Live Life Deeply

The story is about the fourteen-year-old girl Elspeth Courtney, who left her parents house after beeing frustrated by her favourite teacher, Mrs. Fisher.

After a short introduction the acting starts with a phone-talk between Mr. Courtney (Ellie's father and Mr. Creighton C. Hall, calling out of Merton Memorial Hospital. Mr. and Mrs. Courtney are very upset and disturbed because they think Ellie is injured or badly hurt.
Mr. Hall reassures the anxious parents and explains that Ellie is all right and that she is his accompanist, because his wife is having a baby. Mrs. Courtney feels that this information does not explain very much and so she tries to imagine a chain of circumstances that would have landed Ellie at Merton Memorial Hospital in company of an expectant father and mother. She remarks that Ellie wears her very best outfit, her white Easter suite and not her school clothes. This fact makes Mrs. Courtney believe, that her daughter's absence is something planned not merely a spontaneous mornig ramble that has somehow extended itself. But anyway Mrs. Courtney can not imagine any relationship between Mr. Hall and the disappearence of Ellie, she even suspects a hoax. So she stays home and only Mr. Courtney visits Merton Memorial Hospital, where he finds three men, looking like members of three separate generations. Mr. Hall, the young fellow explains, that Ellie went out to get something to eat, with the middle-aged man's wife and in answer to Mr. Courtneys question he tells, where he met his daughter. At this point Mr. Courtney notices, that he only was interested in Ellie. So he asks about Mr. Hall's wife and the soon ceasarean. After a while a nurse comes in and declares the birth of a child. Obviously, it is possibly to appreciate the different reactions of the old man and Mr. Hall, who is very upset and describes the feelings as a tombstone. The two men speak again about Ellie and now, Mr. Hall explains her situation exactly, even though he should not (she only told him her situation, because they both felt like hell): Ellie thinks she is a laughingstock, because Miss Fisher, her favourite teacher, wrote Ellies Impressions - called Live Life Deeply - on the blackboard and made a public correction. (Of course without saying Ellies name, but all pupils know, that Ellie wrote it and she thinks great Miss Fisher thinks she is a fool) Because of this frustration Ellie can not see that life is worth living any more.
Ellie and the woman arrive and just at this moment the nurse informs Mr. Hall about the birth of his daughter and the health of his wife. After regarding Mr. Halls daugher, Mr. Courtney goes to a phone booth to call his wife and Mr. Hall explains to Ellie, why he told the story to her father. During the excitement of seeing the new baby, Ellie had a little respite from her troubles, but now she feels their full weight returning to her. Mr. Hall can explain her, that she is actually at a turning-point, namely not around a big chocolate sundae, but directly in life. "Keep your chin up" is the sentence she must follow. Ellies speechless turns into comprehension.
In the end we can see, that Ellie grew up, because she wants to go to school again as soon as possible and she even wants to write a new Impression.

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