Plenty Page #5

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for myself. And there is a point of

decency, at which the

experiment should stop.

- Susan

- The idea was fun, it was simple.

It depended on two adults

behaving like adults.

It just feels bad.

- It feels very bad to be used

- I would have stopped it months ago.

I would have stopped it

after the second month.

You come out feeling dirty.

Well, how do I feel?

What am I meant to feel?

Crawling about in your tiny bedroom paper

thin walls, your mother sitting downstairs

Keep my mum out of this.

Scrabbling about on bombsites,

d'you think I enjoy all that?

Yeah. Very much.

I think you do.

- Look, I just think that

- I know what you think.

You think I enjoy slumming around.

Then why have I not looked

for another father?

Because the whole exploit

has broken my heart.

You think it's my fault.

Oh, Lord!

Is that what you're worried about?

You think it's something to do with me?

That was part of it. Never having to have

to drag through this kind of IDIOT argument.

you don't under... you don't

understand the figures in my mind.

Mick, will you go now, please?

You people are cruel. Both of you.

- Mick

- You're cruel and dangerous.

And you f*** people up this girl here with

her string of married men, all f***ed up

all f***ing ruined because of this tart.

And you

You...

Jesus Christ!

Now

if we are to consider the exchange of

trade delegations with Romania

then one of the concessions that we would

anticipate would be... a trade-weighted guarantee

in the area of exports and rates of exchange

to use the Mannhein comparison.

- Brock speaking.

- Raymond... it's Alice.

- Sorry?

- Alice, Alice Park.

They waited all night in their

ships, till in the morning the signal came.

The invasion was on.

British and French troops

were finally on the move.

- Excuse me, sir

- The background to these events

Do you want me to make up a bed for you?

No.

I'm going out to dinner.

Now, after the British decision

to take part in an invasion of Egypt,

back home the whole country is torn apart.

There is uproar in Parliament...

and not just in Parliament.

In the street, stranger argues with stranger

about the wisdom of a policy that has led to a pitch

of public dissent unknown for many generations.

Nationwide there is a feeling of shame.

Condemned unanimously in the United Nations,

the British Government still insists

that it will see the operation through

in spite of world-wide criticism and its

isolation from its own American allies.

Tonight, as the military situation worsens

- Good evening, sir.

- Good evening.

- Thank you.

- Leonard.

- How good of you to come.

- Not at all.

Our little gathering

we scarcely dared hope. Please.

- Leonard, you know Monsieur Aung, of course.

- Mr Darwin

- Rangoon.

- Now First Secretary, Burmese Embassy.

An honour, a privilege a moment

in my career. I shake your hand.

- Good, good. Well

- Leonard, do sit down.

Thank you.

I'll just tell my wife

that you're all here.

She's coming.

Why isn't she here?

Is it affairs of state

that made you late?

Precisely.

Say no more.

At home you would

not be forgiven.

In Burma we say, "If you cannot

be on time, do not come at all."

Really?

Good evening.

Oh, hello, Alice.

Er, but, of course,

the English... it is different.

At your command... the lion

make its bed with the lamb.

Hardly.

Ah... Darwin of Djakarta!

To have met the man, to

have been alone with him.

I shall dine in on

this for many years.

Dine out on this.

The English language... she is

a demanding mistress, yes?

If you like.

And no-one

controls her so well as you, sir.

You beat her and the b*tch obeys.

Good, good, the

language of the world.

Oh, Alice, I hear you...

you've become a teacher?

Only sort of a teacher:

I teach English to foreign students.

How very interesting.

Not really. The only fun is

in trying to mislead them.

I tell them the English are a

cheerful and outgoing people.

When you first meet an Englishman for the first time you

must at once embrace him and kiss him on both cheeks.

Oh, really?

That's what I tell them.

Then I let them loose on the world.

Good evening, everyone.

Leonard how good of

you to make an appearance.

I'm only sorry to

have been delayed.

Brock says you're all ragged with fatigue. I

hear you've been having the most frightful week.

It has been. Yes.

Well, don't worry. Here at least you

can relax. You've met Monsieur Aung?

Indeed.

You can forget everything.

The words "Suez Canal"

will not be spoken.

That will be an enormous relief.

- They are banned, you will not hear them.

- Thank you, my dear.

"Nasser" nobody will

mention his name.

Quite.

nobody will say "blunder"

or "folly" or "fiasco"

Nobody will say "international

laughing stock".

You are among friends, Leonard.

Shall we all have dinner?

No-one will say,

"death-rattle of the ruling class".

We will stick our lips together

with marrons glacs.

I hope you understand.

I'm sorry. I did ask her to calm down.

She's been giving me hell all week.

She knows how closely

you've been involved.

Do you think we could leave the

subject, Brock? I'm eager for a drink.

Yes, of course.

Who on earth is

that appalling wog?

I mean, in all honesty, Raymond,

what are you trying to do to me?

I'm sorry, sir.

This week of all weeks. He had his tongue so far up my

fundament all you could see of him were the soles of his feet.

- And Madame Aung!

- I know.

Traditional dance, she tells us

about, in the highlands of Burma.

And the plot of Lohengrin.

Mental illness, is it, your wife?

No... no, she just

feels very strongly.

But has there been mental illness.

Not really. A breakdown.

Yes?

Mm. She'd been

living very foolishly.

A "loose set" in Pimlico.

A series of jobs. Not eating.

We got engaged when

she was still quite ill.

I've tried to help her back up.

Well, that sounds very good.

Second marriage, of

course, often stabilises

What?

Well, the chap in

Brussels. The stiff.

Oh... yes.

You don't have to be ashamed.

I'm not, its

In the diplomatic service, it's not as if a mad

wife were any kind of professional disadvantage.

On the contrary... it almost

guarantees promotion.

Yes, well

Some of these senior men

their wives are absolutely barking.

I take the word "gouache"

to be the giveaway.

When they start drifting out of the room

saying "I'm just off to do my gouache, dear"

then you know you've lost

them for good and all.

Yes, well

Susan is not mad.

No. No.

Do you want to tell me what's upsetting you?

Yes, I will tell you.

We have been betrayed.

We claim to be intervening as a neutral party

in a dispute between Israel and Egypt.

Last Monday the Israelis

launched their attack.

On Tuesday we issued our ultimatum, saying that

both sides withdraw to either side of the Canal.

But, Raymond, the Israelis, they

weren't anywhere near the Canal.

They'd have to advance a hundred

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