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Scripts Aloud brings drama right into your ears. By using text-to-speech software, theater scripts go from the page into drama, every week. Typically 10-minute scripts are presented in each episode. It's like having a Theater Festival - right on your phone!
The Baker's Wife
by
Rick Regan
May 19, 2021
This is the story of a Baker's Wife and the people of her village
when a Russian civil war rolls through.
Characters:
(Female)
The Baker's Wife
The Miller's Wife
The Miller's Daughter
Squad Leader, Tactical Squad, Red Army
(Male)
The Baker
The Miller
Czar's Captain, Special Unit, Imperial Army
Trooper, Imperial Army
Rick Regan
PO Box 40039
Raleigh, NC 27629
919-926-0442
Raleigh.RickRegan@gmail.comINT. DAY INSIDE THE BAKERY
The Baker’s Wife is sitting by a wall with a window that goes
out to the street. The window has a wooden door that opens
inward. She sits by the window and people pass by and some
knock to buy bread through the window.
A man knocks at the window and indicates TWO.
The Baker’s Wife hands him two loaves of round bread.
BAKER’S WIFE
Sixty kopeks.
The man hands the coins through the window and moves on.
A woman appears at the window. She indicates TWO.
The Baker’s Wife hands her two loaves of round bread.
BAKER’S WIFE
Eighty kopeks.
The woman hands one loaf back.
BAKER’S WIFE
Forty kopeks.
The woman hands the coins through the window and moves on.
BAKER’S WIFE
That whore.
The Baker’s Wife has a steady stream of people who come to
the window buying bread. When she is out of loaves of bread,
she closes the wooden window. Occasionally we hear a knock at
the window but she ignores it.
The Baker’s Wife goes to a cot in the corner and lays down
for an afternoon nap. An orange cat comes in and hops on the
cot with her, snuggling in on the blanket.
EXT. OUTSIDE THE BAKER’S HOUSE - EARLY MORNING
The Baker’s Wife comes out the door in the dim light,
carrying a 20-liter plastic bucket, half full of raw wheat.
She walks down the quiet street toward the Mill.
The Miller’s Wife comes out of a house on the way, carrying a
similar bucket, with the raw wheat. She walks in step with
the Baker’s Wife.MILLER’S WIFE
(grim)
Bless the day.
BAKER’S WIFE
(grumpy)
To His Glory.
The two women walk down the quiet, empty streets of the early
morning in the small town. The town is a rural hub in a
remote Russian farming area. There is an occasional donkey
hauling a cart.
At the Mill, the Baker’s Wife bangs on the wooden window.
BAM BAM BAM!
She steps back and both women wait for the Miller to open the
window.
BAKER’S WIFE
Is he drunk again?
MILLER’S WIFE
Vodka and street tramps.
Finally the window swings open and the Miller is standing in
the opening.
BAKER’S WIFE
My grain.
She hands the Miller her bucket.
MILLER’S WIFE
Wait! Mine first!
She pushes her bucket through the window.
THE MILLER
Get back, you hens! Back!
He pushes them both back.
BAKER’S WIFE
Grind mine first. Then we will be done here.
MILLER’S WIFE
You are my husband! Grind mine, before the grain of
this witch! I do not want her to be baking and
selling her loaves before I can even open my window.
She is stealing my customers.BAKER’S WIFE
People do not buy your bread because you are cheap
with the salt. Like your heart, your bread is empty
and feeds no one. I have stolen nothing from you.
THE MILLER
Shut up! I will grind what I want. It is all the same
anyway.
The Miller goes back into the Mill and grinds the grain into
flour. He comes back and hands them both their buckets.
THE MILLER
Here. One Ruble. Each!
The Baker’s Wife fishes out a coin, as if it were the first
time she has made this transaction.
BAKER’S WIFE
One Ruble. Here.
THE MILLER
Why do you give me that face? You come here every
morning. EVERY morning. And it is one Ruble. But
every day you look as if it is a surprise that it is
one Ruble. Should it be fifty kopeks? Should it be
ten thousand Rubles? It is ONE! It is always one.
BAKER’S WIFE
And I give you one Ruble. Bless the day.
THE MILLER
To His glory.
She turns and starts back down the street.
MILLER’S WIFE
Husband, you charge me the same as her, that
backstabbing cheat?
THE MILLER
Who is the cheat? Who is the one who stabs in the
back? The sun is not yet even up, and you with your
talk of who commits the sin. The sky is still dark.
MILLER’S WIFE
And your heart is as black as the mud beneath my
boot. Do you even have a heart, you monster?
THE MILLER
Why do you come here like this? You disgrace yourself
in the street. Should the whole town know your sins,
the smell of dirty laundry, the stains on our faces?
Hey? Who are you to talk of cheats and backstbbers?MILLER’S WIFE
I am your wife! And if you loved me then you would
let me come home.
THE MILLER
If I loved you?
MILLER’S WIFE
If you are a real man.
THE MILLER
(scoffs)
A real man. Oh, this is my wife! She scolds me for my
fidelity. She curses me for my simple vows of love
and loyalty. This, THIS, is my wife.
