A Meeting With Dan Harvey

Narrator Ai six a.m. on me Wednesday Dan Harvey arrived at Heathrow, bang on schedule. Angela Marriot met him in the arrivals lounge in Terminal 3. First, she took him to the Pinner Park Hotel, where he checked in and had a quick shower to freshen up. Then they had a 'Great British Breakfast' together. After that they drove over to the Bensons' offices, arriving in good time for a meeting called for ten o'clock. Peter was in his office by seven-thirty, after a sleepless night. He was still very uptight, but had decided to try to remain calm and not lose his temper with Arnold if the latter attended the meeting. Let's join them. Peter is in his chair.

Peter This meeting has been called – and I quote – 'to review the new situation arising from the takeover of Benson Publications Limited by Superbooks Incorporated'.... Dan?

Dan Thank you, Peter. Let me say immediately how very glad I am to be over here in Europe again. I'm so very happy to …

Peter Let's drop the formalities and come straight to the point.

Dan What do you mean, Peter?

Peter I mean, cut out the crap, Dan.

Dan Well, I just saying how happy I am …

Peter Delighted, more like.

Dan There is no need to be aggressive, Peter

Peter Look! Superbooks now owns Bensons. Lock, stock and barrel.

Dan Sure, we own a controlling interest, but …

Peter So what are your plans? What do you intend doing with us?

Dan Nothing. We don't propose to make any changes.

Peter No changes? None at all?

Dan No. Hey! Why rock the boat when it's a winner?

Peter Well, that's a relief. But what's the point in having this meeting?

Dan We thought it would be a good idea to have a little get-together... To clear up any, er, misunderstandings there might be.

Peter Thank you, Dan. I'm sorry if I was a bit brusque.

Dan That's OK, Peter. Forget it.

Peter So misunderstandings. Any questions for Mr Harvey?

Arnold Yes I have a question.

Dan Fire away, Arnold.

Arnold Who sold you the family shares?

Peter Ha! That's a good one, coming from you, Arnold!

Arnold Well, Dan. Who?

Dan I'm afraid that I'm not in a position to comment on that issue, Arnold.

Peter We'll know soon enough. In fact, I know already. Don't I, Arnold?

Arnold As a matter of fact, no. No, Peter, you don't.

Peter Like hell, I don't. You Judas, you…

Dan Gentlemen, gentlemen. Please. This is getting us nowhere.

Narrator As you just heard, Peter didn't keep his cool after all. The meeting degenerated into a slanging match, with Peter accusing Arnold of being a traitor, and so on, and Arnold protesting his innocence. What do you think? Is Arnold innocent1? If he is.... who sold the shares?

Episode 15

Andy Leaves Home

Part 1

Narrator You no doubt remember that the Bensons story started with Peter arriving home from work very late one evening. Well, he is at it again. This time his pet project is not to blame. He's working all hours that God sends in order to supply all sorts of information requested by Superbooks Incorporated. He's tired, irritable and not at all happy.

Sheila Oh, Peter, you look absolutely worn out.

Peter I am, love. I'm completely knackered. I'm just about all in.

Sheila Sit down and put your feet up. I'll fix you a drink.

Peter Thanks, I could do with one.

Sheila One nice Scotch on the rocks coming up.

Peter Cheers. Phew, that's better.

Sheik. Cheers.

Peter You know, I'm sick and tired of it. They're bloody insatiable.

Sheila What is it now'?

Peter Cash flow projections. Needed by first thing tomorrow morning.

Sheila You've already supplied details of turnover, staff levels, the pension scheme.

Peter And profit and loss accounts, bank interest, payments outstanding...

Sheila Don't forget royalty payments to authors. What more can they want?

Peter It beats me what they do with it all.

Sheila I bet they just file it away somewhere.

Peter We should be so lucky.. No, they've got their reasons.

Sheila There can't be much more information to send them, can there?

Peter There can, worse luck. There was a telex on the machine when I left.

Peter They want copies of all bank statements for the past five years.

Sheila Oh! That reminds me. Yes. Bank statements.

Peter What about than?

Sheila One came in today. It was for Andy.

Peter He'll be in the red, as usual.

Sheila No. I opened it by mistake. He's rich.

Peter Rich? Andy? Pull the other one.

Sheila I think you should have a look at it. Here.

Peter Let me see, now. Overdrawn, overdrawn.... £ 60,000 credit!

Sheila I told you. There must he some mistake.

Peter £ 60,000. Oh, my God! Oh, no!

Sheila What is it, Peter?

