Stage Play / Wrecks (Scenes Three - Six)

SCENE THREE

INT. JOCELYN’S LIVING ROOM – LATER THAT NIGHT
Darkness.  ”Justify my Love” by Madonna continues for a few moments before cross-fading once more with a Radio or TV News Report:

NEWS REPORT
(over speakers)
There is breaking news coming in from a variety of agencies concerning: youdie.com.  The service provider responsible for hosting the controversial website that purports to show CCTV and home video footage of actual murders of real people the world over will this afternoon refuse to abide by a recent court order enforcing its removal, citing issues of public interest and freedom of expression in its defence.  In the three weeks since its first appearance, youdie.com has received over 3 million hits making it one of the most popular websites in existence despite widespread condemnation from religious groups and law enforcement agencies the world over and a raft of big name brands refusing to endorse it with advertisements.

The NEWS REPORT cross-fades with “Justify my Love” by Madonna again and the music fades out as the lights fade up on:

JOCELYN and EDWARD (his party hat at an odd angle on his head) are both seated on the chaise lounge.

EDWARD
(intense, slightly slurred)
Motherfucker.  You lousy, useless, stinking mother fucker, standing there with that imbecilic expression on your face!  You’re nothing.  D’you hear me?  Nothing.  Never have been: never will be.  And when you’re dead?  No one’ll care because no one’ll have even noticed you were alive.  Now fuck off out of my sight.

A beat.

JOCELYN
(matter-of-fact)
And this came from a teacher?

EDWARD
(bitter)
Yeah: Mister King, his name was: Sports Master.  God, I hated him.

JOCELYN
And with good reason by the sound of it.

EDWARD
No, I mean really hated him.  I used to lie awake in bed at night imagining how I’d make him suffer if I ever got the chance.

JOCELYN
How?  Tell me…

EDWARD finishes his Champagne as though steeling himself.

EDWARD
(fearful)
I can’t: some of the things I came up with…things I might do to him…they really scared me.

JOCELYN
Tell me…please.

EDWARD
I couldn’t.

JOCELYN
(insistent)
Tell…me.

JOCELYN pours EDWARD another glass of Champagne, refills her own glass and replaces the empty bottle in the ice bucket.

EDWARD
I guess it was the tennis courts that did it.  I don’t even know why they were there: no one at school ever played so the nets were all broken and the tram lines faded and they just sat there rotting away between the running track and the rugby pitches.  But in front of them there was this dirt track…
(mounting excitement)
...a dirt track with ditches either side and in the winter…when it rained, the ditches would fill right up to the brim with water and I lay there awake in bed late at night and I thought: one day…

JOCELYN is hanging on EDWARD’S every word.

JOCELYN
Yes?

EDWARD
I thought: one day…one day when the ditches were nice and full of water then I’d be waiting.  I’d be waiting for him with a branch or…better still…a bat…a cricket bat and when he came along of an evening like he always did to check the gates were locked, I’d just creep up out of the shadows and I’d…

JOCELYN
Yes?

EDWARD looks at JOCELYN.

EDWARD
(snaps)
I’d smash his fucking skull in, okay?

JOCELYN looks pleased.  EDWARD doesn’t appear to notice as he looks away.  A beat.

EDWARD
One blow was all it would have taken: one blow with a bat and he’d have fallen to the ground without so much as a cry for help and then all I’d have to do was just tip him into the ditch with my foot and that’d be that.  They took months to dry out in a good winter, those ditches so no one would find him for months and months and by the time that they did I’d be miles away.

JOCELYN
Miles away where, exactly?

EDWARD
(shrugs)
Fuck knows: anywhere I guess – anywhere but there.  Who cares?
(sighs)
Anyway…eventually I’d fall asleep with a smile on my face because the thought of the expression on that bastard’s face as my bat hit his head made all of the pain slip away from me…pseudo-self-harming I used to think of it…sounds fucking stupid now.

JOCELYN locks her eyes on EDWARD for a beat.

JOCELYN
And would you masturbate, first?

EDWARD looks up at her sharply.

JOCELYN
Before you slept, I mean?  Would you masturbate thinking of the expression on his face as you struck him and then cum in the darkness as his lifeless eyes slid beneath the surface of the water?

EDWARD looks taken aback, he blinks as though his eyes are starting to have trouble focusing.

EDWARD
(sotto voce)
How did you know?

JOCELYN smiles.

JOCELYN
Because that’s what I would have done…isn’t it interesting just how alike we are, you and I?

A beat.

JOCELYN
And when you thought these thoughts and dreamt these dreams…no one ever knew what you were dreaming?

EDWARD
No.

JOCELYN
Except you…alone in the dark: the warm moisture of your ejaculation upon your skin the only witness to your crime of imagination…how thrilling.

EDWARD puts a hand to his face, rubbing his eyes.  JOCELYN gently moves his hand aside and looks into his eyes as he clearly still has trouble focusing.

JOCELYN
(tender)
You have…quite the most remarkable puppy dog eyes yourself, darling, has any one ever told you that?

EDWARD frowns, obviously feeling the effects of whatever JOCELYN spiked his Champagne with.

EDWARD
Eh, I…

JOCELYN
Quite, quite…the most remarkable: deep, alluring…always so eager to please.  Go and look.

EDWARD hesitates, uncertain.

JOCELYN
Go on…go and take a look in the mirror.

EDWARD puts down his glass and somewhat groggily gets up and goes to the mirror on the wall behind the chaise-lounge.  JOCELYN turns to watch him without leaving the chaise-lounge.  EDWARD looks at himself for a beat.

JOCELYN
Now…you tell me what you see.

A beat.

EDWARD
(smirks)
Eh…me?

JOCELYN
(firm)
Just you?

EDWARD
(confused)
Sorry?

JOCELYN
Something in your tone, darling: something that suggests a “just” or an “only” before the “me”.  Something in the deprecating timbre of the voice you use suggests that you really cannot see what others see in you.

EDWARD
I…don’t feel…very…

JOCELYN slips from the chaise-lounge with cat-like grace and moves slowly to stand behind EDWARD.

JOCELYN
(over)
What colour would you say your eyes were?

EDWARD
(muzzily)
Eh…green?

JOCELYN puts her hands on EDWARD’S shoulders, almost supporting him.

JOCELYN
Just green?

EDWARD
(nods muzzily)
Just green.

JOCELYN positions her face beside EDWARD’S over his shoulder, looking into the mirror with him.

JOCELYN
(mesmerising)
I see emerald flecked with the slightest hint of hazel radiating out and just before the iris ends the merest flecks of blue…almost invisible but there nonetheless when the light falls in quite kindly.

JOCELYN holds EDWARD’S gaze in the mirror.

JOCELYN
(breathless)
Now…look…do you see?

A beat.

EDWARD
(wonderment)
Yes.

A beat.  JOCELYN breaks the mood with a sharp move away as she next speaks.

JOCELYN
Music!

EDWARD
I…

JOCELYN turns on her heel to look at EDWARD.

JOCELYN
(straight in)
No music?

EDWARD
I…no…I…

EDWARD wavers uncertainly.

JOCELYN
Why darling…whatever is the matter?

EDWARD
I don’t…feel very…

EDWARD starts to collapse but JOCELYN moves swiftly to his side, putting her arm around him to support his weight.

JOCELYN
...well?  Oh my poor darling, what ever is the matter?

EDWARD
I don’t know…I just…don’t…

EDWARD starts to collapse again.

JOCELYN
(aghast)
Oh my darling, come here…come over here and sit down…

JOCELYN helps EDWARD to the chaise-lounge with some difficulty and he sinks heavily down onto it.

EDWARD
(muzzily)
I’m…sorry…I don’t know what…

JOCELYN
(cutting in, soothing)
Sshhh now, it’s alright…

She strokes EDWARD’S hair.

JOCELYN
(soothing)
It’s the high life, darling, you’re not used to it yet, remember?

JOCELYN helps EDWARD puts his legs up on the chaise-lounge.

