Letters to Lindy by Alana Valentine

Author:Alana Valentine
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Currency Press

SCENE: LABOUR WARD, DARWIN HOSPITAL.

ROSLYN [FIGURE 1]: These are for Mrs Chamberlain.

SECURITY [FIGURE 3]: No.

ROSLYN [FIGURE 1]: Oh, I don’t want to see her, I just want them to be passed onto her.

SECURITY [FIGURE 3]: No.

ROSLYN [FIGURE 1]: No, you won’t pass them on to her?

SECURITY [FIGURE 3]: No.

ROSLYN [FIGURE 1]: Oh, you think there’s something in them, other than flowers?

He inspects them.

SECURITY [FIGURE 3]: No.

ROSLYN [FIGURE 1]: Could you please say something other than no?

Pause.

SECURITY [FIGURE 3]: No.

ROSLYN [FIGURE 1]: Her room is already full of flowers. Let me guess, no.

SECURITY [FIGURE 3]: Could you move away now, madam.

ROSLYN [FIGURE 1]: He speaks.

SECURITY [FIGURE 3]: Listen, luv, I’m just doing my job. You can’t give the flowers to Mrs Chamberlain. She is a prisoner of the Northern Territory and whether she’s had a baby or not she is not allowed to receive gifts, presents, letters, cards or flowers.

ROSLYN [FIGURE 1]: She’s just had a baby.

SECURITY [FIGURE 3]: Lots of women have babies.

ROSLYN [FIGURE 1]: Pretty obvious that you’ve never had a baby.

SECURITY [FIGURE 3]: Pretty obvious that you’ve never been arrested.

ROSLYN [FIGURE 1]: Oh, that will make a great headline: ‘Woman arrested for trying to deliver flowers’.

SECURITY [FIGURE 3]: I’m asking you, politely, to please leave.

ROSLYN [FIGURE 1]: The baby is going to be taken away from her. You’re taking away from her the only thing she wants, so why not just pass on these flowers.

SECURITY [FIGURE 3]: Because it’s not allowed.

ROSLYN [FIGURE 1]: Are you made of stone?

SECURITY [FIGURE 3]: Clearly.

ROSLYN [FIGURE 1]: Would you like them?

SECURITY [FIGURE 3]: Absolutely not.

ROSLYN [FIGURE 1]: I can’t take them back home. Please take them.

SECURITY [FIGURE 3]: What part of ‘absolutely’ don’t you understand?

ROSLYN [FIGURE 1]: Give them to your wife. Sounds like she needs them.

SECURITY [FIGURE 3]: You want to get personal?

ROSLYN [FIGURE 1]: What?

SECURITY [FIGURE 3]: Are you a member of Mrs Chamberlain’s family?

ROSLYN [FIGURE 1]: No.

SECURITY [FIGURE 3]: Are you a friend of hers?

ROSLYN [FIGURE 1]: No.

SECURITY [FIGURE 3]: Friend of the family?

ROSLYN [FIGURE 1]: No.

SECURITY [FIGURE 3]: Then why don’t you mind your own business?

ROSLYN [FIGURE 1]: …

SECURITY [FIGURE 3]: You read about her in the paper and you think, ‘I’ll go and give that woman flowers, just to show how kind I am’.

ROSLYN [FIGURE 1]: That’s not why.

SECURITY [FIGURE 3]: Yes it is. You don’t care about her. You don’t care about her baby. What you care about is what you think about yourself and how kind you are. But instead you, and people like you, make it necessary for the hospital to hire security like me, and spend time arguing with the public, like you, so any chance she might have to have a nice quiet single moment in hospital with her baby and her family is hijacked by public wellwishers and hangers-on.

ROSLYN [FIGURE 1]: Well. You seem to have found your voice.

SECURITY [FIGURE 3]: This is my voice and these is my words. Please leave and take your flowers with you.

ROSLYN exits. The SECURITY GUARD continues to stand.

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