| JOAN |
|
I can’t sleep. |
| HARPER |
|
It’s the strange bed. |
| JOAN |
|
No, I like different places. |
| HARPER |
|
Are you cold? |
| JOAN |
|
No. |
| HARPER |
|
Do you want a drink? |
| JOAN |
|
I think I am cold. |
| HARPER |
|
That’s easy enough then. There’s extra blankets in the cupboard. |
| JOAN |
|
Is it late? |
| HARPER |
|
Two. |
| JOAN |
|
Are you going to bed? |
| HARPER |
|
Do you want a hot drink? |
| JOAN |
|
No thank you. |
| HARPER |
|
I should go to bed then. |
| JOAN |
|
Yes. |
| HARPER |
|
It’s always odd in a new place. When you’ve been here a week you’ll look back at tonight and it won’t seem the same at all. |
| JOAN |
|
I’ve been to a lot of places. I’ve stayed with friends at their houses. I don’t miss my parents if you think that. |
| HARPER |
|
Do you miss your dog? |
| JOAN |
|
I miss the cat I think. |
| HARPER |
|
Does it sleep on your bed? |
| JOAN |
|
No because I chase it off. But it gets in if the door’s not properly shut. You think you’ve shut the door but it hasn’t caught and she pushes it open in the night. |
| HARPER |
|
Come here a minute. You’re shivering. Are you hot? |
| JOAN |
|
No, I’m all right. |
| HARPER |
|
You’re over-tired. Go to bed. I’m going to bed myself. |
| JOAN |
|
I went out. |
| HARPER |
|
When? just now? |
| JOAN |
|
Just now. |
| HARPER |
|
No wonder you’re cold. It’s hot in the daytime here but it’s cold at night. |
| JOAN |
|
The stars are brighter here than at home. |
| HARPER |
|
It’s because there’s no street lights. |
| JOAN |
|
I couldn’t see much. |
| HARPER |
|
I don’t expect you could. How did you get out? I didn’t hear the door. |
| JOAN |
|
I went out the window. |
| HARPER |
|
I’m not sure I like that. |
| JOAN |
|
No it’s quite safe, there’s a roof and a tree. |
| HARPER |
|
When people go to bed they should stay in bed. Do you climb out of the window at home? |
| JOAN |
|
I can’t at home because – No I don’t. |
| HARPER |
|
I’m responsible for you. |
| JOAN |
|
Yes, I’m sorry. |
| HARPER |
|
Well that’s enough adventures for one night. You’ll sleep now. Off you go. Look at you, you’re asleep on your feet. |
| JOAN |
|
There was a reason. |
| HARPER |
|
For going out? |
| JOAN |
|
I heard a noise. |
| HARPER |
|
An owl? |
| JOAN |
|
A shriek. |
| HARPER |
|
An owl then. There are all sorts of birds here, you might see a golden oriole. People come here specially to watch birds and we sometimes make tea or coffee or sell bottles of water because there’s no café and people don’t expect that and they get thirsty. You’ll see in the morning what a beautiful place it is. |
| JOAN |
|
It was more like a person screaming. |
| HARPER |
|
It is like a person screaming when you hear an owl. |
| JOAN |
|
It was a person screaming. |
| HARPER |
|
Poor girl, what a fright you must have had imagining you heard somebody screaming. You should have come straight down here to me. |
| JOAN |
|
I wanted to see. |
| HARPER |
|
It was dark. |
| JOAN |
|
Yes but I did see. |
| HARPER |
|
Now what did you imagine you saw in the dark? |
| JOAN |
|
I saw my uncle. |
| HARPER |
|
Yes I expect you did. He likes a breath of air. He wasn’t screaming I hope? |
| JOAN |
|
No. |
| HARPER |
|
That’s all right then. Did you talk to him? I expect you were frightened he’d say what are you doing out of your bed so late. |
| JOAN |
|
I stayed in the tree. |
| HARPER |
|
He didn’t see you? |
| JOAN |
|
No. |
| HARPER |
|
He’ll be surprised won’t he, he’ll laugh when he hears you were up in the tree. He’ll be cross but he doesn’t mean it, he’ll think it’s a good joke, it’s the sort of thing he did when he was a boy. So bed now. I’ll go up too. |
| JOAN |
|
He was pushing someone. He was bundling someone into a shed. |
| HARPER |
|
He must have been putting a big sack in the shed. He works too late. |
| JOAN |
|
I’m not sure if it was a woman. It could have been a young man. |
| HARPER |
|
Well I have to tell you, when you’ve been married as long as I have. There are things people get up to, it’s natural, it’s nothing bad, that’s just friends of his your uncle was having a little party with. |
| JOAN |
|
Was it a party? |
| HARPER |
|
Just a little party. |
| JOAN |
|
Yes because there wasn’t just that one person. |
| HARPER |
|
No, there’d be a few of his friends. |
| JOAN |
|
There was a lorry. |
| HARPER |
|
Yes, I expect there was. |
| JOAN |
|
When I put my ear against the side of the lorry I heard crying inside. |
| HARPER |
|
How could you do that from up in the tree? |
| JOAN |
|
I got down from the tree. I went to the lorry after I looked in the window of the shed. |
| HARPER |
|
There might be things that are not your business when you’re a visitor in someone else’s house. |