EDWARD
(muzzily)
Not used to it…no…

JOCELYN
(soothing)
There you are then…you see?  It’s all going to be alright, darling, I’m here…now…let’s make you comfortable now, yes?  That will be better, won’t it?

JOCELYN removes EDWARD’S tie and starts unbuttoning his shirt when the sound of his mobile ringing is heard.

EDWARD
(almost unconscious)
That’s my phone.

JOCELYN
Your phone?  Well, never you mind about that just now…

JOCELYN reaches into EDWARD’S trouser pocket and withdraws his mobile.  She flips it open and looks at the screen.  A beat.  She cancels the call and flips the mobile closed.

JOCELYN
(soothing)
...if it’s important: I’m sure they’ll call back…eventually.

JOCELYN drops EDWARD’S mobile casually onto the table and then returns to kneel by the chaise-lounge.  As she continues to unbutton EDWARD’S shirt: “Justify my Love” by Madonna fades up and the lights fade to:
BLACKOUT

SCENE FOUR

INT. JOCELYN’S LIVING ROOM – LATER THAT NIGHT
Darkness.  ”Justify my Love” by Madonna fades in for a few beats and then cross-fades with a TV/Radio NEWS REPORT:

NEWS REPORT
(over speakers)
...the man’s body, found at a quiet, country cross-roads by a passer-by walking their dog is believed to have been punctured by up to ten stab wounds.  Whilst police have refused to speculate publicly as to the motive for the attack, we here at “Round-the-Clock News” have obtained exclusive mobile phone footage which purports to show the victim just moments after the attack: I should warn you, some viewers may find the images we are about to show… disturbing.

The NEWS REPORT cross-fades back with “Justify my Love” by Madonna and then the music fades out as the lights fade up, such as they are:

Lamplight.  EDWARD and JOCELYN’S clothes are strewn on the floor in front of the chaise-lounge.  JOCELYN is standing in silhouette in the window in a negligee and smoking a cigarette.  EDWARD is asleep naked on the chaise lounge.  JOCELYN exhales smoke as EDWARD stirs fitfully in his sleep, a slight moan escaping from his lips.  A beat.  EDWARD sits bolt up right with a cry and a bright overhead spot illuminates him.  He addresses the audience.

EDWARD
(breathless)
Each time, it’s the same.  And there’s nothing I can do to change it.

He takes a deep breath.

EDWARD
(calming down)
I’m standing at a bar and it’s as though…I don’t know, as though I’m the only person there that isn’t laughing.  You’d think the music would drown out the laughter wouldn’t you?  But it’s the other way round.  I can hear the music.  I can hear the dull thud, thud, thud of bass somewhere dimly in the distance but only just beneath the raucous sound of laughter all around me.  But there’s no joy here.  No joy, just laughter.  I finish my drink and I head for the door but the door isn’t where it was when I came in…not that I remember coming in but I remember where the door had been.  So I turn to look for the way out and a man in a dark suit and darker glasses opens a door on the other side of the room.  I assume he’s opening it for me and I begin to walk towards him but then I stop…because beyond the door…beyond the door I can see him.  I can see him in the alleyway outside and he shouldn’t be there.  He shouldn’t be there, he should be at home, tucked up safe in bed like every one else but he isn’t.  He’s there in the alleyway and he’s not alone.  They’re there.  They’re there and I know I should be too but I’m not.  I’m just standing there surrounded by the joyless laughter like some impotent depressive at the funeral of a clown, watching him and them all out there in the shadows of the alleyway beyond that door.  And then…

The spotlight begins to fade and EDWARD lays back down as he continues.

EDWARD
...the knives come out.  Not normal knives.  Vicious, glowing knives like Sting as the Orcs approach in the Mines of Moria and they’re plunging them into him.  They’re plunging them into him right up to the hilts from all directions and he can’t escape…he can’t escape and I can’t move an inch to help him because…because …because suddenly it’s all gone dark and I don’t know which way is forward or back…

The stage is in lamplight again and EDWARD begins to thrash in his sleep.

EDWARD
(in his sleep, mumbling)
And then…

JOCELYN puts out her cigarette and approaches the chaise lounge.

JOCELYN
(cold)
And then what…exactly?

JOCELYN reaches out a hand to touch EDWARD’S shoulder and he sits bolt upright in the spotlight again, staring straight out at the audience.  
JOCELYN freezes.

EDWARD
(deadpan)
I wake up.

A beat.  The spotlight goes out and EDWARD starts, staring wild-eyed around and finally focuses on JOCELYN, kneeling beside him.

EDWARD
(confused)
Where…?

JOCELYN
(gentle)
...are you, darling?  Safe: quite safe…you were just having a nightmare, that’s all, just having a nightmare.

EDWARD
(confused)
I…

JOCELYN
Sshhh now.

JOCELYN gets up and sits on the edge of the chaise-lounge and puts a tender arm around EDWARD.  He melts into the comfort of her touch.  A beat.

JOCELYN
(soothing)
I’m here…nothing can hurt you, I promise…not while I’m here.

EDWARD
I…

JOCELYN
Sshhh.

With her hand, she gently turns his face towards hers as though about to kiss him.  JOCELYN smiles as she parts from him slightly.

JOCELYN
Better?

EDWARD nods.

JOCELYN
Good.  There’s a good boy…now: do you want to tell me about it?

EDWARD shakes his head and struggles to sit up.

JOCELYN
No?

EDWARD shakes his head, swinging his legs over the edge of the chaise-lounge and rubbing his hands across his face.

JOCELYN
Well, for what it’s worth: Mother always told me that the only way to truly break a nightmare’s jet black heart is to divulge it’s secret to another…

JOCELYN leans close into EDWARD’S ear and whispers.

JOCELYN
(sotto voce)
Otherwise: it just stays there, locked up tight inside your head and any time it feels the need: it can come back to haunt you in the darkness of night.  Is that what you want?

A beat.

EDWARD
(muzzily)
I…I really can’t remember what… honestly!

JOCELYN
(cutting in gently)
But of course you can.  You may not want to remember what: but I think that we both know you can.  You know you can deep down, don’t you?

EDWARD looks at JOCELYN.

EDWARD
(firm)
No…I can’t.

JOCELYN holds EDWARD’S gaze for a beat and shrugs.

JOCELYN
As you wish.  I, for one, could do with a drink.

JOCELYN gets up from the chaise lounge.

JOCELYN
Champagne?

EDWARD looks bemused.

EDWARD
What time is it?

JOCELYN
(smiles)
Time for Champagne, I should think.  But there again…isn’t it always?

JOCELYN leaves for the kitchen.  EDWARD sits up and becomes fully aware of his nakedness.

EDWARD
(to himself)
Shit.

EDWARD leans over, searching on the floor for his underwear.  He finds his boxer shorts and slides them on before sitting up and swinging his legs over the side of the chaise-lounge.  He runs his hand nervously through his hair.

EDWARD
(to himself)
Shit.

EDWARD gets up, picks his watch up off the floor, looks at the time and sighs.

JOCELYN (O.S.)
I hope you don’t mind finishing off the open bottle from earlier first…it’s had a stopper in so…

JOCELYN enters with an open bottle of Champagne and two glasses.

JOCELYN
...it still ought to be quite quaffable…

JOCELYN sees EDWARD standing there.

EDWARD
What happ…

JOCELYN
(straight in)
...you don’t remember?

JOCELYN puts the bottle and glasses down on the table and turns.

JOCELYN
(amused)
You passed out, darling, that’s all: and please don’t be embarrassed…these things do happen.

EDWARD
Jocelyn…

A beat as JOCELYN pours Champagne.

EDWARD
I…

JOCELYN looks up.

JOCELYN
(amused)
Why darling…I do believe you’re blushing…and quite unnecessarily too, I might add.

JOCELYN
Now…

JOCELYN puts down the bottle, picks up one glass and holds it out to EDWARD.

JOCELYN
...why don’t you take a little sip of this and then you can tell me all about it.

EDWARD opens his mouth to speak.

