EDWIN ASHTON
John! Jean wants to know if you'd like a cup of coffee while we're waiting for dinner.

JOHN PORTER
Uh, no. No, thanks, uh... Oh, you could take Mother one, though. She's in there. I'm going upstairs.

EDWIN
(with a concerned look)
Are you all right, son?

(John is going up the stairway, but he stops.)

JOHN
Yes, yes. Yes, I'm fine.

(He resumes going up but then stops again.)

JOHN
I... I wonder...
(coming back down)
Could I talk to you, Mr. Ashton?

EDWIN
Yes...if you want to.

(John comes off the stairs and looks to be quite troubled about something.)

EDWIN
What is it, John?

JOHN
I... I don't know. It's... It's Mum, I suppose. Sometimes I can hardly bear to be in the same room with her.

EDWIN
Well, I expect you get on edge with all of us sometimes. I mean, we try to help. We mean well. But we can all be a bit irritating, can't we?

JOHN
Oh, it's not that. It's not just that. It's things she said. She... She says things.

EDWIN
Well, what sort of things?

JOHN
About Margaret and about...other people.

EDWIN
About Margaret?

JOHN
"While the cat's away, the mice will play," she says.

EDWIN
(with a look of disbelief)
About Margaret?

JOHN
Well, not directly...not straight out. She just seems to be implying something.

(John sits at the bottom of the stairs.)

JOHN
And she said, "We can all be tempted, given the circumstances."

EDWIN
Well, it's a bit tactless, but I think that's all, John.

JOHN
Oh, yeah, I know she doesn't mean anything. It's just...sometimes I feel...
(standing again)
I'm sorry. Sorry...I shouldn't have bothered you.

(He steps down and begins to pace the floor.)

JOHN
You've all been so marvelous. She should be grateful. It makes me feel ashamed.
(turning to Edwin)
I've always felt that Margaret's too good for me.

EDWIN
Nonsense!

JOHN
No, I have. When I think of the life that I can offer her...and the life she could have had.

EDWIN
Margaret loves you, John.

JOHN
(nodding his head)
Yes, that's what I keep trying to tell myself. Oh, and Mum says things...

EDWIN
(interrupting)
She loves you, and there's no other kind of life she'd have wanted.

JOHN
No.
(forcing a smile)
Thanks.

(John goes back up the stairs and then stops.)

JOHN
Mr. Ashton... You wouldn't try to...to kid me because of how I am. You wouldn't lie to me.

EDWIN
(not looking at his son-in-law)
I wouldn't lie to you, John.

(Accepting that statement at face value, John goes upstairs, leaving Edwin to wonder if he has done the right thing...telling white lies.)

 

(from "The Straight and Narrow" by Susan Pleat and John Finch)