Searching for Preshanni

EPISODE 9

FLLOYD:                               Thunder's Mouth Theatre presents... "In Search of Preshanni" Episode 9 of Season 11. Helen and Susie are concerned that Preshanni went missing just after Ciara went off to France, so they on their way to Mary's house to see if Ciara left any information behind, where Preshanni might have gone. Enjoy...

HELEN                                   Well, this is an adventure, isn't IT?

SUSIE                                    What sitting on a bus?

HELEN                                   Well, it's not just any bus. It's a bus to Peckham. I can't remember the last time I was in Peckham or why, but I'm sure I've been there before. Have you?

SUSIE                                    No, no, never have. Can't say I have at all. 

SUSIE                                    What do you think we're going to find when we get there?

HELEN                                   Oh, well, I suspect Mary's got a very nice house.

ÅSUSIE                                 No. I mean, you know, the boxes. Ciara's boxes? Do you think we'll find anything about Preshanni?

HELEN                                   Well, it's worth a try. That's all I can think of.

PHONE RINGS

PERSON ON PHONE         Yes?  Yes Mum, it's me....

SUSIE :                                  Oh, yes, it's, oh, Gran, I just don't know what to think. I mean... What could possibly have happened? You know, slave labour, kidnapping or or she's been knocked unconscious and lost her memory, and some kind souls have taken her in? I mean, what else is there? Why do people go missing?

HELEN :                                Oh, well, I'm sure there are a number of reasons, but to be honest, I'm with you, I simply can't think of anything that makes any sense at all. I mean, she seemed to be perfectly happy in her job. Wasn't she? Working with Mrs. Patel?

SUSIE :                                  Oh, yes, they seemed to get on tremendously. Mrs. Patel is... she's very motherly, very caring, and oh, and she didn't seem to have problems with her family back in South Africa. Well, she didn't mention anything, but then she always spoke warmly about them. You know, she she'd only come over here to to study. And I think she missed her mom... But... Oh Gran, I just keep going around in circles.

HELEN :                                Yes, well, not a lot of point in doing that. End up making yourself dizzy.

PHONE RINGS

And there's really nothing you can do about it? Let's just enjoy the ride and see what we find when we get there.

LADY :                                   No, Mum, no, don't give him any money. No, no. I don't care what he says, Mom, you've not to give him any money. Not, No, Mum, do not give him any money. You know what'll happen. Look, Mum - Mum! I'm on the bus, and I'll be there in five minutes. All right, all right. Well, yes, you can tell him I'm on my way. That'll probably get rid of him. Well, why don't you do that and then lock the door? Mom. All right, see you soon.

BUS STOPPING BELLBUS STOPS, DOORS OPEN.

LADY :                                   Thank you, driver.

SUSIE:                                   Wow!  We're not the only ones with problems. Are we?

HELEN :                                No? Sounded awful, didn't it? Some some prodigal son wanting, wanting your old mother's Money, oh, dear.

SUSIE:                                   Why are there so many horrible people in the world?

HELEN :                                We're a very strange species, aren't we?

SUSIE:                                   What is it... we sort of... we need ...

HELEN                                   We need to live in communities as a species. We need to be able to rely on each other, and yet, we really don't trust each other, do we? Not easily? I don't know the answer.

SUSIE:                                   We need each other, and yet, we steal from each other, we kill each other, we deny help to-

HELEN                                   Oh, not everybody.

SUSIE :                                  Well, that's true. Oh, I think this is the stop.

MUSIC

SCENE 2 - AT MARY'S HOUSE

HELEN :                                How many more of these boxes have you got? Mary?

MARY :                                  Oh, there's only three or four more.

HELEN :                                We're just not having much luck. Are we?

SUSIE :                                  No, not yet, but still we keep going.

HELEN :                                She sure has a lot of paperwork,

MARY :                                  Well yes, but this covers several years, you know, with not much labelling the boxes properly. I mean, we've had boxes, oh yes, we've had boxes from her fruit selling business

HELEN:                                  Fruit?

MARY:                                   Yes, she had an organic fruit enterprise, you know 

SUSIE:                                   And the seashell babies?

MARY:                                   Yes, yes, you know, she's actually very creative. She collected these seashells, she would buy them off of eBay, you know, and she made them into baby figurines that she made out of seashells. They were terribly cute. It's just that nobody really wanted them.

HELEN :                                Oh, that's a shame. But that's business for you, isn't it...

SUSIE:                                   Oh my goodness!

HELEN:                                  What is it, Susie?  Have you found something?

SUSIE:                                   I think this is the file for the volunteers. Oh! Oh it's quite...[SCREAMS]

CRASH AS SHE DROPS THE FOLDER

HELEN:                                  What are you doing?

MARY:                                   Are you alright?

SUSIE:                                   I'm so sorry.

MARY:                                   Don't worry about it. Did you hurt yourself.

SUSIE:                                   No. I just... I couldn't hold it all, and it slipped. Oh..

