Stapler

	Stephen and Robert hover over a Whitehall desk. The door opens and Hugh 
	enters.


Stephen		Peter. Glad you could join us. You know Admiral Farquharson, I
		believe.

Hugh		Admiral.

Robert		Good afternoon, Peter. How's the model coming along?

Hugh		Getting there.

Stephen		Model? Something I should know?

Robert		Last time Peter and I worked together, he was building a model.

Stephen		Really? What of?

Hugh		I'm making a box of matches out of bits of old warship.

Robert		Surprising, wouldn't you say? Man like that.

Stephen		I gave up being surprised by Peter Haggard a long time ago.

	Stephen and Robert chuckle.

		Now then, Peter, I expect you're wondering what all this is
		about?

Hugh		With respect, Sir, I'm not paid to wonder. I'm paid to do.

Stephen		But one of the things you do, surely, is wonder. Isn't it?

Hugh		Wondering is a luxury I can't afford.

Stephen		Really?

Robert		May I, Sir Richard?

Stephen		Of course.

Robert		We have a problem, Peter. A sticky one.

Hugh		Is there another kind?

Stephen		Oh yes, I should say so ...

Robert		Sir Richard ...

Stephen		Sorry.

	Robert opens a drawer and pulls out a stapler.

Robert		Ever seen one of these before, Peter?

Hugh		A stapler.

Robert		Yes?

	Hugh picks up the stapler and hefts it.

Hugh		Rexel Taurus. 56 half-inch staples. Comes in black, red or blue.

Stephen		Hah. I told you he was good.

Robert		No. I told you he was good.

Stephen		Did you?

Hugh		I assume there's a point to all of this?

Stephen		Oh there's a point, alright.

Robert		If it came to it, Peter, and I'm not saying it will, I'm
		saying if ...

Hugh		Understood.

Robert		Do you think you could use one of these?

Hugh		You mean ...?

Stephen		I think you know what the Admiral is saying, Peter. He's asking
		you whether you'd be prepared to staple two pieces of paper
		together.

Robert		If it came to it. And I'm not saying it will ...

Stephen		He's not saying it will. He's saying if ...

	Hugh looks at the stapler.

Hugh		Been a long time.

Stephen		Been a long time for all of us, Peter. Too long, I sometimes
		think.

Hugh		And if I say no? Turn round and walk out of here, pretend none
		of this ever happened?

Robert		That is of course your right. Nobody is ordering you to do this
		thing.

	Hugh chews his lip.

Stephen		What say you, Peter? Give it a go?

Hugh		And the pieces of paper? I'm not saying I'll do it, but if ...

Robert		Sir Richard and I understand perfectly. Over there.

	Robert points to a side table and Hugh picks up two pieces of paper.
	Robert is about to say something, but Stephen stops him.

Stephen		(sotto voce) If he does it, it'll be his decision. You don't
		push a man like Peter Haggard.

Robert		You're right, of course.

	Hugh lines up the pieces of paper and picks up the stapler. He looks 
	into the distance. We superimpose shots of a woman running, explosions,
	laughing children, searchlights. Then come back to Hugh for a moment of 
	indecision; he slides the stapler over the paper, grits his teeth and 
	snaps it shut.

Stephen		Good man, Peter.

Robert		Thank you, Peter. That's not just from us. The nation thanks
		you.

	Hugh smiles.

Hugh		Any time.

	He goes out.

Robert		Thank God he's on our side.

Stephen		I have an old tape of Carlo Maria Giulini conducting the Vienna
		Philharmonic in a perfectly transcendent version of Schubert's
		seventh symphony. I've rigged it up so that at exactly half
		past seven every morning it falls from the ceiling on to my
		face.

Hugh		(as a woman) I haven't got an alarm clock, I've got three
		children instead. It was a difficult choice, but I thought the
		children would go better with the wallpaper.