Foxfinder Read online

  Concerned, JUDITH puts the lantern down and goes over to WILLIAM.

  WILLIAM. Are you hurt?

  WILLIAM. No.

  JUDITH. What happened?

  WILLIAM. You shouldn’t be out here.

  JUDITH. Neither should Sam. I’m taking him in. Where is he? I heard shots!

  WILLIAM. He ran off.

  JUDITH. Where to?

  WILLIAM. He’s shooting foxes.

  JUDITH is horrified to hear this.

  JUDITH. He’s what?

  WILLIAM. He sees them but I can’t. Why can’t I see them?

  JUDITH. I don’t know.

  WILLIAM. If you went after him, would you see them?

  JUDITH. I...

  Pause.

  WILLIAM. Would you?

  JUDITH. I don’t know.

  WILLIAM. Do you believe that there are foxes on this farm?

  JUDITH. Yes.

  WILLIAM. You have to say that. I told you denial was a sign of collaboration.

  Pause.

  It’s all lies. Isn’t it?

  Not sure what to say, JUDITH doesn’t speak. Her lack of response is all the answer WILLIAM needs.

  Does everyone know?

  JUDITH. I don’t know. I don’t think so.

  WILLIAM. Oh God. They told me my doubts were a sign of weakness...

  Desperately, he clutches at JUDITH.

  My mission. My life...

  JUDITH. It’s all right.

  WILLIAM. Oh God... please...

  He sobs. JUDITH comforts him.

  JUDITH. Ssh. It’s all right. It’s all right. Ssh.

  WILLIAM kisses JUDITH. She pulls away, shocked.

  William... no. I’m sorry. I don’t...

  WILLIAM. I thought you... You were kind to me.

  JUDITH. Kind, and that’s all. I’m married.

  Pause.

  WILLIAM. He hasn’t touched you in months. Sarah Box told me.

  JUDITH. That’s got nothing to do with it! I’m going to find Sam.

  WILLIAM. No, you can’t. He’s shooting into the trees. It’s too dangerous.

  WILLIAM moves in front of her, blocking her way.

  JUDITH. Sam would never hurt me.

  WILLIAM. Stay here. Please. I...

  WILLIAM tries to kiss her again. She pushes him off.

  JUDITH. I said no.

  WILLIAM. All my life I’ve denied myself the things I wanted. That’s what a foxfinder does, for the sake of his mission.

  JUDITH. Let me past, please. I need to find Sam.

  WILLIAM. I’ve dreamed of you day and night for fifteen days. It’s been like torture!

  JUDITH. That’s not my fault.

  WILLIAM. Judith...

  JUDITH. Get out of my way.

  Pause. WILLIAM becomes very calm.

  WILLIAM. I’ll make a trade with you.

  JUDITH. What?

  WILLIAM. I’ll go. I’ll leave tomorrow, and I’ll give your farm the all clear. If you... sleep with me.

  Pause.

  JUDITH. No.

  WILLIAM. Then... I’ll say the foxes came here because of you, because you’re a drunk, an adulterer. I’ll say you have sex with animals, that you’re the foxes’ whore.

  JUDITH. You wouldn’t.

  Pause. He looks at her.

  I thought you were better than this.

  WILLIAM. I thought I was a lot of things.

  Slowly, JUDITH lies down on the ground.

  WILLIAM gets on top of her and awkwardly begins to have sex with her. She turns her face away from him.

  SAMUEL appears out of the dark. He stands there, his eyes wild. He has the shotgun.

  SAMUEL. You!

  JUDITH. Sam!

  WILLIAM gets up. He backs away from SAMUEL, who advances upon him.

  WILLIAM. Please... please don’t.

  SAMUEL shoots WILLIAM in the chest. He falls. JUDITH looks at SAMUEL in horror.

  SAMUEL. I shot a fox.

  22

  JUDITH and SAMUEL’s farmhouse kitchen. Two days later. JUDITH and SAMUEL are sitting in their Sunday best. Winter sunshine is pouring in through the windows. JUDITH is extremely anxious, but SAMUEL is relaxed.