JOCELYN
Uh-uh-uh…sip first…then tell.

EDWARD reluctantly takes the glass from JOCELYN and takes a sip.  JOCELYN picks up her own glass, takes a sip and sits down on the chaise lounge.  She looks up at EDWARD expectantly.

EDWARD
I don’t know where to start.

JOCELYN
Well Julie Andrews advocated starting at the very beginning and whilst I’m no great fan of close harmony singing, especially in children, I have to admit she had a point.

JOCELYN smiles as she takes another sip.

JOCELYN
Come and sit down.

EDWARD hesitates.

JOCELYN
Please…just sit down, darling…for me.

EDWARD gives in and sits gingerly on the edge of the chaise lounge.

JOCELYN
(tender)
In your own time.

EDWARD takes a deep breath, expression confused.

EDWARD
(measured)
All that stuff you said earlier… about deceit and pretence and…

JOCELYN
(straight in)
Mendacity?

EDWARD
Mendacity.  Yes.  Whatever mendacity means: well that’s me to a T…and I hate myself!

JOCELYN
(soothing)
But you mustn’t…you really mustn’t…come on now…

JOCELYN reaches out a hand to touch EDWARD’S arm but he flinches away.

EDWARD
(forceful)
My birth name was Edward David Crane: or so I was told.  I don’t know for sure because I never knew my mother: she left when I was a baby…just upped, walked out and left and as for my father?  Well…let’s just say he wasn’t the best in the world, not by the longest chalk in the blackboard tray.

EDWARD looks at JOCELYN.

EDWARD
Oh and while I’m at it?  I didn’t grow up in Chelsea either.  I grew up in Mile End, Canning Town, Poplar, Bow and Bethnal Green…anywhere they could put me I grew up until things went wrong, which they always did and then I’d be moved on.  So many houses and none of them home…

EDWARD takes a sip of Champagne and winces at the taste.

EDWARD
I can’t believe I’m drinking Champagne at five in the morning.

JOCELYN
(gentle)
I can’t believe that you’re changing the subject.

EDWARD
(wry)
Yeah, well…maybe I don’t like the subject.

JOCELYN
Maybe you don’t…but you’ve started now: what choice do you have but to continue?

EDWARD looks into his glass, closes his eyes momentarily and opens them again.

EDWARD
(choked)
I’m scared.

JOCELYN
(whispered)
Of what?

EDWARD takes a deep breath.

EDWARD
Of…the past.

He looks up at JOCELYN and takes her hand.

EDWARD
You know when you’re standing at the top of a really tall building like the Eiffel Tower or The Empire State and you’re looking out at the view and it’s just stunning…all that land just stretching away off to the horizon…and then…you look down: straight down at the ground and you realize just how high up you really are and how far down the ground really is and your stomach starts to churn over and you suddenly think that you might just fall right out into space…

A beat as EDWARD inhales.

EDWARD
Well…that’s how I feel every time…every time I remember.

JOCELYN
Remember what?

EDWARD
God I feel rough…

JOCELYN
(straight in, harder)
Remember…what?

Pause.

EDWARD
(sotto voce)
What I am, maybe?

JOCELYN
Edward David Crane?  Maybe?

EDWARD
(straight in)
Murderer.

JOCELYN holds EDWARD’S gaze for a beat.  She stands, walks to the window, picks up her cigarettes, takes one out and lights it.  She exhales smoke, walks back, picks up the bottle of Champagne.

JOCELYN
More Champagne?

EDWARD
(disbelieving)
Did you hear what I just said?

JOCELYN
(indifferent)
Did you hear what I just said?

EDWARD
Yes.

JOCELYN
Yes you heard or yes you’d like some more Champagne?

EDWARD
Both.

JOCELYN
(smiles)
There’s a good boy.

JOCELYN pours Champagne into EDWARD’S glass, refills her own, sets the bottle down and sits down again.

EDWARD
You don’t deserve this.

JOCELYN
Oh I wouldn’t count on that…now: tell me…who did you murder?

EDWARD looks reluctant to speak.

JOCELYN
Well you can’t just come out with a statement like “Murderer” and then not continue…I mean that would be unfair and besides…who would I tell?  Really?

EDWARD looks at JOCELYN.

EDWARD
You’re not shocked?

JOCELYN
(shrugs)
Very little shocks me these days…aside from the cost of a decent Brunch, obviously.

EDWARD
But…

JOCELYN
(straight in)
But what?  You think you have a monopoly on dark secrets?  You think you are the only human being alive carrying the weight of the world around on their shoulders like Atlas, bent in strain?  You think I cannot or do not or will not understand whatever it was you did and why?  Good God, darling: weren’t you listening earlier on?
(sighs and exhales smoke)
And here was me thinking that you, darling, of all people, actually understood me.

A beat.

EDWARD
(heartfelt)
I do understand.

JOCELYN
Then…tell me…please.

EDWARD looks at JOCELYN as the lights fade.  A spotlight is left into which EDWARD walks, facing the audience.

EDWARD
Is it that simple?  Can I just open my mouth and let the words come tumbling out?  Small talk is easy.  How’s the family?  Great weather we’re having.  Did you see “Corrie” last night?  Fancy a fuck?  Easy.  No one cares.  Someone asks me: “How are you?” But they don’t want to know.  They don’t want to know how I am.  They’re just making conversation and it’s a good way in.  So I reply: “Good cheers” and they offer to buy me a drink and we’re off…off into small talk and it flows and it flows and the hours fly by and before you know it, it’s time to go home and you’ve said nothing and you’ve learnt nothing and you’re no better off but you’ve had a good time nonetheless.  Or so you think.  Until one day someone’s hung by their neck from the stairs and they’re stone cold dead…and you say to yourself…”If only they’d talked to me…if only they’d fucking talked to me” but the fact is, they did talk to me.  They talked to me about the family and the weather and “Corrie” and fucking but they never once talked about the truth.  The truth inside their head that made them take that sheet and noose it round their neck like that.

The spotlight fades and EDWARD returns to sit beside JOCELYN on the chaise lounge.

JOCELYN
Look, I know it isn’t easy…God, yes I do.

EDWARD looks up at JOCELYN.

JOCELYN
Oh don’t get me wrong: I was raised a good Catholic girl so I’m more than aware of the lie that confession is good for the soul but I do know it’s not easy.  Telling the truth, I mean.  No one tells the truth in Confession: it’s like a Doctor asking a patient how many cigarettes they smoke or how many units of alcohol they drink in a week.  The patient scales it down by fifty percent so as not to appear unhealthy and the Doctor scales it up by fifty percent because he knows that his patient is lying.  Same principle.
(reverential)
“Forgive me Father for I have sinned, it’s been three weeks since my last confession”
(blunt)
For “three weeks” read “three months” or “three years”...
(reverential)
“I’ve had improper thoughts about my husband’s brother”
(blunt)
For “improper thoughts” read “fucked his brains out while he was supposed to be fixing my leaking tap”

JOCELYN smiles.

JOCELYN
Deceit and mendacity again…and the fact that the man you’re confessing your sins to is in all likelihood fucking half of the Choristers in his charge in the Organ Loft after Mass each Sunday and swearing them to secrecy on pain of death and eternal damnation doesn’t even come into it, because his sins aren’t any concern of yours, they’re between him, his God and the “generosity” of the Vatican Bank in settling it all out of Court without so much as an apology…

JOCELYN sips her champagne.

JOCELYN
(bitter, almost to herself)
Whatever that God might be and whatever form he might take: I hope he’s happy with it all…but somehow, looking around me, I doubt very much that he is.

EDWARD exhales deeply.

EDWARD
They told me I was a Catholic.

JOCELYN
They?

EDWARD
Social services.  They told me…well, they didn’t tell me as such…they told the first family they fostered me out to.  They didn’t really tell me anything: I was just there in the next room listening in.  I guess they thought I’d pick it all up so they didn’t need to talk to me in person.  I was five…no…six…or…no…no, wait a sec: I was five…my Mother walked out when I was three and then Dad had me for…two and a bit years before they came for me…so…

EDWARD looks like he is doing the maths in his head as JOCELYN watches him.

