From Wit And Humor Theme there are Reading - A The Dear Departed – I Lesson, Reading - B, A The Dear Departed – II Lesson, Reading - C The Brave Potter Lesson.
Enjoy Reading The Dear Departed – I Lesson
Victoria : That's grandpa's clock.
(When the curtain rises Mrs.
Slater is seen laying the table. She is a vigorous, plump,
red-faced, vulgar woman prepared
to do any amount of straight talking to get her own way. She is in black. She goes
to the window, opens it and calls into the street)
Mrs. Slater : (sharply) Victoria, Victoria! D'ye hear? Come in, will you?
The Dear Departed – I SCERT 10th Class Lesson
Mrs. Slater : (sharply) Victoria, Victoria! D'ye hear? Come in, will you?
(Victoria comes in.)
Mrs. Slater: I'm
amazed at you, Victoria. I really am. Be off now, and change your dress before
your Aunt Elizabeth and your Uncle Ben come. It would never do for
them
to find you in colours with grandfather lying dead, upstairs.
Victoria: What
are they coming for? They haven't been here for ages.
Mrs. Slater: They're
coming to talk over poor grandpa's affairs. Your father sent them a telegram as
soon as we found he was dead. (A
noise is heard)
(Henry Slater, a stooping, heavy
man with a drooping mustache, enters. He
is wearing a black tailcoat,
grey trousers, a black tie and a bowler hat.)
Henry: I'm
wondering if they'll come at all. When you and Elizabeth quarreled she said she'd
never set foot in your house again.
Mrs. Slater: She'll
come fast enough after her share of what our father's left. You know how hard
she can be when she likes. Where she gets it from I can't tell.
Henry : I
suppose it's in the family. (pause)
Where are my slippers?
Mrs. Slater : In
the kitchen; but you want a new pair, those old ones are nearly worn out. (Nearly breaking down) You don't seem to realize what it's costing me to bear up
like I am doing. My heart's fit to break when I see the little trifles that
belonged to father lying around, and think he'll never use them again. (Briskly) Here! You'd better wear these slippers of my father's now.
It's lucky he'd just got a new pair.
Henry : They'll
be very small for me, my dear.
Mrs. Slater : They'll
stretch, won't they? I'm not going to have them wasted. (She has finished laying the table.) Henry, I've been thinking about that bureau of
my
father's that's in his bedroom. You know I always wanted to have it after
he
died.
Henry : You
must arrange with Elizabeth when you're dividing things up.
Mrs. Slater : Elizabeth's
that sharp she'll see I'm after it, and we'll drive a hard bargain over it.
The Dear Departed – I |
Henry : Perhaps
she's got her eye on the bureau as well.
Mrs. Slater : She's
got her eye on the bureau as well.
Mrs. Slater : She's
never been here since father bought it. If it was only down here
instead
of in his room, she'd never guess it wasn't our own.
Henry : (startled): Amelia! (He
rises)
Mrs. Slater : Henry,
why shouldn't we bring that bureau down here now? We can do it before they
come.
The Dear Departed – I |
Henry :
(stupefied) I wouldn't care to.
Mrs. Slater : Don't
look so daft. Why not?
Henry : It
doesn't seem delicate, somehow.
Mrs. Slater : We
could put that shabby old chest of drawers upstairs where the bureau is now.
Elizabeth could have that and welcome. I've always wanted to get rid of it.
(She points to the drawers.)
Henry : Suppose
they come when we're doing it.
Mrs. Slater : I'll
fasten the front door. Get your coat off, Henry. We'll change it. (Mrs. Slater goes out to fasten
the front door. Henry takes his coat off. Mrs. Slater reappears.)
Mrs. Slater : I'll
run up and move the chairs out of the way. (Victoria appears, dressed according to her mother's
instructions)
Victoria : What
have you got your coat off for, father?
Henry : Mother
and I are going to bring grandfather's bureau down here.
Victoria : Are
you planning to pinch it?
Henry : (Shocked)
No, my child. Grandpa gave it to your
mother before he died.
Victoria : This
morning?
Henry : Yes.
Victoria : Ah!
He was drunk this morning. (Mrs.
Slater appears carrying a handsome
clock under her arm.)
Mrs. Slater : I
thought I'd fetch this down as well. (She
puts it on the mantelpiece.) Our
clock’s worth nothing and this always appealed to me.
The Dear Departed – I |
Victoria : That's grandpa's clock.
Mrs. Slater : Be
quiet! It's ours now. Come, Henry, lift your end.
(Henry and Mrs. Slater, very hot
and flushed, stagger in with a pretty
old-fashioned bureau containing
a locked desk. They put it where the chest of drawers was, and
straighten the ornaments, etc. There is a knock at the door. The knocking
is repeated.) (Victoria ushers in Ben and Mrs.
