The Good Life1975

Margo Leadbetter:
[Because of Margot being responsible for the pigs beings sent away] Well, if this business has left you out of pocket...

Tom Good:
No. Dead weight- I just about recouped my outlay.

Margo Leadbetter:
Dead weight? What's dead weight?

Barbara Good:
Like, if I poleaxed you right now, it's the price I'd get for your carcass. That [referring to the truck that drove away the pigs] was a slaugtherhouse truck.

Tom Good:
[Margot looks bewildered] Well, don't look so shocked. The fact is, that if I try to sell them back to the breeder, I get less than I paid for them. They depreciate, like cars and we've got our books to balance.

Margo Leadbetter:
I didn't ask you to kill them. I thought you would just send them away somewhere.

Tom Good:
[with a pause of frustration] Where to? Boarding school?

Margo Leadbetter:
Well. They have places where they retire horses.

Tom Good:
[shrugs Margot off] They were too young to retire, Margot. They were only ten weeks old.

Margo Leadbetter:
Only ten weeks? [nervously sips from her glass]

Barbara Good:
[sad] Just weaned.

Tom Good:
Not much of a life, was it? [Margot looks more and more replexed]

Barbara Good:
Just babies, really.

Tom Good:
[grunts] Never even felt the sun on their backs. [silence ensues]

Barbara Good:
[faking a whimper] Tom, you don't suppose they sensed where they were going, do you?

Tom Good:
No, they say animals know when they are going to die, but... Mind you, that little... that little cry they made when we closed the tailgate was almost human.

Barbara Good:
[almost sobbing] They don't feel anything, do they, when...

Tom Good:
[crassly] When they're garrotted? No. [shrugs] I don't think so. Well, not much, anyway.

Margo Leadbetter:
[finally breaks down] Stop it! For goodness' sake, stop it! [rummages in her pockets, holds her car keys out] Look, here are the keys to my car. Go and save your wretched pigs.