Pat (interrupting): Please, please — I’m so happy now, Erich! For the first time in my life. I don’t believe it’s going to last very long — (very slowly and intensely) — but while it does, I hate and fear anything that threatens it.
Bobby’s face appears on the high side of the deck.
Bobby: Swim, Pat? (he nods to Breuer and pulls himself up on the boat, carrying an inflated innertube) We have a life preserver.
Breuer (supercilious): Doubtless from the garage.
Bobby (glances at Breuer then back at Pat): Swim?
Pat (getting up): Come on.
She starts up the deck toward the high side of the boat. Breuer signs to Bobby to remain behind. Bobby lingers impatiently.
Breuer: I want to talk to you a moment. I understand you’ve had trouble renewing your license.
Bobby: You know that?
Breuer: A lot of things come to my attention.
Bobby: What has anybody got against us?
Breuer (shrugging his shoulders): Who knows? Perhaps something political —
We have seen Pat disappear over the high side of the deck. Now we
CUT TO:
141 PAT —
Swinging by her hands from the edge of the deck. Only a yard away is a broken stanchion and if she could reach it, she could descend with ease, but her feet can’t quite make it. A sea gull swirls near her.
CUT TO:
142 UP ON THE DECK
Breuer: I thought that, whatever the trouble is, I could perhaps make those in charge drop the matter.
Bobby: What are you driving at?
Breuer: I want you to let Pat alone.
Bobby: Oh, so that’s it!
CUT TO:
143 PAT —
Struggling and panting. She has given up trying to reach the stanchion and is merely trying to get back up, for the drop is fifteen feet. She cries, “Bobby!” but feebly.
CUT TO:
144 THE BEACH BESIDE THE CHILDREN’S TENT
Lenz looks up, sees her dangling, and starts for her.
CUT TO:
145 THE DECK
Breuer: You claim to be Pat’s friend. Well, look at yourself frankly. What have you got to offer Pat? Do you expect her to sew buttons on overalls? (Bobby has no answer — simply looks at Breuer in a dazed way, his thumb through a hole in his bathing suit) As if that would be enough for Pat. (he shakes his head) You’re living in a dream, man.
CUT TO:
146 PAT —
Making a last violent struggle, an exhausting struggle. She gives a little cry, falls, lands on her hands and knees in the sand. Then she gets up slowly and begins to walk, gasping.
CUT TO:
147 LONG SHOT — LENZ —
Racing toward her in alarm.
CUT TO:
148 PAT —
Staggering, coughing, covering her mouth first with her hand, then with both arms, then falling to her knees, to her face amid the sea weed and wreckage.
Lenz (almost beside her): Pat! Pat!
CUT TO:
149 THE DECK
Bobby and Breuer hear.
Breuer: Something’s the matter.
He starts up the deck, Bobby following, still in a daze.
CUT TO:
150 UNDER THE SHADOW OF THE BOAT — MED. SHOT
Lenz is putting a towel under Pat’s head. A dark stain is on the towel — Pat is on her back now, but her face is tilted away from the camera. The little boy has just run up.
Lenz (to the boy): Go to the inn — get a doctor!
The boy starts off.
CUT TO:
151 THE EDGE OF THE DECK — SHOOTING UP FROM BEACH
Bobby and Breuer, looking down. Bobby, in wild alarm, swings himself over and drops.
CUT TO:
152 BEACH
Lent (shouting at Bobby): Water — bring water! It’s a hemorrhage!
Bobby, aghast, gets his balance, looks around, finds a tin can and runs for the water.
CUT TO:
153 THE PORCH OF THE BOARDING HOUSE
The small boy, panting, meets Fraulein Muller on the porch.
The boy: Get the Doctor. The lady’s bleeding — awful.
CUT TO:
154 BOBBY AND LENZ
— kneeling beside Pat — her face invisible, one fist clenched. Bobby pouring the cold water on her throat.
Bobby: Pat! Pat! Oh, God, we can’t let her just lie here.
Lenz: You never move a bleeding soldier. (to Breuer who stands by, wearing an expression of horror, slowly changing to distaste) Go get some ice.
(Breuer starts off)
155 SHOOTING OVER PAT’S BODY TO BOBBY
— lying beside her, face to face.
Bobby: Oh, God, make it stop! Oh God, Pat.
The little girl, on her knees, edges a little closer, staring wide-eyed.
DISSOLVE TO:
156 THE SAME SCENE TEN MINUTES LATER — MED. SHOT
(Note: I suggest an absolute avoidance of close shots of Pat. As we can’t show the actual horror of the hemorrhage, it is best suggested from the distance of a bystander who cranes his neck to see.): Lenz has borrowed the children’s beach tent and is setting it up half over Pat to keep out the sun. Bobby still lies beside Pat, his hand holding her head. The Doctor, an old man, is closing his case. Fraulein Muller and a servant are setting down pails of ice. The children and Breuer stand near, and a dozen curious neighbors have gathered in the background. The Doctor gets up and walks aside to Lenz.
