Cwmderi Diary 2016: 25 November 2016

Mark at the graveside

Mark visits the cemetery, where he lays flowers on the grave.

The visitor surprises him

Hearing a voice behind him, he turns and is surprised to see Angela.

Angela has come to her daughter's grave

“I’m glad that you’re here and no-one else,” she says, “Did you put those there?”

"They're from Ricky and me"

Mark explains that the flowers are from him and Ricky, as they miss her.

Angela adds her chrysanthemums

Angela puts down her pot of yellow chrysanthemums on the grave

Hywel and Sheryl are in the café, when Ed announces that he will not be playing on Saturday;

Hywel is far from happy

Hywel is furious, insisting that Ed will be fine,

"I'll make up the numbers, if you like"

and Tyler volunteers to make up the numbers.

Hywel orders Ed to play . . .

“Ed will be playing,” states Hywel, “Blackmill are above us in the league, and it could be us or them going down! You’re just being a baby!”

. . . but Ed has other ideas

Ed’s mind appears to be made up; “Right, you can find a full back to play tomorrow, and you can find a new vice-captain as well!” He walks out,

Kelly is anxious about him

and Kelly looks concerned about him.

Angela photographs the grave

Angela takes a photo of the grave with her camera, and says she will come back when the headstone is erected.

"Courtney and Ricky were . . . good friends"

Mark will let her know when that is, and adds, “Ricky and I will probably come here often. Courtney and Ricky were . . . well, good friends, I guess.”

She feels guilty for not being at the funeral

Angela feels guilty for not being at the funeral, but knows that if she had been, it would have ruined it for everyone, after what happened.

Dani reads a letter . . .

At the bar in the Deri, Dani is reading a letter which she received from

. . . the Young Offenders' Institution

Brookland Young Offenders’ Institution; she hides it when Britt comes in for her shift.

"I can't get in touch with Chester"

“I’m not in the mood to talk to anyone – I can’t get in touch with Chester,” Britt says, “I phone every day, but I can’t force him to call me back. “I thought I might speak to the chaplain, but Chester isn’t religious, and wouldn’t go near a chaplain, even if he was on his deathbed.”

"It hasn't come to that, Britt"

Dani assures her that it has not come to that stage,

"I wouldn't know if it had!"

but Britt replies, “Even if it had, I wouldn’t know!”

Mark finds Ricky at home

Mark arrives home to find Ricky there;

"Everything reminds me of Courtney"

“Everything at school reminds me of Courtney,” he laments, “I see her friends, the places we used to go, and where we would walk.”

Mark can understand his feelings, and reveals that he has been talking to Angela.

"I wanted to tell her – but I didn't"

“I wanted to tell her – but I didn’t! It’s not my place to tell her that Courtney was pregnant – though she will find out somehow. I left there with thoughts of all that we couldn’t discuss. I wasn’t thinking of telling her that you were the father – rather that I was the grandfather and she the grandmother. But I couldn’t, could I?

"Angela would be happy to know that"

“Do you know what? I think that Angela would have liked to hear that, and that she would be happy to know that you were Courtney’s boyfriend –

"And the father of her baby"

“and the father of her baby.”

Angela sees someone coming

Angela, still at the cemetery, sees Jim approaching,

"Did Mark tell you?"

and fears that Mark told him she was there. Jim explains that he comes every day;

"Eileen says I'm like a zombie"

“What else is there to do? To be honest, I don’t care about anything any more – Eileen says I’m like a zombie around the place – I feel so totally empty!”

"I'm glad I stayed away from the funeral"

Angela thought that no-one would see her, and is glad she stayed away from the funeral; Jim wishes that Eifion had done the same, and when she wonders why, he reveals to her,

"Courtney was expecting a baby!"

“There’s something you don’t know, Ange – Courtney was expecting a baby!”

"Don't say it was Eifion!"

She drops to her knees, sobbing, “Don’t say it was Eifion!”

"No, we don't know who it was"

Jim admits that is what he thought at first, but does not know who it was.

