Archipelago Page #6

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Chef:
Thank you.

R:
Thanks.

P:
It's actually rather good.

Cyn:
You can eat your soup, Edward. You don't need to set there being moody.... (sighs) Oh, God. (Chuckles)

> Edward storms out of the restaurant, Rose watching until he's out the door.

> Edward stands outside in a an alcove of trees, trying not to cry, unsuccessfully.

> Cynthia stands by the telephone back at the cottage, talking to her father quietly.

Cyn:
No, I'm fine. Um, where are you? I thought you'd be here by now. Oh... hurry up! (Chuckles)... Yeah. Yeah. Good, fine. Fine. Fine. Yeah. She's all right. Shall I get her? Okay. Bye. Mum? Mum? It's Dad.

P:
Will? Not great. Erm... Just a bit difficult. It would be much better if you were here.

> Cynthia sits alone in her room, sobbing.

> Christopher paints a field.

> Rose rides her bike up the path beside the cottage, returning with groceries and parks her bike aside the cottage. Edward is close behind, purposely parking his bike right beside hers.

> Edward and Rose once more stand alone in the kitchen.

R:
Well, it's not real, so...

E:
Sure... Sorry.

R:
That's all right. It's not nice. Erm... Would you like cereal or toast?

E:
You don't have to make my breakfast. I'll do- I'll, let- I'll get, I'll get...uh...

R:
Okay... But that's my job.

E:
Left hand, right hand. I can do it.

R:
What are you looking for?

E:
Er, a spoon.

R:
Big one, small one.

E:
Thanks. Did you ever play the spoons?

R:
Not on a regular basis, no. So, what's the plan today?

E:
I have no idea. I'll wait and see what I'm told to do.

R:
Doesn't sound like fun.

E:
That's how it is.

> Cynthia's bedroom, she's in bed.

E:
C?

Cyn:
Yeah.

E:
Morning.

Cyn:
Morning. What time is it? (Coughs)

E:
It's about 8:30.

Cyn:
(groans) I thought we were supposed to be on holiday.

E:
Sleep all right?

Cyn:
Yeah. What do you want?

E:
I've brought you a cup of tea.

Cyn:
Oh.

E:
Okay... Do you want to go for a bike ride later?

Cyn:
No. I've just woken up.

E:
You don't have to decide now.

> Edward sits on Patricia's bed.

E:
It was... It was more of a feeling than a dream. It was about Dad. And I was... And C was there, and anyway, we were in the mountains, or something, and I was...late. I was late. Weird...

P:
Where was Dad?

E:
He was waiting for me.But I was late....He was so angry.

> Edward on his bike, alone; pushes himself back with his feet before coasting down the path.

> Three men stand, shotguns at the ready in an open field facing a bit of forest

> Through the twisting bush, comes two dogs and two men, smacking the busses and pointing at spots to get the pheasants hiding to fly up.

Man 1:
Ey-up! Ay-ay-ay!

Steve:
Come on, you bird! Come on!

Man 1:
Get up! Ey-up! Get up, get up, get up! Up-up, up-up! Ay-ay! Ey-up!

Steve:
Good boy, good boy, get on, get on. Come on! OK? OK?

Man 1:
Ey-up! Ay-ay! Ey-up!

Steve:
Good boy.

Man 1:
Ay-ay! Ey-up! Get up! Ey-up!

Steve:
Good boy.

Man 1:
Ay-ay!

Steve:
Get up, get up. Good boy, good boy. Ey-up! Mush, mush!

Man 1:
Ey-up! Ye-ye-ye. Ay-ay! Ay-ay!

Steve:
Heel, heel! Heel, heel! Come by, come by.

> The pheasants fly through the air; gunshots.

> Edward rides his bike along the paths, the gunshots nearby.

> Steve walks up the path along the cottage, two dogs with him and a brace of pheasant in his hand.

Steve:
Come here, come here. Come by! Come by! Heel. Heel, heel! Patricia?

R:
Hello? Hi! Oh, I'll just come round. One sec.

Steve:
Morning.

R:
Hi.

Steve:
All well?

R:
Hi, I'm Rose.

Steve:
Pleased to meet you. Steve.

R:
I'm cooking for the family.

Steve:
Ideal. I brought you a brace of birds from the shoot the other day.

R:
Great. I didn't know you were coming. The family have gone for a walk.

Steve:
No, I've rather sprung it on you.

R:
Yes, you have!

Steve:
So, I've brought you a nice brace. They've been hung for three days, three or four days, so they're ready to pluck, really, so...

R:
Wow!

Steve:
They'll be super.

R:
OK, so, well, you might have to give me some advice, because I've never really...

Steve:
Right.

R:
I've just never dealt with- actually, I've plucked a duck once, but I can imagine it's quite similar.

Steve:
Very similar.

R:
Yeah?

Steve:
Yeah. The good thing about these, you don't have the down on them like a duck, so it's slightly easier to pluck.

R:
OK.

Steve:
Um, basically what you do is um, pull the tail feathers out.

R:
Yeah.

Steve:
Pull the primaries out, on the wing, okay? And then, basically, from there on, you just pluck it downwards.

R:
Yeah.

Steve:
If you pull upwards, it tends to sort of rip the skin a wee bit, so you have to be careful of that. Pull it downwards into a sack, so sit down, outside, probably, with a sack open, and just pull all the feathers into a sack.

R:
OK.

Steve:
And then you'd need to take the head off, take the legs off and uh, put it in some foil, stick it in the oven.

R:
And what about the guts and everything?

Steve:
The guts, basically, um, you draw them out from the back end.

R:
Okay.

Steve:
Um, take the crop off that's inside the chest, basically, you'll find it. It's a sort of lump, there.

R:
Right.

Steve:
Probably be full of corn or food they've been eating.

R:
Right.

Steve:
Pull that out, job done.

> Rose sits with a waste basket between her legs carefully plucking one of the pheasants in the kitchen.

> Patricia, Cynthia, and Christopher sit in the living room, the women painting while Christopher gives instructions

C:
That's good. Don't forget those white shapes behind the object, Patricia.

> Rose enters with two bowls of water.

P:
Yes. Yes. Thank you, Rose

C:
Thank you. There may come a point in the painting where you just need to let it rest, let it dry a little bit, and then get back into it.

P:
Mmm.

> Rose returns with a glass of water for Cynthia.

Cyn:
Thanks.

P:
Hmm.

C:
It's great to get this kind of degree of chaos. Because chaos gives ideas

... which you may not have found out if you'd tried to control it completely.

Cyn:
Oh, yeah.

P:
Well, that's for ever going to be the difficult part for me.

Cyn:
Chaos?

P:
Yes.

C:
Controlling the chaos. Yes.

P:
Yes.

Cyn:
That's better. Yeah?

C:
Yeah, very good.

E:
Hi.

C:
Hi.

E:
How are you doing?

C:
Good, yeah. Your family are doing very well.

P:
Well, Christopher's pleased. I think that's the main thing.

(Chuckles)

C:
Well, it probably isn't the main thing, but...

(Chuckles)

R:
Hi. Hi. How are you?

E:
Good.

P:
OK. Bold, now.

C:
Think of the whole.

> Rose smoking out the window of her room, listening to the birds.

> Christopher and Patricia sitting in the sofa, drinking cocktails.

P:
So, do you think it's the artist in you, in a way, that needs more space than you would have if you had, had a family?

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