107 INT. NEIL'S HUT. NIGHT
NEIL and BEA sit at a roughly
hewn table in NEIL’s bark slab hut, illuminated by kerosene lantern light;
their empty plates in front of them and a large pot of stew in the middle of
the table. They drink tea from metal cups. A fire burns in the background.
NEIL’s warm, homey, sparsely furnished hut bespeaks a man accustomed to living
alone. Several novels and plays sit on the shelf above the fireplace. As they
talk, NEIL repairs an old worn saddle.
NEIL 'Mad Bea
Miles', eh!
BEA (laughs) Mad
as a hatter.
NEIL Well, there’s
some folks in town reckon I’m mad as a cut snake...
BEA (surprised) You!?
NEIL Well, I don't
go too much on socializing, see. Mostly
it’s just me 'n'th'Abos and me animals. 'The Romeo Recluse'.
BEA (laughs) The
reclusive Romeo.
NEIL Not too much
of that these last few years.
BEA It must get
lonely.
NEIL Bloody
lonely, sometimes. One time I had a pen-friend in Tasmania it got that lonely.
BEA Why do you
stay?
NEIL (simply) It’s
where I belong.
BEA's face registers the
impact this statement has for her.
BEA Yes.
NEIL I tried goin’
t’town more but...well, they’re two different things, aren’t they - bein' alone
'n bein' lonely?
BEA Yes.
They sit for a moment in
companionable silence.
NEIL You ready for
bed yet?
BEA laughs. NEIL blushes.
NEIL I
mean...well, I’ve only got the on,
see...So, you take it and I’ll bunk down here.
He points to the open area in
front the fire.
BEA No, you take
the bed and I’ll bunk down here.
NEIL But...
BEA Please...
108 EXT. NEIL'S FARM. ABORIGINAL CAMP. MORNING
BEA hangs the clothes she has
just washed on a makeshift line some distance from NEIL’s hut. In the
background NEIL and YORKIE can be seen at work on the barn. The Aboriginal camp
nearby catches BEA’s attention. She approaches it tentatively - unsure whether
or not her presence would be welcome.
There are a few make-shift shelters but it is quite apparent that the
twenty or so ABORIGINALS in the camp sleep outside most of the time. They all
wear odd items of tattered cast-off white men’s clothes - except for the dozen
or so naked children. The men sit around fires talking and smoking pipes for
the most part, while a small group of women crowd around another fire - some
distance from the camp. From where BEA is,
it appears that there is a woman crouched over a smoldering fire. This image
catches her attention for a moment before she is besieged by naked children
(some with golden hair) who swarm over her - touching her, pinching her,
laughing and chattering excitedly in their own language and broken English. BEA
is moved, overwhelmed; happy.
NEIL finishes saddling a
horse, smiling to himself at the sound of excited children’s laughter coming
from the Aboriginal camp. YORKIE
finishes packing some supplies on the back of his hose and both the and NEIL
mount and make their way towards the Aboriginal camp - the third horse in tow.
As he gets closer, NEIL sees
BEA crouched on a log in the Aboriginal camp, scratching herself under the
armpits, pulling funny faces and generally behaving like a monkey. The children - some of them imitating her -
laugh uproariously; as do most of the men sitting by the fires. A FAIR-HAIRED
BOY calls out:
FAIR-HAIRED BOY Kengeroo.
BEA stops acting like a
monkey and points to the boy.
BEA You show me.
The boy leaps around like a
kangaroo. BEA imitates him. More uproarious laughter. BEA smiles up to NEIL,
who is close by now.
NEIL Coming t’see
me tin mine?
BEA (excited) Yes
please.
109 EXT. NEIL'S TIN MINE. DAY
BEA looks on excitedly as
NEIL lights a fuse and runs towards her.
She blocks her ears. There is a
loud explosion - dust and rocks flying out from the side of the hill. NEIL turns on a big hose and shoots a
powerful stream of water at the gaping hole left by the explosion.
