That’s us.
Mikey I’m not stupid.
Tony The Danes were raping and pillaging the land. But that wasn’t all. Crops had failed. The Bishops started to say God had left. And looked about for someone to blame. For years the nuns around Little Bevan had lived quietly. But some said their ways were odd. Against God. Rumours spread that in the dead of night they worshipped the moon. Soon it was decided by the men in Rome they must be disbanded. Their treasures handed over to the Vatican. And that would’ve been that. Except for one amongst them who said no.
And strangely Tony feels this ease.
For the first time in his life. He stops worrying about getting it all right.
About the details.
He tells Mikey about St Agathus.
The story of St Agathus takes over.
In shadow and with music.
We see the Vikings arrive. The land swarmed.
The Pope in Rome turn his back.
St Agathus herself with her sword.
Her escape. Into the woods.
And then her disappearance into the earth below.
It’s really beautiful. It comes to an end. They are alone again.
Mikey That was good.
Tony Well, it was a very truncated version. Almost embarrassingly simplistic. I mean, to have any real sense of –
…
Thanks.
Better?
Mikey Yeah.
Tony Come on then.
The two move off.
TWENTY
Josie Gill?
Pat.
And with that the others arrive.
Sweat.
Heave.
Breath.
Breathe.
They’d actually enjoyed it.
This run through the night.
The hunt. Tails wagging. Eyes bright.
Formed a pack.
Anything was better than looking back at what had been said.
Though Steve had at one point looked at Andy there ahead and wanted him dead. Just a push over a rock. Something that would shock the bastard who’d slept with his wife.
They’d all felt it.
Exposed.
Raw.
Better to run than remember.
But now.
Now they were suddenly still.
Gill. This huddled wretch.
Half-naked. Lying on the ground.
What are they meant to do?
Gill can feel it too.
Something change.
They go from being deranged to what?
Josie is the first to say.
Josie Gill, are you okay?
Gill NO. No.
You won’t do this.
Go back to how it was before.
Gill Come on. Do something.
Bring this night to a head.
Gill Do it! I know you all want me dead.
Pat Dead?
What do you mean?
Gill And with that Gill couldn’t help but recall.
The summer day that started it all.
TWENTY-ONE
In the tunnels.
Mikey and Tony come to a dead end.
Mikey What?
Tony It’s blocked. Fallen in.
Mikey Are we going to die here?
Tony No. We just need to go back. There’ll be a way out.
Mikey Right. Sure.
Do you have anything to eat?
I feel a bit …
Tony Polo?
Mikey Do you know what’s nice?
The quiet.
They listen.
Tone.
Don’t you have a phone?
Tony No.
Mikey What’s that like?
Tony I don’t know. I just never have. I suppose with my mum things have rather passed me by.
I did once go on Facebook.
But to be honest it was all rather …
Mikey What?
Tony Well, seeing the people from school; partners, kids. I dunno.
I suppose. It can make you feel lonely.
Mikey Yeah.
…
You know I was actually on a date tonight.
Tony Oh right. Good?
Mikey I stood him up.
Tony I see.
Mikey Oh. Him. I said him.
I’ve never said that before.
I’ve always thought …
Well. It just came out.
Tony Maybe it’s the effect of being deep underground.
The Agathus effect.
Mikey Yeah!
Sorry. Only …
He is crying, suddenly overwhelmed.
Tony That’s okay.
Mikey I wanted to tell my mum.
But it’s like there’s this thing inside. And whenever I try I just …
It chokes me up.
Tony I used to get that. Lecturing. Even when no one came.
A sort of tightening up?
Mikey Yeah.
I mean, it’s happening a bit now.
Tony Maybe you just need to practise.
Mikey What?
Tony Well, saying it out loud.
Mikey Right.
Tony Go on then.
Mikey What? To you?
Tony Unless …
Yes.
Mikey What do I say?
Tony …
I’m gay?
Mikey Me too!
Tony No. No. I was being you.
Mikey Oh right.
…
I’m gay.
Tony Mum.
Mikey Mum, I’m gay.
Tony That’s it. Sounds good.
Mikey Mum, I’m gay.
…
I’m a big gay goose.
Tony I’m as gay as you like.
Mikey I’m a goosey gay gander.
Tony Like a lovely old mop.
Mikey Like the top of a tree, waving in the wind. Somewhere on a mountainside.
That’s me, Mum.
That’s me inside.
…
She’ll be alright.
Tony Of course she will.
Mikey I liked your mum.
She was fun.
Tony Was she?
Mikey She used to let me play with her fridge magnets when I was little.
