Every Good Boy Deserves Favor and Professional Foul (10 page)

MAN
2: (
In Czech
) Stay here.
(
Pause
.
ANDERSON
looks at his watch. Then from inside the flat
MRS HOLLAR
is shouting in Czech
.)

MRS HOLLAR:
(
Unseen
) I'm entitled to a witness of my choice.
(
The door is opened violently and immediately slammed
.
ANDERSON
becomes agitated
.)

ANDERSON:
What's going on in there?

MAN
2: (
In Czech
) Stay here, he won't be a minute.
(
ANDERSON
can hear
MRS HOLLAR
shouting
.)

ANDERSON:
Now look here—
(
ANDERSON
rings the doorbell.
The door is opened by
MAN
4.)
I demand to speak to Mrs Hollar.
(
Upstairs and downstairs doors are opening and people are shouting, in Czech ‘What's going on?' And so on. There is also shouting from inside the flat
.
MAN
2
shouts up and down the staircase, in Czech
.)

MAN
2: (
In Czech
) Go inside!

ANDERSON:
Now look here, I am the J. S. Mill Professor of Ethics at the University of Cambridge and I demand that I am allowed to leave or to telephone the British Ambassador!

MAN
4: (
In Czech
) Bring him inside.

MAN
2: (
In Czech
) In.
(
He pushes
ANDERSON
into the flat. Interior flat. The hallway. Inside it is apparent that the front door leads to more than one
flat. Off the very small dirty hall there is a kitchen, a lavatory and two other doors, not counting the door to the
HOLLAR
rooms
.)

MAN 4:
(
In Czech
) Stay with him.
(
The
HOLLAR
interior door is opened from inside by
MRS HOLLAR.
)

MRS HOLLAR:
(
In Czech
) If he's my witness he's allowed in here.

MAN 4:
(
In Czech
) Go inside—he's not your witness.
(
MAN
4
pushes
MRS HOLLAR
inside and closes the door from within. This leaves
ANDERSON
and
MAN
2
in the little hall. Another door now opens, and a small girl, poorly dressed, looks round it. She is jerked back out of sight by someone and the door is pulled closed. The
HOLLAR
door is flung open again, by
MRS HOLLAR
.)

MRS HOLLAR:
(
In Czech
) I want this door open.

MAN
2: (
In Czech
) Leave it open then. He'll be back in a minute.
(
MAN
4
disappears back inside the flat
.
MRS HOLLAR
is heard
.)

MRS HOLLAR:
(
Unseen. In Czech
) Bastards.
(
ANDERSON
stands in the hallway. He can hear
MRS HOLLAR
starting to cry
.
ANDERSON
looks completely out of his depth
.)

ANDERSON:
My God….
(
Then the doorbell rings
.
MAN
2
opens it to let in
MAN
3.)

MAN
2: (
In Czech
) We had to come in to shut her up.

MAN
3: (
In Czech
) Well, he's coming over. (
In English to
ANDERSON
.) Captain coming. Speak English.

ANDERSON:
I would like to telephone the British Ambassador.

MAN
3: (
In English
) O.K. Captain coming.

ANDERSON:
How long will he be? I have an appointment. (
He looks at his watch
.) Yes, by God! I do have an engagement and it starts in half an hour—

MAN
3: (
In English
) Please.
(
A lavatory flushes. From the other interior door an
OLD MAN
comes out
.
MAN
3
nods curtly at the
OLD MAN.
The
OLD MAN
shuffles by looking at
ANDERSON. MAN
3
becomes uneasy at being in the traffic. He decides to bring
ANDERSON
inside the flat. He does so.
Interior
HOLLAR
'
s room. There are two connecting rooms. Beyond this room is a door leading to a bedroom. This door is open. The rooms seem full of people. The rooms are small and
shabby. They are being thoroughly searched, and obviously have been in this process for hours. The searchers do not spoil or destroy anything. There are no torn cushions or anything like that. However, the floor of the first room is almost covered in books. The bookcases which line perhaps two of the walls are empty. The rug could be rolled up, and there could be one or two floorboards up
.
MAN
1
is going through the books, leafing through each one and looking along the spine. He is starting to put books back on the shelves one by one
.
MAN
5
has emptied drawers of their contents and is going through a pile of papers
.
MRS HOLLAR
stands in the doorway between the two rooms. Beyond her
MAN
2
can be seen searching
.
[MAN
4
is out of sight in the bedroom
.]
MAN
3
indicates a chair on which
ANDERSON
should sit
.
ANDERSON
sits putting his briefcase on the floor by his feet. He looks around. He sees a clock showing 2.35.
Mix to clock showing
2.55.
ANDERSON
is where he was
.
MAN
1
is still on the books
.
MAN
5
is still looking through papers
.
MAN
3
is examining the inside of a radio set.
Voices are heard faintly on the stairs. There is a man remonstrating. A woman's voice too.
The doorbell rings
.
MAN
3
leaves the room, closing the door
.
ANDERSON
hears him go to the front door. There is some conversation. The front door closes again and
MAN
3
re-enters the room
.)

MAN 3:
(
In English to
ANDERSON
) Taxi.

ANDERSON:
Oh—I forgot him. Dear me.

MAN
3: O.K.