| JOAN |
|
Yes, I’d rather not have seen. I’m sorry. |
| HARPER |
|
Nobody saw you? |
| JOAN |
|
They were thinking about themselves. |
| HARPER |
|
I think it’s lucky nobody saw you. |
| JOAN |
|
If it’s a party, why was there so much blood? |
| HARPER |
|
There isn’t any blood. |
| JOAN |
|
Yes. |
| HARPER |
|
Where? |
| JOAN |
|
On the ground. |
| HARPER |
|
In the dark? how would you see that in the dark? |
| JOAN |
|
I slipped in it. |
|
|
She holds up her bare foot. |
|
|
I mostly wiped it off. |
| HARPER |
|
That’s where the dog got run over this afternoon. |
| JOAN |
|
Wouldn’t it have dried up? |
| HARPER |
|
Not if the ground was muddy. |
| JOAN |
|
What sort of dog? |
| HARPER |
|
A big dog, a big mongrel. |
| JOAN |
|
That’s awful, you must be very sad, had you had him long? |
| HARPER |
|
No, he was young, he ran out, he was never very obedient, a lorry was backing up. |
| JOAN |
|
What was his name? |
| HARPER |
|
Flash. |
| JOAN |
|
What colour was he? |
| HARPER |
|
Black with a bit of white. |
| JOAN |
|
Why were the children in the shed? |
| HARPER |
|
What children? |
| JOAN |
|
Don’t you know what children? |
| HARPER |
|
How could you see there were children? |
| JOAN |
|
There was a light on. That’s how I could see the blood inside the shed. I could see the faces and which ones had blood on. |
| HARPER |
|
You’ve found out something secret. You know that don’t you? |
| JOAN |
|
Yes. |
| HARPER |
|
Something you shouldn’t know. |
| JOAN |
|
Yes I’m sorry. |
| HARPER |
|
Something you must never talk about. Because if you do you could put people’s lives in danger. |
| JOAN |
|
Why? who from? from my uncle? |
| HARPER |
|
Of course not from your uncle. |
| JOAN |
|
From you? |
| HARPER |
|
Of course not from me, are you mad? I’m going to tell you what’s going on. Your uncle is helping these people. He’s helping them escape. He’s giving them shelter. Some of them were still in the lorry, that’s why they were crying. Your uncle’s going to take them all into the shed and then they’ll be all right. |
| JOAN |
|
They had blood on their faces. |
| HARPER |
|
That’s from before. That’s because they were attacked by the people your uncle’s saving them from. |
| JOAN |
|
There was blood on the ground. |
| HARPER |
|
One of them was injured very badly but your uncle bandaged him up. |
| JOAN |
|
He’s helping them. |
| HARPER |
|
That’s right. |
| JOAN |
|
There wasn’t a dog. There wasn’t a party. |
| HARPER |
|
No, I’m trusting you with the truth now. You must never talk about it or you’ll put your uncle’s life in danger and mine and even your own. You won’t even say anything to your parents. |
| JOAN |
|
Why did you have me to stay if you’ve got this secret going on? |
| HARPER |
|
The lorry should have come yesterday. It won’t happen again while you’re here. |
| JOAN |
|
It can now because I know. You don’t have to stop for me. I could help uncle in the shed and look after them. |
| HARPER |
|
No, he has to do it himself. But thank you for offering, that’s very kind. So after all that excitement do you think you could go back to bed? |
| JOAN |
|
Why was uncle hitting them? |
| HARPER |
|
Hitting who? |
| JOAN |
|
He was hitting a man with a stick. I think the stick was metal. He hit one of the children. |
| HARPER |
|
One of the people in the lorry was a traitor. He wasn’t really one of them, he was pretending, he was going to betray them, they found out and told your uncle. Then he attacked your uncle, he attacked the other people, your uncle had to fight him. |
| JOAN |
|
That’s why there was so much blood. |
| HARPER |
|
Yes, it had to be done to save the others. |
| JOAN |
|
He hit one of the children. |
| HARPER |
|
That would have been the child of the traitor. Or sometimes you get bad children who even betray their parents. |
| JOAN |
|
What’s going to happen? |
| HARPER |
|
They’ll go off in the lorry very early in the morning. |
| JOAN |
|
Where to? |
| HARPER |
|
Where they’re escaping to. You don’t want to have to keep any more secrets. |
| JOAN |
|
He only hit the traitors. |
| HARPER |
|
Of course. I’m not surprised you can’t sleep, what an upsetting thing to see. But now you understand, it’s not so bad. You’re part of a big movement now to make things better. You can be proud of that. You can look at the stars and think here we are in our little bit of space, and I’m on the side of the people who are putting things right, and your soul will expand right into the sky. |
| JOAN |
|
Can’t I help? |
| HARPER |
|
You can help me clean up in the morning. Will you do that? |
| JOAN |
|
Yes. |
| HARPER |
|
So you’d better get some sleep. |