EDWARD
I guess it made a sort of sense.  She couldn’t cope, you see.  She had…problems.  Not just the…you know…normal mother depression type of problems but…other stuff.  I suppose I hated her for a while and I hated everyone else even more for not being able to help her and stop her walking out and leaving me but in the end it didn’t matter.  She went.  End of.

A beat.

JOCELYN
What happened to her?

EDWARD shrugs.

EDWARD
Fuck knows.

EDWARD finishes his Champagne.  He turns his head towards JOCELYN.

EDWARD
But I murdered him.

EDWARD gets up, crosses to the window and picks up JOCELYN’S cigarettes.

JOCELYN
I thought you’d given up?

EDWARD
So did I.

EDWARD lights a cigarette and exhales smoke, coughing slightly.  JOCELYN looks at EDWARD for a couple of beats.

JOCELYN
How did you do it?

EDWARD
(shrugs)
Patches and will power I guess.

JOCELYN
(explanatory)
Murder him.

EDWARD focuses on his cigarette.

EDWARD
(vehement)
He shouldn’t have been there!
(calmer)
But then I guess it was the guilt that did it.  Talk about Catholic.  He couldn’t cope, see?  He thought he could but he couldn’t.  It must’ve been tough.  He was pretty young, much younger than my mother and having a kid in tow…well…it was never going to end well was it?  I got fostered: he disappeared.  I got family after family he got…

EDWARD stops himself.  A beat.

EDWARD
(inhales deeply)
Anyway…in the end I didn’t know who I was let alone where.  And then…well…look up “cliché” in the dictionary and it just says: “See Edward David Crane, drug dealer”.

EDWARD stubs out his cigarette in the ashtray and looks at JOCELYN.

EDWARD
Tale as old as time…abandoned kid grows up into drug dealing wanker and slowly injects his life away until one day…July 15th 2004 to be exact…abandoned kid’s not so abandoned any more.  Suddenly, he’s got his Dad back.  I never did quite work out how he did it but there he was, large as life, standing behind me at the Bar in my local like he’d just nipped out for a packet of fags or something.  I don’t know what he expected but whatever it was he didn’t get it.  I was too far gone.  I told him to “fuck off and not come back” but since when did he ever do anything I asked him to?  I asked him to love me aged five and what did he do?  So…he kept turning up.  He turned up at my local, at my digs, at the corner of my street at three o’clock in the morning when I was scoring and all the time he’s giving me grief about what I was doing and the life I was living and how he could help me…I mean what a laugh, right?  Him help me?

A beat.

EDWARD
Then one night…he turned up where he thought I’d be.  Where I’d told him I’d be just to shock some crap out of him in spite.  But he didn’t realize.  He took it as the Gospel and turned up thinking he could get between me and what I was going to do except I’d lied…I wasn’t there.  I wasn’t there and he was and so were they and they were not having some stranger interfering in their deal…and three blades later?  He was dead.

A beat.

EDWARD
Odd thing was…after that I cleaned up my act.  I quit the shit and the drink and the fags and I got it all together.  And lucky you…you took me on, on the strength of a made-up C.V. and ignorance.

EDWARD looks JOCELYN in the eye.

EDWARD
And a much improved accent, obviously.

JOCELYN half-smiles at this.

JOCELYN
(gentle)
Obviously.

The light outside the window is increasing as Dawn breaks.

EDWARD
I can’t believe I’ve just told you all that.

JOCELYN
Why ever not?  After all…I’d like to think you would be comfortable telling me anything, Edward…may I call you Edward?

EDWARD shoots JOCELYN a quizzical look as she smiles.

JOCELYN
Yes, anything…anything at all: safe in the knowledge that I wouldn’t tell a soul in this world or the next.

A beat.

EDWARD
Sometimes I think I so don’t deserve you.

JOCELYN stands up, avoiding EDWARD’S gaze.

JOCELYN
Yes well, of course, based on what you’ve just told me: you quite clearly don’t…

She looks round at EDWARD.  The sound of the Dawn Chorus begins to fade in.

JOCELYN
...deserve me, that is…

EDWARD’S expression darkens.

JOCELYN
...but then…
(sighs)
...perhaps I don’t deserve you on occasions either so let’s just call it even and take things from there: what do you say?

EDWARD opens his mouth to answer.

JOCELYN
Listen.

JOCELYN holds up her hand.  EDWARD closes his mouth.  Pause.  EDWARD listens and the sound of the Dawn Chorus filters through to the audience.

EDWARD
To what?

JOCELYN
Can’t you hear it?

EDWARD
You mean the birds?

JOCELYN
(mournful)
“The Birds”...such a stark phrase for such a beautiful chorus.

JOCELYN holds out her hands.

JOCELYN
Come here.

EDWARD hesitates.

JOCELYN
Please.

EDWARD hesitates a beat longer and then crosses slowly to stand in front of JOCELYN.  She puts her hands on his biceps and looks him in the eye.

JOCELYN
And close those beautiful, emerald eyes of yours.

EDWARD
I…

JOCELYN
Close them…please…for me.

EDWARD keeps his eyes open for a beat and then slowly closes them.  The lights fade to black except a spot on EDWARD’S face.  The Dawn Chorus fades up but not so loud that JOCELYN cannot be heard.  It is a moment of beautiful sound in the darkness and EDWARD slowly starts to smile.

JOCELYN
(mesmerizing)
Now listen…listen to the heralds of the sun.  Throughout the land right now there are sleepers dreaming dreams of lives they wish were theirs but never can be.  And the price they pay for hoping against hope?  Missing such a simple moment as this.  Missing real beauty in the pointless pursuit of elusive aspiration.  But not you.  No, not you Edward.  You are in this moment.  You are in this moment…with me…together we are in this one, beautiful moment…and the past doesn’t matter and the future hasn’t happened but the here and now…the here and now…the here and now is nothing but the sounds you hear…and those simple sounds of the dawn birds in chorus are…

A beat.

EDWARD
(mesmerized)
...beautiful.

The lights return to their former state.  A beat.  EDWARD opens his eyes and looks at JOCELYN.

JOCELYN
...and so are you…

JOCELYN leans forward and kisses EDWARD tenderly on the forehead.

JOCELYN
(gentle)
...every mother’s dream.

JOCELYN cups EDWARD’S face in her hands.

EDWARD
(breathless)
Really?

A beat.

JOCELYN
(gentle)
Yes.

EDWARD
(breathless)
Then prove it.

JOCELYN takes a step back, releasing EDWARD’S face but maintaining his gaze with her own.

JOCELYN
Why Edward…I do believe you’re trying to seduce me…

EDWARD
Me?  Seduce you?  Which of us just woke up naked on your sofa?

JOCELYN
Chaise lounge, darling, chaise lounge: I don’t do sofas and incidentally I hope you’re not implying I in any way acted improperly?

Pause.

EDWARD
I wouldn’t have minded if you had.

JOCELYN
(straight in)
Would you not?

EDWARD
No.

JOCELYN
I wonder: you are a man, after all…and as a man could you really be comfortable knowing you’d been taken by a woman while you slept?  Used for a pleasure you weren’t even allowed to enjoy?  Totally…

EDWARD looks at JOCELYN.

EDWARD
(cutting in)
...subordinate?

JOCELYN
(cutting in)
Yes…that’s the word…that’s exactly the word.  So…Edward David Crane?  As a man: could you?  Would you really be totally subordinate, do you think?

EDWARD
Every mother’s dream?

JOCELYN
This mother’s dream, perhaps.

