Thick as Thieves

by Katherine Chandler

  KAREN Just say it.

  Whatever it is just say it.

  GAIL D’you love your kids?

  Stops.

  Course you do.

  I love my kids. Just like you.

  Look, you haven’t got time for this, I know.

  You need to get home.

  So I’ll keep it short.

  I got myself into some bother. Always been in bother, you know me. And I got mixed up in things. I never had money. I nicked a bit. Stupid stuff and I got caught. And ended up inside. But there’s no one else. Just me. I had no one could look after my boys so.

  They put them with this family.

  While I was away.

  And now.

  I’m getting on-track.

  But there’s a care order. You knows all about that stuff.

  I got to turn things round, you know, if I wants that to change.

  If I wants my kids back.

  And I want my kids back.

  I can’t leave ’em there.

  Not like they did to us. Cos we know, don’t we.

  What happens.

  And see,

  The job I had, it was a shit job, I’ve had loads of jobs, all shit, nothing fancy like you but this time, it was everything. I can’t tell you.

  I had to get up.

  At the right time.

  I had to get dressed and get there.

  And I had a laugh with the girls there. So it was good. It was good for me. I was getting on alright.

  I was.

  Don’t seem like much

  It was, though.

  Kept me in a routine.

  Stopped my mind from wandering.

  So I lost it anyway. I lost my job.

  It’s like.

  It never rains, does it?

  But. For my kids.

  I’m here for my kids. You know.

  KAREN You’re here for your kids?

  GAIL I am, yeah.

  KAREN That’s why you’re here?

  GAIL It is.

  I thought with what you do, I thought you could help me.

  With my situation.

  You could do something.

  KAREN takes it in.

  Half-laughs.

  KAREN Oh, you think…

  GAIL I’m asking you to help me.

  I need my kids, Kaz.

  I’m not coping without them.

  KAREN realises GAIL means it.

  KAREN You think because I work here?

  GAIL You’re Head of Children’s Services.

  KAREN What and so you think I can wave my magic wand and get your kids back for you?

  GAIL I thought you could have a look at my case.

  KAREN Oh yeah, hang on, I’ll just make a phone call, round them up for you.

  For Christ’s sake.

  I can’t even begin to explain the many, many issues I have with what you’ve just asked of me. Just you being here is…

  GAIL I thought you might be able to –

  KAREN What?

  What did you think?

  GAIL I dunno. Something. I thought you could do something. It’s my kids. I thought.

  KAREN I protect children, Gail. I protect them.

  You being here is a conflict of interest, do you understand that.

  Do you even know what that is?

  So while you’re stood there telling me, making demands of me, I’m trying to work out where all this stands procedurally…

  I. We…

  Okay, listen.

  Takes a breath.

  We don’t take children away from their mothers on a whim.

  That’s just not possible.

  It doesn’t happen.

  There are reasons you are not with your children.

  Valid and serious reasons.

  And you don’t get your kids back as a favour because you know someone who can pull a few strings.

  That’s not how this works.

  Pause.

  GAIL When I was sat out there waiting.

  I read this magazine.

  And they was saying there was this thing.

  About the brain. About addiction. And it’s fascinating.

  It says they thinks there’s a bit of the brain.

  A special place in the brain where people feels pleasure.

  It’s the part that if you was an alcoholic, when you drink, this is the bit that makes you feel like a million dollars.

  This bit is the bit that tells you that you need have another one cos it wants to feel that feeling again, you know.

  Same for drugs. Chocolate. Sex.

  All of them good things.

  And in tests, this is what they said anyway, in tests when the brain is doing the good stuff, this bit of the brain reacts, it hits the pleasure dome and then some.

  And you know what they found.

  They found the same part of the brain reacted in the same way when mothers look at photographs of their kids.

  We get that, don’t we.

  Us mothers. Most of us, anyhow.

  But what that makes you realise if you think about it, is that it’s not just that we love our kids.

  It’s that we’re addicted to them.

  Our brain tells us we can’t live without them.

  We don’t just want them.

  We need them.

  It’s a different thing.

  I need my kids.

  Need them.

  KAREN Gail.

  Look.

  What I suggest is.

  I suggest you.

  I suggest you…

  You need to sort yourself out. You need to get a job.

  GAIL I had a job.

  KAREN Get another one.

  GAIL Look at me.

  KAREN You could get a job.

  GAIL You wanna give me one?

  KAREN Seriously.

  GAIL I could be your PA.

  Do a better job than that one you got.

  KAREN I doubt that.

  GAIL Or cleaning then?

  KAREN Stop it.

  GAIL What? I’m not too proud to clean, Kaz. I’ve got that, you know, the OCD so I’m very particular with things. I shower sometimes three times a day. I’m good at floors.

  KAREN What?

  GAIL That’s my thing. Floors. The floors would be spotless.

  I could do your house? I’m not far from where you live.

  KAREN You don’t know where I live.

  GAIL I can do odd jobs an’ all?

