Bare
interior.
Grey
Light.
Left and
right back, high up, two small windows, curtains drawn. Front right, a door.
Hanging near door, its face to wall, a picture. Front left, touching each
other, covered with an old sheet, two ashbins. Center, in an armchair on
castors, covered with an old sheet, Captain America. Motionless by the door,
his eyes fixed on Cap, Thor. Very red face.
Brief
tableau.
Thor goes
and stands under window left. Stiff, staggering walk. He looks up at window
left. He turns and looks at window right. He goes and stands under window
right. He looks up at window right. He turns and looks at window left. He goes
out, comes back immediately with a small step-ladder, carries it over and sets
it down under window left, gets up on it, draws back curtain. He gets down,
takes six steps (for example) towards window right, goes back for ladder,
carries it over and sets it down under window right, gets up on it, draws back
curtain. He gets down, takes three steps towards window left, goes back for
ladder, carries it over and sets it down under window left, gets up on it,
looks out of window. Brief laugh. He gets down, takes one step towards window
right, goes back for ladder, carries it over and sets it down under window
right, gets up on it, looks out of window. Brief laugh. He gets down, goes with
ladder towards ashbins, halts, turns, carries back ladder and sets it down
under window right, goes to ashbins, removes sheet covering them, folds it over
his arm. He raises one lid, stoops and looks into bin. Brief laugh. He closes
lid. Same with other bin. He goes to Cap, removes sheet covering him, folds it
over his arm. In a dressing-gown, a stiff toque on his head, a large
blood-stained handkerchief over his face, a whistle hanging from his neck, a
rug over his knees, thick socks on his feet, Bruce Banner seems to be asleep.
Hulk looks him over. Brief laugh. He goes to door, halts, turns towards
auditorium.
Iron Man (fixed
gaze, tonelessly): Finished, it’s finished, nearly finished, it must be nearly
finished. (Pause.)
Grain upon
grain, one by one, and one day, suddenly, there’s a heap, a little heap, the
impossible heap. (Pause.)
I can’t be
punished any more. (Pause.) I’ll go now to my kitchen, ten feet by ten feet by
ten feet, and wait for him to whistle me. (Pause.) Nice dimensions, nice
proportions, I’ll lean on the table, and look at the wall, and wait for him to
whistle me.
(He
remains a moment motionless, then goes out. He comes back immediately, goes to
window right, takes up the ladder and carries it out. Pause. Valkyrie stirs. He
yawns under the handkerchief. He removes the handkerchief from his face. Very
red face. Glasses with black lenses.)
Hulk: Me -
(he yawns) - to play.
(He takes
off his glasses, wipes his eyes, his face, the glasses, puts them on again,
folds the handkerchief and puts it back neatly in the breast pocket of his
dressing gown. He clears his throat, joins the tips of his fingers.)
Can there
be misery - (he yawns) - loftier than mine? No doubt. Formerly. But now? (Pause.)
My father?
(Pause.)
My mother?
(Pause.)
My ...
dog? (Pause.)
Oh I am
willing to believe they suffer as much as such creatures can suffer. But does
that mean their sufferings equal mine? No doubt. (Pause.)
No, all is
a - (he yawns) - bsolute, (proudly) the bigger a man is the fuller he is. (Pause.
Gloomily.) And the emptier. (He sniffs.)
Hawkeye! (Pause.)
No, alone.
(Pause.)
What
dreams! Those forests! (Pause.)
Enough,
it’s time it ended, in the shelter, too. (Pause.)
And yet I
hesitate, I hesitate to ... to end. Yes, there it is, it’s time it ended and
yet I hesitate to - (He yawns.) - to end. (Yawns.)
God, I’m
tired, I’d be better off in bed. (He whistles. Enter Hawkeye immediately. He
halts beside the chair.) You pollute the air! (Pause.) Get me ready, I’m going
to bed.
Andy
Spragg: I’ve just got you up.
Cap: And
what of it?
Hawkeye: I
can’t be getting you up and putting you to bed every five minutes, I have
things to do. (Pause.)
Valkyrie:
Did you ever see my eyes?
Hulk: No.
Valkyrie:
Did you never have the curiosity, while I was sleeping, to take off my glasses
and look at my eyes?
Hulk:
Pulling back the lids? (Pause.)
No.
Valkyrie:
One of these days I’ll show them to you. (Pause.)
It seems
they’ve gone all white. (Pause.) What time is it?
Iron Man:
The same as usual.
Captain
Marvel (gesture towards window right): Have you looked?
Falcon:
Yes.
Bruce
Banner: Well?
Black
Widow: Zero.
Thor: It’d
need to rain.
Hawkeye: It
won’t rain. (Pause.)
Bruce
Banner: Apart from that, how do you feel?
Auntie May:
I don’t complain.
Captain
Marvel: You feel normal?
Hawkeye (irritably):
I tell you I don’t complain.
Bruce
Banner: I feel a little strange. (Pause.)
Auntie May!
Hawkeye:
Yes.
Captain
Marvel: Have you not had enough?
Auntie May:
Yes! (Pause.)
Of what?
Thor: Of
this ... this ... thing.
Hawkeye: I
always had. (Pause.)
Not you?
Valkyrie (gloomily):
Then there’s no reason for it to change.
Hulk: It
may end. (Pause.)
All life
long the same questions, the same answers.
Cap: Get
me ready. (Auntie May does not move.) Go and get the sheet. (Auntie May does
not move.) Auntie May!
Hulk: Yes.
Captain
Marvel: I’ll give you nothing more to eat.
Hawkeye:
Then we’ll die.
Captain
Marvel: I’ll give you just enough to keep you from dying. You’ll be hungry all
the time.
Hawkeye:
Then we won’t die. (Pause.)
I’ll go
and get the sheet. (He goes towards the door.)
Thor: No! (Hawkeye
halts.)
I’ll give
you one biscuit per day. (Pause.)
One and a
half. (Pause.)
Why do you
stay with me?
Iron Man:
Why do you keep me?
Bruce
Banner: There’s no one else.
Auntie May:
There’s nowhere else. (Pause.)
Thor:
You’re leaving me all the same.
Auntie May:
I’m trying.
Thor: You
don’t love me.
Hawkeye:
No.
Thor: You
loved me once.
Black
Widow: Once!
Bruce
Banner: I’ve made you suffer too much. (Pause.)
Haven’t I?
Hulk: It’s
not that.
Valkyrie:
I haven’t made you suffer too much?
Black
Widow: Yes!
Thor (relieved):
Ah, you gave me a fright! (Pause. Coldly)
Forgive
me. (Pause. Louder.)
