Daylight Saving

by Nick Enright

  JOSH: I have all his games on video.

  FLICK: No you don’t. We go back to fourteen. A high school tournament in Wollongong. Tom discovered him. On our honeymoon. Seven years ago tomorrow. We were driving south to Bermagui, but Tom got a hot tip, and suddenly we didn’t need a honeymoon. We had a kid ready-made, wrapped in sweatbands, bouncing three feet behind the baseline.

  JOSH: Jason plays the net.

  FLICK: Now he does, after seven years of blood, sweat and Staminade.

  JOSH: Something tells me you don't like him.

  FLICK: I don’t like people's eyes glazing over when they find out I was wet-nurse to a living legend. And I don’t like what it’s done to my life.

  JOSH: You have your restaurant. You have Dougal.

  FLICK: Yes, I have Dougal, if he hasn’t drowned himself.

  The phone rings. She starts.

  He’s drowned himself.

  JOSH: Let it ring, Flicka.

  FLICK: What if he has drowned himself?

  JOSH: Then he won’t be calling.

  FLICK: What if he’s drowned Jean-Luc? No, that would be too much to hope for. I’m not going down there, boys. Sort it out yourselves.

  The phone stops.

  Well!

  JOSH: Attagirl. Have another drink.

  The phone rings again.

  FLICK: It could be mayhem down there.

  JOSH: Flicka! Is this our night, or is it?

  FLICK: Well, yes, it’s our night.

  JOSH: Then no more Dougal and Jean-Luc?

  FLICK: No more Jason Strutt?

  JOSH nods. The phone stops. Pause. Possums can be heard on the roof.

  JOSH: And no more possums!

  Sudden silence. FLICK is impressed.

  It’s a beautiful evening.

  FLICK: Now, that lobster.

  She goes towards the kitchen.

  JOSH: And the whole town is quiet.

  FLICK: For the moment, at least.

  JOSH: Can you hear it?

  FLICK: Hear what?

  JOSH: Hear the hush. Can you hear it, Lily?

  Silence.

  FLICK: [assuming American accent] Yes, I can.

  JOSH: Do you think… do you think we can be this happy always, Lily?

  FLICK looks uncertain. JOSH prompts.

  Mama says…

  FLICK: Thank you. Mama says it never lasts.

  JOSH: What if it’s for us that the whole town is quiet, Lily?

  FLICK: It’s quiet… um…

  She drops the accent.

  What was his name?

  JOSH: Amos.

  FLICK: It’s quiet because it’s sleeping, Amos.

  JOSH: No, it’s quiet for us, Lily. I know that.

  FLICK: How do you remember?

  JOSH: No! Go on, please. Crocus.

  FLICK: Oh. I saw a crocus today.

  JOSH: It’s the first night of spring, Lily. Let’s stay out here alone, and see if it is for us… this hush, this scent on the breeze, this moon.

  He goes to kiss her. She avoids it. It is not clear whether this moment is in the remembered play.

  FLICK: There's no moon, Amos.

  JOSH: There will be. Grandpa says it's in the almanac.

  He kisses her.

  FLICK: I was never out this late before. And yet—

  She signals for help.

  JOSH: Churchyard. Dreams.

  FLICK: And yet I been here before, in this churchyard. Waiting for the moon to rise. I been here, in my dreams.

  He is close to her. She breaks away.

  JOSH: You stopped.

  FLICK: That’s where the preacher’s wife came on. My one and only appearance on a public stage.

  JOSH: You loved it.

  FLICK: I loved kissing you in front of the whole school, I didn’t love acting. You were the one that loved it. All that talk about Ho Chi Minh and the Chicago Seven, but Josh Makepeace was a romantic at heart.

  JOSH: Bullshit!

  FLICK: You remember every word of that play!

  JOSH: It’s a great anti-war statement. A national classic. You cut my big speech.

  FLICK: No, the preacher’s wife brings on the basket and talks about her dead child.

  JOSH: No, first the moon comes up, and I kiss you again.

  He kisses her on the cheek.

  Lily. I’m eighteen come April, and when that day comes I’ll walk down that road, and I’ll cross the bridge and sign my name, and they’ll send me off some place far away. But I ain’t going alone. You’re going with me, Lily.

  FLICK: No, Andy.

  JOSH: Amos.

  FLICK: Amos.

  JOSH: The crocuses will bloom, and soon will come the harvest, and then the time for storing and setting indoors. But you’ll go through all that time like a sleep-walker. For you’ll be with me, wherever. You and this night, and this hush, and this moon.

