A Long Way Down Page #6

been on a lot of holidays,

but I've been in a lot of hospitals and

I understand institutional catering.

Who are all these people and

why do they eat so much?

They're having a good

time, that's all.

- Martin.

- Hmm?

Thank you for arranging

this holiday.

I think it's been good for me.

You really don't understand what

a disaster we all are, do you?

- Come on, let's get you some breakfast.

- Yeah, good idea, good idea.

- The prunes are very good.

- Don't like prunes.

- Hi.

- Oh, morning, JJ.

I may have said some

stupid things last night.

Drink has never been my friend.

- Sorry about that.

- So, I got a few things to say.

I don't think you're

gonna like any of them.

Are you going back to America?

Yeah, I'm gonna start with

the... the biggest... Um...

I don't have cancer

of the... the brain.

- I don't have CCR.

- Oh, they've cured you!

No, Maureen, I, uh...

I never had it.

- I... I made it all up.

- Oh.

There's actually no

such thing as... as CCR.

It's just Creedence

Clearwater Revival are

one of my favourite bands, but...

Oh. I wasn't gonna say anything.

Did you know about this?

You know, I thought there

was something strange.

So, why, hmm?

Why, JJ, were you up there?

He can't answer that.

That's personal.

- I'm sure he had good reasons.

- Oh, did he? JJ, did you?

Yeah, um...

Guys, actually, I'm gonna need

to postpone this conversation...

We... We had a pact.

I... I trusted you. I liked you!

Hey, Martin, please, just sit down.

We'll talk about this another time.

- Another time? What time would you...

- Hey, where were you?

Oh, right, great. We all stop

for your girlfriend, do we?

She's not my

girlfriend, OK? She's...

- She's a journalist.

- What?

- Look, I didn't know.

- Sh*t.

You don't know much, do you?

If he didn't know, he didn't know.

I mean, we've had bad things

written about us before.

Look, I understand that you are

angry, but, please, Martin,

- I'm feeling pretty humiliated...

- Oh, you don't understand anything!

You certainly don't

understand humiliation!

- Martin, you're being dramatic.

- You're a leech! You're a fake!

- You're a fraud! You're a joke, JJ.

- Martin, stop this.

- John...

- Who the f*** is John?

I'm... Look, I'm John.

And you know what?

- I'm not a fraud.

- Stop it. Remember the pact.

F*** the pact!

I'm not a fraud!

Don't you ever touch me again!

Good morning, sunshine.

Hello, sweetheart.

Hello, sleepy head.

How are you? Good morning.

All right, here we go.

"Not having Matty with

me on the holiday,

"it... it felt like I

was missing a leg.

"Strange.

"Light.

"That's probably not like

missing a leg at all.

"I don't imagine most

people's first impressions

"of leg loss is weightlessness."

How's that?

There we are.

"I missed him most when

the 'plane was landing.

"We shook a little on descent.

"I thought I was going to die.

"And I hadn't said goodbye.

"JJ's girlfriend's piece meant the

story, our story, didn't die.

"But Martin said to

concentrate on being boring

"and they'd eventually

leave us alone.

"So, that's what I did.

Not difficult.

"And, as for the others,

"as soon as we landed, we scattered

in different directions like we were

"allergic to each other.

"The pact was broken beyond repair,

"and without the pact, our

friendship was broken, too.

"I still saw them, actually,

every now and again.

"I saw Jess in places

she shouldn't be.

"And I did make a little

effort to find JJ,

"just to check he was OK."

JJ, I can't believe...

One last time, slower!

"I never saw Martin.

"No, mostly, I...

I got on with my life

"and hoped they got

on with theirs."

Matty did really well.

We did some interesting

reflex work.

Nice to have him properly

looked after for once.

He reacted well to company.

I'm sure he loved a change

from my blathering.

We couldn't get him

out of this pool.

Well, he's always loved water.

You know, er, there might be a

slot for him to come to one of my

weekly sessions, if you'd like it.

Oh, I'm sure he'd love it.

I'll add him to the list.

You know, you look like you've

caught a bit of colour.

Do I?

You know, from the

pictures in the papers,

it looked like you

picked a very nice spot.

Yes.

Well...

Inchworm measuring the marigolds

You and your arithmetic

You'll probably go far

Two and two are four

Four and four are eight

Eight and eight are 16

16 and 16 are 32

Matty?

Matty.

Matty.

No. No.

Matty?

Oh, Matty!

We'll let you know as soon

as there's any information.

- Hey, Maureen.

- Oh!

Ah...

Oh, you came, too!

Yeah. Nothing on TV.

Uh, this is my dad. He drove me.

He'll probably say

something very moving.

I'm sorry to hear about

your son, Maureen.

It's not one of his

best attempts, is it?

I'm really... I'm really

grateful you're all...

You're all here.

Of course we're here.

This isn't tea.

No, I know. It's hot chocolate.

- But I asked for tea.

- Well, I was buying

and I don't like the smell of tea.

- So, when you buy rounds in pubs...

- Pink gins.

Then you never have to

buy a round ever again.

It's clever, right, hmm?

Is JJ still not here, then?

I... I couldn't get through to him.

He's probably not

picked up his messages.

Yeah, it's either that or he doesn't

really care. It's one or the other.

I genuinely don't know

how you've survived her.

- Ear plugs.

- I am going to make you

go and sit in the car in a minute.

Ear plugs and pink gin.

He wasn't the reason

I was up there.

Matty.

He wasn't.

No?

There were lots of reasons

I was up on that roof.

You once asked me why, Jess.

And... I said...

I said I felt helpless.

But the truth is, I'd not... I'd not

done a list for living and a list for...

It... It was a feeling.

Not a thought.

But not one of those reasons

was that I didn't love my son.

Not one of them, not one.

Maureen, we know that.

Oh, God! Oh, no, no, no, no, no...

- No, no, no.

- Don't tell me...

He's fine. Maureen. Maureen...

He's fine.

- What?

- We're gonna keep monitoring him.

But he's no longer critical.

- He'll be fine.

- He'll be fine?

- Yeah, he'll be fine.

- OK.

Now, the tubes look

worse than they are.

We'll remove some tonight and the rest,

hopefully, will be out tomorrow.

Oh! I should have seen it coming.

If he'd had... If he'd

had proper care then...

Maureen... you saved him.

It was a myocardial infarction.

He... He had a heart

attack of sorts.

His symptoms were almost invisible.

I didn't notice it. I was

monitoring it and I didn't...

But you caught it.

You saved his life.

Matty's a very lucky

boy to have you.

I only had one thought.

When he...

If he dies, I die.

Well, he lived.

And maybe he feels the same way

about you as you do about him.

Have you ever considered that?

- It's Valentine's Day.

- Mmm-hmm.

- Martin.

- Yeah?

- Today is Valentine's Day.

- Good.

- Martin.

- Yeah.

Breakfast TV's completely messed

up your brain, hasn't it? Come on.

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