- Henry: I need a line to New York.
- Carmen: Whatever they need.
- Henry: [on the phone calling New York Herald Tribune] Listen, George. Here's your damn war story. Twenty-six April, 1937. Gernika. Don't give a damn if you use my name or you have someone else sign it. But it's the story I want printed. Ready? A very small town in the north of Spain is about to become very famous, but for all the wrong reasons.
- Marco: Hey, Henry.
- Henry: Marco. I wondered when you'd show up. Like a bad penny.
- Marco: Yes. I heard your car was bombed. But I thought it was you telling your usual stories, but now...
- Henry: And I heard that you've been secretly writing articles for the fascists.
- Marco: Yes
- Henry: It's dangerous when you cross the lines, Marco.
- Henry: You get yourself shot.
- Marco: If you write what they want, you never get shot.
- Henry: [Making phone call to New York] George! How's New York? Where is my check?
- George: Henry, we have cheaper journalists, you know.
- Henry: Yeah, but none of them is named Henry Howell.
- George: They'll have names of their own if I give them a chance. Listen, child star Shirley Temple released a toy collection with her face. And all the papers opened with that. There's a war on, Henry...
- Henry: All right. Here's what we can do. I've got a hand-drawn battle map. Make a great illustration. But...
- Henry: Speaking of illustrations, how about a week in Paris, George? Picasso is preparing a new exhibition. Let's do Picasso. Together. He'll talk to me, you know.
- George: Nothing about Paris. Bergara. Do you remember that article? That's war. And WAR SELLS, Henry. I WANT WAR! I...
- Henry: So, what's your life's story?
- Teresa: I wanted to be a writer. But when the war happened, the loyalists needed people who spoke languages, and knew how to deal with journalists.
- Henry: So you're dealing with me?
- Teresa: Well, in my way.
- Henry: And because you didn't become a writer, you deal in editing what other people write.
- Teresa: Well, circumstances delimit one's choices, don't they? To be honest, I'm like you. I don't fit in many places.
- Henry: You're a Communist?
- Teresa: Loyalist. I wish to see a democracy for Spain.
- Teresa: [knock on the door] Come in.
- Carmen: Teresa? These are the new journalists. Marco Navas. He works for a Portuguese newspaper. And these two are the oneswith the car that broke down.
- Marta: No, it didn't break down. It was bombed.
- Carmen: Marta Vonier, photographer from Le Figaro. And Henry Howell, from the New York Herald Tribune. American.
- Teresa: I studied your writing at college. I... I think I've read it all. Short. Sharp. Very inspiring. Your style has evolved over time, hasn't it?
- Henry: Well, I'm still a growing boy.
- Teresa: I just read this article of yours about Bergara. You write of a battle at a castle where our soldiers were firing from the battlements. I think it was a pretty good piece. It's quite interesting because there are no castles in Bergara. Why? Why did you write it? Is it even about the truth anymore?
- Henry: Well, maybe I got the name of the town wrong. There's so many.
- Teresa: Don't play with us. For you, it's a story. But for us, it's life and death.
- Vasyl: Obey the rules, Mr. Howell. They're simple enough even for you.
- Henry: I'm sorry. You are?