MS-HRC-SB-3-5

[0556] I was trying.

[0558] (soft). [0559] Perhaps it's a little vein.

[0561] What did he say?

[0562] Perhaps it's a little vein.

[0563] What does that mean? [0564] (Pause.) [0565] That means nothing. [0566] (Pause.) [0567] I'll you the story of the tailor.

[0568] Why

[0569] To cheer you up.

[0570] It's not funny.

[0571] It always made you laugh. [0572] (Pause). [0573] The first time I thought you'd die.

[0574] It was on the Lake of Como. [0575] (Pause.) [0576] An ^One April afternoon. [0577] (Pause.) [0578] Can you believe it?

[0579] What.

[0580] That we once went rowing on the Lake of Como. [0581] (Pause.) [0582] One April afternoon.

[0583] We had got engaged the day ^{We had got engaged the day} before.

[0584] Engaged!

[0585] You laughed so much ^{It had you in such fits} that we capsized. [0586] By right we should have ^got drowned.

[0587] It was because I felt happy.

[0588] Not at all, not ^{Not at all, not at all,} it was my story and nothing else. [0589] Doesn't it still make you laugh? [0590] Every time.

[0591] It was deep, deep. [0592] And you could see the bed ^{down to the bottom}. [0593] So white. [0594] So clean.

[0595] Let me tell it again. [0596] (Raconteur's (Raconteur's tone ^voice.) [0597] An Englishman, needing a pair of striped trousers in a hurry for the New Year festivities, goes to his tailor who takes his measurements. [0598] (Voice of tailor.) [0599] "Much obliged, come back in 4 days, it' ^I'll have it ready." [0600] Good. [0601] Four days later. [0602] (Voice of tailor.) [0603] "So sorry, come back in a week, I've made a mess of the seat." [0604] Good, all right, the seat is apt to go wrong ^{never easy}. [0605] Eight days later. [0606] (Voice of tailor.) [0607] "Frightfully sorry, come back in ten days, I've made a hames of the crutch." [0608] Good. Can't be helped, the crutch is always ticklish. [0609] Ten days later. [0610] (Voice of tailor.) [0611] "Dreadfully sorry, come back in a fortnight, I've made a balls of the fly." [0612] Good, at a pinch, a smart fly is a stiff proposition. [0613] (Pause. [0614] Normal voice.) [0615] I tell

[0615] it badly. [0616] (Pause. [0617] Gloomily.) [0618] I tell this story worse and worse. [0619] (Pause. [0620] Voice of raconteur.) [0621] Well, to make it short, the daffodils are in bloom and he botches ^{makes a ? of} the buttonholes. [0622] (Voice of the customer.) [0623] "God damn it, Sir, no, it's indecent, there are limits! [0624] In six days, do you hear me, six days, God made the world. [0625] Yes Sir, no less Sir, the WORLD! [0626] And you are not bloody well capable of making me a pair of trousers in three months! [0627] (Voice of tailor, scandalized.) [0628] "But me lord, [0629] me lord, [0630] look - (disdainful gesture, with disgust ^disgustedly) - at the world - (pause) - and look - (loving gesture, proudly) - at my trousers! ^TROUSERS!"

[0633] Silence!

[0635] You could see the bed ^(bottom).

[0636] (exasperated). [0637] Have you st not finished? ^{come to an end?} [0638] Will you finished? Will you never ^{come to an end?} finish? [0639] (With sudden fury) [0640] Will this never finish? ^end! [0641] (Nagg disappears in the bin, closes the lid behind him. [0642] Nell does not move. [0644] Frenziedly.) [0645] My kindg ^kingdom for a scavenger! [0646] (He whistles. [0647] Enter Clov.) [0648] Clear away this muck! [0649] Chuck it in the sea!

[0651] So white.

[0652] What? [0653] What's she gabbling about?

[0655] (xxx to Clov.) [0656] Desert!

[0658] (returning to his place beside the chair) [0659] She has no pulse.

[0661] What ^What was she drivelling about?

[0662] She told me to go away, into the desert.

[0663] I like her cheek! [0664] Is that all.

[0665] No.

[0666] What else?

[0667] I didn't understand.

[0668] Have you bottled her?

[0669] Yes.

[0670] Are they both bottled?

[0671] Yes.

[0672] Screw down the lids. [0673] (Clov goes towards the door.) [0674] Time enough. [0675] (Clov halts.) [0676] I feel calmer, I'd like to pee.

[0677] I'll go and get the catheter.

[0679] Time enough. [0680] (Clov halts.) [0681] Give me my sedative.

[0682] It's too soon. [0683] (Pause.) [0684] It's too soon on top of your stimulant, it wouldn't act.

[0685] In the morning they brace you up and in the evening they calm you down. [0686] Unless it's the other way round. [0687] (Pause.) [0688] That old doctor, he's dead naturally?

[0689] He wasn't old.

[0690] But he's dead?

[0691] Naturally. [0692] (Pause.) [0693] You ask me that?

[0695] Take me for a little turn. [0696] (Clov goes behind the chair and pushes it forward.) [0697] Not too fast! [0698] (Clov pushes the chair.) [0699] Right round the world! [0700] (Clov pushes the chair.) [0701] Hug the walls. [0702] Then back to the centre again. [0703] (Clov pushes the chair.) [0704] I was right in the centre, wasn't I?

[0705] Yes.

[0706] We'd need a true proper wheel-chair. [0707] With big wheels. [0708] Bicycle wheels! [0709] (Pause.) [0710] Are you hugging?

[0711] Yes.

[0712] (groping for the wall). [0713] It's not true! [0714] Why do you lie to me?

[0715] (bearing closer to the wall.) [0716] There, there.