Billy’s mother is sat at the desk marking up her students’ English papers when her son runs in.
“Mum, we gotta big problem.”
“Yes darling,” she didn’t look up, “I’m sure you mean we have got a big problem.”
“We sure have, Tommy’s come out of the tree trying to get the ball.”
“Not come out, sweet, I’m sure he fell out.” She carried on marking.
“Yes, he did,” he looked ashamed. “I should of known this would happen.”
She pulled another stack of papers towards her. “No pet, you should have known; you should have known this would happen.”
Billy sighed. “Anyway, me and Tommy, we was …
“Were, Billy. Tommy and I were…”
“OK. We were kicking the ball and it got itself stuck in the tree.”
She scribbled something down and said, “I’m sure it didn’t get itself stuck, my love.”
“Yes, well, it’s in the tree near to the fence.”
“Not near to the fence darling. It’s just in the tree near the fence.”
“Yes, that’s the one, and I wanted to climb up by my own.”
“Oh dear! Not by your own, on your own.” She opened a drawer and rummaged for something.
Billy looked back towards the window. “I should of gone up there myself.”
“No dear, you should have gone up there yourself.”
“I know, it was very high and I really didn’t wanna go up and get it.”
“Sweet heart, you didn’t want to go up to get it.”
“But, Tommy didn’t gimme a choice.”
“He didn’t give me a choice, would be better, don’t you think?”
Billy mumbled “probly”, and went across to the window to look out.
“Probably!” she said under her breath.
“He ain’t moving Mum.”
“Isn’t darling; he isn’t moving.”
“He’s completely dead.”
She searched through one of the piles. “No need for completely, my love. If he’s dead, he’s dead.”
Billy started to leave, saying “I won’t have anybody to play with no more.”
She sighed. “Not no more, sweetheart; not anymore.”
She sat up and said “Honey, I’m really busy here, why don’t you go out and play with Tommy for a while?”