number?
DAVID
Thirty-four.
JENNY picks out one of the envelopes and looks at it, as if to check he’s not lying again.
Don’t be like this. Come on.
JENNY
I have nothing. I didn’t take my exams. I - I left school. Where’s it all gone, now?
DAVID
I can get a divorce. Everything will turn out for the best.
We can see JACK and MARJORIE peering through the lace curtains anxiously.
JENNY
Go and tell them. Go and tell them, then go and tell your wife.
DAVID stands on the pavement, looking towards the house.
DAVID
They won’t listen now. I’ll come round tomorrow. When everyone’s feeling a bit calmer.
JENNY
( suddenly desperate )
Please don’t make me . . . Please don’t make me tell them on my own.You owe me that much.You owe them that much.
DAVID
( sadly )
I owe them much more than that.
He opens the boot. It’s full of cases of whisky. JENNY doesn’t even bother asking what they are doing there. DAVID takes one of the bottles.
JENNY
Two minutes. And then I’ll come out and drag you in.
JENNY marches into the house and slams the door.The camera stays on DAVID. He gets back into the car, opens the bottle and takes a slug of whisky.Then his shoulders begin to shake, and he starts to cry.
89 INTERIOR: JENNY’S HOUSE - NIGHT
JENNY s tands in the hall, waiting, tears in her eyes. She walks into the sitting room. Her parents are sitting on the sofa looking at her anxiously.They haven’t put the lights on yet.
JACK
What’s going on?
JENNY
He’s helping himself to some Dutch courage before facing you. Stolen Dutch courage, from the look of it. He has something to tell you.
She sits down, pale and young-looking again, opposite her parents. Suddenly they are all three lit up by headlights. Shot from their point-of-view of the Bristol roaring off up the street.
JACK
He just drove off.
We close slowly in on JENNY’S face. But of course he’d drive off!
( pathetic )
Can you tell us? Jenny, please?
JENNY can’t deal with her own pain, let alone his. He already looks like a broken, foolish old man.They should hug. But they don’t.
90 INTERIOR: DANNY’S FLAT - DAY
JENNY is sitting on the sofa in DANNY’S flat. DANNY is in his dressing gown; there are newspapers strewn around. HELEN is sitting next to her, holding her hand.
HELEN
I wouldn’t worry about it too much. When I found out that . . .
DANNY
Not now, Helen.
HELEN shrugs and goes to get a drink.
I tried to tell him. I’m not speaking to him now, if that’s any consolation.
JENNY
( bitterly )
It’s a funny world you people live in.You both watched me . . . carrying on with a married man, but you didn’t think it was worth saying anything about it.
DANNY
Yes, well, if you want that conversation . . . You watched David and I help ourselves to a map, and you didn’t say much, either.
He holds JENNY’S gaze, HELEN joins him. JENNY looks down.
91 EXTERIOR: STREET/DAVID’S HOUSE - DAY
A suburban street, full of semi-detached houses, not far from JENNY’S house. JENNY walks down the road tentatively - she’s looking at the numbers on the houses. She looks young again - tired, no make-up, no elegant clothes. She can’t bring herself to wear anything that DAVID bought her.
She hesitates at the gate to the house, steels herself to walk up the path. But just at that moment the door opens; there’s a homely-looking woman, early thirties (SARAH). She is holding the hand of a four-year-old. JENNY is stunned.The woman holds the boy’s hand as they walk away from the house, then she stops in her tracks.
SARAH
Oh. Hello.
JENNY
( almost inaudible )
Hello. Sorry. I think I must have the wrong number.
The woman stares at her.
I was looking for my . . . cello lesson. I wanted . . .
She dries up and looks at the woman helplessly.
SARAH
Oh, no. Don’t tell me. Good God.You’re a child .
JENNY blushes. Beat.
You didn’t know about any of this. Presumably?
JENNY shakes
DAVID
Thirty-four.
JENNY picks out one of the envelopes and looks at it, as if to check he’s not lying again.
Don’t be like this. Come on.
JENNY
I have nothing. I didn’t take my exams. I - I left school. Where’s it all gone, now?
DAVID
I can get a divorce. Everything will turn out for the best.
We can see JACK and MARJORIE peering through the lace curtains anxiously.
JENNY
Go and tell them. Go and tell them, then go and tell your wife.
DAVID stands on the pavement, looking towards the house.
DAVID
They won’t listen now. I’ll come round tomorrow. When everyone’s feeling a bit calmer.
JENNY
( suddenly desperate )
Please don’t make me . . . Please don’t make me tell them on my own.You owe me that much.You owe them that much.
DAVID
( sadly )
I owe them much more than that.
He opens the boot. It’s full of cases of whisky. JENNY doesn’t even bother asking what they are doing there. DAVID takes one of the bottles.
JENNY
Two minutes. And then I’ll come out and drag you in.
JENNY marches into the house and slams the door.The camera stays on DAVID. He gets back into the car, opens the bottle and takes a slug of whisky.Then his shoulders begin to shake, and he starts to cry.
89 INTERIOR: JENNY’S HOUSE - NIGHT
JENNY s tands in the hall, waiting, tears in her eyes. She walks into the sitting room. Her parents are sitting on the sofa looking at her anxiously.They haven’t put the lights on yet.
JACK
What’s going on?
JENNY
He’s helping himself to some Dutch courage before facing you. Stolen Dutch courage, from the look of it. He has something to tell you.
She sits down, pale and young-looking again, opposite her parents. Suddenly they are all three lit up by headlights. Shot from their point-of-view of the Bristol roaring off up the street.
JACK
He just drove off.
We close slowly in on JENNY’S face. But of course he’d drive off!
( pathetic )
Can you tell us? Jenny, please?
JENNY can’t deal with her own pain, let alone his. He already looks like a broken, foolish old man.They should hug. But they don’t.
90 INTERIOR: DANNY’S FLAT - DAY
JENNY is sitting on the sofa in DANNY’S flat. DANNY is in his dressing gown; there are newspapers strewn around. HELEN is sitting next to her, holding her hand.
HELEN
I wouldn’t worry about it too much. When I found out that . . .
DANNY
Not now, Helen.
HELEN shrugs and goes to get a drink.
I tried to tell him. I’m not speaking to him now, if that’s any consolation.
JENNY
( bitterly )
It’s a funny world you people live in.You both watched me . . . carrying on with a married man, but you didn’t think it was worth saying anything about it.
DANNY
Yes, well, if you want that conversation . . . You watched David and I help ourselves to a map, and you didn’t say much, either.
He holds JENNY’S gaze, HELEN joins him. JENNY looks down.
91 EXTERIOR: STREET/DAVID’S HOUSE - DAY
A suburban street, full of semi-detached houses, not far from JENNY’S house. JENNY walks down the road tentatively - she’s looking at the numbers on the houses. She looks young again - tired, no make-up, no elegant clothes. She can’t bring herself to wear anything that DAVID bought her.
She hesitates at the gate to the house, steels herself to walk up the path. But just at that moment the door opens; there’s a homely-looking woman, early thirties (SARAH). She is holding the hand of a four-year-old. JENNY is stunned.The woman holds the boy’s hand as they walk away from the house, then she stops in her tracks.
SARAH
Oh. Hello.
JENNY
( almost inaudible )
Hello. Sorry. I think I must have the wrong number.
The woman stares at her.
I was looking for my . . . cello lesson. I wanted . . .
She dries up and looks at the woman helplessly.
SARAH
Oh, no. Don’t tell me. Good God.You’re a child .
JENNY blushes. Beat.
You didn’t know about any of this. Presumably?
JENNY shakes
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