Looking for Mrs. Peel 7: Life’s Work

Changi autograph book.

Scene Twenty-Three: Batu Caves Estate near KL

SOUND: crowd sounds

Dorothy: Last train? Military orders?Women and Children? So soon? I can’t. I can’t leave now. The bungalow is filled with evacuees and I promised Marion that I’d see his family safe..

Phone: Blah blah

Dorothy: What kind of an example are we British setting for the Asiatics if we leave at the first sign of trouble?

phone: grumble

Dorothy: Kuala Selangor landings? On what? Bicycles? Tanks in the rubber Plantations? Where’s all this airpower that’s supposed to back up the sea power in support of the land power?

Phone: blah blah

dorothy: The navy blames the army, the army blames the air force. The British blame the Americans. The Civilians blame the Military. Whatever happened to cooperation? I refuse to evacuate. I’ll stay back and defend our estate with the men.

Scene Twenty-Four: Train Kuala Lumpur to Singapore

SOUND: women children talking wailing, screech of iron on iron

Woman 1: Why are they stopped?

Woman 2: It’s a relief not to hear that infernal screeching. Have they been riding the brakes the whole time?

Dorothy: The train is being driven by survivors of the Prince of Wales and Repulse.

Woman 2: Ah, sailors, not engineers. Help me will you get my bag from the overhead. It’s so dark.

Dorothy: What’s that sound?

Woman 1: Bottles clinking, I suspect

Woman 2: Absolutely right

Dorothy: You’ve filled your suitcase with booze! Good Show! But the irective was to pour the stuff out, to keep it from the looters. Not bring the bottles with us.

Woman 2: No one can accuse me of deserting my friends. Dorothy, meet
Johnny Walker, Captain Morgan. Meet Dorothy.

Dorothy: You are a bloody genius

Woman 1: Let’s have a drink ladies. It will probably be our last.

Dorothy: To Singapore and safety.

Scene Twenty-Five: Westminster Office

SOUND: door slamming, man huffing and puffing

Clerk: Ah, Mr. Cramden. This is Mrs. Dorothy Nixon, our witness for the prosecution at the Double Tenth War Crimes Trial.

Mr. Cramden: Croak

Dorothy: Good afternoon.

Cramden: Croak

Dorothy: Can I finally start?

Clerk: Yes (sx begins to type as Dorothy speaks)

Dorothy: I, Dorothy Nixon, wife of Robert Nixon, Manager of Batu Caves Estate with permanent home address at Seafield House, Crosby,near Maryport, Cumberland, make an oath and say as follows: I was in Singapore the time of capitulation of the British forces to the Japanese, February 1942. I had arrived on the island, the impenetrable Fortress, as we saw it,in mid-January, a few days before the Japanese invaded. I ran into a roommate, a friend from Kuala Lumpur, Margaret Robinson,who was working at the Malayan Broadcasting Corporation.. She had a flat in the Cathay Building, the tallest building in Singapore and the European nerve centre, although owned by a Chinese millionaire. She told me they needed help at the MBC radio station, on the 5th floor, as that organization had just been setting up when Malaya was overrun. I was glad to have something useful to do. My job was to time records in the studio but on February 8, many staff members decided it was time to get the hell out so I was called upon to do more

Scene Twenty-Six: Malayan Broadcasting Corporation Offices

SOUND: Busy radio office sounds

Woman: Dorothy, the staff is stretched to the limit, it seems. Can you fill in.

Dorothy: And do what?

Woman:: Announcing. You have a lovely voice.

Dorothy: I am an amateur.

Woman: Well, you will fit right in, then. I should show you this letter in the Straits Times. A listener, just a few months ago, called us, quote, very likely the worst radio station in the world. But, now, it is our time shine, to be the Daventry of the East in earnest.

Dorothy: What do I say?

Woman: Say anything. Be inspirational.(sx door slamming)

dorothy: This is Dorothy Nixon, librarian at the Kuala Lumpur Book Club. You may know the book club, as it is an institution in these parts. Although if you are not a member of the expat community you may not, for the library counts mostly Europeans among its members. I am planning to change that and bring in members from all KL communities, the Chinese Indian and Malay. I know the book club has a bit of a reputation for supplying low brow literature to thrill starved planter’s families,a kind of opiate of the literate, but I assure you many of our clients have excellent taste in books. Books are wonderful things, a person’s most precious possessions. A good place to look for inspiration in a time of difficulty. Courage, for instance. There are many books about courage…A finer example of courage you won’t find anywhere, is Marion, our Indian ARP officer at the Book Club. When the bombs first fell he went about his
business in an efficient and quiet manner, although clearly green with fear. I hope his family is listening. They would have been very proud to see him. (Sx record being put on)

Woman: Sorry, Dorothy. We have to interrupt. We’ve just received word from the Singapore authorities that bomb shelters are to be built – for the Asiatics.

Dorothy: A little late, with the Japanese overrunning the island and after many days of wholesale bombardment of their neighbourhoods..

Woman: Well, I phoned the authorities to ask if we could blow up the Mount Pleasant transmitter before shutting down our operation in Singapore and the Governor ’s people assured me that, despite appearances, all is far from lost.

Dorothy: Maybe I believed that two weeks ago, last week, even yesterday, But not today. Look around. Singapore is in flames.

Scene Twenty-Seven: Westminster Office

SOUND: (sx typing) Westminister Office.

Dorothy: The next day all staff, European and Asian, were given their last paycheques.I refused to evacuate despite the pleas of my my friends.

Woman: You must come with us. They’ve commandeered 3 sampans to
Batavia for the remainder of the MBC staff. We have a good chance of
making it.

Dorothy: No. I cannot. My husband, Nicky, is in the LDC and cannot leave, so I will not either. He’s lost his entire life’s work.

Woman: Many of us are leaving our husbands behind, Dorothy. Think of your sons, Peter and Michael in England. Denise too.

Dorothy: They would want me to stay, I know it.

Looking for Mrs. Peel 9: Something the cat dragged in

Dorothy in her cell: “Heaven by comparison”

Scene Thirty-Seven: Westminster Office

SOUND: Typing

Dorothy: On the tenth day of October, 1943, there was a peculiar atmosphere in the Nipponese Office. They took the roll call list from me but did not go through it. I was then told to go back and wait in the Rose Garden with the other women. We all stood a long time in the sun. Two women fainted from the heat. Then I heard the sound of marching feet in the Girdle walk Soldiers rushed in and surrounded us. Two familiar looking Nipponese Officers arrived with 3 I had never seen before. Obviously Kempetai. A Japanese woman interpreter accompanied them. They asked me all manner of ridiculous questions.

Scene Thirty-Eight: Rose Garden

SOUND: Silence

Man: Hiss

Interpretor: Mrs. Nixon. Are there any radio in the women’s camp?

Dorothy: Of course not. They are strictly forbidden.

Man: Hiss

Interpretor: Have you heard of any in the men’s camp?

