A Field in England Page #2

no desire to linger in these parts.

I am only too aware

that the odds are presently

against a man living his full span.

- Listen.

- (SILENCE)

They have forgotten you already.

I wish the feeling were mutual.

The skirmish is moving elsewhere.

F*** 'em, then, for being so FLighty.

But surely someone will come after us.

We're only shadows here, remember?

It will not be the first time I have left

a wake of indifference behind me.

(CHUCKLES)

(WHISPERS) Down, down, down now.

Get down.

Get... Get down.

Get down! Down!

(WHISPERING) Down, down, down.

Stay here. Stay here.

- Where you going?

- Stay here.

I'm not f***ing staying here.

I was... I was a cooper at...

I was a cooper

at Wickford in Essex before I joined.

Oh?

Have you ever been at Wickford?

- Ah, no. I never have.

- Course you haven't.

Yeah, quite right too.

Yeah. You're a wise sort, you, ain't you?

I could tell by your hands,

all clean and soft and that.

Yeah, yeah.

You think about a thing before

you touch it. Am I right?

Is that not usual?

Not in Essex.

Yeah, recruiters came to the village,

singing a song

about the glory of the battle.

You know?

Course, it isn't anything like that

when you get your hands into...

To the business of fighting, yeah.

Still have that song, though. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah. What about you?

Ah, assistant to a gentleman at Norwich,

an eminent alchemist, physician

and astrologer, amongst other things.

Right.

I was charged with the compilation

of sundry details

for his almanacs and charts,

aid his prominent friends, patrons,

politicians in their decisions,

all of great rank and fortune.

I was often given leave of his library,

which holds many a closely guarded tome,

to educate myself.

My father's poverty

forced me to leave school early,

but the master saw something of a...

Of a student in me.

Oh, an astrologer, you say? Right.

Yes. Yes. The, er, celestial bodies.

Their movements.

Oh?

Prediction. Prophecy. Divination.

They hang above us.

The stars. The planets.

No, I don't... Sorry.

Have you never looked up?

- Sounds badly paid.

- Ah, well, well.

My master says that knowledge

is its own payment.

Yeah, well, the only knowledge I have is

that God controls my fate as he sees fit,

and I try to draw consolation from that,

though I would like to know which of my

many faults he's punishing me for now.

(GRUNTS)

My master says,

"Whilst we live in fear of hell,

we... We have it."

Right.

(WHISPERS) Here. They're coming back.

(WHISPERS)

- All right? All clear?

- Get up.

COOPER:

Baloo, my boy, lie still and sleep

It grieves me sore to hear thee weep

If thou'lt be silent, I'll be glad

Thy moaning makes my heart full sad

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