CELIA PORTER
(hearing the clock chime)
Ooh, time for your milk, dear.

MARGARET PORTER
Yes. I'll get it.

(She stands.)

CELIA
No, no, no, no, no. You sit still.

MARGARET
Well, I must do something for myself.

CELIA
(standing)
My John's wife. I won't let your husband down.

MARGARET
I'm supposed to have some exercise.

CELIA
(forcing Margaret to be seated)
Stay where you are.
(to her husband)
You know, she won't listen. Five months gone, and she runs about like a two-year old.

HARRY PORTER
Celia, she's not a child.

CELIA
I've born and brought up a child, and I know what I'm talking about. If only she'd take notice.

MARGARET
I do.

CELIA
It's for your own good, dear.

MARGARET
Yes, I know, but...well, you must give me credit for a little sense.

CELIA
Oh, you young people. You're so headstrong. you don't think of the child.

MARGARET
I think of it all the time.

CELIA
Of course, you can't know what it means to me.

(Lovingly, she wipes the dust from a framed photograph of her son.)

CELIA
My John's child.

MARGARET
Well...and mine!

HARRY
Girls...girls!

CELIA
He's counting on me to look after you...and the baby. I know that.

HARRY
Celia, go and make a cup of tea, will you?

CELIA
Not tea for Margaret. No, no...milk for Margaret. She must have the calcium.

HARRY
Yes, of course, milk.

(Celia begins to leave but then stops.)

CELIA
You know, I don't think anybody realises what I go through.

HARRY
We do, my dear.

CELIA
You all go on as if it was normal...everybody does. I'm the only one who seems to give it a thought.
(to Harry)
Well, it's killing me, this war is, day after day. It seems like forever.

HARRY
But Celia, nothing is happening. My God, I wish it had been as quiet as this when I was out there in the last lot.

CELIA
Well, then how will it ever end?

HARRY
The blockade, the navy. The Germans won't be able to hold out. They're wearing wooden shoes already.
(leafing through the "Liverpool Echo")
Now, where is that?

CELIA
If only we could be sure.

HARRY
Here we are...listen to this, from the horse's mouth. "Mister Chamberlain said, 'One thing is certain. Hitler has missed the bus'." There!

CELIA
Oh... I'll go and make the drinks.

(She leaves, shaking her head.)

(Margaret stands, rubbing her aching back.)

HARRY
She means well.

MARGARET
Yes, yes, I know, but...well, if she thinks she's looking after me, she's having the opposite effect.

HARRY
Just try and be patient with her.

MARGARET
Yes, I am patient with her...all the time. Look, I'm not nervy, honestly, but...well, you're not yourself when you're pregnant, and... Well, I tell you, I don't think I can stand much more of this fussing.

 

(from "The Breach in the Dyke" by Alexander Baron)