MS-OSU-RARE-29-6

[0278] Sit on him.

[0279] I can't sit.

[0280] True. [0281] And I can't stand.

[0282] Si^o it is.

[0283] Every man his specialtⁱty. [0284] (Pause.) [0285] No phone calls? [0286] (Pause.) [0287] Don't we laugh?

[0288] (after reflex^ection). [0289] I don't feel like it.

[0290] (after reflex^ection). [0291] Nor I. [0292] (Pause.) [0293] Clov.

[0294] Yes.

[0295] Nature has forgotten us.

[0296] There's no more nature.

[0297] No more nature! [0298] You go too far. ^exaggerate.

[0299] In the vicinity.

[0300] But we breathe, we change! [0301] We lose our hair, our teeth! [0302] Our bloom! [0303] Our ideals!

[0304] Then it ^she hasn't forgotten us.

[0305] But you say there is none.

[0306] (sadly). [0307] No one in the world ^{that ever lived} ever thought so ^twisted crooked as we.

[0308] We do what we can.

[0309] We shouldn't.

[0311] Smart, eh? ^{You're a bit of all right, aren't you?}

[0312] All over. ^{A smithereen.}

[0314] This is slow work. [0315] 5⁽Pause.) [0316] Is it not time for my sedative ^painkiller?

[0317] No. [0318] (Pause.) [0319] I'll leave you, I have things to do.

[0320] In your kitchen?

[0321] Yes.

[0322] What, I'd like to know.

[0323] I look at the we^all.

[0324] The wam^ll! [0325] And what do you see on your wall? [0326] Mene, mene? [0327] Naked bodies?

[0328] I see my light dying.

[0329] Your light dying! [0330] Listen to that! [0331] Well it can die just as well here, your light. [0332] Take a look at me and then come back and tell me what you think of your light.

[0334] You shouldn't talk to me like that.

[0336] (coldly). [0337] Forgive me. [0338] (O^Pause. [0339] Louder.) [0340] I said, Forgive me.

[0341] I heard you.

[0348] Did your seeds come up?

[0349] No.

[0350] Did you scratch round them to see if they had sprouted?

[0351] They haven't sprouted.

[0352] Perhaps it's still too early.

[0353] If they were going to sprout they would have sprouted. [0353|001] ^(Violently [0354] They'll never sprout.

[0356] This is not much fun. [0357] (Pause.) [0358] But that's always the way at the end of the day, isn't it, Clov?

[0359] Always.

[0360] It's the end of the day like any other day, isn't it, Clov.

[0361] Looks like it.

[0363] (anguished). [0364] What's happening, what's happening?

[0365] Something is taking its course.

[0367] All right, be off. [0368] (He leans back in the chair, remains motionless. [0369] Clov does not move.^, [0370] He heaves a great ^groaning sigh. [0371] Hamm sits up.) [0372] I thought I told you to be off.

[0373] I'm trying. [0374] (He goes to door, halts.) [0375] Ever since I was born.

[0377] We're getting on.

[0385] What is it, my pet? [0386] (Pause.) [0387] Time for love?

[0388] Were you asleep?

[0388|001] O

[0389] Oh no!

[0390] Kiss me.

[0391] We can't.

[0392] Try.

[0394] Why this farce, day after day?

[0396] I've lost me tooth.

[0397] When?

[0398] I had it yesterday.

[0399] (elegiac). [0400] Ah yesterday!

[0402] Can you see me?

[0403] Hardly. [0404] And you?

[0405] What?

[0406] Can you see me?

[0407] Hardly. [0410] (Pause.) [0411] Our sight has failed.

[0412] Yes.

[0415] Can you hear me?

[0416] Yes. [0417] And you?

[0418] Yes. [0419] (x^Pause.) [0420] Our hearing hasn't failed.

[0421] Our what?

[0422] Our hearing.

[0423] No. [0424] (Pause.) [0425] Is there anything else you want ^{Have you anything else} to say to me?

[0426] Do you remember -

[0427] No.

[0428] When we crashed on our tandem and lost our legs.

[0430] It was in the Ardennes.