At Maes-y-Deri, Mark is going for a walk, to give Ricky some time alone with his mother,

"You're forcing me, Dad!"

but Ricky objects to being forced to tell her, wanting to be left to decide in his own time.

“Don’t you think everyone deserves to know the truth?” asks Mark, “No-one is going to be angry with you – you loved her – why are you scared?”

Ricky points out that telling people will not bring Courtney back, but Mark suggests,

"If you want people to remember her with respect . . ."

“If you want people to remember her with respect, you should come clean. Jim has already accused men of sleeping with her – if he carries on, people will think Courtney was . . .”

Ricky rushes off down the road

Ricky demands if that is what his father thinks, and storms out of the house.

Seasonal fare at the café

As Kelly carefully arranges mince pies on a plate, Ed comes in for a coffee,

"Why pack in the rugby?"

and she expresses her surprise that he has abandoned his rugby playing.

"I don't need a psychiatrist!"

“I don’t need a psychiatrist!” he snaps, and she admits that even Sigmund Freud would struggle to understand him these days.

Britt in tears at the Deri

In the Deri, Britt sits at a table in tears;

"I'm rubbish at keeping secrets!"

Dani confesses she is rubbish at keeping secrets, especially from family, and mentions she has received a letter from Chester.

"I think you should see it!"

“It’s not easy reading, but I think you should see it!” she tells Britt.

The conversation starts off civil enough . . .

On a bench in the cemetery,

. . . but soon turns acrimonious

Angela asks, “What have we done? Our little girl – we did this to her! It could have been so different – she could have come to live with me when I left – I did offer her that, but you made me look like the baddie!”

"I made you look like a baddie?"

Jim is furious; “I made you look like a baddie?

"So you say it's my fault, do you?"

“You say it’s my fault, do you?”

"If she was with me, she wouldn't have been pregnant!"

Angela maintains that if Courtney had been with her, she would not have been pregnant.

"You put her in that grave!"

“You took her on that driving lesson – and you put her in that grave!” she snarls, and then walks away, as Jim is reduced to tears.

"He's depressed – but what can I do?"

Britt reads the letter and then says, “At least we know what’s wrong with him – he’s depressed – but what can I do? The prison’s only an hour away, but it feels as if I’m on another planet. He says it’s all my fault and doesn’t want to see me!

"He trusts you more than me!"

“He trusts you more than me – but you don’t know prison – and you don’t know Chester! What happens in there might change him! I should be receiving this letter – I’m his mother and only I can help him!”

"I can imagine what you've been through"

Kelly tries to talk to Ed; “I can imagine what you’ve been through the last few weeks,” she sympathises, “Losing Courtney – horrendous, then finding she was pregnant – doubly horrendous!

"You've been through the grinder!"

“You’ve been through the grinder emotionally, and it has has obviously had an effect on you . . . and Sioned!”

An ultimatum from Hywel . . .

Hywel comes in and gives Ed an ultimatum; “If you don’t play tomorrow, you’re out of the team for good! And you won’t get the vice-captain’s position back!”

. . . which does not bother Ed one bit

With his usual blank expression, Ed replies, “Fine!”

Outside the cemetery, looking in

Mark finds Ricky standing outside the cemetery railings. Ricky says that he cannot go near the grave yet;

"A couple of things I have to do first!"

“There are a couple of things I have to do first!” Mark goes with him.

"He thinks we've all forgotten him"

Dani has locked up the Deri, as Britt is not in a fit state to serve anyone. “I hate to think of him being bullied and hurt – he has no-one to talk to, and thinks we’ve all forgotten him,” wails Britt, “He wanted me to get him out during the wedding and I failed to help him – he feels I let him down.”

"I'm going to book a visit for us"

Dani decides she is going to book a visit for the two of them, and say that Garry wants them to go and sort things out. However, Britt is giving up hope; “We’re not like other families – Chester doesn’t want us any more – we might never get him back,” and she screws up the letter.