· · ·
turning to page one
turning to page one
SIOBHAN stands at the foggy banks of the lonely lake, looking across at its bleak grey water, then looks down at her feet that are being lapped by the water, her shoes in her hand.
Across the water she now notices MRS MCCORMICK, outside her * desolate shack on the distant opposite bank, staring back at us, sitting on, or standing on, a red chair. *
The old woman slowly and strangely waves, and just as SIOBHAN is about to wave back, MCCORMICK’s wave turns into something more of a beckoning... striking SIOBHAN as creepy, just as DOMINIC suddenly appears beside SIOBHAN, startling her.
DOMINIC *
Howdo! *
SIOBHAN
Jesus Christ, Dominic! Would you ever
stop creeping up on people! You almost *
gave me a fecking heart attack! *
DOMINIC
I wasn’t creeping up on ya. I was *
sidling up on ya. *
SIOBHAN
Between you and that ghoul! Jesus! *
DOMINIC
I always call her a ghoul too! Because *
she is a ghoul! Jeez, we have a lot in
common, don’t we? Calling oul people *
ghouls and that. *
SIOBHAN gives him a look as she dries her feet, puts her shoes back on.
DOMINIC (CONT'D)
Were you having a little paddle for
yourself? Or were you just cleaning off
the muck from them?
Another look as she gets to her feet.
DOMINIC (CONT'D)
This is a great oul lake, isn’t it? All
the... water in it, and that. Em... I’m
glad I caught you actually... because
there was something I was wanting to
ask you, actually. And, jeez, *
discovering how much we have in common,
well it just makes me want to ask you
even more!
SIOBHAN
We don’t have anything in common.
DOMINIC
What I was... don’t skip ahead... What *
I was wanting to ask you was... Jeez *
it’s cold, isn’t it! Your bony little *
feet must’ve been freezing! Yeah, what
I was wanting to ask you was...
something along the lines of... *
should’ve planned this, but what I was *
wanting to ask you was... You probably *
wouldn’t ever want to... I don’t
know... to fall in love with a boy like
me, would ya?
SIOBHAN looks at him, and there’s such an earnestness, a sadness, yet a desperate hope in his eyes, that it doesn’t warrant any kind of harshness.
SIOBHAN
Oh, Dominic. I don’t think so, love.
DOMINIC
No, yeah, no. I was thinking. No. *
(pause)
Not even in the future, like? Like,
when I’m your age?
She shakes her head as kindly as she can.
DOMINIC (CONT'D)
Yeah, no, I didn’t think so, but I just
thought I’d ask on the off-chance,
like, y’know? Feint heart and all that!
(pause)
Well there goes that dream! *
(pause)
Well I’d best go over there and do *
whatever that thing over there I was *
going to do was. *
DOMINIC heads off around the lake, then calls out...
DOMINIC (CONT'D)
Oh, Siobhan? I think you’d best go find
Padraic. Before he does anything
stupid.
He waves, then carries on around the lake. SIOBHAN watches him go, sadly, noticing that MRS MCCORMICK is now gone, her * empty chair left behind. SIOBHAN heads away herself, in the * opposite direction.