The Have and Have Nots

The Have’s and Have Not’s

Mr and Mrs Have live in Adlington Crescent. They have a son, Adrian, and a daughter, Alice. Both the children go to a private school. They study Classics, Art History and Philosophy alongside Maths and English. Alice is good at Mandarin Chinese. She wants to travel when she gets older and meet lots of different people from different cultures. Adrian wants to be a Lawyer or a Doctor, he hasn’t decided yet.
Mr and Mrs Have Not live on an estate called ‘The Tip’. There has been a problem with vandalism here. The Police are always walking around. Mr and Mrs Have Not have two children, Simon and Laura. They both go to a local comprehensive school. It isn’t a bad school and the teachers are quite nice, but Laura has had to go to detention twice this term for talking in lessons. Simon has had fights with other boys too. Simon likes studying science but the teachers are not allowed to let the children do many experiments due to Health & Safety. Laura likes English but can’t understand Shakespeare. She reads Jacqueline Wilson books. They teach her about life.
Mr Have works in London as a newspaper Editor. Mrs Have is a fiction writer. Her stories are popular with women readers.
Mr Have Not is unemployed at present. He used to be a bus driver but got bad back ache. The doctor said he should do something else and gave him a sick note. Mrs Have Not works part-time in a local shop, on the till. She likes meeting the customers and having a chat.

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One day, Adrian is in the park with some friends. It so happens that Simon is there too with some of his friends. They both want to use the football pitch for a game. They compromise and play each other.
It is a good game but Adrian’s team wins 3-2. Adrian invites Simon to his house afterwards to play on the Wii or X-Box. Simon hesitates, but says ‘Yes’. He has never been to the Crescent before.
Inside Adrian’s house Simon sees lots of old furniture that is highly polished. There are also lots of rooms and television’s in every one. They play Wii tennis. Mrs Have brings them home-made lemonade and biscuits. They have a good time. Simon wants to invite Adrian to his house, but is scared too. He thinks Adrian would not like it as it is small he hasn’t got any electronic games to play. He decides to keep quiet and offers a game of football on the park instead. Adrian accepts.
Alice goes into the shop that Mrs Have Not works in. She tries to buy cigarettes. Mrs Have Not asks her her age and won’t serve her. Alice argues, but she can’t have the cigarettes. She is not yet old enough. Alice buys a copy of Cosmopolitan instead.
Laura hears about young people trying to buy cigarettes from her mum. She is not tempted to smoke herself as the smoke smells bad. Instead she is content to read her Jacqueline Wilson books. One of the stories has a sleep over in it. Laura longs to go on a sleep over but none of her friends have ever asked her to stay at their homes.
After football in the park Adrian asks Simon where he lives. Simon tells him he lives on ‘The Tip’ estate. Adrian is curious and asks if he can come to see it. So they troop off together, bouncing the ball as they go.
At Simon’s house Adrian is shocked by the clutter and how small it all is. Mr Have Not is sitting reading his newspaper. He sits upright as his back still hurts. The boys go upstairs and play cd’s on Simon’s cd player. Adrian mentions his little sister, Alice, but most of the talk is about football and school. Mrs Have Not takes them a mug of tea and a Rich Tea biscuit.
Back at the Crescent, Alice has got some cigarettes. She opens the window and lights one, puffing the smoke out of the crack. She flicks through Cosmopolitan magazine dreaming of exotic lands. Mrs Have can smell the tobacco smoke in the corridor, coming from under Alice’s room door. She sprays air freshener around to give her a subtle hint. She then knocks on Alice’s door and Alice quickly throws the cigarette out of the window.
Mrs Have asks Alice if she would like to come shopping. Alice says ‘Yes’ and they both jump in the Audi. Adrian is walking home and sees his mum and Alice. They stop the car and let him in. He tells his mum about Simon and his house on ‘The Tip’ estate. Mrs Have isn’t too pleased with him. She tells him to be careful.
Adrian has forgotten his football. He has left it at Simon’s house. He asks his mum if they can pick it up? Reluctantly Mrs Have drives to the Estate and they all get out of the car and walk to the door. Adrian knocks. Laura answers the door. She asks them all to come in.
Mrs Have and Alice sit on the sofa with Mr Have Not while Adrian has a chair. Mrs Have Not immediately recognises Alice as the girl who tried to buy cigarettes. Alice recognises Mrs Have Not as the woman who would not serve her. They both clam up. Simon comes downstairs bringing the ball. He gives it to Adrian. Mrs Have says they have to go, but thank you for the ball. They get in the car and drive off.
Mrs Have Not is bursting to tell the family about Alice. She says that Alice is the girl who tried to buy cigarettes but she would not serve her.
The next day, after school, Simon and Adrian are playing in the park. Afterwards, Adrian invites Simon to his house. Simon agrees. Alice is at home and when the boys arrive Simon smiles at Alice. He wants to tell Adrian about her trying to buy cigarettes, but first he needs a good opportunity. Mrs Have brings them homemade lemonade and biscuits. She likes Simon, even if his home and parents are a bit humble. She turns on the television for them to watch or play Wii games. Simon smiles. He can’t say anything yet, he thinks. He follows Alice upstairs and sees her disappear into her bedroom. He knocks on the door and she opens it. He walks in and sits on her bed. Now he tells her that he knows she tried to buy cigarettes but was refused. It was his mum that refused to sell them to her. Alice is shocked. She tells him not to tell anyone else. He promises and goes downstairs to play Wii with Adrian.
Alice lights up another cigarette. She opens the window and puffs tobacco smoke out, as before. As she can smell smoke under Alice’s door, Mrs Have gets out the air freshener again from the cupboard. She sprays everywhere. Adrian wonders why she is spraying air freshener in the house with so much gusto and she says she likes the smell. She doesn’t want to row with Alice now. The air freshener will do as a hint, for now.
Adrian goes upstairs and can smell smoke coming from Alice’s room. Bursting in and seeing her leaning out of the window, puffing away, he shouts: Caught you! I’m going to tell mum. Bounding downstairs he tells his mum that Alice is smoking. Mrs Have says that she knows anyway. Simon says that he knows too. Alice is so embarrassed she throws the cigarette away and crushes the packet. I won’t do it again, she promises.
Back at ‘The Tip’ estate Simon tells his mum and dad about the commotion at the Have’s. Mrs Have Not tells him and Laura that smoking is very bad and they should never do it. They nod. We don’t want to smell bad, Laura says. Mr Have Not smiles and goes back to his paper while Simon goes to his room to play a cd. Laura picks up her Jacqueline Wilson book. Maybe she could ask her friends to come to her home for a sleep over, she thinks. Yes, I could really do that. We’d have a very, very good time. I’m sure of it.