BEA (excited) Let
me. Let me.
BEA rushes over to NEIL, who
hands her the hose. It is too strong for her and it jumps out of her hands,
thrashing and twisting about the sluice boxes, picks and shovels, spraying BEA,
NEIL and YORKIE with red mud as they wrestle with it to regain control. By the
time NEIL has the hose firmly in his hands again BEA is covered in mud and
laughing happily.
LATER
NEIL, BEA and YORKIE work
hard with picks and mattocks on the face of the tin mine; all sweating in the
hot sun. BEA turns to look at NEIL and
finds him looking at her. She smiles.
110 EXT. SWIMMING HOLE. AFTERNOON
A swimming hole bathed in
late afternoon light. BEA strips off her muddy clothes and makes her way into
the water. NEIL is embarrassed by BEA’s nakedness. He stands on one leg to take
off a sock; looking awkward.
BEA swims about, diving and
surfacing; full of exuberant energy.
NEIL stands at the edge of the water hole in his underpants - uncertain
whether to take them off or leave them on.
BEA Come on in.
Fraidy cat. It’s lovely and warm
NEIL (uncertain in his
underpants) Yeah. It’s...er cooler down
where it’s muddier. The sunlight don’t penetrate through the mud you see. So
that’s why it’s cooler.
BEA bursts out laughing.
NEIL What are you
laughing at?
She continues laughing. NEIL dives into the water in his
underpants. When he surfaces BEA is
still laughing. He smiles sheepishly.
111 EXT. NEIL'S FARM. ABORIGINAL CAMP
BEA rides easily up and down
in the saddle of a horse galloping towards us, her fair hair whipping back from
her radiant smiling face. NEIL is close
behind, pushing his horse as fast as he can to catch up. BEA glances back to
see how he is faring; exhilarated by the thrill of the race.
Close to NEIL’s hut BEA reins
her horse in and stops, her attention caught by a small group of tribal
ABORIGINAL WOMEN huddled around a smoldering fire. She dismounts and moves towards them, the
increasingly enthralled expression on her face revealing her growing sense of
awe and exhilaration at what she is witnessing.
Behind her, NEIL dismounts and walks up behind her. BEA stops and looks in wonder. NEIL stops some distance away.
A YOUNG ABORIGINAL WOMAN
naked from the waist down, squats astride the smoldering remnants of a fire as
ANOTHER ABORIGINAL WOMAN massages her back while yet another holds her hands
between her legs as the child’s head emerges.
The mother-to-be’s straining face is drenched with sweat. Some distance
in the background the Aboriginal camp can be seen.
BEA, enthralled, watches
open-mouthed as the child is born.
The midwife holds up a
squalling bloodied upside-down baby girl, still connected to its mother by the
umbilicus. The mother’s black glistening
face turns to look at her daughter. BEA
watches, deeply moved. Some distance
away, NEIL watches BEA.
112 INT. NEIL'S HUT. NIGHT
BEA and NEIL sit at the table
in Neil’s hut; arguing.
NEIL Yeah, but
look...there’s gotta be rules. Without 'em you’ve got no civilization. What
have you got? Law of the jungle. A dog fight.
BEA Yes, but...
NEIL Then what’s
wrong with behavin' like everyone else?
BEA Because I
want to be free.
NEIL To do what?
BEA (clutching at straws) "He travels fastest who travels
alone".
NEIL Where
to? Where are you going Beatrice?
BEA looks at him; unable to
reply. NEIL gets quite worked up.
NEIL Goin’ off
travellin’ half cocked is beaut. But eventually y'gotta be somewhere. With
someone. Or the human race...is over...don’t you see?
BEA can only look at NEIL;
silenced by his seriousness, his intensity.
Frustrated, NEIL picks up their dirty dinner plates and takes them over
to a bucket by the fire. He squats down, his back to BEA, and begins to rinse
them. BEA watches him - confused by his sudden change of mood and manner.
