March Forth | Based on the Books and Life of Louisa May Alcott

The Marches | Cavaliers in the Woods, December 1862

EXT. SNOWY WOODS — SOME ENGLISH COUNTRYSIDE — 1600s

Four cavaliers. LOUIS, a mustached, curly-haired man; ADRIAN, adorning a floppy, green velvet hat; ERNEST, with a walking staff and feathered cap; CHRISTIAN, carrying the bag of all the good, scarf wrapped around his face.

ADRIAN (MEG), LOUIS (JO), ERNEST (AMY), and CHRISTIAN (BETH) are traversing through the snowy woods, worn from their travels in the war. They find themselves near the top of the slope as the sun rises beyond the treeline. They pant for breath after their long journey, hoping to find their next destination—their home village.

LOUIS
(forlornly) I wonder if much of it's changed.

ADRIAN
(leaning against a tree) What has changed, Louis?

LOUIS
Home. Our village. (beat) I dread to return to find things different since we left.

CHRISTIAN
(shouldering pack) War changes even the best of things.

ERNEST
Must you make it depressing? (ERNEST pouts, kicking a pile of snow) I can't stand to be sad any longer. This war makes me sick.

ADRIAN
Christian cannot help it. He is a sentimental fellow, is he not?

LOUIS
What I cannot help is my pain and my aching bones. How much longer, Adrian? I am in agony!

ADRIAN
(pulls out a map to glance over it) It looks as if we have another few miles.

LOUIS
(pulls out a sword to look at it) After two years of fighting, one would think I'd have the endurance to make it home. (slashes sword) But, no. We have no supplies left and are struggling to make it there before we die out here.

ADRIAN
It is a sad thought, to live through war and die within a breath of the village due to bad packing on our part.

LOUIS
Oh, the agony! (sheaths sword, falling to his knees) I might as well die here than die two steps closer to the sweet bliss of home I shall never taste again!

ADRIAN
Get up, Louis, we must keep going! The sun is almost set and we must reach the village.

LOUIS
(beats chest) I shall die of thirst before then.

ERNEST
But we have water. Beth has it in her bag.

The scene cuts to—

EXT. WOODS NEAR ORCHARD HOUSE — DECEMBER 1862

JO, with a drawn-on mustache and sword; MEG, with a floppy hat and newspaper as a map; AMY, with a large stick and feathered hat; BETH, with a satchel of goods.

JO frowns, in the same place that LOUIS was, hand on her chest as if she is still beating it. She huffs, scrambling to her feet to dust herself off.

JO
Amy, I know that, but Meg already said that they packed poorly and had no water.

The camera pans to MEG who has the same getup as ADRIAN. She flicks the newspaper/map before folding it under her arm.

MEG
You technically came up with the concept, Jo.

JO
(sighs) That's beside the point, though! She always has to ruin our games.

AMY, who bears the stick and lopsided feather cap, frowns, crossing her arms over her chest.

AMY
I do NOT always ruin games.

JO opens her mouth to speak but BETH places a hand on her arm.

BETH
I think we are all cold and need to go inside. Marmee will be needing the jars for canning soon.

She pats the satchel at her side. JO frowns, shooting a glare at AMY who sticks her tongue at her. With a huff, JO knocks off AMY's hat as she walks by.

MEG
Josephine March!

Amy scrambles to her knees to dig the hat out of the snow, but the feather isn't in sight.

AMY
Jo! (groans, lifting sopping hat) The feather is ruined, and the hat—ugh, forget about fixing it; it's doomed!

JO
(linking arms with Beth, not turning to look) It's just snow.

MEG
And it's just a game.

JO
(turns to look at MEG, before pouting) Sorry.

MEG
Don't say sorry to me.

JO
(glances at Amy, letting out a defeated sigh) Sorry, Ames. (links arms with Amy) I get so caught up in the plot that I hate to see it get thwarted.

AMY
I just get tired of it after a while.

JO
(looks down at her, squeezing her) I do hope you can forgive me. And I hope you can fix the hat.

AMY
Oh, I should be able to, (flushes) but at the expense of Marmee's feather duster.

JO
A worthy expense. Our performance is coming up. Can't wait to show Marmee the costumes I've been working on.

MEG
You also must be wanting to show Marmee that you can now grow facial hair.

JO
(hastily rubbing charcoal mustache off) Thanks. Didn't want to explain myself to Hannah again.

The girls laugh, walking out of the woods and towards their home.