GOING THROUGH THE BILLS

Mr and Mrs Black are in their living room. Mrs Black is watching TV, Mr Black is sitting in his favourite easy-chair, look­ing through some papers.

Barbara: You look worried this evening, dear. What's the trouble?

Paul: I'm going through the bills.

В.: Are those all bills?

P.: Yes, they are. Here's Demand Note from the tax collector. He wants nearly 50 pounds. What greedy people these collec­tors are!

В.: And how cruel of them to demand payment a week after Christmas, when people have been spending so much money on presents!

P.: Here is the bill from my tailor. I see I own him 25 pounds. And another from Electricity Board. I don't know how I shall pay all my debts. The electricity account's high com­pared with the quarter before. Their rates are out of all reason.

В.: That's easily explained. We always use more current in the last quarter of the year. It gets dark early and we need the lights on by tea-time.

P.: Besides our mobile telephone account is huge this quarter. I don't think we've used our mobile more than usual, have we? How's the account made up?

В.: There's the usual charge for rent, of course. Then there are the local calls, about the same as usual. But long distance are very high. Who made all these expensive calls?

P.: I don't remember using roaming.

В.: Oh, they must be Jack's calls. Lora was staying in Glasgow with her uncle in October. Jack rang her up nearly every evening.

P.: Oh, did he? Well, he can pay for the calls, then. What long talks they must have had!