SCENE FOUR
Late afternoon.
Lori’s room.
Lori is kneeling on the floor, sorting out books etc. into cardboard boxes. There is a small pile of things, and on top of the pile is the tape of ‘The Skaters’ Waltz’.
Clover enters, subdued and tentative.
Clover Lori?
Can I come in?
Silence.
Clover looks round the room.
Your room looks really different now. Bigger. Or maybe smaller. I can’t tell.
Lori shrugs.
Do you need a hand or something.
Lori No. I’m just …
Clover Oh.
Silence.
Are you okay.
Lori What?
Silence.
Clover Here, Lori.
There’re some really nice flats near Carrickfergus, Mum was saying about them. New ones. Right beside the water. You can see the castle from them. And they’d be handy for Jordanstown, if you wanted to go to Jordanstown. And I’d come and visit, I’d come and visit you every day, if you wanted me to.
Lori?
Lori Yeah.
Clover Do you think that’s a good idea, Lori?
Beat.
Lori Yeah.
Beat.
I’m not going to go to Jordanstown, Clovey.
Clover Oh.
Oh.
Beat.
But maybe you should think about it, anyway.
Lori Yeah.
Silence.
Look, Clovey …
Clover (hopefully) Yeah?
Lori Nothing.
Silence.
Poppy found the original tape of ‘The Skaters’ Waltz’.
Do you want it?
Clover What?
Lori ‘The Skaters’ Waltz’, do you want it?
Clover What?
Lori It’s on that pile there.
And there’s some – books and stuff. Couple of photos.
Clover Don’t you want it?
Beat.
Lori If you don’t want it, fair enough.
Clover But Lori –
You can’t just –
Decide –
That you don’t want ‘The Skaters’ Waltz’ any more.
Lori shrugs.
Lori There’s so much stuff, Clovey.
Silence.
Clover (picking up the tape) Is this it?
Lori Yeah.
Clover If you don’t want it, then I don’t want it either.
Lori Fair enough.
Clover I’m serious, Lori.
Lori Yeah.
Clover No, but I’m serious.
Beat.
Clover gets to her feet.
Lori?
Lori does not say anything and does not look up.
Lori?
This is what I think of the stupid tape, Lori – this is what I think of –
She is crying. She rips the reel of tape from inside the cassette. Then she stops.
Look what you’ve made me do.
It’s ruined now. It’s ruined.
Lori Clovey?
Clover runs out of the room.
Silence.
Lori scoops up the tape and drops it into a box.
Poppy enters.
Poppy Are you okay, Lori?
I heard the shouting.
Was Clover being nasty to you?
Do you want me to tell her to leave you alone?
Lori It’s fine, Poppy.
Look, I’ve got stuff to do.
Poppy Oh.
Are you tidying your room? Mum keeps saying I should tidy mine, too. Do you want me to help you?
Lori No, Poppy. I need to be alone.
Poppy Oh.
Do you want me to keep you company? I could just sit here and read or something.
Lori No, Poppy.
Poppy Oh.
(Sadly.) Clover was always your favourite, wasn’t she.
Lori What?
Poppy You always liked Clover best. Out of me and Clover. You always liked her best.
Lori That isn’t true.
Poppy I know it is.
You have jokes that only the two of you get.
You have memories that only the two of you remember.
Even when Clover’s being horrible to you you still like her better.
I’m not stupid you know.
There’s nothing that’s just me and you, is there.
Beat.
Lori I remember –
Do you know what I remember.
I remember –
When you were born.
Poppy What?
Really?
Lori Yeah yeah, I do.
It’s one of my first proper memories.
Poppy Don’t be silly. You were eight when I was born. You have loads of memories before me.
Lori No, but do you know what I remember.
I remember, I remember how cold it was the night you were born, the coldest night of the year, probably, and outside everyone’s breath was like clouds of little stars.
I remember in the Ulster, standing on my tiptoes to look into the, the plastic cot where you were sleeping. And Mum had bought me and Clovey these dolls, they were the sort that said Mama and their eyes opened and everything, and I didn’t want mine, I just wanted to look at you, your wee screwed-up face.
Silence.
Poppy Really?
Lori Yeah.
And then the nurse comes and says that Mummy needs to rest now, come along there’s a good girl, and I’m clinging to the cot because I don’t want to leave, there now don’t be bold you’re not going to be a bad, bold girl are you now, and I start crying, come along, you’ll see your mummy tomorrow sure – and I say, I say, and I remember saying this, I say, but it’s my sister I don’t want to leave. I loved you so much, Poppy, right away I loved you so much, I loved you more than anyone.
Silence.
Poppy (quietly) I know it’s not true.
Lori What?
Poppy It’s a nice story but I know it’s not true.
Lori What do you mean?
