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going to have to resign.
    COLIN : Don’t do that. He’ll change his mind.
    KATE : No, he won’t. He’s gutless. And he just doesn’t care.
    She moves across and flops into a chair. There’s a pause.
    I didn’t mean to hurt you about your work. You write beautifully. You can’t be expected to write with her power and passion when you’ve led such a cosseted life.
    She sees COLIN ’s look.
    What’s wrong?
    COLIN : That’s a bit like saying, ‘I’m sorry I said you were indescribably ugly. I’ve just seen your parents and I understand why.’
    MIKE returns with the coffee. KATE sees him, gives a frozen smile, and leaves.
    MIKE : What’s wrong with Kate?
    COLIN : Her boss won’t let her publish a book she thinks is crucial.
    MIKE : Making things a bit difficult domestically?
    COLIN : I agree with her. I think it should be published too.
    MIKE : What’s it about?
    COLIN : A black girl trying to break out of the urban poverty cycle.
    COLIN picks up some pages MIKE has typed and walks away from the desk as he scrutinises them.
    MIKE : What’s the name of Kate’s boss?
    COLIN : Ian Wall. He reckons, ‘Blacks don’t sell books’.
    MIKE searches through the teledex and locates the name. COLIN , engrossed in the script, doesn’t notice.
    MIKE : What’s the writer’s name?
    COLIN : Kathy Mitchell.
    MIKE starts dialling. COLIN barely notices.
    MIKE : Ian?
    COLIN looks up, frowning, but still isn’t sure what MIKE ’s doing.
    Ian, there’s a rumour going around that you won’t publish Kathy’s book? [ Pause. ] Kathy Mitchell. [ Pause. ] Don’t worry about who’s speaking, mate, just listen to what I’m telling you. A lot of people reckon it’s one of the most important books ever written on the black people’s problems and they’re bloody mad. They’ve heard the reason you won’t print it is that you said, ‘Blacks don’t sell books’—and they reckon that’s a pretty racist statement. [ Pause. ] Well, that’s how they feel it comes across, and they’re so bloody mad that they’re going to give you twenty-four hours and then they’re going to start putting up tents around your building and calling the media in.
    MIKE hangs up.
    COLIN : [ frowning ] Jesus, Mike! What in the hell do you think you’re doing?
    MIKE : [ reassuringly ] Blowtorch to the belly.
    COLIN looks anything but reassured. He sits there wondering how in the hell he is going to explain this to KATE . MIKE exits.
    Later: COLIN still sits in an armchair. KATE enters, smiling and excited.
    KATE : You won’t believe what happened.
    COLIN : [ tensely ] What?
    KATE : Ian got a call from some black guerrilla group who threatened to bomb the building unless he published. Should have seen the panic. It was wonderful.
    COLIN : [ worriedly ] Did he call the police?
    KATE : God, no. He’s terrified of bad publicity.
    COLIN : He’s going to publish?
    KATE : [ nodding ] Three thousand copies. What’s your news?
    COLIN : I forgot the dishwashing powder and the broccoli.
    KATE : I’m sorry I’ve been so rotten lately. I just started feeling that nothing was ever going to go right again.
    COLIN : And the dried apricots. They were on the list, but I made that fatal mistake of going straight to the breakfast foods. Even when I was doing it I kept saying to myself, ‘Remember the apricots, remember the apricots’, but I didn’t.
    KATE : Stop it. Sorry I’ve been so down on the kids. When you’re having a bad time at work everything can seem pretty black.
    COLIN : No, you’re quite right. The kids are appalling. I tried to talk to Penny about her disco going and the like, but the look of pity and contempt on her face at my presumption that I might have any wisdom to offer her stopped me right in my tracks.
    KATE : Depressing, isn’t it?
    COLIN : I