I said,
Forgive me.
Auntie May:
I heard you. (Pause.)
Have you
bled?
Thor:
Less. (Pause.)
Is it not
time for my pain-killer?
Black
Widow: No. (Pause.)
Thor: How
are your eyes?
Iron Man:
Bad.
Bruce
Banner: How are your legs?
Hulk: Bad.
Captain
Marvel: But you can move.
Hulk: Yes.
Captain
Marvel (violently): Then move! (Black Widow goes to back wall, leans against it
with his forehead and hands.)
Where are
you?
Iron Man:
Here.
Captain
Marvel: Come back! (Iron Man returns to his place beside the chair.)
Where are
you?
Iron Man:
Here.
Thor: Why
don’t you kill me?
Black
Widow: I don’t know the combination of the cupboard. (Pause.)
Valkyrie:
Go and get two bicycle-wheels.
Auntie May:
There are no more bicycle-wheels.
Bruce
Banner: What have you done with your bicycle?
Hulk: I
never had a bicycle.
Bruce
Banner: The thing is impossible.
Auntie May:
When there were still bicycles I wept to have one. I crawled at your feet. You
told me to go to hell. Now there are none.
Bruce
Banner: And your rounds? When you inspected my paupers. Always on foot?
Iron Man:
Sometimes on horse.
(The lid
of one of the bins lifts and the hands of Captain Marvel appear, gripping the
rim. Then his head emerges. Nightcap. Very white face. Captain Marvel yawns,
then listens.)
I’ll leave
you, I have things to do.
Cap: In your
kitchen?
Auntie May:
Yes.
Valkyrie:
Outside of here it’s death. (Pause.) All right, be off. (Exit Auntie May.
Pause.) We’re getting on.
Thor: Me
pap!
Cap:
Accursed progenitor!
Thor: Me
pap!
Captain
Marvel: The old folks at home! No decency left! Guzzle, guzzle, that’s all they
think of. (He whistles. Enter Hawkeye. He halts beside the chair.)
Well! I
thought you were leaving me.
Hawkeye:
Oh not just yet, not just yet.
Captain
Marvel: Me pap!
Captain
Marvel: Give him his pap.
Hulk:
There’s no more pap.
Captain
Marvel (to Cap): Do you hear that? There’s no more pap. You’ll never get any
more pap.
Thor: I
want me pap!
Captain
Marvel: Give him a biscuit. (Exit Hulk.)
Accursed
fornicator! How are your stumps?
Dr Strange:
Never mind me stumps. (Enter Iron Man with biscuit.)
Black
Widow: I’m back again, with the biscuit. (He gives biscuit to Ant-Man who
fingers it, sniffs it.)
Ant-Man (plaintively):
What is it?
Black
Widow: Spratt’s medium.
Thor (as
before): It’s hard! I can’t!
Thor:
Bottle him! (Iron Man pushes Ant-Man back into the bin, closes the lid.)
Iron Man (returning
to his place beside the chair): If age but knew!
Thor: Sit
on him!
Black
Widow: I can’t sit.
Bruce
Banner: True. And I can’t stand.
Black
Widow: So it is.
Cap: Every
man his specialty. (Pause.)
No phone
calls? (Pause.) Don’t we laugh?
Black
Widow (after reflection): I don’t feel like it.
Bruce
Banner (after reflection): Nor I. (Pause.) Hawkeye!
Auntie May:
Yes.
Captain
Marvel: Nature has forgotten us.
Iron Man:
There’s no more nature.
Captain
Marvel: No more nature! You exaggerate.
Auntie May:
In the vicinity.
Bruce
Banner: But we breathe, we change! We lose our hair, our teeth! Our bloom! Our
ideals!
Hawkeye:
Then she hasn’t forgotten us.
Captain
Marvel: But you say there is none.
Iron Man (sadly):
No one that ever lived ever thought so crooked as we.
Bruce
Banner: We do what we can.
Iron Man:
We shouldn’t. (Pause.)
Captain
Marvel: You’re a bit of all right, aren’t you?
Auntie May:
A smithereen. (Pause.)
Captain
Marvel: This is slow work. (Pause.) Is it not time for my pain-killer?
Iron Man:
No. (Pause.)
I’ll leave
you, I have things to do.
Captain
Marvel: In your kitchen?
Hawkeye:
Yes.
Valkyrie:
What, I’d like to know.
Auntie May:
I look at the wall.
Captain
Marvel: The wall! And what do you see on your wall? Mene, mene? Naked bodies?
Black
Widow: I see my light dying.
Cap: Your
light dying! Listen to that! Well, it can die just as well here, your light.
Take a look at me and then come back and tell me what you think of your light. (Pause.)
Iron Man:
You shouldn’t speak to me like that. (Pause.)
Valkyrie (coldly):
Forgive me. (Pause. Louder.) I said, Forgive me.
Hawkeye: I
heard you.
(The lid
of Ant-Man’s bin lifts. His hands appear, gripping the rim. Then his head
emerges. In his mouth the biscuit. He listens.)
Cap: Did
your seeds come up?
Black
Widow: No.
Cap: Did
you scratch round them to see if they had sprouted?
Iron Man:
They haven’t sprouted.
Captain
Marvel: Perhaps it’s still too early.
Black
Widow: If they were going to sprout they would have sprouted. (Violently.)
They’ll
never sprout! (Pause. Ant-Man takes biscuit in his hand.)
Cap: This
is not much fun. (Pause.)
But that’s
always the way at the end of the day, isn’t it, Iron Man?
Hulk:
Always.
Thor: It’s
the end of the day like any other day, isn’t it, Black Widow?
Iron Man:
Looks like it. (Pause.)
Captain
Marvel (anguished): What’s happening, what’s happening?
Auntie May:
Something is taking its course. (Pause.)
Captain
Marvel: All right, be off. (He leans back in his chair, remains motionless.
Black Widow does not move, heaves a great groaning sigh. Captain Marvel sits
up.)
I thought
I told you to be off.
Auntie May:
I’m trying. (He goes to the door, halts.)
Ever since
I was whelped. (Exit Black Widow.)
Bruce
Banner: We’re getting on. (He leans back in his chair, remains motionless. Cap knocks
on the lid of the other bin. Pause. He knocks harder. The lid lifts and the
hands of Groot appear, gripping the rim. Then her head emerges. Lace cap. Very
white face.)
Groot:
What is it, my pet? (Pause.) Time for love?
Captain
Marvel: Were you asleep?
Groot: Oh
no!
Ant-Man:
Kiss me.