MILLER’S WIFE
You take in the farmer’s boy. You keep him like a
pet. Are you lovers, like filthy pigs? Are you? May
God smite you!
THE MILLER
Wife! Go home. Bake the bread for the people. If you
feed the town then maybe, I don’t know, maybe it will
make up for your lies.
MILLER’S WIFE
Dirty pig.
THE MILLER
He is an apprentice. He sleeps on the cot next to the
wheel. He has a girl from the farm next to his
family. He is a good boy and learning to be a good
miller. It is your mind that is fetid, rotten. Go
home. Redeem yourself with work.
MILLER’S WIFE
Let me come home!
THE MILLER
No.
MILLER’S WIFE
Please!
THE MILLER
No. You are a whore.
MILLER’S WIFE
I am your wife.
THE MILLER
Your touch will spoil the grain. Go away from me,
whore.MILLER’S WIFE
You are cruel and stupid!
THE MILLER
I live as a holy monk, grinding the grain for you.
And your crone.
MILLER’S WIFE
She is a stinking witch.
THE MILLER
Perhaps, but no more than you, you cheating hyena.
MILLER’S WIFE
Please let me come home.
THE MILLER
No. Go away. Crawl into the lake and wash yourself
before the crows circle over your head.
MILLER’S WIFE
I am your wife and you treat me like a peasant from
the field, like a fisher-woman up from the flat mud.
BAKER’S WIFE
Go back to your house.
MILLER’S WIFE
(bitter)
My house. A cot beside the baking oven is not a home.
Come to the bed with me. I want to feel your hot
breath on my shoulder.
BAKER’S WIFE
The sun is not even up and yet you are already
overheated.
MILLER’S WIFE
Be with me.
BAKER’S WIFE
I am not the one who broke our promise of trust. I am
not the one who broke our bonds. You are lucky that I
had a roof to put over your head. Should I have
banished you, and your sin, and forced you away, to
die in the snow? No, that is the vengeance and
pitilessness of women. Go home and bake your loaves.
Do not waste my milling by skimping on the salt.
MILLER’S WIFE
You are my husband. Take me back.
BAKER’S WIFE
Go home!MILLER’S WIFE
Bless the day.
BAKER’S WIFE
To His glory.
She goes back down the street.
INT. INSIDE THE BAKERY - LATER IN THE MORNING
The Baker’s Wife pours the flour onto the work table. She
drizzles water over the flour and mixes the whole batch by
hand. She scoops some sourdough starter into the mix and
stirs the whole pile. After mixing, she divides the dough
into twelve loaf rounds. Now they rest and rise.
While the dough rises The Baker’s Wife tends to the fire in
the baking oven. She puts sticks of wood in to get things
going. She is just warming the oven now. When she has a
break, she goes to lie down on the cot as it is still early
morning, the sun not yet up.
The cat prowls around and then finally cuddles up on the cot
with her.
INT. BAKER’S HOUSE - LATER AFTER THE BAKE
Knock-knock!
Baker’s Wife wakes on hearing the knocks but she ignores them
and puts her head down on the cot.
More insistent knocking.
Knock-Knock-Knock!
She gets up and swings the window open.
The Miller’s Daughter comes to the window.
MILLER’S DAUGHTER
Hello, Missus. How much for a loaf?
BAKER’S WIFE
(not looking up)
Thirty Kopeks.
MILLER’S DAUGHTER
I’ll take one.
The Baker’s Wife hands a loaf out but when she sees who it
is, she snatches it back.BAKER’S WIFE
No! Not for you. Better you know the pain of hunger!
MILLER’S DAUGHTER
I came to see you. Please! Can I come in? I want to
talk to you.
BAKER’S WIFE
You keep out of my house!
MILLER’S DAUGHTER
It’s not what you think. Please, I want to explain.
BAKER’S WIFE
You are the worst kind of woman. You are young. You
are pretty. And you steal my husband! You have no
sense and no compassion in your heart. To steal a
woman’s husband. I cannot forgive.
MILLER’S DAUGHTER
It’s not like that! I can explain. Please, let me in.
BAKER’S WIFE
No!
MILLER’S DAUGHTER
I have nowhere to go.
BAKER’S WIFE
All of life is suffering.
MILLER’S DAUGHTER
Please, it is going to rain.
BAKER’S WIFE
Let God rain stones on your head.
MILLER’S DAUGHTER
Please, can I just come in for a talk?
BAKER’S WIFE
Hmmmm. The world is only spinning because of women.
(seeing her closely)
Have you eaten?
MILLER’S DAUGHTER
No.
BAKER’S WIFE
There are soldiers about. Come inside.
She closes the window and lets the Miller’s Daughter inside.
She goes to be warmed by the fire.MILLER’S DAUGHTER
Thank you. It is good to be warmed.
Baker’s Wife reaches in the hearth and pulls out a pot with
stew. She sets a bowl up for the young woman.
BAKER’S WIFE
Do you make the bread?
MILLER’S DAUGHTER
I used to bake with my mother.
