All language subtitles for Small Island s01e02.eng

This programme contains
some strong language.

'How people's lives entwine
is one of life's mysteries.

'For hortense, living in england was a
childhood dream she shared with Michael.'

I will be a teacher in a fine English school and
I will live in a fine house with electric lights

and a bell at the front door.

'But war has a habit
of crushing dreams.'

he's to go overseas. The mother
country needs men to fight for her.

'For Gilbert, war was a chance
to escape his small island,

'while in england, queenie
had her own dreams.'

I can get a job,
travel, see the world.

We're getting married.

'But the war put paid
to her dreams also.

'But the chaos of war can also bring
people together.' Mrs bligh, I presume.

'As well as divide them.

'Some, perhaps for good.'

it's your own flesh and blood
you should think on now, queenie,

not some man who's left
you in the bloody lurch.

This is my home now.

'Hortense did not let the loss of
Michael mean losing her dream.

'Love was a luxury she
could no longer afford.'

I will lend you the money. You will send for me
to come to england when you find a place to live.

'While queenie was
paying the price for love.

'There's a shallow sleep
just before wakefulness

'where reality can merge with a
dream and the two become as one.

'So it was for hortense on
her first morning in england.

'She was having the same dream
she'd often had, back in Jamaica,

'that one day she would live in a fine house with
its own doorbell and a warm fire in the grate.

'She would sit by it with her children
and tell them about the power of dreams.

'As Gilbert watched her sleep, he could sense the
sweetness of her dream and it reminded him of his own

'when he, too, had
first arrived in england.'

squeaking and scrabbling

what is that noise? Just rats.

Mice... just mice in the roof.

You bring me to a
house with mice?

Every house in London
have mice, hortense.

They bombed out too, you know.

It not light yet?

This is how it is with
the English winter.

It stay dark till
nine in the morning.

By four in the afternoon, the
sun gone and it dark again.

Squeaking

sometimes, if you blink,

you miss a whole day.

Shut up there! Don't you
know a lady is present?

I must leave for
work now, hortense.

I put the fire on for you, see?

If the gas go out, you
put money in the meter.

I'll leave it for you here.

For the, er...

I get back at six o'clock.

There is a egg and
potato in the cupboard.

You can make us
chips for supper.

You do know how
to make chips, nah?

Do I look like an
imbecile, Gilbert Joseph?

We did all aspects of domestic
science on my college course.

Perhaps you would like to see
my diploma? I swear, hortense,

you can be more prickly
than a prickly pear sometimes.

Mm-hm.

I bet you not get
no sleep last night.

Man, if I had a wife like that,
come all this way to be with me!

What a piece of something I would
give for some of that to keep me warm.

Winston, wait for
me outside, nah?

Did I wake you?
What do you think?

Me wife, hortense, she think she know
everytin' about england, but she know nothing.

If you go out today, can you take her with
you? Show her round, make sure she's all right?

Go on, then.

Thank you.

Oh, queenie.

Don't tell her I asked you.

She's proud that way.

All right.

'Some believe that destiny is the
predetermined path we travel down in life.

'Others claim it is the roulette
wheel of luck which shapes us.'

'If it is luck,

'then perhaps it lies not so much
in what happens to us, but resides

'within our own natures, in how
we deal with the hand we are dealt.'

Wind blows, thunder

Gilbert?

Gilbert!

Gilbert, wake up now, man!

Don't do that! My
turn. Up and out.

I tell you,

only so much longer I
can take this, Winston.

Well, then find us a
place like you promise!

"Boy, it will be easy," you say.

"We get a job easy," you say.

How many doors I knock on since we been
here, Winston? How many shut in me damn face?

You say you had friends. You
say you know people from the war.

All your big talk
on that ship, huh?

We stuck here for months in this
stinking rat hole with no whiff of a job.

Things were
different in the war.

They needed us then.

I see you were in the raf.

Raf myself, too, as it goes.

Where were you stationed? Yorkshire,
sir. And then some time in Scotland.

Ah, Scotland? How was it there?

A beautiful country,
sir. Truly majestic.

But cold. I never
know such a cold wind.

Well, I expect everywhere
seems cold to you, lad.

How long have you been back in
Blighty? Near two months now, sir.

Finding work has been...

Seem every job I go for
vanish when I get there.

Oh, believe me, if I could do something
for you here I would. Like a shot, I would.

They say at the labour exchange you had a vacancy
for the job of storekeeper. I have it wrote down.

Or did this job vanish, too? Oh,
no, no. We still have the vacancy.