Tony Oh, yeah. The strawberry and that big shoe.
Mikey She had all the alphabet too.
Tony Really? She must’ve got that for you.
Wasn’t there when I was a kid.
Mikey I sometimes hid in her kitchen. Spelled out rude words.
Your mum would do them too.
Tony Mum? No.
Mikey Had a filthy mouth on her.
Tony She was always so strict with me.
Mikey People change when they get old.
He hears something, calming and peaceful and far away.
What’s that?
Tony can’t hear anything.
Tony What?
Mikey That song. It’s beautiful.
Mikey is getting woozy.
I like you, Tony.
Glad you’re here.
Sorry I called you a paedo.
Feel a bit … weird … though …
Mikey faints. Tony catches him.
Tony Michael?
Mikey!
TWENTY-TWO
That day.
She’d got back to find Rob gone.
Just a note. After thirty-three years.
‘Don’t know what to say. I’ve tried. But you’re always too busy. Or just don’t want to listen. I hope we can still be friends. The end. Rob.’
Didn’t know what to do.
Then realised she was late.
It was the day of the summer fete.
Gill had organised almost everything. Marquees, floats, face-painting.
She’d got Jan to redesign the coconut shy. Because people were always asking why there couldn’t be a bit more glitz.
Told them to stick bits of the Christmas panto s
et here and there.
Now you could throw a coconut at an elf, a reindeer or a life-size cut-out of Cher.
Hello?
How are you?
Lovely day.
Aren’t we lucky it turned out this way?
And indeed it had been nice.
Gill felt like maybe it would be okay. Maybe she could say to Pat, or Jan later on. Coming back to find him gone. Rob.
But not now. Now was the time they all loved most.
The dunking of the Dowsy Post.
Every year an effigy was made. Of someone famous who was taken to the river and thrown in.
This year there was a real buzz.
No one knew who the effigy was. That was a secret and the highest bidder got to choose. Raise money for the new roof.
The crowd all round.
The Dowsy brought out. Covered in a sheet and twenty foot tall.
Gill loved this bit.
Though over by the wall she thought she saw Josie, a slight snicker.
Was it?
And almost before it happens. Gill feels this sort of sickening inside.
Jan pulls on a rope and the sheet comes off.
A breath. The whole village looking at this thing.
‘Is it Theresa May?’ says someone from out of town.
But everyone knows, hands down.
Who it is.
Smile. Smile. But inside Gill is dying.
She can’t stop now. She can’t start crying.
The village a bit … awkward really, but then someone screams the Dowsy Song.
Gill walks along.
A hardening inside.
This is what she’ll do.
Just watch.
As she’s taken to the river.
Her legs set on fire.
Then thrown in.
And no one says.
Are you okay?
Gill Not one of you said a thing.
You all just watched or joined in.
Throwing stones at me.
How do you think that feels?
To see your head stoved in with a rock.
The shock of seeing yourself half sinking.
Bedraggled, submerged and thinking as you float away.
Gill This is me. I am that.
Pat Oh Gill.
Pat the first to speak.
Pat I’m sorry.
I knew it wasn’t right. But I just …
Gill Let it go. I know.
Do you really hate me so much?
Pat No.
Gill Then why?
And though Pat would never normally want to cause a fuss.
She thinks maybe this is what we’re here for. Brought here. Us.
And so she says.
Pat I think because you sometimes make people feel … well, like they can’t do anything right, or that they’re not good as you.
Gill What?
Is this true?
Everyone nodding.
Gill I didn’t know.
TWENTY-THREE
Tony is carrying Michael through the tunnels.
It’s hard. Really hard. Tony falls.
What do you do?
With a boy of fifteen that has no one else. No one to help.
You look at him and you say.
Tony We are not giving up. No way.
You lift and heave and get to your knees.
You will manage this.
Get to your feet.
Carry him.
Voices Tony. Tony.
You’re going crazy. Tunnel upon tunnel of black.
But you swear you can hear this …
Tap tap tap tap.
Tony Hello? Hello?
Help.
Please!
TWENTY-FOUR
Gill But I just …
I want the village to be good. To be a place where people can feel …
Like we did.
Do you remember when we first moved here, Pat? Me and Rob.
Pat Yes.
Gill You made us feel so welcome.
And it was like there was always something on.
Wasn’t there always something on? I feel like the hall was never empty. And there were kids in the village.
Where have they all gone?
I think there’s a couple of them at Number 21 by Peter’s.
Gill But we never see them.
Remember when you could afford to have a family here?
Before second homes left empty all year
And the New Year’s Party. What happened to that?
