1 November 2016

No need to ask what they have been up to

Early in the morning, Ricky and Courtney creep downstairs;  he says he is starving, and asks if there is any bacon.   

"Quiet – Eifion will hear you!"

“Quiet – Eifion will hear you!” urges Courtney, “You have to leave!”   Ricky wants to skip school today, as Maes-y-Deri will be empty, but she insists she will see him tonight.

"I'm going to invite Courtney to dinner"

Over breakfast, Eileen tells Jim that she wants to invite Courtney over for dinner tonight, as they have not spent time together for ages.   

"She won't come"

Jim predicts that she will not come.   “Sounds as if you’re not bothered,” Eileen says, 

"It's not right that you're keeping your distance"

“Someone has to take the first step to sort out your differences – it’s not right that you’re keeping your distance.”

Jim maintains, “She’s a teenage girl – she has a life of her own!”   Eileen stresses that he is part of it, and she is going to invite her anyway.   

"Great!"

“Great – I’m looking forward to it already!” he groans.

Ricky creeps in without a sound . . .

Ricky creeps in the back way at Maes-y-Deri, but encounters his mother, who demands, 

. . . but is waylaid by his mother

“Where have you been?   I was about to report you as a missing person!”   

"There was a party at Ellis's"

Ricky says he has only stayed at Ellis’s after a party, but is told, “You should have asked permission – you’re grounded for a week!   

"You do as I say!"

“While you’re living here, you do as I say!”

Sheryl and Esther are at the shop

Sheryl is at the shop with Esther, and explains to Eileen that it is not really Esther’s birthday today.   

"Eifion used up all the milk"

Then Courtney comes in, as Eifion has used up all the milk;  she is pleased that Eileen lets her have it free, as she is short of money.   

"I'd like you to come to dinner tonight"

“There’s £20 in my purse upstairs – you can go up and get it,” Eileen tells her, and also invites her to dinner, but Courtney replies that she is doing something tonight.

Ed does not feel up to 'Burger night at the Deri'

Meanwhile upstairs, Sioned fancies going to the Deri tonight, as they have a burger night;  Ed is not feeling well, and takes some tablets, but she makes fun of him.   

"Stop everything – Ed has a headache!"

“Man flu!   Stop everything – Ed has a headache!”   He urges her to go without him, but she is insistent;  “I want to go with you – you’re pathetic!”

He sprawls on the floor . . .

As he walks past her, on the way to the sofa, she sticks out her foot, tripping him, and he falls headlong on the floor.   It is at this moment that Sioned realises with some distress 

. . . with Courtney witnessing the whole sordid affair

that Courtney has come upstairs and witnessed the whole thing from the doorway.   “I’m sorry “ I’ll come back later!” says Courtney, and beats a hasty retreat.

“Are you going after her or what?” snarls Sioned, as Ed picks himself up from the floor, 

Ed follows her out of the shop

and follows Courtney out of the shop and towards Eifion’s house.

Sheryl wants Hywel to do the washing-up

Hywel has taken the day off work to help Sheryl, who is making a cake;  she assigns the dish-washing to him.   

He gets the appointment letter

He fetches the letter from the drawer 

"When were you going to tell me about this?"

and asks her, “When were you going to tell me about this?”

"There's nothing wrong with me!"

She argues that she does not need the appointment, as she feels fine and there is nothing wrong.   “It’s your health, and you can’t dismiss it!” Hywel tells her, but she is adamant that she will decide.

"About what you saw . . ."

Ed follows Courtney all the way home;  “About what you saw – it could look like . . .” he begins, 

"I didn't see anything, Ed!"

but Courtney informs him that she did not see anything.   

"I wasn't looking where I was going!"

“It was an accident – I wasn’t looking where I was going!   It was my fault!” he emphasises, as Courtney gets a plaster for his injured wrist.   Again he stresses, “It was an accident!” 

"Methinks he doth protest too much"

but she is convinced otherwise.

"Of course she saw something!"

When he gets back to the shop flat, Sioned is in quite a state;  “What did she say – of course she saw something – she was standing there in the doorway!”   

"Well, she says she didn't"

Ed tells her that Courtney denies that she saw anything, but Sioned goes on, “She has to keep quiet!   It doesn’t matter what she thinks she saw – I hope you made that clear!   

"Can't you do anything right?"

“I should have gone over – I can’t rely on – you haven’t done a good enough job!   Can’t you do anything right?”

"I told her it was an accident"

“I told her it was an accident, and she believed me,” says Ed, 

"It was an accident, wasn't it?"

and when she asks him to confirm whether it was an accident, he meekly agrees, “Yes, of course!”

