Flight of the Maybug (Script)

ACT 1

MARCEL: Yes.

The two men stare at each other in deathly silence before erupting into tremendous laughter.

WILHELM: So you were in France?

MARCEL: I was.

WILHELM: Doing what?

MARCEL: Oh you know, this and that, fighting mostly, I'm Waffen SS, like you.

WILHELM: Oh no this is just a uniform.

FRITZ: Wilhelm!

WILHELM: Shit, sorry.

Pause.

MARCEL: Game's up, what are you then?

WILHELM: I shouldn't.

MARCEL: I told you who I was.

Pause.

WILHELM: I'm a medical student.

MARCEL: A medical student? From where?

WILHELM: Munich.

MARCEL: What's a 19 year old medical student from Munich doing running halfway across Germany?

Fritz stands up to scout the perimeter.

FRITZ: What are you, the bloody Gestapo? Ease off the boy, it's his birthday.

MARCEL: Apologies, just curious about the company I keep.

FRITZ: Well as a rule of thumb, ensure you're in good company first.

MARCEL: And what's that supposed to mean?

FRITZ: We were doing fine before you came, arguably better, and we'll be doing just as fine once you've left.

WILHELM: Fritz-

MARCEL: Please, it's fine, you barely know me, I'm intruding.

Marcel gets up to leave.

FRITZ: Au revoir.

MARCEL: Happy birthday. Keep the boy safe Fritz, I hope you know what you're doing.

FRITZ: I do, I have a plan.

MARCEL: Which is?

FRITZ: Sit and wait.

MARCEL: Until what?

FRITZ: I don't know, until something.

MARCEL: You know the SS has been declared a criminal organisation?

FRITZ: Yeah, I heard, thanks for making my life easier.

MARCEL: Pleasure. Well if I bump into your Max I'll try and send him your way. Oh and if you do get bored of "sitting and waiting", try and stay clear of that direction, Berlin's a death-trap.

FRITZ: How do you know where Berlin is?

MARCEL: I just came from there.

Fritz pulls out his map.

WILHELM: You were in Berlin?

MARCEL: I was.

WILHELM: How is it?

MARCEL: Well, you know how we hoped the Russians wouldn't flatten it?

WILHELM: Yeah.