‘No thank you, Edna’, said Sheila politely, while smiling gently and glancing at her father.
Edna quickly departed from the depressed room instantly, and shut the old wooden door discretely behind her.
‘How long did they say until they would be here?’ asked Mrs Birling, extremely confused and staring directly at her tense and anxious husband.
Birling replied in a firm tone while placing one of his hands on his sweated forehead.
‘Well- well- I told you just what they just told me.’
Sheila, who had sat delicately down in her chair, at the opposite end of the dining table to her father, bolted up immediately. She spoke out to everyone in a wise manner, while she looked at each of her parents. ‘Arguing or being dismissive is not going to achieve anything and in less than an hour we will have to be speaking to a police inspector- again.’ She was frustrated at the tension between her parents.
‘Less than that,’ added Eric firmly as he raised his head.
‘Do be quiet, Eric,’ answered Mrs Birling in a very perplexed tone. ‘All we can do is to prepare, unlike last time when the words came out of our mouths before we even thought about our speech.’
‘Thanks to you,’ muttered Eric, in a sardonic voice, while he grinned as if he had proved a point.
‘No,’ replied Mrs Birling confidently as she quickly turned her face to Eric, looking pleased with her self, ‘I knew exactly what he was after. I was not going to fall into his trap, and I didn’t.’
‘Come on darling, stop thinking about the past. The inspector will be here any second and we will have to go where he takes us. Really, what hope do any of us have?’ Birling felt very down and expressed his true thoughts, staring around the table and glancing at each individual.’
Gerald spoke for the first time since the telephone call, tring to impress Birling even greater than he already had:
‘Mr Birling, with the respect that everyone has towards you and with my intelligence, we will have no problem discussing the mix up to the inspector.’ Birling smiled, raised his eyebrows and nodded his head. Sheila opposed Gerald’s point, while feeling very tensed and retaliated, ‘Would a police inspector really come round at this time of night- just to ask why- we made a phone call?’
‘You know, I know, we all know, that we all took part in the death of Eva Smith or what ever her name is,’ added Eric to discard Gerald, in a firm tone of voice, while staring at his father and Gerald.
‘Eric, stop looking at the negative side. In a couple of years time the business will be booming, record high profits and life will be great for us all, I hope, including you too, Eric.’ Birling’s voice was positive yet cynical and he raised his glass, drinking to what he said and slowly turned his face to Gerald with a nod with his head. Gerald half smiled politely back to Birling.
Sheila quickly remembered the disasters of the previous inspection and declared, ‘We had better think about what that we are going to say, or if all fails, I say that we just answer the questions that he speaks to us truthfully and-’
‘Do be quiet, PLEASE. We are all in enough trouble as it is, thanks to the phone call to the police.’ Birling turned his face, lifted his eyebrows and stared at Gerald and added slowly and clearly, ‘But what is done is done.’
Gerald rapidly lost the previous respect that he had had for Birling and realised that there was not enough time to impress. He answered firmly back to the criticism that he received from him. ‘We are all in this together, Mr Birling, and I do not like your speech or your tone of your voice when solely blaming me for this coming of the second inspection.’
Birling replied instantly and again very aggressively, feeling disrespected. ‘How dare you speak to me like that? I am the one person whom everyone regards and looks up to around this area!’
‘Looks down at more like!’ replied Eric quietly with a cheeky and arrogant comment to his father.
Birling’s answer was sharp and forthwith, ‘Get out of my sight before I do something I regret, go on- get out.’ Seconds later he thumped his fist firmly down on the delicate mahogany dinning table, knocking one of the precious silver candle holders over, and gazed at Eric firmly and blasted out, ‘NOW!’
Eric looked fearful and slowly strolled to the door, while he shook his head from side to side a couple of times. He slammed the door behind him, making a loud, unpleasant sound.
Mrs Birling interrupted the stillness and glanced at her fuming husband and declared, ‘I cannot cope with this nonsense any longer, and I have got an early start tomorrow and-and many appointments with the ladies in the institution and-.’
‘We are going nowhere squabbling like this and I just can not take any more of this too! I am off upstairs to wash off my worries away in the bath,’ declared Sheila, boldly, while she interrupted her mother. They both departed the dining table swiftly and left Gerald and Birling to deal with the second agonising police inquiry.
Gerald and Birling just looked and each other, speechless. The beautiful old silver clock was heard peacefully as the seconds ticked pass. Birling took a large sip of his whisky when the thumping of the door interrupted him. They looked at one another in disbelief, shock and horror, feeling defenceless.
