Ditch (3 page)

Burns
It's all in the kneel.

Mrs Peel
Burns?

Burns
stops before he leaves turns to
Mrs Peel
. Beat.

Mrs Peel
New boy been in here this mornin'. He been real excited to know we got a cow, way I see it he aint had his hands around a teat in a long time. Make sure he knows that milkin' the cow aint his job round here.

Mrs Peel
leaves.

Scene Three

Peak. Night.

Turner
is sat staring into the small fire.
Bug
approaches
Turner
from behind. The horses are heard to stir occasionally.

Bug
(
Sheepishly.
) Turner . . .

Turner
What?

Beat.

Turner
What you forgot this time?

Bug
The tarp.

Turner
What a' we gonna do now?

Bug
We could go back?

Turner
I aint goin' back.

Bug
I could go back.

Turner
Fuck the tarp.

Bug
Fuck the tarp?

Turner
Fuck the tarp. Fuck the rain. Fuck the land. Fuck Burns.

Bug
(
Grins.
) Thought you was pissed at me.

Turner
And fuck you.

Bug
(
Still grinning.
) But you aint.

Turner
Aint you pissed about it?

Bug
Yeah, I'm pissed. But. Way I see it, I only gotta be pissed for three days.

Turner
Three days?

Bug
Four max.

Turner
We supposed to be patrollin' this here bastard peak, and now there's just two a' us doin' it.

Bug
We'll be four by the end a' the week.

Turner
By then we could a' lost out on god knows how many Illegals.

Bug
Aint as if we pickin' 'em up every week, Turn.

Turner
You know why? Cause they fear us. They fear us, Bug. That's why.

Bug
looks out.

Turner
This whole gardenin' thing, it dint come from Burns.

Bug
What d'you mean?

Turner
That old rope, Peel. It her idea.

Bug
Wouldn't mind havin' some spuds.

Turner
She sowin' more than that.

Bug
Reckon we'll get peas?

Turner
Would you stop thinkin' about your gut and think about what's goin' on here. Aint Burns puttin' us on a shovel, it Peel, a civilian. I like Burns, don't get me wrong, he been a good soldier, done his fair share a' tours. But that was some time ago, this last three year he been lookin' up at the moon through a whiskey bottle waitin' for his boy to come back. He aint got the grit to do the job, s'all I'm sayin'.
Beat.

Turner
Put some food on?

Bug
Aint hungry yet.

Turner
Me neither

Bug
You know what I been thinkin' about?

Turner
Getting' laid?

Bug
Yeah, but soemthin' else too.

Turner
looks blank.

Bug
Keep thinkin' about that stag.

Turner
Why?

Bug
I don't know.

Turner
So what you talkin' about it for?

Bug
I don't know.

Beat.

Bug
Never seen a stag bitten like that.

Turner
Seen it before.

Bug
Whatever it was knew what it was doin', straight for the jugular.

Turner
What d'you mean: whatever it was?

Bug
I don't know.

Turner
Told you a dog done it.

Bug
It was a big bastard too.

Turner
Fuckin' three dogs then.

Bug
Not an organ left.

Turner
How many times has one of them stray dogs come at you? Them dogs have spent most a' their life sprawled on a rug in front of a TV fartin'. But with all that gone they're wild.

Bug
Yeah, you're right.

Beat.

Bug
Never seen a dog this far inta the Peak.

Turner
And I never had such a borin' conversation.

Beat
.

Bug
Haven't pitched in this spot for a while.

Turner
Couple a' week maybe.

Bug
Had this dream, last time we were sleepin' here. Not really a dream cause I was awake, sleepy eyed kind a' thing. The whole place was lit. Burnin'. Red with fire. Some trees fallin'. The ground scorched . . .

Turner
And then what?

Bug
(
Shrugs
.) Nothin'.

Scene Four

Stables. Evening.

Megan
is laid on her back staring upwards.
James
enters.

James
Evenin'.

Megan
jumps to her feet.

Megan
Evenin'.

James
Came to check the tack for my horse.

Megan
Which one been given?

James
Sheets.

Beat.

James
What a' you doin'?

Megan
I'm bein' alone.

Beat.

James
You come here to do that?

Megan
Huhum.

Beat
.

Megan
Mrs Peel don't tend to come here. She don't like the horses much, especially Mince. He been eating her sage bush. Sheets kicked her in the gut. But she was alright about that.

James
Guess I'll be goin' then.

Megan
I don't mind sharin' this space. I could just sit here alone, sit here sharin' it, s'all the same to me – you like stars?

James
I guess.

Megan
Want a' see some?

James
Alright.

Megan
S'why I'm always in this spot so I can see 'em.

James
edges forwards to where
Megan
stands.

Megan
I sometimes sit outside when you all sleepin' and look at 'em too. It's so quiet and dark. Never no planes in the sky, no headlights, lights from windows. Just them stars and me. You know that the stars a' suns?

James
shakes his head.

Megan
Suns just the closet one to us is all. Mrs Peel told me that. Told me that everyone a' them stars is gonna die sometime and same goes for ours. But before it dies, a long time before it dies, it gonna cook us to a crisp and boil all the water away. You know that?

James
shakes his head.

Megan
She told me that the moons done for too. Every year it moves further away and there'll come a time when it won't support us no more, we're gonna drop like a sack a' taters. You know that?

