Eve They’re gonna evict us. They’re gonna have us out. You put your mate before us?
Danny No. No, I’ll talk to them again.
Eve Why didn’t you tell me?
Beat.
Danny She said those words? She said ‘evict us’?
Eve They’ve got new tenants lined up. They’re ‘initiating proceedings’ –
Danny So we barricade the place. We’ve got rights, haven’t we? If it comes to it we’ll board up the door. Like the Kirkby rent strikes. Defend our property.
Eve It’s not our property. We don’t own any property.
Danny You’ve gotta fight, Evie –
Eve I’ve been fighting, Danny. Haven’t you noticed? Haven’t you seen me?
Danny (approaching) Evie … come on.
She shifts away from him.
Come on, worst case they throw us out – we’ll get some advice, get a plan, kick back.
Eve What, dragging round charities and hostels and B & Bs?
Danny What did your dad used to say?
Eve Trapped in some mildewed room with my mum climbing the walls.
Danny Come on, say it like your dad used to: ‘If we’re breathing, if we’re standing –’
Eve My dad’s dead. Those words don’t work any more.
Danny He died fighting.
Eve He died from the stress. From the fucking unfairness, the penny-pinching, the never-knowing-what’s-coming – never safe, never safe. And I’m sorry, I can’t live like that. I can’t let Lisa live like that. It costs too much.
Danny You’re safe. I keep you safe.
Eve I’m on my own.
Danny I’m here. I’m here and I love you.
Eve It’s not enough.
Danny You love me.
Eve It’s not enough.
Pause. Danny stares at her. In the living room Lisa has become aware of raised voices. She comes and listens outside the kitchen.
Eve Alan said he’d help us.
Danny What?
Eve Said we could stay with him.
Danny Us?
Eve Me … Me and Lisa and mum.
Danny Jesus. He …
Eve He’ll get my mum looked after properly.
Danny Alan?
Eve I can’t pretend there’s nothing I can do, because there is. There is. Anything else is just a lie – a selfish lie.
Danny Are you sleeping with him?
Eve No.
Danny Are you?
Eve You really think that’s what this is about?
Danny You’re not going. I’m not letting you.
Eve It’s not up to you.
Danny Lisa won’t go – she won’t want to go with you.
Eve She’ll go to a new school. A better school. Like she needs. I have to.
Danny Stop saying that. If it’s your choice, own up to it –
Lisa enters the kitchen, watching, unseen by them.
Eve It’s not my choice.
Danny You’re my Evie.
Eve We can’t look after each other, Danny. What are we if we can’t look after each other?
Danny I’ll fix it.
Eve shakes her head
Danny I’ll fix it.
Lisa Will you?
Eve and Danny turn sharply to see Lisa.
Go on then. Fix it. Magic it all better. What you gonna do, Danny?
Danny Lis …
Eve Go and pack a bag, love.
Lisa Danny?
Danny (to Lisa) You’re my girl.
Eve When it suits you. When the going’s good.
Danny (to Eve) That’s my little girl.
Eve Ice creams and jokes and days out. You’re good for that.
Danny I’m good for it all. I’ve raised that child.
Eve You gave away the rent, Danny. You gave away the roof over her head.
Danny (to Lisa) Have you heard her? Can you hear this mental shit she’s talking?
He grabs Lisa’s arm a bit too roughly. Lisa pulls away, startled.
Eve Lisa, pack a bag.
Lisa (to Danny) I’m sorry.
Eve Lisa.
Lisa looks from Danny to Eve. She exits to the living room, stands in shock.
Danny This is stupid. This is us, Evie. Just stay – you’re gonna stay.
Eve I can’t.
Danny (going to her) Stay with me.
Eve (pushing him away) Danny …
Danny You know what this makes you?
Eve I don’t get to choose.
Danny Whoring yourself out …
Eve Don’t say that word. You don’t say that word.
Danny You know what this makes you.
Eve stares at him. Lights down.
SCENE SIXTEEN
TIME
The band plays ‘Why Have it Hard?’. Eve, Lisa and Iris pack up items from their house. Iris and Lisa exit as Eve moves downstage. Lights shift. Eve sits in Alan’s conservatory, sunlight on her face. A pot of food is nearby, a scarf is round her neck. She closes her eyes, breathes.
Eve Patent leather kitten-heel court shoes: £50. Two ultimate comfort T-shirt bras: £60, plus deep moisture skin balm: £35.50. Rich cotton button-down dress, £65. Rosti potatoes with lamb steak and goat’s cheese starter, £45.75, plus tea for one with all-butter shortbread …
Music stops abruptly as Alan enters with briefcase. Eve jumps up, wiping the table, tidying.
Alan (taking cloth from her) Don’t do that. I don’t like that.
Eve What else am I doing all day?
Alan You haven’t been out?
Eve I went into town.
Alan Only town?
Eve And the park.
Alan Your shoes are all muddy in the porch.
Eve I went round the park.
Alan On your own?
Eve On my own.
Alan (indicating her scarf ) What’s this …? I haven’t seen this.
Eve I’d had it years.
Alan Looks like you got it on the market.
