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ACT ONE
Scene One
The attic of an old house. A very old lady (TITTY), enters. She is carrying a feather duster in her hand. She looks about her. She has not been up here for a long time, and, slowly, she reacquaints herself with her old possessions: a cabin trunk, an old-fashioned typewriter, a stuffed parrot, a whistling kettle, pots and pans, blankets. She sits down and takes up an old photograph album. She blows the dust from the cover and opens it. As she turns the pages, the photographs she is looking at come to life. There are two of young men in Naval uniform (JOHN and ROGER). One is of a very smartly dressed, intellectual-looking lady (SUSAN). The last is of a kind-looking lady, arm in arm with a Naval Commander (MOTHER and Father). TITTY smiles.
Suddenly the feather duster sits up and squawks. TITTY stares at it in astonishment, then remembers.
TITTY. Polly?
The duster is transformed into a parrot. It squawks again, and flies to her. It lands on her hand.
Polly.
She strokes its feathers. After a moment, TITTY begins to sing.
Song – ‘Like Robinson Crusoe’
Since I was three I’ve longed to be like Robinson Crusoe,
Making my home all on my own like Robinson Crusoe,
This is my own Pacific isle, no one around for miles and miles,
It’s rather frightening,
One little wave follows another,
One tiny bird dives for its supper,
One buzzing bee flies through the heather,
One perfect day to last for ever.
Polly flies off. In her mind, TITTY returns to the Peak in Darien – the promontory in the Lake District from where she and her siblings liked to gaze out across the lake to the island.
(Speaking.) Look at it. A desert island. Waiting for us to discover it.
A little boy (ROGER) runs in. He has a telegram in his hand. He runs round and round the stage, imitating a sailboat.
ROGER. Dispatches! Dispatches!
TITTY. Roger? Roger!
ROGER. Dispatches! Dispatches!
Scene Two
Summer 1929. The peak of a hill in the Lake District (Peak in Darien). TITTY is suddenly a girl again. Beside her is her brother, JOHN, who is stoking a small fire. Her sister, SUSAN, is sitting on a rock making marmalade sandwiches. TITTY springs to her feet as ROGER runs up.
ROGER. Dispatches! Dispatches!
TITTY (jumping up). The telegram from Daddy!
SUSAN. At last.
ROGER reaches them.
TITTY. What does it say?
ROGER. Mother hasn’t opened it. She says John should.
JOHN takes it and opens it quickly. He reads and smiles.
SUSAN. Well?
TITTY. What?
ROGER. What does it say?
SUSAN. Read it aloud.
JOHN. It says, ‘Better drowned than duffers if not duffers won’t drown.’
ROGER. What?
TITTY. ‘Better drowned than duffers if not duffers won’t drown.’
JOHN. Good old Daddy.
SUSAN. But what does it mean?
TITTY. It means yes.
ROGER. Yes? For me too?
JOHN. All of us. We can all go and camp on the island.
ROGER. Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah! It’s because I’m not the youngest any more.
JOHN. We can take Swallow and sail her across.
SUSAN. Can I see?
SUSAN takes the telegram.
ROGER. Fat Vicky can’t come because she’s the baby.
TITTY. Good old Daddy.
SUSAN. But what are ‘duffers if not duffers’?
JOHN. It doesn’t say that.
TITTY. It says that if we’re duffers…
ROGER. What’s a duffer?
SUSAN. A fool.
TITTY. Then we’d be better off drowned. Then it stops and starts again, and says that as we aren’t duffers…
JOHN. ‘If ’.
TITTY. Yes – if we aren’t duffers we won’t be drowned.
SUSAN. Daddy put that in to comfort Mother.
JOHN. This is marvellous. I thought it was never going to come. I thought it would be too late and the holiday would be over.
SUSAN. It did have to come all the way from Daddy’s ship.
JOHN. Let’s make Ship’s Articles.
He sits, and takes a scrap of paper and a pencil from his pocket. He writes –
Sailing vessel – ‘Swallow’. Port – ‘Jackson’s Farm’. Owner…
SUSAN. Mr Jackson, the farmer, I suppose
JOHN. Master – John Walker, aged twelve. Mate?
SUSAN. Susan Walker, aged eleven.
JOHN. Able Seaman?
TITTY. Titty Walker, aged nine.
JOHN. Ship’s Boy?
ROGER. Me! Roger Walker, aged nearly eight.
JOHN. Aged seven.
Now, you all have to sign opposite your names.
ROGER. Can we go now?
SUSAN. Of course we can’t go now. A lot of preparations must be made for a voyage.
TITTY. But i...
