(Celia Porter has hurried away in tears, having been informed by one-armed Mr. Cowking that the note from her missing son simply was found on the ground and provides no evidence that he is alive.)

MR. COWKING
She's on the edge, isn't she?

EDWIN ASHTON
Yes. It's a pity we couldn't have had a talk before you met her.

COWKING
My missus had a missing telegram about me. She lost two stone...God knows how many years of her life. Are you a relative?

EDWIN
Well, her son, John, married my eldest daughter.

COWKING
I see. It's a right bloody old mess, isn't it?

EDWIN
(nodding his head)
Hmm.

COWKING
I could tell I had to be careful the minute I saw her. Doted on him, did she?

EDWIN
Yes. Yes, she did a bit. She thinks he's still alive, you know.

COWKING
It's hard to know what to do for the best, isn't it? I could have sent that letter on months ago, only why stir it up for some poor soul, I thought. I'd look at it now and then...couldn't bring myself to burn the bloody thing. In the end, I sent it.

(He looks directly at Edwin, resolving then and there to relate to him everything he knows.)

COWKING
I'd like to tell you something. I found it on him.

EDWIN
(shocked)
On John?

COWKING
I knew it was the same because I looked at his tags. If I tell you, it'll be up to you...won't it?...what you tell her.

EDWIN
Yes. Yes, of course.

COWKING
He was lying at the side of the road. Nowt's in him... no blood or anything that I could see. Badly bruised, though...awful, really. I felt for his ticker as best I could. I had to think twice before I got the right side, so that's how much I know. His paybook weren't on him. I was just going to take his tags off when the Jerry planes started coming up the road, and I caught this...
(referring to his amputated left arm)
...or lost it, you might say.

(He chuckles, and so does Edwin.)

COWKING
I staggered around for a bit, and then a couple of officers picked me up. I tried to tell them about your chap, but I was fainting off half the time. The letter was still in my hand when they took it off. They must have put it with my things. So that's it...except for one other bit. Just before the planes came over, I...it's up to you, what you make of it...I just had the feeling he wasn't dead, that's all. I can't make it any better than that...just a feeling I had.

EDWIN
(with an intense look)
I see.

COWKING
You can't tell a woman a story like that, can you?

EDWIN
No. No, you can't.

COWKING
So now you know...and I know. You've heard nothing more?

EDWIN
(shaking his head)
Nothing.

COWKING
Eh! It's a right bloody mess, isn't it?

 

(from "Hope Against Hope" by John Finch)