It's just, we have women
working in this factory, too, you see.

What if, in the course of your duties,
you found yourself talking to one of them?

Well, I... I be
polite, of course.

Oh, I don't doubt it, lad. But, if the men saw you
talking to a white woman, all hell would break loose.

They wouldn't stand for it. I can't ignore
the opinions of my workforce, can I?

You must see that, surely?

A question, sir, if I may?

Please. Why you never tell
me this when I first sit down?

When I still had
feeling in me backside?

'A coloured boy trying to make his way in
London can often feel his luck has run out.'

'but it can change
in a blink of his eye.'

'just for a fleeting moment, he can believe, after
all, that he is in control of his own destiny.'

'Then again, luck can simply
be remembering a friendly face.'

Queenie. It's Gilbert, Gilbert
Joseph. We meet up in Yorkshire.

Gilbert Joseph.

Well, I'll be damned. I remember the address
from the card your father-in-law carry.

Well, don't just
stand there. Come in.

Come in!

Morning, mr Todd.

I did feel so bad about what
happened that day, queenie.

It was my intention to come and
express my condolence for your...

You have nothing to
apologise for, Gilbert...

Or blame yourself for.

You know, it's fate,
you turning up like this.

I was just that minute wondering
where I could find myself a man.

I'd never manage the
damn thing on my own.

You are on your own?

Your husband is not...

Not dead, no. Awol.

Right, one more floor.

He made it back from India
with his unit after the war.

Just didn't see fit to
make it back to me.

Oh, god.

So... what are your plans,

now you're back?

Well, I finally get myself a
job, driving for the post office.

I did hope for sometin' better than be a damn driver
yet again, but it mean money comin' in at last.

All I need now is to find me a place to live so I
can send for me wife, like I promise. Say again.

Me wife. I'm married now...

No, no, no about
needing a place to live.

Why I come looking for you.

I thought maybe you
might know somebody...

Didn't I say it was
fate you coming?

That's what all this
malarkey is about.

I'm getting the
rooms ready to rent.

Needs a bit of paint, a few
more sticks of furniture...

I have a friend, Winston.

He needing a place, too. Well, he can have one
of the other rooms. Send him along too, why not?

Sorry, sorry.

When will your wife come?

Directly I have saved enough for her
passage. So is she a childhood sweetheart,

or was it love at first sight?

You think there is such a thing?

Doesn't much matter.

Chances are you end up alone.

You're not angry with
him? Your husband?

No, what does anger solve?

This is nice.

I have found some English people are not so
welcoming to us coloured boys now the war is over.

At school,

we learn everytin'
about the mother country.

At age ten, I could recite all the
great industrial canals of england...

'So he told queenie how as a child he had
learnt all about the steelworks of sheffield,

'the China firms of
stoke-on-Trent, the railways,

'the parliamentary system of westminster and
all the great laws which had been passed there.'

all west Indian children must
learn this until they are word perfect.

'As queenie listened, she
felt perhaps for the first time

'what it was like to walk
in the shoes of another.'

when I arrive here, the English, they look at
me dark skin and say, "ah, you are from Africa."

I say, "no, I'm from Jamaica in the
west indies. I am British like you."

And their face go blank

and I realise that this mother country,
about which we Jamaicans know so much,

does not even know
where her own children live.

She does not
care one jot for us.

Radio: 'At the christening
of the first-born child...'

hortense copies accent: Firstborn
child... And the Duke of Edinburgh.

'..Charles Philip
Arthur George...'

Charles Phillip Arthur
George windsor.

'...a lace brocade
robe, which...'

lace brocade robe.

'The ceremony was followed by a
family lunch at Buckingham Palace...'

who is it, please? It's
queenie from downstairs.

We met last night.

Hortense, isn't it?

Just came up to see
you're settling in all right.

Oh, having a clean-up, eh?

No, he's not exactly
housetrained, your Gilbert, is he?

Oh, I'm glad you've got this
on today. It's perishing out there.

Oh, er, we say "perishing"

when it's cold.

Erm, you know, brrrrrr.

"Perishing cold," we say.

You'll get the hang of
these things soon enough.

Well, so, um, how long have
you and Gilbert been married?

Since the day before
he sail to england.

Oh? I met him during
the war. Did he tell you?

He mentioned something
of that nature in a letter, yes.

Mm. He's a good sort.

Reliable, decent.

You're lucky to have him.

Well, if you like, I can take you
down the shops, show you about,

show you how to
use your ration book.

Oh, have you got a ration book?