BAKER’S WIFE
That’s too bad. She has terrible habits.
MILLER’S DAUGHTER
But I learned so much from The Baker!
BAKER’S WIFE
(icy)
Did you? He taught you a lot, did he? I bet.
MILLER’S DAUGHTER
I’m sorry! He’s such a wonderful man. I learned
everything.
BAKER’S WIFE
He was a wonderful man, until he ran away with you.
Tramp!
MILLER’S DAUGHTER
I’m sorry! I’m so sorry.
BAKER’S WIFE
Are you? Well, he saved the best lesson for last, I
see. Kick you out when he’s tired of you, into the
cold.
MILLER’S DAUGHTER
No, it wasn’t like that. I had to get away. There
were all these men, soldiers and thugs, leering and
saying terrible things to me in the street. I had to
get away, come home.
BAKER’S WIFE
You stole my husband from me, and now you say you
have abandoned him? You are a queer one.
MILLER’S DAUGHTER
I didn’t steal him from you.
BAKER’S WIFE
You threw yourself at a married man. What was he to
do?A lovely girl turns her charm on him, burning like a
torch in front of him. What could he do? You made him
fall in love with you and took him away from me.
MILLER’S DAUGHTER
I didn’t take him away from you. He was making
clandestine rendezvous with my mother, in the back of
the Mill, when my father was napping in the
afternoon.
BAKER’S WIFE
Your mother, the Miller’s Wife?
MILLER’S DAUGHTER
She humiliated me by telling me that she was so
beautiful she deserved two lovers, while I should get
none. My face burned hot and I told her I would take
the Baker away from her.
BAKER’S WIFE
Take him?
MILLER’S DAUGHTER
And I did.
BAKER’S WIFE
That selfish crone! I don’t blame you.
MILLER’S DAUGHTER
The boys here are schoolboys, or oafs from the
country. I wanted to learn about love. I wanted to
learn from a man with experience at love. I made him
teach me, give me lessons. He said I was an excellent
student but that I was naughty and should be
punished.
BAKER’S WIFE
Did he beat you? I hope so.
MILLER’S DAUGHTER
No. Just empty promises. He said that the Miller will
beat me when I come home.
BAKER’S WIFE
You deserve a public lashing. You have earned a
whipping, or worse. I should do it myself but I save
my anger, my rage, for the one who really deserves
it. The Baker.
MILLER’S DAUGHTER
Please do not hurt him! He was very kind to me. But
he was spending all of his time with those political
agitators and I had to get away.BAKER’S WIFE
Stupid men!
MILLER’S DAUGHTER
And my father will not let me home.
BAKER’S WIFE
He is a dumb village oaf.
MILLER’S DAUGHTER
So I am here, begging for your mercy.
BAKER’S WIFE
You are a silly girl.
MILLER’S DAUGHTER
Yes.
BAKER’S WIFE
(sips tea)
So, tell me, what did you see in the Baker?
MILLER’S DAUGHTER
Who am I to say? You are the wife of the Baker. What
did you see?
BAKER’S WIFE
I saw a man who was incomplete. A man who needed what
I had. A man in need of a woman.
MILLER’S DAUGHTER
You mean for the bed?
BAKER’S WIFE
No, not for the bed. Anyone can make like the rutting
musk-ox. Even you.
MILLER’S DAUGHTER
Even you?
BAKER’S WIFE
I never cared for it. But he had an appetite for it,
like a sweet tooth. I knew when he took up with you
because he stopped breathing his hot breath on me. He
just slept, long and quiet. And the bread got better.
The best he ever made.
MILLER’S DAUGHTER
He made the best bread when he was with me?
BAKER’S WIFE
Flatter yourself if you want but it was mostly that
he was just feeling his oats.I didn’t have the energy, after getting the grain
allotment for the day, going to the miller, your
father -- and selling the loaves to the street. Let
him spend his fury on your body, not mine.
MILLER’S DAUGHTER
What should I do?
BAKER’S WIFE
Flee this place. Go to Brazil or Japan. Be young and
beautiful someplace else, anyplace else. I don’t
care.
MILLER’S DAUGHTER
I don’t have any money.
BAKER’S WIFE
Well you’ll have to sell - or rent - what you do
have.
MILLER’S DAUGHTER
But I don’t want to go. My family is here.
BAKER’S WIFE
But you have disgraced them. They don’t want to have
a dirty street-whore under the roof.
MILLER’S DAUGHTER
No.
BAKER’S WIFE
Were you living with him?
MILLER’S DAUGHTER
Up the river, at the fish camp. He has an oven set up
there. He makes the loaves, does it all himself. But
it’s not the same.
BAKER’S WIFE
His ambitions get smaller and smaller. Did you learn
anything about bread, with him.
MILLER’S DAUGHTER
Just the mixing. I could help you too, if you want.
BAKER’S WIFE
I could use a hand.
MILLER’S DAUGHTER
OK.
BAKER’S WIFE
You should rest for a while.She shows the Miller’s Daughter the cot by the window. The
Daughter stretches out and the cat curls up with her.
