One Set To Love

Scene 10

 

G : Oh what a wonderful day, a marvellous service, the vicar was a bit non-descript, but all-in-all a fantastic start to our life together. Are you alright my love? You seem a little quiet, pale even, nervous? Don’t worry darling, I’ve ordered some champagne. I can’t think where it is.

 

Enter K as Antoine

 

G : Ah, Antoine.

Ant : Monsieur, le champagne.

G : How marvellous.

Ant : Monsieur, would you care to taste?

G : No no. I’m sure it will be fine. (To Anna) Ahh, Paris. The city of lovers. What a romantic setting for the beginning of our honeymoon. Look my dear, from our window we can see the Notre-Dame, over there the Sacre-Coeur, and later I shall take you up the…..Eiffel Tower. (Meanwhile A has poisoned one of the drinks. They go to drink).

Ant : Non non non! Monsieur, don’t drink! You asked for dry, this is only medium – and besides, it’s 1907, a terrible year, the grapes were awful…………..

G : Yes, alright, Antoine. Leave us alone.

 

Voice-Over

 

K : “It  became very apparent that to achieve my goal I would need to be more cunning than a fox, a fox so cunning that it could out-fox all the foxes in….Upper and Lower Foxley”.

 

G & A walking in the hotel grounds. K hiding behind twig with revolver.

 

G : What a beautiful Parisian morning. Did you enjoy breakfast my petit choux-choux. Pain au chocolat, croissants. Oh come on Anna, don’t give me the silent treatment again. I was only saying it would be nice if Kenneth was here. He’s my oldest and dearest friend and I understand perfectly why he can’t be here but it would have just been nice if he was.  (They stop by ‘Tree’)

Oh come on Anna. (They swap places). Oh this is ridiculous Anna. (K clicks gun twice. G and A swap back and go to leave.) Oh let’s not fight darling, they do a lovely cream tea in the hotel. (Gunshot) Don’t be alarmed my dear, it’s only the start of the pheasant shoot…ahh pheasants…..ahh Kenneth….ahh, sorry darling.

 

Voice-Over

 

K : “It was later that evening, whilst removing the bullet, that I realised I had been barking up the wrong tree. I needed to get Anna alone and to do this would require all my powers of cunning deception. Removing Georgey from the scene would be no easy task. Meticulous planning, pinpoint precision and perfect…..timing were essential”.

 

Back at the bridal suite. Ent A with cream tea.

 

G : Table, terrace……something beginning with ‘T’ ….oh come on Buttercup, give me a clue. (Enter Antione) Ah, the cream tea….tea! ha! I’ve got it!… Perfect timing, Antoine. What the blazes happened to you?!

Ant : A minor mishap with an…’edgeog. Sir there is a telephone call for you.

G : Who the devil could that be?

Ant : I do not know Sir, but they said it was very urgent.

G : Sorry about this pumpkin. I’ll be right back .

Ant : Pumpkin! Madame, zis is for you, with ze compliments of ze hotel.

 

Scene 11

 

Back to present

 

G : So, that was the last time I saw her. Strange thing was there was no-one on the telephone. Then suddenly there was a huge explosion. I ran back to the room but it was too late. When the smoke had cleared and the dust had settled all that remained was Anna’s gold tooth, the waiter’s moustache and the charred remains of an old music box.  I couldn’t return to England after that. I was hollow. A shadow of my former self. So I became a missionary in the tropics.

K : How very tragic old boy. It must have been dreadful for you.

G : Yes it was. The damned heat, the mosquitos and you couldn’t get a decent Gin and Tonic anywhere.

K : No Georgey, I meant Anna.

G : Yes it was, and in many ways it still is. I don’t have a single keepsake, nothing at all to remind me of her. We never did receive the wedding photos.

K : You should never trust a German.

G : I’m sorry?

K : Drink man, drink! I’d get Jessica to bring another bottle but as long as us two are sat here that’s frankly impossible.

 

They drink – Pause

 

K : You know, Georgey, I’m now keenly aware of how much you must have suffered, but if I may be frank with you, old boy, I suffered no small amount myself. It was agony you know.

G : Yes, dreadful. It must have been awful for you.

K : Words cannot describe the pain I was in.

G : Yes, I can imagine…..What exactly are you talking about Kenneth?

K : Look Georgey, the wine, the champers, the pheasant shoot, this mornings pillow fight…it was all a front. I didn’t bring you here just for old time’s sake. The truth is I’ve been harbouring a dark secret these past ten years…..ten long years, ten long…..

G : Yes, alright Kenneth. Do you know I’m suddenly a little light-headed. I think I’m going to take some air, I’ll be right back.

K : Georgey old boy.

G : No no, I’ll be fine.

 

Exit G, Enter J

 

J : How’s it going, Sir?

K : It’s not easy, Jessy.

J : You must get this off your chest, Sir. You can’t take this to the grave with you. Just tell him. No-one else need know.

K : But how will he take it Jessy? It could destroy him if I tell him.

J : You’ve got to take that risk Sir. Hell and damnation await you if you don’t, and it may well await you if you do.

K : Thank you very much for your kind words of encouragement, Jessy.

J : All I’m saying is tell him, tell him now Sir.

K : You’re right, Jessy, damn it you’re right! Georgey! Georgey!

J : When I say now Sir, I don’t think it’s appropriate while I’m here. You wait till I’m gone.

 

K sits

 

K : Yes, well, I suppose I’ll have to. Thank you Jessy. You’ve been a great help.

J : Yes, well, it’s all part of the service Sir. And just remember….

K : Yes?

