Damsels in Distress Read online

  Sorrel And you still won’t let me help?

  Lynette What do you mean?

  Sorrel What I said last night. I’m perfectly prepared to try and get a job. Part-time. Help bring in some money –

  Lynette Sorrel, we talked this to death –

  Sorrel We shouted it to death. I could manage both, easily –

  Lynette Forget it. You have wonderful prospects. You’re not jeopardising those because of all this. Otherwise it’ll all have been for nothing, don’t you see? As far as I’m concerned, my life will have been for nothing. Pointless. You’re all that matters to me now, Sorrel. And if you want me to be happy, darling, if you care for me in the least little bit, then you will carry on with your life and fulfil all that promise. I will not let you throw it away now. Just because I made a stupid mistake, I refuse to allow it to affect you. That is not going to happen, do you hear me? So, please, let’s not talk about it again.

  Sorrel is silent.

  See you later, then.

  Sorrel Yeah. I love you.

  Lynette (coming and hugging her) Love you too. ’Bye.

  Sorrel ’Bye.

  Lynette opens the front door.

  And if you love me in the least little bit, then please do not smoke!

  Lynette (as she goes, wearily) Yeah, yeah, yeah …

  She closes the door behind her. Sorrel stands for a moment, thoughtfully. She goes to the desk and retrieves her own bag. She rummages in it and takes out her mobile. She punches up a pre-dialled number. As she waits for a reply she clears both the mugs to the sink.

  Sorrel (getting a reply) Hi … yes. Get dressed and come down … No, now … I know it is … I know it is … because I need to talk to you … Listen, if you’re my friend, Kell, you’ll come down … now. Yes. (She rings off.)

  She rinses the mugs and dries them. She seems to be rehearsing something to herself under her breath, perhaps what she is about to say when her visitor arrives. The doorbell rings. Sorrel goes to the door and her friend Kelly, about the same age, enters. Kelly is generally slightly in awe of Sorrel, maybe just the tiniest bit in love with her. She has evidently got dressed in a hurry. She wears the school uniform and carries her backpack.

  Come in.

  Kelly It’s twenty past six.

  Sorrel Yes, I know.

  Kelly Twenty past six. I’ve never been up at twenty past six in my whole life.

  Sorrel Welcome to the real world, I’m just going to get dressed.

  Sorrel goes off to the bedroom, leaving Kelly to close the front door.

  Kelly Where are we going?

  Sorrel (off) Nowhere. I need to talk.

  Kelly Couldn’t we have talked on the way to school?

  Sorrel (off) It’s not that sort of talk. It’s private.

  Kelly Is it about Jonathan Jacobs, is it?

  Sorrel (off) No, it’s not about bloody Jonathan Jacobs, thank you very much. I told you he is buried. Seriously buried. I don’t want to see him ever again. Ever.

  Kelly (wistfully) I wouldn’t mind him.

  Sorrel (off) You’re welcome to him, Kelly. He is a jerk and a duplicitous slob, I warn you. And nobody twotimes me, I can tell you that.

  Kelly goes into the kitchen and helps herself from the fridge.

  Kelly (as she does so, to herself with quiet relish) Duplicitous slob! (calling) Can I take a Coke?

  Sorrel (off) Help yourself.

  Kelly Did you finish the essay?

  Sorrel (off) Yes.

  Kelly I haven’t.

  Sorrel (off) Then you are in trouble, aren’t you, kiddo?

  Kelly Probably. It’s easy for you. (She locates the biscuit tin.)

  Sorrel (off) Why didn’t you finish it?

  Kelly I don’t know. I was watching something – on television.

  Sorrel (off) Then you are a lazy, idle bitch, Kelly Butcher.

  Kelly Probably. (her mouth full of biscuit) Can I have a biscuit?

  Sorrel (off) Help yourself.

  Kelly wanders back into the sitting room as Sorrel returns from her bedroom, finishing dressing in an identical uniform to Kelly’s. Sorrel, though, wears a prefect’s badge.

  Kelly I’m late again this month.

  Sorrel Are you? (She goes into the kitchen and also helps herself to a can.)

  Kelly That’s the second time it’s happened.

  Sorrel You can’t be pregnant.

  Kelly (gloomily) I certainly can’t. I haven’t been with anybody.

