GUS. Blow?
BEN. It whistles up there if you blow. Then they know you want to speak. Blow.
GUS blows. Silence.
GUS (tube at mouth). I can't hear a thing.
BEN. Now you speak! Speak into it!
GUS looks at BEN, then speaks into the tube. GUS. The larder's bare!
BEN. Give me that!
He grabs the tube and puts it to his mouth.
(Speaking with great deference.) Good evening. I'm sorry to ? bother you, but we just thought we'd better let you know that we haven't got anything left. We sent up all we had. There's no more food down here.
He brings the tube slowly to his ear. What?
To mouth.
What?
To ear. He listens. To mouth. No, all we had we sent up.
To ear. He listens. To mouth. Oh, I'm very sorry to hear that. To ear. He listens. To GUS. The Eccles cake was stale. He listens. To GUS.
The chocolate was melted. He listens. To GUS.
The milk was sour.
GUS. What about the crisps?
BEN (listening). The biscuits were mouldy.
He glares at GUS. Tube to mouth. Well, we're very sorry about that. Tube to ear.