

[0001] May (M), dishevelled grey hair, worn grey wrap
hiding feet, trailing.
[0002] Woman's voice (V) from dark upstage.
[0003] Strip: downstage, parallel with front, length seven
steps, width one metre, a little off centre audience
right.
DIAGRAM 1
[0004] Pacing: starting with right foot (r) from right (R)
to left (L), with left foot (l) from L to R.
[0005] Turn: rightabout at L, leftabout at R.
[0006] Steps: clearly audible rhythmic pad.
[0007] Lighting: dim, strongest at floor level, less on body,
least on head.
[0008] Voices: both low throughout.
[0009] Curtain. [0010] Stage in darkness.
[0011] Faint single chime. [0012] Pause as echoes die.
[0013] Fade up to dim on strip. [0014] Rest in darkness.
[0015] M discovered pacing approaching L. [0016] Turns at L, paces
three more lengths, halts facing front at R.
[0017] Pause.
M |
[0018] Mother. [0019] (Pause. [0020] No louder.) [0021] Mother. |
[0022] Pause.
V |
[0023] Yes, May. |
M |
[0024] Were you asleep? |
V |
[0025] Deep asleep. [0026] (Pause.) [0027] I heard you in my deep sleep.
[0028] (Pause.) [0029] There is no sleep so deep I would not hear
you there. [0030] (Pause. [0031] M resumes pacing. [0032] Four lengths.
[0033] After first length, synchronous with steps.) [0034] One two
three four five six seven wheel one two three four
five six seven wheel. [0035] (Free.) [0036] Will you not try to
snatch a little sleep? |
[0037] M halts facing front at R. [0038] Pause.
M |
[0039] Would you like me to inject you again? |
V |
[0040] Yes, but it is too soon. |
[0041] Pause.


M |
[0042] Would you like me to change your position? |
V |
[0043] Yes, but it is too soon. |
[0044] Pause.
M |
[0045] |
[0062] Pause.
V |
[0063] Yes, but it is too soon. |
[0064] Pause.
M |
[0065] What age am I now? |
V |
[0066] And I? [0067] [0069] [0067] (Pause. [0068] No louder.) [0069] And I? |
M |
[0070] ninety. |
V |
[0071] So much? |
M |
[0072] Eighty-nine, ninety. |
V |
[0073] I had you late. [0075] (Pause. In life.) [0076] (Pause.) [0077] Forgive me again.
[0078] (Pause. [0079] No louder.) [0080] Forgive me again. |
[0081] Pause.
M |
[0082] Well? |
V |
[0083] In your forties. |
M |
[0084] So little ? |
V |
[0085] I'm afraid so. [0086] (Pause. [0087] M resumes pacing. [0088] After first
turn at L.) [0089] May. [0090] (Pause. [0091] No louder.) [0092] May. |
M |
V |
[0095] Will you never have done? [0096] (Pause.) [0097] Will you never have done ... revolving it all? |
M |
V |
[0100] It all. [0101] (Pause.) [0102] In your poor mind. [0103] (Pause.) [0104] It all.
[0105] (Pause.) [0106] It all. |
[0107] M continues pacing. [0108] Five seconds. [0109] Fade out on strip.
[0110] All in darkness. [0111] Steps silent.
[0112] Long pause.
[0113] Chime a little fainter. [0114] Pause for echoes.
[0115] Fade up to a little less on strip. [0116] Rest in darkness.
[0117] M discovered facing front at R.
[0118] Pause.


V |
[0119] I walk here now. [0120] (Pause.) [0121] Rather I come and stand.
[0122] (Pause.) [0123] At nightfall. [0124] (Pause.) [0125] My voice is in her
mind. [0126] (Pause.) [0127] She fancies she is alone. [0128] (Pause.) [0129] See how still she stands, how firm, with her face
to the wall. [0130] (Pause.) [0131] How outwardly unmoved. [0132] (Pause.)
[0133] She has not been out since girlhood. [0134] (Pause.) [0135] She
hears in her poor mind, She has not been out since
girlhood. [0136] (Pause.) [0137] Not out since girlhood. [0138] (Pause.)
[0139] Where is she, it may be asked. [0140] (Pause.) [0141] In the old
home, the same where she - [0142] (Pause.) [0143] The same where
she began. [0144] (Pause.) [0145] Where it began. [0146] (Pause.) [0147] It all
began. [0148] (Pause.) [0149] But this, when did this begin? [0150] (Pause.)
[0151] When other girls of her age were out at...lacrosse she
was already here. [0152] (Pause.) [0153] At this. [0154] (Pause.) [0155] The floor
here, now bare, was once - [0156] (M begins pacing. [0157] Steps a little slower.) [0158] But let
us watch her move, in silence. [0159] (M paces. [0160] Towards end
of second length.) [0161] Watch how feat she wheels. [0162] (M turns,
paces. [0163] Synchronous with steps third length.) [0164] Three four
five six. [0165] (M turns at L, paces one more length, halts
facing front at R.) [0166] I say the floor here, now bare,
this strip of floor, once was carpeted, a deep pile,
[0167] Till one day, while still little more than a child, she
called her mother and said, Mother, this is not enough.
[0168] The mother: Not enough? [0169] May - the child's given name -
May: Not enough. [0170] The mother: What do you mean, May, not
enough, what can you possibly mean, May, not enough?
[0171] May: I mean, Mother, I must hear the feet, however faint
they fall. [0172] The mother: The motion alone is not enough?
[0173] May: No, Mother, the motion alone is not enough, I must
hear the feet, however faint they fall. [0174] (Pause. [0175] M resumes
pacing. [0176] With pacing.) [0177] Does she still sleep, it may be
asked. [0178] Yes, [⁁]some nights she does, in snatches, bows her head against the wall
and snatches a little sleep. [0179] (Pause.) [0180] Still speak? [0181] Yes,
some nights she does, when she fancies none can hear.
[0182] (Pause.) [0183] Tells how it was. [0184] (Pause.) [0185] Tries to tell how
it was. [0186] (Pause.) [0187] It all. [0188] (Pause.) [0189] It all. |
[0190] M continues pacing. [0191] Five seconds. [0192] Fade out on strip.
[0193] All in darkness. [0194] Steps silent. [0195]
[0195] Long pause.
[0196] Chime a little fainter still. [0197] Pause for echoes.
[0198] Fade up to a little less still on strip. [0199] Rest in darkness.
[0200] M discovered facing front at R.
[0201] Pause.