  Sorrel Give it time, kiddo. It’ll all happen, I promise. You’ll be fighting them off.

  Kelly You think so?

  Sorrel Yeah. What’s your hurry?

  Kelly I’d just like to – get it over with. Then I can get on with the rest of my life, really.

  Sorrel It’s not all that great.

  Kelly No?

  Sorrel The earth’s never moved for me.

  A pause. They sit and drink.

  Kelly What did you want, then?

  Sorrel Listen, I’m in all sorts of trouble, really.

  Kelly I know you are. How’s your mum?

  Sorrel She’s not good. She’s pretending – for me – but she’s not at all. She’s smoking too much. She’s had trouble sleeping, so now she’s on pills. I’m always catching her crying – that’s when we’re not screaming at each other. It’s all horrible.

  Kelly (sympathetically) ’Dear. I wish I could do something.

  Silence.

  No news of your dad, then?

  Sorrel He’s run off, Kelly, hasn’t he? How are we going to get news of him? They’re hardly going to send us a postcard, are they?

  Kelly You think they’re abroad?

  Sorrel Knowing him, yes. Him and that – woman. How can you do that to someone? How can one woman do that to another one? Her so-called friend? Take her husband away like that?

  Kelly My mum took my dad away from someone else.

  Sorrel I just hate sex sometimes.

  Kelly I don’t know, I’ve never tried it.

  Sorrel It’s the cause of all the trouble.

  Kelly So what’s going to happen, then? With you?

  Sorrel Well, apparently we’re going to have to move because we can’t afford to live here any longer and consequently I’ll have to leave school as, apart from everything else, my mother’s health will very probably break down completely and I’ll finish up having to nurse her for the rest of my life.

  Kelly (shocked) That won’t happen, surely?

  Sorrel It might.

  Kelly I hope you don’t have to leave.

  Sorrel So do I.

  Kelly I’d miss you terribly.

  Sorrel Yes, well.

  Kelly Since Katie Roberts left you’re my only real friend now, you know.

  Sorrel Yes. You are my friend, aren’t you?

  Kelly Of course. I said.

  Sorrel And you’d do anything for me, wouldn’t you?

  Kelly (a little cautiously) Yes. Mostly.

  Sorrel No, Kelly. Not mostly. If you’re my real friend, my truly deepest friend, you’d do anything. Anything. You see?

  Kelly Alright. (Pause.) You don’t want me to die, do you?

  Sorrel No, of course I don’t. Don’t be stupid.

  Kelly I thought you might be planning a suicide pact or something.

  Sorrel I need your help. A good deal of help, you see?

  Kelly I don’t have any money. I mean, I have my building society account which Auntie Jenny started but I don’t think it would be enough to – I mean, if I did have enough you could have it but I don’t have that much.

  Sorrel Look, I don’t want money. All I want is help. Just listen a minute, will you? Listen.

  Kelly Sorry.

  Sorrel Do you remember Angela Bletchley?

  Kelly (puzzled) Angela –?

  Sorrel She was in the sixth form when we were juniors …

  Kelly Oh! You mean Big Angie … Yes. Wasn’t she the one who –?

  Sorrel Got expelled, r
ight. Do you remember why?

  Kelly For – sleeping with people, wasn’t it?

  Sorrel Not just sleeping with people. She was charging for it.

  Kelly I remember there was talk at the time. I wonder what ever happened to her.

  Sorrel She’s still charging.

  Kelly No! I don’t believe it! How do you know?

  Sorrel Because I traced her. I got hold of her old address from one of her friends and I tracked her from there.

  Kelly Why on earth did you do that?

  Sorrel She’s amazingly successful. Got this lovely flat. Much nicer than this one.

  Kelly Yes, but what does she have to do to get it, Sorrel? Can you imagine it? All those different men? All those strangers you don’t know anything about? Ugggh! (She shivers.)

  Sorrel It’s not like that at all. As a matter of fact, they’re not really strangers. She has quite a select list of clients. She’s very choosy.

  Kelly (doubtful) Well, I wouldn’t want to do it. (Pause.) Why are we talking about Angela Bletchley? Why did you go and see her?

  Sorrel Because I wanted to ask her advice.

  Kelly Advice?

  Sorrel On how to go about it.