We'll soon get you fixed up.

Well, erm,

you just, you know, just give
me a knock when you're ready.

I'm usually about.
One thing, if I may ask?

Can you perchance
inform me what is "chips"?

Chips? What, the sort you
eat or... The edible variety, yes.

They're, er, they're
potatoes sliced up small.

Bit of salt and
vinegar, just the job.

Oh, I want you to know, hortense,
I'm not like most round here.

It doesn't bother me being seen out with
you, so don't give it a thought, all right?

You can get most anything here.
This is where you get fresh fish.

Cakes, bread, so forth.

Oh, and there's the groceries for your
fruit, what-nots and... Mrs bligh? Queenie!

You are a punctilious
teacher, mrs bligh.

I know because I am a teacher.

But perhaps we can come
to an agreement, you and I.

When I do not know what
something is, I will ask.

Brushes, nails, clothes pegs...

Can I help you?

I would like to purchase,
please, three basins.

Approximately this size.

Eh?

Three basins. So big.

What's she on about?

What did you say?
Basins, for the sink.

Oh! She means a bowl.

A washing-up bowl.

Ninepence ha'penny. I
will need three, please.

Three? Why three?

One for washing vegetables, one
for crockery and one for clothes.

No! You just need one
and rinse it out after.

One is fine. Still
ninepence ha'penny.

On the counter.

I wish you a good day, sir.

Here to pick up for the earls court
sorting office? Did someone speak?

Didn't hear a dicky bird.

Could you tell me,
please, those I'm to take?

There it is again.

I can't see nothing. Can you?

All right, I'll find it myself.

Oi! Don't touch those.

They're not for earls court! Get your
dirty black mitts off 'em! Is it these?

How many coons does it
take to change a lavatory roll?

Well, no-one knows,
it's never been done!

Just tell me those I am to take,
nah? Then I can be on my way.

What is the wog on about?

Tell you what, I'll answer your
question, sambo, if you'll answer mine.

When are you going
back to the jungle?

They snigger

he makes monkey noises

they laugh

not yet, man.

I mean, I only just get here
and I don't fuck your wife yet.

What did you say?

Oh, I'd think twice, sambo, eh? Do you want
to keep your job and stay out of jail, eh?

Everyone here will say you
attacked a defenceless white man.

The police will have you back on your
banana boat so fast your feet won't touch.

Savages. Animals!

Now...

You owe me an apology, coon.

And I'm not hearing
it. On your knees.

On your knees! He groans

say it.

Sorry.

Good evening. What
you doing, woman?

Cleaning the floor.

No wife of my mine will go
on her knees in this country.

Not now, not ever!

Come to the table
and I bring your supper.

See, all ready at six
o'clock, just like you ask.

You not taking off your coat?

Too cold.

What is this?

Chips, like you ask.

This is not chips!
Chips is fried!

How you don't
know what a chip is?

And this, what is this? Your fancy college
not teach you to cook a goddamn egg?

They teach us to be thankful
for the food the lord provide,

a lesson you would do well to learn, I think! What
are you doing? Food should be eaten at a table!

You can eat where you want,
miss high and mighty high class!

I am cold. I eating here.

You cannot cook a simple
thing like egg and chips.

Can you cook anything at all?

You are an ungrateful
man, Gilbert Joseph.

I been working hard all day.
This is what I come home to.

This egg is off.

I can take no more of this!

No more!

You dropped your glove, dear.

You dropped it back in the street,
but you walk too quick for me.

Have a cough sweet.

Warm you up.

Ruddy things. Always
get stuck together!

Look like a precious Jewel, don't
they, when the light gets through 'em?

Well,

best be getting off home.

Best place to be
on a night like this.

You should do the same.

Good night, dear.

Tearfully: Good night...

Me so sorry, hortense.

Look, see,

I get something for us.

Will you join me for dinner?

My lady?

This here is your
English delicacy.

Fish and chips.

You know what the English do?

They eat this food straight
from the newspaper.

No plate, no cutlery. They use just
them finger. Like monkeys? Like monkey.

Lesson number one, hortense.

This is a chip.

Lesson number two.

Now listen well, hortense.

All they tell us in Jamaica how everytin'
and everybody in england is good?

It's not true.

You must be ready for that.

I was born ready,
Gilbert Joseph.

You may extinguish
the light now.

Many talents I have, hortense, but
seeing in the dark is not one of them.

Or is it you cannot trust
yourself not to peek at me?

The shoe is on your foot in
that respect, Gilbert Joseph.

Good night, wife.

Good night...