EDWARD holds JOCELYN’S gaze as he stands and walks to stand in front of her.  ”Justify my Love” by Madonna fades up as EDWARD leans in and starts to kiss JOCELYN’S neck working down towards her breast as her head tips slowly back.  The music rises and the lights fade as EDWARD looks for all the world as if he is breast-feeding: JOCELYN’S hand comes up as though supporting his head.  The lights fade to:

BLACKOUT

SCENE FIVE
INT. JOCELYN’S LIVING ROOM – DAY
“Justify my Love” by Madonna continues to play in the darkness for a few moments until it cross fades with a TV/Radio NEWS REPORT:

NEWS REPORT
(over speakers)
And finally: the apparent suicide of an East London woman has left local residents in a state of shock.  A concerned neighbour is said to have raised the alarm on seeing the woman’s front door still ajar as it had been late the previous night.  Police were called and on arrival found what they have described as the body of a white female in her late forties to early fifties hanging from a home-made noose: current information suggests that no other parties are being sought in connection with her death although bystanders are expected to be roundly condemned at a press conference later today for impeding Paramedics: it is alleged that several people attempted to capture the tragic scene inside the house on their mobile phones before being cleared from the entrance by attending officers.

The NEWSREPORT cross fades with “Justify my Love” by Madonna once more and then the music fades down as the lights fade up to reveal:

JOCELYN is lying reclined on the chaise lounge, her negligee open around her.  She is apparently sleeping.  A beat.  JOCELYN sits bolt upright with a sharp intake of breath, her face illuminated from above in a bright spotlight.

JOCELYN
(gasping)
My baby, my baby…

She looks around her, wild-eyed, her hands moving up to her throat in an attempt to loosen a noose that she soon realises is not there.

JOCELYN
(sotto voce)
So real…suffocating hope…and so different each time that the fact it always ends the same seems hardly to matter in the end.  He’s there every time, of course, eager to please like a six-week old puppy, the stick hanging loose in his mouth.  And I’m there every time, of course, cold and removed like an ice sculpture hewn for the occasion, impervious to those, deep imploring, puppy-dog eyes looking up at me waiting to play.  And inside me I know that it’s love that I’m seeing and love I should give in return but instead I just lash out with whatever’s to hand and the yelps of pain fill my ears with the resonance of deep, deep betrayal of trusts and of bonds that have come to mean so little as the years have rolled on.  And in spite of the pain I inflict?  The next time he’s there once again with that stick and those eyes and that trust in his heart and inside me the loathing wells up at this weakness…this stomach-churning absence of anything close to self-worth…I can taste the bile he draws out of my stomach and I spit it like venom right into those puppy dog eyes.  And yet still he wants to play…those eyes tell me so…

She drops her hands slowly to her lap, her breathing returning to normal.

JOCELYN
(sotto voce)
...so the playing continues and my night’s have turned into an orgy of innovation in the vain hope that this time…this time will be the last for us both and the steps I have climbed in the dark of my room can be kicked from beneath me as the faces that watch me through slowed down car windows look on in fascination at this slow-turning wreckage, this lifeless finale to my tragically, written off life.

JOCELYN lies back down once more and closes her eyes.  Pause.

The kitchen door opens slowly and EDWARD pops his head around.  He nods and smiles, bringing his mobile up to his ear.

EDWARD
(on his mobile)
Nah, it’s fine mate: she’s sparked out at the minute…yeah…
(laughs)
...anyway, look: I’m going to turn the phone off now, okay?  If you don’t hear from me…
(laughs again)
...on deck and Champagne, you’ve got it.  See you around, loser.

EDWARD hangs up and pockets his mobile.  He stands and looks down at JOCELYN for a beat before turning and exiting back to the kitchen.  JOCELYN opens her eyes, raises herself up on one elbow, brushes her hair from her eyes and looks towards the kitchen door, thoughtfully.

There is the sound of a champagne cork popping.  JOCELYN smiles knowingly and then lies back down, feigning sleep.

The kitchen door opens again and EDWARD enters carrying an open bottle of champagne and two glass champagne flutes.  He crosses to the table and pours out two glasses.  JOCELYN stirs and starts to open her eyes before slowly sitting up and looking around her.  JOCELYN frowns slightly as EDWARD picks up the two glasses of champagne and crosses to the chaise-lounge.

JOCELYN
(yawns)
What time is it, baby?

EDWARD
(smile broadening)
Time for champagne, I should think.  But there again: isn’t it always?

EDWARD offers JOCELYN a glass.

EDWARD
(eager)
Here we are: crisp and chilled, just the way that you like it.

JOCELYN takes the glass, sitting up.  EDWARD raises his glass towards her.  JOCELYN clinks his glass, almost instinctively and they sip (her gently, him with gusto).

EDWARD
So…what would you like us to do today?
(eager)
...it’s absolutely beautiful outside: just like you said it would be.  I thought we might go for a picnic by the river?  Just the two of us.

EDWARD moves swiftly to sit beside JOCELYN.

EDWARD
(mounting enthusiasm)
Oh do say we can: I could pack up a hamper of smoked salmon and champagne with some foix gras and french bread perhaps?  How does that sound?  We’d be just like mother and son, reclined by the lake sharing secrets that only we two can…no?

EDWARD thinks for a beat.

EDWARD
Then how about PA and Superior like before?  You can dictate how you’d like the next week to unfold and I’ll note it all down in my book.  Then later?  When the work’s all done: we could even take a boat out if you’d like.  I could row and you could lie back and relax with a glass as we slowly drift out on the current…how does that sound?

JOCELYN thinks for a moment and then slowly puts her glass down on the table beside her.

EDWARD
(frowns)
What’s the matter?

JOCELYN
(measured)
I think…it might be for the best…if you were to leave.

EDWARD
(taken aback)
Leave?  And go where?

JOCELYN looks to the floor.

JOCELYN
(shrugs)
Anywhere, baby…so long as it’s far, far away from here.

EDWARD takes this in for a moment.

EDWARD
(disappointed)
All I wanted to do was say “thank you” for last night, that’s all, but I couldn’t think how to do it, not properly and then…then I remembered what you said when the Dawn broke…”every mother’s dream” you said and it started me thinking just how very, very lonely you must have been all these years.

JOCELYN looks slowly up at EDWARD.

EDWARD
I think I understand, you see?  I understand because I’ve been lonely too and I know how I’ve hated every minute.  I don’t think I realised how much until now.

EDWARD puts down his glass and takes JOCELYN’S hand in both of his.

EDWARD
You’ve never shown me anything but kindness: not from the first day we met.  Even when I stumbled over my words at my interview you just told me to breathe deeply and start over in my own time…and then last night?  My birthday?  No one ever took the trouble like that before…not for me…do you understand what I’m trying to say?

JOCELYN sips her champagne and meets EDWARD’S gaze with a sad glint in her eye.

JOCELYN
(gentle)
Of course I understand, baby…

EDWARD
(cutting in)
Then why would you want me to leave?

JOCELYN
(sighs)
Because…

JOCELYN thinks long and hard before replying.

JOCELYN
...I have the strangest feeling I may hurt you if you stay.

EDWARD ponders this for a moment and finds himself nodding in understanding before fixing JOCELYN with a piercing gaze.

EDWARD
And I have the strangest feeling that I may let you.

JOCELYN holds EDWARD’S gaze for a moment and then she starts to laugh a hollow laugh.  EDWARD does not seem to share her mirth and her laugh tails off to be replaced by a cooler expression.

JOCELYN
I do believe that you’re serious.

EDWARD
(calm)
I am.  Deadly serious.

JOCELYN’S expression lightens almost to a knowing smile.

JOCELYN
(thoughtful)
Deadly serious?  An interesting, if portentous choice of phrase…have you never heard of the dangers of tempting the fates?
She stands and walks to the window where her cigarettes are sitting on the sill.

EDWARD
Fate.

JOCELYN lights a cigarette and exhales smoke.

JOCELYN
Fates, baby: no bastardizations here…three, altogether, if I recall correctly.

EDWARD
Three what?

JOCELYN
(simple)
Three Fates, of course.
(recalling, almost reverential)
Clotho: who spins the thread of life.  Lachesis: who decides how long that thread will be and finally, Atropos: shears sharpened at the ready to sever it cleanly when its length is finally done…
(sotto voce)
...even Hera in all her majesty had reason to fear the Fates…much good it did her, poor thing.