Dorothy: No. How could I have?

Man: Hiss

Interpretor: What do you know about Japanese tankers being sabotaged
in Singapore Harbour.

Dorothy: Nothing.

man: Long Hiss

Interpreter: You are to instruct the women to return to their cell block and wait outside in an orderly line as we search each cell.

dorothy: Fine. But as Women’s Representative, I insist on being present at these searches.

Woman: Mrs. Nixon. I must speak to you.

Dorothy: yes

Woman: (whispering) I must get back to my cell before it is searched.

Dorothy: Why?

Woman: My diary. I left it out in the open.

Dorothy: Diaries. What is it with you women and your diaries? Do you realize how many hours I have spent in the Nipponese office defending the contents of various diaries? Maybe you should be made to suffer for your sloppiness.

Woman: Please Mrs Nixon. More people than me will be harmed if the Japanese read my diary.

Dorothy: What guilty secrets are you hiding? I’m to accompany the Kempetai on the search. I’ll see what I can do.

Scene Thirty-Nine: Inside Empty Changi

SOUND: belongings being thrashed about man: Yelling

dorothy: It’s a stethoscope. What can you possibly find suspicious about a thing like that. The person in this cell is a doctor. Doctors use stethoscopes to hear into people’s chest.

man: yelling

DOROTHY: You don’t understand a word of what I am saying. Do you?
Well, interpret this. See me jump up and down. See me point to my privates. Please. I need to go to the loo.

Man: Harrumph

Dorothy: Where’s her cell? There’s the diary.Right out in the open.
(sx pages turning) My God. Names. Places. Secret communications in the camp. What fools some females be! Ah. (reciting) I am certain it is Mrs. Nixon who is bringing the News into the camp. She could have me killed! (sx ripping of paper) Where’s the dustbin?

Scene Forty: Westminster Office

SOUND: typing

dorothy: The Kempetai then conducted a cell by cell search. After it was over, I arranged for a late supper for the women. I stayed in the office, pretending to type whenever a guard passed. After that I turned off the light and hid and waited my chance to sneak over to the Men’s Camp. Timothy Morgan was still trying to figure out who’d been taken by the Kempetai. Gradually, it became clear it was the men from the Radio Racket….ah, might I take that last sentence back…Thank you… A few days later more men were taken, Timothy included ,as well as two from the omen’s Camp, Mrs. Rose, Camp poetess, and Dr. Mary Jones

Scene Forty-One: Changi Camp

SOUND: (birds chirping)

Mrs. Crawford: Mrs. Nixon! I’ve heard they are searching Dr. Jones’ belongings. First Mrs. Rose than Dr. Jones. That means they will come for us too!

Dorothy: Calm down, Mrs. Crawford. Remember, I am the only one who knows you were one of my distributors. And I promise you,no,I make an oath, that no matter what happens, if the Kempetai do come for me,too, I will never ever give you away.

Scene Forty-Two: Westminster Office

SOUND: typing

Dorothy: Almost six months passed. Then Dr. Jones and Christine Rose were returned to the camp. A few days later, on April 2nd I was called to the Nipponese Office. As I was no longer Women’s Representative I was relaxed about it, I assumed I was to get a wireless message. Instead I was arrested by the Kempetai and taken to the YMCA in a car with McGowan and Peters from the Men’s Camp. I waved to Nicky, my husband, as I got into the car, and tried to smile, as if everything were fine, but I knew I was in for it.I had heard rumours of the YMCA. Beastly rumours. All three of us were escorted to a basement room and told to sit at small school desks
and then we were interrogated.

Scene Forty-Three: YMCA Basement

SOUND: Yelling

Dorothy: I told you. NO ONE gave me any news. There was no NEWS

Man: Yelling

Dorothy: Sometimes I collect rumours floating around and write them down and distribute them, to make the women feel that they aren’t
totally cut off from the world. That’s all.

Man: Yelling

Dorothy: I’ve never heard anything about Japanese boats being blown up in the harbor. I’ve never seen any radio receivers or transmitters in the camp. I am not engaged in espionage and I know no one who is. Sx SLAP.

Man: Yelling.

Dorothy: I don’t care who gave me away. People will admit to anything under extreme conditions.

Scene Forty-Four: Westminster Office

SOUND: typing

Dorothy : I was not hurt during this episode. I was screamed at, cajoled, bribed with food,even threatened with beheading but not physically harmed. After many exhausting hours of interrogation I was taken with McGowan and Peters to a Cage in the basement and put in with 20 others, all sitting cross-legged and looking like something the cat dragged in. Five British men, the others were Malays, Chinese Eurasians and 2 Japanese. Another woman was there, someone I knew: Li Chan.She and her husband had a store and often ran supplies into the camp. I squeezed in behind her.

Scene Forty-Five: The Cage at YMCA

SOUND: groaning of men

Mrs. Chan: (whisper) Believe it or not, this is one of the bigger cages, can’t be more than 20 by 12.

Dorothy: (sx teeth chattering) You seem surprised?

Chan: Yes, you are the first European woman I have seen here. I saw one other Chinese woman. And I heard rumours of a Portugese woman jailed as well.

Dorothy: Dr. Jones and Mrs. Rose were here at the YMCA for only a day and then kept at Smith Road. They are back at Changi now. In rough shape but alive

Chan: I heard rumours that Timothy Morgan is dead

Dorothy: Yes, I did too. Why are you here?

Chan: My husband and I are accused of smuggling radio parts in to the Men’s Camp. We didn’t of course.

Dorothy: Of course.

Chan: And you?

Dorothy: I don’t know why I am here.

Chan: You seem to know that man over there. The thin one with the abscesses on his arms. Norris? You two made eye contact as you entered.

Dorothy: We did?

Chan: He’s been here a while. He’s starving to death. He will beg you for your ration of rice.

Dorothy: Oh

Chan: Some bloat up like balloonfish, some sink back into their eye sockets. I never thought human skin could turn so many colours: black, blue, white, yellow, red, purple, brown, green

Dorothy: Did they torture you too?

Chan: I got the electric shock but not for many months now.

Scene Forty-Six: Westminster Office

SOUND: typing

Dorothy: I heard tales of torture and death in that place, enough horror stories to fill many books. But I never saw any Europeans actually being tortured. The Kempetai took their victims out of the cell starting at ten pm. I could hear screams of agony all night long. It made my skin crawl. Also, a bright light shone in my face so I couldn’t sleep. I was not tortured, although a guard liked to kick me every time he passed. I kept my composure, to set an example for the Asiatics in the cell. If I go to Hell, and it is likely, I won’t be caught by surprise.