BEA But I haven’t
seen anything of the world yet. And I want to see it all.
NEIL Yeah.
LATER
BEA lies in her swag by the
fire; deep in thought. Firelight plays
on the bark walls. NEIL is asleep on his
bunk on the other side of the room.
113 EXT. BUSH TRACK. DAY
NEIL and BEA ride silently
through the bush, back towards town.
BEA's swag is tied to the back of NEIL’s horse. BEA looks out at the magnificent view and
makes an attempt to snap NEIL out of his morose mood with her own cheerfulness.
BEA I can see why
you love it here.
NEIL does not reply. He puts his head down and begins to turn, as
if to say something but changes his mind.
114 EXT. RIVER. DAY
NEIL and BEA, by a river,
watering the horses. Out of the strained silence NEIL turns suddenly to BEA.
NEIL Look, I gone
all round it in me mind and there’s no way round it Beatrice, you got to marry
me.
BEA looks at him; too stunned
to respond. He looks straight at her.
NEIL Marry me Beatrice.
Tomorrow. No, it takes three days... posting the banns or some bloody thing.
Pardon me language, I’m a bit...het up.
Look I’ll pay your fare, you can go back to this bloke, have a wild weekend, get it out of your system...But
you gotta marry me Saturday first. Then you can go.
BEA (moved) Neil...
NEIL I’m gonna
lose you Beatrice, if you get on that boat to Thursday. If you get on that
bloody boat...Ah Christ I think I said it all wrong...
BEA moves over to NEIL and
touches him …
BEA No, you said
it just fine but...
NEIL Beatrice,
listen. You belong here. Some girls look good on a horse; some don’t. You look
good on a horse. You’re strong. You belong here.
BEA (wistful) I
don't think I belong anywhere.
NEIL Y'can’t always be looking to the next station
up th'line, Bea. That way y'never see where you are. There'll always be another
station. And another after that...
BEA And I want to
stop at all of them.
NEIL Y'can’t.
Life's too short...I don’t want you as a pen friend, Beatrice.
BEA Me either.
BEA, moved, confused, torn by
different impulses, looks directly into his eyes. NEIL puts his arms around BEA and kisses
her. BEA responds and for a moment there
is an intensity and passion in their kissing, before BEA pulls herself away.
BEA It’s not what
I want. Not yet.
NEIL (desperate) What
do you want, Beatrice?
BEA, in emotional turmoil,
with tears in her eyes, can only shrug her shoulders: she doesn’t know what she
wants.
115 EXT. BOTANICAL GARDENS. DAY
BEA rides her bicycle fast
through the Botanical Gardens in early morning sunlight, past the Herbarium.
She is excited to be back.
116 EXT. 'THE ROCKS'. DAY
BEA bicycles down a street of
terrace houses in The Rocks, her face lighting up when she sees Johnno’s
motorbike parked outside his boarding house.
She parks her bicycle and runs into the house.
117 INT. JOHNNO'S BOARDING HOUSE. DAY
BEA leaps up the stairs of
JOHNNO's boarding house, three steps at a time.
She knock excitedly on JOHNNO's door. A few moments later JOHNNO opens
the door, clad only in a towel. He is surprised, excited and a little
uncomfortable all at once.
JOHNNO Bea!
BEA moves inward and hugs
JOHNNO happily for a moment before she sees, over his shoulder, the naked woman
on his bed. She pulls away, hurt. JOHNNO is not quite sure what to do or say.
JOHNNO (sheepish
introductions) Bea...Gwen...
An awkward silence.
BEA I...see you
later...
She turns and walks down the
stairs.
JOHNNO (lamely) Bea...!
BEA keeps walking. JOHNNO watches her.
118 INT. BEA'S
ROOM. TWILIGHT
BEA sits in the windowsill of
her room, staring into space, an open book in her lap. There is a knock at the
door.
BEA Come in.