  FLICK: This is a national classic now, is it?

  JOSH: It was then.

  FLICK: Well, you were very good. Wonderful, in fact.

  JOSH: On the stage?

  FLICK: On the stage. And off it.

  Pause.

  JOSH: Summer time ends tonight, huh? And the clocks go back.

  She nods.

  We have an extra hour. Between tonight and tomorrow. When does your husband fly in?

  FLICK: Josh…

  JOSH: When?

  FLICK: I told you, tomorrow night. Round seven-thirty.

  JOSH: I fly out at six-thirty.

  FLICK: What are you saying, Josh?

  JOSH: Look, I saw you on TV—

  FLICK: Oh, why did I do it!

  JOSH: And you looked very lonely.

  FLICK: For a moment, yes. Then pfft, Becker and Lendl.

  JOSH: Your face showed me something, even then. Even now.

  FLICK: Like what?

  JOSH: Like a kind of void in your life.

  FLICK: Thank you. And you came up here to fill it?

  JOSH: Heavy!

  FLICK: Hea-vy! Wow, put on Led Zeppelin, and pass me the weed.

  JOSH: Actually, I did bring some with me…

  FLICK: These days it gives me hiccoughs. Look, neither of us is seventeen.

  JOSH: So?

  FLICK: We haven't just seen 2001 stoned. This is not your parents’ cabana.

  JOSH: We do have an American flag.

  FLICK: Oh, Josh! You were wonderful. But now… it’s twenty years on, and another country altogether.

  JOSH: I heard your voice on the phone. You were excited. You wanted me to come.

  FLICK: Because you were here. You called, and…

  JOSH: And you put the flag out.

  FLICK: As a memento. Josh, I have a husband.

  JOSH: Who’s out of town for your anniversary. You are lonely, aren’t you?

  FLICK: Well… sometimes. But…

  JOSH: But what?

  FLICK: I’m okay. I’m prepared to wait—

  JOSH: For what!

  FLICK: For Tom to settle down. For Jason Strutt to be bought by Alan Bond. Or vice versa. For a life with somebody.

  JOSH: A life with somebody?

  FLICK: This is turning into tennis, Josh. Wham, whap, volley—

  JOSH: Set point. I want to stay the night.

  FLICK: I asked you for dinner.

  JOSH: I’ll make you breakfast.

  FLICK: You’re the only person I’ve ever met who cooks worse than my mother.

  JOSH: I give good breakfast. Breakfast is the first thing you conquer after a divorce.

  FLICK: Oh, God, Josh. I… I don't do this. Never. Not once in seven years.

  JOSH: Lack of opportunity?

  FLICK: No. I know a lot of men.

  JOSH: Like Dougal and Jean-Luc?

  FLICK: Straight men, too. Though I will admit, in this town, the straight single man is a rare and precious thing. We sometimes sacrifice them at dawn on North Head to make the crops fruitful.

  JOSH: Promise me one thing?

  FL
ICK: I hate people saying that. What?

  JOSH: You’ll stop making jokes to deflect anything serious?

  FLICK: This isn’t serious, Josh. You don’t seriously want this, you want a night in 1969.

  JOSH: And don't you?

  Silence. The phone rings. They stand in silence till it rings off.

  FLICK: Well, maybe one night.

  He moves towards her.

  No, I can’t, Josh. It doesn't feel right.

  JOSH: [holding her] Doesn't it?

  FLICK: [returning his embrace] Oh, yes. Yes, it does.

  JOSH: And when I called…?

  FLICK: You’re right. I was excited. And I think I did want this. I’m not even sure why.

  JOSH: [taking the phone off the hook] Because you’ve been with me forever. You, and this night, and this hush…

  STEPHANIE: [off] Fliss? Fliss?

  FLICK and JOSH move apart as STEPHANIE enters at speed from one end of the deck.

  Fliss, thank Christ you're here.

  She pours herself a glass of wine while talking, oblivious of JOSH.

  You know what that bastard has done to me now? Yes, I know. I know you said, ‘Take it easy, Steph, go easy with this one.’ But I thought, no, this is the one, Brendan’s the one. I mean, Brendan, that should have been the giveaway, even if I’d missed the Miraculous Medal on the dashboard. But there he was, this vital, vibrant, caring man, who took three months to tell me his marriage was a sacrament, so even though he couldn’t live without me, he couldn’t live with me. Well, I could live with that, right? I could live with anything. Until tonight. I could live with the guilt, and the clock-watching, and the quick dash for the door to make it home before Bernadette gets back from her Ecumenical Tae Kwon Do group. I could live with being stood up for a Pentecostal Bushwalk. I can live with Brendan and Bernadette, I mean not live with Brendan because of Bernadette…well, because of Brendan, the gutless little Mick turd. I can live with anything but this. You know what he’s done, Fliss? You know what Brendan has done? He has given me up for Lent.

