SIMMONDS: I hope you’re not a young smart-arse, Ross, because there’s no room for that here. There’s one person in authority here and that’s me. Do you understand, Ross?

ROSS: Yes.

SIMMONDS: Let’s get that straight right at the outset. [Pause.] What’s your father do?

ROSS: [uncertain] I don’t think it’s any of your business.

SIMMONDS gets up and circles ROSS.

SIMMONDS: I thought we just had this out. Who’s in authority here?

ROSS: I just don’t think it’s any of your business.

SIMMONDS: [loudly] Look, Ross. I’m in authority here and I’ll decide what’s my business and what isn’t my business. [Pause.] You’re a bit of a rebel in your own quiet way. Aren’t you? Makes you feel good?

ROSS: [defensively] No.

SIMMONDS: Doesn’t make you feel good?

ROSS: No.

SIMMONDS: What? You just like being a rebel for the sake of being a rebel?

ROSS: No.

SIMMONDS: [ominously] I hope you’re not going to turn out to be a smart-arse, Ross. You’ll go for a row of shitcans if you try anything smart with me, boy.

ROSS: [surly] I just didn’t think it was any of your business what my father does.

SIMMONDS: [after a pause] How long have you been in the force, boy?

ROSS: A year.

SIMMONDS: Not in training. In the force. In it.

ROSS: This is my first posting. You know that.

SIMMONDS: [looking at his watch] Half an hour. That’s how long you’ve been in the force, boy. That’s how long. Half an hour and you think you know what’s my business and what’s not.

ROSS: I don’t think that at all.

SIMMONDS: [after a pause] Fail your Leaving?

ROSS: No.

SIMMONDS: We’re starting to get a lot in who failed their Leaving. Got your Inter?

ROSS: [embarrassed] Got my Leaving.

SIMMONDS: [raising his eyebrows] Is that a fact? Don’t get many who’ve got their Leaving. [Sarcastically] You’ll rocket to the top, boy. You’ll be a sergeant by the time you’re fifty-five. Why’d you join the force?

ROSS: Don’t really know. [Pause.] I just thought I’d like to be a policeman.

SIMMONDS: So you joined the force? That’s pretty smart, Ross. I can’t think of many better ways of becoming a policeman than joining the force. I can see why you got your Leaving. [Pause.] You don’t come from a broken home, by any chance?

ROSS: No.

SIMMONDS: Last bloke who came here with his Leaving was from a broken home. Had a bit of trouble with him. [Stating] You’re not from a broken home.

ROSS: No.

SIMMONDS: Yes. If your father’s a carpenter he’d be pretty stable. People who work with their hands are always pretty stable. It’s us bastards who work with our heads that go off. [Pause.] Yes. I tend to find that there are two types who join the force, Ross. Bums and very smart men. And when I’m talking about smart, I’m talking about the type of smart you’ve got if you can think on your feet, not the type of smart that gets you good marks in arithmetic. Get me?