Complete Works of F. Scott Fitzgerald (Illustrated) (494 page)

The Attendant
(
convulsed
): That ain’t one car. That’s made out of ten cars. You ought to have ten licenses. Should I give you a push?

Pityingly the Comrades exchange a glance. Then Otto Koster steps on it, Bobby Lohkamp flicks the flower at the attendant, and they leave the filling station in such a burst of speed that the man jumps back and stares in astonishment.

CUT TO:

11 A SUBURBAN ROAD. AFTERNOON

The Comrades, bowling along leisurely, are passed by a reckless motor-cyclist, veering from one side of the road to the other. He holds his place annoyingly in front of the Comrades’ car, which will shortly be introduced as “Heinrich” (
Note: I have put “Heinrich” instead of “Karl” because the latter is so like “car” that it would be a source of confusion.
); and the Comrades don’t like it. We come to:

12 A CROSSROAD ON A RISE OF GROUND.

Neither city nor country; a few scattered houses and signboards.

The car, “Heinrich,” approaches. It begins to pass the cyclist, but slows up at the crossroad warning. But the motorcyclist curves narrowly around in front of a Ford coming out of the side road, and goes on his way.

CUT TO:

13 A CLOSE UP OF THE COMRADES IN THEIR CAR.

Koster
: Look at that half-wit!

Lenz
: That’s done it!

CUT TO:

14 THE FORD FROM THE SIDE ROAD —
 — skids and overturns smashingly in the road.

CUT TO:

15 KOSTER —
 — slams on his brakes and barely avoids crashing into the overturned car. Instantly the three Comrades jump out and run to the wreck. Koster has a slight limp.

CUT TO:

16 THE DRIVER OF THE FORD —
 — Puppi, a baker about fifty, soft, stout, sharp-looking, unattractive, is pinned between the wheel and the seat. The motor is still running at high speed, but as Lenz turns it off, the man’s groans are audible. Koster, an exceptionally strong man, bends back the wheel while the other two pull Puppi out.

Lenz
: Easy now.

Bobby Lohkamp
(
gritting his teeth
): His ribs are crushed — I can feel.

Koster
(
panting
): There’s a hospital up the road.

They place the man in “Heinrich”.

Koster
(
to Bobby
): You stay here and keep an eye on it. (
he indicates the wreck
) May mean a repair job for us.

Koster drives off, with Lenz beside him, holding the half-unconscious baker in his arms.

DISSOLVE TO:

17 INT. THE RECEPTION ROOM OF A SMALLHOSPITAL.

The injured man is on an examination table. The Doctor looks up and speaks to Koster and Lenz.

The Doctor
: Might have been worse. Couple of ribs broken. He’d better stay here.

Puppi
(
feebly
): What about my car? (
to Lenz and Koster
) Will you see about the car? (
struggles for breath
) Telephone a garage.

Lenz
(
hinting
): We run a repair shop ourselves.

Koster
: We’ll tow it in if you want us to take care of it for you.

Puppi
: All right — all right. Do what’s necessary. My name’s Manfred Puppi.

Koster
(
taking out a card
): My name’s Otto Koster. (
puts the card in Puppi’s pocket
)

Lenz
(
consolingly
): It was the motorcycle’s fault, and we’ve got his number.

DISSOLVE TO:

18 THE ROAD. KOSTER AND LENZ —
 — driving rapidly back to the damaged car.

Koster
: This is a God-send. First job in a week. I don’t mind saying I’ve been uneasy.

Lenz
: So have I — you lose your nerve on one meal a day.

Koster
: And it’s a big job too — radiator smashed, wheel crushed — (
he breaks off
) What’s the excitement?

Lenz, staring ahead, sees:

19 THE SUBURBAN CROSSROADS

People have gathered around the wrecked car. Bobby, his arms folded, stands defiantly in front of it. Facing him are four men in mechanics’ clothes, tough eggs with mean fighting faces. A wrecking truck, marked “Vogt Brothers” is drawn up behind them.

The Biggest Vogt Brother
(
to Bobby
): Get going, or we’ll push your face in!

Bobby
: I told you this was our job.

CUT TO:

20 “Heinrich” —
 — coming to rest beside the group.

Koster
(
to Lenz
): Looks like a tough bunch. They’re going to need persuasion. Where’s a wrench?

He takes off his glasses and groping for a wrench, puts it in his rear pocket.

Lenz
(
indignant
): The dirty robbers! (
he closes his hand on a bunch of keys
) Too bad I’ve got on my best shoes.

Koster
(
getting out
): Watch it — we’re three against four.

CUT TO:

21 KOSTER AND LENZ —
 — approaching the wreck.

Biggest Vogt
(
to Bobby
): Don’t talk tripe or you’ll need repairs yourself.

Koster and Lenz range themselves beside Bobby.

Koster
: We’ve got permission from the owner to do the job.

Another Vogt Brother
(
producing a tire wrench from behind his back
): How would you like another scar on your fat face?

Koster
: That took a machine gun.

Biggest Vogt
(
still sure of himself
): Three of you, eh?

Lenz
: No, four.

Another Brother
(
looking around
): Go on — he’s kidding.

Lenz
(
dryly
): You can’t see him — his name is Justice.

Biggest Vogt
(
to his brother
): Give us that trolley.