Sheryl chats to one of the guests

The party is in full swing at the café, with several strangers and their children there;  

Esther is about to get stuck into this food

then Debbie puts down a plate of sandwiches within Esther’s reach.   

Sheryl starts panicking

Sheryl flies into a panic;  “There are egg sandwiches – I told you not to make them!” she shouts, 

"Oi!   I was just about to grab some of that!"

and Debbie looks amazed, as she never said any such thing.   “Esther is allergic to eggs – if she had eaten them, she could have stopped breathing!”

"Come on, Sher, it was an accident"

When Hywel attempts to calm things, she turns on him;  “Why weren’t you keeping an eye on her?”   

"We can't trust anyone!"

Then to Debbie once more, “We can’t trust anyone!   Everyone will have to leave – 

"It's been ruined, Hywel!"

“it’s been ruined, Hywel!”

"I've been grounded for a week!"

Ricky arrives at Courtney’s back door, but cannot stay long as he is grounded;  “Mam went mental when she caught me sneaking in!” he says.   

"Thanks for that book, Courtney!"

Then Sioned arrives, so Ricky improvises;  “Thanks for that book,” he tells Courtney as he leaves.

"You're together!"

Sioned asks, “Do Mam and Jim know about him?   You’re together – I wasn’t born yesterday!   

Sioned has a bargain to make with Courtney

“I’ll tell you what – if you keep your mouth shut about Ed and that accident you saw, I’ll keep my mouth shut about you and Ricky!”

Courtney does not like threats

Courtney does not like being threatened, but Sioned insists, “This is just a warning.   Ed is so clumsy – and if you don’t tell anyone, there’s no reason your Dad will hear about it.”

"Dad, can I come to dinner?"

Courtney then rings her father and asks if it is all right for her to come to dinner tonight after all.

All the disappointed party-goers troop out of the café, and Debbie says that Sheryl should have made the restriction clearer.   

"Are you saying it was my fault?"

“Are you saying it was my fault?” Sheryl demands, “If I’d written it down on paper, you would have lost it!   It was a dangerous mistake – the thought of what might have happened makes me ill, after all we’ve gone through!”

Debbie points out that she has not been paid yet.   

"Paid?   You've got to be joking!"

“You must be joking!” roars Sheryl.   

Hywel pays up and apologises

Hywel advises her to go home, and then apologises and settles the bill.

Courtney receives a text

Courtney arrives for dinner, but finds that Jim has not told her mother that she was coming, and the atmosphere at the table is rather fraught.   Courtney receives a text;  

"New boyfriend, is it?"

“Who’s that – a new boyfriend?” enquires Jim, but Eileen tells him to leave it.   “I’ll be the last to know – I’m not cool enough,” laments Jim, “I was young once, you know.”

As Courtney replies to the text, Jim comments that she is very quiet;  

She wonders whether to say anything

she wonders whether to say anything about what she saw, but decides against it.

"Everyone thinks I'm nuts!"

Sheryl looks at Esther in bed and asks Hywel, “Why does everything I touch turn into such a mess?   You think I overreacted – everyone thinks I’m nuts!   

"I couldn't bear the thought of losing her!"

“I’m an overprotective mother – but after all we’ve been through to get her, I can’t bear the thought of losing her.  I could have lost her today – and Debbie didn’t care, as long as she got her money – what a nerve!”

Hywel tells her that they cannot wrap Esther in cotton wool, as it is not a healthy way to live, 

"What are you going to do about that appointment?"

and enquires, “What are you going to do about that appointment?”   

"I'm scared, Hywel!"

Sheryl answers that she is scared, but he tries to calm her, “What happened a year ago will not happen again.   Go to the appointment and then you’ll be reassured that all is well.”

Sioned orders Ed's meal

In the Deri, Sioned decides to order the meal for both of them;  “One beefburger and one lamb.”   Ed looks unenthusiastic.   

"You like lamb, don't you?"

“You like lamb, don’t you?” she asks.

"Not particularly"

“Not particularly,” is his disinterested response.   She enquires if he is feeling better now, and states that going out is better than being stuck at home.

She is still worried;  “I hope that Courtney won’t say anything to Mam and Jim.   

"I'd already been to see her"

“I went over to see her, as I couldn’t be sure you had done a proper job.   She knows now that it was an accident.   The truth is, if you hadn’t been such a fool and tripped over, none of this would have happened!

"You need to be more careful!"

“You need to be more careful, or you’ll end up in hospital – and I don’t want that to happen.”

"I love you"

She holds Ed’s hand and tells him, “I love you.”   He stares blankly at her.