Philomena    You should have thought about that. You should have thought about going home before you decided not to listen to us.

Philomena lies down and pulls the covers over her head. Charles breaks down and starts to cry.

Charles    Please, Philomena. I know . . . I know you’ve got money. I’ll . . . I promise I’ll wire it to you.

Philomena    No, Charles. No, it’s for your own good. Now –

Charles    But –

Philomena    That’s my last word, I need some sleep.

Charles (yelling at her)     YOU’RE A MEAN FUCKING LITTLE WITCH!

Philomena sits up, at the end of her tether.

Philomena    You won’t manage to drag me down to your and Kowalski’s level, Charles Merryweather, I’ll tell you that now! Never!

She pulls the covers over her head. Charles staggers over towards his bed. He suddenly stops and grabs at his stomach. He slowly delves under his baby romper, pulls off the diaper and wraps a towel around his waist. He inspects the diaper. It is covered in blood. He drops it to the floor and runs crying into the bathroom like a man possessed. Charles slams the door shut.

Philomena sits up. She looks across at the bloody diaper on the floor, climbs out of bed and goes to it. She is puzzled as she gingerly picks it up by a corner. She walks over to the bathroom door and knocks on it. Charles can be heard sobbing in the bathroom.

Philomena    Charles, what’s wrong? . . . What’s wrong, Charles? You should go see the doctor if you’re passing blood, it could . . . it could be serious, Charles. It’s not healthy and you should go see the doctor . . .

She knocks harder.

. . . Your nappy’s full of . . . it’s covered in blood, Charles. Do you hear me, Charles? I don’t want to alarm you but your nappy’s full of blood . . . please, let me – come out of there. Now. (Pause.) I’m . . . I’m sorry I told you to . . . Charles, Charlie. Listen, Charles. It could be, I think, it could be your drinking. You’re drinking far too much. Don’t say I didn’t warn . . . Look, forget what I said, I didn’t mean it, Charles. I’m really tired. I didn’t mean what I said, but you should have listened to me. I knew it would all end in . . .

She stares at the blood-soaked diaper.

. . . This is what happens when you don’t listen to people. When you don’t listen to people and you end up passing blood through your back passage into your nappy like that animal, Kowalski.

Charles (off)     Lend me some money, Philomena! I’m begging you. I. Am. Begging. You. To. Lend. Me. Some. Money!

Philomena    Money’s not going to solve anything, you hear, just come out, come out and we’ll talk about –

Charles (off)     I just want – I need to go home.