLUSHES)
Ooh, it's little Miss Pearce!
Shift up, ladies, make room for her.
We girls are all law-breakers, love.
You're no better than the rest of us.
All I'm saying is, give a man a decent job, a decent home,
he'll get the point of pacifism soon enough.
So, where do you stand on pacifism, Pearce?
I've not really given it much thought.
There we are!
The less we think about the war, the less we question it,
the more compliant we become.
Mr Mundy! Help us out here.
Enlighten us as to why the prison system won't allow us
to read newspapers or listen to the wireless -
anything which might actually inform or educate.
You know why, lad.
Because hearing from the outside just stirs you all up.
In other words, denying us the right to form our own opinions
- makes us easier for you to manage. - If you have a grievance, Mr Fraser,
take it up with the Governor.
Or better yet, Mr Churchill.
You all right, son?
Give me an honest sadist than a hypocrite like him any day.
He's better than most of them.
- Kinder. - To the pretty ones, he is.
(MEN LAUGH)
(MEN SINGING RAUCOUSLY TO THE TUNE OF RUN, RABBIT RUN)
# Run, rabbit, run, rabbit, run, run, run
# Bang-bang-bang-bang goes the farmer's gun
# Run, rabbit, run, rabbit, run, run, run
# Don't give the farmer his fun, fun, fun
# He'll get by without his rabbit pie
# So run, rabbit, run, rabbit, run... #
Tastes like battew acid.
That is quality contraband gin, I'll have you know.
So, it hasn't got you down yet?
Living in the shadows?
The pretence to be someone you're not even! waking second?
This from the woman who used to say living outside the social order was intoxicating.
After the war, I'm tempted to chuck in the whole game.
Find myself a nice chap, push out a couple of kids while I still can.
After the war, things will be different.
People will be used to independent women.
All the old prejudices will be gone.
They need us to be independent now to drive their damn ambulances,
work in their factories. Come the peace,
they'll have us back in our aprons - you'll see.
I, for one, do not intend to win the war and lose the peace.
I have too much to lose.
Looking like a man doesn't give you the same rights, Kay.
(BELL)
Oh! Take that lot through.
Kay, glasses.
Excuse me.
I sanulia today.
We're meeting for lunch on Friday.
- You don't mind, do you? - Why should I?
Say if you do -
- I'll make up an excuse. - I don't mind. Really.
Just remember, fiction is her speciality.
- (WOMAN HOWLS) - Shh, Shh! Shh!
(SOBBING)
What is it? What is it?
(GULPING SOBS)
Hope you like rabbit.
(HEAVY RAIN)
Is it really rabbit?
My neighbour claims they're running wild all over London.
He says he saw one on the platform at Victoria Station the other day.
Apparently, it was fearfully het-up.
Kept looking at its pocket watch, saying it was late!
Things are going well for you and Kay, are they?
- (WOMAN TALKING) - God.
This passion evewone has now to parade around in uniforms, even off-duty,
as if war gives them some status they otherwise lack.
They'rejust proud to wear them, surely?
I have a tendency towards cynicism.
It used to drive Kay mad.
I should be more generous and well-adjusted, like you.
Me? Well-adjusted? Hardly.
You seem to handle the whole grisly L business pretty well.
I mean, I never really thought about it before I met Kay.
It just never...
...occu rred to me.
If you ever need company when Kay's off doing her ambulance thing,
I'm in the book.
I know how lonely those nights can be.
I'll remember that.
Thanks.
I've enjoyed this.
It's made a nice change.
I'd forgotten how underrated the word "nice" is.
(THUNDER)
(KNITTING NEEDLES TAP)
(GASPS)
(CLOCK TICKING)
(DOOR SHUTS)
FIRST MAN: We've seen your twat, Chase, and it's as black as a hat!
SECOND MAN: She can't answer, she's got her gob round Evan's knob!
THIRD MAN: Evans likes it doggy-style, don't you, Evans?
(SHOUTING)
MAN SINGS: # I see her trippin' where the bright streams play
# Happy as the daisies that dance on her way
# Many were the wild notes her merw voice would pour... #
(SNORING)
God, I wish I had a girl right now.
Ahh, to touch her - sweetJesus.
(SINGING CONTINUES)
Pearce?
You awake?
(RHYTHMIC WHOPPING)
(GRUNTS)
(GASPS)
(PEARCE PANTS)
Pearce?
God, you're a pathetic specimen.
(SIGHS)
You were dreaming. I could see it in your face.
Of me, I hope.
You lookjust like when I first held you in that dreadful place.
I have something for you!
You spoil me.
You wait till the war is over.
My life will be dedicated to making you happy.
The buttons are real bone, see?
I had your initials put on it...
Well, tw it on!
(LAUGHS)
How glamorous you look.
Like Greta Garbo!
Sorw, damn Tube's up the spout.
Before I forget...
It's too big, Reggie.
It's only for show. Isn't it?
DOCTOR: Remove your shoes and your skirt, and your underthings, Mrs Harrison.
Then sit back on the seat.
Right back.