MILLER’S DAUGHTER
Thank you so much.
(nod off to sleep)
The Baker’s Wife checks the oven, tidies the stew and bowls.
She looks at the sleeping young woman and shakes her head.
EXT. OUTSIDE THE GOVERNMENT GRAINERY - LATE AFTERNOON
The government runs the grain dispensary in town and gives an
allotment of grain to the bakers, who make bread for the
town. The grainery only gives out one-day’s worth of grain,
so the bakers have to come every day.
The Baker’s Wife and the Miller’s Wife are both in line with
their 20-liter buckets. Each steps up to the grain chute and
the attendant fills the buckets.
BAKER’S WIFE
Bless the day.
MILLER’S WIFE
In His honor.
They are walking back through town with their buckets of
grain.
BAKER’S WIFE
Did you sell your bread?
MILLER’S WIFE
Every loaf. Glory! And yourself?
BAKER’S WIFE
We tendered them all. Usual customers.
MILLER’S WIFE
We? I thought you were alone, since...
BAKER’S WIFE
Since the Baker left me?
MILLER’S WIFE
Yes, since the Baker.
BAKER’S WIFE
A new woman came in, to join me.
MILLER’S WIFE
From the fields?BAKER’S WIFE
She came from a ways up.
MILLER’S WIFE
Up the river, where the Baker is?
BAKER’S WIFE
Yes. But how would you know where the Baker is?
MILLER’S WIFE
People talk.
BAKER’S WIFE
Oh? What else do people say? Is my own shame widely
discussed?
MILLER’S WIFE
Mostly mine, I think.
BAKER’S WIFE
Why? What have you done? Were you not the-faithfulwife of the Miller? Have you bruised his heart?
MILLER’S WIFE
He believes the scandalous lies about me. People
accuse me, but that is all peasant nonsense!
BAKER’S WIFE
And yet he did not defend you to their faces. Did The
Miller laugh at their rude talk, and curse them for
their ignorance? Why would he believe them?
MILLER’S WIFE
Because he is a fool. That is all. A prideful man.
BAKER’S WIFE
Well, you married him.
MILLER’S WIFE
And much the fool am I, now out of house.
BAKER’S WIFE
He gave you a pretty house, with a sturdy bake oven.
Are you ungrateful as well as unfaithful?
MILLER’S WIFE
Oh, you are the one to talk. Where is your husband?
BAKER’S WIFE
You have already told me you know as much.MILLER’S WIFE
But I have heard that the Czar’s Special Unit is
hunting in the area where the Baker is. Have you
heard anything?
BAKER’S WIFE
Oh the end of the world is always around the corner
for the village people. I put no stock in it.
MILLER’S WIFE
The newspaper said that the Czar has issued Article
Thirty-Four, to suppress agitators and rebels. If he
is tangled up with them, he could go to prison.
BAKER’S WIFE
He is a grown man. He is out of my control. He makes
his friends and makes his choices. I cannot help him.
MILLER’S WIFE
If you do not care then I am not surprised that he
left you. For who wants to lean their head on a
shoulder as cold as a stone?
BAKER’S WIFE
And your shoulders are soft and warm, are they? What
else did he enjoy of your flesh? Did he warm his
hands on your fat behind? Did you heat his ears with
your thick thighs? Hmmm? Or was it your painted lips
that satisfied him, and your warm breath of lies?
MILLER’S WIFE
You should know. I used him. I used him like a pony
on the turf fields. I rode him, to take me places
where I had never gone. You should know. It was my
desire that was satisfied. He begged me to release
him from my torments, from his bound up suffering.
But I said, no. I told him I would keep him on the
edge of insanity, until I was satisfied. And not
before. He was going mad, I think.
BAKER’S WIFE
Thank you for telling me this. I am glad to know that
my husband finally got the experience of torment and
suffering, from a woman, who is not me. Thank you for
helping me see that it was not me that drove him
away, but you that sent him careening away from your
cruelty.
MILLER’S WIFE
And still I am left alone.
BAKER’S WIFE
Alone? But of your daughter?MILLER’S WIFE
She has fled the nest. She has gone.
BAKER’S WIFE
Or did the Baker flee you by finding her open arms?
And now she is back. She is making the loaves with
me.
MILLER’S WIFE
Oh, so it is that way? Let you bring her to heel,
then.
BAKER’S WIFE
She is young and beautiful, but she is foolish. And
she has learned the hard lessons from you, about love
and life. But I will teach her to make good bread.
The Baker has taught her enough. Now she will learn
good habits.
MILLER’S WIFE
(spits)
Bless the day!
BAKER’S WIFE
(turning away)
In His glory...
INT. BAKER’S WIFE’S HOUSE - NEXT AFTERNOON
The Baker’s Wife is selling loaves through the window. The
Miller’s Daughter is there, cleaning up pans and sweeping
flour.
BAKER’S WIFE
Two loaves? Sixty kopeks.
She hands two loaves out and collects the money.
The door to the street opens quickly. The Baker rushes in,
closing the door fast.
THE BAKER
Wife! Close the window! They are coming for me!