The door opens and in comes
JOHNNO. He grins a little
sheepishly. For a long moment they look
at each other.
JOHNNO (mildly apologetic)
Sorry about yesterday. Bad timing.
BEA (hurt) Bad
timing!? Is that all?
JOHNNO I don’t know
what else I can say.
BEA Nothing,
obviously.
JOHNNO I missed you.
BEA Come off it
Johnno.
JOHNNO Seriously.
BEA While you
were making love with Gwen?
JOHNNO No.
BEA is hurt. She looks
directly an JOHNNO for a moment, then away.
JOHNNO runs his fingers nervously through his hair; turns to leave.
JOHNNO Well...'Bye...
BEA Johnno?
JOHNNO stops and turns.
BEA I met someone
too...while I was away.
JOHNNO Nice chap?
BEA Very...Neil...
JOHNNO smiles.
JOHNNO And did you
miss me?
BEA nods.
JOHNNO While you
were with Neil?
BEA shakes her head. Johnno
laughs. BEA smiles and hits him
playfully.
BEA I hate you.
JOHNNO moves over to her.
JOHNNO Welcome home
Bright Eyes.
BEA That's all
you love about me, isn’t it? My eyes.
JOHNNO No, I love
your nose...
He kisses her nose.
JOHNNO ...your ears,
your mouth, your neck...
He kisses these parts of
BEA's anatomy.
JOHNNO All of you.
BEA
What about Gwen?
JOHNNO I only love
parts of her.
BEA I bet I know
which parts.
JOHNNO grins.
BEA I’ve got
something for you.
BEA gets off the windowsill
and moves over to her dilly bag, from which she extracts a small cloth-bound
book. She moves back across the room to
give it to JOHNNO by the window. He
opens it, turns the pages - on each of which Bea has stuck a pressed, dried
Australian wild-flower, with both it English and Latin names inscribed beneath
it in perfect Italic handwriting.
JOHNNO It’s
beautiful.
BEA Five for every
State. Except Western Australia. I’m saving it up.
JOHNNO We'll go
together.
BEA (excited) We
will, won’t we?
JOHNNO nods. BEA hugs him
tight.
119 INT/EXT. CITY STREET/TRAM. DAY
BEA stands on the running
board of a tram as it moves up the road at full speed. She is leaning out
happily, dangerously; oblivious to the sensation her antics are causing for the
passengers. An angry TRAM CONDUCTOR
leans out a door further down the carriage.
TRAM CONDUCTOR I’ll give you
ten seconds to get inside, Bea.
BEA turns and smiles at him
but otherwise ignores him. The TRAM
CONDUCTOR moves back inside and begins to make his way down the aisle to the
doorway in which BEA is standing. BEA looks straight up the road and notices
another tram approaching rapidly in the opposite direction. The TRAM CONDUCTOR
is almost on BEA when she leaps, it seems, into the path of the passing tram.
There is shock and horror on
the faces of the passengers and TRAM CONDUCTOR.
BEA, on the other tram, waves
to the TRAM CONDUCTOR as the two trams speed away from each other.
120 INT. COURTROOM. DAY
BEA stands in the dock of the
Magistrate’s Court, hands on hips, glaring defiantly at the MAGISTRATE.
MAGISTRATE Why, Miss
Miles?
BEA Why not?
The MAGISTRATE thinks for a
moment.
MAGISTRATE Miss Miles...
The MAGISTRATE is about to
offer BEA some advice, but changes his mind when he sees her smiling
challengingly at him.
MAGISTRATE Fined five
pounds.
BEA (cheery) Time
to pay, your honour.
MAGISTRATE (tired) Time
to pay.
121 EXT. CITY STREET. DAY
BEA crouched on the footpath
of a fairly busy city street writing on a double page of an exercise book: SHAKESPEARIAN RECITATIONS 1d. 3d. and
6d. She tears the page out of the book
and pins the sign to her blouse. She stands with her back to the window of a
shop. People pass. No-one stops.
