LOOKING AFTER JOSHUA

                                           A ONE-ACT PLAY



      The curtain opens on a narrow, dimly lit hallway with living room and kitchen

doors leading off.  At the end of the hallway is the front door and the staircase. 

The doorbell rings and a tired, grey-haired  woman  in her sixties,  appears from the

kitchen. She is dressed in a baggy cardigan and a skirt which appears to be several

sizes  too large for her. As she begins to walk towards the front door, the bell rings

several times again.



WOMAN:   All right! `old ya` `orses, I ain`t Roger bleedin` Bannister.

(Leaving the security chain in place she opens the door just enough to see the caller

is a coloured man, mid-thirties,  wearing a luminous orange jacket sporting the logo

of a local waste collection company)


WOMAN: Can I `elp ya`?
 

MAN: (SHOUTING AGITATINGLY)  Where is he sister! He come to your house an` you

let him in..please.I see him..now!


WOMAN:   Look sonny I`m sorry but I don`t know what the bleedin` `ell you`re on

about so if ya` wouldn`t mind- (SHE BEGINS TO CLOSE DOOR)


MAN: (STABBING HIS FOOT IN DOORWAY) He run away from me sister..We argue..I 

lose my temper  an` he run from  house.


WOMAN:  Look your domestics ain`t no concern of mine,  an` right now I got a

rabbit stew boilin` its `ead off so I`d thank ya` to take ya` foot out me` door.


MAN: (IGNORING WOMAN`S PLEA) .He must understand sister..I say these  things for

his own good..he must understand.



WOMAN:   Yer I`m sure `e  must,  but like I keep tellin` ya` there ain`t nobody `ere

`cept yours truly.


MAN:  He`s a good boy sister..I know it`s hard..I appreciate that... but

sometimes..well he just wind me up so bad.


WOMAN:  Yer well kids can be like that. (BEAT) Now if ya` wouldn`t mind I really `ave

got to get back ta` me rabbit.


MAN: (SUDDENLY THRUSTING HIS FACE UP CLOSE TO THE PARTIALLY OPEN

DOOR) Joshua! I know you is in there boy! Please..come back home an` we talk

about this..I just want what is best for you boy..You don`t want to end up like me do

you son..pickin` up rubbish, emptying trash cans..You got a brain boy..use it..make

something of yourself..make me..make me  proud of you boy.


WOMAN: (ANGRILY)  Alright, that`s  it!   I`m callin` the coppers.(SHE TURNS FROM

DOOR AND BEGINS TO WALK BACK DOWN THE HALLWAY)


MAN: (PLEADINGLY)  Please sister! I sorry if I  frighten you..but my boy..he all I

have..just a few words sister..then I go..please sister.


WOMAN:(HESITATES FOR A MOMENT BEFORE TURNING BACK TO FRONT DOOR) Look,

ya` obviously don`t believe me when I tell ya` your lad ain`t `ere..but if it`ll make

ya` feel any `appier ya` better come in an` take a bleedin` look fa` yerself. But I`m

warnin` ya,` any funny business an` I will call the police, okay. (SHE RELEASES

SECURITY CHAIN AND OPENS THE DOOR FULLY) 


MAN: (STEPPING TENTATIVELY INTO HALLWAY) Sorry sister, but I see him turn down

your street an` when I get here I see only your house and big brick wall.


WOMAN:  Oh I,  the flamin` wall.  That`s there `cos the council knocked the rest a`

the bleedin` street down didn`t they. I told `em..I`ve lived `ere all me` bleedin`

life  an` the only way you`ll get me out of `ere is in a wooden friggin` box. So in the

end they knocked the rest a` the  street down and stuck a bloody great wall outside

me` front door. Cul de sac..that`s what  they calls it  now..


MAN: (LOOKING PUZZLED) I`m sorry?


WOMAN: Cul de sac. Posh word fa` a dead end.... an`I reckon I know where your lad

might `ave gone.