I must ask, when you leave, to put a handkerchief over your mouth.
Give the impression you were here for dental work.
The war has made evewone so suspicious these days.
Legs apart.
Tn! not to tense up.
So then...
...deep breaths.
This is it, sir. The Devon Hotel.
- Cheers. - Thanks.
Let's get you inside. What do you think?
Bloody shyster, twing to spring an extra two quid on me at the eleventh hour!
God, Viv, you're freezing cold!
Another gauze thing.
Something's happening, Reggie!
- Oh, Jesus! - Get a towel!
It won't stop! I can't stop it!
- He'd said there'd be bleeding. - Not like this!
We... We have to call someone.
A doctor, or...
No, no. He'll know it was an abortion, he'll call the police.
- We'll end up in the bloody clink! - Please, Reggie, get help!
Before the... Before the sirens start, get help!
(DIALLING)
Yeah, er, ambulance, yes.
It's, er...Devon Hotel, Weston Street. Room 21.
For my wife. Yeah, yeah - hurw, please!
(AMBULANCE BELL RINGING)
- Can you tell us your name, love? - Pearce. Vivian.
How long have you been bleeding this way?
- Reggie? Where's Reggie? - Is he your husband?
- No... Yes, my husband, yes! - How far along was the baby, Vivian?
- You must lie still. - Where is he? Why isn't he here?
Reggie?
(AMBULANCE BELL RINGING)
At the hospital...
...if they send for the police,
don't tell them my real name. Tell them I'm Mrs Harrison.
- Why would they send for the police? - Getting rid of a baby -
they'll know it's an abortion, won't they?
The ring - it's gone!
We have to find the ring! They'll know I'm not married without it!
You must stay calm, Vivian!
Vivian? We're at the hospital. Listen to me.
I've made a tear in your coat, I put your ration book in it.
They won't find it in there.
You're Mrs Harrison, like we said.
I have no ring!
Let me do the talking. Leave it to me, OK?
- What have we got tonight? - Mrs Harrison -
miscarriage with complications. She's had a fall, lost a lot of blood.
You're safe now.
(AIR-RAID SIREN BLARES)
Is it Kay?
I'm taking you at your word.
IfI needed company?
I prefer to be out in the open when there's a raid.
I can't breathe in that bloody shelter.
- I'm the same. - Which way?
You choose.
Oi! You got a death wish?
MAN: Wear something white - keep yourself visible!
Maybe we like being invisible!
HELEN: It's like they're putting on a displayjust for us.
JULIA: Bravo! (APPLAUDS) Encore!
After a raid, the first thing evewone asks is, "Did St Paul's make it?"
Have you noticed? Never mind the scores of families bombed to oblivion,
so long as the symbol of our illustrious past survives.
It reminds us what we're fighting for, doesn't it?
We like to think love and altruism are what define human nature.
But savagew and hatred are part of it, too.
In a war, that part of us wins.
Sometimes it can give you courage you never knew you had.
Come on! I've got something to show you.
Christopher Wren built this, too, after the Great Fire.
His daughterJane helped him design the tower.
I remember the night Kay met you.
It's like it's scored into my brain.
She always wanted a wife.
Someone she could look after - protect.
Someone innocent.
When she came home that night, told me how she met you,
I knew she'd found what she was looking for.
That we were over.
(BOMB EXPLODES)
But it was you who left her for someone.
She said what you had was...misaffection.
Is that what she calls it?
She still wears the snake ring you gave her - she wears it even! day.
It'sjust a piece ofjewellew to her.
Of no more significance than I was.
(LOUDER EXPLOSION)
- Are you frightened yet? - Not of the bombs.
(RUBBLE FALLS)
Tell me this isn't about punishing Kay for what she did to you.
It's real.
- (LOUD EXPLOSION) - Now we're invisible again.
(MEN YELLING)
MAN: Unlock this bloody door!
Me and my pacifism! When it comes down to it,
I'mjust a bloody coward, like anyone else.
Oh, God!
- Oh, Shit! - (EXPLOSION)
Talk to me.
Keep talking!
Tell me about the boy.
About what happened.
His name was Alec.
Lived across the road from me.
Catch you at it, did they - the police?
Was that it?
No, that's not how it was.
(BOMB WHISTLES AND EXPLODES)
What?
We just got word.
- Rathbone Place has been hit. - Section 58 are on their way.
They'll keep us posted.
Helen will be down in the shelter, won't she?
She never uses the damn shelter! Give me the keys, will you?
- Section 58 will report back directly. - I have to go to her!
Nancy?
Give them to me.
There's nothing you can do, Kay.
- Stop, Kay! For God's sake! - It's Section 58's call.
They'll deal with it. You know the bloody drill. It's not our bloody call!
You want to be thrown off the service? Is she worth that much?
- WOMAN: Help us! We need help! - (FLAMES ROAR)
Somebody, please!
(AIR-RAID SIRENS BLARE)
(WOMAN SCREAMS)
(SOBBING)
(SHE WAILS)
Kay?
I thought you were gone.