Looking For Mrs. Peel Complete play pdf

Looking for Mrs. Peel -Part 9

Scene Thirty-Seven: Westminster Office

SOUND: Typing

Dorothy: On the tenth day of October, 1943, there was a peculiar atmosphere in the Nipponese Office. They took the roll call list from me but did not go through it. I was then told to go back and wait in the Rose Garden with the other women. We all stood a long time in the sun. Two women fainted from the heat. Then I heard the sound of marching feet in the Girdle walk Soldiers rushed in and surrounded us. Two familiar looking Nipponese Officers arrived with 3 I had never seen before. Obviously Kempetai. A Japanese woman interpreter accompanied them. They asked me all manner of ridiculous questions.

Scene Thirty-Eight: Rose Garden

SOUND: Silence

Man: Hiss

Interpretor: Mrs. Nixon. Are there any radio in the women’s camp?

Dorothy: Of course not. They are strictly forbidden.

Man: Hiss

Interpretor: Have you heard of any in the men’s camp?

Dorothy: No. How could I have?

Man: Hiss

Interpretor: What do you know about Japanese tankers being sabotaged
in Singapore Harbour.

Dorothy: Nothing.

man: Long Hiss

Interpreter: You are to instruct the women to return to their cell block and wait outside in an orderly line as we search each cell.

dorothy: Fine. But as Women’s Representative, I insist on being present at these searches.

Woman: Mrs. Nixon. I must speak to you.

Dorothy: yes

Woman: (whispering) I must get back to my cell before it is searched.

Dorothy: Why?

Woman: My diary. I left it out in the open.

Dorothy: Diaries. What is it with you women and your diaries? Do you realize how many hours I have spent in the Nipponese office defending the contents of various diaries? Maybe you should be made to suffer for your sloppiness.

Woman: Please Mrs Nixon. More people than me will be harmed if the Japanese read my diary.

Dorothy: What guilty secrets are you hiding? I’m to accompany the Kempetai on the search. I’ll see what I can do.

Scene Thirty-Nine: Inside Empty Changi

SOUND: belongings being thrashed about man: Yelling

dorothy: It’s a stethoscope. What can you possibly find suspicious about a thing like that. The person in this cell is a doctor. Doctors use stethoscopes to hear into people’s chest.

man: yelling

DOROTHY: You don’t understand a word of what I am saying. Do you?
Well, interpret this. See me jump up and down. See me point to my privates. Please. I need to go to the loo.

Man: Harrumph

Dorothy: Where’s her cell? There’s the diary.Right out in the open.
(sx pages turning) My God. Names. Places. Secret communications in the camp. What fools some females be! Ah. (reciting) I am certain it is Mrs. Nixon who is bringing the News into the camp. She could have me killed! (sx ripping of paper) Where’s the dustbin?

Scene Forty: Westminster Office

SOUND: typing

dorothy: The Kempetai then conducted a cell by cell search. After it was over, I arranged for a late supper for the women. I stayed in the office, pretending to type whenever a guard passed. After that I turned off the light and hid and waited my chance to sneak over to the Men’s Camp. Timothy Morgan was still trying to figure out who’d been taken by the Kempetai. Gradually, it became clear it was the men from the Radio Racket….ah, might I take that last sentence back…Thank you… A few days later more men were taken, Timothy included ,as well as two from the omen’s Camp, Mrs. Rose, Camp poetess, and Dr. Mary Jones

Scene Forty-One: Changi Camp

SOUND: (birds chirping)

Mrs. Crawford: Mrs. Nixon! I’ve heard they are searching Dr. Jones’ belongings. First Mrs. Rose than Dr. Jones. That means they will come for us too!

Dorothy: Calm down, Mrs. Crawford. Remember, I am the only one who knows you were one of my distributors. And I promise you,no,I make an oath, that no matter what happens, if the Kempetai do come for me,too, I will never ever give you away.

Scene Forty-Two: Westminster Office

SOUND: typing

Dorothy: Almost six months passed. Then Dr. Jones and Christine Rose were returned to the camp. A few days later, on April 2nd I was called to the Nipponese Office. As I was no longer Women’s Representative I was relaxed about it, I assumed I was to get a wireless message. Instead I was arrested by the Kempetai and taken to the YMCA in a car with McGowan and Peters from the Men’s Camp. I waved to Nicky, my husband, as I got into the car, and tried to smile, as if everything were fine, but I knew I was in for it.I had heard rumours of the YMCA. Beastly rumours. All three of us were escorted to a basement room and told to sit at small school desks
and then we were interrogated.

Scene Forty-Three: YMCA Basement

SOUND: Yelling

Dorothy: I told you. NO ONE gave me any news. There was no NEWS

Man: Yelling

Dorothy: Sometimes I collect rumours floating around and write them down and distribute them, to make the women feel that they aren’t
totally cut off from the world. That’s all.

Man: Yelling

Dorothy: I’ve never heard anything about Japanese boats being blown up in the harbor. I’ve never seen any radio receivers or transmitters in the camp. I am not engaged in espionage and I know no one who is. Sx SLAP.

Man: Yelling.

Dorothy: I don’t care who gave me away. People will admit to anything under extreme conditions.

Scene Forty-Four: Westminster Office

SOUND: typing

Dorothy : I was not hurt during this episode. I was screamed at, cajoled, bribed with food,even threatened with beheading but not physically harmed. After many exhausting hours of interrogation I was taken with McGowan and Peters to a Cage in the basement and put in with 20 others, all sitting cross-legged and looking like something the cat dragged in. Five British men, the others were Malays, Chinese Eurasians and 2 Japanese. Another woman was there, someone I knew: Li Chan.She and her husband had a store and often ran supplies into the camp. I squeezed in behind her.

Scene Forty-Five: The Cage at YMCA

SOUND: groaning of men

Mrs. Chan: (whisper) Believe it or not, this is one of the bigger cages, can’t be more than 20 by 12.

Dorothy: (sx teeth chattering) You seem surprised?

Chan: Yes, you are the first European woman I have seen here. I saw one other Chinese woman. And I heard rumours of a Portugese woman jailed as well.

Dorothy: Dr. Jones and Mrs. Rose were here at the YMCA for only a day and then kept at Smith Road. They are back at Changi now. In rough shape but alive

Chan: I heard rumours that Timothy Morgan is dead

Dorothy: Yes, I did too. Why are you here?

Chan: My husband and I are accused of smuggling radio parts in to the Men’s Camp. We didn’t of course.

Dorothy: Of course.

Chan: And you?

Dorothy: I don’t know why I am here.

Chan: You seem to know that man over there. The thin one with the abscesses on his arms. Norris? You two made eye contact as you entered.

Dorothy: We did?

Chan: He’s been here a while. He’s starving to death. He will beg you for your ration of rice.

Dorothy: Oh

Chan: Some bloat up like balloonfish, some sink back into their eye sockets. I never thought human skin could turn so many colours: black, blue, white, yellow, red, purple, brown, green

Dorothy: Did they torture you too?

Chan: I got the electric shock but not for many months now.

