An Education (15 page)
Authors: Nick Hornby
MISS STUBBS
makes a face.
makes a face.
All your books and pictures and . . .
MISS STUBBS
Paperbacks and postcards, Jenny.
JENNY
(
apparently understanding something
)
apparently understanding something
)
That’s all you need, isn’t it? Just somewhere to . . . I’m sorry I said those silly things. I didn’t understand.
MISS STUBBS
Let’s forget about it.
A postcard catches
JENNY’S
eye.
JENNY’S
eye.
JENNY
A Burne-Jones.
MISS STUBBS
Do you like him?
JENNY
pauses.
pauses.
JENNY
I do. Still.
MISS STUBBS
Still? Gosh, you sound very old and wise.
JENNY
(
heartfelt
)
heartfelt
)
I feel old. But not very wise. Miss Stubbs . . . I need your help.
MISS STUBBS
I was so hoping that’s what you were going to say.
JENNY
works hard, studying for her exams, the seasons pass . . .
104works hard, studying for her exams, the seasons pass . . .
INTERIOR: JENNY’S HOUSE, KITCHEN/HALLWAY - DAY
JENNY, JACK
and
MARJORIE
are finishing breakfast.
JACK
gets up and puts his raincoat on.
and
MARJORIE
are finishing breakfast.
JACK
gets up and puts his raincoat on.
JACK
Thank you, Marjorie.
He goes into the hallway.
JENNY,
still in her pyjamas, hardly looks up from her Penguin book.
JACK
returns to the kitchen with a letter.
JENNY,
still in her pyjamas, hardly looks up from her Penguin book.
JACK
returns to the kitchen with a letter.
It’s from Oxford.
JENNY
takes the letter, opens it, doesn’t give anything away, puts the letter on the table, gets up and goes into the hallway, closing the door to the kitchen.
JACK
nervously hands the letter to
MARJORIE.
takes the letter, opens it, doesn’t give anything away, puts the letter on the table, gets up and goes into the hallway, closing the door to the kitchen.
JACK
nervously hands the letter to
MARJORIE.
MARJORIE
(
reading
)
reading
)
‘It is my pleasure to inform you that your application to read English at Oxford has been accepted . . .’
In the hallway, we track in on
JENNY,
sitting at the bottom of the stairs, as she smiles.
105JENNY,
sitting at the bottom of the stairs, as she smiles.
EXTERIOR: STREET IN OXFORD - DAY
Eighteen months later. Swelling orchestral music.Wide shot of Oxford spires. Close on
JENNY
cycling, absorbed, happy.The camera pulls back to show her cycling through the streets of Oxford - a male student is cycling with her.
JENNY
cycling, absorbed, happy.The camera pulls back to show her cycling through the streets of Oxford - a male student is cycling with her.
JENNY (
voice over
)
voice over
)
So, I went to read English books, and did my best to avoid the speccy, spotty fate that Helen had predicted for me. I probably looked as wide-eyed, fresh and artless as any other student . . . But I wasn’t. One of the boys I went out with, and they really were boys, once asked me to go to Paris with him. And I told him I’d love to, I was dying to see Paris . . . as if I’d never been.
JENNY
and her friend cycle away into the distance.
and her friend cycle away into the distance.
APPENDIX: ALTERNATIVE ENDING
105EXTERIOR: STREET IN OXFORD - DAY
Eighteen months later. Swelling orchestral music. Close on
JENNY
cycling, absorbed, happy, the cello strapped to her precariously.The camera pulls back to show her cycling through the streets of Oxford - a male student is cycling with her. She’s done it.We follow her for a little while. She dismounts outside a church and leans the bike against a wall. Just as she’s about to leave it, she sees something and freezes.We follow her gaze: it’s the red Bristol, parked a little way down the road just in front of her. She scans the street to see if she can find
DAVID.
She can - he’s coming round a corner, a little further down the street, unwrapping a packet of cigarettes.
JENNY
moves into his eye-line. He sees her, stops, then walks towards her.
JENNY
cycling, absorbed, happy, the cello strapped to her precariously.The camera pulls back to show her cycling through the streets of Oxford - a male student is cycling with her. She’s done it.We follow her for a little while. She dismounts outside a church and leans the bike against a wall. Just as she’s about to leave it, she sees something and freezes.We follow her gaze: it’s the red Bristol, parked a little way down the road just in front of her. She scans the street to see if she can find
DAVID.
She can - he’s coming round a corner, a little further down the street, unwrapping a packet of cigarettes.
JENNY
moves into his eye-line. He sees her, stops, then walks towards her.
JENNY
Good God.
DAVID
Hello, Jenny.
JENNY
What are you doing here?
DAVID
I came to see you.
JENNY
I think in this case, better never than late.
DAVID
Please don’t be unkind. And you probably know that I’ve . . . Been away, so I couldn’t come before.
JENNY
Yes. My mother sent me the cutting from the local paper. ‘He asked for one hundred and ninety other offences to be taken into consideration. ’ A hundred and ninety! You must have ‘liberated’ most of the antiques in the Home Counties.
DAVID
I wanted to make a clean start. For a new life together. I came to tell you that I’m going to ask my wife for a divorce.
JENNY
laughs mirthlessly and disbelievingly.
laughs mirthlessly and disbelievingly.
JENNY
Don’t you understand what you did?
DAVID
Jenny . . . I can see my behaviour must have been . . . confusing. But we’ve never sat down and had a proper chat about it all. About the whys and wherefores. They can wait. The important thing is that you’re still my Minnie Mouse, and I love you, and you had fun.You know you had fun.
JENNY
Yes. I had fun. But I had fun with the wrong person, at all the wrong times. And I can’t ever get those times back, now. It was as if I got lost, and ended up in the middle of somebody else’s life. But I’ve got my own life back now. (
beat
) Look, David. I’m in Oxford.
beat
) Look, David. I’m in Oxford.
She looks at him and shakes her head, as if awaking from a dream.The student stops behind her on his bike, dismounts, leans his bike against the wall next to hers, waits for her to finish. She turns her back on
DAVID
, and the young man offers her his arm.They walk away together, and
DAVID
stares longingly after them.
DAVID
, and the young man offers her his arm.They walk away together, and
DAVID
stares longingly after them.
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