Five Minutes in the Life
of Billy Pilgrim
Sarah Ontiveros
FADE IN:
EXT. MID-AFTERNOON. DRESDEN, GERMANY. DURING WWII.
Prisoners are being held in an abandoned slaughterhouse.
Several bombings have taken place and the once beautiful
city lies in ruins. Rubble, people’s belongings, and
dead bodies cover the streets. The prisoners are ordered
to shovel up rubble and clear the street of debris and
bodies.
BILLY, LAZZO, and KILGORE, three POWs, are sitting on
the ground outside of the slaughterhouse. Their faces
and clothes covered in dirt and soot. A young SS GUARD
in a neat uniform is patrolling with a large rifle in
his hands.
GUARD ONE
Funf minuten!!
LAZZO
Been shoveling and carrying bodies
all morning and all we get is five
lousy minutes.
KILGORE turns to LAZZO.
KILGORE
What time do you think it is, LAZZO?
LAZZO
Judging by how long we’ve been out
there shoveling, and where the sun
is, I’d say about noon, maybe.
KILGORE
(puzzled)
Where the sun is? How can you tell
by that?
LAZZO
By how big it looks, or how
bright...or something like that.
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