MAN: Gone..I don`t understand..If he not come in your house where-


WOMAN:  There`s a gate..corner a` the wall..Happen ya` was in such a panic ya`

didn`t see it did ya`?  Leads ta` one ` them fancy shoppin` arcades. Mind you place

is all boarded up now..right doss `ole it is.  (Beat)  My Billy use ta` love goin` up

there on `is roller skates when `e  were a nipper... Anyway I reckon that`s where your
lad will `ave  gone, through that gate.



MAN: (ANNIMATEDLY) You tell me all this about gate but how do I know you not lie. I

think perhaps Joshua tell you to say he`s  not here so he not have to face angry

father.


WOMAN: (SHAKING HER HEAD) Gawd you`re a stubborn sod ain`t ya`.

Alright,  be my guest.(SHE MOVES TO ONE SIDE)  Door at the end`s the

kitchen..leads out ta` the back yard..that one there is the livin` room..stairs up  ta`

two bedrooms and lavvy-


MAN: (INTERRUPTS AGITATEDLY) Sorry sister..but I is so confused..I am a good

father you know!  Joshua, he never want for nothin`.. But sometimes....well  I know

he miss his mother. But I tell him..how can she care when she walk out and leave the

boy..Ten years she gone an` not a word. Christmas, birthdays, nothin`.  How can the

boy still miss her..tell me that  sister....how?


WOMAN: (SHRUGGING HER SHOULDERS)  Who knows. Boys,.girls..we bring `em up

don`t we, mothers. Feed `em, get up in the middle of a freezing night `cos they`re

bawlin` their bleedin` `eads off. We change their stinkin` nappies, then later drag 

`em off to that first terrifying day at school...Then when that`s over we start  worryin`

about the girl they bring`ome with the orange `air and safety bleedin` pins stickin`

out their belly buttons.  P`raps that`s  it. Right from day bloody one

we`re there aren`t we..good or bad..in their friggin`faces.....so when we`re not there

no more-



MAN: I do my best for him..but it`s not easy..I work long hours just to get him things

he wants..so he not feel..how you say..out of it with all his friends......but

sometimes..when I come home an` he is playing silly computer games instead of

doin` his homework... He is clever sister! He has the chance I never had. I tell

him.. Don`t throw it all away...an` then he get mad at me...rantin` an` ravin...



WOMAN:  He`s just a kid. Don`t stiffle `im. They`re precious things, ya` children.

(BEAT) I s`pose my Billy were  a bit like your boy,  never `ad what ya` would call a

proper dad. Tain`t easy, gawd knows it aint, but ya` got ta` give `im some

space..don`t let  ya` love fa` `im spill over till it messes with `is `ead.  Too much a`

that an`they up sticks.. an` then it`s too bloody late.



MAN: Your boy.. Is he still at home?


WOMAN:  Billy? No Billy`s not at `ome no more.  I messed with `is head you see, so

`e cleared off,  joined the army. I never `eard no more  till one of `is mates

told me they was sendin` `im ta` fight the Argies. I watched one of them big ships on
tele the day they sailed  out a`  Portsmouth..all them parents cryin` an` wavin`their

silly bleedin` flags. I looked fa` `im  a` course..on the boat..but there was `undreds

of `em  an` from a distance they all looked like my Billy.  Anyway that was it. Couple

a` month later I got this letter sayin` my boy `ad  bin killed in action. 


Man: I`m sorry.


WOMAN:   Yer well, it`s a long time ago, an` anyway, I don`t `ave ta` worry about

birds with orange `air an` dodgy safety pins clutterin` up me` livin` room no more do
I.


MAN: ( QUIETLY) I think perhaps I go now..look for my boy in the arcade. 


WOMAN: (QUICKLY WIPING HER EYE)   Yer you do that sunshine. An` listen. When

ya` find `im, remember, don`t ya` go messin` with `is `ead. Alright.


MAN:( SMILING)   Alright sister.                       

(THE MAN LEAVES HOUSE AND WOMAN CLOSES DOOR AND  WALKS SLOWLY BACK ALONG HALLWAY. AS SHE NEARS KITCHEN DOOR SHE PAUSES, HER FACE WRINKLING AS SHE SNIFFS THE AIR)

WOMAN: Smells like it`s gonna be a cheese bleedin` sarnie fa` lunch Maggie gal......

                                          (CURTAIN FALLS)