Poppy I was born in the Royal, not in the Ulster.
It was – Clover was born in the Ulster.
Lori What? We were all born in the Ulster.
Poppy No. You and Clover. I was born in the Royal.
Lori Well – Royal, Ulster, what does it matter if I get the name of the place wrong? God, Pops – the rest of it’s true.
Poppy Is it?
Lori Of course.
Beat.
And do you know what, you were born after the Ceasefire, Poppy, and because of that I think there’s hope for you. I don’t know if that makes any sense to you, but I think you should remember it because you might need it some day.
Beat.
Poppy But Lori?
Lori Jesus Christ, Poppy. Just leave it, please?
Beat.
Now please, Pops. There’s stuff I need to do.
Go find Clovey or something.
Poppy Okay.
Okay, Lori.
Poppy stands for a second, then runs out of the room.
Beat.
Lori curls up on her bed.
SCENE FIVE
The living room.
David reading.
Phyllis enters. She is wearing an outdoor coat and slippers.
David looks up at her.
Silence.
David Where did you go?
Phyllis Nowhere.
Beat.
Tesco’s car park. I sat there for over an hour. I couldn’t get out of the car because I was still wearing my slippers.
David chuckles despite himself. Phyllis laughs reluctantly as well.
They stop laughing.
Slight silence.
Oh David.
David It’s all right.
Phyllis I’m sorry.
David It’s all right, Phyllis.
Phyllis I shouldn’t have – stormed out like
that.
It was wrong of me.
We have to stick together.
All of us.
We’re a – family.
David Yes.
Beat.
Phyllis I always used to think we were such a good family, you know? I mean as families go –
And now look at us, you know?
David I know.
Silence.
Phyllis Well.
Has Lori been down again?
Beat.
David No.
Phyllis Right.
I’ll go up in a bit then. Check on her – /
David / Phyllis …
Phyllis See if I can persuade her to eat with us.
David Yes.
Phyllis Do you think she will?
David I don’t know.
Phyllis No.
Beat.
Well.
Silence. For something to say:
And where are the girls?
David Upstairs, I think. It’s been quiet. I think hostilities are temporarily in abeyance.
Phyllis (faint laugh) Poppy.
David Aye.
Phyllis I hope you didn’t write the entire bloody thing for her.
Pause.
They’d been getting on so well, hadn’t they.
And now the way they’re at each other like cat and dog.
David (slowly) It’s funny, isn’t it, out of all of us, I think Clover’s taken it hardest, in many ways.
Phyllis What makes you say that?
David Whenever you think of them – when they were younger – I’ve been thinking about it – it’s always Clover running after Lori, doing what Lori does, going where Lori goes, wanting what Lori wants. And now – /
Phyllis / David –
David Please – listen to me –
And now, Lori’s been to a place where none of us can follow. A place where none of us can reach her –
Phyllis She’s upstairs, David.
David No, Phyllis –
When I went over to England, to collect her from the hospital –
She didn’t seem to know or maybe it was she didn’t care what was going on any more. And I – hugged her, I just – what else could I do, I just hugged her, and I picked her up and carried her to the car, and – and I strapped her in, and –
And driving back all through England, and Scotland, and then the ferry –
And neither of us saying anything because – because – there is nothing to say –
And such – peace, the whole time, so – peaceful –
And it was as if – as if –
In that moment, Phyllis, in that moment –
I was closer to her than ever, and because we’d been so close –
We were closer than we’d ever be again. Than we ever could be again. As if that was the price to pay.
And that was when, Phyllis –
That was when I realised –
Silence.
Phyllis David …
Silence.
David Will you – (He breaks off.)
Can you – (He breaks off again.)
They stare at each other.
Neither of them moves.
Neither of them speaks.
Silence.
Clover and Poppy trail into the room.
Beat.
Poppy Can we come and sit in here with you or are you working, Dad?
Beat.
David You can, of course you can, it’s the living room.
Beat.
Phyllis I’m going to get dinner on.
Beat.
David says nothing.
Phyllis turns quickly and leaves.
Clover (flatly) Is Mum okay.
David sight.
David She’s –
Silence.
How are you girls?
Poppy looks at Clover. Clover shrugs, then walks over to the sofa and curls up, tucking her feet underneath her. Poppy cuddles up beside her.
Silence.
Poppy I thought Lori being back would make things okay again. I really thought it would.
Silence.
Mum spoke to Lori the night before – the night before she –
And she said that afterwards she went over and over the conversation in her head, trying to look for clues. But she said Lori just seemed – normal. There’s no way of knowing what’s actually going on in someone’s head. We could all be sitting down at dinner and – it could just seem normal, but it wouldn’t be, and none of us would know until afterwards, and even afterwards we wouldn’t understand. And you can go over and over and over things in your head and still not know how to understand them.