Scene Forty-Six: Westminster Office

SOUND: typing

Dorothy: I heard tales of torture and death in that place, enough horror stories to fill many books. But I never saw any Europeans actually being tortured. The Kempetai took their victims out of the cell starting at ten pm. I could hear screams of agony all night long. It made my skin crawl. Also, a bright light shone in my face so I couldn’t sleep. I was not tortured, although a guard liked to kick me every time he passed. I kept my composure, to set an example for the Asiatics in the cell. If I go to Hell, and it is likely, I won’t be caught by surprise.

Looking for Mrs. Peel Part 8

SOUND: Typing

Dorothy: “Good news” I told Giles, the Head of Entertainment, as he passed me the keys to his Morris before scrambling for the harbour, “My husband has been given permission to come live at the Cathay. Aren’t I lucky?”

I then volunteered as VAD in the 10th Australian General Hospital, which moved into the cinema of Cathay building February 10. A real baptism of fire, as they say. Still, mostly, I held the hands of dying men, sang them songs. Sometimes I shaved their beards or washed their dirty feet.The situation in Singapore City was getting more chaotic by the hour. Many dozens of seriously wounded or burned were being carried in on stretchers, lifted up over the carcasses of crushed automobiles at the hospital entrance. The Cathay building was under constant bombardment: The hospital couldn’t display a Red Cross Flag as the Army Corps Headquarters was installed there. The nurses had been evacuated as it was felt their services could be put to better use in another theatre: as most of the orderlies had scurried off and taken shelter in the basement, to drink and play cards, tensions were at flashpoint.

Scene Twenty-Eight: Flashback. Hospital

SOUND: hospital sounds, chaos, the cries of the wounded

Orderly : growl

Dorothy: What was that you called me. A bloody Pommy?

Orderly: growl

Dorothy.: That’s simply not true. I do not favor the English patients over the Australians. I spent all last night with that Australian private who was trying to tear off this bandages. And the night before I raided surrounding flats for supplies for everyone. Where do you think all these silk bed sheets came from? The Chanel No. 5 I’ve been using to mask the stench of putrifying flesh?

Orderly: Growl

dorothy: How can I? How can I feed that Welshman. His jaw has been blown off. His lips have gone gangrene! There’s nothing but green jelly where his mouth should be! (Crying)

Orderly: Softer Growl

Dorothy: I know. I know. But if you won’t take a break, neither will I.

Scene Twenty-Nine: Westminster Office

SOUND: typing

Dorothy: On the Sunday, the Japanese concentrated on bombing the Cathay Building. We we received over a dozen direct hits! Smoke filled the building. On February 15, The British Capitulated. The hospital was given a few days reprieve and then forced to move to Changi. On February 21 I was interned at Katong and then later moved to Changi. I had to walk nine miles to get there carrying my luggage.

Scene Thirty: flashback. Changi

SOUND: enormous din of prisoners

Dorothy: Dr. Jamieson? What is this?

Dr. J: Rules of Conduct for Changi Civilian Internees courtesy of Mr.Asahi the Nipponese Commandant. You can read them out loud for all the newcomers.

Dorothy: Ladies. Ladies please. Doctor Jamieson has asked me to read out the following rules for Internees. One: The behavior and attitude of the internees towards the Nipponese authorities will be obedient and respectful. Two: When the Nipponese come into the room, Internees must bow and stand to attention. Three: No internee shall approach the Nipponese authority directly, communicating only through the Camp leader. Four. NO lights on before 7:30. Lights out 10:30. Five All civilian subjects will do the necessary work inside the camp for their welfare.Six: Communication between the Men’s Camp and the Women’s Camp is strictly forbidden.

Internee: Is that all? Sounds just like me old boarding school.

Scene Thirty-One: Westminster office

SOUND: Typing

Dorothy: I first worked in the library and then took a turn as floor Representative. I was elected deputy Women’s Representative in the Women’s Camp from January to June 1943. I had lost out to Dr. Mary Jones, a specialist in tropical pediatrics, for the post of Women’s Representative by three votes. The deputy is a sort of Administrative head, dealing with supplies, budgets, rules and regulations.

Scene Thirty-Two: Committee Meeting Changi

SOUND: women around a table whispering

Dorothy: Expenditures. Central Fund. So far. Food 283,00, Tobacco
and Cigarettes, 52,000, Medical supplies, 30,500; Communication with mens camp executive: One free issue egg per person per week: From now on funds to be spent on rice polishings, ground nuts, pulses and dahls and not on eggs.

Woman: What? Are we to eat like the Hindus now?

Dorothy: The camp doctors assure us these provide better dietary value for the money.

Women: Ridiculous! I can’t believe it.

Dorothy: As for the request for kennels for our dogs, the Men’s Camp believes this to be unimportant. Timber is scarce and needed for building projects like the Men’s Sanitorium. On a disturbing note, books have been disappearing from the reference library. It is believed that the paper is being used to make cigarettes. Please remind the women under you that the sign of a civilized society is how it treats its books.Lastly, a cable has been sent to the Canadian Prime Minister, acknowledging his Christmas greetings and asking for assistance from the Canadian Red Cross.

Woman: If the Americans would share their baskets we wouldn’t have
to go begging from the Canadians!

Communication with the Nipponese Command. They have agreed to have
toilet paper and kotex added to the list of essentials for new internees.They have agreed to have a piano tuner come into the camp. They have allowed one lecture a week from the Men’s camp. : the Lecture Series commences on February 1st with “The Lighter Side of the Law” by Timothy Morgan, and on the 7th there will be a talk on Television. Most welcome news of all, they have permitted us sea bathing excursions, once a month. Now to address the complaints about women spending too long in the showers. Shower time will remain the same,two and one half hours in the morningn and the same in the afternoon. If anyone feels that some are abusing their
privileges the official channel for making a complaint is through their floor representative.

Woman 2: If you ask me some women seem to enjoy exposing themselves
in public.

Dorothy: Well, the long queue lines for meals and showers and the like are only going to get worse, I’m afraid. The Nipponese have warned us to expect a rush of new internees.

Group: No. How many. Impossible

Woman Two: How many?

Dorothy: As many as 900. Including 72 children. That will mean three
to a cell.

Woman one: Intolerable.

Dorothy Procedure as follows: New internees are to be registered in the school room by the office secretaries aided by some volunteers. They will be asked basic information only. Where are you from? Husband? Children? Any utensils. Bedding? Women with children will go to E Upper and Women with girls over 13 to the Carpenter’s shop to be claimed as cellmates. New arrivals who remain unclaimed will be assigned cellmates by the housing committee.

Women: I’m going to sleep in the Rose Garden. I have dibs on the Chapel.

Scene 32 1/2 Schoolroom. Murmur of voices

Dorothy: Name?

Woman: Mrs. J.P. Smithy

Dorothy: Born?

Woman: Kuala Lumpur

Dorothy: Education?

Woman:. St. Margaret’s Harrow and Pension at Lucerne Switzerland

Dorothy: Children?

Woman: Yes

Dorothy: Ages?

Woman: One Year Nine Months

Dorothy:Husband?

