ACT VI

(About half an hour later. The same group, minus Edward, are still sitting in the living room. There are now several bottles and glasses on the coffee table. The tea tray is still there, but the food is largely untouched. Empty glasses are in front of everyone; two gin bottles – one empty and one with half a bottle left –  are an arm’s reach away from Valerie)

VALERIE:  (Merrily, obviously three sheets to the wind) So there I was in this suit
that had cost me hundreds of pounds – and the table was still covered with food, mind you – ice sculptures and pates and smoked salmon and caviar – and everything, including me, had wine punch all over it – little purple pools all beaded up in the cream cheese – (looking up in surprise as the front door suddenly bursts open and STEPHEN and DIANE  enter)

DIANE:  (Rubbing her hands together) Sorry it took us so long!. Colin’s just outside making a phone call. Lord, is it cold out there! (Coming into the room and sitting down)

VALERIE: (Cheerily) Join us for a drink and you’ll soon warm up!  We’ve been making merry. (Smiling at the group around her) Haven’t we? Ruining our appetites for goose on gin and orange juice. All but our new sister-in-law, who’s had nothing but orange juice! (Turning to Kimiyo and speaking in exaggeratedly correct English) Don’t you drink at all, then?

KIMIYO:  (Despairingly) I like to drink, but – just now I think it is better if I – (she shoots Adam a ‘Should I tell them?’ look and he shakes his head at her)

STEPHEN:  (Glancing around the room) Where’s Dad?

VALERIE:  (Loudly) He’s – well, he’s buggered off again. (Turning to Kimiyo) You know that word? Buggered? Good British word, that:  bugger, bugger, bugger. You
know what it means? It means –

ADAM:  (Shooting an anxious look at Kimiyo and hastening to interrupt Valerie ) He’s just resting right now. I think the morning’s tired him out.

STEPHEN:  (Pursing his lips and nodding) Where’s Herbert, for that matter?

VALERIE:  (Slurring her words slightly) Off on one of his walks. My husband, the walker. He walks and walks and walks. . . (taking a sip from her glass)  Every day – every night. Out there – walking. Where’s he walking? Don’t know. But – (sips from her glass) – he’s walking. Walking – the line. No, no – (she starts to laugh) – not the line! That’s the only thing he doesn’t walk. . .  (An uneasy silence begins to fill the room, but VALERIE gives no sign of noticing this as she continues) The problem with Herbert, you know – absolutely wonderful husband, you understand – I couldn’t ask for better – and a decent man, a really decent man. (She frowns and sips from her glass again) No, no –the problem with him is – the main problem, you see – (she turns to look at Kimiyo owlishly and begins to enunciate her words too carefully) – you see, he was the oldest, Herbert, so he ended up having to be father and mother to the little ones after their mother – well, you know.

STEPHEN:  (Nervously) Look, Val, do you want me to get you a cup of coffee?

VALERIE:  (Looking at him critically, with exasperation) Now why would I need coffee? No. No thank you to the coffee. I was just telling you – telling everyone here anyway – about Herbert. How he ended up raising you all, see. Now to this day – to this day he can load a washing machine better than I can.  He can cook the roast, bake the cake, hoover the floor – don’t know why he married me, really, because – (she now leans forward and whispers conspiratorially to both GWEN and KIMIYO who, in turn, look shocked and embarrassed for her) – because really, he doesn’t need me. Big family secret, you see – he’s – he’s (she leans forward again and stage-whispers this in an exaggerated way, cupping one hand over the side of her mouth) –  he’s gay.  G-A-Y.  That’s – well you know – gay as an Ace of spades. (Frowning, then laughing and shaking her head) No!  No, that’s not what I mean – gay as – gay as Paree. Gay as a French pony.   (The room is filled with a stony silence during which no one dares look at anyone else. Valerie gives the impression that she alone is unaffected, still sipping from her drink and nodding her head. The front door suddenly opens and COLIN bursts in)

COLIN:  (Carrying a bag full of gifts over one arm and still clutching his mobile
phone)  Sorry!  Bit of a mix-up there with my agent, and it’s not even sorted out yet. (He looks happily around at the assembled guests) Hello, everyone!

