Читать книгу Adults - Emma Jane Unsworth - Страница 11

Night. A single bed with a rainbow-patterned duvet cover. A rug. A full bookshelf. A bedside lamp on. Everything small and infused with hope. Jenny is in bed. Carmen is pacing the room, reading from a book.

CARMEN (over-emphasising): Never do anything by halves if you want to get away with it. Be OUTRAGEOUS. Go the WHOLE HOG. Make sure everything you do is so completely crazy it’s UNBELIEVABLE.

Jenny picks at a patch of loose paint on the wall. Carmen stops reading.

CARMEN: Right, that’s it.

JENNY: What?

CARMEN: You’re not listening!

JENNY: I am!

CARMEN: Do you know how much people pay to come and see me these days?

JENNY: A million pounds.

CARMEN: Seven fifty with booking fee.

JENNY: Wow.

CARMEN: Look. I’ve worked a long day after a long night and I’m off to work again as soon as Aunty Bev gets here and I’m trying to make precious time for my daughter and she could not care less.

JENNY: I was listening.

CARMEN: You weren’t! You couldn’t give a monkey’s. Here I am, giving it my all. TO THE WALL.

JENNY [quietly]: You’re overdoing it.

CARMEN: What did you say?

JENNY: Again.

CARMEN [huffing]: It’s drama, darling. It requires voices.

JENNY: It’s Roald Dahl.

Carmen throws down the book and storms out of the room.

Jenny sighs, rolls over, switches her lamp off and goes to sleep.