Wednesday, 9 March 2011

Steve: Dialogue

The park bench was in dire need of a lick of paint, and the sky matched the dark grey of the pond in front of which Colin & Jennifer sat, a foot between them, not touching or facing each other.  A minute passed in silence between them, before Colin turned his head toward her,
'When were you going to tell me?' asked Colin,
'I tried', she replied, 'but you were always too busy, and the moment was never right.'  She looked away at the solitary dog walker in the distance.
'WHEN?'  he demanded, anger rising in his voice.  'When did you try?  When did you think the time would be right?'
'I don't know', said Jennifer on the verge of tears, 'but you don't know how hard it's been for me.'
'HARD FOR YOU!'
'YES!  HARD FOR ME!  IT'S MY BODY!'
Colin swallowed what was about to come out of his mouth and composed himself,
'Ok, when did you do it?'
'Two weeks ago on Monday.'
'While I was in London?'
'Yes.  In the morning.'
'Did it hurt?'
'A bit,' a pause, 'a lot actually.'
'Look Jen, I'm not angry, I'm upset that you never told me until after, don't I matter?'
'Course you do, you mean everything, just stop twisting it so it's all about you!'

1 comment:

  1. Eight unattributed lines - very good. It was set up so that there was no doubt as to who was speaking. You've worked to get a strong sense of place, and the dramatic conflict really engages the reader. Well done.

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