(In the lunch room of the train station, John rushes to his mother's table.)

JOHN PORTER
Mum! Mum, what's wrong?

(Celia stands up to greet her son.)

CELIA PORTER
Oh, hello.
(kissing him)
Well, I thought you were never coming.

JOHN
Is it Dad?

CELIA
What?

JOHN
Dad. Well, uh...the message said you wanted to talk to me about a sick relative.

CELIA
Oh...oh, yes. Well, I mean, I had to say that to them because they wouldn't let me talk to you. So I said somebody was sick. Well, I mean, they have to do something when you tell them that.

JOHN
Mum!

CELIA
Well, I didn't say it was anything desperate. I... And then they said they'd give you a message.

JOHN
(chuckling)
Yeah. Well, they did.

(They sit down at the table.)

JOHN
I wish you'd let me know you were coming. We could've met at home. I could've skipped the night class for once.

CELIA
Night class?

JOHN
Yeah. There's a night class on Fridays.

CELIA
Oh.
(feeling slighted)
Oh, well, of course I don't want you to give up your night class because of me, do I?

JOHN
(glancing at his wristwatch)
Oh, I'm all right for half an hour or so. Um, well, what did you come for...shopping?

CELIA
Yes. Yes, I've been shopping. I didn't want to go back without having seen you.

JOHN
I've been... I've been walking around all day thinking Dad was ill.

CELIA
Well, he is ill. You know that.

JOHN
Yeah, but he's no worse, though. Not since he changed his job.

CELIA
Well, he wouldn't tell me if he was. He doesn't seem any worse. I never wanted him to take that stupid job in the first place, you know. All that gunpowder going down into his lungs. I used to say to him when he was lighting a cigarette, "You'll explode one of these days," I used to say.

(John is looking elsewhere, hardly listening, so Celia changes the subject.)

CELIA
How's Margaret?

JOHN
Hmm? Oh, fine.

CELIA
Well, what about you? Are you settling back into the job, are you?

JOHN
No. No, not really.

CELIA
(disappointed)
Oh! You used to like it well enough before.

JOHN
Before what?

CELIA
Well, before the war.

JOHN
Yeah, well, a lot of things have happened since before the war.

CELIA
Your father won't like it, you know, if you change...change your job, I mean.

JOHN
Why not?

CELIA
Mmm, well, it was his idea in the first place. Well, it wasn't what I wanted for you.

JOHN
Well, it was the right idea for the time...two million unemployed. I didn't want to go back to that when they sound the last all clear.

CELIA
(smiling as she recalls Vera Lynn)
Oh! Oh, yes. She's got a lovely voice, don't you think? I used to listen to her a lot, you know, when you were away. Oh, "The White Cliffs of Dover"...that was my favourite.
(singing)
"...and Johnny* will go to sleep in his own little room..."

*[She substitutes her son's name for the song's "Jimmy."]

JOHN
(embarrassed)
Mum, please.

CELIA
Well, I used to sing that to myself, you know. It was a great comfort to me...because I always believed it, you know. I never doubted...never.

JOHN
Doubted what?

CELIA
Well, that you'd come back, of course. I never doubted...never doubted.

JOHN
Well, I doubted all the time...every minute.

CELIA
I said to Margaret... I said when you came back, "I never gave up hope," I said. And now I've had my reward.
(frowning)
She gave up, you know. Oh, almost from the moment we got that telegram, she gave up.

JOHN
Oh, yes, I know. She told me.

CELIA
She told you?

JOHN
Yeah. She thought I'd been killed. She didn't hope at all. Yeah, she told me.

CELIA
Oh, I see. She told you.

 

(from "The Things You Never Told Me" by John Finch)