This Happy Breed Page #11

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- What was disgusting?

- A French stamp.

A French stamp?

What are you talking about?

About the letter that Frank had

from Queenie.

- Oh, were you?

- Then it was from Queenie?

You know perfectly well I won't have

Queenie's name spoken in this house.

She's gone her own way, and that's that.

She doesn't belong here anymore.

I always knew that girl'd come to no good.

Once and for all, Mother,

will you hold your tongue?

I'm sick and tired of you and Sylvia

gabbing and whispering behind my back.

[Edie]

Here's the tea!

Are you coming over to the table,

or shall I bring it to you?

I'll stay here.

The less I open me mouth, the better.

- Where's Frank?

- In the garden.

He said to begin without him.

[Children Shouting Playfully In Distance]

[Clicks On]

[Jazz]

I'm sorry I spoke to you like that, Sylvia.

It doesn't matter, I'm sure.

I dropped off to sleep on my bed

this afternoon, had a bad dream.

What was it about?

I can't remember.

I woke up feeling as if the world

had come to an end.

Well, they say dreams go by contraries.

Yes, they do, don't they?

I'm going to take Frank his tea

into the garden.

Once he starts watering he'd go on

all night if we'd let him.

- [Doorbell Rings]

- Now I wonder who that is.

I don't know. Might be Reg and Phyll.

Oh, can't be. They've gone to Sevenoaks

with that friend of theirs.

Hello, Vi.

Why, Vi. Whatever's the matter?

- Where are Mum and Dad?

- In the garden.

Take Granny upstairs.

There's been an accident.

It's Reg and Phyll.

I've got to tell Mum and Dad.

- What's that?

- What sort of an accident? What happened?

They were in Reg's car.

A lorry came out of a turning.

Are they badly hurt?

They're dead.

[Gasps]

Oh!

Mrs. Goulding was with them.

She knew I had a telephone,

so she rung me up from the hospital.

She was in the back and got thrown out.

Please take Granny upstairs.

I must tell them alone.

[Sobbing]

Don't cry, Auntie Sylvia.

They'll hear you.

Don't let them hear you.

I can't believe it! I can't! I can't.

[Sobbing]

Aunt Sylvia, please!

Vi, help me up.

[Sobbing Continues]

[Continues]

[Sobbing Continues]

[Continues]

[Children Shouting Playfully]

[Shouting Continues]

[Child Laughing]

[Shouting Continues]

[Continues]

[Shouting Continues]

[Fades]

Feel all right, dear?

Yes, thanks.

What are you thinking about?

Oh, nothing.

Fancy a cup of tea?

Yes. I can always do

with a cup of tea.

Let's go up to the Corner House

at Marble Arch.

Right.

Do you know this is the first time you and I

have been for a walk together for years?

Yes. Park Lane's changed, hasn't it?

Nothing but great, big hotels now.

It seems a shame.

[Man] They won't be ashamed though.

That's all they're doing over there.

They're doing the same thing to our leader

as they once did to Hitler in Germany.

Everyone in Germany used to say

that he'd never get in...

and he wouldn't know how to regenerate

Germany if he did get in.

Well, there he is, and a new life

has started for Germany.

When I saw those Jews and Communists

smacked down in Olympia the other day...

for trying to silence our leader -

[Laughs]

Let me tell you, I thought this.

How about that cup of tea?

I thought the day of reckoning

will come in this country too.

The day will come when all the little rats

and mice are thrown back...

into the gutter where they belong.

Here you are!

Paper! Election results! Paper!

Election results! Paper!

- Election results right here.

- [Man Continues Shouting]

Election results right here.

The late election results right here.

All the late election results here.

[Chattering, Indistinct]

Election results.

Election results!

It looks as though it's going to be

a walkover, old man.

A landslide. A veritable landslide.

- The best thing that could have happened.

- I hope you're right.

[Man Over P.A.]

Conservative gain.

[Horn Honks]

Here are three more election results.

Swindon division of Wiltshire:

W.W. Wakefield, Conservative.

20,732.

Ah. There's a face you can trust.

[Beethoven's Symphony No. 7]

[Continues On Radio]

[Fades]

[Man On Radio]

A bulletin has been received...

regarding the king's illness...

which will be broadcast

in a few moments.

The following bulletin has just been issued

from Buckingham Palace.

"The king's life is moving peacefully...

towards its close.

We invite you to join in recollection

and prayer...

for our king."

[Sylvia]

Ethel, what are you doing?

It's near the end of the year anyway.

[Static Chirping]

Well, that's that.

[Clicks Off]

There won't be nothing more

to listen to tonight.

All the stations have closed down.

Well, how's the library going,

Aunt Sylvia?

Oh, all right. I'm leaving next month to help

Mrs. Wilmot with her work in the temple.

- What temple?

- The Temple of Spiritual Radiation.

Oh, I see.

We'll have to be going in a minute, Vi.

I'll pop out and get my hat.

I left it in Mum's room.

How are the children, Sam?

Oh, Sheila's all right,

but Joan's been a bit seedy.

Doctor told us to keep her in bed

for two or three days.

Did he indeed?

Well, I suppose if you believe in doctors

it's best to do what they say.

Well, it stands to reason they know a bit more

about it than we do, doesn't it?

No, I don't think it does.

[Humming]

What would you do if you broke your leg?

I suppose you'd send for a doctor then,

wouldn't you?

I wouldn't break my leg.

But if you did. If you were run over

through no fault of your own.

I should certainly send for treatments.

Well, there you are then.

You don't understand, Sam.

Of course there's no reason why you should.

- You haven't studied the matter, have you?

- No, I haven't.

It wouldn't be surgical treatment

I should send for.

It would be spiritual treatment.

Would that heal a compound fracture?

Certainly.

- [Sylvia] Frank, where's Ethel?

- She's in the kitchen.

We miss Edie, and that's a fact.

I've tried to make Ethel get someone else,

but she won't.

There's not so much to do

since Mrs. Flint passed on.

Now don't talk so soft, Sylvia.

Mother died, see?

First of all she got flu,

and that turned to pneumonia.

The strain of that affected her heart, which

was none too strong at the best of times...

and she died.

- It's nothing to do with passing on at all.

- How do you know?

I know it's only your new way of talking,

but it gets me down, see?

- What are you shouting about?

- I'm not shouting about nothing at all.

I'm merely explaining to Sylvia

that Mother died.

She didn't pass on, pass over or pass out.

She died.

[Giggles] Dad, you do make me laugh.

You do, really.

It's not a fit subject to talk about

anyway.

Come on, Sam. We'd better be going.

- Good night, Mum.

- Good night, dear.

- Good night, all.

- Good night, dear.

- I'll come to the door with you.

- Where's Archie, Ethel?

Asleep in the kitchen.

He's been out once tonight.

As a mouser, Archie knocks poor old Percy

into a cocked hat.

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