Where everyone had to design their own hat.
Andy, you did that lovely one with the ‘Twelve Days of Christmas’.
Andy Oh yes. ‘Seven swans a-swimming.’
Pat ‘Six geese a-laying.’
They all sing.
‘Five gold rings.’
Gill You see I just want it to be like it used to be.
A place to feel at home. A place for us. All of us. Well, just as long as you join in. Come to even just one thing. Christmas carols, or the Easter fete. Just make a bonnet for God’s sake.
Do the flowers.
Give a couple of hours.
To this village.
To this village and it will pay you back so very much more.
Just make a jam.
Wash some cups.
Check up on some of the older folks.
Who can’t get around.
Or have an idea.
We’ll all muck in.
A cheese-rolling competition.
A pasta night.
Dress as druids for the midsummer light.
A day out.
A day out. Even that would do.
A walk round the village.
A pint or two.
Something to bring us together.
Was all I wanted.
Josie Gill. We all want that.
Gill Do you?
But no one ever seems to help.
Sometimes I feel like I’m dragging you all along.
Josie It’s because you never let us do anything.
Gill Because no one else ever does it …
She’s about to say ‘right’. But she stops herself.
Not tonight.
Then she looks at her neighbours, the people she’s lived with so long. Shuffling. Unsure.
Sees the hurt in Josie’s eyes.
Notices Steve there too.
Can barely look at the woman he thought he knew.
It floods in on Gill, just what she’s done.
Gill I’m sorry, everyone.
I’m so sorry.
And something. Yeah. Maybe just a little something starts to lift.
Shift.
Not it all.
But maybe they could deal with the fallout tomorrow.
And the next day. And the next five hundred after that.
For now they pick up Gill.
Are you okay?
Gill Yes.
(Realising her costume is torn to bits.)
Though could anyone lend me a jumper?
TWENTY-FIVE
We have seen Tony struggling through the tunnels. Dragging Mikey with him.
He gives up and sits. An exhausted pile.
Tony Help.
HELP!
His light flickers and goes out.
I’m sorry.
Sorry for it all.
And there in the earth he imagines himself held, protected from all the world’s torment. From the last six years. The bills unpaid, from the need to wake up every day. People on the street looking at you with pity; poor Tony, he’s let himself go. He knows that’s what they’re thinking. He knows when he looks in the mirror that what they see is a strange man. Hair long and thinning, beard needs trimming, his big glasses held on one side with tape. His clothes a mess, shapeless and old. He knows. He doesn’t need to be told, but inside him is a heart. Please. He does have a heart. And his mother was the last to really see it. His mother who he cared for begrudgingly
, but loved so … lovingly. A jigsaw they did, Sunflowers. Sitting in front of the TV for hours. The sound of her snoring; in, out. The days they would just drive about, not speaking much, but knowing a sort of quiet together. ‘Oh, they’ve opened a new café,’ she’d say, and he’d look too and agree.
Peacefully.
All that passes Tony by as he thinks. This is it.
Sees all around him.
A glow.
Is it a glow?
Tony Is this what it feels like to go, Mum?
It’s not so bad actually. I hope you felt like this at the end.
I hope you can forgive me.
The music of Agathus has risen now.
Agathus has appeared and unbeknownst to Tony she wakes Mikey up.
He stares at her, then tugs on Tony’s sleeve.
Tony looks at the vision before them.
Tony Yes?
She beckons, they follow her. Into the dark. Tony supporting Mikey.
Delirious maybe. Strange visions they saw.
The two explorers together.
Following, breathless, the Holy Lady of the Fens.
And then …
And then …
The two have been led into a large, cavernous space.
An opening-up. A cavern so tall it was lost in the darkness above.
And there. In the centre of the space.
Was Agathus’ last resting place.
Bones. Just lying, so simple. Small.
Almost like she’d laid down.
‘Tony …
Love.’
And the sound. That song his mum used to sing.
A beautiful thing.
Tony has tears in his eyes.
And finally. Six months since her death. He cries.
Agathus’ presence fades. But not before she has put something in Tony’s hand.
And there. A noise.
Close.
The muffled sound of people singing ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’.
Mikey Is that ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’?
Tony Yes.
From where?
Mikey It’s coming from the tunnel, over there.
TWENTY-SIX
The sound of people singing rises until we are with Gill.
Everyone is singing ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’, but maybe with different words.
Above something has begun. A sort of village rota. Everyone chipping in and Gill has even resisted the urge to be the one to write it all down (though maybe tomorrow she might just email it round).
The Tale of Little Bevan Page 4