Husband.

It is called the times
educational supplement.

It is the periodical where all the best
teacher jobs are advertised. Boys: Golliwog!

I look it up in the library
before I leave Jamaica.

Hey, golliwog! Take no notice. Keep walking. Are
they talking to me? Just stupid kids. Keep walking.

Golliwog! Come here!

Come over here this instant! You're
wasting your breath, hortense...

Queenie...

Queenie!

Thank you, I can
manage from here.

I am her husband. I'll look after
her now. She lives here, Bernard.

In the top room. I rent it out.

I'll be all right now, hortense.

Come here.

Take a minute.
Catch your breath.

It can't be wise, queenie, to
rent rooms to someone like that.

Could you not find anyone else... I'm the
one who should be asking questions, Bernard.

Since the war, I've not
heard a word from you.

I didn't know if you were
alive or dead, if I was a widow.

Where on earth have
you been all this time?

It's complicated, queenie.

I've not been well.

I spoke to the
ministry, Bernard.

They said you got back from India
with your unit, you weren't injured.

It wasn't that kind of an
injury. I lost my bearings.

Lost your memory? What?

Were you in hospital?

Brighton.

Let me see if
I've got this right.

I'm stuck here, struggling to keep a roof over my
head, while you're on a beach with a bucket and spade

an hour away on a bloody train?

Where's dad, queenie?

I-I wrote to you in India.

Did you not get my letter?

We were waiting
outside a cinema, and...

Some yanks started
making trouble.

The military police were called.

A bullet bounced off a wall.

A tragic accident,
they called it.

I took him to Yorkshire
to keep him safe.

Did a good job of it, eh(?)

No-one did more for
him than you did, queenie.

Front door opens

Gilbert: Queenie? Queenie?

It's your favourite day
of the week, rent day!

Yeah, man. Bang
on time this time!

This is my husband, Bernard.

Gilbert Joseph, hortense's husband,
who you met, and Winston Seymour.

Pleased to meet you, sir. Likewise. We're
in the middle of something. Do you mind?

They live here, too?

Dear god, queenie,
what were you thinking of?

How was I going to pay the bills while
you were playing hide-and-seek in Brighton?

Sell my body?

Walk the streets?

Why are you back,
Bernard? Why now?

You're my wife. Huh!

What, I'm supposed to let you
back into my life, into my bed,

because you've come to your senses and remembered
that, when all of a sudden it's convenient to you?

You can sleep in
your father's old room.

Islington is the other
side of London, hortense.

Why you need to go there? It is
the location of the education authority.

I do not intend to spend my days cooking and
cleaning like your servant, Gilbert Joseph.

The paper is full of
advertisements for teaching posts.

I will make it clear, of course, I will
only consider a position in a good school.

I am not so desperate I
will accept just anything.

How will you travel to
this, er, Islington, hortense?

By bus, when I have
ascertained which to take.

Best to go by tube from Earl's court, get the
piccadilly line. That's the dark blue line.

Then go to king's cross, change to the northern
line, city branch. That's the black line.

Maybe it better if I go
with you, hortense, no?

Wednesday is my half-day. I will take you there in
the afternoon. You may accompany me, if you wish.

Queenie's husband don't
look too friendly, though, eh?

Queenie will talk
him round. Hm...

Will you be joining us, Winston?

It is fish tonight, fresh
fish from the market. What?

Home cooking?
Now, that is a treat.

Wow, you a lucky man to have a woman
cooking you up something nice every night.

What?

Ooh!

Yeah, man,

but you know what I just remember? I
did promise to meet some of the boys, so...

Another night, yes?

Later.

It make no matter if
we are asked to leave.

Soon I will have
employment in a good school

and we can find a
decent place to live,

a house with its own doorbell,

electric lights in every room

and a garden for the
growing of vegetables,

a home that is befitting
for a teacher such as I.

Eat, before it get perishing.

How long you been here?

"Perishing" mean cold.

Doorbell

doorbell

all right, all
right! Bloody hell!

I'd say I was passing, but my father always
say a white lie is your entry card to hell.

Sergeant Roberts.

I thought I'd seen the last of
you. It's just plain mr Roberts now.

And you thought wrong.

Are you alone?

Your father-in-law is...

..No longer with us.

And your husband?

Ditto.

Well, look, make yourself at
home while I, er, you know, just...

'There was a time back when queenie
still had her sassy spring to her step.

'She made heads turn.

'She had what is
called presence.

'But since the war,
she had lost her spring.

'Heads no longer turned
when she passed by.