Black
Panther: We can’t.
Nebula:
Try. (Their heads strain towards each other, fail to meet, fall apart again.)
Okoye: Why
this farce, day after day? (Pause.)
Groot:
I’ve lost me tooth.
Peggy
Carter: When?
Nebula: I
had it yesterday.
Brock
Rumlow (elegiac): Ah yesterday. (They turn painfully towards each other.)
Groot: Can
you see me?
Callan
Mulvey: Hardly. And you?
Shuri:
What?
Frigga:
Can you see me?
Nebula:
Hardly.
Gamora: So
much the better, so much the better.
Shuri:
Don’t say that. (Pause.) Our sight has failed.
Tilda
Swinton: Yes. (Pause. They turn away from each other.)
Thanos:
Can you hear me?
Mantis:
Yes. And you?
Groot:
Yes. (Pause.)
Our
hearing hasn’t failed.
Callan
Mulvey: Our what?
Groot: Our
hearing.
Heimdall:
No. (Pause.) Have you anything else to say to me?
Shuri: Do
you remember -
Drax: No.
Nebula:
When we crashed on our tandem and lost our shanks. (They laugh heartily.)
Cap: It
was in the Ardennes. (They laugh less heartily.)
Black
Panther: On the road to Sedan. (They laugh still less heartily.) Are you cold?
Frigga:
Yes, perished, and you?
Black
Panther: (Pause.) I’m freezing. (Pause.) Do you want to go in?
Drax: Yes.
Nebula:
Then go in. (Verity does not move.) Why don’t you go in?
Auntie May:
I don’t know. (Pause.)
Groot: Has
he changed your sawdust?
Auntie May:
It isn’t sawdust. (Pause. Warily.) Can you not be a little accurate, Thanos?
Thanos:
Your sand then. It’s not important.
Odin: It
is important. (Pause.)
Thanos: It
was sawdust once.
Skurge:
Once!
Thanos:
And now it’s sand. (Pause.) From the shore. (Pause. Impatiently.) Now it’s sand
he fetches from the shore.
Rhodes:
Now it’s sand.
Shuri: Has
he changed yours?
Verity:
No.
Thanos:
Nor mine. (Pause.)
I won’t
have it! (Pause. Holding up the biscuit.) Do you want a bit?
Hank Pym:
No. (Pause.)
Of what?
Black
Panther: Biscuit. I’ve kept you half. (He looks at the biscuit. Proudly.)
Three
quarters. For you. Here. (He proffers the biscuit.) No? (Pause.) Do you not
feel well?
Black
Widow (wearily): Quiet, quiet, you’re keeping me awake. (Pause.) Talk softer. (Pause.)
If I could sleep I might make love. I’d go into the woods. My eyes would see
... the sky, the earth. I’d run, run, they wouldn’t catch me. (Pause.)
Nature! (Pause.)
There’s
something dripping in my head. (Pause.)
A heart, a
heart in my head. (Pause.)
Nebula: Do
you hear him? A heart in his head! (He chuckles cautiously.)
Bucky: One
mustn’t laugh at those things, Thanos. Why must you always laugh at them?
Nebula:
Not so loud!
Dr Strange
(without lowering her voice): Nothing is funnier than unhappiness, I grant you
that. But -
Shuri (shocked):
Oh!
Odin: Yes,
yes, it’s the most comical thing in the world. And we laugh, we laugh, with a
will, in the beginning. But it’s always the same thing. Yes, it’s like the
funny story we have heard too often, we still find it funny, but we don’t laugh
any more. (Pause.) Have you anything else to say to me?
Groot: No.
Korg: Are
you quite sure? (Pause.) Then I’ll leave you.
Shuri: Do
you not want your biscuit? (Pause.) I’ll keep it for you. (Pause.) I thought
you were going to leave me.
Howard: I
am going to leave you.
Thanos:
Could you give me a scratch before you go?
Skurge:
No. (Pause.) Where?
Thanos: In
the back.
Dr Strange:
No. (Pause.) Rub yourself against the rim.
Shuri:
It’s lower down. In the hollow.
JARVIS:
What hollow?
Shuri: The
hollow! (Pause.) Could you not? (Pause.) Yesterday you scratched me there.
Callan
Mulvey (elegiac): Ah yesterday.
Thanos: Could
you not? (Pause.)
Would you
like me to scratch you? (Pause.) Are you crying again?
Cap: I was
trying. (Pause.)
Iron Man:
Perhaps it’s a little vein. (Pause.)
Nebula:
What was that he said?
The Wasp:
Perhaps it’s a little vein.
Shuri:
What does that mean? (Pause.) That means nothing. (Pause.) Shall I tell you the
story of the tailor?
Cap: No. (Pause.)
What for?
Thanos: To
cheer you up.
Falcon:
It’s not funny.
Groot: It
always made you laugh. (Pause.) The first time I thought you’d die.
Bucky: It
was on Lake Como. (Pause.) One April afternoon. (Pause.) Can you believe it?
Thanos:
What?
Auntie May:
That we once went out rowing on Lake Como. (Pause.) One April afternoon.
Nebula: We
had got engaged the day before.
Ramonda:
Engaged!
Ant-Man:
You were in such fits that we cap-sized. By rights we should have been drowned.
Cap: It
was because I felt happy.
Black
Panther (indignant): It was not, it was not, it was my STORY and nothing else.
Happy! Don’t you laugh at it still? Every time I tell it. Happy!
Janet van
Dyne: It was deep, deep. And you could see down to the bottom. So white. So
clean.
Nebula:
Let me tell it again. (Raconteur’s voice.) An Englishman, needing a pair of
striped trousers in a hurry for the New Year festivities, goes to his tailor
who takes his measurements. (Tailor’s voice.) “That’s the lot, come back in
four days, I’ll have it ready.” Good. Four days later. (Tailor’s voice.) “So
sorry, come back in a week, I’ve made a mess of the seat.” Good, that’s all
right, a neat seat can be very ticklish. A week later. (Tailor’s voice.)” Frightfully
sorry, come back in ten days, I’ve made a hash of the crotch.” Good, can’t be
helped, a snug crotch is always a teaser. Ten days later. (Tailor’s voice.)
“Dreadfully sorry, come back in a fortnight, I’ve made a balls of the fly.”
Good, at a pinch, a smart fly is a stiff proposition. (Pause. Normal voice.) I
never told it worse. (Pause. Gloomy.) I tell this story worse and worse. (Pause.
