32
CYNTHIA: What were you doing before I came?
BOY: Nothing.
CYNTHIA: I bet you were lying there asleep, you big
lazybones.
BOY: Yes, you could say I was in a slumber.
And if I may be so bold as to ask,
Just what were you doing before you came?
CYNTHIA: I...I don't remember.
BOY: Surely you can, it was not long ago.
CYNTHIA: That's right. I was talking to the school
counsellor. I remember now. He was asking me why
I was going so badly at school now...and how I
felt about it and...and then he starting asking me
about my stepfather and I...I just wanted to get
away...
(CYNTHIA seems to get caught up in her own
thoughts for a moment and the BOY rises and
goes to her.)
BOY: Is there still no love 'twixt the two of you?
CYNTHIA: Love? Hardly. I hate him. He...he...(she breaks
down and falls into the BOY's arms) I can't stand
it anymore. I just can't take it and I don't know
what to do. I need to talk to someone but I don't
know what to say. I'm so ashamed. How could I
tell the counsellor what he does to me?
BOY: (holding her tightly)
Easy now, I am always here for you.
CYNTHIA: Can I talk to you. Can I tell you everything? I
haven't got anybody else.
BOY: But of course is that not what friends are for?
Come let us sit and then we'll dry your eyes.
(He leads her to the hill and they sit in the sun.)
BOY: So you have not told me the whole story?
CYNTHIA: No. I wanted to but I couldn't. I didn't want to
acknowledge that it was real, that it was actually
happening to me. But I can't deny it anymore, I
can't carry it around inside me anymore or I feel
like I'll burst.