  Put my hand to anything. Them old houses need looking after.

  KAREN I have a man who sees to that stuff.

  GAIL I could help you out a bit with your kids? It’s a fair walk to that school of theirs. And it’s hard to get people you can trust?

  KAREN I don’t need your help, Gail.

  GAIL I need yours.

  They hold a look.

  Hold.

  KAREN drops her eyes.

  Thinks.

  Realises.

  KAREN You know where I live.

  GAIL Must take you some time to get over here, from where you are?

  KAREN Have you been to my house?

  GAIL That why you work so late, is it? So you miss the traffic?

  KAREN You’ve been to my house?

  GAIL He works late, your husband.

  Does he always get home after dark?

  KAREN What?

  GAIL Do he get home that time every night?

  KAREN You’ve been to my home.

  GAIL I was going to say hello to him but I didn’t know if he knows about me.

  KAREN takes that in.

  KAREN Well, he knows about you so if you think that’s in some way a threat, Gail…

  GAIL What does he know?

  KAREN When did you go to my house?

  GAIL I been there a few times.

  KAREN I don’t want you there.

  GAIL He knows about me.

  KAREN Yes.

  GAIL You said he didn’t know.

&
nbsp; KAREN Well, he does. So.

  GAIL What did you tell him?

  KAREN I told him I had a sister.

  GAIL You have a sister.

  Pause.

  What else?

  KAREN I told him we don’t know each other, okay? That we hadn’t seen each other since we were kids.

  GAIL What did he say?

  KAREN Nothing.

  GAIL Nothing?

  KAREN He said nothing.

  GAIL Did you tell him about our life?

  KAREN Why would I?

  GAIL Did you tell him we were close?

  KAREN We weren’t close.

  GAIL We were.

  Pause.

  GAIL When did you tell him?

  KAREN When?

  GAIL When you first met him?

  KAREN No.

  GAIL Yesterday?

  KAREN Of course not.

  GAIL When?

  KAREN I don’t remember.

  GAIL You do.

  KAREN He knows about you. He’s known for years.

  Pause.

  GAIL When I was pregnant the first thing I thought of was you. Always in my mind you was.

  I think you told him when you was pregnant.

  Pause.

  Course you did.

  KAREN I don’t want you near my house.

  GAIL Why not?

  KAREN Because it’s fucking weird. Stalky. And we both know you’ve got previous in that department or have you forgotten about Suzanne Cox?

  GAIL You told him about me when you were pregnant because as hard as you tried you couldn’t forget it or me.

  How old is she?

  KAREN Who?

  GAIL Your oldest.

  KAREN What?

  GAIL Ten? / Eleven?

  KAREN She’s ten.

  GAIL Did you tell him what happened to you?

  Pause.

  Did you tell him?

  KAREN I told him it was the worst

  The absolute worst time of my life.

  How I hated it.

  It was a nightmare.

  A living nightmare

  Getting through the day. Surviving.

  It was survival.

  I told him about the relief when I got away

  The place.

  The stink of it.

  How when I got to Wales I felt like I breathed for the first time.

  Fresh air

  I could finally breathe.

  Sleep at night

  That’s what I told him.

  GAIL What did he say?

  KAREN He said he

  He said that it all made sense.

  Why I live for my work.

  He understood it then.

  I work

  My work is important to me

  Because I know what it’s like to be in care.

  To live that life.

  He said, I know how it feels.

  GAIL laughs.

  It’s not funny, Gail.

  GAIL No. You’re right. But it is though.

  KAREN None of this is funny.

  GAIL It is to me though.

  KAREN Stop grinning.

  GAIL Sorry, Kaz. You an’ him making sense of it all.

  GAIL scoffs.

  I think it’s fucking hilarious.

  KAREN I think you’re a fucking idiot.

  KAREN goes through her bag.

  Gets out her purse.

  Has a wad of notes in her hand.

  Okay, so look

  Well this has been interesting it really has and I’m

  sorry for you

  How it turned out

  This

  That your life has gone to shit

  But

  And I am sorry, Gail, truly

  But I’m not your…

  You’re not my responsibility.

  She puts the notes into a bewildered GAIL’s hands.

  I want you to have this.

  Call it a gesture.

  But then I want you to go.

  Cos let’s be honest here

  We don’t know each other at all, do we.

  Come on, Gail, really?

  We’re strangers actually.

  And that’s okay. It is what it is.

  GAIL looks at the notes.

  You shouldn’t have come here Gail, you / shouldn’t.

  GAIL Look.

  I shouldn’t have come to your work, I’m sorry about that.

  I know I shouldn’t have come here.

  KAREN No. It’s not that.

  Takes a deep breath.

  I’m going to be very clear with you now okay because I think it’s important. I want you to understand where I’m at.

  I don’t want to see you again.

  I have a family. My family. A beautiful home. Holidays. My life is happy. Joyful.

  That person you talk about. Karen. That’s not me. Kaz?

  I don’t remember her. She never really existed.

  You’ve made some picture in your head about us.