  JUDITH. What time is it?

  SAMUEL. Quarter past.

  JUDITH. I thought they’d be here by now.

  SAMUEL. They’ll be here soon.

  Pause.

  You were right about the leeks. Another few days in the field, they’d have been rotting.

  Pause.

  A good crop. Things’re turning for the better already.

  JUDITH goes to the window and looks out.

  JUDITH. Where are they? I can’t stand this waiting.

  SAMUEL. They’ll be here soon.

  JUDITH sits back down. They wait.

  JUDITH. Where did you put... William?

  SAMUEL. In the barn.

  JUDITH. Did you... cover his face with something?

  SAMUEL. A bit of sack. More than he deserves.

  Pause.

  JUDITH. We should have buried him and said that he’d vanished.

  SAMUEL. No. I told you. We’ve nothing to hide.

  JUDITH. You killed him, Sam.

  SAMUEL. Aye, I did. And I’m proud of it.

  Pause.

  We should get a reward, for what we’ve done. Compensation.

  JUDITH. You’re not going to say that.

  SAMUEL. I am. They sent him into our house. A fox in the shape of a boy.

  JUDITH. Don’t say that. Call him a collaborator. And don’t get angry. That won’t help.

  SAMUEL. He says he’s come to help, really he’s come to try and finish us off, because his friends couldn’t do for us in March!

  JUDITH. When the foxfinders get here –

  SAMUEL. I’ll have a few choice words for them.

  JUDITH. We’ve got to explain it, calmly. We’ve got to make them understand, or...

  SAMUEL. I’ll tell them all right. How he didn’t want to search the farm properly. Kept making excuses. Didn’t want to go to the woods, because he knew that was where they were hiding.

  JUDITH. He ignored the sign. The message in the wool. Don’t forget to say that.

  SAMUEL. Aye, that’s right.

  JUDITH. What else?

  SAMUEL. He said he couldn’t see the foxes in the woods, when they were right there, right in front of him!

  JUDITH. He tried to stop you from shooting at them.

  SAMUEL. Aye. Didn’t follow me when I chased them. And when you came... he attacked you. I’d had my doubts, but that’s when I knew. I saw the beast in him.

  Pause.

  We ought to be compensated. It’s not right, what happened.

  JUDITH. What if they don’t believe us?

  SAMUEL. Course they will. It’s the truth, isn’t it?

  There’s a knock at the door.

  The End.

  DAWN KING

  Dawn King’s other work for the theatre includes: Foreverland (Finborough Theatre as part of Vibrant Festival); Water Sculptures/Zoo double bill (Union Theatre); Face Value (Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough); The Bitches’ Ball (Hoxton Hall, national tour and Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh); Doghead Boy and Sharkmouth Go To Ikea (The Junction, Cambridge). She was the 2012 Pearson Playwright-in-Residence at the Finborough Theatre, and one of ten writers from across the UK chosen for the BBC Writersroom 10 scheme. Her work for radio includes My One and Only, 28 (Radio 4); The Man in Black (Radio 4 Extra); episodes for the first and second series of science-fiction drama Planet B (Radio 7). Foxfinder was the winner of the 2011 Papatango New Writing Competition, and Dawn won the 2012 Off West End Award for Most Promising Playwright.

  A Nick Hern Book

  Foxfinder first published in Great Britain as a paperback original in 2011 by Nick Hern Books Limited, The Glasshouse, 49a Goldhawk Road, London W12 8QP, in association with Papatango and the Finborough Theatre, London

  This ebook edition first published in 2013

  Foxfinde
r copyright © 2011 Dawn King

  Dawn King has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work

  Cover image: Garry Lake www.garrylakephotography.com

  Cover design: Ned Hoste, 2H

  Typeset by Nick Hern Books, London

  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

  ISBN 978 1 78001 212 4 (ebook edition)

  ISBN 978 1 84842 244 5 (print edition)

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