I thought I'd lost you.
(EXPLOSION)
(TRAIN WHISTLE)
You're not rostered for tonight.
They changed the rota.
I was born at night, Kay, but not lastnight.
You volunteered again, didn't you?
You just can't keep away from that damn place!
I don't begrudge you your writing. Why do you this for me?
I'mjust afraid one night you won't come back.
I always do, don't I?
I'm indestructible.
Don't you know that yet?
Check the blackout before you turn in.
- (DOOR CLOSES) - (TRAIN WHISTLE)
- Can I tempt you, love? - I'm watching my figure.
You're not the only one.
Is the guard about?
The ticket inspector?
GUARD: Tickets, please.
REGGIE: Miss? Miss, he's coming - the guard!
I've lost my ticket, you see. Let me in with you till he's gone by.
I go to the front next week. I've only 24 hours' leave -
I've already lost five of them waiting for the bloody train!
If he throws me off, I've had it!
GUARD: Tickets!
- Tickets, please. - One minute!
You are heaven-sent, you know that?
- Glad I could help. - Wait, wait.
One more minute, eh?
Make sure the coast is clear?
Tw anything, I'll scream blue murder.
(FLICKS LIGHTER)
You spending your leave in London?
My wifejust had a baby.
- Boy or a girl? - Girl.
We already have a boy.
You might say we've the set now.
Does it scare you, going to the front next week?
Maybe if I stop and think about it.
The home front's no picnic either.
Evew time I go back, I dread it more.
I know it'll end up like always. Minutes after stepping through the door,
my wife and I'll be arguing again.
(CLA‘I'I'ERING)
Good luck.
At the front, I mean.
The memow of this will keep me going there -
that once, I got a break.
I got to spend a few precious minutes with the most gorgeous girl
who ever drew breath.
I can die a happy man.
Maybe one more cigarette?
(FLICKS LIGHTER)
(KNOCKING AT DOOR)
Alec? Is that you?
Shh!
My papers came.
This is it, Duncan.
I'm to report to some training place in Salisbuw.
- Mine aren't through yet. - They'll come soon enough.
When Itold my father I weren't going... (EXHALES)
Ithought he'd tear my bloody head off!
I said to him, "They're bloody quick enough to send you to war.
"They don't tell you about the gas Hitler uses to fw your brains, do they?"
I wrote the letter like we planned -
"To whom it may concern."
We... I was going to put, "To Mr Churchill,"
but this way it's to Hitler and Mussolini, too, see?
"We, the undersigned, do not undertake this deed lightly.
"We are two young people who choose to die to save others.
"We would rather take our own lives than collude in the waste of war."
They'll have to take notice of a gesture like that, won't they?
We might even end the war!
We've not planned how yet.
What are the options?
I know - rat poison.
- (FURNITURE CLA'I'I'ERS) - Shh, shh, shh!
There's only bleach.
The pain will kill us!
(LAUGHS)
Look at this, Duncan.
This isjust the bloody job.
ALEC: We'll do it at dawn.
First birdsong we hear, that's the cue, OK?
I'll go first.
Directly after I've done it, you take the razor, do it, too.
We must make a good job of it.
Helping someone top themselves, they'll throw away the key.
Bugger this waiting lark - let's get on with it!
You're the best, you are, Duncan.
(TAKES A DEEP BREATH)
(PHONE RINGING)
You're up, girls.
Guesthouse in Jocelyn Street.
Six people trapped inside.
(AIR-RAID SIRENS BLARE)
(DOORBELL RINGS)
(UNSTEADY BREATHING)
I didn't do it.
I...couldn't do it.
POLICE OFFICER: Duncan james Pearce, I am arresting you
on suspicion of inciting and assisting in the suicide ofA lec/ennings.
- KAY: Anything? - No.
(COUGHING)
Help!
KAY: Over here!
Help!
We need help lifting it off her!
Can you move your legs?
Wriggle your toes for me.
Are you a doctor?
Just a dab hand at first aid.
I went out with a doctor once.
Well, nearly. He was a medical student.
It didn't work out.
Why is it we can never love the people we ought?
(RUMBLING AND CRASHING)
- (GASPS) - KAY: Don't worw.
I won't let anything happen to you - just be brave a bit longer.
Here.
OK.
You're the one that's brave, doing this job.
It's easier being out in thick of things than cowering in some shelter.
And, at night, when there's a raid on,
no-one's about and the streets are empty,
it's like the whole city belongs to you.
(DEBRIS FALLS)
You're protecting it.
What?
- (RUBBLE FALLS) - Sorw.
Over here!
I'll be where you can see me.
You do realise, now you've saved her, she's yours for life?
(EXPLOSIONS, PHONE RINGING, AMBULANCE BELL)
(WOMAN YELLING IN PAIN)
(DOOR OPENS AND CLOSES)
(WALTZ MUSIC PLAYING)
(TRAIN WHISTLE)
KAY: Someone once said a happy ending
depends on where you decide to stop your story.
Then again, it could be when you realise your story is not yet over.
That you are only at the end of the beginning.