Jordan. The latter is a stout, complacent woman with an irritating air of
being always right. She is wearing an
outfit of new mourning. Ben is
also in complete new mourning. He is rather a jolly little man, but
at present trying to adapt himself to the regrettable occasion. Mrs. Jordan
sails into the room and solemnly goes straight to Mrs. Slater and
kisses her. The men shake hands.)
Mrs. Jordan :Well,
Amelia, and so he's gone at last.
Ben (chirpily)
: Now, Amelia, you mustn't give way. We've all got to die some
time or other.
Mrs. Jordan : And now perhaps you'll tell us all about it.
Mrs. Jordan : And now perhaps you'll tell us all about it.
Mrs. Slater : Father
had been merry this morning. He went out soon after breakfast to pay
his insurance.
Ben : My
word, it's a good thing he did.
Mrs. Jordan : He
always was thoughtful in that way. He was too honourable to have 'gone' without
paying his premium.
Henry : And
when I came in I found him undressed sure enough and snug in bed.
Mrs. Slater : And
when we'd finished dinner I thought I'd take up a bit of something on a tray.
He was lying there for all the world as if he was asleep, so I put the
tray
down on the bureau-(correcting herself) on the chest of drawers - and
went
to waken him. (A pause) He was quite cold.
(A pause. They wipe their eyes
and sniff back tears.)
Mrs. Slater : (Rising
briskly at length; in a business-like tone) Well,
will you go up
and
look at him now, or shall we have tea?
Mrs. Jordan : What
do you say, Ben?
Ben : I'm
not particular.
Mrs. Jordan : (surveying
the table) Well, then, if the kettle's ready, we
may as well have tea
first. (Mrs. Slater puts the kettle on
the fire and gets tea ready.)
Henry : One
thing we may as well decide now is the announcement in the papers.
Mrs. Jordan : I
was thinking of that. What would you put? (A pause)
Mrs. Jordan : Well,
we'll think about it after tea, and then we'll look through his bits of things
and make a list of them. There's all the furniture in his room.
Henry : There's
no jewellery or valuables of that sort.
Mrs. Jordan : Except
his gold watch. He promised that to our Jimmy.
Mrs. Slater : Promised
your Jimmy! I never heard of that.
Mrs. Jordan : Oh,
but he did, Amelia, when he was living with us. He was very fond of Jimmy.
Mrs. Slater : Well,
(Amazed) I don't know!
Ben : Anyhow,
there's his insurance money. Have you got the receipt for the
premium
he paid this morning?
Mrs. Slater : I've
not seen it.
(Victoria jumps up from the sofa
and comes behind the table.)
Victoria : Mother,
I don't think Grandpa went to pay his insurance this morning.
Mrs. Slater : He
went out.
Victoria : Yes,
but he didn't go into the town. He met old Mr. Tattersall down the
street,
and they went off past St. Philip's Church.
Ben : Do
you think he hasn't paid it? Was it overdue?
Mrs. Slater : I
should think it was overdue.
Mrs. Jordan : Something
tells me he's not paid it.
Ben : The
drunken old beggar.
Mrs. Jordan : He's
done it on purpose, just to annoy us.
Mrs. Slater : After
all I've done for him, having to put up with him in the house these
three
years. It's nothing short of swindling.
Mrs. Jordan : I
had to put up with him for five years.
Mrs. Slater : And
you were trying to turn him over to us all the time.
Henry : But
we don't know for certain that he's not paid the premium.
Mrs. Slater : Victoria,
run upstairs and fetch that bunch of keys that's on your Grandpa's dressing-table.
Victoria :(timidly)
In Grandpa's room?
Mrs. Slater : Yes.
Victoria : I
- I don't like to.
Mrs. Slater : Don't
talk so silly. There's no one who can hurt you. (Victoria goes out
reluctantly) We'll see if he's locked the receipt up in the bureau.
Ben : In
where? In this thing? (He rises and examines it.)
Mrs. Jordan : (also
rising) Where did you pick that up, Amelia?
It's new since last I was here. (They examine it closely.)
Mrs. Slater : Oh
- Henry picked it up one day. (Victoria returns, very scared.
She closes the door after her.)
Victoria : Mother!
Mother!
Mrs. Slater : What
is it, child?
Victoria : Grandpa's
getting up.
Ben : What?
Mrs. Slater : What
do you say?
Victoria : Grandpa's
getting up.
Mrs. Jordan : The
child's crazy.
Mrs. Slater : Don't
talk so silly. Don't you know your grandpa's dead?
Victoria : No,
no; he's getting up. I saw him. (They are transfixed with
amazement; Victoria clings to Mrs. Slater.)
Ben : (Suddenly)
Hist! Listen.
(They look at the door. A slight
chuckling is heard from upstairs. The door opens,
revealing an old man clad in a
faded but gay dressing-gown. He is in his stockinged
feet. Although over seventy, he
is vigorous and well coloured. His bright, malicious eyes twinkle under his heavy,
reddish-gray eye brows. He is obviously either the old man ABEL MERRYWEATHER or else his
ghost.)
(Continued in B. Reading......)
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