EDWARD looks at JOCELYN as smoke curls from her mouth.

EDWARD
(impressed, hushed)
You are so amazing.

JOCELYN appears to come back to the here and now, stubbing out her cigarette, barely smoked, as she does so.

JOCELYN
Am I?

EDWARD
All that knowledge, all this beauty: the way you can take a moment and turn it on it’s head as though it had always been meant to be that way but…

JOCELYN
But what?

EDWARD
No one else realised except you.

JOCELYN looks across at EDWARD’S expression of wide-eyed innocence and can’t help but smile maternally.

JOCELYN
(rueful)
Dear Edward…what am I to do without you?  What on earth am I to do without my little baby boy, eh?

EDWARD moves suddenly towards JOCELYN.

EDWARD
(eager)
Then don’t do without me: let me stay with you, please.  That’s all I really want.

JOCELYN moves away as EDWARD reaches her, taking her glass with her.

JOCELYN
Is it really?  Is it really all you want?

JOCELYN reaches the table and picks up the champagne bottle, turning to look at EDWARD, the bottle casually swinging in her hands as her eyes narrow.

JOCELYN
I wonder.

EDWARD
Well…no…not exactly.

JOCELYN
(knowing)
Ah.  Now we come to it.

JOCELYN tops up her glass as EDWARD looks slightly sheepish.

EDWARD
I want you…to teach me.

JOCELYN looks up.

JOCELYN
Teach you?

EDWARD
Yes.

JOCELYN sips her champagne, maintaining EDWARD’S gaze.

JOCELYN
(thoughtful)
As a mother might teach her baby?

EDWARD
(eager)
Exactly like that.

EDWARD takes a step towards JOCELYN but her expression stops him in his tracks.

JOCELYN
(thoughtful)
Fascinating.

A beat.

JOCELYN
(thoughtful)
Would I…could I ever teach you anything as a mother might teach her baby whilst all the time knowing how close you and I have come to…

Reality seems to rear its ugly head for a beat in JOCELYN’S head.

JOCELYN
(hollow laugh)
No!  Honestly, what a ridiculous notion.  Edward, where you get these ideas of yours from sometimes is completely beyond me, truly it is.  Now go and see if there’s anything left over from last night that might make us a decent breakfast or brunch, why don’t you?  There’s a good boy.

JOCELYN turns away, one hand on the table in front of her, the other holding the glass to her lips.  She is trembling: EDWARD does not move.

JOCELYN
(warning)
Edward?

EDWARD
(sotto voce)
No.

JOCELYN turns back slowly.
JOCELYN
(whispering)
I beg your pardon?

EDWARD
(more resolute)
I said: “no”.

There is a long pause.  JOCELYN’S eyes narrow as she looks at EDWARD.

JOCELYN
(measured)
Come here.

EDWARD
I…

JOCELYN
(straight in)
Come…
(gentler)
...here…

A beat.

JOCELYN
(slight smile)
Please.

EDWARD considers for a beat and then walks slowly over to stand in front of JOCELYN.

JOCELYN
(slight smile)
Thank you.

JOCELYN finishes her champagne, puts down her glass on the table, thinks for a beat, turns back to EDWARD and fixes him with a maternal smile which almost immediately slides into an expression of pure ice as she slaps him across the face.  The force of the slap snaps EDWARD’S face away from JOCELYN but rather than returning to look at her straight away he stops himself, facing away.

JOCELYN
(cold)
Never ever use that tone of voice with me again.

EDWARD’S hand goes up to his cheek.  A beat.  He slowly turns his face back to JOCELYN, a smile creeping onto his lips.  JOCELYN’S expression starts to waver.

EDWARD
You see?  That wasn’t so difficult, was it?
(a beat)
Mother.

JOCELYN looks at EDWARD for a moment, expression saddening as she sits back down on the chaise-lounge.

JOCELYN
(mournful)
Oh baby: what do you think you’re doing?

EDWARD
(confident)
Anything.

JOCELYN
(straight in)
Anything?

EDWARD
(straight in)
Anything…for you.

JOCELYN
(straight in)
You’re quite sure about that?

EDWARD
(straight in)
Quite…

JOCELYN
(straight in)
...sure?

EDWARD
(straight in)
Quite…

JOCELYN
(straight in)
Well…

JOCELYN gets slowly to her feet.

JOCELYN
...in that case…

JOCELYN walks across to the desk and opens the drawer.

JOCELYN
...I would like to propose a toast…

JOCELYN withdraws the small, brown glass bottle and moves across to the table, picking up EDWARD’S glass as she does so.  She puts down the glass and picks up the Champagne bottle.  She pours two glasses, empties the contents of the small, brown glass bottle into one of the glasses, picks them both up, swirls the one she has tainted and walks over to EDWARD.

JOCELYN
To: anything.

JOCELYN holds out EDWARD’S glass to him.  He hesitates.

EDWARD
Anything?

JOCELYN
Anything.

EDWARD
Anything: for you.

EDWARD takes the glass, looks into the contents, looks back at JOCELYN and then drinks, downing the entire thing in one.  He puts down his glass.

EDWARD
(expectant)
Well?

There is the sound of a mobile phone ringing.  EDWARD looks down, expression darkening.

EDWARD
(irked)
Damn!  Sorry, Jocelyn, I…

He stands and reaches into his trouser pocket, withdrawing his mobile.  Suddenly, his legs begin to give way and he falls back onto the chaise-lounge.  JOCELYN walks over to him and as he sits there, muzzily blinking, she slides the mobile phone from his hand.

EDWARD
(slurred)
I…

JOCELYN answers the mobile.

JOCELYN
(clipped)
Edward’s phone?
(listens)
Oh no, I’m sorry: he isn’t available right now…well, I think he’s upstairs packing…oh well, I don’t know: think San Tropez yachts, Champagne on deck that sort of thing…
(listens)
Yes of course, really.  And you are?  Hello?  Hello?

JOCELYN looks at the mobile screen, shrugs and snaps it closed, dropping it on the floor.

JOCELYN
(to EDWARD)
Strange: whoever it was…hung up…

EDWARD looks at his mobile on the floor and then slowly up to JOCELYN.

EDWARD
(muzzily)
Motherfucker.

JOCELYN
Yes baby.

EDWARD
Useless, Motherfuck…

EDWARD half-rises from the chaise-lounge, his legs buckle under him and he collapses on the floor, breathing laboured.

Pause.  JOCELYN looks down at EDWARD and sighs.  Slowly, she walks over to him.

JOCELYN
(singing, sotto voce, East London accent)
Oom pah ah, oom pah pah that’s how it goes…

She bends down and drags him towards the table.

JOCELYN
(singing, sotto voce, East London accent)
Oom pah pah, oom pah pah: every one knows:

JOCELYN drags EDWARD up onto a chair, ensuring he’s propped upright.

JOCELYN
(singing, sotto voce, East London accent)
And they all suppose what they want to suppose.

JOCELYN stands back and looks at EDWARD, pleased.

JOCELYN
(singing, sotto voce, East London accent)
When they hear oom pah pah.

The lights fade down and “Justify my Love” by Madonna fades up.

BLACKOUT.

SCENE SIX

INT. JOCELYN’S LIVING ROOM – MUCH, MUCH LATER
“Justify my Love” by Madonna continues to play in the darkness for a few moments until it cross fades with a TV/Radio NEWS REPORT:

NEWS REPORT
(over speakers)
The jury at the inquest into the tragic death of a twenty-one year old man has retired to consider its verdict.  The man’s death, allegedly from loss of blood, followed his attempt at blinding himself with a pair of antique broaches from the jewelry collection he had recently inherited from his late mother.  Video footage of the incident, apparently shot by the victim himself on his own camcorder was last week posted by persons unknown on the controversial website: youdie.com: itself still the subject of an ongoing investigation by law enforcement agencies on both sides of the Atlantic.

The NEWS REPORT cross fades out as “Justify my Love” by Madonna fades in, in the darkness.  As the music fades, the lights remain dark.

