(ROADSHOW SCENE NO. 2)


CHIEN

Bilge pidgin no can do.  Frenchy speakee me washee poht side.

HOLMAN

Who the hell are you?

CHIEN

Chien, Boss coolie.
(indicating Po-Han) No can do bilge pidgin.

HOLMAN (seething)

My do bilge pidgin. Looksee pipe. Larn pidgin all pipe. You sabby? This ain't the Chinese navy.
(to Po-Han) Take it up!

Holman indicates the floor plate beside the main pump, then looks back at Chien who is glaring angrily at him. Po-Han is delighted to be singled out by his "mastah" but is afraid of Chien.  He shrugs at the boss coolie, lifts the floor plate, and Holman drops down into the bilges. The other coolies are amazed to see a sailor doing this. Chien snarls at the coolies to go on with their work.

57-63 INT. BILGES AMD ENGINE ROOM - DAY

Shots of Holman crawling under the floor plates, little dots of light coming through in some areas, more light coming through in others where the floor may be cut away for a pipe or a piece of equipment. Shots ANGLING up from bilges of Chien, his face dark with anger, looking at Holman, who is following the lines with relish, getting happily dirty. He feels for what he can't see. Sometimes he taps a floor plate and Po-Han is right there to lift it and let the light flood In. He is smiling, trying to impress, but Holman barely reacts to him. In lighting and feeling, the experience must seen in a sense poetic - a man with the thing he loves.

64 INT. ENGINE ROOM - DAY

Chien, watching Holman, moves to a valve. Po-Han sees this, looks troubled, but is caught in fear. Chien turns the valve.

PO-HAN

Mastah!!

END...


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