LATER
THREE MEN stop.
IST. MAN D’ya recite
from memory or from a book?
BEA Memory.
IST. MAN How much of
it d’ya know?
BEA Most of it.
IST. MAN Don’t believe
ya.
BEA Bet you a bob
I can quote any passage you choose.
IST. MAN Two bob if
you can give me the whole first act of `Romeo and Juliet.
BEA Make it three
bob and I’ll give you the whole play.
1ST MAN (laughs) You’re
on.
BEA That’s three
bob from each of you.
JOHN FOGARTY, a young and
slightly portly clergyman in a dog collar, has stopped to observe. BEA calls out to him.
BEA How about
you?
FOGARTY smiles and walks
over, taking three coins from his pocket.
The THREE MEN laugh and nod to each other: anything for a lark. BEA extracts her volume of SHAKESPEARE’S
COLLECTED WORKS from her bag, opens it to the relevant page and hands it to the
1st man, who is a little taken aback.
BEA With or
without stage directions?
IST. MAN Er...with.
BEA Righto. "Prologue. Two households, both alike in
dignity, in fair Verona, where we lay our scene..."
Passersby stop to
listen. BEA performs well.
LATER
Quite a large crowd has
gathered, listening with rapt attention to BEA's animated recital. BEA's eyes meet FOGARTY's. He smiles.
BEA "Scene
two. Capulet’s garden. Enter Romeo.
Romeo: He jests at scars that never felt
a wound..."
The 1ST. MAN is still
following the text, checking to see if BEA makes any mistakes. The 2ND. and 3RD. men are fishing in their pockets
for some money.
BEA "Juliet
appears above at a window. Romeo: But
soft, what light through yonder window breaks?"
The 1ST. MAN shuts the book,
shakes his head, fishes into his pocket and says, with good humor:
1ST. MAN You win.
The crowd cheers. He hands BEA her book and the money. The other men hand her their money also. The
crowd disperses. A few throw coins on
the ground in front of BEA. FOGARTY comes forward and holds three shilling
pieces out to BEA.
FOGARTY Excellent
performance.
BEA Thank you.
She looks at the coins and
shakes her head.
BEA No. I tricked
you.
FOGARTY is insistent.
FOGARTY Please.
BEA "My
poverty and not my will consents."
FOGARTY "Then I
will pay thy poverty and not thy will."
BEA laughs. FOGARTY smiles
and holds out his hand.
FOGARTY Reverend John
Fogarty.
BEA (shaking his hand)
Atheist Bea Miles.
FOGARTY A devout one
I hope.
BEA I don’t do
anything by halves.
FOGARTY May I buy you
some lunch.
BEA looks at his overweight
stomach.
BEA Looks like
you should skip lunch.
FOGARTY Alas, I have
a weakness for Italian food.
BEA I thought
gluttony was a sin!
FOGARTY Oh, I think
we’re all entitled to one sin, don’t you?
BEA smiles warmly at him.
122 INT. RESTAURANT. DAY
BEA and FOGARTY sitting a
small table in a restaurant, having recently finished their meal.
BEA You
Christians don’t believe in reincarnation, do you?
FOGARTY No.
BEA Nor do we
atheists. Pity. Be good to know that you had another life, wouldn’t it?; that
you didn’t have to do it all in this one.
FOGARTY You’d
probably come back as a policeman. Or a Christian.
BEA (laughs) God
forbid!
BEA (serious now) Ever
been in love Fogarty?
FOGARTY (smiles) No.
BEA thinks for a moment.
BEA If you had a
child you’d love it wouldn’t you?
FOGARTY Yes.
BEA And if you
had a second child and a third child you’d love them as much as the rest
wouldn’t you?
FOGARTY Yes.
BEA So love is
not an exhaustible quality, is it?
FOGARTY thinks for a moment.
BEA looks directly at him and he at her.
FOGARTY No. But time
is.
BEA (sighs) Yes.
...to be continued
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