One brother takes hold of the cable that swings from his derrick and walks forward. Bobby stands in his way — Vogt tries to shove by, and in a minute, the fight is on. It is a great fight — three canny veterans against four young toughs. We get flashes of:

22 KOSTER —
 — fighting coolly on two fronts, starting to use his wrench and deciding not to.

23 BOBBY —
 — down, apparently being choked to death, then free, and up again.

24 LENZ —
 — attacked with a tire wrench, knocking the man out with his improvised brass knuckles.

25 ONE OF THE BYSTANDERS —
 — a goofy, goggle-eyed peasant, jumping up and down and clapping in ecstacy whenever the battle turns in favor of the Comrades, almost weeping when it goes against them.

26 THE FIGHT —
 — has moved forward from the wrecked car toward the Vogt brothers’ truck, which is parked on an incline. One Vogt is out cold. When Koster is momentarily free, he glances at Lenz who is fighting near the rear of the truck and has his opponent at a disadvantage.

Koster
(
crooks his finger and shouts to Lenz
): The crane!

Lenz, struggling with his opponent, sees that the hook of the derrick hangs free on its cable. He suddenly understands and, reaching for the hook, attaches it to the man’s belt.

27 SIMULTANEOUSLY: KOSTER —
 — has unset the emergency brake of the wrecking truck and given it a shove. The truck starts to roll and the Vogt brother gives a yell as he is pulled off with it, bumping along the ground.

28 THE OTHER BROTHERS —
 — see, and yelling imprecations, start after their truck. As it passes out of the picture down the hill with one of them climbing aboard —

CUT TO:

29 THE THREE COMRADES —
 — laughing in victory while the goofy peasant jumps up and down, clapping his hands with delight.

Koster
: Now we’ll take the prize to port.

DISSOLVE TO:

30 EXT. KOSTER&CO. AUTO REPAIR SHOP

The shop is set in a factory district of tall chimneys and tenements. In front of it is the sign, and a gas pump is in front of an old, creaking gate. As Koster drives “Heinrich” in, pulling the wrecked Ford, we follow to:

31 THE REPAIR SHOP

A COURTYARD —
 — in a canyon between big buildings. Part of it is a covered shed sheltering a couple of dismantled jallopies and a once-expensive Cadillac which preserves a certain gaudy style and is polished to a fare-you-well. It bears a sign, “For Sale.” In a corner is a one-story room which serves as an office. Under a tin roof extending from it are chairs and a rough table. Nearby, a sink with mechanics’ soap. As the caravan halts, we see:

32 MATILDA —
 — the charwoman, swaying rather drunkenly in the door of the office, then precipitately retiring.

Jupp, a boy of fifteen, freckled and spinakereared, coming forward eagerly as he wipes his hands on a piece of waste.

Jupp
(
before they can get out
): A customer! — A customer! A guy came to look at the Cadillac! (
he points toward it
) He’ll be back. (
he stares at the Ford
) Whew!

Koster
(
getting out of “Heinrich”
): We picked it up on the road. It means pay for you, Jupp. Jupp looks at their dishevelled clothes, then at the car and at Bobby, who has a bruised cheek bone.

Jupp
: Were you
in
the wreck?

Bobby
: We were in a war. And we need a drink. (
as he starts toward the sink
) Fine business on my birthday.

Lenz
(
calling after him
): Your birthday? How old?

Bobby
(
turning
): Thirty.

Lenz
: How do you feel?

Bobby
(
washing his hands at the sink
): I feel like sixty and sixteen at once. I feel low as that creeper. (
he kicks at a roller, used to get under cars
)

Lenz
(
calling
): What do you mean, low? If you’re sixteen and sixty both, you’re living two lives at once. (
pause
) It’s a miracle. (
Bobby disappears into the office
):

Koster
: Let him alone, Gottfried. Birthdays are no fun. That’s when you look at yourself in the mirror and find you’re only the same old heel after all. Let’s get busy. (
to Jupp
) What’s this about a customer?

Jupp
: He said he’d be right back.

Lenz
: Great snakes! If we can sell it, we can even pay the rent. Never mind the wreck. One more polish and we can ask another hundred.

Koster
: Thick oil in the engine.

Lenz
: More grease in the gears.

Koster
: Deflate the tires for rough roads.

Lenz
: Oil the bonnet. Hot water in the radiator.

They look toward the Cadillac with growing excitement as they talk.

Koster
: Come on, Gottfried!

He and Lenz spring for the work shed.

CUT TO:

33 THE DINGY BUT SUNLIT OFFICE

A desk, surmounted by silver framed photograph of the Comrades in uniform; some chairs; street clothes on hooks and hangers; an open cupboard and a small table on which rests an empty bottle. We hear a woman’s voice, singing “The Song of the Bold Hussar,” which dies hollowly away as the SCENE WIDENS to include Bobby coming in the door and Matilda, the charwoman, with her hand stretched toward the bottle. Seeing him, she stops, teetering like a drunken hippopotamus, and drops a broom from her other hand. She wears a dirty white headcloth, hitched-up skirt, apron and thick slippers.

Bobby
(
amused and annoyed
): Why, Frau Stoes! Last night that bottle was full. I must have forgotten to lock it up.

Matilda
(
blinking and staring
): Holy Saints! I wasn’t expecting you.

Bobby
: Evidently not. Was it good?

Matilda
(
involuntarily
): It sure was. (
recovering her dignity and wiping her mouth
): This is very embarrassing. I simply can’t understand it —

Bobby
: I can. You’re tight as a tick.

Matilda
(
at last thinking what to say
): I only smelled it at first, Herr Lohkamp. Then I took a nip for my sciatica. Then the Devil got hold of me. (
she draws herself up
): Anyhow, you ought not to lead an old woman into temptation, leaving bottles about.