Beat.
David Poppy …
David stands up.
C’mere, Poppy.
Beat.
Poppy gets up slowly and shuffles over to her father. He hugs her.
We’ll make everything okay, Poppy. We’ll try our best to –
I promise you –
And you too, Clover –
I promise that we’ll try our best to –
And it isn’t always easy.
But we’ll try our best –
All of us –
Poppy How can anything ever be okay, Dad?
David It will be, Poppy.
We’ll make everything okay.
Do you hear me, Clover?
Poppy Clover, come here.
Beat.
Clover (No) Poppy …
David Clover, love, don’t –
Clover Don’t what, Dad?
David Don’t –
Don’t be so hard on yourself.
Beat.
Now, girls, shall we –
Shall we light a fire in here then, eh?
Poppy You can’t light fires, Dad.
The ozone layer.
David Well, just this once shall we?
The first and only fire of the year.
Clover Yeah, let’s, Dad.
I’ll give you a hand.
Poppy Okay, I will too.
David That’s my girls.
SCENE SIX
Lori’s room. Lori is sitting on her bed.
The room is bare now. No photographs or posters on the walls. Everything packed up in boxes. The boxes piled up.
Phyllis is taken aback, but tries to hide it.
Phyllis Goodness me.
Haven’t you been busy.
Lori says nothing.
Did you –
Did you fancy a – new start, is that what it is.
It’s a – good idea.
We can – why not – redecorate the whole room, if you like.
There’s a new Habitat opened in the city centre, they have some nice …
Phyllis turns away.
Silence.
Lori Mum?
Phyllis turns back quickly and sits down on the edge of the bed.
She smooths Lori’s hair. Lori does not react.
Phyllis Yes, sweetheart?
Lori Did you hear the helicopter last night?
Phyllis What?
I don’t – I don’t think so.
Perhaps I didn’t notice it?
Lori I always think, you know –
When you see pictures of –
Of –
Of – I don’t know – of Iraq, or Kabul, or wherever –
Places where there is real fighting going on –
Helicopters overhead – that sort of thing –
And remember the times when we were little and we couldn’t sleep because of the helicopters?
And I think of –
I wonder if there are – and I mean there must be – other little children who can’t sleep, and I wonder if their mothers are telling them to – ignore the sound, or to pretend it isn’t there, like you used to do, so that they can get to sleep.
And when I think about it, the thing is that I can’t sleep, either.
You know?
Phyllis (carefully) I th
ink – I think, perhaps, that you should try not to think about – about –
I think that you should just try and concentrate on getting well again –
Lori But Mum –
How can you not think about it?
And I don’t mean – you – I mean – anyone –
Once you’ve thought about it – once you’ve realised –
How can anyone – not think about it?
Phyllis I don’t know what to say, Lori.
Silence.
Lori Mum?
Phyllis / Yes, sweetheart –
Lori Mum, do you think things get better?
Phyllis (quickly) Of course they will, sweetheart, of course things are going to get better, you’re going to be absolutely fine and –
Lori I don’t mean that, I don’t mean me. I mean – things. Do you think that things – life – people – ever get better?
Beat.
Phyllis Of course they do.
Lori Because I don’t think they do. I’d like to think that – I’d like to be able to believe that things get better and people get happier but I don’t think that’s true.
Phyllis / Lori, sweetheart –
Lori I think – I think that things go on the way they always have been. I think that we think things change – or maybe we just have to believe they do – or pretend – I think that – yeah, sometimes people are happy – or think that they’re happy – but I don’t think they get happier. I don’t think that things ever really get any better.
Phyllis Things are better for you than they were for me, Lori. My father used to beat my sister and brother and I. For no reason at all. He wasn’t a bad man – he was a strict man, but he wasn’t a bad man – that was just the way things were, then. One Sunday, when I was nineteen – your age – he caught me wearing lipstick and he trailed me into the bathroom and made me scrub my face and said I was no better than a whore, and he hit my mother when she tried to intervene.
Things have got better.
Lori Why, because I can wear lipstick? Because Dad doesn’t hit us? That – Mum – that doesn’t mean anything to me. I’m sorry – I’m sorry for you that things were tough – but that doesn’t make me any happier.
Phyllis You are much happier than I was and don’t you dare say that you aren’t.
Lori says nothing.
Do you hear me?
Lori says nothing.
Beat.
I’m sorry.
Lori No – I’m sorry, Mum.
Phyllis Just –
Hearing you talk like this, Lori –
It’s –
It’s not – you. It’s not –
I mean, I don’t understand –
Can you try and explain it to me, explain to me how you feel, or, or why, because –
Lori There’s nothing else I can say, Mum. I can’t say it so as you’ll understand.
Phyllis Try me, Lori – please – just – give me a chance –
Leaves Page 6