'She had become invisible.

'But that day in the park, heads
were turning once again to look at her.

'Queenie knew that
she was not the cause

'but the sight of a black man and
white woman walking arm in arm.

'With Michael beside
her she was visible again.

'She existed.'

we were flying over France from a night
raid in Germany when the plane was hit.

It just turned into a fireball.

As I was coming down,
I see the plane explode.

I could see ginger
in the distance.

His parachute was on fire.

It looked like the flame of a match
just floating down in the dark sky.

I could hear him screaming.

I came down in a turnip field.

All I got was a sprained ankle.

Days I spent in that damn field, pulling up
turnips from the ground, eating them raw.

And then some French
children found me.

And at first they
just stared at me.

Then, one by one, they step up,

rub my skin to see if the
colour would come off.

I wasn't angry.

I thought...

Maybe this once my
black skin would save me...

..And they would think me
an oddity and not a threat.

They took me to their farm,

and the farmer there, he hid
me, and when the yanks come

he hand me over.

I was one of the lucky ones.

You left something last time.

Well, well! My good-luck charm.

When I first flew on missions, I
always swore this is what kept me safe.

Was that your sister?

We were raised together.

She was something, I tell you.

Nothing could defeat that girl.

I cannot believe you
kept it all this time.

This one I want to keep.

It was my good-luck charm,
to bring you back to me.

So, how long do I have you
this time, Michael Roberts?

Until Monday.

A weekend.

Well, we must
make the best of it.

So, when you leave tomorrow, will
you go back to your family in Jamaica?

You know, the girl in the photo?

There was a
hurricane before I left.

Things are never the
same after a hurricane hits.

There is nothing
for me there now.

Have you ever felt the force
of a hurricane, queenie bligh?

You know, you could stay here if you've
a mind. I've got plenty of room, after all.

Before I came to england,

I had such ideas
about what it was like.

But it's just another island,

just like the one I left.

Full of small minds,
just like there.

Mm.

I'm going to Canada.

I tell you,

the land is vast there.

A man can breathe there.

He could make a good future
for himself in such a land.

'She waited,

'hoping he would ask her
to go with him to Canada.

'If he did, she would lock the house,
wave goodbye to her life and go with him.

'But he did not ask her,

'so she resolved
she would ask him.

'But when it came to it, she
did not dare say the words.

'She was too afraid of
what his answer might be.

'So it was, on that Monday morning,
she watched him walk out of her life

'without a backward glance.'

In Hertfordshire,
herefordshire and Hampshire...

..Hurricanes hardly ever happen.

It's not just me who thinks it.

Mrs Lucas at number 25 feels the
same, so do the reids at number 19.

The whole street's
up in arms about it.

They say either your wife gets rid of the darkies, or
they'll be forced to take matters into their own hands.

Now you're back, you
can deal with it, thank god.

But I wouldn't
leave it too long.

It was a woman, wasn't it?

It had to be a woman.

Not in the way you think.

India was...

After a while you think you get
immune to the squalor and the death.

We lost over half the men
in our unit in one month.

Boys, most of them,

barely old enough to
shave. They called me pops.

On vj day, just
being alive was...

Some of the chaps...

Wanted to go to a
brothel in Calcutta.

They got me drunk and
talked me into going with them.

On the ship on the way back to
england, I developed a sore on my...

Well, I knew straight
away it was syphilis.

When we got to India, a medic had
told me the symptoms, what to expect...

Apoplexy, insanity, death.

All from a few misspent
minutes with a whore in Calcutta!

I thought about ending it all there and
then but I didn't have the bloody guts.

When we got back to London, I...

Knew I couldn't come home.

So, I ended up at Waterloo
station and I got a train to Brighton.

I wandered around and saw an
ad in a shop window on the front.

"Handyman needed in hotel in
exchange for board and lodging".

So I took it and waited to die. People
don't die from syphilis any more, Bernard.

I wanted to die! It was my
punishment, for betraying you.

And why should I escape
death when so many hadn't?

But nothing happened.
No symptoms.

After a while I went
to a doctor and he said

after so long without penicillin
I'd either be mad or dead.

Said it wasn't syphilis,

more likely an
infected insect bite.

Some husband
you've got yourself, eh?

You're human, like
the rest of us, Bernard.

We're none of us perfect.

You can go now, Gilbert. I do not
wish to disrupt your day any further.

They may want to show me straightaway
the school at which I will be working.

Hortense?

Don't build too many hopes, nah?

England have it own
way of doing things.

A teacher will not be treated in the
same way as someone in a low-class job.