Woman:In POW camp. Gordon’s Corporal

Dorothy: Are you happy here?

Woman: No!

Dorothy:Why?

WOman: Husband not here and I do not like prison

Dorothy: What about food?

Woman: I am not ill, but not good food and not enough.

Dorothy: What about child?

Woman: Better food than us. But not enough. Could do with more food. Are you a doctor?

Dorothy: No, I am merely the Women’s Deputy Representative.

But I do not wish to be interviewed. So good day.

Scene Thirty-Three: Westminster Office

SOUND: typing

Dorothy: I was elected Women’s Representative, in June 1943, responsible to the Nipponese for the conduct of all 300 or so women at Changi Internment Camp. I had the freedom to leave the women’s camp for daily visits to Tominaga, the new Nipponese Commandant, a round-faced toad of a man. Unlike the Men’s Camp Representative, who chose to avoid confrontations with the Nipponese Command,I made a point of making a daily visit to Tominaga’s office. It was the only way to face my fear. Every day I would demand insulin and other medicines for the sick women. And every day I would be denied, with a sharp slap to the face. One day he punished me for my persistence by having me to fill up a giant blackboard with tiny “N”‘s and “O” s. On my walk back from Tominaga’s office I would usually stop by the Men’s Camp, on official camp business, of course.

Scene Thirty-Four: Flashback. Men’s Camp Office. Changi

SOUND: Radio being tuned

Dorothy: Let’s see, I have GRH 9.81 mc/s 30.53 m or try GSL 6.11
mc/s 49.10 meters.

announcer: This is World Affairs on the BBC Overseas Service. A Talk with Wickham Steed. A few days ago our Prime Minister, in a speech to the American Congress, assured the American people that the British will be fighting the war with Japan until the conclusion. One wonders why he had to make such a speech. Could it be that the average American (fading) is unaware that we are fighting …

Scene Thirty-Five: Changi

SOUND: Background din of crowd, paper being torn from typewriter

Man: Grumph

Dorothy: Thank you, Norris, but I need only one copy

Man: GRump

Dorothy: I have decided that this News will be passed on in the Women’s Camp orally. I will have my distributors memorize the basic facts from this news sheet and then I will destroy it.

man: ??

DOROTHY: They can draw pictures as a memory aid. For instance, in this case, a picture of a boat.

Man: HMMM

Dorothy: Yes, I am convinced this is for the best. Some internees have been too cavalier when it comes to distributing news. They think it’s a sort of schoolyard game. I am taking no chances. Man: HHHMMM??

Dorothy: I’ve chosen four of the most sensible woman in the camp to be my distributors. All reliable married women. No power hungry spinsters among them.

Man: ??

Dorothy: Sorry,I will not give you their names. They don’t even know who the others are.

Man: Growl

Dorothy: I can’t be bullied into revealing who they are. And, yes, I am well aware that Mary will object to the secrecy. But I once caught her reading a newssheet to Lady Drew, out in the open. Mary is a dear but she can be quite scatterbrained at times.

Scene Thirty-Six: Changi Women’s Camp

SOUND: Loud din of prisoners

Dr Jones: Mrs. Nixon. I’ve heard from Dr. Geeson that BBC broadcasts are coming into the Men’s Camp. Such good news for us. With the tensions here at such a fever pitch. I hear you were involved with the scuffle between the ladies in the Carpenter’s Shop.

Dorothy: Yes, Mary I never thought I’d need a Sikh guard to protect me from one of our own.

Dr. Jones: Were you hurt?

Dorothy: No. Kicked and bitten on the arm. That’s all. Rather droll in retrospect. Mrs.Maloney had a vicious disagreement with another of the Eurasians, Mrs. Dock, over a morsel of chicken she’d scrounged, and Mrs. Dock ran of to complain directly to Tominaga. I chased her down but arrived too late. She had already flung open the door of his quarters and caught him taking a shower. I wrestled her to the floor in the doorway. Tominaga’s guard arrived and joined us on the ground for a group grapple. All this with our esteemed Commandant howling bloody murder in the background. I was blamed for the incident of course. Spent two days in the lavatory with the two women. Lucky I was there, otherwise they would have killed each other.

Jones: Well, hopefully this BBC business will raise morale. I volunteer of course to be one of our distributors.

Dorothy: Mary, I’ve already chosen my distributors.

Jones: Who are they?

Dorothy: Only I will have that information. No doctors among them

Jones: No doctors? But we are the natural leaders here.. The Nipponese respect us. Where would you be without our expertise in nutrition and tropical disease. We are ideally placed to pass on information to the camp population.

dorothy: I’m sorry Mary.

Jones: You were my deputy. We worked together. You know you can trust me.

Dorothy: Mary. You are busy enough with your statistic-taking and caregiving to the newborns. Don’t be offended. I wouldn’t divulge this information to Timothy,either.

Jones: You wouldn’t tell the Men’s Camp Rep? He must have been livid. He believes the women’s camp is under the jurisdiction of the Men’s Camp.

Dorothy: Well,men never think women can do anything. They don’t understand how we women are better practiced at making do under
confinement.What did Maugham write? The soul of man wanders through infinite reaches of the universe and she, woman, seeks to imprison it?

Jones: You are obsessed about secrecy! Still upset about the incident
with Lady Drew and the News.

Dorothy: These are BBC Broadcasts.

Jones: I am able to be discreet. You know that! Tominaga told Mrs. Rose he loved her poems, by the by. Finds them amusing.

Dorothy: He’s only impressed with her Ivy League credentials. The Japanese are such snobs.

Jones: Well,that’s one step better than the average colonial, wouldn’t you say? Who judges a woman’s worth by her husband’s social standing. As the wife of a mere rubber planter you surely can appreciate…

Dorothy: Well,And Mrs. Rose has no business going over my head either to talk to Tominaga. Typical American. Wanting all the perks of power without the responsibility.

Looking for Mrs. Peel Part 7

Scene Twenty-Three: Batu Caves Estate near KL

SOUND: crowd sounds

Dorothy: Last train? Military orders?Women and Children? So soon? I can’t. I can’t leave now. The bungalow is filled with evacuees and I promised Marion that I’d see his family safe..

Phone: Blah blah

Dorothy: What kind of an example are we British setting for the Asiatics if we leave at the first sign of trouble?

phone: grumble

Dorothy: Kuala Selangor landings? On what? Bicycles? Tanks in the rubber Plantations? Where’s all this airpower that’s supposed to back up the sea power in support of the land power?

Phone: blah blah

dorothy: The navy blames the army, the army blames the air force. The British blame the Americans. The Civilians blame the Military. Whatever happened to cooperation? I refuse to evacuate. I’ll stay back and defend our estate with the men.

Scene Twenty-Four: Train Kuala Lumpur to Singapore

SOUND: women children talking wailing, screech of iron on iron

Woman 1: Why are they stopped?