  Silence. Kelly stares at her incredulously as the penny drops.

  Kelly You’re not?

  Pause.

  You’re not?

  Pause.

  You can’t.

  Sorrel No?

  Kelly gets up and walks about.

  Kelly (increasingly agitated) You’re going to – you want to – with – just let them – give them – you can’t.

  Sorrel Why not?

  Kelly Because you can’t, Sorrel. It would be wrong. I couldn’t bear to think of you doing that. It makes me ill to think about it. You doing that.

  Sorrel It wouldn’t be that bad.

  Kelly How could you bear to do it?

  Sorrel I’d just think about something else, wouldn’t I? It wouldn’t worry me that much. As I say, I don’t think sex is all that great, anyway. It’s not going to spoil anything for me.

  Kelly God! There must be another way, there must.

  Sorrel I’d only do it till I’d earned enough money. Then I’d stop.

  Kelly I’ve read they all start out saying that. But most of them in the end, they can’t stop. They get addicted.

  Sorrel That’s only when they do drugs as well. I’m not doing drugs.

  Kelly Please, Sorrel. There must be something else you can do. Not this.

  Sorrel What else? I’ve no qualifications, have I? Not yet.

  Kelly What about a newspaper round or something?

  Sorrel Great! Can you see me earning the sort of money we need from a newspaper round?

  Kelly There must be something else.

  Sorrel Kelly, the sort of money I can earn doing this – it’s massive. You should see Angie’s flat. She’s rolling in it. She says it’s money for old rope. It really is.

  Kelly But don’t you have to – you know – do peculiar things to them? The men. If they ask you?

  Sorrel (knowledgeably) No. Not if you don’t want to. Depends what line you go into, of course. I mean, Angie, she’s a dominatrix. I’d be straight vanilla, of course.

  Kelly Be what?

  Sorrel Vanilla. That’s what they call straight sex. Vanilla. As opposed to, say, S & M or BDSM or Animal Training or Water Sports or Adults Babies, say.

  Kelly How do you know all this?

  Sorrel Get on the internet, Kell. Your eyes will be opened, girl.

  Kelly I can’t open anything on my machine. I’ve still got Net Nanny on mine.

  Sorrel Oh, come on. You bypass that, don’t you?

  Kelly I can’t.

  Sorrel God, Kell. No wonder you’re still a virgin. Honestly.

  Pause.

  Kelly So you’re seriously going to go ahead with this?

  Sorrel Yes.

  Kelly Where?

  Sorrel Here.

  Kelly In this flat? What about your mum?

  Sorrel She’s at work from six a.m. till six p.m.

  Kelly What about the evenings?

  Sorrel I’ll operate daytimes. You can do it in the daytime as well, Kelly. It is allowed.

  Kelly What about school?

  Sorrel I wouldn’t do it every day. Then there’s the holidays. Plenty of time, then.

  Kelly You’ve really thought it through, haven’t you? How are you going to – I mean, you know, get people?

  Sorrel Clients?

  Kelly You’re not going to just walk up and down outside, are you?

  Sorrel For God’s sake, Kelly. Internet. Advertise there. Angie showed me one or two reputable sites. All you give is a phone number.

  Kelly This phone number? But what if –?

  Sorrel A separate phone number, Kelly. On a mobile. Not even my own mobile. A separate mobile. Business calls only. Miracle of modern technology.

  Kelly (staring at her) I just don’t know what to say. I don’t. I thought I knew you. You’re my friend. I don’t know you at all. Not at all.

  Sorrel (smiling) Well. Urgent needs – desperate measures.

  Kelly (a thought dawning) And what do you want me to do? Cover for you at school? (Pause.) You don’t want me to – I mean you’re not planning on – you know, with three of us, are you?

  Sorrel I wouldn’t ask you to do that, Kell. No, I need you to be my maid.

  Kelly (blankly) Your maid?

  Sorrel Angie said I should have one. Particularly when I’m starting out. Just in case of – you know, difficulties.

  Kelly Difficulties? What difficulties?

  Sorrel Someone who can open the door and offer them a drink while they’re waiting and yell for help if need be.

  Kelly I can’t do that.

  Sorrel Yes, you can. Of course you can. Look, it’s either you or my mother and I don’t think she’d be particularly keen. Quite apart from the fact that she’d be coughing all over the clients, so it’s got to be you, Kelly.