I will see you at home.

Phone rings

Enter!

Good day to you.

Yes?

I understand this is the
place I should present myself

for a position in the
teaching profession?

You're a teacher?

I am.

My letters of recommendation.

As you will see, one is from
the headmaster at my last school.

Sorry, where are
you from exactly?

Jamaica. This letter is written by
the headmaster at my last school,

and you will see that...
The school was where?

The coral hill parish
school in Kingston, Jamaica.

And here is the recommendation from the Alexandria hall
teacher training college which previously I attended,

under the tutelage of miss...

Is that also in Jamaica?

Of course, yes.

If you didn't train here, you
can't teach here. It's not possible.

If you read the letters you will see I
spent three years training to be a teacher.

I received distinction in the
teaching diploma awarded to me.

I'm sure you did, but your
qualifications aren't recognised here.

They're of no use to us.

The education authority make
the rules, we must abide by them.

I must train all over again?

Is that what you say?

Assuming you are accepted.

I must warn you, competition
for places is extremely fierce.

Giggling

she raps on desk

how you get on?

Hortense? What, what happened?

Wait!

Why you ask me these questions?
What business is it of yours?

You are my wife! I
can look after myself.

I did it for many years before
you came along, I can again!

I don't need you... In
god's name, woman!

What they say to you?

They say I cannot teach here!

Talk, talk to me,

tell me what they say.

My teaching qualifications
are no good here.

I must train all over again.

And when I get up to go,

I walk into a cupboard.

A cupboard?

I thought it was the door to
leave by. But it was a cupboard.

And the women laugh at me.

What was in this cupboard?

A broom and mops.

See, I've walked into
plenty cupboards myself.

Broom cupboard,
stationery cupboard.

This one had paper in it also.

Cha? Broom and paper? You should tell
them, curious cupboard you have there.

Mixing cleaning
utensils with stationery.

How long you stay
in this cupboard?

Long enough to
see it was a mess!

Everything higgeldy-piggeldy,

I even bang my foot
on a bucket there.

You hurt your foot because these people
cannot keep their cupboards in a tidy manner?

And they call this
a civilised country.

You should go back in there and say that where
you are from you are used to a tidy cupboard.

You are a fool, Gilbert Joseph.

I try,

god knows.

I have an idea.

We will do what the
English do in times of trouble.

We shall drink a cup of tea.

But first,

we pay a visit to the king.

Look at all those rooms.

I mean, you can only sleep
in one bed at a time, after all.

But then he is the king.

Maybe he hop between them, eh?

You have no respect,
Gilbert Joseph.

What am I to do, Gilbert?

To teach here is
all I ever dream of.

Well...

Can you sew?

Of course.

I been sewing
since I was a girl.

A dressmaker I pass on the way to work, she
have a sign in her window for a seamstress.

I am a teacher,
not a seamstress!

And you will be.

You can sew, and I will
drive my post office Van,

and we will save enough money so you can go
to college and train to be a teacher here.

You would do that for me?

I once had hope

to study law.

It was a pipe dream.

We can still make yours happen.

Of course, I can also cook.

My teacher miss plumtree said my lemon
sponge cake was the best she ever taste.

Even better than those she eat in
the finest the tea shop in London!

She tell you where this
tea shop is? Mm-mm.

Because we must be
sure never to go there.

You are teasing me
again, Gilbert Joseph!

'The trauma of war is like a
wound which never truly heals.

'When a man returns, he can
feel like an impostor in his own life.

'His struggle for recognition can make him
act in a way even he does not recognise.'

Hey what you
doin' here, mr bligh?

To tell you to leave. I don't know how you
inveigled your way into queenie's favour,

but I intend to run a clean
and respectable household.

You saying that we not
respectable? We're not clean!

Last night? Stinking the house
out with the stench of your cooking.

Don't insult her cooking!
You going too far!

Don't tell me what to do and say in my
own home! I want all of you now, tonight!

What's happening? I can
hear you down the stairs.

I was born in this house! I will
not have wogs here! Wogs?!

They need to pack their bags
and leave now! Better yet...

What you think you doing man? You don't belong
here... any of you! Stop! I want you out of here!

Stop! This is my house now! You
signed it over to me when you went away!

It's you who
doesn't belong here!

I is so sorry.

He not an easy man
to deal with, queenie.

She gasps

go fetch a doctor, please, now!

Help me downstairs.

Help me downstairs, please.

Ah! Oh!

Help me undress!

The doctor will
come, he will help you.

Arghh!