VALERIE:  (Suddenly clapping her hand over her mouth as she is taken by a fit of giggling) Hello, Colin! 

(Stephen walks over to VALERIE, he bends down to whisper something to her when all of a sudden there is the sound of someone pounding down the stairs and the everyone in the room starts.  STEPHEN straightens up again and goes and sits down close to Diane)

ADAM:  (Leaning forward to address Colin) Colin, this is Kimiyo, Kimiyo, Colin.

KIMIYO:  (Shyly) Hello, Colin. Nice to meet you.

COLIN:  (Leaning forward to shake her hand, facing the door) Nice to meet you too, Kimiyo. Hello, Granddad. (Everyone turns around to see EDWARD standing in the doorway. )

COLIN:   Here Granddad – you have this chair; actually I’ve got to go and make another phone call anyway. I won’t be long – back in a tick! (He exits)   

EDWARD:  (Clearing his throat, suddenly addressing Kimiyo) Funny thing I was just thinking about – just now. What was it they called pumpkin? Koh-chah? 

KIMIYO:  (Softly) No, no – koh-chah, that is tea, dark tea like British people drink. Pumpkin is kabocha.

EDWARD:  (Nodding) Ka-bo-cha. Yes, that was it. (He nods to himself again,

obviously lost in thought. The people in the room trade quick glances with each other and wait nervously)

STEPHEN:  (Impatiently) What about the pumpkin, Dad?

EDWARD:  (Staring at Stephen blankly) What?

STEPHEN:  (With controlled irritation) You asked Kimiyo about pumpkin just now – how to say it in Japanese. What about it?

EDWARD:  (Reflectively) You know, speaking of pumpkins, the pumpkins they have there don’t look like anything you’ve ever seen here. Squat green things, they are, more like a squash – bright orange inside, of course – (He stops talking and stares into space for some time)

KIMIYO:  (Cautiously feeling her way, as though guessing what he is trying to say) Many older people, they say pumpkin and cabbage – they eat those during war. Almost only food they have, then, everything else gone, no rice, no meat, no fish. Only they have snails. Always – pumpkin, cabbage and snails.

VALERIE:  (Brightly) Snails? What, like escargot?

KIMIYO: (Smiling) Well, maybe – except no garlic, no butter, no salt or herb –

EDWARD:  (Thoughtfully)  Always wondered why she’d done it. Well before the end of the war, you see, when we finally got out of the camp and into the countryside. She was waiting there, by the side of the road. We were passing along – it was late, too, very late – and so cold –

STEPHEN:  (Staring intently at his father) Who, Dad? Who was waiting?

EDWARD:  (Glancing up at Stephen)  Woman. Maybe fifties, sixties – hard to tell with Japs, you know. And she had this pumpkin – she’d cut it in half – and she handed it to us and said – (he frowns, turning to Kimiyo) How d’you say it again?

KIMIYO:  Ka-bo-cha.

EDWARD:  (Nodding) ‘Kabocha’ she says, and then she holds it out to us and
says‘Take.’  We took it, too – ate the whole thing, seeds, peel and all. First vegetable we’d had in weeks. Used to eat egg shells too, did I ever tell you that? (He stares around the room at his children, who all shake their heads, then stares down at the floor)  Well. . . I did. We all did. Get an egg – rare treat. Pop the whole thing in your mouth, shell and all. Crunch it down. (He stares down at the floor again for a long time. Everyone in the room is silent, waiting for Edward to speak again, but after a while it becomes apparent that he has fallen asleep)

STEPHEN:  (Very softly) You know – I’ve been waiting to hear him say something – anything – about the war, oh, all my life I suppose. I never thought he would. I thought it would all – you know, die with him.

GWEN:  (Suddenly)  What you said earlier, Valerie, about Mum – when you said ‘you know’ – what did you mean by that?