Eve I did.
Alan (taking it off her) Wear that new one I got you – the pink one.
Eve Pink scarf: twenty-two pounds fifty.
Alan What?
Eve I’m keeping track of everything. Adding it all up. I’ll pay you it all back.
Alan (tasting the food in the pot) You won’t.
Eve Eventually.
Alan You followed the recipe?
Eve Could have something by next week. Asda want people on the tills.
Alan But that’s not you, is it?
Eve If they’ll have me. If I’m not under-qualified, I’m over-qualified …
Alan (of the food) Did you put spice in here?
Eve Only a bit.
Alan The recipe doesn’t say spice.
Eve I thought it’d be nice.
Alan It might be nice but it’s not the recipe.
Lisa enters upstage, dumps her school bag and books on the floor, moves quickly into another space in the house.
Eve (calling through) Alright, Lis?
Alan (calling through) You alright, love? School alright?
Beat. Lisa sighs.
Lisa Yep. One hundred per cent alright. Couldn’t be more alright.
Alan nods and grins at Eve, giving her a thumbs-up. Eve forces a smile. Lisa puts in headphones and curls up in a chair. Alan squints at Lisa’s bag and books.
Alan (low to Eve) Could you have a word with her maybe? About the stuff.
Eve The stuff?
Alan In the hall. On the floor in the hall. All the time. Only it’s all the time.
Eve Sorry, I know she’s –
Alan Don’t say sorry. I don’t want you to be sorry.
Eve I am sorry. I know we’re in your way.
Alan Not in my way.
Eve We won’t be here for ever.
Alan Did I say you were in my way? (Going to her.) This is your home, right? Both of you.
Eve That’s kind, Al, but –
He moves to k
iss her, she pulls away. She shakes her head. Pause.
Alan It’s been a month.
Eve I know how long it’s been.
Alan You’ve never been treated right – that’s your problem. You don’t how this is supposed to work.
Eve I haven’t got a problem, Al.
Alan You like it here, don’t you? You’d tell me if I was doing something wrong?
Eve You’re not doing anything wrong.
Alan Let’s go somewhere. You, me and Lisa. France or … Berlin. I hear Berlin’s very cultural.
Eve We can talk about it.
Alan We’re talking about it now.
Eve I’ll have a think –
Alan A whole month, Eve … You’ve had time.
SCENE SEVENTEEN
EVICTION
Danny stands in the living room of his house. As he sings, the furniture is removed around him, repossessed. Elsewhere, Lisa looks at the stars through a telescope.
Danny (sung)
Where are all the drunken poets
Singing to the moonless night?
Where’s your heart, where’s your compassion
Where’s your sharp unflinching sight?
I can feel your pulse, your rhythm
I can hear the notes are right
You’ll tell me all my hopes are flashes
And call yourself a guiding light
But where’s your soul?
Where’s your soul?
Where’s your roar and where’s your spirit?
Where’s your faith in the last good fight?
Come to me with heart on fire
Come with unextinguished light
Where’s your soul?
Where’s your soul?
Paul enters, looking round for Gabi. She runs after him, grabs him. He laughs. They kiss: a silhouette of young love, like Eve and Danny many years earlier.
Danny (sung)
I’ve got nothing left to give
But the gentlest of things
A gift I cannot bottle
Or tie up with string
My soul
There’s my soul
Lights down. Gabi and Paul exit hand in hand. Danny stares out.
SCENE EIGHTEEN
HOME
Care home. Iris sits in an armchair. Eve sits beside her.
Iris She’ll be here again in a minute, you watch, she’ll be up there watching …
Eve There’s no one there, Mum, I promise.
Iris You’ll see, you’ll see. (Muttered.) Thinks I’m stupid … Everyone thinks I’m stupid …
Eve This is a good place. I’ve told you that, haven’t I?
Iris I know. I know what’s going on.
Eve How about I do you a dinner at the weekend. In Alan’s. Big piece of salmon – you’ll like that?
Iris No one listens. Don’t know why I bother.
Eve We’ll sit in the garden after – sit and look and the flowers with nothing to worry about.
Iris You’ll see, just watch. Keeps coming past that door –
Eve Mum … Did you love my dad?
Iris Wrong question.
Eve I mean, does it have to be that?
Iris ‘Do you love me? Do you not?’ Blah-di-blah. So I go round town with my mates? So I go out sometimes without telling him where?
Eve What’s the right question?
Iris The second I had anything of my own, the second I did anything just for me and nothing to do with him, that question: ‘Do you love me? Do you love me?’ Course I loved him but there’s got to be something else. There’ve got to be better bloody questions. (Beat.) You give everything away … (Looking at Eve.) You give everything away, Evie, just like me.
Eve takes Iris’s hand. Iris leans forward suddenly, pointing.
There! There she is. She’s staring at me.
Eve It’s a nurse.
Iris What does she want? What’s she doing?
Eve She’s not doing anything: look.
Iris Go away! (To Eve.) Make her go away!
Eve She’s here to look after you. They’re all here to look after you.