EDWARD
(plaintive, calling out)
Mother?

The lights flare full and to black on the word “Mother”.  In a snapshot, JOCELYN is revealed seated on the chaise-lounge, whilst EDWARD is revealed seated at the dining table in his boxer shorts, bound around the chest and arms and at by each ankle.  He is wearing an eyemask.

EDWARD
(plaintive, calling out)
Mother, please…

The lights flare full and to black on the word “Mother”.  In a snapshot, JOCELYN is revealed seated on the chaise-lounge, whilst EDWARD is revealed seated at the dining table in his boxer shorts, bound around the chest and arms and at by each ankle.  He is wearing an eye mask.

EDWARD
(mournful)
...talk to me.

Pause.  There is the flare of a Zippo lighter flame in the darkness as JOCELYN lights a cigarette.

EDWARD
(sotto voce)
I’m sorry…honestly I am, just talk to me…please!

The lighter flame snaps out as the cigarette end glows orange in front of JOCELYN’S face and then fades.

JOCELYN
(cold)
And say what exactly, baby?

EDWARD
(sotto voce)
Anything.

JOCELYN
Anything?

EDWARD
(sotto voce)
Anything at all.

JOCELYN
I see.
(sighs, disappointed)
And by “anything” I am presuming you have something specific in mind that you’d like me to say?

A beat.

JOCELYN
(snaps)
Well?

EDWARD
(sotto voce)
That you…

JOCELYN
(straight in)
That I what?

A beat.

EDWARD
(sotto voce)
...forgive me.

JOCELYN
(feigning surprise)
Forgive you?  Forgive you for what, exactly, baby?

The cigarette end glows orange in front of JOCELYN’S face again and then fades.  EDWARD sniffs.

EDWARD
(worried)
Something’s burning.

JOCELYN
Is it?

EDWARD
(confused)
Isn’t it?

The cigarette end glows orange in front of JOCELYN’S face again, she looks positively pleased and then the glow fades.

JOCELYN
Possibly…who’s to say?

EDWARD struggles against his bonds in the darkness, the chair legs making noise against the wooden floor.  The cigarette end glows orange in front of JOCELYN’S face again.

JOCELYN
Careful, baby: you’ll break that chair and…

EDWARD
(straight in, petulance)
...that might have been expensive?

The cigarette end glows orange in front of JOCELYN’S face again.  A beat.

JOCELYN
Expensive?

JOCELYN gives a hollow laugh.

JOCELYN
Oh goodness me, no, you petulant child…what funny things you do come out with sometimes.

EDWARD sighs.  JOCELYN stands and walks slowly to stand behind EDWARD during the first part of the next speech.

JOCELYN
Nothing here is expensive, baby.  Nothing ever was:
(doleful)
I did try and tell you but you obviously chose not to hear: “affectation so as not to disappoint” remember?  It’s not real.  Any of it.

JOCELYN leans in close to EDWARD’S ear.

JOCELYN
(low, rhythmic)
Net-bought, flat-packed, B&Q painted.  Fake gilt, mirrored card, cheap reproduction.  In fact, I’d venture to say that the only expensive thing in this entire apartment would have been you but it would appear that I just don’t have an eye for the genuine article…in Art or in life.

The cigarette end glows orange in front of JOCELYN’S face again, dangerously close to EDWARD’S ear and he flinches.

EDWARD
(worried)
Please don’t…

JOCELYN
(cold)
Please don’t what?

EDWARD
(submissive)
Do that…

JOCELYN
What…this?

JOCELYN jabs the cigarette close in to EDWARD’S neck almost touching the skin.

EDWARD
(crying out)
Don’t!

JOCELYN
(straight in)
Don’t what?

EDWARD
(straight in)
That!

JOCELYN
(straight in)
This?

EDWARD
(straight in)
Yes!

JOCELYN
Oh…

A beat.

JOCELYN
(singing, sotto voce, East London accent)
There’s a little ditty they’re singin’ in the city especially when they’ve been on the Gin or the Beer.  If you’ve got the patience, your own
imaginations will tell you just exactly what you want to hear.

A beat.  JOCELYN straightens up and turns away, the cigarette end glows orange on her face.  EDWARD relaxes.

JOCELYN
(sighs)
Ah well, I suppose I have no one to blame but myself.

JOCELYN puts out the cigarette.

JOCELYN
The question is, now: what am I to do with you?

EDWARD
(fearful)
You’re not going to send me away?

JOCELYN
Am I not?

EDWARD
You promised you wouldn’t.

A beat.

JOCELYN
(thoughtful)
So I did.  But then we can’t stay like this forever, can we?  I mean what would the neighbours say?

EDWARD
The neighbours?

JOCELYN
Well they’re bound to find out in the end, baby…if you’ll pardon the pun.  Neighbours always do, don’t you ever watch the News?  Surf the Net?  Listen to the Radio?  Oh I know it’s usually after the police tape goes up that the dullards finally cotton on to what’s been happening right under their noses and even then they have the gall to feign shock at events but even so…one has to consider their feelings when making any decision for the future…our future…don’t you think?

A beat.

JOCELYN
(stronger)
Don’t you think?

EDWARD
I…

JOCELYN
(straight in)
Because if you don’t then just say so, baby, there’s no need to stand on ceremony.

EDWARD
I…

JOCELYN
(straight in)
I mean I’d just hate to think you weren’t telling me just what you were thinking.

A beat.

EDWARD
(sotto voce)
Mother?

The lights flare full and to black on the word “Mother”.  In a snapshot, JOCELYN is revealed standing, back to EDWARD.  EDWARD is revealed seated at the dining table in his boxer shorts, bound around the chest and arms and at by each ankle.  He is wearing an eye mask.

JOCELYN
(gentle)
Yes baby?

EDWARD
(hesitant)
I can’t see.

JOCELYN turns to face EDWARD.  A beat.

EDWARD
(distressed)
Mother?

The lights flare full and to black on the word “Mother”.  In a snapshot, JOCELYN is revealed standing, facing EDWARD.  EDWARD is revealed seated at the dining table in his boxer shorts, bound around the chest and arms and at by each ankle.  He is wearing an eye mask.

JOCELYN
(sharp)
Oh for pity’s sake: will you stop with this petulant whining?  Whine, whine, whine, whine, whine, day-in, day-out: it’s all I ever seem to hear from you these days and quite frankly?  It’s getting terribly tiresome.

A beat.

EDWARD
(sotto voce)
I’m sorry.

JOCELYN
(sighs)
I know you are, baby…but sometimes, being sorry just isn’t enough in the end.  Oh it’s easy enough to say, in spite of what Elton might have you believe but actually meaning it…well, that’s another matter entirely and from where I’m standing?  Word and meaning float separate on the air from your lungs in this room like two opposite poles and never the twain shall meet.

EDWARD
I…

JOCELYN
(straight in)
Don’t interrupt, baby, mother is talking.

EDWARD
Sorry.

JOCELYN
You see?  Easy: but quite, quite meaningless.
(snaps)
Sorry for what?

EDWARD
(distressed)
Spoiling every thing!

EDWARD inhales deeply before continuing.

EDWARD
(rapid, child-like)
I went too far: I see that now, I went too far and I said too much that I shouldn’t have said and now I’ve just gone and spoiled things and I don’t know what to do to put them right again now and I really want to.  I really really want to put things back the way they were if only you’d tell me how to do it because I really don’t know…I really don’t and I just want…I want…

JOCELYN
(singing, sotto voce, East London accent)
She was from the country, but now she’s up a gum tree: she let a fellow beat her, and lead her along.  What’s the use of cryin’?  She made her bed to lie in: she’s glad to bring a coin in, and join in this song.

EDWARD appears close to tears.

EDWARD
(plaintive)
I want my mother.

A pause before JOCELYN lets out a protracted and heartfelt sigh.  On his chair, EDWARD begins to sob silently, head bowed onto his chest, shoulders moving sporadically.