BAKER’S WIFE
Who is coming for you?
THE BAKER
Close the window! Do it!
She closes the window and watches him.BAKER’S WIFE
What are you doing?!
He rushes around the room, then moves the table aside and
tries to peel up some floorboards under the rug. He stops and
looks at the two women.
THE BAKER
We have to leave. We have to run.
BAKER’S WIFE
What? Why?
THE BAKER
If we leave now, we might, we might, live and
survive. But we have to go now.
BAKER’S WIFE
Where? Why? I’m not going anywhere.
THE BAKER
We have to go. I have to go.
BAKER’S WIFE
Fine. Then you go.
THE BAKER
The Imperial Army is coming. The Czar’s men. If they
find me, they have orders to kill me.
BAKER’S WIFE
What have you done?
THE BAKER
I don’t have time. We have to go, now!
BAKER’S WIFE
Why are they going to kill you? Can’t they just put
you in prison?
THE BAKER
If they catch me they will kill me, but if they find
you, if you are lucky, they will only kill you.
BAKER’S WIFE
What?!
THE BAKER
But they will probably torture you until you tell
them what you know. And then, they will kill you.
BAKER’S WIFE
What’s going on?THE BAKER
We have to go!
BAKER’S WIFE
No!
BAM-BAM-BAM!
Banging on the door.
BAM! BAM!
CZAR’S CAPTAIN
(outside)
Open up! Open the door. You are to obey the order of
the Imperial Czar!
BAKER’S WIFE
(to the Baker)
Quick!
The Baker pulls back the rug and the floor boards.
He gets inside the floor and pulls the boards on top of him.
It is horizontal and it is like a coffin.
THE BAKER
(from below)
Cover me up! The rug, the table. Hurry!
The Baker’s Wife and the Miller’s Daughter move everything
around, as if he was not hiding in the floor.
BAKER’S WIFE
Husband!
THE BAKER
Quiet! They will hear you.
BAKER’S WIFE
(softly)
Who is after you?
THE BAKER
(from below)
The men from the Czar’s Special Unit. Article ThirtyFour.
BAM! BAM! BAM!
BAKER’S WIFE
(to Miller’s Daughter)
Open the door.The Miller’s Daughter opens the door. There is the Czar’s
Captain of the Army Special Unit, as well as a young private
in uniform, TROOPER.
CZAR’S CAPTAIN
(enters, storming in)
Where is the Baker? Where is he?
BAKER’S WIFE
He has gone up river, with a woman.
CZAR’S CAPTAIN
(seeing Baker’s wife)
You are lying. Do you know the penalty for lying?
Execution.
BAKER’S WIFE
Why are you here? What do you want?
CZAR’S CAPTAIN
(eyeing Miller’s Daughter)
I have come for the Baker. The Czar has sent the Army
Special Unit to suppress and destroy anyone who
prints anti-Imperial propaganda.
BAKER’S WIFE
He is a baker. We make bread. That is all.
CZAR’S CAPTAIN
So he is here.
BAKER’S WIFE
No, I told you, took his little whore up to the town
at the bend in the river. He makes bread for the
sailors.
CZAR’S CAPTAIN
You are lying. We cleared the river town and executed
the rebels. But we did not find the Baker. He is
here.
BAKER’S WIFE
I have not seen him.
CZAR’S CAPTAIN
(to the private)
Trooper! Attention! Seize the girl. She will be raped
until you tell me where he is, or until she is dead.
MILLER’S DAUGHTER
(screams)
Aighee!!!The young soldier puts his rifle against the wall and grabs
the Miller’s Daughter.
CZAR’S CAPTAIN
Put her on the table!
The soldier shoves the Miller’s Daughter so she is bent over
the table, above the Baker in the floor.
The cat scrambles by, but stops to sniff the floorboards
where the Baker is. The Miller’s Daughter kicks the cat away.
BAKER’S WIFE
No! Please! Don’t hurt her! Take me instead.
INT. UNDER THE FLOORBOARDS - SAME TIME
THE BAKER
(whispers)
Oh, God. No. Please.
He hears the boots shuffle and stomp over his head.
Above he hears his wife tossed and bent over the table.
CZAR’S CAPTAIN
(above to the private)
Do it!
BAKER’S WIFE
Aaaughghh! Aaaaughhh!
Sound of the table legs moving just above the Baker’s head.
Sound of the Czar’s Captain slapping the Baker’s Wife.
CZAR’S CAPTAIN
(above)
Where is he?! Where is he?
SLAP! SLAP!
BAKER’S WIFE
I don’t know! I don’t know! Aaaauuuughhh! Please
stop! I don’t know!
CZAR’S CAPTAIN
You are lying! I am going to shoot you right here!
SLAP! SLAP!
The Baker covers his face in shame and fear.CZAR’S CAPTAIN
Enough! Stop! We are going to have to shoot the girl.
BAKER’S WIFE
No! I’ll tell you.
Above the Baker’s head there is the sound of feet moving
around, the Baker’s Wife crying and the table moving around.
