Elephant

Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti

• Publisher: Oberon Books
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781786824370
• eBook ISBN: 9781786824387
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Drama
• Index: Literature

Vira hasn't seen her sister Deesh for years. Deesh's kids, Amy and Bill, want to know why but nobody's telling them anything. When Deesh invites her sister to Amy's flashy party, Vira reckons it's time to come home and move on. Time to stop watching the telly, get out of her council flat, stick on a glitzy sari and embrace her nearest and dearest. But is it possible to forgive and forget? And when a family is built on lies, will it be destroyed by the truth?

Characters

MUM/DEESH – late 40s

DAD/BARRY – early 50s

DAUGHTER/AMY – mid 20s

SON/BILL – early 20s

VIRA – late 30s, Deesh’s sister

Location:

A suburb

ONE

Friday early evening. Odd bits of furniture, a sparse look. BILL, gentle, troubled, sits, filling out a large diary. DEESH, unkempt and restless, wearing cheap jeans and a holey jumper, brings on a tired mattress, pillows, covers etc. Starts putting a sheet on. AMY, groomed, assertive, paints her nails, watches.

AMY: What are you doing?

DEESH: She has to sleep somewhere.

AMY: Stick her in the spare room.

DEESH: It’s pristine in there! The duvet cover’s brand new and I don’t want it disturbed. No, she’ll be alright down here. I’ll keep her company.

AMY: You?

DEESH: Best to keep an eye on her.

AMY: Is she a thief?

DEESH: Shut up, idiot!

DEESH hits a pillow with unusual force.

DEESH: Give these a decent whack and they come right back to life.

AMY: Tell me you bought a new shalwar kameez.

DEESH: I found one on a sale rack up the Broadway.

AMY: Why not just go to Oxfam and ruin my life?

DEESH: It’s not like you’re getting married. If you were getting married I’d buy five new suits and a couple of saris, change my earrings every hour and get my face contoured.

AMY: You’d better sort that hair. And your moustache.

DEESH: We’ll put on a good show like always.

AMY: Mum, it has to be better than good!

DEESH: Have me and your dad ever let you down?

AMY: Why do you have to keep an eye on her?

DEESH: She doesn’t know her way around the house.

AMY: Don’t you trust her?

DEESH: Course I trust her. She’s my flesh and blood.

AMY: Right, I’m locking my room.

DEESH: Stop being an idiot! Vira’s not an ogre. (To BILL.) What are you doing babes?

BILL: Putting Dad’s jobs in the diary.

AMY: Use the calendar on his phone.

BILL: I told him but he says he wants them written down.

AMY: Nobody writes things down any more. What is wrong with this family?

DEESH: You be quiet, if that’s how he wants it, leave him! (Peers over BILL.) Ah, what a lovely picture.

BILL: Just a stupid doodle Mum.

DEESH: Looks like the painting in the Chinese takeaway.

BILL: It’s a famous image, everyone knows it.

DEESH: Well your one’s really really good.

BILL moves it away from her.

DEESH: (Checks watch.) Not long now. She won’t be late. Her head’s sensitive to others. Same as yours, Bill.

AMY: Did you ask her to bring a shalwar kameez?

DEESH: She won’t turn up naked. I’m sure she won’t. She can always borrow one of mine.

AMY: Is she fatter than you?

DEESH: I dunno.

AMY: If she’s fatter than you, your ones won’t fit.

DEESH: She can breathe in.

AMY: Let’s hope she’s not as embarrassing as you.

DEESH: Shut up! Vira is the sweetest thing. When she was born our mum let me push her around in my Tiny Tears’ pram. My first baby, before you lot. I was eleven years old when I held her in my arms. My little elephant. And now, she’s coming home to me. You remember her, Amy.

AMY: Vaguely. She used to bring cuddly toys and haribos.

DEESH: Not just haribos, boxes of chocolates, family size biscuit tins. She arrived at that door, laden!

AMY: I think she made faces, made me laugh.

DEESH: And she made a commitment to you lot. From when you were tiny.

AMY: (Sardonic.) Five pounds a month?

DEESH: Don’t you dare laugh! That’s years of effort for some. Vira’s...very nice.

BILL: If she’s so nice why did Nani call her filth?

DEESH: I can’t remember that...

BILL: She said she was a kuthi, haramjadee [bitch, bastard].

DEESH: Did she?

AMY: You know she did.

BILL: Mum, she told us that Auntie Vira was cursed, not to let her in if she knocked on the door.

DEESH: Your Nani was quite hard on people and Vira...always had spirit.

AMY: Good for her.

BILL: At least she sounds interesting.

DEESH: That...now that...is exactly the word. She loved her books. Enid Blyton, William Shakespeare.

AMY: Yeah we know, top dog in English, you told us....

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Characters
• Epilogue