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Drama Scripts
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| Golden Gifts | |
| By jean.day | ||||||||||||||||
| 02 September 2007 | ||||||||||||||||
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I don't want to comment on this first act at all, but will say more with the later postings.
GOLDEN GIFTS
ACT I
- Cast in order of appearance: Cynthia Buckle James Buckle, her husband Renee Crocket, Cynthia's sisterStuart Crockett, Renee’s husband Beryl Mortlake, a friend of the late Mrs. PounderJohn Pounder, Renee and Cynthia's unmarried brotherErnest Pounder, the recently widowed father of Cynthia, Renee and John Eileen Makepiece, a neighbour of Ernest PounderMr. Storr, solicitor Scene: the sitting room of a house in Middle EnglandEnter Cynthia, dressed in black, closely followed by James. Cynthia takes off her hat, shakes out her hair and smoothes it down the back of her neck. Cynthia: Well thank God that's over: where's Dad? James: Upstairs I think. He said something about going to lie down for a bit on his own. Enter Renee, Stuart and Beryl. They sit down. Cynthia: It must have been a strain for him. And no wonder: a graveyard funeral in this day and age. Why didn't Dad have Mother cremated like anyone else would have done? Renee: He's against cremation: always has been: says it's disrespectful. like throwing someone on the rubbish heap after you have finished with them." Cynthia:That's just like Dad. Why couldn't he see that cremation is so much better - more comfortable for other people and more discreet really. A graveyard funeral upsets people so. God! That cemetery and that vicar and when they started to shovel the earth in, it gave me the creeps. Renee: Whoever would have thought that Mother would have gone first anyway: she always seemed so fit and full of energy. I couldn't believe it when Dad called me. Cynthia: Mother must really have been quite ill to go suddenly like that. Dad wouldn't have noticed, of course. Beryl: To be fair to your father, there were no signs that your mother was ill. She'd been to see the doctor only a few days before about something quite trivial and he gave her a thorough examination. I went with her and when she came out she said the doctor told her that to all appearances she was as sound as a bell. Renee: Couldn't have been all that thorough an examination. He must have missed something. Beryl: Not necessarily. There are lots of conditions that you can only find out with all sorts of tests. It wasn't that sort of an examination and people do die suddenly and without any sort of warning. Cynthia: Well it's no use going over it now. The question is how's Dad going to manage? I mean he won't want to stay on alone in this place and look after himself. Renee: That's true. He never had to do anything in the house. Mother used to everything for him. He never had to cook a meal, let alone manage with the washing and the housework. Why, until he retired mother even used to clean his shoes for him. You didn't know that did you? Sound of door opening and shutting. Enter John who sits down. Renee: Ah John, at last. We've just been talking about what's going to happen to Dad now that he hasn't got Mother to look after him. Cynthia: How's Dad off financially? John: He's got his pension; he retired on two-thirds pay so mother told me so he'll be very comfortably off. It's inflation proofed too and he's got his old age pension on top and, of course, he will get everything Mother left as she didn’t make a will. Mother was always very careful so she would have had a fair bit put by. Then there's the house. Values have gone through the roof since they moved here and there's no mortgage. Dad'll get that. I know it was in their joint names. Mother told me when they bought it the solicitor told her that it would go automatically to the one who survived the longest. Cynthia So he's worth quite a bit? John: Quite a few hundred thousands I'd say. Renee: We'll have to protect him. Cynthia: What from? Renee: Well, what if he got married again? Cynthia: Married! Who on earth would want to marry an old man like Dad?
Renee: Mother didn't make a will. Why was that? Beryl: Your mother did think about it. She often talked it over with me but she didn't do anything about it because she thought that she would be the last to go and thought that you children would share what was left when she died. Cynthia: But there's still the question of what Dad's going to do now that Mother's not there to look after him. James: He could always get a woman to come in and clean and cook for him. Cynthia: The only sort of woman you would get to come in would be one after his money. We don't want that, do we? Stuart: We could ask him to come and live with us. He'd pay his way - he always has done. He's very good like that. You know that he's got his pension. That would help out with the housekeeping. He could have the spare room and he probably wouldn't eat much and he's got all the clothes he needs for the rest of his life. Beryl: But, what if he doesn't want to? Stuart; Well he can't stay here on his own that's for sure - he wouldn't last a week. John: We ought to ask him. Stuart insisting: Your dad's coming to live with us. Renee and I have decided. Cynthia: Oh: and who are you to decide: surely we've all got a right to say? Renee: We're prepared to have him. Cynthia: Prepared to have his money, you mean. Why there's not room for all of you and the children in that pokey little house of yours. Ernest Pounder: What's all this about my coming to live with you? Ernest Pounder has appeared silently. Taken by surprise the others all look at one another, embarrassed. Renee: Hello, Dad we all thought you were upstairs lying down. Ernest: No, I just went up to be on my own for a while. Renee: Then you've been there all the time listening to what we've been saying? Ernest: I couldn't help hearing some of what you've been saying. Cynthia: Well, I don't think that was very nice of you. You should have coughed or something to let us know you were there. Ernest: But it was me you were talking about and I think had every right to listen. I'll say now I don't want to come and live with any of you. I've got nothing against you and it's very kind of you to be thinking of me, but it wouldn't work. I'm too old to live in a house with young people. I'd get on their nerves and they would get on mine. Cynthia: But you need someone to look after you. Ernest: I don't want to be looked after. I want to look after myself for a bit. I'm tired of other people looking after me. You can't call your life your own when there's other people looking after you. No, it's better I stay here on my own. I'm used to the place and you can come and see me whenever you want to just like you do. Renee: But who'll cook and clean for you? Ernest: Oh, I'll manage. I'm not helpless you know. Your mother was a good cook but she liked plain cooking. I'd quite like to try out one or two things - curry perhaps and some of those frozen things ready made. I'm quite capable of using the Hoover and doing a bit of dusting. Renee and Cynthia look at each other in a resigned sort of way. Renee: Well, it looks as if there's nothing more to be said. Curtain
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