  FLICK: Steph, this is Josh.

  STEPHANIE: Can you believe that? Given me up for Lent. Like I’m a box of chocolates.

  FLICK: Josh, Stephanie.

  STEPHANIE: That’s it. A box of Darrell Lea chocolates, sitting on the shelf, not to be opened till Easter.

  FLICK: Josh is a friend from California. Stephanie is my next-door neighbour.

  STEPHANIE: I mean, not ‘It’s over, Steph’, nothing that straight-forward. ‘I've given you up for Lent, darling.’

  She eats an oyster.

  Fliss, what am I going to do?

  FLICK: First you’re going to say hello to my guest, then you’re going to finish your drink and go. We’re about to eat, Steph.

  She goes into the kitchen. STEPHANIE takes another oyster.

  JOSH: Hi.

  STEPHANIE: You know, I did think Brendan was it. Intelligent, sensitive, no police record. And after all the ratbags that have come my way. I mean, Ken Willis. You knew Ken.

  JOSH: No, I never did.

  STEPHANIE: Well, you remember all that stuff in the papers. Did you know Frankie Snedden?

  JOSH: Sorry.

  STEPHANIE: Ex Manly CID. Took early retirement and went to work for Colonel Rabuka. And best of the lot, Sergei. Sergei Nicolayev, you knew him. Remember the beard and the fur coat?

  JOSH: Afraid not.

  STEPHANIE: You don’t know anyone, do you?

  She takes another oyster.

  Sergei was the full Slav bit. Dirty collar, dirty fingernails, straight Stolichnaya for breakfast, the full bit. Black bread and long card games and lots of crying. I was in heaven. Then this old lady turns up looking for Sid. Sid Nicols. It's his Mum from Toukley. His Auntie Iris has died and left him a milk-bar at The Entrance. So he goes off to run the milk-bar at The Entrance. Das Vedanya, Sid. He was the first. But it's not as though I haven't learned. I've learned to look for integrity, sanity and balance. I haven't found them. I've found Ken Willis, the professional cheque-bouncer. Frank Snedden, who brought the poker-machine to Fiji. And now Brendan Kennelly, who has given me up for Lent.

  She drains her glass.

  This wine is piss. Of course, all white wine is piss at this hour of the evening.

  FLICK enters with two plates.

  FLICK: We are eating seafood, Steph.

  STEPHANIE: I’m not eating fish during Lent. I’m not bowing to two thousand years of Mick superstition.

  She pours another glass of wine.

  What sort of seafood?

  FLICK: Lobster. One lobster.

  STEPHANIE: I’ll stretch a point for lobster.

  FLICK: No, Steph. You hold your ground.

  An oven bell rings in the kitchen. FLICK goes, signalling desperation to JOSH. STEPHANIE finishes the oysters.

  STEPHANIE: She’s fantastic, isn’t she? I would die without Fliss.

  JOSH: Stephanie, I’m going to ask you a great favour.

  STEPHANIE: Did you see her on TV? So brave. So straight. I only saw the first couple of minutes, actually. Brendan was over, and he had to watch Becker and Lendl before he gave me up for Lent. Are you married?

  JOSH: Well, uh, no.

  STEPHANIE: You’re gay.

  JOSH: Stephanie, I’m going to ask you to give us this evening on our own.

  STEPHANIE: You’re American.

  JOSH: Yes, here on a very short visit, so—

  STEPHANIE: Fliss didn’t say. Mind you, she never says much. She’s the most fantastic listener.

  FLICK comes in.

  FLICK: Finished your wine, Steph?

  STEPHANIE: Yes, I’ll go and get something drinkable.

  FLICK & JOSH: [together] Stephanie—

  STEPHANIE: No, it’s no trouble. Geez, I’m glad you're home tonight. Hold the lobster, I’ll be back in a flash.

  She goes out via the deck.

  FLICK: She will, too. Let’s escape. We’ll go down to the water for an hour.

  JOSH: It’s always water for you, isn’t it? Kiss me.

  FLICK: Let’s get out of here first.

  JOSH: Kiss me, please.

