Nick holds up dry-cleaned suit.

Nick I did your suit.

Helen Thanks.

Nick Your tea’s ready. You hungry?

Helen A bit.

Nick I thought you would be. Knew you’d be in a hurry. Big day, eh?

Helen That’s right. I’ve only got / twenty minutes.

Nick Twenty minutes I know. Your tea’s ready. You hungry?

Helen What did you do today?

Nick You know. Cleaning. Shopping. Found a belt, keep up those trousers. You’re right. She must’ve been a big girl. Never thought I’d find little things so fulfilling –

Helen Nick.

Nick You’re right. The old days. Always looking at the bigger picture. Everything part of the struggle, the class war … Forgot the little stuff.

Helen Nick.

Nick Or even – yeah – despised the little stuff. Making a home. Looking after someone. But now you’ve let me back / I want to get that right.

Helen I let you back because you agreed to / talk to him.

Nick I know, I know.

Helen So why didn’t you … ?

Nick Tomorrow, eh?

Helen Fucking hell Nick.

Nick This is what matters, isn’t it? Here. Cooking for you. Making sure you look smart for your interview. Run you a bath?

Helen No.

Nick Let me run you a bath.

Helen I don’t want a bath.

Nick Can’t be a sticky prospective member can you?

Helen I don’t want your food. Don’t want your bath.

Nick Please let me take care of you.

Helen When are you going to talk to him?

Nick Soon. Tomorrow. I will.

Helen You’ve got to meet him. I’m not having him ruining this for me.

Nick He’s not going to do that.

Helen No.

Nick It was me that / hurt him.

Helen He only has to mention this to someone in the Party and I’m not going to make the approved candidates list. I’ll be a ‘troublemaker’.

Nick I know.

Helen So. Why don’t you … ?

Nick When I’m ready.

Helen No. No. Not when you’re ready. You’re never going to be … now. Alright. So I’m petty. What I do is petty. I’ve got a petty idea of being an MP.

Nick No / that’s not –

Helen But you don’t know what it’s been like. AM the time you were away. Well, far as I can see, prison must have been fucking heaven compared to what it’s been like out here.

Nick You reckon?

Helen Yes I do. Stuff we’ve seen. Communities disappear. Greed and fear everywhere. Start off with a society and end up with individuals fighting it out. Fucking terrible.

Nick I know / about that.

Helen No. You were safe. My mum. Living up here. Half the time the lift doesn’t work. Which in some ways is a blessing. They stink of piss and there’s needles on the floor. So she takes the stairs. Seventy-five and she’s climbing fifteen flights of stairs. You don’t know who’s there. Muggers. Dealers. You take your life in your hands. Year before she died she was mugged three times. That finished her off.