VALERIE:  (Valerie has been sitting for the past few minutes, hanging her head and rocking from side to side gently. She now looks up, puzzled) Mmm? What did I say?

GWEN:  (Insistent) You said something about Herbert having to take care of us. Because he was the oldest. You said ‘After your mother’ –and then you said ‘you know.’  But the thing is – we don’t know. Well, I don’t, anyway, and I’m pretty sure that Adam doesn’t either. (She gestures at her sleeping father) He’s always said that Mum got ill and died. And Herbert and Simon – and you too, Stephen – you’ve always sworn that was what happened.

ADAM:  (Nodding) Post-partum depression, I think they said -- something like that, anyway.

GWEN:  But after reading her diaries, see – (she shakes her head). There’s nothing in them about her being sick – nothing like that at all. But there’s plenty about Dad, about how angry he used to get, how he’d wake up punching her, screaming  – always angry, always taking it out on her. You know what she wrote? She wrote that her life was a living hell. That the bruises she had outside were as nothing to the ones she  had inside.

STEPHEN:  (Fidgeting) Shouldn’t someone be checking on the goose or something? Basting it?

GWEN:  (Angrily) No, Stephen. We should be talking about Mum and what happened to her. I just want to know – that’s all! Just – tell me. Say it. I’ve been reading her diaries ever since I got them, and I know she was – well, miserable. Dad took it out on her – (gesturing angrily with her hands) – no, sit down, Stephen, for God’s sake. He took it out on her mentally and physically. So – I know that already, right? And now I want to know the rest. Just tell me, or so help me God, I’ll go and find out on my own –

HERBERT:  (Stepping out from the front door entrance where he has apparently been standing for some time; speaking quietly) Okay, Gwen. You want to know – here’s what happened.  She killed herself. Okay?

GWEN:  (Visibly shocked, putting both hands up to her mouth) God, I –

STEPHEN: (Almost simultaneously with Gwen) Herbert, you really don’t need –

ADAM:  (Quietly, reaching up to take the hand that KIMIYO has put on his arm) Why?

HERBERT:  (Quietly) I don’t know why – none of us knew why, because there was no note. She took an overdose and died. It was a tremendous shock for all of us at the time. Well – for Stephen and Simon and me, really. And – (gesturing at their sleeping father) for him, too, of course. He loved her – I know he did. And for what it’s worth, he never beat her.

GWEN:  (Glancing doubtfully at her sleeping father) So what about those bruises she wrote about?

HERBERT:  (Sighing) He’d wake up struggling, really flailing about, quite wild. I was sleeping in their room once – I must have been about five – had chickenpox or something. And he woke up and – well, you had to see it to believe it. Like a grand mal seizure, really, I was scared out of my wits. I know it happened a lot – he’d wake up and think he was back there, you see. That’s where she got the bruises. And he did take it out on her – in other ways. We were all shocked, all of us.

VALERIE:  (Slurring her words)  Poor Herbert.

HERBERT:  (Determinedly, ignoring Valerie) Shocked that she’d been that miserable and hadn’t been able to tell us, or to do anything about it. And we wanted to – well, protect you and Adam. You didn’t know.  We figured it was for the best.

GWEN:  (Nodding) I thought so.  I always thought so. So many little things – so many little details – nobody ever wanting to talk about her . . . (her voice trails off and she bites her lower lip)

ADAM:  (Quietly) I knew. I was the one who found her, remember? I wanted her to fix something – I can’t remember what it was, now, but I remember thinking that she was supposed to have fixed it and I was cross with her. So I went into her room to tell her off and –  she was just lying there. And – well, I saw the empty bottles. I didn’t put two and two together then and there, but I did later. Obviously.

HERBERT:   (Shaking his head and sighing)  I suppose we thought that you’d just assumed she was ill. And in a way – (Sighing again)  in a way she really was ill. 

VALERIE:  (Quietly but angrily) She wasn’t . . . she wasn' t just ill, she was sick. As in sick of it all.