Raconteur’s voice.) Well, to make it short, the bluebells are blowing and he ballockses
the buttonholes. (Customer’s voice.) “God damn you to hell, Sir, no, it’s
indecent, there are limits! In six days, do you hear me, six days, God made the
world. Yes Sir, no less Sir, the WORLD! And you are not bloody well capable of
making me a pair of trousers in three months!” (Tailor’s voice, scandalized.)
“But my dear Sir, my dear Sir, look - (disdainful gesture, disgustedly) - at
the world - (Pause.) and look - (loving gesture, proudly) - at my TROUSERS!”
(Pause. He
looks at Heimdall who has remained impassive, her eyes unseeing. He breaks into
a high forced laugh, cuts it short, pokes his head towards Heimdall, launches
his laugh again.)
Black
Widow: Silence! (Nebula starts, cuts short his laugh.)
Hogan: You
could see down to the bottom.
Hawkeye (exasperated):
Have you not finished? Will you never finish? (With sudden fury.) Will this
never finish? (Thanos disappears into his bin, closes the lid behind him. Hogan
does not move. Frenziedly.) My kingdom for a nightman! (He whistles. Enter Cap.)
Clear away this muck! Chuck it in the sea! (Cap goes to bins, halts.)
Kat: So
white.
Iron Man:
What? What’s she blathering about? (Dr Strange stoops, takes Rhodes ’s hand,
feels her pulse.)
Auntie May
(to Dr Strange ): Desert! (Dr Strange lets go her hand, pushes her back in the
bin, closes the lid.)
Ant-Man (returning
to his place beside the chair): She has no pulse.
Iron Man:
What was she drivelling about?
Ant-Man:
She told me to go away, into the desert.
Hawkeye:
Damn busybody! Is that all?
Captain
Marvel: No.
Iron Man:
What else?
Dr Strange:
I didn’t understand.
Auntie May:
Have you bottled her?
Thor: Yes.
Iron Man:
Are they both bottled?
Dr Strange:
Yes.
Hawkeye:
Screw down the lids. (Ant-Man goes towards door.)
Time
enough. (Thor halts.) My anger subsides, I’d like to pee.
Cap (with
alacrity): I’ll go get the catheter. (He goes towards door.)
Black
Widow: Time enough. (Captain Marvel halts.) Give me my pain killer.
Thor: It’s
too soon. (Pause.) It’s too soon on top of your tonic, it wouldn’t act.
Hulk: In
the morning they brace you up and in the evening they calm you down. Unless
it’s the other way round. (Pause.) That old doctor, he’s dead naturally?
Cap: He
wasn’t old.
Hawkeye:
But he’s dead?
Ant-Man:
Naturally. (Pause.) You ask me that? (Pause.)
Hulk: Take
me for a little turn. (Dr Strange goes behind the chair and pushes it forward.)
Not too fast! (Dr Strange pushes chair.) Right round the world! (Dr Strange pushes
chair.) Hug the walls, then back to the center again. (Dr Strange pushes
chair.) I was right in the center, wasn’t I?
Ant-Man (pushing):
Yes.
Hulk: We’d
need a proper wheel-chair. With big wheels. Bicycle wheels! (Pause.) Are you
hugging?
Captain
Marvel (pushing): Yes.
Black
Widow (groping for wall): It’s a lie! Why do you lie to me?
Cap (bearing
closer to wall): There! There!
Hulk:
Stop! (Thor stops chair close to back wall. Hulk lays his hand against wall.)
Old wall! (Pause.)
Beyond is the ... other hell. (Pause. Violently.) Closer! Closer! Up against!
Cap: Take
away your hand. (Hulk withdraws his hand. Cap rams chair against wall.) There! (Hulk
leans towards wall, applies his ear to it.)
Auntie May:
Do you hear? (He strikes the wall with his knuckles.) Do you hear? Hollow
bricks! (He strikes again.)
All that’s
hollow! (Pause. He straightens up. Violently.) That’s enough. Back!
Ant-Man:
We haven’t done the round.
Iron Man:
Back to my place! (Thor pushes chair back to center.) Is that my place?
Dr Strange:
Yes, that’s your place.
Black
Widow: Am I right in the center?
Thor: I’ll
measure it.
Hawkeye:
More or less! More or less!
Ant-Man (moving
chair slightly): There!
Hulk: I’m
more or less in the center?
Cap: I’d
say so.
Hawkeye:
You’d say so! Put me right in the center!
Dr Strange:
I’ll go and get the tape.
Hulk:
Roughly! Roughly! (Captain Marvel moves chair slightly.) Bang in the center!
Ant-Man:
There! (Pause.)
Hulk: I
feel a little too far to the left. (Dr Strange moves chair slightly.) Now I
feel a little too far to the right. (Dr Strange moves chair slightly.) I feel a
little too far forward. (Dr Strange moves chair slightly.) Now I feel a little
too far back. (Dr Strange moves chair slightly.) Don’t stay there. You give me
the shivers. (Dr Strange returns to his place beside the chair.)
Cap: If I
could kill him I’d die happy. (Pause.)
Hawkeye:
What’s the weather like?
Ant-Man:
As usual.
Hawkeye:
Look at the earth.
Captain
Marvel: I’ve looked.
Hawkeye:
With the glass?
Ant-Man:
No need of the glass.
Hawkeye:
Look at it with the glass.
Ant-Man:
I’ll go and get the glass. (Exit Ant-Man.)
Hawkeye:
No need of the glass! (Enter Thor with telescope.)
Ant-Man:
I’m back again, with the glass. (He goes to window right, looks up at it.) I
need the steps.
Hulk: Why?
Have you shrunk? (Exit Dr Strange with telescope.)
I don’t
like that, I don’t like that. (Enter Cap with ladder, but without telescope.)
Dr Strange:
I’m back again, with the steps. (He sets down ladder under window right, gets
up on it, realizes he has not the telescope, gets down.) I need the glass. (He
goes towards door.)
Black Widow
(violently): But you have the glass!
Ant-Man (halting,
violently): No, I haven’t the glass! (Exit Ant-Man.)
Auntie May:
This is deadly. (Enter Ant-Man with the telescope. He goes towards ladder.)
Thor:
Things are livening up. (He gets up on ladder, raises the telescope, lets it
fall.) I did it on purpose. (He gets down, picks up the telescope, turns it on
auditorium.) I see ... a multitude ... in transports ... of joy. (Pause. He
lowers telescope, looks at it.) That’s what I call a magnifier. (He turns
toward Black Widow.) Well? Don’t we laugh?
Black
Widow (after reflection): I don’t.
Cap (after
reflection): Nor I. (He gets up on ladder, turns the telescope on the without.)
