Chapter 5 Scarlett Taking Care of Melanie
　　
　　
　　(Atlanta prayed while onward surged the triumphant Yankees...Heads
　　were high, but hearts were heavy, as the wounded and the refugees
　　poured into unhappy Georgia......In the hospital, Scarlett helps out as a
　　nurse there, but her patience was easily suffocated by the dying
　　and screaming there.)
　　
　　Priest: With the Lord as my shepherd I shall not want.
　　He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. With the
　　sword at my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of
　　"righteousness for his namesake. Yea, though I walked
　　through the valley at the shadow of death, I will fear no
　　evil. For thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they
　　comfort me.
　　
　　VOICE: Mrs. Hamilton, Dr. Wilson is waiting.
　　SCARLETT: Let him wait, I‘m going home, I‘ve done enough.
　　I don‘t want any more men dying and screaming, I don‘t want
　　anymore.
　　
　　(Scarlett runs out of the hospital onto the street, where she finds the
　　whole city is shaking in the flame of war. Everyone is fleeing. She is
　　totally at a loss what to do, then Butler comes with a carriage.)
　　
　　RHETT: Scarlett! Whoah. Climb into this buggy, this is no day for walking,
　　you‘ll get run over.
　　SCARLETT: Rhett, ride me to where Aunt Pitty is, please.
　　RHETT: Panic‘s a pretty sight, isn‘t it. Whoah, whoah. That‘s
　　just another one of General Shermans calling cards. He‘ll be paying us
　　a visit soon.
　　SCARLETT: I‘ve gotta get out of here, I gotta get out of here before
　　the Yankees come.
　　RHETT: And leave your work at the hospital? Or have you had
　　enough of death and lice and men chopped up? Well I suppose you
　　weren‘t meant for sick men, Scarlett.
　　SCARLETT: Don‘t talk to me like that, Rhett, I‘m so scared, I wish
　　I‘d get out of here!
　　RHETT: Let‘s get out of here together. No use staying here, letting the
　　South come down around your ears. There are too many nice places to
　　go and visit. Mexico, London, Paris...
　　SCARLETT: With you?
　　RHETT: Yes Ma‘am. I‘m the man who understands you and admires
　　you for just what you are. I figure we belong together, being the same
　　sort. I‘ve been waiting for you to grow up and get that sad-eyed
　　Ashley Wilkes out of your heart. Well, I hear Mrs. Wilkes is going to
　　have a baby in
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　　another month or so. It‘s be hard loving a man with a
　　wife and baby clinging to him. Well, here we are. Are you
　　going with me or are you getting out?
　　
　　SCARLETT: I hate and despise you, Rhett Butler. And
　　I‘ll hate and despise you till I die!
　　RHETT: Oh, no, you won‘t, Scarlett, not that long.
　　(The Hamiltons. Scarlett is packing, preparing for
　　leaving.)
　　DR. MEADE: What is this? You ain‘t planning on running
　　away?
　　SCARLETT: And don‘t you dare try to stop me. I‘m never
　　going back to that hospital, I‘ve had enough of smelling
　　death and rot and death...I‘m going home, I want my
　　mother. My mother needs me.
　　DR. MEADE: You‘ve got to listen to me. You must stay
　　here.
　　AUNT PITTY: Without a chaperone, Dr. Meade, it simply
　　isn‘t done.
　　DR. MEADE: Good Heaven‘s woman, this is war, not a
　　garden party. Scarlett, you‘ve got to stay, Melanie needs
　　you.
　　SCARLETT: Oh, bother Melanie!
　　DR. MEADE: She‘s ill already. She shouldn‘t even be
　　having a baby. She may have a difficult time.
　　SCARLETT: Can‘t we take her along?
　　DR. MEADE: Would you want her to take that chance?
　　Would you want her to be taunted over rough roads and
　　have the baby ahead of time in the buggy?
　　SCARLETT: It isn‘t my baby, you take care of it.
　　DR. MEADE: Scarlett, we haven‘t enough doctors, much
　　less nurses to look after a sick woman. You‘ve got to stay for
　　Melanie.
　　SCARLETT: What for? I don‘t know anything about babies being
　　borne.
　　PRISSY: I knows! I knows! I knows how to do it. I‘ve done it lots
　　and lots. let me doctor, let me. I can do everything.
　　DR. MEADE: Good. Then I‘ll rely on you to help us. PRISSY: Yes
　　Doctor.
　　DR. MEADE: Ashley‘s fighting on the field. Fighting for the cause.
　　He may never come back. He may die. Scarlett, we owe him a well
　　borne child. AUNT PITTY: If you‘re coming Scarlett, hurry!
　　SCARLETT: I promised Ashley, something. DR. MEADE: Then
　　you‘ll stay? Good. Go along Miss Pittifett. Scarlett‘s staying.
　　SCARLETT: Prissy! Prissy! Come here Prissy! Go pack my things
　　and Miss Melanie‘s, too. We‘re to Tara right away, the Yankees are
　　coming. MELANIE: Scarlett! Scarlett! SCARLETT: Oh, Melanie,
　　we‘re going to... Melanie.
　　MELANIE: I‘m sorry to be such a bother, Scarlett. It‘ll begin at daybreak.
　　SCARLETT: But, the Yankees are coming.
　　MELANIE: Poor Scarlett...you‘d be at Tara now with your mother,
　　wouldn‘t you? If it weren‘t for me...Oh, Scarlett darling, you‘ve been
　　so good to me. No sister could have been sweeter. I‘ve been lying here
　　thinking, if I should die, will you take my baby?
　　SCARLETT: Oh, fiddle-dee-dee, Melanie, aren‘t things bad
　　enough without you talking about dying? I‘ll send for Dr.
　　Meade right away.
　　MELANIE: Not yet, Scarlett. I couldn‘t let Dr. Meade sit
　　here for hours while, while all those poor, badly wounded
　　boys...
　　SCARLETT: Prissy! Prissy come here quick! Prissy, go
　　get Dr. Meade, run quick! Don‘t stand there like a scared
　　goat, run! Hurry, Hurry! I‘ll sell you South I will, I swear
　　I will! I‘ll sell you South!
　　(Later, Prissy comes back alone. Scarlett has to find the
　　doctor herself.)
　　PRISSY: Is the doctor coming?
　　SCARLETT: No, he can‘t come.
　　PRISSY: Oh, Miss Scarlett, Miss Melanie bad off!
　　SCARLETT: He can‘t come, there‘s nobody to come. Prissy,
　　you‘ve got to manage without the doctor. I‘ll help you.
　　PRISSY: Oh, lawdsy, Miss Scarlett!
　　SCARLETT: What is it?
　　PRISSY: Lawdsy, we‘ve got to have a doctor! I don‘t know
　　nothing about birthing babies.
　　SCARLETT: What do you mean? You told me you knew
　　everything about it!
　　PRISSY: I don‘t know how can I tell such a lie. Ma ain‘t
　　never let me around when folks was having them.
　　
　　SCAELETT: Go! Stop it! Go light a fire on the stove. Get boiling
　　water in the kettle. Get me a ball of twine, and all the clean towels you
　　can find, and, the scissors. And don‘t come telling me you can‘t find
　　them. Go get them and get them quick!