Coming Down The Mountain [extract]
Main Characters David 15 Ben 16 (Ben has Down’s Syndrome) Bernard their father Shirley their mother Alice 15
Minor Characters (doubled; one appearance each) Lorry Driver Stacey 15 Terry 15 Darren 15 Policewoman Passenger Phonebox Woman Policeman
All characters are acting in dramatised scenes except where otherwise stated. All David’s lines ‘to mic’ are solitary monologues. David (to mic) I didn’t plan to kill him… That sounds stupid given everything that happened, but… It’s not like I sat down and thought, ‘I’m going to murder my brother’. Things just… got out of hand. A front door opens. Bernard, Shirley, Ben and David walk into the house. Bernard (horrified) Jesus Christ. Shirley What? Bernard In here. Shirley Oh my God. David What’s happened? Bernard We’ve been burgled. Ben They’ve just…smashed everything. Shirley (wails) No-o-o-o-o.
Bernard Come here, Love. Ben Someone did a pooh on the sofa. David (to mic) Mum never liked Leeds, but this was the last straw. This was what she had dreams about. Next stop it’s me on smack and Ben carried off by some paedophile… The following Monday I get home from school and… Shirley and David are in their kitchen. Shirley We’re moving to Wrexham. David (stunned) What? Shirley Your father’s got a transfer. One of the inspectors in Leeds has retired. David No-one told me about this. Shirley There’s a special school that’ll be great for Ben about five miles away. And we’ve found a house. David Whoa, whoa , whoa… Shirley It’s lovely. You and Ben can have a bedroom each. There’s a garden. And it’s in a village, so it’ll be really safe. David Safe? Shirley And we won’t have to spend all our time worrying about Ben. David What about me? What about my friends? What about Stacey? Shirley We have to think about Ben, David. David Why? Shirley You know exactly why. He can’t carry on going to an ordinary school. He needs to be somewhere he can walk to the shop and back on his own. He needs neighbours who are going to look out for him. David Wrexham? Shirley David… you have to stop thinking about yourself. David (to mic) So everything’s loaded into a lorry and we drive a hundred miles to the middle of bloody nowhere. Bernard, Shirley and Ben are in the countryside. Bernard (standing in a garden) Well, who cares if my boss is crazy when I can walk out of the house every morning and see this? Ben (calling from middle distance) There’s horses in this field. Shirley (calling out) You be careful. Ben There’s a brown one and one that’s black and white and there’s a grey one, too. Shirley (to Bernard) Have you seen David? Bernard Moping indoors last I saw. ShirleyI hope he’ll be OK. BernardWere you happy at sixteen…? He’ll get used to it. Ben The black and white one’s eating grass out of my hand, just like in the book. David (to mic) So I ring Stacey… (into phone) Maybe I could, like, come down in the holidays and stuff. Stacey (from phone) But it’s so far away, David. And anyway… (pause) David Anyway what? Stacey (from phone) I’m going out with Garry Morgan now. David (stunned) You’re…? (pause) I don’t… Stacey I have to go. Mum needs the phone. The phone clicks off. We hear the disengaged tone. Then David is standing in the middle of a noisy school playground. David (to mic) Monday I turn up at this new school. And I don’t even want to talk to anyone. I just drift through the day like it’s all happening on the far side of this big glass screen. Teacher David Summers, are you listening to me or not? Shirley, David and Ben are in the kitchen. Shirley So, have you made any new friends? David Nope. Shirley Well, these things take time. Ben I’ve made a new friend and he’s called John and his dad sells food for pigs and sheep, and they’ve got a dog called Prince (fading under the following…) and they’ve got a stream at the bottom of their garden.… David(to mic) I walk up this hill behind the village and I’m sitting at the top and… there’s nothing. Just fields and trees and cows and grass. Like I’ve been transported to this planet ten light years from home and I can’t even breathe properly… Shirley, Bernard, David and Ben are in the kitchen. Ben Thanks, Mum. Shirley There you are, David. The baked potatoes were Ben’s choice so if you don’t like them you can argue with him. Bernard So he tears them off a strip, turns round and walks out. And there’s this burst of laughter because yesterday’s underpants are hanging out of the leg of his trousers. David (to mic) I call Terry, this mate, back in London. And he asks how life is, you know, ‘out in the sticks.’ And I say it’s OK. And he says, ‘You sound a bit weird.’ And I’ve got, like, this lump in my throat. So I say, ‘Really? No, I’m… I’m OK.’ Because we don’t talk on the phone. Not talk talk. We just arrange to meet up and stuff. And this is so big I can’t even get it out of my mouth. I don’t even know what the words are. And when I put the phone down it’s like… it’s like I’m falling down this mineshaft and there’s this tiny circle of light over my head and it’s getting smaller and smaller. We can hear a TV on in the background. Bernard(to David) Come on, off the sofa, you, before we have to have you surgically removed. We can hear playground noise.
