Ditch (5 page)

Mrs Peel
You come and tell me then you can roll the pastry.

Megan nods
,
Mrs Peel
turns away.

James
is about to enter –
Megan
shoots her arm up and makes a fist
(
hold signal
)
and
James
steps back.
Mrs Peel
turns to
Megan
, who still has her hand in the air.

Mrs Peel
What a' you doin'?

Megan
Just killed a fly.

Mrs Peel
Open up that hand.

Megan
slowly opens her palm.

Megan
Thought I killed a fly. (
Looks about.
) It gone.

Mrs Peel
turns away.
Megan
looks for
James
but he isn't there.

Megan
Skin a' my hands is cracked and sore.

Mrs Peel
Rub a little butter on 'em.

Megan
Need more than butter.

Mrs Peel
Butter's what you got.

Megan
Put some on my face the other night.

Mrs Peel
You been abusin' that butter?

Megan
Don't want my face to wrinkle.

Mrs Peel
You use it for cracks and sores only.

Megan
sees
James
's head – she crosses her arms across her chest
(
obstacle.
)
Mrs Peel
turns to
Megan
, who still has her arms across her chest.
Mrs Peel
stands staring at
Megan
.
Megan
moves her hands about her arms as if they were a lovers.
Mrs Peel
looks at
Megan
like she's losing the plot.
Megan
finally stops.

Megan
(
Shrugs.
) Nice to hold yourself sometimes.

Mrs Peel
I'm gonna go and grab hold a' some sheep balls.

Mrs Peel
leaves
.
James
enters.

James
She comin' back?

Megan
She gonna' be a while.

James
You sure?

Megan
She got her hands full.

James
Remembered the tactical signals pretty well.

Megan
I did, didn't I.

Beat.

Megan
Have to teach me somethin' else now.

James
Like what?

Megan
Have to think a' somethin'.

Beat.

James
Want a' know some lateral thinkin'?

Megan
Don't have to be from trainin'.

James
Don't know much else.

Megan
Dint sound like that earlier.

James
Burns and Turner done the talkin'.

Megan
You been the one they askin'.

James
Dint have much of an opinion about it.

Megan
You had the facts.

James
Sat there listenin' mostly s'what I done. Reminded me a' when I used to go meetin's with my dad. It been after the Breakdown that. There'd be about fifty a' us, standin' or sittin' in a pokey terrace. I just been a kid, been there listenin'. But the rest a' 'em been talkin' and shoutin' all night. Like I say, been after the Breakdown, could a' made a bonfire out a' their anger. Been that way for about a year, meetin's twice a week. Then he started goin' less, wasn't the only one. He been too tired after his shift or worried that the Security, they'd break up meeting sometimes, would have him down as trouble. He still talked about it all in the evenin's after the news, but he done it with my mum. She always sittin' there quiet. Dint cry no more. When he been promoted to foreman in the factory he stopped goin'. Last meetin' we went to there been a dozen a' us and it finished before the lights went out. (
Shifts.
) This past year I been the one who's breakin' up meetin's . . . they still have 'em in terraces, but they younger who go to 'em . . . aint been any less a' 'em each time we went back . . . I'm talkin' again . . . shouldn't get used to it.

Megan
Aint a bad thing.

James
Good thing. That's why.

Beat.

Megan
When I planted the rhubarb Mrs Peel told me she was gonna make a rhubarb juice with it when it was ready. I never had rhubarb juice before but she told me it's like apple juice but better and I really like apple juice. We started savin' some sugar aside at the beginnin' a' every month for it and after waitin' a whole year it was ready. It was one a' the best things I ever tasted. I had a cup a' it every day for ten days. And then it was gone and I got upset about that. I cried. The next year when the rhubarb was ready Mrs Peel dint make no juice with it. She boiled it up and made me eat it with no sugar for two weeks. That was a long time ago now. Rhubarb's gonna be ready next month and Mrs Peel promised me she gonna make juice with it. When it's gone it's gone. I know that now. I just have to enjoy it whilst its there.

Megan
and
James
lean towards one another – a strange rasping noise.

James
What's that?

Megan
(
Softly.
) Sheep.

Megan
and
James
lean further, until they are inches apart – a distressed rasping noise.

James
Don't sound like sheep.

Megan
(
Softly.
) Mrs Peel's castratin' 'em s'why.

James
jerks backwards.

James
I gotta go.

James
rushes off, stops.

James
Tonight?

Megan
(
Beams.
) Tonight.

James
leaves.

Scene Six

Peak. Sunset.

Turner
and
Bug
are sat eating from their tinned cans in silence.

Bug
I tell yer about that seagull? Don't think I did. When I dropped that deer, eight . . . nine days ago now, anyway, deer's on the ground. I'm makin' my way to it when out a' nowhere a seagull comes down and pecks out the deer's eyeball. If I'd a' been any longer gettin' to it it'd gone straight for its arse hole (
Half laughs.
)
. . .

Turner
No fish for 'em.

Beat.

Bug
First thing you said since we been out here.

Turner
Thinkin', s'all.

Bug
Man can think aloud.

Turner
Aint ready in my head yet.

Bug
I say stuff that aint ready all the time.

Turner
I know. S'why I aint.

Beat.

Bug
Thinkin' about what Burns said?

Turner
Nope.

Bug
I been thinkin' about what Burns said.