J : Like the lover, the friend expects no reward for his feelings. He does not wish the performance of any duty in return, he does not view the person he has chosen as his friend with any illusion, he sees his faults and accepts them with all their consequences. Such is the ideal. And without such an ideal, would there any point to life? And if a friend fails, because he is not a true friend, is one allowed to attack his character and his weaknesses? What is the value of a friendship in which one person loves the other for his virtue, his loyalty, his steadfastness? What is the value of a love that expects loyalty? Isn’t it our duty to accept the faithless friend as we do the faithful one who sacrifices himself? Is disinterest not the essence of every human relationship? That the more we give the less we expect? And if a man gives someone his trust through all the years of his youth and stands ready to make sacrifices for him in manhood because of that blind, unconditional devotion, which is the highest thing any one person can offer another, only then to witness the faithlessness and base behaviour of his friend, is he permitted to rise up in protest and demand vengeance? And if he does rise up and demand vengeance, having been deceived and abandoned, what does that say about the validity of his friendship in the first place? You see, these are the kinds of theoretical questions that have occupied me since I have been alone, since I lost Elaine. Of course, solitude did not provide me with any answers.

 

Pause.

 

K : Yes well, as I said, thank you Jessy, you’ve been a great help.

J : Oh I think I hear him coming, Sir. Good luck.

 

Exit J. Enter G

 

K : Better?

G : Yes thank you……..I feel awful Kenneth. I should have seen the signs  - the way you danced together at the ball, the way you reacted after the boating incident. I know it all seems obvious to me now but all those years ago I just couldn’t see your love for Anna.

K : There was nothing to see. It was never there.

G : But Kenneth, you were just after telling me in this very room that you loved her.

K : No Georgey, I said I proposed to her.

G : But why propose if you weren’t in love?

K : Let’s just say I treasure my testicles.

G : Ah, the father.

K : Yes, he can be very persuasive.

G : So you weren’t in love at all?

K : Oh I was in love alright, but not with Anna.

G : Kenneth, dear boy, I know a very good doctor in Harley Street, very discreet. He could help you.

K : There isn’t a doctor in Harley Street or any other streeet that could cure what I’ve got.

G : What in God’s name are you talking about, Kenneth?

K : The love of my life, Georgey. You don’t know everything about me.

G : Yes alright Kenneth, get to the point. Who is she?

K : Georgey please don’t be too hard on me. The burden of what I know, of what you don’t know and what Anna will never know has left me a broken man.

G : Stop speaking in riddles man, get to the point. Who is it?

K : I can’t, I’m scared.

G : Of what? What’s the worst thing that could happen?

K : I could lose this person forever.

G : And if you do nothing you will definitely lose them.

K : It’s not that simple, Georgey.

G : Love is never simple, Kenneth.

K : I’ve just never had the courage to tell this person face to face that I love them.

G : Kenneth, if you don’t let your true feelings out now you never will and they’ll never know.

K : I want to Georgey, I want to but I can’t.

G : You can, Kenneth, you can, let it out! Just pretend it’s me!

K : Oh Georgey.

G : Come on man, let’s just try it!  “Hello Kenneth, have you got something to tell me?”

K : I love you! I love you with every sinew of my being, with all my heart and all my soul. It’s you, it’s only ever been you! The size of my love for you is like an ocean swelling, a mountain rising, a jungle beating to its own erotic rythym! I’ve lived in denial but no more. The floodgates of passion have been flung wide open and I’m gushing through them. Away with convention, good-bye rule-book, inhibition be gone! I love you now, always and forever!

G : Yes, excellent, Kenneth. Always good to start big then rein it in, bring it back a little. Keep the jungle bit, though, very good.

K : I want to run away from you but if you never found me I would die. I want to break the chains you put around me but I know I never will. Impossible to live with you but I know I will never live without you. For whatever you do I’ll never never never never be in love with anyone but you.

G : Are you alright Kenneth? Are you alright….(Repeat/echo)

 

Flashback  from K’s point of view.

 

G : Are you alright in there?

K : Well I was practicing my serve.

G : Ah, I can see the problem…your grip’s all wrong. You need to make a ‘v’ with your forefinger and thumb,like this……Where does it hurt?

K : Here.

G : Ah yes…..(clicks K into place)

K : Do you know it feels better already. Thank you……?

G : George…..my friends call me Georgey. I’m in the dorm next door.

K : Oh really? What are you studying?

G : Pornology. And you?

K : Escapology…Er, Kenneth. Well thank you….Georgey.

G : Now are you sure you’re alright? (repeat/echo)

 

Scene 12    

 

G : Well, that stroll down memory lane was very pleasant old boy, but I have to say that’s not quite as I remember it. Anyway, I can’t help thinking you’re getting distracted. Focus, man, focus.

K : But it’s you.

G : What?

K : You, I love you.

G : That’s better, back on track.

K : No, I love you

G : I love you too.

K : No, I love you love you.

G : I love you love you too.

K : No, I love you like wild flowers love the rain, I love you like the tides love the moon, I love you like……(whispers)

 

G exits, champagne cork, returns with champers.

Fred and Ginger.

 

K : Ah, how we’d frolick, tumbling in the long grass, the sun beating down. I thought that Summer would never end, that Summer of…..frolicks. And now I see, in many ways, it never really did.

 

J : I always knew they were made for each other. You see, time is the strangest thing. The perfect moment may contain more, infinitely more, then all the years and decades that preceeded it. I have been your honest and humble servant, Jessica.

 

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Copyright : Matt Devere, Mike Kelly and Paul Hunter.