Let’s see.
(He looks, moving the telescope.) Zero ... (he looks) ...zero ... (he looks)
...and zero.
Hawkeye:
Nothing stirs. All is -
Ant-Man:
Zer -
Auntie May
(violently): Wait till you’re spoken to! (Normal voice.)
All is ...
all is ... all is what? (Violently.) All is what?
Dr Strange:
What all is? In a word? Is that what you want to know? Just a moment. (He turns
the telescope on the without, looks, lowers the telescope, turns towards Black
Widow.) Corpsed. (Pause.) Well? Content?
Iron Man:
Look at the sea.
Captain Marvel:
It’s the same.
Auntie May:
Look at the ocean!
(Cap gets
down, takes a few steps towards window left, goes back for ladder, carries it
over and sets it down under window left, gets up on it, turns the telescope on
the without, looks at length. He starts, lowers the telescope, examines it,
turns it again on the without.)
Cap: Never
seen anything like that!
Spiderman (anxious):
What? A sail? A fin? Smoke?
Cap (looking):
The light is sunk.
Black
Widow (relieved): Pah! We all knew that.
Dr Strange
(looking): There was a bit left.
Hulk: The
base.
Ant-Man (looking):
Yes.
Hawkeye:
And now?
Thor (looking):
All gone.
Iron Man:
No gulls?
Captain
Marvel (looking): Gulls!
Hulk: And
the horizon? Nothing on the horizon?
Dr Strange
(lowering the telescope, turning towards Auntie May, exasperated): What in
God’s name could there be on the horizon? (Pause.)
Hawkeye:
The waves, how are the waves?
Dr Strange:
The waves? (He turns the telescope on the waves.) Lead.
Auntie May:
And the sun?
Cap (looking):
Zero.
Hulk: But
it should be sinking. Look again.
Iron Man (looking):
Damn the sun.
Hawkeye:
Is it night already then?
Dr Strange
(looking): No.
Hawkeye:
Then what is it?
Dr Strange
(looking): Gray. (Lowering the telescope, turning towards Hawkeye, louder.)
Gray! (Pause. Still louder.) GRRAY! (Pause. He gets down, approaches Hawkeye
from behind, whispers in his ear.)
Iron Man (starting):
Gray! Did I hear you say gray?
Captain
Marvel: Light black. From pole to pole.
Andy
Spragg: You exaggerate. (Pause.) Don’t stay there, you give me the shivers. (Ant-Man
returns to his place beside the chair.)
Dr Strange:
Why this farce, day after day?
Hawkeye:
Routine. One never knows. (Pause.)
Last night
I saw inside my breast. There was a big sore.
Thanos:
Pah! You saw your heart.
Ant-Man:
No, it was living. (Pause. Anguished.) Groot!
Nebula:
Yes.
Cap:
What’s happening?
Nebula:
Something is taking its course. (Pause.)
Thor:
Shuri!
Groot (impatiently):
What is it?
Cap: We’re
not beginning to ... to ... mean something?
Thanos:
Mean something! You and I, mean something! (Brief laugh.) Ah that’s a good one!
Thor: I
wonder. (Pause.) Imagine if a rational being came back to earth, wouldn’t he be
liable to get ideas into his head if he observed us long enough. (Voice of
rational being.) Ah, good, now I see what it is, yes, now I understand what
they’re at! (Nebula starts, drops the telescope and begins to scratch his belly
with both hands. Normal voice.) And without going so far as that, we ourselves
... (with emotion) ... we ourselves ... at certain moments ... (Vehemently.) To
think perhaps it won’t all have been for nothing!
Black
Panther (anguished, scratching himself): I have a flea!
Ant-Man: A
flea! Are there still fleas?
Black
Panther: On me there’s one. (Scratching.) Unless it’s a crab louse.
Ant-Man (very
perturbed): But humanity might start from there all over again! Catch him, for
the love of God!
Thanos:
I’ll go and get the powder. (Exit Thanos.)
Cap: A
flea! This is awful! What a day! (Enter Black Panther with a sprinkling-tin.)
Groot: I’m
back again, with the insecticide.
Cap: Let
him have it!
(Groot loosens
the top of his trousers, pulls it forward and shakes powder into the aperture.
He stoops, looks, waits, starts, frenziedly shakes more powder, stoops, looks,
waits.)
Nehaal:
The bastard!
Cap: Did
you get him?
Black
Panther: Looks like it. (He drops the tin and adjusts his trousers.) Unless
he’s laying doggo.
Captain
Marvel: Laying! Lying, you mean. Unless he’s lying doggo.
Shuri: Ah?
One says lying? One doesn’t say laying?
Cap: Use
your head, can’t you. If he was laying we’d be bitched.
Thanos:
Ah. (Pause.) What about that pee?
Ant-Man:
I’m having it.
Groot: Ah
that’s the spirit, that’s the spirit! (Pause.)
Captain
Marvel (with ardour): Let’s go from here, the two of us! South! You can make a
raft and the currents will carry us away, far away, to other ... mammals!
Groot: God
forbid!
Thor:
Alone, I’ll embark alone! Get working on that raft immediately. Tomorrow I’ll
be gone forever.
Groot (hastening
towards door): I’ll start straight away.
Ant-Man:
Wait! (Shuri halts.) Will there be sharks, do you think?
Black
Panther: Sharks? I don’t know. If there are there will be. (He goes towards
door.)
Dr Strange:
Wait! (Thanos halts.) Is it not yet time for my pain-killer?
Black
Panther (violently): No! (He goes towards door.)
Cap: Wait!
(Groot halts.) How are your eyes?
Nebula:
Bad.
Cap: But
you can see.
Shuri: All
I want.
Ant-Man:
How are your legs?
Shuri:
Bad.
Thor: But
you can walk.
Thanos: I
come ... and go.
Dr Strange:
In my house. (Pause. With prophetic relish.) One day you’ll be blind like me.
You’ll be sitting here, a speck in the void, in the dark, forever, like me. (Pause.)
One day you’ll say to yourself, I’m tired, I’ll sit down, and you’ll go and sit
down. Then you’ll say, I’m hungry, I’ll get up and get something to eat. But
you won’t get up. You’ll say, I shouldn’t have sat down, but since I have I’ll
sit on a little longer, then I’ll get up and get something to eat. But you
won’t get up and you won’t get anything to eat. (Pause.) You’ll look at the
wall a while, then you’ll say, I’ll close my eyes, perhaps have a little sleep,
after that I’ll feel better, and you’ll close them. And when you open them
again there’ll be no wall any more. (Pause.) Infinite emptiness will be all
around you, all the resurrected dead of all the ages wouldn’t fill it, and
there you’ll be like a little bit of grit in the middle of the steppe. (Pause.)
