[voiceover]
By the time I took my seat in the Gods, the opera was well into its final act.
And you were mine! I'm not justifying. I'm not trying to justify it...
You are so full of shit! It's totally different. You were twenty!
He's sixteen in May. He's not some innocent...
Of course he's innocent! He's **** fifteen! Are you insane? If you meant to destroy us, why not do it with an adult? That's the convention, it's worked for centuries!
It wasn't about us, it...
I ju-ju-just wanted him...
[distraught]
WELL FIND OUT!!
When you started teaching, didn't you want to give them a real education to help overcome... the poverty of their backgrounds?
Oh yes, of course. But one soon learns that teaching is crowd control. We're a branch of the social services.
Sue Hodge Console yourself with the gems. That's when it's satisfying. Then you can make a real difference.
The rest is just cattle-prod and pray.
Excuse me. Could one of you tell me what's going on? Is this some kind of coven?
I can explain perfectly. Would you like me to?
No. It's just that Barbara's had some very bad news about her cat.
My condolences. Poor, poor pussy. Can I have my wife back, please?
Why is she always here? What kind of **** spell has she cast on you?
What you say about me, about Richard - you're not fit to shine his shoes. And Ben, and Polly, that I'd be happier without them. Why did you do it? [slaps Barbara] Because I didn't help you collect your cat? [slaps Barbara again] You've cost me my family!
No, no, take some responsibility! I gave you EXACTLY what you wanted! You'd still be stuck in that marriage without me.
You can't accept it yet, but...
You think I wanted to be here with you?
You need me, I'm your friend!
You put me in prison, I could get TWO years!
They'll fly by! I'll visit you every week! We've so much life to live together!
You think this is a love affair? A relationship? What, sticky gold stars, and - and a strand of my hair? And a receipt from Pizza Express? It's a flat in the Archway Road and you think you're Virginia frigging Woolf! And where did you get my hair? Did you pluck it from the bath with some special **** tweezers?
You know it's rude to read a person's diary, it's private!
We're not companions! We're not friends! You don't even like me!
That's not true, I only have tender feelings for you, only love!
You're barking, **** mad. You don't know how to love. You have never, your whole life. Me, Jennifer Dodd. You're nothing but waste and disappointment! You bitter old virgin. You're lonely for a reason. They loathed you at school, all of them. I was the idiot who bothered, but only because no one told me you're a **** vampire! So what is it, Bar? You want to roll around the floor like lovers? You want to **** me, Barbara?
Please don't diminish our...
Give it back. I know you! Selfish and vain, you think you have a divine right! You don't belong in the world, you belong here! You big baby!
[voiceover]
As my mother would have said, the boy done her like a kipper. She has nowhere to turn but trusty old Bar. She mopes and mourns for her pubescent paramour, but she knows my interventions have saved her life. And she is sweetly grateful. Her betrayal hurt me more than I dare show. But I will forgive her and heal myself in private. She's worth it, this one. She's the one I've waited for. She's beginning to understand that her dalliance with Master Connolly was a consequence of her dead marriage. It's a sham, fueled only by the memory of former glories. I mean, the wonderful thing about Polly- Whereas we are going through the fire forging our friendship with a stronger bond each day. In fact, we are now entering a delicate new phase. We are silently and stealthily negotiating the terms of a life lived together. Now more than ever we are bound by the secrets we share.
[voiceover]
This last month has been the most delicious time of my life. Of course we have had our ups and downs. The pressure is intense when two women share their lives. But, oh, but what marvelous intensity it is! Circumstances are not always ideal. The swinish press, the stringent bail terms, meetings with lawyers and so on. But all things considered, we're coping admirably. In fact, gold stars abundant. The cuckold permits her to see their children once a week. Thee are usually tears and fits of teenage tantrums, too. In time she'll recognise she's just not the mothering kind, and then Barbara will be there to comfort her. Nurse, beloved friend and wise counsel.