JOCELYN
(singing, sotto voce, East London accent)
Oom pah pah, oom pah pah, that’s how it goes.  Oom pah pah, oom pah pah, everyone knows: whether it’s hidden or whether it shows, it’s the same oom pah pah

JOCELYN moves across to EDWARD.  She takes a large pair of dressmaker’s shears from the table.

JOCELYN
(gentle)
...mother’s here…don’t worry yourself…

JOCELYN uses the dressmakers shears to cut the bonds holding EDWARD’S wrists to the chair.

JOCELYN
(gentle)
...sshhh now, baby, sshhh now: it’s all, all right now…

JOCELYN crouches down and uses the dressmakers shears to cut the bonds holding his ankles to the chair legs.

JOCELYN
(gentle)
...mother’s here…mother’s here.

Slowly, JOCELYN straightens up behind EDWARD and looks down at him.  She then pulls the eye mask from EDWARD’S eyes in one slick move and allows it drop to the floor, discarded.

JOCELYN
...Ta-da!

A beat.

JOCELYN
Oh, sorry…just a moment.

JOCELYN reaches over and clicks on an overhead light.  The room is illuminated.  EDWARD blinks and takes in the scene around him.  JOCELYN brings up the dressmakers shears and closes and uncloses them right in front of his nose sharply several times.

JOCELYN
(child-like eagerness)
Well…what do you say?

EDWARD looks around a moment longer and then turns to look at JOCELYN.

EDWARD
(whispering)
I don’t know.

JOCELYN’S beam of delight freezes on her face.

JOCELYN
You don’t…

EDWARD
...know…

EDWARD frowns.

EDWARD
...what to say.

A beat.

JOCELYN
(explanatory)
You say “Wow”, baby…you always say “wow”...you say “wow” and then I reply: “Pleased?” And then you say…

JOCELYN brings up the dressmakers shears and closes and uncloses them sharply before his nose again.  EDWARD remains silent, expression quizzical.

JOCELYN
(firmer)
And then you say…:

EDWARD
(straight in)
What’s my name?

JOCELYN
(taken aback)
Your…?

EDWARD
(straight in)
What day is it?

JOCELYN
(taken aback)
Edward…

EDWARD
(straight in)
How old am I?

JOCELYN
(confused)
How old…

EDWARD
(straight in)
How long have I been here?

JOCELYN
(more forceful)
Edward, stop it…

EDWARD
(straight in)
Edward’s my name?

JOCELYN
You know it’s your name…

EDWARD
(straight in)
How do I know it is…?

A beat.

EDWARD
(sotto voce)
...Edward?

JOCELYN looks uncertain what to say next.

EDWARD
That’s my name?

JOCELYN
(sotto voce)
You know it’s your name…

EDWARD
(straight in)
Edward’s my name?

JOCELYN
You know it’s your name…

EDWARD
(straight in)
How do I know?

JOCELYN
(straight in)
Because…

EDWARD
(straight in)
...yes?

Although he is not looking at her, EDWARD’S head cranes slightly to one side awaiting JOCELYN’S response.

JOCELYN
(sotto voce)
Because that’s the name that I gave you.

EDWARD
(straight in)
When?

JOCELYN
(straight in)
When you…

EDWARD
(straight in)
So you named me?

JOCELYN
(straight in)
You know I…

EDWARD
straight in)
What day is it?

A beat.

JOCELYN
(sotto voce)
It’s…

EDWARD
(straight in)
...my birthday?

JOCELYN
Yes.

EDWARD nods, almost to himself.

EDWARD
How old am I?

JOCELYN
(straight in)
Twenty-One.

EDWARD
(straight in)
Twenty-One?

JOCELYN
(straight in)
Twenty-One.

EDWARD
(straight in)
Again?

JOCELYN
(straight in)
Edward…

EDWARD
(straight in)
That’s my name?

JOCELYN
(straight in)
Just stop this!

EDWARD
(straight in)
How long have I been here?

JOCELYN
(straight in, breaking)
You’ve always been here!  You’ve never left here!  Here is all that you have, all that you’ve ever known!  All that you’ve ever loved and wanted and needed…here, here is…

EDWARD
(straight in, child-like)
Oom pah pah?

JOCELYN
(straight in, encouraging)
That’s right, darling: here is oom pah pah: remember?  Here is oom pah pah, oom pah pah…your oom pah pah…my oom pah pah…our oom pah pah…this is our oom pah pah Edward: it’s always been our oom pah pah…right from the very beginning.

EDWARD
Then…

EDWARD rises with some difficulty from his chair but finds standing an effort and walking impossible.  His legs crumble beneath him and his hands grab the back of the chair to stop him from toppling over but eventually, he sinks slowly to his knees, looking up at JOCELYN.

EDWARD
...I really am Edward David Crane?

A beat.  And then JOCELYN starts to laugh, a cold, hollow laugh.

JOCELYN
Oh darling…what ever makes you think that?

EDWARD frowns, confused.

JOCELYN
(straight in)
And so, finally…the penny drops…

EDWARD watches her as she tests the sharpness of the blades of the dressmakers shears with her thumb and pulls a wry face.

JOCELYN
(sighs)
Dull…dull…dull…

She shrugs to herself and thinks for a moment.  Suddenly, she appears to remember EDWARD is in the room.

JOCELYN
I’m sorry…what were you saying?

EDWARD opens his mouth to speak.

JOCELYN
(straight in)
Oh yes…what’s your name, what day is it, how old are you, how long have you been here: did I miss anything?

EDWARD goes to speak again.

JOCELYN
(straight in)
Well, let’s see…where do I start?
(sudden, militaristic)
Who knows?  Who knows?  Who knows?  Who…oh no wait…I believe I do know the answer to that last one!

JOCELYN turns to face EDWARD, the dressmakers shears limp in her hand but facing towards him.

JOCELYN
(singing, sotto voce, East London accent)
Pretty little Sally goes walking down the alley: displays her pretty ankles to all of the men.  They could see her garters, but not for free and gratis: an inch or two and then she knows when to say when…

JOCELYN raises the dressmakers shears up before her face as though studying her reflection in the blades as she opens and closes them.  EDWARD is hanging on the silence.  A beat.

JOCELYN
(apathetic)
I’m sorry, what was I saying?

EDWARD deflates.

JOCELYN
(straight in, bright)
Oh, I remember…

EDWARD snaps his head up to look at her.  JOCELYN looks at EDWARD for a moment, expression saddening.

JOCELYN
(mournful)
Oh Edward…what have you done?

EDWARD’S expression freezes.  JOCELYN reaches up and clicks off the overhead light before walking towards him.  They are silhouetted in the breaking light of Dawn through the window which continues to gain in strength.

JOCELYN
What have, have, have you done, done, done?  You poor, poor, poor boy?

The dressmakers shears hang limp in JOCELYN’S hand but still manage to coming perilously close to EDWARD’S head as she begins to circle him.  From the way his eyes follow them, EDWARD is all to aware of the dressmaker’s shears proximity to his flesh.

JOCELYN
(threatening, sotto voce, East London accent)
Oom pah pah, oom pah pah: that’s how it goes!

JOCELYN jabs the points of the dressmakers shears into EDWARD’S right temple and he cries out in pain, his left hand rising up to the incision.

JOCELYN
(straight in)
Don’t touch yourself, Edward, or I’ll cut your hands right off and then you’ll have no hands to touch anything at all with, is that clear?

EDWARD’S left hand hovers for a moment and then slowly starts to lower back where it had been.

JOCELYN
(soothing)
Good boy.
(threatening, sotto voce, East London accent)
Oom pah pah, oom pah pah: everyone knows!

JOCELYN jabs the points of the dressmakers shears into EDWARD’S right shoulder blade: he cries out once more and his left hand rises up instinctively to the point of pain.

JOCELYN
(straight in)
What did I tell you?

EDWARD’S left hand hovers for a moment, his face screwing up in pain.

JOCELYN
(warning)
Ed-ward?

EDWARD’S left hand begins to lower once again at which point JOCELYN slides the blades of the dressmakers shears slowly around his right bicep as though a

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