SCRIPT: Why the long face? [October 30, 2018]
Blessed is when you have a kind listener at your lowest point
Charley: Hi! Oh, you don’t look very happy. What’s the matter? Why the long face?
Rosie: I’m okay.
Charley: No, you’re not! Thursday’s your favourite day and you’re usually all smiles on the way to school. Something’s not right.
Rosie: I don’t want to talk about it.
Charley: So, you’re going to be in a mood all day, are you? If something’s wrong, tell me. I’m a good listener. We’re good friends - talking to you made things easier when my dog died last year. You really helped me through that. Come on, Rosie. What’s wrong?
Rosie: Something bad’s happened, and I don’t know what to do about it.
Charley: Obviously!
Rosie: I’ve had a big shock. I almost didn’t come to school today, but Mum made me.
Charley: Go on. I’m listening.
Rosie: There’s been something going on with Mum and Dad for the last few weeks. They’re both usually so open with Leo and me, but recently things have changed. They’ve been keeping something from us.
Charley: Oh, don’t tell me your parents are splitting up!
Rosie: No, thank goodness. Nothing like that. But it’s almost as bad.
Charley: That sounds dramatic.
Rosie: It is. And I don’t know what I’m going to do.
Charley: You know I’ll help if I can.
Rosie: Thanks. Well, last night Dad and Mum told both of us they wanted to talk about something serious, so all four of us sat around the kitchen table. Neither Dad nor Mum looked worried or upset so I didn’t really think what was coming was going to be all that bad. How wrong I was!
Charley: Come on! Cut to the chase!
Rosie: Dad coolly announced that his company had offered him a job overseas for three years, and he had decided to accept and move the family to Sydney. To Sydney! In Australia! Mum said she totally agreed with the move, and that she had already got a job herself in a hospital there.
Charley: And they hadn’t mentioned that this move was on the cards before?
Rosie: No. Never. They’ve said nothing. Last night was the first time Leo and I had heard anything about it.
Charley: What does Leo think?
Rosie: He’s going to university in September and already has got a room in a dorm, so the move won’t affect him. But I don’t have a choice. I’ll have to go to a new school in a new city where I know nobody. I didn’t sleep a wink last night. I can’t leave all my friends here behind. I just can’t! What’s worse, my parents don’t seem bothered at all about how this is going to affect me.
Charley: Oh, I’m sure they are. Your mum and dad are not uncaring parents. They are always there for you.
Rosie: I really don’t know what to do.
Charley: I think you should give yourself time to get over the shock, and then calmly talk to them. They will have a lot going on and they care about how you feel. Get through today and then sit down with your parents tonight. It’ll all work out, I’m sure.