Charlie Sonata

Douglas Maxwell

• Publisher: Oberon Books
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9781786820457
• eBook ISBN: 9781786820464
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: British Drama
• Index: Literature

Chick arrives back in Scotland for a reunion with his old mates Gary and Jackson only to find Gary's daughter has been the victim of a life-changing car accident. The antiseptic smell of the wards, the relentless beep of the life support and the sterile hospital bed contrast sharply in Chick's eye with the young wild-haired girl lying there unconscious; inspiring this downtrodden man to embark on a quest to save her life.

ONE: SOMETHING MISSING

Can this be right?

Is he really going to do this?

He’s not sure. Chick counts to three before he opens the door.

Into a consult room in a new hospital.

There is no personality here. This room belongs to whoever is in it. Mr Ingram is in it.

His face is stone.

His eyes are dead.

He is an important man in this important building.

Chick is suddenly aware that he is now in the private sphere of Mr Ingram, And that is some kind of breach.

Like a schoolboy in the Head’s office.

He may be in his late thirties, but Chick is not a man as Mr Ingram is a man.

In that respect, he’s a disgrace.

His skin is wrecked, his hair is thin, he shuffles, he’s shabby.

He finds it impossible to be fully awake.

We can smell it.

See it.

This guy’s a boozer.

MR INGRAM: (On the phone.) It is not at all straightforward...I don’t want to know why, I want to know what happens next… No, after that... (He listens for a while. There’s a gear change...) Have you any idea what would happen to me if that were true?...I hope for your...It can’t be...Don’t come here...I can’t help you...Don’t...I can’t help you....I won’t help you. Not anymore...No, I don’t care. (He hangs up. Sees CHICK.) You can’t be in here.

CHICK: Awright?

MR INGRAM: Out you go.

CHICK: Kinda like sounded hingme. Like you were, know what I mean, half way through saying something or something?

MR INGRAM: Not at all.

CHICK: No, in their room. Know what I mean? When you were talking to Gary and Kate. Sounded like, what you were on about was only kinda half done. Or something.

MR INGRAM: Not at all.

CHICK: They’re so like, totally, watching Audrey. Crying and stuff. They’re no really listening. I don’t think. Now they know how bad it is an that, they can’t listen any more...

There they are.

Gary and Kate, in Audrey’s hospital room.

Gary and Kate are the same age as Chick.

In normal circumstances you could tell by looking that they’re doing very well.

But these are not normal circumstances.

They were woken in the middle of the night by a phone call

And here they are in fucking pieces.

Audrey, their daughter, is sixteen.

She lies silent, eyes closed, in the hospital bed,
Which looks too big, too raised.

The perspective’s wrong or something.

It’s making her look...kind of ...mythical.

CHICK: ...and I don’t know where Jackson is...

Here he is....

Jackson is alone in his kingdom in the middle of the night.

He’s big.

Used to be all muscle.

He can still pull off the old Alpha Male act

If he wants to.

He’s in a soft-play centre.

The primary-colour crash mats, ball pools, plastic chutes and climbing nets

Are all in shadow.

He owns this joint.

It’s called Castleland.

The only light is from his ringing phone. Which he ignores.

He’s scared.

He’s hiding.

He sinks into the ball pool.

CHICK: (...) and...and I’m like, totally thinking... Christ, I should be the one that’s listening and everything then, eh? Know what I mean? To the details. But I didn’t. Can’t. Or something. Know what I mean?

MR INGRAM: There was nothing else. You can’t be in here.

CHICK: Aye. Could you, like, just remind me but? What you said. I’m no good at, like, remembering and that.

MR INGRAM: Are you a relation of eh...ah...ah...?

CHICK: Naw.

MR INGRAM: There’s nothing else. It’s all done. Should I get security?

CHICK: Naw. Just. Just tell me it again then. Quickly. You’ve done all the tests and that...and that’s it. Nobody knows anything. Right?

MR INGRAM: They have the details. There’s nothing we can do. We’ll make her very comfortable.

CHICK: She’s only sixteen but. Doesnae seem...

MR INGRAM: I don’t understand your insinuation.

CHICK: Eh?

MR INGRAM: They have the details.

CHICK: Waiting game. Aye, I know. I was there, when you told them, sure I was? Shouldnae’ve been, but...you just fired right in, talking about results and timeframes, and Kate started screaming and Gary climbed up on wee Audrey’s bed, pure crying and holding her face and I was like that, shit... I shouldnae be here, man. But how could I get out of that room? I couldn’t. Then you just stood up and walked out the door like it was the easiest thing in the world. Follow him! I says. So I followed you. Not just to get out of there. But also, like, cos, it felt like...kinda...like there was something missing. Or something.

MR INGRAM: I assumed you were family. If you have a complaint about my conduct...

CHICK: Oh no. No, no, no Doctor. I mean, no way. Not at all. You were like a...machine in there man. It was me that shouldnae’ve...I just thought you might’ve had more to say on the subject. Do you? I wonder? Is there more to say about all this?

MR INGRAM: No. I’m sure it must be very upsetting, but I have many other patients...

CHICK: Are they all sixteen?

MR INGRAM: Of course not.

CHICK: Younger than sixteen?

MR INGRAM: I’ve treated much younger patients in similar situations.

CHICK: (Sincerely.) Jesus. Jesus Christ Doctor. That must be horrible.

(Pause.)

MR INGRAM: Is there anything else?

CHICK: Who was on the phone?

It was Meredith.

She’s wearing a ballet dancer’s tutu, costume leotard

And “Bad Fairy” make-up

Smeared now.

She has wings!

She’s in the waiting area of the hospital, framed by the flashing l...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• One: Something Missing
• Two: This is not the 1990s