  Sisters. But she’s a figment of your imagination.

  I don’t want you in my life.

  I really don’t.

  Do you understand?

  Pause.

  Lets that settle.

  Gail. Do you understand me?

  GAIL Yes.

  KAREN Good.

  GAIL I understand you.

  KAREN It’s for the best I think. Because you and me. It’s not good.

  KAREN’s phone buzzes.

  That’ll be Bill.

  I’m sorry, Gail.

  GAIL looks at the money in her hand.

  KAREN picks up her bag.

  Moves to leave.

  Please.

  Shows GAIL the door.

  After you.

  GAIL looks back to the money. Places it on the desk.

  Looks around her.

  Takes a moment.

  Takes a seat.

  GAIL You know I feel a bit…

  KAREN What?

  GAIL It’s my head.

  My ears.

  I get a bit spinny.

  KAREN Do you.

  Right.

  Well, perhaps you should get some fresh air.

  GAIL I just need to sit here. Just gimme five minutes.

  KAREN checks her watch.

  Knows she’s being played but…

  Sighs.

  KAREN Five minutes.

  GAIL holds her head in her hands.

  Breathes deep.

  Sits back in the chair.

  Takes in her surroundings.

  GAIL You know. It’s a lovely old building is this.

  KAREN watches her.

  You find them don’t you. In the old docks.

  These great old buildings.

  Remember that one down the old docks, Kaz, we used to play in.

  Dorian there used to say he’d seen the ghost.

  The white lady. Remember?

  There’s always a ghost, isn’t there.

  He said she walked at night with a crying baby in a shawl.

  Laughs to herself.

  Always a white lady, the ghosts, aren’t they?

  Always a baby somewhere.

  Pause.

  What did this used to be, Kaz? Before it was council?

  Nothing.

  There’s a whatsit on the front, as you go in, established 1842 or whatever.

  Same as on that school your kids goes to. Above the main door in the stone.

  I wonder what it started out as?

  Yeah.

  I wonder.

  KAREN takes a deep breath. Puts down her bag.

  There’ll be a record somewhere of how it started, what happened to it. There always is with things.

  KAREN You’ve been to their school.

  GAIL Bet it costs a fortune to upkeep though.

  Probably riddled with damp an’ all sorts.

  KAREN You were at my children’s school?

  GAIL looks at KAREN.

  GAIL Is i
t one of them private schools where they go?

  Looked like.

  Bet it costs a fortune to send your kids there.

  KAREN I don’t want you near my kids.

  GAIL It’s all about money. Everything’s different if you got it, you know. There’s different rules.

  KAREN It’s a school, for Christ’s sake. They’re my children.

  GAIL They say it don’t make you happy but that’s a fucking lie. Like when they says to kids nits only lives in clean hair, remember they used to say that to us and we was stinking most of the time. It’s the same. Fucking lies.

  If you got money it’s just easier.

  KAREN I can give you money.

  Pause.

  GAIL There’ll be all sorts of important kids goes to that school, I bet.

  Russians and all that. Famous people. Or Royals even. I bet Royals goes there, do they? Diana’s kids, what they called.

  I don’t want your money.

  KAREN You need help.

  I can’t help you.

  GAIL Wills innit. William and Kate. Their kids. Do they go there, I wonder?

  KAREN You can’t come into my life. I didn’t ask you. You can’t barge into my life.

  GAIL He’s lovely him. That Sweet William.

  KAREN Please don’t underestimate me, Gail.

  GAIL The other one though. With the ginger hair. He’s not a nice fella I don’t think.

  He’s not nice in all the right ways, I don’t think.

  GAIL laughs.

  KAREN I know what you’re capable of.

  GAIL Wouldn’t kick him outta bed, would you, Kaz?

  KAREN You know what I’m capable of.

  GAIL He’s filthy they reckon.

  The ginger one.

  GAIL chuckles to herself.

  KAREN I’m giving you a chance to walk away. Before this escalates.

  Stops.

  GAIL They lost their mother though, didn’t they?

  Don’t matter who you are.

  They’ll have felt it the same. The pain of separation.

  Mother and child.

  Escalates?

  KAREN Suzanne Cox moved away in the end. Her whole family upped and left.

  Because of you.

  GAIL I did wonder where she got to.

  KAREN You hounded her.

  GAIL I didn’t hound no one.

  KAREN All over that stupid game.

  At her house, all hours of the day and night. You cut off her hair. I remember that.

  Her poor parents.

  And still you went there. Couldn’t give a shit.

  GAIL Her mother hit me. Slapped me across the head. And no offence but she was built like a brick shithouse.

  KAREN But it was me that got it in the neck.

  Always me, wasn’t it.

  I had to promise Roberts to keep you out of their way. And you know what happened to me if I didn’t do what they wanted. I wasted my childhood keeping you out of people’s way. Taking the rap for you.

  GAIL We looked out for each other.

  KAREN I mopped up after you.

  GAIL I just wanted to be her friend.