forget. He never forgot them, but he never saw them either. 'The Dirty Dozen,' the poster said, 'X.'
'What does X mean, Dad?'
'You have to be sixteen to see it,' said his father.
'How do you mean you have to be sixteen, Dad? 16 what?'
'Years old. You have to be sixteen years old to get in.'
'Why?'
'I don't know. Maybe they think there's too much fighting in it for children.'
'But there was lots of fighting in The Magnificent Seven and I got to see that.'
'Maybe there's too much blood in this.'
'But I see loads of blood every day. You're a butcher. I really want to see it. It's the film that I most want to see ever.'
'But they won't let you in.'
'Who won't let me in?'
'It's the law.'
'You could tell them I'm sixteen, but I'm very small for my age because I'm a dwarf.'
'No. You can see it when you are sixteen.'
'It won't be on then.'
'It'll come back.'
' OK ,' said Roy, but he sounded most uncertain. He reckoned no one ever stopped Lee Marvin going to see a film he wanted to see. That was why he was leader of the Dirty Dozen.
Roy's father went off one night with another man from the guest house, without saying where he was going, but Roy knew. Neither Roy nor his father made any mention of dirty soldiers at breakfast next morning. Roy's father neither damned nor praised them. The family crunched their toast and said nothing. Roy looked at his lap and did not see the other guest approach their table until it was too late.
'Me and your dad saw a great film last night, Roy. You would have loved it.'
Roy could feel the tears well up in his eyes, but he did not cry, because men don't cry.
It was the next day, when they were on the beach, that Roy finally asked his father to tell him the story of The Dirty Dozen , deciding that hearing the plot second-hand was better than nothing. His father told him how Lee Marvin was an army officer who recruits twelve desperate criminals from a military prison for a secret mission behind enemy lines. The mission is a success, though nearly all the men are killed.
'Was Lee Marvin killed?' asked Roy.
His father assured him that Lee Marvin survived.
'Was Charles Bronson killed?' And over the next few days he renewed the conversation to clarify various details until he could recount the story better than many people who had seen the film.
Roy's father was of an age to have served in the Second World War, but the Army turned him down because he was asthmatic. Listening to his father tell the story of The Dirty Dozen Roy imagined he was recounting his own war experiences.
'He doesn't like to talk about it much,' he told his friend Jumbo at school as they exchanged Commando comics, 'but my father was in the war. He dropped into France and had to kill some top Jerries. Most of his men were killed, but he got back alright.'
'You're dad's a butcher with asthma,' said Jumbo. 'And your story's mince. The only thing your dad ever dropped was sausages.'
Roy was hurt.
Because he didn't get to see The Dirty Dozen , his mother took him and Stephen to the pictures the following week in Edinburgh. They went to see The Wizard of Oz . Judy Garland was not Lee Marvin, and the Tin Man, Cowardly Lion and Scarecrow presented little threat to the Third Reich. No self-respecting 11-year-old could admit to liking the Munchkins, with their silly squeaky voices and songs about yellow brick roads. But Roy did like them and for years to come, whenever he saw a rainbow in the sky, he would think of Dorothy and the place she dreamed of and wonder what the end of a rainbow was like.
It all seemed so innocent then, a little girl and her dream, before he found out about Judy Garland's drug dependency, her nervous breadkdowns and her suicide attempts, before he read reports of orgies and rowdiness among the midgets who played the Munchkins, and before he found out what did lie at the end of a rainbow. How different it might have been if he had seen The Dirty Dozen , his mother had never taken him to The
'What does X mean, Dad?'
'You have to be sixteen to see it,' said his father.
'How do you mean you have to be sixteen, Dad? 16 what?'
'Years old. You have to be sixteen years old to get in.'
'Why?'
'I don't know. Maybe they think there's too much fighting in it for children.'
'But there was lots of fighting in The Magnificent Seven and I got to see that.'
'Maybe there's too much blood in this.'
'But I see loads of blood every day. You're a butcher. I really want to see it. It's the film that I most want to see ever.'
'But they won't let you in.'
'Who won't let me in?'
'It's the law.'
'You could tell them I'm sixteen, but I'm very small for my age because I'm a dwarf.'
'No. You can see it when you are sixteen.'
'It won't be on then.'
'It'll come back.'
' OK ,' said Roy, but he sounded most uncertain. He reckoned no one ever stopped Lee Marvin going to see a film he wanted to see. That was why he was leader of the Dirty Dozen.
Roy's father went off one night with another man from the guest house, without saying where he was going, but Roy knew. Neither Roy nor his father made any mention of dirty soldiers at breakfast next morning. Roy's father neither damned nor praised them. The family crunched their toast and said nothing. Roy looked at his lap and did not see the other guest approach their table until it was too late.
'Me and your dad saw a great film last night, Roy. You would have loved it.'
Roy could feel the tears well up in his eyes, but he did not cry, because men don't cry.
It was the next day, when they were on the beach, that Roy finally asked his father to tell him the story of The Dirty Dozen , deciding that hearing the plot second-hand was better than nothing. His father told him how Lee Marvin was an army officer who recruits twelve desperate criminals from a military prison for a secret mission behind enemy lines. The mission is a success, though nearly all the men are killed.
'Was Lee Marvin killed?' asked Roy.
His father assured him that Lee Marvin survived.
'Was Charles Bronson killed?' And over the next few days he renewed the conversation to clarify various details until he could recount the story better than many people who had seen the film.
Roy's father was of an age to have served in the Second World War, but the Army turned him down because he was asthmatic. Listening to his father tell the story of The Dirty Dozen Roy imagined he was recounting his own war experiences.
'He doesn't like to talk about it much,' he told his friend Jumbo at school as they exchanged Commando comics, 'but my father was in the war. He dropped into France and had to kill some top Jerries. Most of his men were killed, but he got back alright.'
'You're dad's a butcher with asthma,' said Jumbo. 'And your story's mince. The only thing your dad ever dropped was sausages.'
Roy was hurt.
Because he didn't get to see The Dirty Dozen , his mother took him and Stephen to the pictures the following week in Edinburgh. They went to see The Wizard of Oz . Judy Garland was not Lee Marvin, and the Tin Man, Cowardly Lion and Scarecrow presented little threat to the Third Reich. No self-respecting 11-year-old could admit to liking the Munchkins, with their silly squeaky voices and songs about yellow brick roads. But Roy did like them and for years to come, whenever he saw a rainbow in the sky, he would think of Dorothy and the place she dreamed of and wonder what the end of a rainbow was like.
It all seemed so innocent then, a little girl and her dream, before he found out about Judy Garland's drug dependency, her nervous breadkdowns and her suicide attempts, before he read reports of orgies and rowdiness among the midgets who played the Munchkins, and before he found out what did lie at the end of a rainbow. How different it might have been if he had seen The Dirty Dozen , his mother had never taken him to The
Similar Books
Stevie
Bonnie Bryant
Love, Stargirl
Jerry Spinelli
Thatcher
Clare Beckett
A Stainless Steel Cat
Michael Erickston
Brutal
K.S. Adkins
Five for Forever
Alex Ames
Calm
Viola Grace
The Centerpoint Trilogy
Kayla Bruner