James
shakes his head.

Megan
Don't really matter anyway cause the sun'll cook us first.

Beat.

James
Know how to find the North star.

Megan
Mrs Peel don't know that.

James
There's seven bright stars in the shape of a saucepan. You find the saucepan and take the edge a' it that's furthest away from the handle. You draw a line from the star at the base a' the pan to the star at the rim. You extend it about five times. That leads you to another saucepan. A smaller one. You take the edge a' the smaller saucepan's handle that's furthest away from the pan and you found the North Star. Drop a vertical line from the North Star to the horizon and that's north.

Megan
is lost yet impressed.

James
Orientation was part a' my trainin'. Taught to orientate ourselves without a compass. Had to learn to memorize co-ordinates. Told never to fold a map any other way than it already folded. That way you give nothin' about the operation away. I liked that part a' it, learnin' I mean.

Megan
How much schoolin' you had?

James
Till I was twelve.

Megan
Same here.

James
We must be the same age then.

Megan
I like learnin' too.

Beat.

James
Show you some tactical hand signals if you want?

Megan
What a' they?

James
Stuff you do to not give the operation away.

Megan
's game.

James
(
Raise his arm clenches his fist.
)
Hold.

Megan
(
Does the same
.) Hold.

James
(
Crosses his arms across his chest.
) Obstacle.

Megan
(
Does the same.
) Obstacle.

James
(
Raises his arm, points the finger, rotates it.
) Regroup.

Megan
(
Does the same.
) Regroup.

James
(
Hand into a spy hole.
) Look out.

Megan
(
Does the same.
) Look out.

James
(
Cups his ear.
) Say again.

Megan
(
Does the same
.) Say again.

James
Best stop there, gets confusin' if you do too many.

Megan
Never been someone my age here before.

James
Security's always been full a' the other generation. But since most a' thems gone overseas it left an openin' for us. Now that we old enough to do it. I signed up a year ago.

Beat.

Megan
So now you got health care.

James
Yeah. Not that I need it, I aint got nothin'.

Megan
Good to have it.

James
I guess.

Megan
Get more rations too.

James
When I was outside, here we eatin' the same.

Megan
Bigger livin' quarters for you.

James
Aint done it for none a' that.

Megan
(
Nods.
) Just wanted to be in the Security.

James
First time I had a choice in somethin'. Everythin' else been decided for me. Figured, if I'm gonna be drafted as well, I'd rather choose it then it get me. So that's what I done. Some a' them I knew dint speak to me after I done it. But. They don't speak much to each other outside anyway. This is the most I talked in a long time. Gonna get me in bother, like it did this mornin' with Mrs Peel.

Megan
She always like that.

James
Should a' known better.

Megan
Should be able to ask things sometimes.

The horses are heard to whinny
.
Megan
becomes alert.

James
I should be goin'.

Megan
Probably just a mouse stirred 'em.

James
You sure Mrs Peel aint gonna come?

Megan
Last time I seen her she was pullin' whiskers out a' her chin and nose. She don't tend to come out a' our room after she been doin' that. This here's my free time, don't get much a' that.

James
She worked you hard on that shovel today.

Megan
She always workin' me, even when there's nothin' needs doin', but it good for me. When there was more men here I been busy most a' the time but when they went away I been told I was gonna be sent back to my old quarters and put to work in the refinery.

James
How come you stayed?

(
Beat
.)

Megan
Turner, he put in a good word for me.

James
Don't seem like him.

Megan
Here a bit like where I grew up, dint have horses a' nothin' but reminds me a' it sometimes . . .

James
Thought you dint talk about the past here?

Megan
I don't do everythin' Mrs Peel tells me. Today I chucked a handful a seeds down the toilet. Yesterday I tipped coffee grinds inta the compost like I been told too, but I slung in a tea bag, like I been told not too. Day before I spotted a hare munchin' away at her first ever courgette flower and I stood by and let it eat it down to the core. Last month I took a knife and made a gash in her mosquito nettin', and sure enough she been bit. And for a year I been watchin' a vine slowly spreadin' itself on top a' the spade I hid and I let it keep on growin' like toe nails on a corpse.

Burns
(
Offstage.
) James?

James
I gotta go.

Megan
He just callin' he aint comin' here.

Burns
(
Offstage.
) James?

James
I should go.

James
walks away, stops, turns around.

James
Maybe see you in here again?

Megan
I don't mind sharin' this space.

Megan
sits.

Megan
S'all same to me.

James
leaves.
Megan
smiles.

Scene Five

Kitchen. Afternoon.

Mrs Peel
and
Megan
are before the table which is covered in seeds.
James
and
Burns
are bringing boxes of supplies into the kitchen.

Mrs Peel
Potatoes, peas, beans are all the seed for their kind, cucumbers and most fruit contain the seed within 'em, we'll pick 'em out. Reason there's so many different kinds is, where one will fail another can still succeed. They're not all gonna' survive. Nature knows that, spreads it chances. When pickin' leaves and mushrooms you gotta be careful that they aint poisonous. A rule a' thumb I swear by is if you don't recognize it or it's got a dick don't trust it. (
Glares at
James
.
) Get rid a' it.

Burns
sits on a box and decanters the whiskey bottle into his flask.