Ditch (9 page)

Mrs Peel
stops
.

Burns
Tomorrow?

Beat
.

Burns
That a date?

Beat
.

Mrs Peel
I guess.

Mrs Peel
leaves
.

Scene Five

Kitchen. Morning.

Megan
is folding a pile of washed and dried clothes and sheets.
Bug
enters.

Bug
I been needin' to talk to you too.

Megan
Me?

Beat.

Megan
Why?

Beat.
Megan
sees it in
Bug
's eyes. She grabs a sheet from the pile.

Megan
Give me a hand foldin' these sheets?

Bug
looks at his stump.

Megan
We'll just fold it best we can.

Bug
Can we sit down?

Megan
They so big we got a' stand and do it.

Megan
gives some of the sheet to
Bug
to hold on to.

Megan
You keep hold a' this here.

Bug
I need to tell you somethin'.

Megan
steps away from
Bug
.

Megan
I can hear you from here.

Megan
takes the corners and opens the stained sheet out.

Megan
Don't know how these stains got here.

Megan
halves the width of the sheet.

Bug
It's James.

Megan
halves the width of the sheet again.

Megan
I think it Burns.

Megan
halves the width of the sheet again.

Megan
He drink so much he must a' been sick on 'em.

Megan
walks towards
Bug
and takes the sheet off him.

Bug
He's dead.

Megan
halves the length of the sheet.

Megan
It gonna kill him one day.

Megan
halves the length of the sheet again.

Bug
Dint have no pain.

Megan
halves the length of the sheet again.

Megan
Bet his liver do.

Megan
folds the sheet, folds it again and again.

Bug
He talked about you –

Megan
Don't.

Beat.

Megan
Don't say no more.

Bug
leaves.
Megan
holds the tightly folded sheet to her chest as if it were the dead's flag.
Mrs Peel
enters, eyes
Megan
shaking from behind.

Mrs Peel
You holdin' yourself again?

Megan
nods slowly.
Mrs Peel
shakes her head, sights the rest of the garments.

Mrs Peel
Fold the rest a' the them things.

Megan
leaves with the sheet.

Mrs Peel
You come back here.

Mrs Peel
storms after
Megan
but stops dead in her tracks as
Burns
enters, holding the radio.

Mrs Peel (
Gruff.
) What d'you want?

Mrs Peel
looks away from
Burns
; he stays where he is.

Mrs Peel
We goin' after my deer?

Mrs Peel
looks at
Burns
.

Mrs Peel
Where's the supplies?

Mrs Peel
looks searchingly at
Burns
.

Mrs Peel
Burns?

Burns
turns up the volume, beautiful music plays, and puts the radio down.

Burns
(
softly
) I want my dance.

Mrs Peel
(
Relieved but stern
.) I aint dancin'.

Burns
walks towards
Mrs Peel
.

Mrs Peel
Are you outta your mind! I aint dancin' in here! I got work to do! I never said when!

Burns
stands still before
Mrs Peel
.

Burns
We only got now.

Burns
takes
Mrs Peel
's hand. They dance; he is surprisingly light on his toes whilst she is as stiff as a fence post. He looks at her whilst she looks away. Gradually their steps become smaller and smaller until they are stood still.
Burns
looks at
Mrs Peel
for what feels like a long time but is only a moment, she looks back at him. They lean very slowly towards one another. They kiss.

Turner
(
Offstage.
) Why'd you leave without me?

Bug
(
Offstage.
) Told you I was comin' back.

Mrs Peel
jolts away from
Burns
and darts over to the radio.
Mrs Peel
tunes the radio as
Turner
and
Bug
walk in.

Turner
You could a' woke me up.

Bug
Thought you were stayin' on.

Turner
Well I thought both a' us were.

Mrs Peel
Quiet!

Radio
(
American.
) . . . resulting in the disarmament of the airbase and the withdrawal of the British Security from the Sheffield area which took place at ten hundred hours GMT. Plans today were revealed for a monument to commemorate the fallen dead in China.

Turner
Withdrawal?

Beat.

Turner
What's the disarmament of the airbase got to do with us?

Beat.

Turner
What the fuck does . . . withdrawal mean?

Burns
Means we aint there no more.

Turner
But . . . if we aint there then who is?

Beat.

Who's controllin' Sheffield?

Beat.

Turner
No, no, they . . . they bein' quarantined. S'why we pulled out. Fuck, I don't know, there enough diseases. (
To
Mrs Peel
.) Put our radio on.

Burns
It's dead.

Turner
What d'you mean?

Turner
goes to the radio . . . it's dead
.

Turner
You gonna tell me what the fuck's going on?

Burns
I put it on this mornin' at around five and it was dead. I left for the station cause I had to pick up the supplies and the freight never showed. What? Why? Station aint even in Sheffield.

Burns
What did you hear in the beginnin'?

Mrs Peel
Ultimatum expired.

Turner
What ultimatum?

Mrs Peel
Dint hear no more

Turner
I'm . . . I'm . . . I don't know what's goin' on.

Burns
Civilians gave an ultimatum?

Turner
We gave one to them? We gave 'em an ultimatum, right?

Burns
We the ones who've withdrawn.

Turner
We don't know what that means.

Burns
Means we pulled –

Turner
I know that! We don't know why.

Mrs Peel
Why's it been broadcast over there?