CUT TO:
157 TWO SHOT — DOCTOR AND LENZ
The Doctor: The sun may have brought it on — and getting off the wreck finished it.
Lenz: What now?
The Doctor: She keeps calling for Dr. Jaffé — that’s Professor Felix Jaffé — I know him by reputation. If he could be brought here immediately —
Lenz: He will be! I’ll phone to the city.
He starts toward the inn. Turning back to Pat, the Doctor encounters Breuer. The latter’s expression is even more full of distaste.
Breuer (nervously): I never dreamed she was so ill. Will she die?
The Doctor (brusquely): I can’t say.
CUT TO:
158 MEDIUM SHOT — WHERE PAT LIES
Fraulein Muller, with a towel of cracked ice, gently moving Bobby away to set it in place.
Bobby comes up to Breuer and the Doctor, his face wild with grief.
Bobby: Will it start again?
The Doctor: There may be other paroxysms.
Bobby: Isn’t there something we can do?
The Doctor: Your friend is trying to get Dr. Jaffé.
Breuer (his interest in Pat has waned): I’ll help with any bills, of course. Unfortunately I have to get back to the city this afternoon. (with revolting pleasantness) Forget what I was saying to you — I know you’ll be good to Pat. (he nods, turns to the Doctor) Spare no trouble, Doctor. No —
(he catches Bobby’s contemptuous eye, bows to the doctor and goes away.)
CUT TO:
159 OFFICE OF THE INN
Lenz at the phone.
Lenz (tensely): — It’s a hemorrhage, Otto. Get this now — find Dr. — Felix — Jaffé. He’s looked after her and knows the case. Tell him to phone here. Somebody will be waiting. For God’s sake, hurry. Otto!
CUT TO:
160 THE OFFICE OF THE REPAIR SHOP
Otto hanging up the phone. Jupp standing by.
Koster: Miss Hollmann’s ill. Get out Heinrich right away. Great Snakes!
Jupp rushes out. Koster struggles into his coat and rushes out as we hear the roar of “Heinrich’s” engine.
DISSOLVE TO:
161 THE HALL OF THE HOSPITAL —
Koster waiting. A nursing sister comes to him.
Sister: Dr. Jaffé is operating. Do you want to see another Doctor?
Koster: When will he be through?
Sister (hesitantly): Well, he’s resting at the moment — but he’s about to start a pneu
mo-thorax —
Koster (interrupting): Sister — he loves this patient — I know he does — and she’s dying. I know he’d see me if he understood that.
Sister: Well —
Koster: Where is he?
He takes her arm and hurries her off — she pulls him back just before he marches her into a clothes closet.
Sister (laughing): It’s this way.
As they go out.
CUT TO:
162 OUTSIDE THE DOOR OF AN OPERATING ROOM —
The Doctor, stretched on a folding chair, eyes closed. Two internes and a nurse nearby. Dr. Jaffé is a saturnine, bitter-looking old man with the air of hating the world and everyone in it.
Koster and the nurse come in.
Koster (approaching him eagerly): Do you know Patricia Hollmann?
Jaffé (starting — awake): Never heard of her.
Koster (aghast): Patricia Hollmann.
Jaffé: You mean that wretched little devil — that skinny little eye-rolling butterfly —
Koster (sternly and slowly): Patricia Hollmann.
Jaffé: I know her. Don’t look at me like that, young man. Where is she — in jail?
Koster: She’s had a hemorrhage. They can’t stop it.
Jaffé (springing up angrily): And I’m supposed to break off operating to — (he is flinging off his cap and gown) I won’t do it! I warned her to take care of herself. She was six months in a sanitarium last year. I told her she’d — where is she?
Koster: She’s at — (he hesitates, lies) Not far from here. A little way out of the city.
CUT TO:
163 THE BEACH — LATE AFTERNOON —
Things have quieted down. Present are Pat, the local Doctor, Bobby, Lenz, Fraulein Muller and a trained nurse.
The Doctor (to Lenz after taking her pulse): When will Dr. Jaffé be here?
Lenz: I don’t know — two hours, perhaps.
The Doctor: Impossible. A hundred and fifty miles over mountain roads. (he frowns) The wind’s getting colder — it’s dangerous to leave her here any longer. We’ll have to take a chance and move her.
Bobby shrinks as the Doctor signals to two men who stand by with a stretcher.
CUT TO:
164 “HEINRICH” with KOSTER AND JAFFÉ —
— speeding through the city traffic on two wheels — down a one-way street.
