7
ALBERT
And take a young inexperienced lad instead…
BRIAN
Well, there were reasons which I won't go into here.
Yes, Jack went. He was
on the same wavelength as my
father. But not me.
ALBERT
And Jack's very close friend, Raleigh?
BRIAN
Yes.
ALBERT
And they never returned... How
distressed did your
mother and the rest of the family feel?
BRIAN
(Sarcastic and impatient about the typical cliché media
question) "Vaguely" to "Medium" distressed. If we're
applying the Richter scale; "Five" perhaps.
ALBERT
A secret city still with its original population hidden
away from the modern world? A whole ancient
undiscovered culture…What did you think as they were
setting off? You were twenty then.
BRIAN
I wasn't too impressed. I wasn't a dreamer like my
father and Jack. I was a practical
lad and so I left for
Peru to work as an apprentice railway engineer building
railways over the Andes. I had a wonderful, exciting
career.
ALBERT
But when the years went by and the three had not
returned…You and your mother and sister Joan…You
weren't
terribly distressed, then?
BRIAN
(
Impatiently) There was a probability that my father
and the others had
chosen to stay
in there!
8
ALBERT
Extraordinary.
BRIAN
Several years perhaps. There was no point in returning
before he found "Z" and solid proof of his theory. His
last letter to my mother from a place called Dead Horse
Camp, because it was where one of his horses died,
said; "Don't worry if we are
gone several years and for
God's sake don't let rescue parties come looking for
us".
ALBERT
But the rescue parties got underway didn't they? Many
people lost their lives "Looking for Fawcett."
BRIAN
Over the next twenty years probably a hundred
adventurers lost their lives looking for my father. It
was a fashionable alternative to joining the foreign
legion. If you were tired of life or crossed in love…well
then, "Go and look for Fawcett in the swamps of
Amazonia!"
ALBERT
The world began to forget your father until you
published your best seller "Exploration Fawcett"
outlining his previous adventures.
BRIAN
My book put my father firmly on the world map. I was
even invited by the Brazilian
government to look at
some skeleton purported to be his. Of course it proved
to be a hoax. The Brazilian government wanted to stop
these Fawcett seekers coming in, fearing they were
really foreign agents and so produced a body to finally
close the case. It turned out
to be the skeleton of a five
foot two Indian found in an area the Fawcett party had
never visited, besides which my father and the others
were over six feet tall.
ALBERT
And you thought Jack might still be alive?…
9
BRIAN
Yes. I hired a plane and flew over thousands of square
miles and whenever the pilot and I spotted a clearing
with smoke from Indian fires we'd swoop down and
drop leaflets. It was terrifying. Especially when the
single engine occasionally
started sputtering and
stalling. Well, I never found Jack.
ALBERT
…So let's talk a little now about your father's personal
background. His inner beliefs and so on.
BRIAN
No. Let's
not talk about them.
ALBERT
Why?
BRIAN
You damn well know
why!! Because I asked you not to
when we negotiated this interview. So just let's unplug
this…
BRIAN
dives forward in a rage and rips the microphone cord from the
tape recorder.
ALBERT
No, please! That's BBC property!
BRIAN
Good! I shall enjoy stamping on it then if you don't get
out of my house right now!
ALBERT
Is this really necessary?
BRIAN
lunges menacingly at ALBERT
till they are face to face.
BRIAN
(
With quiet venom) I
requested and you agreed you
would avoid questions about my father's personal life.
10
ALBERT
But couldn't we talk? I mean without recording. I have
a special interest. 'Always have. I feel there's
something unspoken, about this story…Unfinished.
BRIAN
It's finished where
you're concerned! So…
Good-bye,
Mr. de Winton!!
Loud sound effect of music like a giant door slam. The scene shatters.
BRIAN
moving into the darkness of his bungalow and into the arms of
"M",
as ALBERT
paces the street outside. JESS
arrives.
SCENE FOUR. CARLISLE INSIDE AND OUTSIDE THE BUNGALOW
We see and hear both sets of dialogue; ALBERT
and JESS
and BRIAN
and
"M,"
BRIAN
Phew! That was a close one!
"M"
You did very well, darling. I almost felt sorry for him.
Outside. JESS
returning.
ALBERT
Oh my God, what a disaster.
JESS
What happened?
ALBERT
If you'd shown the slightest interest, Jess, you'd have
seen what happened. He threw me out! I just wanted
to get to the
core of the story, and he went ballistic.
JESS
(Laughing) I told you! The Fawcetts are
mad! I was
right. You're not going to get anywhere with this
project.