Woman 2: It’s a relief not to hear that infernal screeching. Have they been riding the brakes the whole time?

Dorothy: The train is being driven by survivors of the Prince of Wales and Repulse.

Woman 2: Ah, sailors, not engineers. Help me will you get my bag from the overhead. It’s so dark.

Dorothy: What’s that sound?

Woman 1: Bottles clinking, I suspect

Woman 2: Absolutely right

Dorothy: You’ve filled your suitcase with booze! Good Show! But the irective was to pour the stuff out, to keep it from the looters. Not bring the bottles with us.

Woman 2: No one can accuse me of deserting my friends. Dorothy, meet
Johnny Walker, Captain Morgan. Meet Dorothy.

Dorothy: You are a bloody genius

Woman 1: Let’s have a drink ladies. It will probably be our last.

Dorothy: To Singapore and safety.

Scene Twenty-Five: Westminster Office

SOUND: door slamming, man huffing and puffing

Clerk: Ah, Mr. Cramden. This is Mrs. Dorothy Nixon, our witness for the prosecution at the Double Tenth War Crimes Trial.

Mr. Cramden: Croak

Dorothy: Good afternoon.

Cramden: Croak

Dorothy: Can I finally start?

Clerk: Yes (sx begins to type as Dorothy speaks)

Dorothy: I, Dorothy Nixon, wife of Robert Nixon, Manager of Batu Caves Estate with permanent home address at Seafield House, Crosby,near Maryport, Cumberland, make an oath and say as follows: I was in Singapore the time of capitulation of the British forces to the Japanese, February 1942. I had arrived on the island, the impenetrable Fortress, as we saw it,in mid-January, a few days before the Japanese invaded. I ran into a roommate, a friend from Kuala Lumpur, Margaret Robinson,who was working at the Malayan Broadcasting Corporation.. She had a flat in the Cathay Building, the tallest building in Singapore and the European nerve centre, although owned by a Chinese millionaire. She told me they needed help at the MBC radio station, on the 5th floor, as that organization had just been setting up when Malaya was overrun. I was glad to have something useful to do. My job was to time records in the studio but on February 8, many staff members decided it was time to get the hell out so I was called upon to do more

Scene Twenty-Six: Malayan Broadcasting Corporation Offices

SOUND: Busy radio office sounds

Woman: Dorothy, the staff is stretched to the limit, it seems. Can you fill in.

Dorothy: And do what?

Woman:: Announcing. You have a lovely voice.

Dorothy: I am an amateur.

Woman: Well, you will fit right in, then. I should show you this letter in the Straits Times. A listener, just a few months ago, called us, quote, very likely the worst radio station in the world. But, now, it is our time shine, to be the Daventry of the East in earnest.

Dorothy: What do I say?

Woman: Say anything. Be inspirational.(sx door slamming)

dorothy: This is Dorothy Nixon, librarian at the Kuala Lumpur Book Club. You may know the book club, as it is an institution in these parts. Although if you are not a member of the expat community you may not, for the library counts mostly Europeans among its members. I am planning to change that and bring in members from all KL communities, the Chinese Indian and Malay. I know the book club has a bit of a reputation for supplying low brow literature to thrill starved planter’s families,a kind of opiate of the literate, but I assure you many of our clients have excellent taste in books. Books are wonderful things, a person’s most precious possessions. A good place to look for inspiration in a time of difficulty. Courage, for instance. There are many books about courage…A finer example of courage you won’t find anywhere, is Marion, our Indian ARP officer at the Book Club. When the bombs first fell he went about his
business in an efficient and quiet manner, although clearly green with fear. I hope his family is listening. They would have been very proud to see him. (Sx record being put on)

Woman: Sorry, Dorothy. We have to interrupt. We’ve just received word from the Singapore authorities that bomb shelters are to be built – for the Asiatics.

Dorothy: A little late, with the Japanese overrunning the island and after many days of wholesale bombardment of their neighbourhoods..

Woman: Well, I phoned the authorities to ask if we could blow up the Mount Pleasant transmitter before shutting down our operation in Singapore and the Governor ’s people assured me that, despite appearances, all is far from lost.

Dorothy: Maybe I believed that two weeks ago, last week, even yesterday, But not today. Look around. Singapore is in flames.

Scene Twenty-Seven: Westminster Office

SOUND: (sx typing) Westminister Office.

Dorothy: The next day all staff, European and Asian, were given their last paycheques.I refused to evacuate despite the pleas of my my friends.

Woman: You must come with us. They’ve commandeered 3 sampans to
Batavia for the remainder of the MBC staff. We have a good chance of
making it.

Dorothy: No. I cannot. My husband, Nicky, is in the LDC and cannot leave, so I will not either. He’s lost his entire life’s work.

Woman: Many of us are leaving our husbands behind, Dorothy. Think of your sons, Peter and Michael in England. Denise too.

Dorothy: They would want me to stay, I know it.

Looking for Mrs. Peel Part 6

SOUND: Office Noise

Clerk: : Please be seated Mrs. Nixon. I see you have come all the way to Westminster from Cumberland. And in January! It all must be quite a shock. How long have you been in England?

Dorothy: Two months

Clerk: This should not take too long. All you need do is read your testimony in front of Mr. Cramden, the Commissioner of Oaths, and I will type it.

SOUND: Telephone Rings Clerk: Ah, she’s quite frail. I hate to send her back out. Yes, fine. There’s been a delay. Instructions from the barristers. Shouldn’t be long. Would you like some tea or water?

Dorothy: Tea, please.

SOUND: Clink and clang and tap water splash.

Clerk: I see that you are the wife of a rubber planter.

Dorothy: Yes

Clerk: A large plantation?

Dorothy: No, well, yes, at one time. But tin has taken precedence over rubber lately

clerk: My mother’s Canadian cousin, Sydney moved to a Malayan rubber plantation as a new bride, before the Great War. It was either that or the Canadian West,you know, but she was afraid of the bitter cold, and wild Indians.

Dorothy: Ah?

Clerk: Her husband got all caught up, those early days, in the frenzy of rubber speculation. Automobile tires, you see. She left him, though, after only a few years in the tropics. Returned to Ottawa.But had he given up his Asian mistress, she might have stayed longer.

Dorothy: Uh Huh.

Clerk: The original plan was for them to go out there and make a fortune and both return home as soon as possible, but with the boom of 1910 over and the price of rubber so unstable and the frightful cost of living over there, the dream soon faded.

Dorothy: Yes,

Clerk: Her daughter Emelia was born out there. Do you have any children?

Dorothy: Yes, three. My eldest was in the RAF. Ferry Command Based in Montreal. He’s been demobbed and he’s back at Oxford. I’ve been trying to contact him.

Clerk: How old would he be now?

Dorothy: 22, or 23. Born October 1922. .

Scene Sixteen: Flashback.Europe Hospital Kuala Lumpur.

SOUND: baby crying.

woman muttering “Rubber London. 18 cents. How will we manage?”