ANDERSON:
I must pay him.
(
ANDERSON
takes out his wallet
.
MAN
3
takes it from him without snatching
.)

MAN
3: O.K.
(
MAN
3
looks through the wallet
.)

ANDERSON:
Give that back— (
Furious
) Now, you listen to me—this has gone on quite long enough—I demand—to be allowed to leave….
(
ANDERSON
has stood up
.
MAN
3
gently pushes him back into the chair. In
ANDERSON
'
s wallet
MAN
3
finds his envelope and
discovers the football ticket. He puts it back. He looks sympathetically at
ANDERSON
.)

MAN
3: (
In Czech
) The old boy's got a ticket for the England match. No wonder he's furious. (
He gives the wallet back to
ANDERSON.
In English
.) Taxi O.K. No money. He go. Football no good.

ANDERSON:
Serve me right.

MAN 5:
(
In Czech
) It's on the radio. Let him have it on.
(
MAN
3
returns to the radio and turns it on
.
MRS HOLLAR
enters quickly from the bedroom and turns it off
.)

MRS HOLLAR:
(
In Czech
) That's my radio.

MAN 3:
(
In Czech
) Your friend wants to listen to the match.
(
MRS HOLLAR
looks at
ANDERSON.
She turns the radio on. The radio is talking about the match which is just about to begin
.)

MAN 3:
(
In English
) Is good. O.K.?
(
ANDERSON,
listening, realizes that the radio is listing the names of the English team.
Then the match begins.
Mix to:
The same situation about half an hour later. The radio is still on
.
MAN
1
is still on the books. He has put aside three or four English books
.
MAN
5
has disappeared
.
MAN
2
is sorting out the fluff from a carpet sweeper
.
MAN
4
is standing on a chair examining the inside of a ventilation grating
.
ANDERSON
gets up off his chair and starts to walk towards the bedroom. The three
MEN
in the room look up but don't stop him
.
ANDERSON
enters the bedroom.
Interior bedroom
.
MAN
3
is going through pockets in a wardrobe
.
MAN
5
is looking under floorboards
.
MRS HOLLAR
is sitting on the bed watching them
.)

ANDERSON:
It's half-past three. I demand to be allowed to leave or to telephone the British—

MAN 3:
Please—too slow.

ANDERSON:
I demand to leave—

MAN 3:
O.K. Who wins football?

ANDERSON:
(
Pause
) No score.
(
The doorbell goes
.
MAN
3
goes into the other room and to the door
.
ANDERSON
follows him as far as the other room. On the way through
MAN
3
signals to turn off the radio
,
MAN
2
turns off the radio
.
MRS HOLLAR
comes in and turns the radio on
.)

MRS HOLLAR:
(
In Czech
) Show me where it says I can't listen to my own radio.
(
MAN
3
returns from the front door with
MAN
6.
MAN
6
enters the room saying:
)

MAN
6: (
In Czech
) I said don't let him leave—I didn't say bring him inside. (
To
ANDERSON
in English
.) Professor Anderson? I'm sorry your friend Mr Hollar has got himself into trouble.

ANDERSON:
Thank Christ—now listen to me—I am a professor of philosophy. I am a guest of the Czechoslovakian government. I might almost say an honoured guest. I have been invited to speak at the Colloquium in Prague. My connections in England reach up to the highest in the land—

MAN
6: Do you know the Queen?

ANDERSON:
Certainly. (
But he has rushed into that
.) No, I do not know the Queen—but I speak the truth when I say that I am personally acquainted with two members of the government, one of whom has been to my house, and I assure you that unless I am allowed to leave this building immediately there is going to be a major incident about the way my liberty has been impeded by your men. I do not know what they are doing here, I do not care what they are doing here—

MAN
6: Excuse me. Professor. There is some mistake. I thought you were here as a friend of the Hollar family.

ANDERSON:
I know Pavel Hollar, certainly.

MAN
6: Absolutely. You are here as a friend, at Mrs Hollar's request.

ANDERSON:
I just dropped in to—what do you mean?

MAN
6: Mr Hollar unfortunately has been arrested for a serious crime against the State. It is usual for the home of an accused person to be searched for evidence, and so on. I am sure the same thing happens in your country. Well, under our law Mrs Hollar is entitled to have a friendly witness present during the search. To be frank she is entitled to two
witnesses. So if, for example, an expensive vase is broken by mistake, and the police claim it was broken before, it will not just be her word against theirs. And so on. I think you will agree that's fair.

ANDERSON:
Well?

MAN
6: Well, my understanding is that she asked you to be her witness. (
In Czech to
MRS HOLLAR
.) Did you ask him to be your witness?

MRS HOLLAR:
(
In Czech
) Yes, I did.

MAN
6: (
In English to
ANDERSON
) Yes. Exactly so. (
Pause
.) You are Mr Hollar's friend, aren't you?

ANDERSON:
I taught him in Cambridge after he left Czechoslovakia.

MAN
6: A brave man.

ANDERSON:
Yes … a change of language … and culture …

MAN
6: He walked across a minefield. In 1962. Brave.

ANDERSON:
Perhaps he was simply desperate.

MAN
6: Perhaps a little ungrateful. The State, you know, educated him, fed him, for eighteen years. ‘Thank you very much—good-bye.'