INT. BAKER'S WIFE'S HOUSE - SAME TIME
CZAR’S CAPTAIN
Where is he?
Baker’s Wife is standing now, clothes and hair disheveled,
tears streaming down her face.
BAKER’S WIFE
He came here! He said we had to run! I told him that
I would not go. So he left. He said he was going to
Switzerland and would send a letter when he was safe.
That’s all he said. That was an hour ago.
CZAR’S CAPTAIN
Of course, he was going though the Bolshevik line.
And then on to the West. But the Bolshies will shoot
him anyway.
BAKER’S WIFE
No!
CZAR’S CAPTAIN
Yes.
(to private)
Troop! Let’s go.
TROOPER
Should we shoot them at least?
CZAR’S CAPTAIN
No. We have to go fight the Bolsheviks. Save your
bullets for the real enemy.
Czar’s Captain and Trooper exit.
INT. UNDER THE FLOORBOARDS
The Baker hears everyone leave and everything is silent. He
is shivering with terror. He closes his eyes an prays.INT. BAKER'S WIFE'S HOUSE - SAME TIME
MILLER’S DAUGHTER
Are you alright?
BAKER’S WIFE
(straightening herself)
Yes. I’m fine. It was nothing.
MILLER’S DAUGHTER
But the soldier?
BAKER’S WIFE
He was a schoolboy, just out of short pants. Did you
know, I recognized him? I knew his mother. She lived
in the town where I grew up. One time when I was
visiting family, I saw her, with her little boy. I
remember picking him up and swinging him around, a
happy baby.
MILLER’S DAUGHTER
But this?
BAKER’S WIFE
He was more afraid than me. We were both acting the
part. He is still more boy than man.
MILLER’S DAUGHTER
Wait so...?
BAKER’S WIFE
But they will come back, and then the Captain will
have his eye on you, and he won’t be pretending.
MILLER’S DAUGHTER
The Baker!
BAKER’S WIFE
Should we get him out, or leave him there?
THE BAKER
Oh, please, help me!
The Miller’s Daughter gets down to pull up the floorboards.
The Baker emerges from the floor.
THE BAKER
Oh God, that was terrible! I am so sorry for bringing
them here. You were so brave!
BAKER’S WIFE
I am not brave but you are stupid. How could you come
here if you knew they were following you?THE BAKER
I thought I lost them. They were following me but I
though I had evaded them.
BAKER’S WIFE
And to think that no one would know where the Baker
lived? You are a fool. You should go. I’m staying but
you should go. And God help you.
THE BAKER
You are right. I’ll go now. Thank you. Thank you.
Outside the sound of battle gets closer. Cannons, guns,
explosions rock the buildings.
The door bursts open and a woman is standing with two other
women.
BAKER’S WIFE
What do you want? Who are you?!
SQUAD LEADER
I have come for him.
(points at Baker)
THE BAKER
What? Who? But, who are you?
SQUAD LEADER
(advancing)
We are the Special Squad, Red Army.
THE BAKER
What do you want with me?
The Squad Leader brings in three other women, armed and in
special uniforms, and pushes the Baker into a chair.
SQUAD LEADER
Oh, we just want to have a little chat with you. Talk
things out.
BAKER’S WIFE
What is this about?
SQUAD LEADER
This little Menshevik here has been spreading
propaganda about the terror of Bolshevism and how we
should compromise with the Czar. Haven’t you? Hmmm?
THE BAKER
That seems a sensible, workable path. It doesn’t do
any good to....SQUAD LEADER
Shut up, Menchie pig!
(to the squad)
Tie up the women. You, help me here.
They grab the Baker and tie up his arms. The Baker’s Wife and
the Miller’s Daughter get tied up and leaned against the wall
to watch the torture of the Baker.
THE BAKER
Wait, don’t hurt them!
SQUAD LEADER
Shut up! If the Czar’s goons were here they would
rape them both and kill you. We’re just going to have
a chat, about politics.
The squad ties up The Baker and bind his ankles. They throw a
long rope over the rafter overhead and hoist The Baker up by
his ankles. Upside-down, he sputters.
THE BAKER
What are you doing? What is this about?
SQUAD LEADER
You had a fun little time with your pals up on the
river. Those funny little men with typewriters. They
thought they could change the world. Ha!
THE BAKER
But!
SQUAD LEADER
The pen is mightier than the sword? Sure it is. And
you are hanging by your heels and we have your women
tied up. The sword is mightier.
THE BAKER
What do you want?
SQUAD LEADER
You are smart. You write well. The peasants in the
field believe you when you say there should be
changes. They believe your words, about the Czar and
his cronies, the criminal politicians and the
aristocrats who swim in the riches of the peoples’
hard work.
THE BAKER
Then why have you come for me?
SQUAD LEADER
Because you write that there should be a compromise
with the Czar to please the bourgeoisie.We shouldn’t rush the transformation of government
and the rights of the people. “Slow transition”.
THE BAKER
(desperate)
Sensible transition. I said Sensible!
SQUAD LEADER
But there can be no compromises. The Czar will not
compromise. He believes he has the will of God!