  There is a knock on the door.

  Back in a flash. She wasn’t kidding.

  FLICK: Wrong direction.

  She puts a finger to her lips.

  Shh! We’ll get out this way.

  JOSH: No, dammit, it’s your house. Take the challenge!

  He calls out.

  Come in!

  FLICK: What is this?

  JOSH: America’s contribution to history: gunboat diplomacy. Come in, whoever you are!

  He throws open the door. BUNTY stands there. She wears a smart dress and carries a canvas carry-bag.

  BUNTY: My goodness. That sounded exactly like Henry Fonda in Young Mr Lincoln.

  FLICK: Mother, this is Joshua Makepeace.

  BUNTY: Hello, Joshua. Jocelyn’s husband?

  FLICK: Yes.

  JOSH: Yes.

  BUNTY: Jocelyn and Joshua. That’s lovely, but don’t people get you confused?

  JOSH: No, not since I took to wearing my hair this short.

  They laugh, a little too long.

  BUNTY: And where’s Jocelyn?

  FLICK: Taken ill.

  BUNTY: But she rang—

  FLICK: At the very last minute. Food poisoning.

  BUNTY: Poor girl! I’m sorry to miss her. I brought her one of my stories.

  She produces gifts from her bag.

  And a tin of my special Walnut Surprise. But she won’t be up to that, will she?

  JOSH: I would say not.

  BUNTY: She was a cheerleader, I believe.

  JOSH: A cheerleader?

  He glances at FLICK, who nods firmly at him.

  Yes, a cheerleader. Two bits, four bits, six bits, a dollar…’

  BUNTY: Marvellous figure, I hear. Lovely teeth…

  JOSH: Homecoming queen.

  FLICK: Baton twirler.

  JOSH: She was quite a g
al, my wife, Jocelyn.

  FLICK: I was just about to serve dinner, mother.

  BUNTY: You were in Felicity’s class too?

  JOSH: Corona Beach High School Class of ‘69, Ma’am.

  BUNTY: Bunty.

  JOSH: Pardon me?

  BUNTY: Bunty. Call me Bunty. So you were all friends?

  FLICK: Inseparable.

  BUNTY: You and Jocelyn and Joshua.

  FLICK: [fingers crossed] Like that.

  JOSH: [fingers crossed] Like that.

  BUNTY: How lovely. All three of you?

  BUNTY, FLICK & JOSH: [together] Like that.

  They laugh, a little too long.

  BUNTY: It’s very odd.

  JOSH: Odd?

  BUNTY: She isn’t in the yearbook.

  FLICK: The yearbook?

  BUNTY: Your high school yearbook. I found it at home.

  She produces a U.S. high school yearbook from the carry-bag.

  She was such a prominent sort of girl, but there’s no mention of her.

  JOSH: [deftly taking the book] Oh, but Bunky—

  BUNTY: Bunty.

  JOSH: Bunty. I guess you looked for Makepeace.

  BUNTY: No, Joshua. I looked for Jocelyn, and there’s no one of that name in your class. In the entire school. Could they have left her out?

  FLICK: No! She changed her first name, too.

  BUNTY: Oh! And what was it?

  FLICK & JOSH: [miraculously together] Holly.

  JOSH: Yes… Holly.

  BUNTY: Holly. But that’s such a pretty name, why would she change it?

  JOSH: Look, here she is.

  He shows BUNTY the book.

  Homecoming Queen Holly Magnuson with the Corona Beach Bulldogs.

  FLICK: Brad. Biff. Bart. Blair. Buck.

  BUNTY: You’re making those up!

  She looks.

  Oh, you’re not. And here’s Holly. What a gorgeous creature. That figure. Those teeth. And a natural blonde?

  JOSH: Yes.

  FLICK: [simultaneously] No.

  BUNTY: Now, where are those pom-poms?

  FLICK: Mother, I think Josh is getting hungry.

  BUNTY: He can have a Walnut Surprise.

  FLICK: No!

  BUNTY: [taking out the tin and opening it] It won’t spoil his dinner.

  FLICK: I wouldn’t bet on that.

  BUNTY: You look like a big eater. Have one.

  JOSH: Thank you.

  He takes it. He turns a page of the yearbook, which BUNTY now holds.

  There she is again. Future Home-makers of America.

  BUNTY: Oh, how lovely! And what a pretty apron.

  FLICK disposes of the Walnut Surprise for JOSH. BUNTY looks up.

  You’ve finished that already?

  JOSH: Delicious.