FADE IN

EXT. A EUROPEAN VILLAGE IN SHAMBLES - EVENING

Setting sunlight streams through a yawning window in the only standing wall of a bomb-gutted building. The entire village is in ruins. Here and there an upthrust chimney marks where a house has been. A thin, dusty mist hangs low, covering everything.

Beneath the lone standing wall, JURGEN (9 years old)) sits on the ground, his eyes closed.

CLOSE ON JURGEN

A shadow falls across Jurgen's figure, and he realizes someone has come up silently and is standing before him. He blinks a little and sees before him TWO BENT, POORLY DRESSED LEGS.

He risks a quick glance above the bent legs and glimpses an OLD MAN (70). The Old Man carries a large knife and a woven basket. His fingertips are dirty from digging in the earth.

OLD MAN
So, you're really sleeping, heh?

Jurgen squints into the sun shining through between the Old Man's legs.

JURGEN
No, I'm not sleeping. I have to stand guard here.

OLD MAN
(nodding)
I see, that's probably why you have the big stick there?

JURGEN
(bravely)
Yes.

Jurgen pulls the stick to himself and grips it tightly.

OLD MAN
Well, what are you guarding then?

JURGEN
I can't tell you.

The Old Man sets the basket down on the ground and wipes the knife blade back and forth on the seat of his trousers as he speaks.

OLD MAN
Probably money, right?

JURGEN
No, it's not money. Something very different.

OLD MAN
Well, what then?

JURGEN
I can't tell. Just something else.

OLD MAN
Well, don't then. And of course I won't tell you what I have here in the basket either.

The Old Man folds the knife shut and nudges the basket with his toe.

JURGEN
I can imagine what's in the basket. Rabbit food!

OLD MAN
Tarnation, yes! You sure are a smart fellow. How old are you?

JURGEN
Nine.

OLD MAR
Well, imagine that, only nine. Then of course you must know how much three times nine is?

JURGEN
(stalling for time to think)
Sure. That's really an easy one. Three times nine, right? Twenty-seven. I know that one, too.

OLD MAN
Right. And I have exactly that many rabbits.

JURGEN
Twenty-seven!?

OLD MAN
You can see them. Many are quite young, too. Do you want to?

JURGEN
But I can't. I have to stand guard.

OLD MAN
Always? At night, too?

JURGEN
At night, too. Always. All the time.
(whispering)
Since last evening.

OLD MAN
But then don't you go home at all? You certainly have to eat.

As if in answer to the Old Man's question, Jurgen overturns a large flat stone. In a hole beneath it lies a half loaf of bread and a tin tobacco box.

OLD MAN
Oh, I see you smoke. Do you have a pipe?

JURGEN
I roll. I don't like pipe.

The Old Man stoops down over his basket and fidgets with the contents.

OLD MAN
Too bad. You could have come and looked at the rabbits. Especially the young ones. Maybe you could have picked out one for yourself. But of course you can't leave here.

JURGEN
(sadly)
No -- no, no.

The Old Man picks up his basket and stands up straight.

OLD MAN
Well, if you've got to stay here -- that's too bad.

He turns to leave. Jurgen speaks up quickly,

JURGEN
If you won't tell on me -- it's because of the rats...

The Old Man's bent legs step back a step.

OLD MAN
Because of the rats?

JURGEN
Yes. They eat the dead. Eat people. That's what they live on.

OLD MAN
Who said that?

JURGEN
Our teacher.

OLD MAR
And now you're guarding the rats?

JURGEN
(agitated)
No, not them!
(then, very gently)
My little brother. He's lying under there. There.

Jurgen points to a crumbled wall with his stick.

JURGEN (cont.)
A bomb hit our house. The light in the cellar went out. And he was gone. We called again and again. He was much smaller than I am. Only four. He must still be there. He is so much smaller than I am.

A four-beat silence.

OLD MAN
Yes, but then didn't your teacher tell you that rats sleep at night?

JURGEN
No. He didn't tell that.

OLD MAN
Well, what kind of a teacher is he if he doesn't even know that. After all, rats sleep at night. At night it's safe to go home. They always sleep at night. As soon as it gets dark.

Jurgen pokes at the debris with his stick and the Old Man bends down to talk closer:

OLD MAN (cont.)
You know what? I'm going to hurry on and feed my rabbits, and when it gets dark, I'll come back to you. Maybe I can bring one with me. A little one, what do you think?

JURGEN
All those little rabbits. White ones and gray ones.
(long pause)
I don't know...If they really sleep at night...

The Old Man clambers up over the remains of the wall and out onto the street. He answers from there:

OLD MAN
Why naturally they do! Your teacher should be dismissed if he doesn't even know that.

Jurgen stands suddenly and turns toward the Old Man who is hobbling away down the street on his bent legs.

JURGEN
Could I really have one? A white one maybe?

OLD MAN
(shouting back)
I'll see. But you'll have to wait here in the meantime. Then I'll go home with you, alright? After all, I'll have to show your father how to build a rabbit hutch. He'll need to know that.

JURGEN
Yes, I'll wait. I still have to stand guard until it gets dark. Sure, I'll wait.

Jurgen watches the Old Man walking away down the road, his basket swinging excitedly back and forth on his arm.

JURGEN (cont.)
And we have some boards at home too! Packing crate boards!

But the Old Man is too far down the road to hear this last. His small bent figure silhouetted in the setting red sun all but dissolves into the shimmering misty dust.

Jurgen watches him until he disappears over a rise.

FADE OUT

---

Copyright ©1979, 2007 by E. J. Campfield. All rights reserved.

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