You are with child!

Get it off me.
Unwind it quickly.

I can feel it
coming! It's coming.

I can feel it, it's coming.

But the doctor's not here yet!

Oh, it's like gone with the wind.
When they delivered the baby.

Scarlett or the other?
Oh, I can't remember?

You think I am like that foolish slave girl in, gone
with the wind! I am an educated woman, a teacher...

For god's sake,
not now, hortense!

Aaah!

She gasps for breath

get towels, quickly get towels!

The head is there, mrs bligh!

Baby coming, mrs bligh!

You must push now!
Push, mrs bligh, push!

In god's name, call me queenie!

Push, queenie, push!

Arghhh!

Baby cries

She is waiting for you.

Hortense...

My perfect boy.

Hey, hey, hey, this is
nothing to do with me, man!

I swear to you, I
am not the father!

Damn it, man, this business
is nothing to do wit' me!

I is not the only
black man in england!

Knocks on door

hortense?

Come on, let me in, nah?

Hortense, please!

I will send for my
trunk when I am settled.

Where you going?

Wait, nah! Hortense?

Hortense!

Hortense!

You're getting soaked out there.

Hortense?

No!

Hortense!

Let me go! Let me go!

This woman is not your
whore! She's my damn wife!

Are you all right?

God knows who the father is!

Some damn fool Jamaican with an
eye for a pretty woman. But it's not me!

I only been here six months.

It cannot be my child!

Hortense?

It cannot be my child.

I met him during the war.

He was raf, like you.

Out of the blue,
he turned up again.

I wish I could
tell you I regret it,

but I don't.

You once said that I bought out feelings in you that
you never knew you had, that it was a gift I had.

That was his gift to me.

'And so she told him when
she found she was pregnant,

'how she tried
everything to get rid of it.

'Hot baths, heaving heavy furniture about,
even throwing herself down the stairs.

'But nothing worked.

'Then, one night, she
said how she felt a tiny kick,

'like a flutter of morse code.

'She saw the enemy was not
within her, as she had thought,

'but in the world outside,

'and only she could
protect him from it.

'So it was, queenie's
son began life in a drawer,

'and a bottom drawer at that.

'The thing about
starting life at the bottom,

'there's no place to go but up.'

What going on wit' you today?

Today is a special day, man.

Today's the day I
hand in my cards.

What are you talking about?
Didn't I tell you I had a plan? Huh?

To do what? Sweep the road?

I got somethin' going on.

Somethin' big, man.

My grandma back home sell her land for a good
price to some fool, fool yank movie star, right?

She send the money to me.

True? Yeah, man!

Enough to buy me a house in London.
Up in finsbury park. You know it?

Course I know it!

So the place is a bit run-down.

But now the sale is gone through,
I want you to fix it up, Gilbert.

You can live there,
with hortense.

Other rooms we let to
people from back home.

You collect the rent, you
run the place, you keep it nice.

You pay me a small percentage.

You can do all this yourself.

Because I have my eye on another
house. Me do the same t'ing there!

And you don't wan' no money right now?
No man, not until the rent is coming in.

And me and hortense can live
there? Yeah, man, that's the plan.

Why you doing all this, for me?

All the boys I meet since we come,
is only you who look out for me.

You put a roof over my head when I
needed one so... Now I return the favour.

You know what you is?

The cavalry!

That is what you are!

The cavalry, man!

They cheer and laugh

baby cries

What happened - you and the
child's father - I'm to blame, queenie.

If I hadn't gone to Brighton, if I'd had the
courage to face you, then I would have been here.

All that time, I never
stopped loving you, queenie.

I'll take the child on,
if that's what you want.

I'll be a father to him.

Or I'll leave.
Whatever you want.

It run-down, all right?

So don't be expecting no palace.

It been empty a long time.

There been a war, remember.

Hortense?

Well, stuck right there.

Come on.

Is this it?

Is it just this?

Don't rush to judge so quick,
hortense. Give it a chance, nah?

It is a fine room, Gilbert,

but is it just this we have?

Or is there more?

You like the room?

It is an excellent room.

It very run-down.

What? You scared
of a little hard work?

There is nothing
here we cannot fix.

A bit of paint and some carpet.

A table and chairs
here by the window.

Some warm curtains. And here,
two armchairs in front of the fire.

Yes, it will be very nice,

like a home should be for
a teacher such as I will be.

So I ask again, Gilbert Joseph,

is it just this one room we
have or are there others?

Oh, no, there are
others, hortense!

Plenty others!

Come, I show them to you.

