SEFTON BRIGGS
Scotch?

GEORGE ASKEW
No, thanks, Sefton.

(He looks up from the papers he is examining.)

GEORGE ASKEW
Not for this time of the morning.

SEFTON
Well...?

GEORGE
I'm not quite sure, Sefton. It's all here, is it?

SEFTON
Of course it's all there...the whole damn mess. And I'm not keeping quiet about anything, if that's what you're suggesting.

GEORGE
I'm not. You've got the sense to realise I can't be much help if you do.

SEFTON
Well, what do you think, George?

GEORGE
You don't expect me to give you an opinion after spending five minutes on the thing.

(Sefton sighs, impatiently.)

GEORGE
You've got a claim against Howells, I suppose. I think I'm fairly safe in saying that. The question is, can he meet it?

SEFTON
He's bankrupt.

GEORGE
Who says he's bankrupt?

SEFTON
He does.

GEORGE
Not necessarily a fact, is it?

SEFTON
Telling me a tale, you mean, to get out of paying...

GEORGE
It's possible.

SEFTON
Oh, I put everything into it, George.

GEORGE
(shocked)
Everything?

SEFTON
Well, more or less everything. There's still the property, of course. If he'd kept it quiet for another two weeks, I'd have sold those houses in Canterbury Road.

GEORGE
Ah, you've got an income, then.

SEFTON
Well, eleven pounds a week...and that includes Edwin's repayments. Damn it...it's less than I used to pay him at the works! He'll be better off than I am.

GEORGE
You should never have sold the shop, Sefton.

SEFTON
If this had happened a few months earlier, I wouldn't have.

GEORGE
I knew you'd regret it. It was a good, sound business...even given the state of the times.

SEFTON
It's no good saying "I told you so." "I told you so" solves nothing.
(walking away in frustration)
It's this damn government!

GEORGE
I never liked that investment, Sefton. I said so at the time. It's no good blaming Clem Attlee.

SEFTON
Well, look at the state of things. Who else should we blame?

GEORGE
(staring at him in disbelief)
We've had a war for five years! That could have something to do with it, don't you think?

SEFTON
Go through all that, and end up with this.

GEORGE
Jackson's arrear account...

SEFTON
For what little use he is.

GEORGE
Have you told him? He can't be much use if you haven't.

SEFTON
I'm seeing him later. That'll be another "I told you so."

GEORGE
Well, I'll see him for you, if you like.

(An idea strikes him.)

GEORGE ASKEW
How much is this place worth?

SEFTON
(surprised)
The house?

GEORGE
It's something we hold, to realise on.

SEFTON
(astonished at the prospect)
Sell this house?

GEORGE
You may have to, Sefton. I'm sorry, old man, but it's as well to look on the black side. And there is a fantastic housing shortage. It'd make two damn good flats.

(Sefton is speechless, trying to comprehend his solicitor's suggestion.)

GEORGE
Some good will come of it.

 

(from "The Old Order Changeth..." by John Finch)