Nurse: A big fine rosy pink boy you have there, Mrs. Nixon.

Dorothy: Thank you, Nurse.

Nurse: Sister Ellen. Normally, Mrs. McLeod, the District Medical Officer would normally pay you a visit, but she’s been run off her feet setting up the KL infant welfare program.

Dorothy: I understand.

Sister Ellen: (sx paper flapping)I see that all went smoothly. A natural delivery. You may be a tiny woman, but you have the pelvis of an Empire Builder.

Dorothy: A loathsome man, that Dr. Wood. I asked him about hiring a native nurse and he lectured me on the duties of the Imperial wife. I am to be a homemaker and a social weaver, it seems, not a layabout and gadfly.

Sister Ellen: Damned if we do.Damned if we don’t. That’s a woman’s lot I’m afraid. And that goes double here in the colonies.

Dorothy: And my husband will have something to say about that 500 dollar fee. Outrageous. What did he do to earn that?

Sister Ellen: He applied the latest scientific birthing methods in a somewhat hygienic setting.

Dorothy: Scientific methods!

Sister ellen: Would you have preferred to have a Malay midwife deliver you baby? On a mat on the floor of your bungalow. I hear they like to chant over the afterbirth.

Dorothy: The fan on this side of the ward is broken. It’s hot as Hades in here. And the mosquito nets are torn. Why was I put in Second Class?

Sister Ellen: Two many malaria cases in the first class ward. Probably. Well, Dr. is discharging you anyway.I see you are going to a Hill Station for a postpartum confinement?

Dorothy: Yes. I am doing it the Chinese way.

Sister ellen: Excellent. No need for a home visit, then.. Still, I will leave you some information on the best infant formulas.

Dorothy: Thank you sister. But I would still like to talk to Mrs. McLeod about a nurse. I have my hands full running the bungalow. So many visitors.

Sister Ellen: She’ll advise you to get a good British nurse, or nothing. Native nurses are little help. They need constant supervision. And even if you find a reliable one, do you want your son’s first words to be AYAH and not Mama? Enjoy him while you can, Mrs. Nixon. It’s the tragedy of colonial life, having to part with our little ones so young. For their own good, of course.

Scene Seventeen:Westminster Commissioner of Oaths Office

SOUND: window opening

Clerk: I think I’ll open the window a smidge. Splendid countryside in Malaya, as she described it. Misty blue-green mountain ranges. Fiery fairy tale flower-scapes, Birds as big and bright as Chinese kites. It must have been glorious to spend your days surrounded by such proof of God’s Majesty. Such natural beauty.

Dorothy: Nothing beautiful about a rubber plantation. A bleak tree laboratory, really, complete with daily bleedings.

Scene Nineteen: Rubber Plantation.Verandah

SOUND: loud pops monkey shrieks.

Dorothy:(reading under her breath) The Planter’s Store: Tapping knives, earthenware latex cups, acetic acid, coagulation sprayers and sprays… Bush’s coagulating and bleaching powder. Immediate separation and clotting of rubber at the same time giving a fine light colour. …Of Interest to planters: reduce your factory costs by sending your rubber rolls to us for regrooving. We have special machines to turn, grind, recut grooves. Maybe he would be interested. (sx. paper tearing).

Denise.: Ayah? I mean Mummy.

Dorothy: Denise. What are you doing on the verandah so early. 5.30.
Father has only just left for work.

Denise. : I can’t sleep. The trees are exploding.The monkeys are all fighting over the blijakozas.

Dorothy: Seed pods. Denise. Say it in English. There’s nothing to be afraid of. The seed pods are popping open and falling to the ground.
It’s nature’s way.

Denise: What are all the coolies doing way down there? They look like ants.

Dorothy: They are lining up for muster. They are starting their work day. Rubber only runs in the morning.

Denise: When I am big, can I help the Mummy tappers clean the tree milk from the cups like the coolie children?

dorothy: Latex, Denise. No, the Tamil children have to work with their mothers and fathers. You and your brother are luckier. You get to go to school soon. Now,let’s go find Ayah.

Scene Eighteen: Westminster Office. SX Ambient Office Sounds.

Clerk: No, the jungle was no place for a woman back then. Too lonely. Nothing to do but write letters, maybe garden.. The Man of the House out working from dawn until past dusk. Still, back in Canada she missed having the huge airy bungalow and all those servants. A Malay driver, a cook, a Chinese lady’s maid and two houseboys who pinched money from her. But that was to be expected.

Dorothy: Yes, we’ve all heard the clichés. The proud lazy Malay, the pious eager to please Tamil, the shrewd hardworking Chinese.

Clerk: Ah, let me see how much longer he’ll be

Scene Nineteen: Rubber Estate 1937

SOUND: Sound of singing in Chinese and radio with poor reception

Announcer: And that concludes our hour of Hindustani music on the Britith Malaya Broadcasting Corporation. Right after the midday rubber and tin prices, a discussion of Harvey Firestone’s efforts to raise rubber in Liberia. But first,this: Up Country listeners. Are you tired of poor reception and interference from Tokyo and Saigon? Well, a reminder that powerful new 1937 Marconi wireless sets and receivers are available on easy payment plans.

dorothy: No, not turtle soup. Yes, Muligatawny is fine. If you can find some guinea fowl at Cold Storage for under 1.00 buy it. Serve it roasted. Nicky? About that auction sale today, Anna could really use the Singer hand sewing machine to make some extra money. But even if the bidding is very low on the Crosley Shelvador refridgerator, we can’t justify it.

Nicky: Bark

Dorothy: Yes, I did promise Kajan I’d try to persuade you to promote him to teacher. We have 11 older children on the lines now, and as you know, regulations state we must have a primary school.

Nicky: Bark

Dorothy: I do not see this as interfering in Estate Business. Kajan is very keen to improve his lot and there’s no work recruiting these days. He is the only Tamil we have who can read and write well.

Nicky: Bark

Dorothy: Upsetting the natural order of things? Courting scandal? Don’t be ridiculous.

Nicky: Bark

Dorothy: What’s wrong with putting ideas in their heads if they are the right ideas?

Nicky: Bark

dorothy: I know the Tamils want their children to work with them, but as this Depression proves, we can’t promise to keep them in work forever.

Nicky: Bark

Dorothy: I know I am not a missionary but if the shopkeepers of the Central Indian Association aren’t interested in helping their lower
castes, we Europeans will have to.

Nicky: Bark

Dorothy: Now that our last child have been sent away, what am I to do, stand behind the Cook all day? The Bungalow runs itself.

Nicky: Bark

Dorothy: Fine. I will find something to do, off the estate. If that’s how you want it.

Scene Twenty: Westminster Office

SOUND: office

Clerk: And were you on the plantation when the Japanese invaded?

Dorothy: No, I was at the Book Club.

Clerk: Book club?