Iris (shaking her head, beginning to cry) No one listens to me. No one listens. No one …
Eve (putting her arms around her) Look, she’s gone, okay, Mum? She’s gone.
Eve rocks her. Iris calms slowly, strokes Eve’s hair.
Iris It was such a shame.
Eve What was?
Iris Such a clever girl. Such a whizz with numbers. Got up the duff by the first lad who winked at you – threw it all away.
Eve What?
Iris And then that Danny Scott – he never lit up the sky. You could have gone anywhere. Could have had anyone. You ended up with Danny bloody Scott from down the road.
Eve I wanted Danny Scott from down the road.
Iris (whispered) They pretend to help me, but they lock the doors.
Eve What should I have wanted?
Iris looks at Eve suddenly and smiles.
Iris When are we going home, pet? (Beat.) When can we go home?
Lights down.
SCENE NINETEEN
DUST
Evening. Alan’s house. Lisa looks through a window with a telescope, surveying the sky. At intervals she makes notes. Eve enters and throws down a pair of boots. Lisa looks up.
Eve I got them for you. Forty minutes wandering round that shop like Mrs No Mates.
Lisa Who was?
Eve Me. Your mother. The one standing in front of you on Planet Earth.
Lisa Sorry … Crap. I was in science club, then –
Eve (of the boots) You said you wanted them.
Lisa You said I wanted them. I said nothing.
Eve So I’ll take them back, shall I?
Lisa If it makes you happy.
Eve No it doesn’t make me happy, Lisa.
Lisa squints at her in confusion, turns back to her telescope. Eve goes to leave, then turns.
You know, this doesn’t cut it. This self-righteous act. Sneering at this place, this house –
Lisa Mum, I’m sorry I forgot about the shops.
Eve You think you’re so real and so honest.
Lisa I don’t think anything.
Eve Don’t try and tell me you’re not better off, alright? Don’t tell me you’re not happier in that nice private school with the lawns and the flowers everywhere –
Lisa I’ll wear the boots. I like the boots.
Eve Don’t try and tell me you don’t like takeaway on a Saturday and roast on a Sunday. All your extra tuition. And that telescope: you know how much that cost?
Lisa Loads.
Eve I don’t even know. Alan just bought it.
Lisa Course I like it.
Eve He just bought it.
Lisa Why you even asking me that?
Eve ’Cause you’re never satisfied, Lisa.
Lisa What do you want me to say? The school’s different, the kids are different but I’m not different. Everyone used to call me posh, now everyone thinks I’m common. People never used to leave me alone, now no one talks to me at all.
Eve Whatever clothes you need to fit in, whatever the other kids’ve got –
Lisa You can’t buy the answer, Mum. Throw whatever money you like at it, I’m still me. And you’re still you … And what are we doing here? How the hell did we get here?
Eve It’s for you. Every bit of it’s for you.
Lisa I know. That’s the worst part.
Eve I know you miss Danny. I know it’s hard.
Lisa Do you miss him?
Eve I’m giving you everything I never had. I’m giving you every chance.
Lisa It’s not worth it.
Eve You might not know the worth of it now –
Lisa You remember when we all used to go the protests? When I was little. And you’d have the megaphone – screaming at the top of your lungs and everyone else screaming back. And people’d be looking out of cars and shop windows –
Eve And what did i
t change? All that screaming?
Lisa I was proud of you. You were … lit up.
Eve It’s you I care about, Lisa. Not the crowd: you.
Lisa And it’s you I care about, and I’m saying it’s not worth it.
Beat. Lisa looks through the telescope again. Eve watches her.
Eve What are you looking at?
Lisa Dust. All dust. Stars and planets and comets and moons … and us looking up at them.
Eve (turning away) Well, that’s depressing.
Lisa Not when you think about it. Like, all the things we are and all the things we have and everything we know is … random collision. Dust turning back to dust. And here we are thinking and feeling and … loving each other. When you think about that … it’s magic. Pure magic.
Lisa continues to look out through the telescope. Lights dim. Eve moves downstage looking out. The band plays ‘Magical Times’. Elsewhere Danny digs with a trowel, plants a bed of yellow flowers: they glow like stars in the dark.
Eve I want to buy a bunch of flowers. Let’s say I’m a person who likes to buy flowers – every week a couple of quid: two quid plus two quid plus two quid … But housing benefit’s down and rent’s up, wages are down and tax credits are down so I’m a person who can’t afford flowers. So minus the flowers, no more flowers, not for me, or for next door or over the road. So minus the people who drive the flowers, who grow and cut and sell the flowers – minus some of them. Minus the things those people buy, minus their chocolate, or meat, or furniture, cut their expenditure, batten the hatches as minus breeds minus and cut breeds cut and the maths won’t fit it to tidy ‘in–out’ columns – the maths is floating up in to the sky: minusing, looping, grinding, slowing … And nothing grows. Nothing grows.
Lights shift as Eve exits. Danny continues digging.
SCENE TWENTY
DIGGING
Danny kneels, planting flowers. Lisa approaches him, placard in hand reading REFUGEES WELCOME. Danny looks at her, then back to his work.
Lisa Are you not coming then?
The Sum Page 6
