De Angelis - Jumpy

Except Mark Except? Hilary Nothing. Mark It must have been / something. Hilary No. / Well. I was remembering the time I took the dog to Hyde Park. For some reason I couldnt remember the rules about dogs and escalators and I thought, Christ Im going to have to carry it.

Mark He wouldnt have liked that. Hilary No. He wondered what the hell was going on. He hadnt left ground level for a considerable number of years. It was a nightmare. I was sweating, the dog was doubting.

Mark Thats what you were thinking this morning? Hilary Yes. Mark You got on to the Tube, sat down. And then. Hilary It wasnt immediate. It starts with a random thought. I dont want to tell you what it is in case its viral.

Mark Tell me. Ill be immune. Hilary Theres this thought that theres a lot of earth above my head Mark I wouldnt think that. Hilary that I was in a tunnel bored deep down. And above me earth, heavy, dark, between me and Mark The top. Mark Air. Mark Air.

Hilary Yes. Mark Outside. Hilary Yes. And this feeling became. Mark What? Hilary It reached a level Of panic Which was unbearable And I thought if I dont get off this train Mark What? Hilary Ill die. Mark Thats not good if you have to go to work every day.

Hilary I know. Its shit. It took me two and a half hours to ride five stops. After work I had to get a cab home. Mark How will you be tomorrow? Hilary No idea. Stress. Mark Yes. Mark Yes.

Hilary Job stuff. Mark Yes. Hilary Worst-case scenario it happens to us both. Your business bottoms out. I get made redundant. And there are fuck-all jobs out there.

Theres no point worrying. Fifty sounds too old to put on an application form. I might lie. No one would know. I dont look fifty. I dont act fifty.

I could get away with forty-three. Dont you think I could get away with forty-three? Pause. Mark Depends. Hilary On? Mark If the person youre talking to happens to be forty-three they might think you look a little older. Hilary Whats the likelihood of saying I was forty-three to a person who happens to be forty-three? Mark Quite high. Hilary What would it have cost you, Mark, to say I look forty-three? If it made me happy? Would it have cost you the earth? Mark Itll muck up your CV. You could drop a year, two at most.

Whats the point? Pause. Hilary What time is it? Mark 8.18. Hilary Are you going to walk the dog? Mark Yes. Ill take it round the block. Hilary We dont work in car plants. Didnt mind when they went too many cars on the road anyway, melting the icecaps, but a bloody Educational Reading Support Unit. How dare they? Mark It might not come to that.

Dont think about politics when you get on the Tube. Hilary She has no idea. We mustnt tell her. Mark What? Hilary Anything. Telling her stuff like losing our livelihoods will only destabilise her further. Give her more fuel for disturbance to turn into her own brand of exquisite torture to inflict on us, her parents.

What Im hoping, Mark, is that what happened today was just a wobble. Mark I think it is. Hilary You know what else I was thinking? That time we took Tilly and her friends down to Brighton for the day right at the end of primary school and in the back of the car they were playing a game. They closed their eyes and took it in turns to tickle the inside of each others arms, wrist to elbow, and Tilly said thats the equivalent of a quarter of an orgasm. Beat. Would we have said that when we were eleven? I wouldnt. Beat. Hilary Youd still have been playing with your Scalextric. Beat. Hilary Youd still have been playing with your Scalextric.

Mark I may have looked like I was playing I was cognitively developing. Hilary Where are you going now? Im still talking. Mark Dog. He exits.

Im a Ms actually, anyway. Tilly Ms. Like the sound you make before you vom. Hilary Well, thats who I am. Goodness, look at you, Lyndsey. When did that happen? Tilly You want to know when it happened? Hilary No, I didnt mean Lyndsey Lloyd Park, 10.30 p.m., September 2nd 2008.

I remember everything because. Hilary What? Tilly Nothing. Is it your business? Pause. Hilary Your boyfriend. Is he still involved? Lyndsey No. Hilary Thats a shame. Lyndsey He would be, but hes dead.

Hilary Dead? Tilly Mum, I dont really think she wants to talk about it. Lyndsey Its all right. Ive come to terms with it. Tilly Its cool of Lyndsey to keep this baby because Keiron got stabbed. Hilary Oh God. Lyndsey His mums pleased.

Its something to look forward to. Hilary Well, Im really sorry, Lyndsey, what a lot to go through. Thats awful. Pause. What about your GCSEs? Lyndsey Im taking them this year. Then a year out then Im going back to college. Hilary Good.

As long as its your decision. The baby. Tilly Who elses decision is it going to be? Hilary I always remember you, Lyndsey, from the school plays. The Lion King. You stood out. A hyena. Tilly Its Lyndseys decision.

Hilary Im just saying there might have been pressure on Lyndsey, thats all, to keep it. Its not inconceivable. Tilly Keiron got another girl pregnant as well. And shes having hers so it was Lyndseys choice. Hilary Keiron fitted a lot in. Tilly He died, Mum, its not funny.

At the bus station, Walthamstow. Hilary Yes, I remember seeing all the flowers. Lyndsey Me, his mum and his sister went down there every day. We used to hurry down there like we were late to meet someone. Stupid. In the end the council took them all away.

The bouquets. When they went brown. Hilary Perhaps you and this other girl expecting his baby, could be friends, support each other? Tilly God no, shes got a monobrow. Hilary Whats that got to do with it? What she looks like? What A-levels do you want to do, Lyndsey? Lyndsey A BTEC in Beauty Therapy. Pause. Hilary Well, people always want to be beautiful. Lyndsey Ill be able to fit work in round having a kid.

Tilly Lets go. Hilary Where are you two off to? Tilly The Oak. Hilary What is the attraction of that place? Tilly Cheap booze. Lyndsey Its my birthday. Tilly Sweet sixteen. Theres loads of us going.

And some guys from Forest School. Ill be really late. Hilary Ill pick you up. Tilly Were getting the night bus. Hilary Youve got GCSEs in a month. Dont forget.

Tilly A month. Yeah. I cant stay in every night like you. Hilary Watch your drinks. Dont let anyone put anything in your drinks. You can have two drinks.

Tilly Down there theyre too mean to waste drugs on other people. Hilary Its not going to be people you know. Ruby, the woman that walks Petes dogs, it happened to her she woke up in a hotel room had no idea how she got there Rohypnol. Tilly All right! Hilary Well, it happens. Lyndsey No one would bother to drug me, Im too fat. Hilary Youre pregnant, / not fat.

Tilly Lets go. Lyndsey Couldnt lift me. Hilary Have a wonderful birthday, Lyndsey. Tilly Laters. Hilary Good luck.