2 by Danny Robins

Author:Danny Robins [Robins, Danny]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781788504782
Publisher: Nick Hern Books

ACT TWO

Scene Four

The time on the clock is now 00:05. It’s started raining outside. The weather worsens through the scene.

The white spirit and Mister Bear are on the coffee table – newspaper under them – next to the baby monitor. SAM, JENNY and LAUREN sit tensely, staring at them.

JENNY. So?

SAM (tetchily). I’m still thinking.

LAUREN photographs the bear and bottle with her phone.

What are you doing?

LAUREN. Putting it on Facebook.

SAM. Oh God! We’ll be a laughing / stock!

JENNY. I’d rather you didn’t. In case anyone from work saw.

SAM. Help! Our child’s teacher is being haunted by a petroleum-based spirit!

There’s a thumping on the glass of the patio doors. They all jump, as the security light comes on, they see BEN, illuminated.

LAUREN. Jesus! Ben.

She goes to open the doors and BEN steps in, shaking off the rain.

BEN. Sorry. Filthy habit.

JENNY. I can’t take this. I feel like I need the loo, but I don’t want to go in there.

BEN. This is what it’s like on a vigil. You’ve got to be ready for anything. I was at this haunted pub once, in Essex. We waited hours, nothing happening, and then a pint glass flew across the room.

SAM. Average night out in Essex.

BEN brings the Jack Daniel’s bottle and some mugs over to the sofa.

BEN. Ghost-hunting essential. Dutch courage.

(Re: mugs.) I couldn’t find glasses.

He pours whiskey into the mugs and hands one to JENNY.

This’ll get you to 2:22.

LAUREN. Let’s play a drinking game!

(Off their reluctant looks.) Oh, come on! Like the old days, Sam, in your bedsit. Truth or Dare!

SAM. No. A quiz.

LAUREN groans.

If you can answer my questions, I drink. If you can’t, you drink.

LAUREN. Okay!

SAM. Alexa, dim the living-room lights.

Alexa doesn’t respond. The others laugh.

Bloody hell! What have you done to her?

JENNY. She’s showing female solidarity. Alexa, please dim the dining-room lights.

ALEXA. Okay.

The lights dim.

SAM. Perfect!

(Theatrically.) It’s time to play – ‘Do Ghosts Exist?’

He hums a dramatic quiz theme to build tension.

BEN. Jesus.

JENNY. Try living with it.

SAM. Fingers on buzzers! Question one… If ghosts exist, why aren’t there absolutely loads of them?

JENNY. How do you mean?

SAM. Why aren’t they flooding into our world in their thousands? Like refugees, desperate to escape? Seriously – there’s a portal to Earth that will let you see your family again? You’d be straight in there.

LAUREN. God, yeah! I’d be showing off, walking through walls, / spraying ectoplasm…

JENNY. Maybe it’s not easy to travel. Like for refugees. It’s a difficult journey and only a few make it.

SAM considers this.

SAM. Good answer.

LAUREN holds SAM’s mug to his lips, forcing him to drink.

BEN. That was easy.

He refills SAM’s mug.

JENNY. Question two?

SAM. Geography. The most popular locations to see ghosts are…

LAUREN. / Castles.

BEN. Monasteries.

LAUREN. Stately homes.

JENNY. That’s just the famous ghosts. I bet most appear in ordinary houses.

SAM. Agreed. The vast majority of sightings are in a domestic situation. Stately, monastic or otherwise.

BEN. So?

SAM. How many people die in their house? Think about your family – your grandparents, aunties, uncles… parents. Where did they take their last breath?

LAUREN (seeing what he’s getting at).

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.