Turner
Cause a' the airbase, it's theirs.

Mrs Peel
Why a' they here?

Turner
They're not anymore. Security gonna be headin' over there.

Burns
Maybe civilians a' headin' out there.

Turner
The Sheffield border'll still be there.

Burns
Said withdrew from the area. Area? Area? That aint specific.

Beat
.

Burns
We ride out, see what's goin' on.

Mrs Peel
Aint it better to wait here?

Burns
If they comin', no.

Turner
They aint comin' out here, there gonna be Security from all over.

Burns
(
To
Mrs Peel
.) we'll go to a settlement, ask there.

Turner
(
To
Bug
.) You comin'?

Burns
You stay here till we get back.

Turner
leaves
.
Burns
and
Mrs Peel
look at each other, at
Bug
stood in the distance between them, then back at each other.

Burns
I'll be goin' then.

Burns
makes to leave.

Mrs Peel
How long you gonna be?

Burns
Few hours.

They look at
Bug
(oblivious that he is an obstacle) and then at the floor
.

Mrs Peel
How many?

Burns
Four.

Mrs Peel
Four?

Burns
Five, maybe.

They look at each other
.

Burns
Can't say for sure.

Mrs Peel
No, course not.

Burns
makes to leave; stops.

Burns
About yesterday . . .

Mrs Peel
looks at
Bug
.

Mrs Peel
What about it?

Burns
The way I . . .

Burns
looks at
Bug
.

Burns
Don't want yer to think that I just wanted . . .

They both look at
Bug
, then at each other.

Burns
I could sit and listen to you say the alphabet.

Beat.

Turner
(
Offstage.
) Burns!

Burns
I gotta go now.

Burns
leaves.
Mrs Peel
stands still for a few seconds; feels his absence. She starts folding the washing that
Megan
left behind. The rain continues to pour.

Bug
You remember the drizzle, Mrs Peel?

Beat.

Bug
Constant . . . steady. Never seemed to end, did it? People complained about that. But it dint really affect us much. we were used to it. But now, it's different. Violent . . . unpredictable. I been out in the worst a' it. Laid there at night listenin' to it. Thinkin' to myself this can't go on . . . and it always did. But now . . . I think the atmosphere's finally broken apart.

Mrs Peel
has stopped folding.

Bug
You understand what I mean?

Beat.

Mrs Peel
I was out walkin' one time just after a downpour a' rain. The kind we weren't used to back then. I'm walkin' close to a stream and further down on a rock I see a deer. Mindin' its own business, grazin' it was. When out a' nowhere, and at a deadly speed, a ragin' current a' water is comin' right at it. Deer freezes as the water rises all around it. Before, life was like a meanderin' stream. Takin' its time. Movin' casually. Now, it's like a flash flood. Deceptive. Can get you anytime.

Mrs Peel
picks up the pile of washing.

Bug
What the deer do?

Mrs Peel
It got the fuck out a' there.

Mrs Peel
leaves
.

Bug
Too late.

Scene Six

Kitchen. Afternoon. Four hours have passed. Rain.

Megan
is sat peeling potatoes.
Mrs Peel
is tuning the American radio – various scraps of news, weather, music – she switches it off. She goes to the window, stares out for a while. She comes away from the window and sits at the table. Pause.

Mrs Peel
Takin' too much skin off.

Mrs Peel
fiddles with the potato peelings.

Mrs Peel
Look at that, waste a' tater. (
Suddenly alert.
) That horses?

Mrs Peel
rushes to the window.

Mrs Peel
Wind . . . just hearing the wind.

Mrs Peel
comes away from the window.

Mrs Peel
I need to get that bird in the oven, it's as old as me and it'll end up as tough if I don't have it in long enough. You muckin' out them stables after that. Mulch some a' the shit inta soil. Then yer can give me a hand gettin' them sheep inta the byres . . . winter's on its way in . . . gotta pluck that bird . . . I'll peel them taters.

Mrs Peel
goes to
Megan
.

Mrs Peel
Give me the knife.

Megan
I know how to peel a' tater.

Mrs Peel
You abusin' that tater.

Megan
lobs the tater.

Megan
That's abuse.

Beat.

Mrs Peel
Pick it up.

Megan
You pick it up.

Mrs Peel
I dint throw it.

Megan
You thrown away everythin' else.

Mrs Peel
Watch your mouth.

Megan
Say what I want.

Mrs Peel
Not to me you won't.

Megan
You don't want a' hear it.

Mrs Peel
Damn right I don't.

Megan
None a' you did, none a' you ever did, all this is cause a' you.

Mrs Peel
You have no right –

Megan
I have my right cause you had everythin' and left me nothin'.

Mrs Peel
We're all payin' for it.

Megan
You made your bed and you lyin' in it.

Mrs Peel
How dare you.

Megan
You been told / you been warned.

Mrs Peel
I marched! I protested!

Megan
You knew what would happen.

Mrs Peel
We dint know it would be like –

Megan
(
Screams.
) You let it get to this! You let the sea rise and flooded cities, burst river banks and destroyed our houses. You used up oil, made cars stop, forced us inta towns. You made us share rooms, put us in factories, fed us rations, let us get sick. You let my brother die a' TB, made my mum hang herself, sent James to war . . . for a pipe . . . and you killed him . . .