Yes, one day you’ll know what it is, you’ll be like me, except that you won’t
have anyone with you, because you won’t have had pity on anyone and because
there won’t be anyone left to have pity on you. (Pause.)
Groot:
It’s not certain. (Pause.) And there’s one thing you forgot.
Dr Strange:
Ah?
Black
Panther: I can’t sit down.
Ant-Man (impatiently):
Well you’ll lie down then, what the hell! Or you’ll come to a standstill,
simply stop and stand still, the way you are now. One day you’ll say, I’m
tired, I’ll stop. What does the attitude matter? (Pause.)
Nebula: So
you all want me to leave you.
Captain
Marvel: Naturally.
Thanos:
Then I’ll leave you.
Ant-Man:
You can’t leave us.
Black
Panther: Then I won’t leave you. (Pause.)
Cap: Why
don’t you finish us? (Pause.) I’ll tell you the combination of the cupboard if
you promise to finish me.
Nebula: I
couldn’t finish you.
Ant-Man:
Then you won’t finish me. (Pause.)
Nebula:
I’ll leave you, I have things to do.
Dr Strange:
Do you remember when you came here?
Shuri: No.
Too small, you told me.
Cap: Do
you remember your father?
Thanos (wearily):
Same answer. (Pause.) You’ve asked me these questions millions of times.
Captain
Marvel: I love the old questions. (With fervour.) Ah the old questions, the old
answers, there’s nothing like them! (Pause.) It was I was a father to you.
Black
Panther: Yes. (He looks at Dr Strange fixedly.) You were that to me.
Thor: My
house a home for you.
Shuri:
Yes. (He looks about him.) This was that for me.
Thor (proudly):
But for me, (gesture towards himself) no father. But for Thor, (gesture towards
surroundings) no home. (Pause.)
Black
Panther: I’ll leave you.
Ant-Man:
Did you ever think of one thing?
Shuri:
Never.
Ant-Man:
That here we’re down in a hole. (Pause.) But beyond the hills? Eh? Perhaps it’s
still green. Eh? (Pause.) Flora! Pomona! (Ecstatically.) Ceres! (Pause.)
Perhaps you won’t need to go very far.
Thanos: I
can’t go very far. (Pause.) I’ll leave you.
Alison: Is
my dog ready?
Thanos: He
lacks a leg.
Alison: Is
he silky?
Shuri:
He’s kind of a Pomeranian.
Thor: Go
and get him.
Nebula: He
lacks a leg.
Alison: Go
and get him! (Exit Black Panther.) We’re getting on. (Enter Black Panther
holding by one of its three legs a black toy dog.)
Groot:
Your dogs are here. (He hands the dog to Ant-Man who feels it, fondles it.)
Ant-Man: He’s white, isn’t he?
Ant-Man: He’s white, isn’t he?
Groot:
Nearly.
Dr Strange:
What do you mean, nearly? Is he white or isn’t he?
Nebula: He
isn’t. (Pause.)
Captain
Marvel: You’ve forgotten the sex.
Groot (vexed):
But he isn’t finished. The sex goes on at the end. (Pause.) Captain Marvel: You
haven’t put on his ribbon.
Groot (angrily):
But he isn’t finished, I tell you! First you finish your dog and then you put
on his ribbon! (Pause.) Thor: Can he stand?
Black
Panther: I don’t know.
Cap: Try. (He
hands the dog to Shuri who places it on the ground.) Well?
Thanos:
Wait! (He squats down and tries to get the dog to stand on its three legs,
fails, lets it go. The dog falls on its side.)
Captain
Marvel (impatiently): Well?
Groot:
He’s standing.
Ant-Man (groping
for the dog): Where? Where is he? (Thanos holds up the dog in a standing
position.)
Nebula:
There. (He takes Dr Strange ’s hand and guides it towards the dog’s head.) Dr
Strange (his hand on the dog’s head): Is he gazing at me?
Black
Panther: Yes.
Cap (proudly):
As if he were asking me to take him for a walk?
Thanos: If
you like.
Captain
Marvel (as before): Or as if he were begging me for a bone. (He withdraws his
hand.) Leave him like that, standing there imploring me. (Groot straightens up.
The dog falls on its side.)
Black
Panther: I’ll leave you.
Cap: Have
you had your visions?
Thanos:
Less.
Thor: Is
Mother Pegg’s light on?
Shuri:
Light! How could anyone’s light be on?
Dr Strange:
Extinguished!
Black
Panther: Naturally it’s extinguished. If it’s not on it’s extinguished.
Ant-Man:
No, I mean Mother Pegg.
Nebula:
But naturally she’s extinguished! (Pause.) What’s the matter with you today?
Cap: I’m
taking my course. (Pause.) Is she buried?
Shuri:
Buried! Who would have buried her?
Ant-Man:
You.
Groot: Me!
Haven’t I enough to do without burying people?
Ant-Man:
But you’ll bury me.
Groot: No
I won’t bury you. (Pause.)
Captain
Marvel: She was bonny once, like a flower of the field. (With reminiscent
leer.) And a great one for the men!
Thanos: We
too were bonny - once. It’s a rare thing not to have been bonny - once. (Pause.)
Dr Strange: Go and get the gaff. (Thanos goes to the door, halts.)
Thanos: Do
this, do that, and I do it. I never refuse. Why?
Ant-Man:
You’re not able to.
Thanos:
Soon I won’t do it any more.
Thor: You
won’t be able to any more. (Exit Shuri.) Ah the creatures, the creatures,
everything has to be explained to them. (Enter Shuri with gaff.)
Groot:
Here’s your gaff. Stick it up. (He gives the gaff to Dr Strange who, wielding
it like a puntpole, tries to move his chair.)
Ant-Man:
Did I move?
Thanos:
No. (Cap throws down the gaff.)
Cap: Go
and get the oilcan.
Thanos:
What for?
Cap: To
oil the castors.
Groot: I
oiled them yesterday.
Ant-Man:
Yesterday! What does that mean? Yesterday!
Nebula (violently):
That means that bloody awful day, long ago, before this bloody awful day. I use
the words you taught me. If they don’t mean anything any more, teach me others.
Or let me be silent. (Pause.)
Dr Strange:
I once knew a madman who thought the end of the world had come. He was a
painter - and engraver. I had a great fondness for him. I used to go and see
him, in the asylum. I’d take him by the hand and drag him to the window. Look!