MARY:                                   No, no no. It's alright Susan. As long as you're not hurt.

SUSIE:                                   No, I'm really.. Oh dear. What a mess.

HELEN:                                  Come on. Let's get stuck in.    

SUSIE:                                   I'll try to sort it out

MARY:                                   Leave it on the floor there, Susan.  We can go through it together. 

HELEN:                                  Ok. You do that.  I think I'll stick to the table work, thanks. I might be able to get down there with you, but I doubt I could get up again.

MARY:                                   Oh no, Helen. You stay where you are.

SUSIE:                                   Oh my goodness!

MARY:                                   What?  What is it?

HELEN:                                  Have you got something?

SUSIE:                                   I just realised.  We don't know her last name.

MARY:                                   Maybe it's just under P for Preshanni? Let's hope so, eh?

SUSIE:                                   Oh no.

HELEN:                                  Now don't get downhearted, Susie. It looks to me as if those papers are not in alphabetical order any more. So just go through them methodically.  Tell you what. Put a pile of them up here on the table, and we'll just go through them all till we find her.

SUSIE:                                   Ok.  Here you are, Gran. Thank you.

HELEN:                                  Come on sweetheart. We'll find her. Give me a hug.

SUSIE:                                   Haaaah.  Thanks Gran.

SITTING DOWN. PAPER NOISES.

MARY:                                   Here's a bunch of P people.

HELEN:                                  Oh, that sounds good. Fingers crossed,

SUSIE:                                   Yes indeed,

MARY:                                   GOT IT!  Just "Preshanni", no second name at all.

SUSIE:                                   Oh, well done!

HELEN:                                  Great!

SUSIE:                                   Let me see. Okay, now see here this is her regular phone number. I've got that, this is her regular address, here, the hostel, and - Oh look! it's a South African number. Oh, my goodness, right. Who's got a pen?

HELEN:                                  Oh, here, let me take a photo of it.

MARY:                                   Oh, that's sensible.

SUSIE:                                   Yes, thanks, Gran.

HELEN:                                  Okay, where is it?

SUSIE:                                   Here. Have you got it?

HELEN:                                  Yep.  Okay. Shall we call it?

SUSIE:                                   Oh, should we do that?

HELEN:                                  Sure. What time is it in South Africa?

MARY:                                   Well, I don't think it's all that much different from from GMT. Just a minute, let's, let's look it up. I've got it. Yes, it's an hour ahead of us, so it should be alright. Let's just try it. Come on. We can leave a message.

HELEN:                                  Okay? We go, what's the code? What's the code for South Africa? The phone code, she hasn't it just says South Africa.

SUSIE:                                   I think that's the whole number, with the code Gran.Oh, oh, there you go. Right. Okay, it's ringing. Hello, hello. My name is Helen Docherty. I'm a friend of Preshanni?

SUSIE:                                   Is she there?

HELEN:                                  No!  I'm sorry, I didn't catch that. This is not a great line, is it?  I'm calling from London. It's not a great line, is it? Oh!  Oh right.  Do you know when she'll be back? Right? I don't suppose she told you where she was going. I see. And does she do that often? Oh, this is something new, right? Okay. And is there a number there we could call? Oh.  Oh I see.

SUSIE:                                   What is it?

HELEN:                                  There's no number. Hang on. Well, look,  you've got my phone number on your screen. There have you? I'm calling from London, and would you get Preshanni  to give me a ring when she gets back? I'd love to have a chat with her, and so would Susie, my granddaughter, who's a very good friend of oh, she did. Did she? Oh, that's lovely, right? Well, if you could ask her to give me a ring when she gets back. I'd be most grateful.  Oh no, nothing's wrong. Not at all.  We're were just a bit concerned, because she left in such a hurry. Okay, Oh, no no no, not at all. Thank you. Bye for now. Take care.... Well.

SUE:                                       Well what? What's she doing?

MARY:                                   Is she alright?

HELEN :                                Well... She arrived back there about three weeks ago, and she was quite unwell, apparently. So she decided to go off to a retreat somewhere outside of Cape Town. And apparently she's been there before. It's a Buddhist place, apparently. And so she just took herself off without seeing her doctor. And her mother's quite worried about her, but still. So we'll just have to wait until she gets in touch. Okay.

SUSIE:                                   Okay.

MARY:                                   Okay...

FLLOYD:                               That was Episode 9, "In search of Preshanni". I wonder if I can manage to wrap up the mystery in the next episode, in which case that will be a 'wrap' for Season 11!  This episode was written and performed by me, Flloyd Kennedy. The music is by John T La Barbera, from his album In The Labyrinth, available on Spotify.  You can support this podcast by subscribing at patreon.com/amIoldyet, which gives you access to all the episodes, totally ad free! As well as to our community discord group, along with other perks. Thanks also to Fable and Folly network for their support - and if you'd like to   subscribe to Fable and Folly Plus and you'll also get ad free access to all the fabulous audio fiction podcast in the network.

THANKS FOR LISTENING. STAY SAFE.