Dorothy: The Kuala Lumpur Book Club. A library. I was secretary. We
had just moved our offices to the Padang,the green, where all the important government buildings are located, so we were expecting it.

Clerk: The bombings, you mean.

Dorothy: Yes. Boxing Day 1941. The Japanese planes usually passed overhead and bombed the aerodrome, but this time it was different.

Scene Twenty-One: Flashback, Box Day 1941 Kuala Lumpur Book Club

SOUND: artillery, planes

Woman: What’s that sound?

Dorothy: Our anti-aircraft guns up on the roof. The planes are bombing us this time. Find shelter!

SOUND: Loud sounds of roof collapsing, desk being thrown around etc

Dorothy: sx(Scream)

Scene Twenty-Two: Westminster Office

SOUND: ambiant office noise

Dorothy: I was thrown under a shelf. My desk overturned. My typewriter pulverized. My car outside crushed. Afterwards Marion, the ARP Warden and I collected the casualties. 4 dead. 3 wounded.

Clerk: And then you headed for Singapore?

Dorothy: Shortly afterwards.

Looking for Mrs. Peel Part 5

Scene Twelve: Nixon apartment, another day.

SOUND: cooking sound CBS News on the TV

Walter Cronkite: Tens of thousands are expected to March on Washington tomorrow to protest the Vietnam War in what is promised to the the first of many such demonstrations. In a related event, today, a throng of young men descended on the Justice Department to hand in over 1000 draft cards.

Dorothy: Daddy! You’re home! Give me a horse back ride. One two three…(sx slap) Giddyup. I’m Billy Hartak and you’re Northern Dancer.

Granny: Peter, is Place des Arts posh? Are slacks appropriate for the play? I only have… Peter! You’ll hurt your back. She’s much too big to be carried around like that!

Dorothy: Ahhh. (sx plunk of feet on floor) What play?

Peter: grump

Dorothy: I wanna go see Othello

Peter: grump

Dorothy: I do too know lots about Shakespeare

Peter: grump

Dorothy: I don’t care about going to see Jungle Book. That’s for kids. I wanna see Laurence Olivier.

Dorothy vo: A few minutes later I signal my displeasure louder and clearer.

Martha: (distant) Supper in five minutes.

Dorothy: You can’t pass

Granny: What?

Dorothy: This is my bedroom and you can’t come in. Eat in the breakfast nook.

Granny: Why, you mischievous monkey child. Get out of the way

Dorothy: No!

Granny: You spotty faced devil. No one tells me where I can and cannot go.

Dorothy: I do.

Dorothy vo: And there we dance ridiculous in the doorway, the shriveled 72 year old sparrow woman and the stringy 12 year old monkey child, palm against palm, elbows akimbo, faces ablaze with indignation, in an inter-generational showdown, of sorts, a humiliating fandango for me, a truly graceless moment suspended in time and space,for although we’re ludicrously mismatched in height we’re remarkably even in strength. Eventually,my father emerges from the bathroom with a copy of Sports Illustrated conveniently rolled in his fist.(sx toilet flushing)

Peter: HUH??

Dorothy: I need the table. I have to do homework.

Peter: Haa

Granny: Your daughter won’t let me pass.

Peter: HAAA! (sx. Slap of magazine against ass)

Dorothy: Owwww. I AM in my room.
Granny: That girl. That spoiled spidery greasy haired thing. She can never visit me in Malaya. I would lose face in front of my Chinese friends.

Dorothy: I’d lose that face if I were you. You sun-baked bag of wrinkles. (sx thwack)

Marthe: The tomales are ready. Piping hot so take care.

Granny: Insupportable. That ghastly Eurasian girl put her up to it, I wager.

Dorothy vo: Much later that night my father comes to tuck me into my cot.

Dorothy: What’s wrong Daddy? Was the play sad?

Peter: Sniffle

Dorothy: You’re raining on me, Daddy.Don’t cry.

Dorothy vo: Expo ends. The leaves on the Maple trees turn red, yellow and orange and fall in great mouldy heaps in the gutter. Soon, the inevitable first blast of wintry weather.

Scene Thirteen: Nixon Living Room November 1967
SOUND: radio talk show

Announcer: (sx jingle. “Give the family its joys and they’ll all agree. Give them RCA TV.” Donut VO It’s Colour Preview Days at RCA. No money down on new models starting at 329.00 Offer lasts until Dec 15th.)A blizzardy November 19 in Montreal. How will the pound sterling’s dramatic drop affect the Canadian economy.We’ll be talking to two experts..

Dorothy vo: My last real memory of my grandmother mirrors my first.

Dorothy: Mummy, look out the window. Granny is out in the snowstorm in her shoes and socks.

Martha: Yes, she’s taking a taxi to the Liquor Commission. I told her to wait for Daddy. Old people can be so comical, sometimes.

Dorothy: Yes, so comical. She’s ugly and old and says mean things. And she drinks like a fish.

Martha: What did you say? Ma petite bonjour. Don’t ever let me catch you talking like that again, especially about family. Your grandmother is a lady, all my friends say so.

Dorothy: But she sent Daddy away to England at 5 years old to live with strangers who didn’t want him, and he had holes in his trousers and he had to beg “Please more porridge”at school, just like Oliver Twist.And he got locked in a dark cupboard when he was bad.

Martha: I think your father exaggerates sometimes. Memories can be like that. We can’t judge your grandmother’s life. She’s had some very hard times too.

Dorothy: Like what?

Martha: Oh, she had to sit for a long time cross-legged in a small room with lots of men and she wasn’t allowed to talk. During the war.

Dorothy: That happens to Ingrid all the time! At detention after school.

Radio guest: Certainly the American Administration must be concerned. The White House doesn’t want the British to pull out of East of Suez entirely.(fade) I wouldn’t be surprised if some feverish back room negotiations are going on right now.

SOUND: radio being tuned
Announcer 1: 1965: Singapore has been expelled from Malaysia just two years…

SOUND: Radio being tuned
Announcer 2: 1963: A new country was born today. Malaysia comprised of The Federation of Malaya, North Borneo, Sarawak and Singapore. SOUND: radio being tuned

Announcer 3: 1960 The twelve year old Communist Emergency in Malaya has been ended

SOUND: Radio being tuned
Announcer 4: 1957. Malayan Independence has been declared.

SOUND: Radio being tuned
Announcer 5: 1955: The UK is giving 6,000,000 pounds to The Federation of Malaya to offset the fall in the price of tin and rubber and to underwrite the cost of erecting villages for Chinese squatters

SOUND: radio being tuned
Announcer 6: 1948. A State of Emergency has been declared in The Federation of Malaya as 3 European Planters were murdered by Communist Chinese insurgents yesterday.

SOUND: Radio being tuned
Announcer 7: 1946. A war crimes trial gets underway in Singapore in March, related to atrocities committed by the Japanese Secret Police at a civilian prisoner of war camp located at Changi Beach. Former expatriots are supplying testimony for the prosecution under oath in London this month.