Tusk Tusk by Polly Stenham

Author:Polly Stenham [Stenham, Polly]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780571252886
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Published: 2009-02-15T05:00:00+00:00

SCENE SEVEN

Early morning. Maggie is curled up under the table in the den.

Finn is awake, his feet and hands are dirty. He is reading a comic.

There is the sound of the door unlocking. Eliot enters, haggard, having been awake all night. He holds a multipack of crisps. Maggie is awake now, but stays under the table.

Eliot sits at the table, ignoring Maggie.

Eliot Breakfast.

He chucks a packet of crisps at Finn.

Bacon, eh? Close enough.

Finn finds a bowl and pours the crisps in it as if they were cereal. He also puts a bowl on the floor for Maggie.

Finn stares hard at Eliot, chewing his crisps slowly. Pause.

Finn Where did you go?

Eliot To get us food, silly. I hunt, Maggie… gathers wood and pebbles and lies. And you, my little squaw, guard the door. Those are the rules.

Finn All night?

Eliot I had to find a special twenty-four-hour shop. It took a long time.

Finn There’s one down the road.

Eliot No there is not.

Finn With lights on. There is.

Eliot Well it wasn’t open, clever clogs.

Finn It was. I went there.

Eliot You went there?

Finn I was hungry.

Eliot The door was locked.

Finn We have a back door, silly.

Eliot Don’t believe you.

Finn They gave me some food and a comic.

Eliot Shut up, Finn, my head hurts.

Finn I didn’t have any money. They were nice.

Dawns on him.

Eliot What did you say to them?

Finn That I was hungry.

Eliot What did they ask you?

Finn Stuff. They let me choose whatever comic I wanted. They were really nice.

Eliot Did you go like this? Did you go dirty like this? With no shoes on?

Finn I’d been in the garden – I was trying to bury the rat. So Maggie wouldn’t be scared. Then I got hungry.

Eliot This is very important, Finn. What did they ask you?

Finn Stuff. They thought I must be cold with no shoes.

Eliot What did you tell them?

Finn Thank you for the comic and the sandwich.

Eliot Did they ask you about Mummy?

Finn Yes.

Eliot And what did you say?

Finn I’m not stupid.

Eliot What exactly did you say?

Finn That she was asleep at home –

Eliot Thank God.

Finn Under the table.

Eliot Oh my God.

Finn They wanted to take me home and stuff but lots of people came in for beer and I got bored. So I left.

Eliot Did they follow you?

Finn They shouted. But they couldn’t see me. I went through the garden.

Eliot And where was Maggie while all of this was going on?

Finn I told you. She was asleep, under the table.

Pause.

Eliot I don’t believe you. You’re making it up.

Finn Ha ha.

Eliot Hee hee.

Finn Ha ha.

He holds up the comic as if to say ‘So there’.

See.

Eliot hits him hard across the face.

Heavy pause. Finn is gulping. Trying not to cry.

Eliot Eat up.

These crisps are a treat. When have you ever had crisps for breakfast before?

Finn Mummy –

Eliot Never even made you breakfast.

Beat.

Eat your food.

While all this has been happening Maggie has been opening her crisps as quietly as possible and begun eating them.

Eliot jabs Maggie sharply with his foot.

Eliot Even the dog is eating her breakfast.

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