COLIN:  (Coming back into the room and sighing deeply) Sorry! I almost never use my mobile, but this just came up at the last minute and – (he glances around the room and takes in the general mood)  Oops – did I miss something?  (There is the sudden noise of someone tramping up the stairs again, making everyone in the room start. EDWARD suddenly wakes up and stares wildly around the room)

EDWARD:  (Looking fractious) What? What did you say?

VALERIE:  Nothing, Dad – no one said anything. It was just Paul going back up to his room. 

EDWARD:  (Confused)  Paul? Who's Paul? (Glaring around the room once, his eyes suddenly light on COLIN. He stares at him for a moment as though he has never seen him before, then suddenly reason dawns and he begins to nod. He clears his throat mightily and addresses the room in general) I’ll tell you something that’s queer, if you want my opinion. I’ve got two sons. One of them – (he points to Colin) – clever enough, but he’s never going to get married, never going to have any children.  Been to university, got a brand new car, good job – oh, he’s had every advantage that money can buy. But he’ll never get his hands dirty, this one, oh no. He’ll never work for his living – I mean real work like I did – and he’ll never have any children of his own. Why that is, I don’t believe I need to answer, do I?

STEPHEN:  (Appalled and angry) Dad! That is entirely –

DIANE:  (Angrily) Colin works just as hard --

COLIN:  (Flushing with embarrassment) Mum, Dad, it’s okay, really. I –

EDWARD:  (On a roll and growing progressively louder) Now that one upstairs – (suddenly turning and addressing Kimiyo, gesturing toward the stairs) – when I was that one’s age I’d already spent four years as the guest of the bloody emperor – seen friends of mine a lot younger than him decapitated, dead of beri-beri,  TB, cholera. All I wanted to do was get free and what does that one do? Why, he holes himself up in a room. Eats up there, sleeps up there – God only knows what he gets up to in that room of his. But will he ever work? Will he ever pay for his upkeep? (Snorting in contempt)  And then I’ve got two daughters –

GWEN:  (Nervously) Dad, there’s just me – I’m your only dau—

EDWARD:  (Interrupting angrily) As I said, I’ve got two daughters –

GWEN:  (Gently but firmly)  Grand-daughters, Dad, you’ve got two granddaughters –

EDWARD:  (Angrily) That’s what I just said, dammit!  I’ve got two granddaughters, and they –

VALERIE:  (Tears in her eyes) Dad, please – !

EDWARD:  (Turning on her and repeating in thundering tones) Two-granddaughters – and they’re upset with Japan. They want to boycott Japanese products. Know why? (He glances angrily around the room) Anything to do with the Railway, you ask? Or the fact that they made us work when we had malaria? When we were down to skin and bones and eaten up by tropical ulcers? Or – or –the fact that they deliberately violated the terms of the Geneva Convention and starved one third of their prisoners to death? Why, no! (He stands up with the aid of a cane, his entire body shaking violently. Everyone looks alarmed)

ADAM:  Dad, please! Sit down, Dad – come on, just sit down.

EDWARD:  (Sitting down, still shaking, his hands nervously clutching the crook of his cane as he speaks )  Oh no – no, it’s none of that that worries them. None of that makes them put away their purses and refuse to buy their Jap stereos or hi-fis or gadgets. Oh no, it’s the whales. (Putting on poncey high-pitched voice) The poor little whales.

(The entire room is silent. EDWARD slumps back in his seat, obviously emotionally spent by his outburst)

KIMIYO:  (Suddenly standing up, her eyes flashing) I want to say something.

ADAM:  (Mortified, in a whisper) Kimi! Sit, down!

KIMIYO:  (Shaking her head at him) No – no, Adam. I want to say – then I finish – not say anymore. (She turns to address Edward) You don’t like what I say – okay. You still hate everyone after I say – fine. But I want just to say this. I am part Japanese, part Chinese, part Korean – not good thing, not bad thing. Just – I am.

ADAM:  Kimi!  (Attemps  to pull Kimiyo back down beside him, but she deteminedly pulls away from him)

KIMIYO:  Those countries too – China, Korea – the peoples there suffer so badly in war. Because of Japanese soldiers, so bad, so savage, so many peoples die very terribly.