THE BAKER
He does!
SQUAD LEADER
No! He is just the grandson of a rich farmer. But
they keep the people ignorant, illiterate, and afraid
of his henchmen. But we are not afraid of him and his
goons. Are you? Are you!? You should be.
THE BAKER
Yes! Yes!
SQUAD LEADER
But you should join us. Abandon those weaklings in
the Menshevik klatch. They are clucking chickens, who
will be boiled into soup before the end of the
Parliament. Don’t let that happen to you. We cannot
compromise. We have to kill the bastards and free the
Motherland. Why are you supporting the oppressors and
the lapdogs of the Imperial court?! Confess!
THE BAKER
I am a baker. I make bread. I don’t understand
politics. Please, let me and my family go.
SQUAD LEADER
This is your family? Your wife? Your daughter?
THE BAKER
Yes. Yes.
SQUAD LEADER
Well, we’ll see how you feel about compromise when
the Czar’s men get here. For now, I will let you go,
but I am going to mark you, as a traitor to the
people.
Squad leader goes to the baking oven and shoves in a piece of
metal, connected to a long thin rod/handle.
THE BAKER
What are you doing?SQUAD LEADER
This will mark you as a man who chose the wrong side.
When history gave you the opportunity to join with
the righteous and the just, you wanted to be on the
side of the rich burgermiesters and magistrates, be
on the side of the rich and powerful, instead of
fighting for your own people.
Squad leader pulls the metal out of the oven. It is a red-hot
‘M’, and she pushes it against his forehead, branding him as
a Menshevik.
THE BAKER
Aaaaagggggghhhhh!!!!
BAKER’S WIFE
No! Stop it!
SQUAD LEADER
There! Now anyone can see that you are a traitor.
When the Czar’s men find you, they will shoot you.
When the Bolsheviks find you, they will shoot you. I
would shoot you, but we have real enemies to fight.
(to squad)
Let’s go!
The squad exits. Baker’s Wife and Miller’s Daughter struggle
with the ropes, and the Baker is hanging upside down.
We hear more battle sounds, cannons, gunfire, screams.
INT. BAKER'S WIFE'S HOUSE - HOURS LATER
The Baker’s Wife has crawled underneath The Baker. He is
still hanging upside-down, but she is on her knees and
elbows, supporting him with her back, to take the strain away
from his body weight. She has been supporting him with her
body but she is tiring. When she relaxes he moans with agony.
The Miller’s Daughter is trying to cut her heavy ropes with
the dull dough-scraper.
The Czar’s Captain bursts in again, followed by the Trooper.
CZAR’S CAPTAIN
Did you see them? Were the Bolshies here?
He sees the Baker hanging upside down, The Baker’s Wife
supporting him and the Miller’s Daughter tied up.
THE BAKER
Please, help me!CZAR’S CAPTAIN
So, here you are, trussed up like a pig. Should I
shoot you or just slit your throat and let your blood
drain out of you, all over your wife below? This is a
wasted effort, my dear. He will be dead and you will
have suffered only for a corpse.
He sees the Miller’s Daughter tied up.
CZAR’S CAPTAIN
Oh ho! Look at you! Now it’s your turn!
He grabs the Miller’s Daughter and bends her over the table.
MILLER’S DAUGHTER
No! Please!
CZAR’S CAPTAIN
I should take you with me to the caravanserai!
The Captain pulls up her skirt.
THE BAKER
(upside-down)
Wait! No, it’s me you want! Leave her alone!
CZAR’S CAPTAIN
I take what I want! Next I will put a bullet in your
mouth.
BAKER’S WIFE
Leave her be!
CZAR’S CAPTAIN
(looking around)
Wait. You are right. There is a lesson here.
Captain steps back and pulls out his dagger and pistol.
THE BAKER
(upside-down)
What are you doing?!
CZAR’S CAPTAIN
(to the Miller’s Daughter)
You! Get up! You must stab him.
He frees her ropes.
MILLER’S DAUGHTER
I will stab you!CZAR’S CAPTAIN
Then I will smash your eyes in and send you naked,
running across no-man’s-land, into the machine guns.
Do it!
He points a pistol at her head and hands her his dagger.
MILLER’S DAUGHTER
No!
CZAR’S CAPTAIN
He is a traitor to the Imperial Czar! He is a
propagandist and an enemy of the Mother Land! Are you
and enemy of the Czar as well? Are you?!
MILLER’S DAUGHTER
No!
CZAR’S CAPTAIN
Then as a loyal Russian, you have to kill the enemy.
Stab him!
MILLER’S DAUGHTER
No!
CZAR’S CAPTAIN
Do it!
He pushes the pistol against her head and grips her hair
tightly, pushing her towards the Baker.
He smacks the back of her head with the heavy barrel of the
pistol
MILLER’S DAUGHTER
You are hurting me! OOOOOhhhhhh!!!
She stabs The Baker in the center of the chest, near the
heart.
THE BAKER
Aaaauuuughghgh!!!
BAKER’S WIFE
(on the ground, below The
Baker)
Stop this! Stop this!
