(Sefton is ill in bed, and Tony has arrived home on emergency leave to check on him.)

SEFTON BRIGGS
You came, then.

TONY BRIGGS
(walking toward him with a smile)
Father! How are you?

SEFTON
Was it you that rang earlier?

TONY
Uh, yes. We, uh...we changed at Leeds, and we rang from there.

SEFTON
Mrs. Foster was out.

TONY
Well...how are you?

SEFTON
(wearily)
Oh, not very good, lad. Not very good.

TONY
Well, what's the trouble?

SEFTON
It started at the shop yesterday...a fluttery thing. Heart, like a clock when you take the pendulum off.

TONY
Is it painful?

SEFTON
Oh, it's damn frightening, more. It's put the fear of God into me, I can tell you.

TONY
What's the doctor got to say for himself?

SEFTON
Old Willy? Oh, well, you know old Willy. He's all right for a cold, but when it comes to this sort of thing, I'd rather have the plumber.

(Tony laughs and walks over to where he has laid his overcoat.)

SEFTON
There's a specialist coming tomorrow, you know.

TONY
Father, are you sure you ought to be talking so much?

SEFTON
Oh, I can talk. And I can talk and get bullied, too.

TONY
Who's been bullying you?

SEFTON
Eh...Mrs. Foster. If I show the slightest sign of chirping up, she treats me as if I was in short trousers.

TONY
Ah, she's looking after you very well, if I know Mrs. Foster.

SEFTON
Oh, well, I suppose she is.

TONY
(sitting down on the edge of Sefton's bed)
I've got a visitor for you, by the way.

SEFTON
A visitor? Who?

TONY
(smiling)
Jenny. She'll be back in a minute. She's gone to get some fish and chips.

SEFTON
I thought you two had packed it in.

TONY
(changing the subject)
Father, hadn't you better get some sleep?

SEFTON
(annoyed)
I suppose you're going to start bullying me, too.

 

(from "Clash by Night" by Jack Ronder and John Finch)