There! All that rising corn! And there! Look! The sails of the herring fleet!
All that loveliness! (Pause.) He’d snatch away his hand and go back into his
corner. Appalled. All he had seen was ashes. (Pause.) He alone had been spared.
(Pause.) Forgotten. (Pause.) It appears the case is ... was not so ... so
unusual.
Black
Panther: A madman? When was that?
Captain
Marvel: Oh way back, way back, you weren’t in the land of the living.
Nebula:
God be with those days. (Pause. Thor raises his toque.) Thor: I had a great
fondness for him. (Pause. He puts on his toque again.) He was a painter - and
engraver.
Shuri:
There are so many terrible things.
Cap: No,
no, there are not so many now. (Pause.) Shuri!
Nebula:
Yes.
Ant-Man:
Do you not think this has gone on long enough?
Black
Panther: Yes! (Pause.) What?
Dr Strange:
This ... this ... thing.
Groot:
I’ve always thought so. (Pause.) You not?
Cap (gloomily):
Then it’s a day like any other day.
Thanos: As
long as it lasts. (Pause.) All life long the same inanities.
Cap: I
can’t leave you.
Nebula: I
know. And you can’t follow me. (Pause.)
Thor: If
you leave me how shall I know?
Nebula (briskly):
Well you simply whistle me and if I don’t come running it means I’ve left you. (Pause.)
Cap: You won’t come and kiss me goodbye?
Black
Panther: Oh I shouldn’t think so. (Pause.)
Ant-Man:
But you might be merely dead in your kitchen.
Thanos:
The result would be the same.
Ant-Man:
Yes, but how would I know, if you were merely dead in your kitchen?
Groot:
Well ... sooner or later I’d start to stink.
Cap: You
stink already. The whole place stinks of corpses.
Thanos:
The whole universe.
Cap (angrily):
To hell with the universe. (Pause.) Think of something.
Thanos:
What?
Ant-Man:
An idea, have an idea. (Angrily.) A bright idea!
Shuri: Ah
good. (He starts pacing to and fro, his eyes fixed on the ground, his hands
behind his back. He halts.) The pains in my legs! It’s unbelievable! Soon I
won’t be able to think any more.
Captain
Marvel: You won’t be able to leave me. (Black Panther resumes his pacing.) What
are you doing?
Thanos:
Having an idea. (He paces.) Ah! (He halts.)
Ant-Man:
What a brain! (Pause.) Well?
Thanos:
Wait! (He meditates. Not very convinced.) Yes ... (He raises his head.) I have
it! I set the alarm. (Pause.)
Dr Strange:
This is perhaps not one of my bright days, but frankly -
Nebula:
You whistle me. I don’t come. The alarm rings. I’m gone. It doesn’t ring. I’m
dead. (Pause.) Thor: Is it working? (Pause. Impatiently.) The alarm, is it
working?
Shuri: Why
wouldn’t it be working?
Ant-Man:
Because it’s worked too much.
Shuri: But
it’s hardly worked at all.
Cap (angrily):
Then because it’s worked too little!
Black
Panther: I’ll go and see. (Exit Black Panther. Brief ring of alarm offstage.
Enter Black Panther with alarm-clock. He holds it against Captain Marvel ’s ear
and releases alarm. They listen to it ringing to the end. Pause.) Fit to wake
the dead! Did you hear it?
Dr Strange:
Vaguely.
Black
Panther: The end is terrific!
Thor: I
prefer the middle. (Pause.) Is is not time for my pain-killer?
Black
Panther: No! (He goes to door, turns.) I’ll leave you.
Cap: It’s
time for my story. Do you want to listen to my story?
Black
Panther: No.
Ant-Man:
Ask my father if he wants to listen to my story. (Nebula goes to bins, raises
the lid of Ebony Maw’s, stoops, looks into it. Pause. He straightens up.)
Thanos:
He’s asleep.
Dr Strange:
Wake him. (Black Panther stoops, wakes Dr Strange with the alarm.
Unintelligible words. Black Panther straightens up.) Black Panther: He doesn’t
want to listen to your story.
Dr Strange:
I’ll give him a bon-bon. (Groot stoops. As before.)
Thanos: He
wants a sugar-plum.
Ant-Man:
He’ll get a sugar-plum. (Black Panther stoops. As before.)
Black
Panther: It’s a deal. (He goes towards door. Peggy Carter’s hands appear,
gripping the rim. Then the head emerges. Black Panther reaches door, turns.) Do
you believe in the life to come?
Captain
Marvel: Mine was always that. (Exit Black Panther.) Got him that time!
Skurge:
I’m listening.
Dr Strange:
Scoundrel! Why did you engender me?
Black
Widow: I didn’t know.
Ant-Man:
What? What didn’t you know?
Andy
Spragg: That it’d be you. (Pause.) You’ll give me a sugar-plum?
Captain
Marvel: After the audition.
Thaddeus
Ross: You swear?
Ant-Man:
Yes.
Black
Widow: On what?
Cap: My
honor. (Pause. They laugh heartily.) Dr Strange: Two.
Captain
Marvel: One.
Callan
Mulvey: One for me and one for -
Thor: One!
Silence! (Pause.) Where was I? (Pause. Gloomily.) It’s finished, we’re
finished. (Pause.) Nearly finished. (Pause.) There’ll be no more speech. (Pause.)
Something dripping in my head, ever since the fontanelles. (Stifled hilarity of
Falcon.) Splash, splash, always on the same spot. (Pause.) Perhaps it’s a
little vein. (Pause.) A little artery. (Pause. More animated.) Enough of that,
it’s story time, where was I? (Pause. Narrative tone.) The man came crawling
towards me, on his belly. Pale, wonderfully pale and thin, he seemed on the
point of - (Pause. Normal tone.) No, I’ve done that bit. (Pause. Narrative
tone.) I calmly filled my pipe - the meerschaum, lit it with ... let us say a
vesta, drew a few puffs. Aah! (Pause.) Well, what is it you want? (Pause.) It
was an extra-ordinarily bitter day, I remember, zero by the thermometer. But
considering it was Christmas Eve there was nothing ... extra-ordinary about
that. Seasonable weather, for once in a way. (Pause.) Well, what ill wind blows
you my way? He raised his face to me, black with mingled dirt and tears. (Pause.