[0432] On the road out of ^to Sedan. [0433] (They laugh still less loud ^heartily.) [0435] Are you cold

[0436] Yes, very cold. [0437] And you?

[0438] I'm frozen ^freezing. [0439] (Pause.) [0440] Do you want to go in?

[0441] Yes.

[0442] Then go in. [0443] (Nell does not move.) [0444] Why don't you go in?

[0445] I don't know.

[0447] Has ^{he changed}[⁁] your sawdust been changed?

[0448] It isn't sawdust. [0449] (Pause. [0450] Wearily.) [0451] Can you not be a little accurate, Nagg?

[0452] Your sand then. [0453] It's not important.

[0454] It is important.

[0456] It used to be sawdust.

[0457] Yes indeed. ^{It used to be.}

[0458] And now it's sand. [0459] (Pause.) [0460] From the shore. [0461] (Pause.) [0463] Now it's sand he fetches from the shore.

[0464] Yes indeed. ^{Now it's sand.}

[0465] Has ^{he changed} yours been changed?

[0466] No.

[0467] Nor mine. [0468] (Pause.) [0469] It's a scandal! ^{I won't have it!} [0470] (Pause. [0471] Holding up the biscuit.) [0472] Do you want a bit?

[0473] No. [0474] (Pause.) [0475] Of what?

[0476] Of b^Biscuit. [0477] I've kept you half. [0478] (He looks at the biscuit. [0479] Proud.) [0480] Three quarters. [0481] For you. [0482] Here. [0483] (He proffers the biscuit.) [0484] No? [0485] (Pause.) [0486] Are you not well? ^{Do you not feel well?}

[0487] (with lassitude ^wearily). [0488] Quiet, quiet, you're keeping me awake. [0489] (Pause.) [0490] Talk softer. [0491] (Pause.) [0492] If I slept I might make love. [0493] I'd go into the woods. [0494] My eyes would see...the sky, the eartearth. [0495] I'd run, run, [0497] they wouldn't catch me. [0498] (Pause.) [0499] Nature! [0500] (Pause.) [0501] There's a drip of water in my head. [0502] 5⁽Pause.) [0503] A heart, a heart in my head.

[0505] (soft). [0506] Do you hear him? [0507] A heart in his head!

[0509] One mustn't ^{shouldn't mustn't} laugh at those things. [0510] Why do[⁁] ^must you

[0510] always laugh at them?

[0511] Not so loud!

[0512] (without lowering her voice). [0513] Nothing is funnier than unhappiness, I grant you. [0514] But -

[0515] (shocked). [0516] Oh!

[0517] Yes, yes, it's the most comic thing in the world. [0518] And we laugh, we laugh, with a will, in the beginning. [0520] But it's like the funny stri^ory we have heard too often, we still find it funny, but we don't laugh any more. [0521] (Pause.) [0522] Is there ^{Have you} anything else you want to say to me?

[0523] No.

[0524] Are you sure? [0525] (Pause.) [0526] Then I'll leave you.

[0527] Do you not want your biscuit. [0528] (Pause.) [0529] I'll keep it for you. [0530] (Pause.) [0531] I thought you were going to leave me.

[0532] I am going to leave you.

[0533] Can you give me a scratch before you go?

[0534] No. [0535] (Pause.) [0536] Where?

[0537] In the back.

[0538] No. [0539] (Pause.) [0540] Rub yourself against the rim.

[0541] It's lower down. [0542] In the hollow?

[0543] What hollow?

[0544] The hollow! [0545] (Pause.) [0546] c^Can you not? [0547] (Pause.) [0548] Yr^esterday you scratched me there.

[0549] (elegiac). [0550] Ah yesterday!

[0551] Can you not? [0552] (Pause.) [0553] Would you like me to scrac^tch you? [0554] (Pause.) [0555] Are you crying again?

[0556] I was trying.

[0559] Perhaps it's a little vein.

[0561] What was that he said?

[0562] Perhaps it's a little vein.

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

[0567|001] WhyN ^No. [0567|002] ^(Pause.) [0568] ^Why?