Queenie here?

Not at the minute.

Tell her, please, we're moving
out at the end of the week.

All of us.

I spoke without knowing
the full facts. I was mistaken.

You think your white skin make
you better than me, don't you?

We both finish fighting
a war for a better world.

We was on the same side!

And after everytin' we go through, you still think
that I am worthless and that you are better than me.

So tell me,

what exactly
was it we fight for?

Baby cries

(Gilbert?)

Gilbert!

Gilbert!

Is it the mice?

Is not the mice.

You wan' come
in the bed wit' me?

Say again?

I said, do you wan'
sleep in the bed with me?

I get perishing
here, Gilbert Joseph.

Soon build you up, eh?

I managed to get a couple of
decent steaks from the butcher's, too.

The coloured chap seems
all but ready to leave.

Make myself useful
in the garden, I think,

while the weather
holds. Bernard?

You never told me you
were born in this house.

Yet you still
signed it over to me.

I love you.

I thought I'd plant some
vegetables for next year.

He'll be on solids
by then, won't he?

I'll get the hang of this
father thing, you'll see.

I've not had a chance to thank
you yet for all you did for us.

I'll put the kettle on. Do
you want to hold him?

Hello, handsome.

Hello.

You have a real knack, hortense.
I always had a way with babies.

If she says so herself. Oh, he's good as
gold, he really is. He's no bother at all.

Can tell he likes you.
Show him to Gilbert.

You will scare the poor thing!

You have a name for him yet?

Michael.

You are calling him Michael?

Do you like it? It is a
favourite name of mine.

Hello, baby Michael.

Hello.

Well, I'll, um, I'll
get us some tea.

You'd better take him now.

I want you to
take him, hortense.

Oh, I dare not drink
hot tea while i'm...

No, I mean I want you and Gilbert
to take him with you when you leave.

What is it you say, queenie?

I want you to bring
him up as your son.

I know it's a lot to ask but you're
good people. I know you'll look after him.

You'll give him the
home he deserves.

You do not want your baby?

Yes, I want him!

Course I want him!

But I want what's best for
him, and I can't give him that.

Look, say yes, please. Look,
I'll beg you, if that's what it takes!

I've thought about it. I've thought
about nothing else. It's the only way!

Queenie? What in
god's name's going on?

She ask us to take the baby.
It's the best thing for him.

You're his mother. You're the
best thing for him. I'll help, I told you.

For pity's sake. For
god's sakes, get up.

You say that now
when he's a just a baby.

What happens when
he grows into a young lad

with a mind of his own and
does something out of order?

You'll think, "you wog, black
bastard!" I'd never think such a thing.

You won't be able to help yourself,
Bernard, because you'll be angry,

angry for all the times the
neighbours shunned you,

all the bricks thrown through the
windows, all the sniggers behind your back.

He'll see the
anger in your eyes,

and he'll know
he's the cause of it.

If he's the only black face,
he'll never feel he belongs.

I want him to hold his head up
high and not be brought down

because people shout
abuse at him wherever he...

Oh, I beg you, please take him!

For not for my sake,
but for his, please.

You have been through a lot,
queenie. This is not you talking.

Oh, god, if you won't help
us, who will? Oh, god...

'As Gilbert comforted queenie, he saw
a look in Bernard's face he recognised.

'Repugnance.

'He'd seen it too many
times to mistake it.'

hortense, come,
give the baby back.

Come, come.

'He knew that look
would forever haunt him,

'yet still he fought it.'

how will we feel, knowing
we turned our backs...

But we can't do this, hortense!

How can we? We have
our own lives to lead.

We have enough
goin' on without all this.

He is not our responsibility!
But if we leave him here alone...

Look, he's not... Look, he's
not alone. He has queenie.

She's not enough.

She knows that.

My mother knew it, too.

Ach!

To give up what
you love the most?

I doubt I would
have such courage.

Baby cries

This was the Michael I knew.

We were raised together
as brother and sister.

He was lost in the war.

I was a child then.

I'm a grown woman now,

and old enough to be a mother.

Let's take a look at
that nappy of yours, eh?

Eh?

There we go.

Hey, dad.

Hi, guys. Come on,
get your stuff, yeah?

We been doing our
genealogy ting again.

Is this the house
they moved into?

Mm-hm.

And a few years
later, they bought it.

And this...

Is your great-grandma,

hortense, the woman
who raised me.

Who's that?

She is my mother.

Chop-chop. Get your stuff.

We're going to the park. Do
you want to come with us, dad?

Why not?

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