DISSOLVE TO:
165 “HEINRICH” —
— tearing into the country.
Jaffé (above the engine’s roar): Very much longer?
Koster: Not very much.
Jaffé: How many miles?
Koster (casually): One hundred and fifty.
Jaffé (a double-take): Oh… What?
Koster: But only a few hours.
Jaffé: Stop it! We’ll take a train. Why didn’t you tell me, you fool?
Koster: You might not have come.
Jaffé: You kidnapper! You know that’s a penitentiary offense. You wretched body snatcher… Step on it! (they skid retchingly around a corner) Is she your girl?
Koster: I wish she was.
Jaffé: A reckless, idiotic, self-centered child.
CUT TO:
166 BEDROOM IN THE BLUE-WHITE INN
Pat on the bed, gasping and choking. Bobby, the nurse, and the doctor beside her.
Bobby: Dr. Jaffé’s coming, Pat. Any time now. Racing along the road — nearer — nearer —
Pat: I knew it wouldn’t last — it was too lovely — I’m sorry to be all this trouble.
Bobby: You should have told me.
Pat (with difficulty): We shouldn’t — ever — have met.
(she begins to cough)
The Doctor (to Bobby): She must not be excited.
THE SCENE DISSOLVES TO:
167 A MOUNTAIN ROAD
“Heinrich” tearing along a winding course.
Jaffé: Where did you get this car?
Koster: I built it out of some other cars.
Jaffé: Will you build one for me?
As they dash into a cloud of wind and rain, Jaffé lets go of his hat for an instant. The raging wind blows it off, to bound along the road. Without slowing up, Koster takes off his leather racing helmet and gives it to Jaffé, who looks at it as if it were going to bite him, as we —
DISSOLVE TO:
168 THE PORCH OF THE INN
Bobby standing tensely on the porch beside Fraulein Muller. Suddenly his face changes.
Bobby: I hear it — I hear it!
Fraulein Muller: I don’t hear it.
A purring is now audible.
Bobby: It’s like an angel’s wings.
He rushes into the house and into —
169 PAT’S BEDROOM
Bobby: Doctor, they’re coming! I can hear them!
The Doctor (looking at his watch): It’s impossible.
Bobby: There’s only one car with that engine. (he runs out): 170 THE PORCH OF THE INN.
Bobby reaches the porch just as “Heinrich” swings around the corner and comes to rest. As Koster and Jaffé step out, the country doctor comes out on the porch of the inn.
The Doctor: Professor Jaffé? (Jaffé nods) Thank God you’re here. We have so few cases like this down here.
Jaffé: Where is she?
The Doctor leads the Professor into the cottage.
Bobby (to Koster with feeling): Good work.
Koster: Now stop worrying. Got a cigarette? (Bobby gives him one) How did it happen?
Bobby: Too much exercise — I should have known. If anything happens now —
Koster: Death’s no stranger to us, old man. He tried to meet us at the front, didn’t he? — but he never quite managed it. Now Jaffé’s helping too. It’s going to be all right.
The nurse comes out on the steps.
Nurse (to Bobby): Dr. Jaffé sent word to you that she’s going to be all right.
She goes in. They look up at a lighted window of the Inn where the shadows of the Doctors move on the blind. Koster claps Bobby on the shoulder.
FADE OUT.
FADE IN:
171 PAT’S BEDROOM. SUNNY AND CHEERFUL.
An old music-box is tinkling “Wann die Soldaten,” and Pat is sitting up, dressed, in an easy chair. She is thin and pale, but her face lights up when Bobby comes in. He lays a bunch of anemones in her lap.
Bobby: Roses, violets and lilies. How are you — very strong?
Pat (proudly): This is the fourth day I’ve been up.
Bobby (sitting down): Well, there’s been some trouble.
Pat: What?
Bobby: Nothing serious — Fraulein Muller stubbed her toe. (bending toward Pat) Darling, you look —
Pat (laughing): Only that?
Bobby: On that new bed?
Pat: What new bed?
Bobby (tantalizing her): One of the guest beds she had to get so quickly. Darling, you look —
Pat (curious) Guest bed? Why?
Bobby (carelessly): Oh, for Lenz and Koster.
Pat (sitting up): Have they come back?
Bobby: They insisted on being here today. Pat, dear —
Pat: (more and more curious): Why?
Bobby: To see it happen, of course. You look —
Pat (wild with curiosity): What happen?
Bobby: Our wedding.
The music box becomes gayer as Lenz and Koster walk in, smiling.
Pat: What is this? Gottfried! Otto! (Lenz and Koster each kiss one of Pat’s hands) In the first place, if Bobby and I got married, Herr Breuer would do you an injury.
Complete Works of F. Scott Fitzgerald UK (Illustrated) Page 396