M |
[0202] Sequel. [0203] A little later, when she was quite forgotten,
she began - [0204] (Pause.) [0205] A little later, when as though
she had never been, it never been, she began to walk.
[0206] (Pause.) [0207] At nightfall. [0208] (Pause.) [0209] Slip out at nightfall
and into the little church by the south door, always
locked at that hour, and walk, up and down, up and
down, his poor arm.
[0210] (Pause.) [0211] Some nights she would halt,
as one frozen by some shudder of the mind, and stand
stark still till she could move again. [0212] But many also
were the nights when she paced without pause, up and
down, up and down, before vanishing the way she came.
[0213] (Pause.) [0214] No sound. [0215] (Pause.) [0216] None at least to be heard.
[0217] (Pause.) [0218] The semblance. [0219] (Pause. [0220] Begins pacing. [0221] Steps a little slower[⁁] [0222] After
two lengths halts facing front at R. [0223] Pause.) [0224] Faint,
though by no means invisible, in a certain light. [0225] (Pause.)
[0226] Given the right light. [0227] (Pause.) [0228] Grey rather than white,
a pale shade of grey. [0229] (Pause.) [0230] Tattered. [0231] (Pause.) [0232] A
tangle of tatters. [0233] (Pause.) [0234] A faint tangle of pale grey
tatters. [0235] (Pause.) [0236] Watch it pass - (pause) - watch her pass
before the candelabrum, how its flames, their light...like moon through passing rack. [0237] (Pause.) [0238] Soon then
after she was gone, as though never there, began to
walk, up and down, up and down, that poor arm. [0239] (Pause.)
[0240] At nightfall. [0241] (Pause.) [0242] That is to say, at certain
seasons of the year, during Vespers. [0243] (Pause.) [0244] Necessarily. [0245] (Pause. [0246] Begins pacing. [0247] After one length halts
facing front at L. [0248] Pause.) [0249] Old Mrs Winter, whom the reader
will remember, old Mrs Winter, one autumn Sunday evening,
on sitting down to supper with her daughter after worship, after a few half-hearted mouthfuls laid down her
knife and fork and bowed her head. [0249|001] (Pause.)
[0250] What is
it, Mother, said the daughter, a most strange girl,
though scarcely a girl any more...(brokenly)...dreadfully un - ...[0251] (Pause. [0252] Normal voice.) [0253] What is
it, Mother, are you not feeling yourself? [0254] (Pause.)
[0255] Mrs W did not at once reply.
[0256] But finally, raising her
head and fixing Amy - the daughter's given name, as
the reader will remember - fixing Amy full in the eye[₰] |


M |
[0268] kind. [0269] I was not there. [0270] Mrs W: Not there? [0271] Amy: Not
there. [0272] Mrs W: But I heard you respond. [0273] (Pause.) [0274] I
heard you say Amen. [0275] (Pause.) [0276] How could you have
responded if you were not there? [0277] (Pause.) [0278] How could
you possibly have said Amen if, as you claim, you
were not there? [0279] (Pause.) [0280] The love of God, and the
fellowship of the Holy Ghost, be with us all, evermore. [0281] Amen. [0282] (Pause.) [0283] I heard you distinctly. [0284] (Pause.
[0285] Begins pacing. [0286] After three steps halts without
facing front. [0287] Long pause. [0288] Resumes pacing, halts facing
front at R. [0289] Pause.) [0290] Amy. [0291] (Pause. [0292] No louder.) [0293] Amy.
[0294] (Pause.) [0295] Yes, Mother. [0296] (Pause.) [0297] Will you never have
done? [0298] (Pause.) [0299] Will you never have done ... [0299] revolving it all? [0300] (Pause.) [0301] It? [0302] (Pause.) [0303] It all.
[0304] (Pause.) [0305] In your poor mind. [0306] (Pause.) [0307] It all. [0308] (Pause.)
[0309] It all. |
[0310] Pause. [0311] Fade out on strip. [0312] All in darkness.
[0313] Pause.
[0314] Chime a little fainter still. [0315] Pause for echoes.
[0316] Fade up to a little less still on strip.
[0317] No trace of May.
[0318] Hold fifteen seconds.
[0319] Fade out.
[0320] Curtain.
DOODLE 3