Peter The shares. He's sold his shares. It was Andy.

Narrator Fortunately for Andy, he's out at the moment Bu he'll be home fairly soon. Peter is more sad and disappointed than angry. But that's only his initial reaction. While waiting for Andy to come home, let's do some repetition and role-play.

Part 2

Narrator Andy is just coming up the drive to the house. It's very late and Sheila's just gone to bed. But Peter is waiting up for him.

Andy Hello Dad. You're up late.

Peter Come in here and sit down, please.

Andy Are you all right? You look as if you've seen a ghost.

Peter Not a ghost, Andrew. Just this.

Andy What right have you to open my letters? What is this? A police state?

Peter Look at it. Why, Andy, why?

Andy £ 60,000! Wow! Do you think I can keep it?

Peter How did it get there?

Andy Well, it must be a mistake. £ 60,000!

Peter Bensons shares. Six per cent. Why?

Andy What do you mean? Bensons Shares? Oh, I see...

Peter Why did you sell them? What got into you, Andy?

Andy You think I sold my shares?

Peter Stop playing about. Of course you sold them.

Andy But I didn't. Dad. Honestly I didn't. There must...

Peter Don't 'honestly' me! Never again. I was fool enough to believe you last time...

Andy But Dad...

Peter All that nonsense about nightmares and that woman. Lies.

Andy No, Dad.

Peter Lies. A pack of lies.

Andy But I didn't sell any shares, Dad.

Peter You're not even man enough to own up. You disgust me.

Andy Trust me. I'm your son, remember?

Peter You're no son of mine. For two pins I'd give you a good hiding.

Andy Just you try! First it was Arnold and now it's me.

Peter Right. That's enough. Just get out of my sight before I...

Andy I'll get out all right and won't come back.

Narrator So Andy has gone off somewhere, into the night, leaving Peter sitting there tired out and dejected. Things don't look so good for him, do they?

Episode 16

Redundancy!

Narrator It's a week since Andy left home. Since then quite a few things have happened. Peter apologised profusely to Arnold, who accepted the apologies very graciously indeed. Perhaps too graciously. Arnold seems strangely preoccupied, and he keeps on disappearing for a day or two at a time. Superbooks stopped asking for more and more information when Peter sent them a blunt telex asking them to stop wasting his time. He finished it by very pointedly telling them that he still had a business to run. Their business... Sheila is worried sick about Andy. Di is trying to console her. They're having lunch together at the Dog and Bone.

Di Cheer up, Sheila. He is a big boy now. He'll be OK.

Sheila I can't help worrying about him. I'm his mother after all.

Di Arnold says he'll be OK. He told me to tell you that he's sure Andy's all right.

Sheila Oh, Di. Words, words, words. What does Arnold know about it?

Di He loves Andy. He loves you and Peter. He… he understands things.

Sheila I'm sorry, Di. I know Arnold means well. It's just that...

Waiter Are you ready to order, Madam?

Sheila No, not yet. But I wouldn't mind another drink. How about you, Di?

Di You're on! Same again, please.

Waiter Two gin and tonics with ice and lemon?

Sheila Yes, please. As I was saying, Di, it's just that I'm his mother.

Di 'Flesh of my flesh and blood of my blood'? That sort of thing?

Sheila Well, yes. I guess so. And I miss him...

Di Yeh.

Sheila He's such a good boy, you know.

Di Agreed.

Sheila I don't know what got into him, selling those shares.

Di If he did. He did deny it, you know.

Sheila No, they were his shares, all right. We've got the details.

Di Really? That's funny...

Sheila Why?

Di Hmm. Arnold told me that Andy was completely innocent. You know, he...

Waiter Two gin and tonics. Ice and lemon. Would you like to order lunch now?

Sheila No, thanks. Not yet. We're waiting for somebody.

Di Cheers!

Sheila Cheers!

Di What was I saying. All, yes... Arnold thinks there's more to this than meets the eye.

Sheila Tell me more! You know, I don't trust those Americans. They smile at you and all the time they're...

Peter Hello, girls!

Di Hello.

Sheila Hello, Peter... What's the matter?

Peter The matter. Oh, nothing much... I've just been tired, sacked, kicked out.

Di Oh!

Sheila Oh, no.

Peter Yes. I've just been made redundant...

Narrator Well, Peter was very difficult with Dan and with Superbooks. So what did he expect? A promotion? Anyway, we'll soon see what happens... So far as I'm concerned, the main issue is: where is Andy? He's only a very young man – and he seems to have disappeared.

Episode 17

Дата добавления: 2015-11-13