Beat.

Bug
Pretty fucked, aint it?

Turner
Nope.

Beat.

Bug
How's that.

Turner
I'm sick a' talkin' about. Sick a' thinkin' about it. Don't even matter to me anymore. Recovery or no Recovery, it aint gonna make no difference to me and what I'm gonna do. I served my country. I done my duty. I aint doin' it . . . I aint.

Bug
What?

Turner
Fuck 'em. Fuck 'em all.

Bug
What a' you talkin' about?

Turner
I'm gonna find myself an abandoned farm. Fix it up. And stay the fuck there.

(
Beat.
)

Could be there too if yer wanted.

(
Beat.
)

Turner
World already got smaller, and it can get even smaller for me. It can get as small as a farm and a couple a' acres a' land. It can empty itself a' everybody till there's just me and you left. It can burn itself to the ground around us.

Beat.

Turner
Man can't be alone. (
Glances at
Bug
.
) I know what time a' day it is with you and . . . you do me. Way I see it, we'd get along fine anywhere's.

Beat
.

Turner
Anyway, that's what I'm gonna do.

Pause.

Turner
What you gone quiet for!

Bug
I'm just listenin'.

Turner
Told you I dint want a' say nothin'!

Turner
stands.

Turner
Said it wrong cause you're fuckin' quizzin' me.

Bug
I aint quizzin' you.

Turner
You're fuckin' quizzin' me all the fuckin' time.

Bug
Ah, fuck this.

Turner
Yeah, fuck you.

Bug
walks away. Both men stand opposite, backs turned. Pause.

Bug
Prick.

Turner
Wanker.

Bug
Cock.

Turner
Cock sucker.

Bug
Cunt.

Turner
Cunty bollocks.

Bug
Spunk ball.

Turner
Spunk ball?

Bug
Spunk ball.

Turner
Inventive.

They take out their flasks, swig one back.

Bug
Reddest sky I seen tonight.

Turner
Reckon it's gonna rain?

Bug
Can't never tell.

Turner
and
Bug
become alert – the clack and ricochet of stag's antlers.

Bug
Stags.

Turner
looks away, but
Bug
continues to stare out.

Turner
Lucky bastards.

Bug
They aint ruttin'.

Turner
Next life I'm comin' back as a stag.

Bug
They chargin' forwards, they fightin'.

Turner
Fuck me they even get foreplay.

Turner
sits down by the fire.

Bug
What you been sayin' earlier.

Turner
Forget about that.

Bug
Makes sense to me. Never thought about it but soon as you said it, had it all figured in my head. I even seen the place, Turn. Everythin' just fell inta place . . . Except for one thing.

Turner
What?

Bug
How we gonna get it?

Turner
Need to think it over.

Bug
You said it'd be an abandoned farm?

Turner
doesn't answer, he drinks from his flask.

Bug
Means it'd be outside a' the restrictions.

Turner
They all been emptied years before that.

Bug
Don't matter if it were before or after.

Turner
stands, shifts about agitated.

Turner
Restrictions don't apply to us.

Bug
They would if we weren't in the Security no more.

Turner
becomes still.

Turner
Restrictions aint gonna be forever. (
Turns to
Bug
.
) Gotta lift 'em some time.

Bug
nods and they look away from each other.

Bug
Where we settin' up for the night?

Turner
Castleton.

Turner
picks up his rifle

Bug
Had this thing happen there.

Turner
What thing?

Bug
Felt somethin' watchin' me.

Turner
What'd you mean?

Bug
Even though I was sleepin', I knew it was there.

Turner
walks off.

Turner
(
Calls back.
) I've dreamt a pussy and woke up fuckin' tastin' it.

Bug
Wasn't a dream.

Turner
has left.
Bug
picks up his rifle and turns to leave. He stands motionless as he sees the figure of a man in the distance. The man's head is lowered and he wears a crown made of stag's antlers, smeared in blood. The man drops to his knees. A wind rises.

Scene Seven

Slaughter room. Morning. The wind howls.

A deer bound by its back legs hangs down from an iron grip. The bucket directly below it collects the blood as it bleeds out.
Megan
is holding the knife at the deer,
Mrs Peel
stands behind her.

Mrs Peel
Start at her crotch and take it all the way to her breast.

Megan
draws the line with the blade.

Mrs Peel
Don't show her all a' yer blade, just the tip, give enough to get under her hide.

Megan
brings the blade back.

Mrs Peel
You do the same thing again but this time you givin' it more, give her a half inch, that'll open her up. Don't get carried away, cause if you do, you gonna be in her stomach.

Burns
enters.

Burns
Nearly got killed makin' my way here.

Mrs Peel
(
To
Megan
.
) Start steelin' the blade.

Burns
Some loose tiles fell not more than a foot away from me.

Mrs Peel
Not seen a wind like this before, couple a' fence posts heaved themselves clean out a' the soil durin' the night.

Mrs Peel
sees that
Burns
has been drinking.

Mrs Peel
Need somethin' Burns?

Burns
Listened to the radio this mornin'?

Mrs Peel
We graftin' from since six nowadays.

Burns
Kings dead.

Megan
stops steeling the blade.

Burns
Died over there last night. They've lost the strong hold. They aint bringin' anyone back.

Mrs Peel
watches
Burns
drink from his flask.