STEPHEN:  (Gently) It’s nothing to do with you, Kimiyo – we all know that. I’m sorry if earlier I gave you the impression that –

KIMIYO:  (Interrupting, determined to speak her piece) I know nothing do with me. Just -- I am sorry for those peoples – I cannot help them now, no one can. Just all I can do is try not to forget, to teach my children. And try always to be kind to peoples, all peoples. But some of those peoples – some of my ancestors – Korean and Chinese ones – they get together with Japanese peoples and they make my parents, and my parents – they make me. I am glad that they do. Because why? Because that way shows people hate other peoples sometimes, but also love too, make babies together in good way.

DIANE:  (Nodding)  My great grandpa met my great grandma – the Cherokee – when he’d gone to her village to burn it down –

KIMIYO:  (Still standing) – and now Adam and I – our two countries bitter enemy in war – but we marry with each other and we make our own baby.  And I am very, very glad for that. Now I have finish, but I am going upstairs and tell other boy – nephew – one I haven’t met – I am going to meet him. Maybe tell him about my nephew in Osaka, also stay in his room. If someone wants to come and introduce to me, then we can go together. Seems funny, one person up in room all by himself, everybody else all down here.

(Everyone stares at her as she makes her way across the room toward the staircase. KIMIYO exits up the stairs, the sound of her footsteps echoing behind her.

ADAM:  (Rising, looking around the room in an apologetic fashion and shrugging his shoulders)  Guess I’d better go with her, though it seems pretty daft. I haven’t seen Paul for years after all . . . But what the hell. . . (He crosses the room and exists up the stairs)

GWEN:  (Rising slowly to her feet)  Well, for what it’s worth, neither have I, so I suppose I might as well go too. (Sighing, she too crosses the room and exits up the stairs)

HERBERT:  (Gently, holding out his arm) Come on, Val. Let’s go introduce Paul and Kimiyo. (VALERIE pretends to try and shrug him off, but she takes his arm and they exit together. She is still very drunk, and Herbert has to support her)

DIANE:  (Turning to STEPHEN who is slumped in his seat staring at the floor) Come on, honey. Kimiyo’s right – it’s silly just ignoring Paul. He’s part of the family, too. Let’s go on up and see him.

STEPHEN:  (Half turning to COLIN but not facing him) Are you coming with us?

COLIN:  (Shaking his head)  It’s okay, Dad – you go on ahead of me. I’ll just stay with Granddad for a while, keep him company.

 EDWARD:  (Bewildered, furrowing his forehead, he sits for some time slumped forward with his head in his hands. Then he looks up and slowly realizes that everyone has gone.) Where is everyone? Where have they all gone?

COLIN:  (Gently) They’ve gone to see Paul, Granddad.

EDWARD:  (Bemusedly, slowly rising from the chair) Stephen?  Where is everyone? What happened?

COLIN:  (Gently taking his grandfather by the arm) It’s Colin, Granddad. They’ve all gone upstairs just now. Would you like to come too? Can you manage the stairs?

EDWARD:  (Confused and embarrassed) No, no, Herbert – no I’ll be fine here. You go on. I’ll just sit here a bit longer.

COLIN:  (Obviously relieved, but still concerned)  Can I get you anything?

EDWARD:  (Testily, waving his hands dismissively) No, no – I’m fine, just fine.

(COLIN goes upstairs, leaving his grandfather sitting in the armchair. EDWARD sits for a few minutes staring ahead of him blankly, then addresses the room in general)  Always did wonder why she gave us that pumpkin. Perfectly good pumpkin, too. Thought it might be poisoned, maybe. . . (he laughs woodenly)  Wouldn’t have mattered if it was!  But no, it was good. Perfectly good pumpkin. (He looks around the room again and his mouth hangs open a bit) Where’ve they all gone, then? Where’s everybody gone? (He gets up painfully and walks, stiff-legged, toward the staircase)

(Curtain Closes)