The Child in Time Page #2

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You never bring her home.

And you're drinking too much.

I'm supposed to drink too much.

SHOUTS:
I can't live here any more!

F***!

Oh, f***!

Oh, for f***'s sake!

LAUGHTER IN DISTANCE

INAUDIBLE:

PHONE RINGS:

Hi. I... I'm here.

JULIE:
Where?

I , erm...

I'm in the village, I think I...

I turned right instead of left.

Oh, you prick.

Er, no, well, I'll be with

you soon. How far is it?

About ten minutes. Everything all right?

Hmm? Yeah. Yeah, no, yeah. I'm

just, er, I'm being a prick.

Kettle's on.

- Ta-dah!

- Oh, my goodness.

Yeah.

What happened to you?

Well, I swear to God, when

I left the flat this morning,

I was spotless. You

never said there'd be mud.

You're covered in it.

You best get out of those clothes.

I'll put them through the wash.

- Thank you. Shoes off here?

- Definitely.

Strip.

You can wear my dressing gown,

which fortunately used

to be your dressing gown.

Yeah, for all of a week.

You never wore it.

I never had the chance.

This is nice. It's lovely.

I like it.

Thank you.

Been working out?

Being funny?

Have I... have I been here before?

- The village?

- Not that I know. Not with me. Why?

I don't know, really, it looks

familiar. I thought I had.

Felt familiar.

I'd lose the socks, if I were you.

OK.

You look nice, by the way.

You look well.

Well?

Lovely. You look lovely.

Well fit.

THEY CHUCKLE:

How long's it been now?

Almost a year.

Hmm, Christ.

Beautiful is the word I was

looking for. You look beautiful.

Thank you.

- You could use a wash.

- Yeah.

It's all in your hair.

Mucky pup.

You've lost weight.

Just a little.

You smell like you.

That's because I am me.

Do you know, I've been

here for almost an hour

and you haven't even offered

me so much as a cup of tea.

Oh, bugger.

- What?

- Need the loo. Don't want to move.

Bugger.

Mummy. Mummy, we're going to the shops.

My turn. Then I'll make you that tea.

It can wait.

You must be hungry.

I teach a few hours at

a few schools locally.

I play Saturdays at a hotel

about five miles from here,

and I give lessons.

I make ends meet.

- What else is there?

- Sounds good.

It's nice. I like it.

And the train's just a muddy field

away, the village ten minutes' walk.

So how did you manage to

turn right instead of left?

Disorientated by my fall.

And how did you manage to fall?

Er, I was running because

I thought I'd seen her.

A girl in a yellow rain-coat.

I'd turned the corner out

of the station and I, er...

She went towards the

village, so I followed her.

You followed her?

I'm an idiot.

I'm still looking for her.

Not actively, just out

of the corner of my eye.

I am a little bit better.

Have you still got

your private detective?

No. No, no, he gave up. I think

he got bored of taking my money.

That was good of him.

- After he'd finished paying off his mortgage.

- Probably.

If it's any consolation, I see her too.

But I make sure I'm doing

other things as well.

She is out there.

Yes.

Are you busy? Writing?

Yeah. Yeah, er...

I'm writing a story about a

boy who wants to become a fish.

Why does he want to become a fish?

I can't tell you that,

it's top, top secret.

Why not a dog?

That's been done before.

Dogs sniff other dogs' balls,

arses. Who'd want to do that?

It's gross, kids would love it.

Yeah, yeah, they would.

I'll just check on your clothes.

Wouldn't want them to shrink.

What time's your train?

Four o'clock and then there's

another at sixish, I think.

- Dry as a bone.

- Thank you.

- Are you finished with that?

- Yeah, yes.

Are we going to talk about

what happened just now?

Did I miss something?

It was very nice, and that's

all I have to say on the matter.

I'm surprised I remembered what to do.

Which is my way of saying

there hasn't been anyone else.

Same. There's no-one else.

- Just me.

- Good. I mean, if, you're happy.

I know what you mean.

PHONE RINGS:

- Hello?

- It's me.

Er, question... what would you

say if I asked to stay the night?

- Not a good idea?

- Not really.

Well, what if I threw

myself in another puddle?

It seemed to make me

irresistible last time.

Still not a good idea.

Sorry.

Thought I'd ask. But you're right.

Is it always going to be like this...

between us?

Yes, of course it is.

It has to be.

Yes, it will always be like this.

But maybe that doesn't

have to be a bad thing.

A bad thing happened and

we've got to live with it.

Move on?

Is that possible?

Do we want to do that?

Still there?

Yeah, still here.

It was lovely to see you.

And you.

I'll call you.

Soon.

It has been shown, proven

that we use but a fraction

of our intellectual, emotional

and intuitive resource.

Now it's clear we get by on

very little of our grey matter.

Members of the committee,

we have undernourished our

- capacity for empathic...

- SPEECH FADES

... by forcing literacy on to children

between the ages of five and seven

we are shattering the unity

of the child's world view.

Madam Chairman, literacy should

not be introduced to a child

until the ages of 11 or 12,

corresponding with the brain's

natural and important surge...

11 or 12?

You're saying that we shouldn't

introduce the written word

- to children until they're 11 or 12?

- Correct.

That's... No, I don't

think that's correct.

That's most definitely incorrect.

(HE LAUGHS) Based on what evidence?

Well, experience.

An anecdote, then.

There have been trials in

Sweden that have proven...

Based on the joy of

a three-year-old child

when she almost writes her

name for the first time.

Or the joy of a four-year-old

when she picks words

or parts of words from

a sign or a poster,

which then in turn leads to the most

wonderful, wondrous conversations.

Or imagine the child

sitting on a parents' knee

when it's having a

story read aloud to it

and tracing all the words

on the page, quite wrongly,

and marvelling at those

meaningless black splodges,

which somehow enable closeness.

Bring...

... warmth, happiness and comfort and...

... ease the separation at night.

I suggest that you are

looking at the scenario

from the adult's perspective

and not the child's.

You can suggest what you

want, but I know what I saw

and I know how she felt, so...

that's how I know for certain that

you're talking complete bollocks.

What a brilliant way to

finish the day. Well done, you.

I wasn't too rude, was I?

Not at all.

And if you were, he deserved

it. I've never heard such tripe.

Could I treat you to a coffee?

- Erm, yeah. Why not?

- Good.

- Are you writing at the moment?

- Yes. Yes, I am.

- A book?

- Yes.

Of course, a book. About what?

Can you tell me, or

would you have to kill me?

No, it's about a boy who

wants to become a fish.

Oh, what kind of fish?

Well, a colourful fish,

a tropical fish actually.

How lovely. How far have you got?

He holds his breath under

the water for about 43 seconds

- in the bath tub, so...

- Excuse me, Mr Lewis?

My name is Joanna Buckley,

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