  Kelly (in panic) I can’t do that. If my mum found out, she’d go crazy.

  Sorrel (fiercely) Kelly! You promised me you would do anything, remember?

  Kelly Yes, but –

  Sorrel Anything I asked. Remember?

  Kelly Yes, but I didn’t know you meant this.

  Sorrel Friendship doesn’t come with pre-conditions, Kelly. And if you want to stay my friend you will help me, you hear? I mean it, Kelly.

  Kelly sits miserably. She starts to cry a little.

  Don’t start that. Kelly!

  Kelly (through her tears) I can’t be a maid. I’ve got nothing to wear. What am I going to wear?

  Sorrel Well, we’ll have to go shopping, won’t we? Come on, you love shopping up West. There’s several shops.

  Kelly What, you mean those – weird shops?

  Sorrel No. Just underwear and things. And – other items. I may have to borrow a little bit from you, Kell.

  Kelly What other items?

  Sorrel You know. Condoms. We’ll need condoms. Masses of those.

  Kelly I’m not buying condoms.

  Sorrel Kelly!

  Kelly What if a friend of my parents sees me?

  Sorrel What would a friend of your parents be doing in a sex shop?

  Kelly No, true. They’re all a bit past that.

  Sorrel Precisely. So. Are you game? To coin a phrase.

  Kelly (unhappily) I suppose.

  Sorrel Cheer up. You’ll get a cut.

  Kelly A cut.

  Sorrel A percentage of my earnings. As my maid. Anything I make, you’ll get a small share.

  Kelly That’ll make me a pimp, then. I could go to prison.

  Sorrel You won’t be a pimp. Maybe a madam. But you’ve always been that, haven’t you?

  Kelly How much are you going to charge?

  Sorrel I’m still working that out. I’ll have a sliding scale depending on – on what we – how much they – on the time. Depending. I’m basing it on what Angie
told me, though obviously I won’t be charging as much as she does. Not to start with. I mean, she’s an experienced professional. Whereas I’m really just starting out, aren’t I? I mean, it’s not that I haven’t got some experience, but that was …

  Kelly (softly) Amateur.

  Sorrel If you like. OK? (Sorrel holds out her hand to Kelly.) Shake on it?

  Kelly reluctantly takes Sorrel’s hand, then on the spur of the moment hugs her emotionally.

  Come on. Don’t be like that. It’ll be a laugh.

  Kelly A laugh? Making love to strange men?

  Sorrel In the words of the old song, Kell, what’s love got to do with it?

  Kelly You’ll still be lying there touching them …

  Sorrel Listen, when we did Romeo and Juliet at the end of last term, I had to lie in bed and pretend to make love to David Astwick. David Astwick! Can you imagine? Nothing could be worse than that, I promise you. Come on, let’s start walking. I need some air.

  Sorrel takes up the empty Coke cans and heads into the kitchen.

  Kelly So do I.

  Sorrel I’ll just get my scarf. Tell you what. If you show me that essay later I’ll try and help you finish it, if you like.

  Kelly (intensely grateful) Would you really?

  Sorrel (smiling at her) ’Course I would. I’m your friend, aren’t I?

  Kelly (in a moment of great happiness) Yes.

  Sorrel goes off to the bedroom. Kelly comes down to reality again.

  (to herself) My God, Sorrel! I hope you know what you’re doing.

  Kelly waits unhappily as the lights fade to:

  Blackout.

  SCENE TWO

  The same day, evening. Around six p.m. Lynette is bustling around in the kitchen making early preparations for their frozen supper. She looks tired and worn after a long day. She pauses in her preparations. Looks at her watch, goes for her bag on the table and gets out her cigarettes. Guiltily she goes on to the balcony and lights one. From the river, the sound of a party boat passing. Loud beat music and laughter. Lynette watches. Consequently she does not hear the front door open cautiously or see Sorrel’s exploratory head poke round it. Sorrel sees her mother and darts into the flat with several unmarked carrier bags – which she deposits behind the bar. She nips back and collects a second load. She does the same with these, finally returning to the door to gather up her backpack. She closes the front door, causing Lynette to turn, see her and hastily drop her cigarette over the balcony.