David I stand at the edge of the playground and watch everyone swimming round me like fish in a tank… Some days I don’t feel anything. Shirley (to Bernard) Ben seems to be settling in OK. David (to mic) Some days I fell like I’m going to throw up. Bernard (to Shirley) Stands to reason. Surrounded by people like himself for a change. First time he hasn’t been the odd one out. David (to mic) I know something bad is going to happen. I just don’t know what it is. Like someone has a gun pressed to the side of my head and I’m waiting for that click… Bernard (to David) Come on. If you’re not going to do any homework you can give your mother a hand with the washing up. We can hear playground noise. David (to mic) There’s this smell some kids have, isn’t there. And you give them a body-swerve. Because everybody gives them a body-swerve… It’s like on the nature programmes. This one antelope’s sick and it’s going to die and the herd just ignore it because they know it’s going to get swept away crossing the river … And that’s me now. I’m the one who doesn’t belong anymore. I’m the one who’s going to die crossing the river. Ben and Shirley are together in the kitchen. Ben is in tears. Ben And he pushed me and I fell off the bench. Shirley That is a nasty little bump… Did you tell Mrs Earnshaw? Ben No. Because she was away and Mr Brady was our teacher today and I don’t like him. David (to mic) Then I start having this nightmare. Shirley (in scene) Well, I’ve got tomorrow morning off. I’ll come in and we can have a word with him. David (to mic) I’m at school. And everything seems normal. But I’ve got the fear. Like a bomb’s going to go off. And I have to tell someone. So I start shouting. Teacher Earth calling David Summers… David (to mic) But no-one takes any notice. I realise they can’t hear me. I try to grab hold of someone but my hand goes straight through. I run across the road but the cars don’t stop. I realise I’m invisible. I get home. I call out, ‘Mum… Dad..’. Nothing. Then Ben turns to me and I know he can see me and I say, ‘Help, Ben. Please, help.’ But he just smiles this big bloody stupid smile. And I wake up and I’m sweating and I’m shaking and I think, ‘It’s OK. It’s just a dream.’ Except it isn’t, is it. It’s my life. Bernard Ben have you seen your idle brother anywhere? Ben I saw him at breakfast, but that was the last time I saw him. David (to mic) I’m coming back from the hill when I slip coming over this fence and gash my arm on some barbed wire. There’s blood everywhere, and this big flap of skin. It really hurts. But it’s good, too. Like putting Queens of the Stone Age on and turning the dial way up and lying with your head between the speakers so there’s no space in your head for anything else. BenAnd this is the house and this is you and Mum. And this is the swing. Bernard And what’s this? Ben That’s a spaceship full of aliens, and they’ve got seven fingers. David (to mic) Dad left when Ben was two. On account of the stress and Mum spending all her energy looking after Ben and him just being the schmuck who earned the money... Went and stayed with this mate. (weary quoting of Bernard’s story) And they’re in the pub together one night… (spoken in parallel with the following) and this mate says, ‘Your Dad ran off when you were a kid, didn’t he.’ And… boom. It’s like you’re at the top of this hill and you can see everything, where you came from, where you’re going to… Bernard(telling story to David; over David) … and he says, ‘Your Dad ran off when you were a kid, didn’t he.’ And… boom! It’s like you’re at the top of this hill and you can see everything, where you came from, where you’re going to… David (to mic) I.e. If I can put up with the crap, so can you. End of conversation. Bernard Hated my Dad for doing that. Hated the bugger for dying before I got the chance to tell him … David (to mic) So I get into this fight at school. Bernard And I’m sitting in a pub at thirty eight when it clicks. How you stop the hole getting bigger… You don’t do it to your own kids.… I went home the next morning. David (to mic) Darren Carpenter, he’s got this kid, Richie Banks, in the toilets and he’s got his hand round his throat because… I can’t even remember why now. And I tell him to stop and he just says, ‘Back off, Fat Boy. This is none of your business.’ And Richie’s this total mong. I mean, not like Ben, but he’s got the loser smell coming off him big-time. And I wasn’t sticking up for him or anything. I just… Sometimes you get so angry… And I don’t care if Darren’s Jean-Claude Van Damme. He’s trying to grab my arms but nothing is going to stop me. And when this teacher pulls me off he’s got a broken nose and two black eyes… Mum and Dad get called in. I get suspended… Bernard What in god’s name is wrong with you, David? David (to mic) I don’t get excluded because, technically, Darren’s the bad guy… Shirley You were never like this in Leeds. David (to mic) And I think maybe it’s going to be cool after that because everyone hates Darren Carpenter. But when I get back to school either I’m a psycho or I’m Richie Banks’ best mate… Ben Why did David get into a fight? Shirley Not now, Ben, please. Ben I got into a fight with Lucy Marshal once, but it wasn’t a very big fight. And she pulled three buttons off my shirt. Shirley Ben… please. You eat your tea like a good boy, OK? DavidI’m sitting in my room one evening when I see this old craft knife I used to use for doing Airfix models. I pick it up. And it’s still sharp. Really sharp. Shirley (in scene; calling out from downstairs) David…? Are you coming down or not? This is getting cold. David (to mic) And I push the point of my knife into my arm… Shirley David…? David (to mic) … and pull it down, like a zip. A squeal of Nirvana-esque guitar feedback fading away slowly. I go to the bathroom and I clean the blood away with toilet paper. And I put Dettol on the cut and it stings. Shirley (to mic) You think it’s a curse. You keep on asking yourself, ‘What have I done to deserve this?’ David (to mic) And I’m saying stupid stuff to myself, like, ‘You’re OK. It’s going to be OK.’ Shirley (to mic) ‘… Why does everyone else get a normal kid…?’ David (to mic) And it’s like I’ve been tortured but someone’s come to save me and there’s going to be a happy ending. Shirley (to mic) And then you realise it’s a blessing. Because… they need you, in a way that a normal kid is never going to. David (to mic) Except there isn’t anyone who’s come to save me. Shirley (to mic) And they’re going to carry on needing you. You’re the most important person in the world to them. David (to mic) Because there isn’t anyone else. It’s just me. Shirley (to mic) How many people can say that about another human being? David (to mic) And then it comes to me… This is stupid. I’m hurting the wrong person. It’s not Darren Carpenter’s fault my life is shit. It’s not my fault my life is shit, is it. It’s Ben’s.
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