SCENE:
A London (Belgravia) townhouse c1930. Opposite a park.
An empty room, one ragged curtain blowing gently in a broken window.
CAST:
He is not Edgar.
She is not Sally.

DIRECTION:
Present as a voice-over.
A conversation heard some years ago. The walls recall it.

He: Y’know, sometimes I wonder about you
She: How come?
He: Well, y’know, all this…
She: All this what?
He: This nothing
She: Nothing?
He: Yeah, nothing-ness
She: Nothingness?
He: You forget it’s been eight years. It’s difficult to just kind of, well, pick things up
She: I missed you
He: Yeah. Yes, you said. But it’s not as simple as that, is it?
She: For me it is. I’ve been around though, it’s not as if I like, (laughs) “disappeared” or anything!
He: Maybe not. I’ve seen you –
She: What? You’ve seen me?
He: Sure I’ve seen you
She: Where?
He: All around. Y’know, just at the edges. Drifting in and out. You’ve been spending quite a bit of time in that hotel down Broad Street, I believe?And I saw your reflection once, in a window as I passed.
She: OK. Maybe. (a pause) Do you think maybe I should change my hair?
He: Perhaps
She: But that was years ago. The hotel, I mean. I haven’t been there since Edgar died.
He: Edgar?
She: (a gentle laugh) You have a poor memory.
He: Apparently so. But you remember the hotel?
She: I remember everything perfectly.
He: Yes. OK. Sorry. I was forgetting
She: (a louder laugh) You remember what you choose to. It is your way. One of those things I always know you by.
He: I remember Edgar very well. I just wondered why you had to bring his name up again.
She: You mentioned the hotel. It’s worse than ever now.
He: Worse? I should think in all that time it can only have become more beautiful. Edgar was a fool to sell it. A place like that in time will be worth millions. It holds so many sounds. Ever since I made that recording from the cellar he kept on about the water, and the faces…
She: Yes. The faces disturbed him a great deal more than you imagine.
He: (a pause) You should try curling it again, and cutting it a little shorter.
She: How is Sally?
He: She’s very well. A little taller than I am used to, but…
She: It’s odd, don’t you think. You and I, I mean. You and I still here. Still looking out of this same window and down on the same people in the same park.
He: You mean after all that’s happened?
She: If you saw me, why didn’t you touch me?
He: If you were there all the time, why didn’t you call?
She: I called. I kept calling. Calling, calling
He: You never left a message. You know I’m never here, unless the wind is right
She: I didn’t come here! I wouldn’t. You… well, might be working
He: (abruptly) My collection is finished. I have no work now. But where did you call?
She: I called aloud. Through crowds, in parties. I called your name
He: I see
She: You always used to love the sound of my voice.
He: Yes. I still do.
She: You have the recordings?
He: Oh yes, of course. I’ve kept them all. The only part of you that has changed. You speak so differently now.
She: Shorter? Do you think so? I rather fancy that’s unfashionable now. Would it suit me do you think?
He: She’s just over there. Moving towards the statue

DIRECTION:
Through the window, looking out into the park.
The sun is shining, but there is no-one in the park at all, just a flurry of leaves blowing across the lawn.

****

My first ever 'attempt' at a play. At least, a dialogue.
Who are they?
The scene introduces four characters, and I'm not yet clear of the relationships between them.
I suspect the speakers used to be partners.
Sally is probably his mother, but Edgar remains a mystery.
In my head so far, he is the man she married instead of the man in the room with her.
His best friend, a university colleague?
One of the Bright Young Things anyway. But he is much lder than the other characters.

So is there a relationship between Sally and Edgar?

And do they exist in the same period in time.
I like to think they do not.
As in most of my narrative work, the reader needs to grasp the concept that time is not linear.
It moves instead like smoke. Drifting, weaving. Shaped by the current and the wind.
Moving at different speeds for people in the same room