SIMMONDS: Ever gone off your head before, Ross?

ROSS: [shyly pleased at his new notoriety] Always had a pretty quick temper.

SIMMONDS: You’ll have to watch it in future, boy. You nearly got us in the shit today.

ROSS: I’ll tell you what. I’ve never been so scared in my life.

SIMMONDS: Well, what do you think of the law in action? Eh, Ross?

KENNY: [laughing] He’s a bit dubious about our deal.

SIMMONDS: Are you a bit dubious, Ross?

ROSS: [off hand] No.

He takes a swig of his beer.

KENNY: He’s waxy that you haven’t lined up something for him.

SIMMONDS: Would you like that, Ross?

ROSS shrugs coyly.

[To KENNY] He’s a bit scared that his girlfriend will find out.

KENNY: Ah. Going steady, is he?

SIMMONDS: Oh, yes. Lovely girl, I believe. What’s her name again, Ross?

ROSS: [bashful] Marilyn.

KENNY: Marilyn, eh? I knew a Marilyn once. Biggest knock in Footscray. Got your end in yet?

ROSS shrugs.

SIMMONDS: Won’t she come across, Ross? Would you like a go at the callgirls?

ROSS shrugs, smiles and swigs.

KENNY: Never turn down a knock, Rossy boy. Tomorrow you might get run over by a tram.

SIMMONDS: I think we’ve embarrassed the boy. Are you a bit confused by it all, Ross?

ROSS shakes his head.

Wouldn’t really blame you if you were. You’ve crammed a lot into your first day, haven’t you? Learned more today about the law and about life than you did in a whole year at college. Eh?

ROSS shrugs.

What you saw today’s the real law, Ross. A compromise between human follies and human desires. The world is full of human beings, Ross. Remember that and you’ll make a good policeman.

ROSS looks sheepish.

KENNY: His head’s still full of those harlots.

SIMMONDS: I think the first thing you’ve got to do, Ross, is to take stock of your weaknesses and face up to them. I think it’s just as well we’ve discovered this flaw in temperament of yours at an early stage, because now that we know about it, we can be sure that we won’t place you in a situation in which you’ll lose control. At least, not until we know you’ve got it beaten.

During SIMMONDS’ speech ROSS’s eyes pass to KENNY and they fix in horror as he sees that KENNY is sitting bolt upright with a frozen look of terror and pain in his eyes. He has just suffered a massive and catastrophic cerebral haemorrhage as a result of his injuries. His can drops to the floor. ROSS gets to him just as he topples off his chair, and lowers him to the floor. ROSS and SIMMONDS are thrown into a state of panic akin to, but worse than, the previous one. Worse still, because they enter it from the almost soporific sense of relief that KENNY’s death has just shattered. For the rest of the play ROSS is hysterical and SIMMONDS borders on this condition.

ROSS: Jesus, Sarge. He’s dead. He’s really dead this time. You can tell. Oh, Jesus!