Friday Morning

                                

-          Val Gielgud

Friday Morning is a radio play. So, mostly the sound effect has been prominently used in the play.

It is late night. There are many people in an expensive restaurant. They are dancing in music. Suddenly, the music stops and the dancing people are interrupted. It is midnight, so a new tune is played. Basil, a young man, and Shirley, a young girl, are making a plan to elope. They are going to France on Friday morning by plane.

Mc Laurin is also going to France on Friday morning. He tells Sandy that he is going to France for business.

Hannah and her aunt Janet are also planning to fly to France on the same plane. But Janet doesn’t want Hannah’s mother to know about that. They are going to meet Janet’s husband in Paris.

Sir Edmund Harwood is also flying to France on the same plane. He is an important businessman. He talks to his friend on the phone.

Meanwhile, the announcer announces that stormy weather is approaching the Southern and Western coasts from the Atlantic. Mr. and Mrs. Chapman, who are also flying to France on the same plane, are worried to hear the announcement. They are going to celebrate their holiday in France. This is the first time they’ve ever been so far. Mrs. Chapman is not so much willing to fly but Mr. Chapman insists on. They have also not got tickets for the plane, but Mrs. Galleway, their friend, is ready to help them.

On the Friday morning, the passengers are excited very much. They ask one another whether they are nervous or not. The plane takes off at half past eight. The steward requests them to take their seats. The seats are beautiful. Mr. Chapman is asked to get a paper bag from under his seat if his wife feels sick. Mr. Harwood returns the newspaper to Basil, but Basil asks him to keep it with himself. Mr. Harwood invites Basil and Shirley to have dinner with him in Paris. Basil accepts the invitation.

The passengers feel that flying in an aeroplane is the same as sitting in an armchair. They see everything on the ground small. During the bumping, they feel as if they have left their stomach behind. They keep talking about their experience.

Meanwhile, the steward informs them that they are going back to London. The pilot is making a force landing because of bad weather. As the plane is going lower, just two hundred feet above, Basil thinks of how to get saved. Mr. Harwood supposes that a bird might have hit the propeller, and that luckily they were not flying higher. Mr. Chapman finds it very dangerous. He feels pity on his helplessness. He does not like to see his wife getting afraid. Mrs. Chapman, on the other hand, wants to hide her fear and thinks that her husband is brave. Mc Laurin wants to drink more but he does not have any. Hannah doesn’t mind, if she is killed, but she doesn’t like to live with one leg. Janet is worried about her sister because of Hannah. Shirley feels sorry because she has not spent even a week together with Basil.

The plane knocks on the ground. Luckily, no one is hurt because of the pilot’s carefulness. The passengers are sent to Folkstone in the car. They cross the English Channel and sit in a train to Paris. In the evening, Shirley and Basil read the newspaper report about the crash. They laugh as the train moves slowly out of the station.