Squad Leader kicks in the door and sees the Czar’s Captain
and the Miller’s Daughter, knife in The Baker’s chest.
SQUAD LEADER
Time’s up, Imperial Scum!Squad Leader draws a pistol and aims it at him.
Czar’s Captain swings his pistol but hesitates.
Squad Leader fires, putting a bullet into Czar’s Captain’s
forehead. He falls forward, completely on top of Miller’s
Daughter.
Squad Leader pivots to the Trooper. He has a long-gun with a
bayonet but he is frozen. She shoots him in the chest.
TROOPER
Ooooohhhh!!
He collapses on the floor.
SQUAD LEADER
You see?! You see? They care nothing for the Russian
people. We can not compromise! We have to kill them!
Squad Leader storms out.
The Miller’s Daughter escapes out from under the Czar’s
Captain. She unties the Baker’s Wife. They lower the Baker to
the floor. He is mortally wounded. They lean him up against
the dead body of the Captain.
THE BAKER
(gasping)
Dear Wife, I love you.
BAKER’S WIFE
Shhh. Be quiet now.
THE BAKER
I was so ashamed that I had broken our vows, I had to
run away. I did not want to hurt you. I had to go.
And I made bread, for the sailors, and the
merchantmen. But everyone complained about the Czar.
They want this change and there has to be change. But
not this way. It is all tyranny.
BAKER’S WIFE
Be still, my love. Be still.
THE BAKER
We have come all this way, all these years. To be
killed like a dog, in front of my own baking oven, by
a man from the Czar. I thought the Czar loved us.
BAKER’S WIFE
I love you, dearest. I love you. Now rest.THE BAKER
And now, the only face I see is you, and I am
ashamed. I’m sorry, my love. I’m sorry.
BAKER’S WIFE
It’s OK, love.
THE BAKER
(sighs)
Goodbye, my dear.
He gasps, and is gone.
BAKER’S WIFE
(crying)
Goodbye, my love.
INT. BAKER'S WIFE'S HOUSE - MONTHS LATER - AFTERNOON
The Miller’s Daughter is selling loaves of bread through the
window now.
MILLER’S DAUGHTER
(through window)
Two Rubles, please. Yes, per loaf. Thank you.
She exchanges the bread for the money.
BAKER’S WIFE
(at the oven)
I saw your mother this morning, did I tell you that?
MILLER’S DAUGHTER
No. But I saw her yesterday.
BAKER’S WIFE
She looks well.
MILLER’S DAUGHTER
She is back with father.
BAKER’S WIFE
He took her back?
MILLER’S DAUGHTER
She said that everyone gets lonely enough.
BAKER’S WIFE
Enough for what?
MILLER’S DAUGHTER
To take back what had been thrown out.BAKER’S WIFE
Yes, I suppose.
MILLER’S DAUGHTER
Are you lonely enough?
BAKER’S WIFE
Enough for what?
MILLER’S DAUGHTER
To take him back, the Baker?
BAKER’S WIFE
Yes, I would take him back, if I could. You are good,
but he was better.
MILLER’S DAUGHTER
He had nice hands.
BAKER’S WIFE
It is a simple thing, you know, baking bread, but it
is the act of making food, so that hungry neighbors
can eat. That is a simple thing.
MILLER’S DAUGHTER
A good thing.
KNOCK-knock!
The Miller’s Daughter goes to the window.
MILLER’S DAUGHTER
Two Rubles, please!
The Miller is at the window.
MILLER’S DAUGHTER
Father! It’s you!
THE MILLER
I wanted to see your shining face! How are you?
MILLER’S DAUGHTER
So happy to see you!
THE MILLER
(to the Baker’s Wife)
Madame, how are you?
BAKER’S WIFE
(comes to the window)
As good as I can be, bless the day.THE MILLER
I don’t know if you have heard the news. There is a
cease fire. The Czar has crushed the rebels! Good
news!
BAKER’S WIFE
(sad)
May we have many days of peace.
THE MILLER
The Czar’s brave men put down the last of the
Bolsheviks and are forcing a surrender. Bless the
day!
BAKER’S WIFE
In His name.
THE MILLER
I am sorry about your husband. He got caught up with
some dangerous characters.
BAKER’S WIFE
There is no pity in war. We are lucky to have lived
through it. I hope it is the last one.
THE MILLER
Daughter, I am so glad to see you. Come for dinner
this week. Your mother would like that.
MILLER’S DAUGHTER
Yes, papa.
THE MILLER
I must be away. Off to the grainery. Bless the day!
(exits)
BAKER’S WIFE
(sits, sad)
I do not have the strength to go today. You must go
to the grainery for us. Can you do that?
MILLER’S DAUGHTER
Yes, ma’am.
She closes the window, gets the grain bucket and prepares to
leave.
BAKER’S WIFE
That’s a good girl.
MILLER’S DAUGHTER
Will you be alright?BAKER’S WIFE
I will sit with the ghosts for a time. Now go.
Miller’s Daughter exits.
Baker’s Wife sits next to the place where The Baker had hung
by his boots.
END