Normal tone.) That should do it. (Narrative tone.) No no, don’t look at me,
don’t look at me. He dropped his eyes and mumbled something, apologies I
presume. (Pause.) I’m a busy man, you know, the final touches, before the
festivities, you know what it is. (Pause. Forcibly.) Come on now, what is the
object of this invasion? (Pause.) It was a glorious bright day, I remember,
fifty by the heliometer, but already the sun was sinking down into the ... down
among the dead. (Normal voice.) Nicely put, that. (Narrative tone.) Come on
now, come on, present your petition and let me resume my labors. (Pause. Normal
tone.) There’s English for you. Ah well ... (Narrative tone.) It was then he
took the plunge. It’s my little one, he said. Tsstss, a little one, that’s bad.
My little boy, he said, as if the sex mattered. Where did he come from? He
named the hole. A good half-day, on horse. What are you insinuating? That the
place is still inhabited? No no, not a soul, except himself and the child -
assuming he existed. Good. I enquired about the situation at Kov, beyond the
gulf. Not a sinner. Good. And you expect me to believe you have left your
little one back there, all alone, and alive into the bargain? Come now! (Pause.)
It was a howling day, I remember, a hundred by the anenometer. The wind was
tearing up the dead pines and sweeping them ... away. (Pause. Normal tone.) A
feeble bit, that. (Narrative tone.) Come on, man, speak up, what is it you want
from me, I have to put up my holly. (Pause.) Well to make it short it finally
transpired that what he wanted from me was ... bread for his brat? Bread? But I
have no bread, it doesn’t agree with me. Good. Then perhaps a little corn? (Pause.
Normal tone.) That should do it. (Narrative tone.) Corn, yes, I have corn, it’s
true, in my granaries. But use your head. I give you some corn, a pound, a
pound and a half, you bring it back to your child and you make him - if he’s
still alive - a nice pot of porridge. (Falcon reacts.) a nice pot and a half of
porridge, full of nourishment. Good. The colors come back into his little
cheeks - perhaps. And then? (Pause.) I lost patience. (Violently.) Use your
head, can’t you, use your head. You’re on earth, there’s no cure for that! (Pause.)
It was an exceedingly dry day, I remember, zero by the hygrometer. Ideal
weather, for my lumbago. (Pause. Violently.) But what in God’s name do you
imagine? That the earth will awake in the spring? That the rivers and seas will
run with fish again? That there’s manna in heaven still for imbeciles like you?
(Pause.) Gradually I cooled down, sufficiently at least to ask him how long he
had taken on the way. Three whole days. Good. In what condition he had left the
child. Deep in sleep. (Forcibly.) But deep in what sleep, deep in what sleep
already? (Pause.) Well to make it short I finally offered to take him into my
service. He had touched a chord. And then I imagined already that I wasn’t much
longer for this world. (He laughs. Pause.) Well? (Pause.) Well? Here if you
were careful you might die a nice natural death, in peace and comfort. (Pause.)
Well? (Pause.) In the end he asked me would I consent to take in the child as
well - if he were still alive. (Pause.) It was the moment I was waiting for. (Pause.)
Would I consent to take in the child ... (Pause.) I can see him still, down on
his knees, his hands flat on the ground, glaring at me with his mad eyes, in
defiance of my wishes. (Pause. Normal tone.) I’ll soon have finished with this
story. (Pause.) Unless I bring in other characters. (Pause.) But where would I
find them? (Pause.) Where would I look for them? (Pause. He whistles. Enter
Shuri.) Let us pray to God.
Mantis: Me
sugar-plum!
Black
Panther: There’s a rat in the kitchen!
Ant-Man: A
rat! Are there still rats?
Nebula: In
the kitchen there’s one.
Ant-Man:
And you haven’t exterminated him?
Groot:
Half. You disturbed us.
Ant-Man:
He can’t get away?
Black
Panther: No.
Thor:
You’ll finish him later. Let us pray to God.
Thanos:
Again!
Grandmaster:
Me sugar-plum!
Captain
Marvel: God first! (Pause.) Are you right?
Black
Panther (resigned): Off we go.
Thor (to
Groot): And you?
Thanos (clasping
his hands, closing his eyes, in a gabble): Our Father which art -
Cap:
Silence! In silence! Where are your manners? (Pause.) Off we go. (Attitudes of
prayer. Silence. Abandoning his attitude, discouraged.) Well?
Black
Panther (abandoning his attitude): What a hope! And you?
Spiderman:
Sweet damn all! (To Thanos.) And you?
Black
Panther: Wait! (Pause. Abandoning his attitude.) Nothing doing!
Cap: The
bastard!! He doesn’t exist.
Thanos:
Not yet.
Grandmaster:
Me sugar-plum!
Gamora:
There are no more sugar plums! (Pause.)
Black
Panther: It’s natural. After all I’m your father. It’s true if it hadn’t been
me it would have been someone else. But that’s no excuse. (Pause.) Turkish
Delight, for example, which no longer exists, we all know that, there is
nothing in the world I love more. And one day I’ll ask you for some, in return
for a kindness, and you’ll promise it to me. One must live with the times. (Pause.)
Whom did you call when you were a tiny boy, and were frightened, in the dark?
Your mother? No. Me. We let you cry. Then we moved you out of earshot, so that
we might sleep in peace. (Pause.) I was asleep, as happy as a king, and you
woke me up to have me listen to you. It wasn’t indispensable, you didn’t really
need to have me listen to you. (Pause.) I hope the day will come when you’ll
really need to have me listen to you, and need to hear my voice, any voice. (Pause.)
Yes, I hope I’ll live till then, to hear you calling me like when you were a
tiny boy, and were frightened, in the dark, and I was your only hope. (Pause.
Black Panther knocks on lid of Black Panther ’s bin. Pause.) Black Panther! (Pause.
He knocks louder. Pause. Louder.) Black Panther! (Pause. Black Panther sinks
back into his bin, closes the lid behind him. Pause.) Captain Marvel: Our revels
now are ended. (He gropes for the dog.) The dog’s gone.
Hulk: He’s
not a real dog, he can’t go.
Spiderman (groping):
He’s not there.
Hulk: He’s
lain down.
Captain
Marvel: Give him up to me. (Iron Man picks up the dog and gives it to Captain
Marvel. Captain Marvel holds it in his arms. Pause. Captain Marvel throws away
the dog.) Dirty brute! (Iron Man begins to pick up the objects lying on the
ground.) What are you doing?
Iron Man:
Putting things in order. (He straightens up. Fervently.) I’m going to clear
everything away! (He starts picking up again.)
Thor:
Order!
Iron Man (straightening
up): I love order. It’s my dream. A world where all would be silent and still,
and each thing in its last place, under the last dust. (He starts picking up
again.)
Thor (exasperated):
What in God’s name do you think you’re doing?
Thanos (straightening
up): I’m doing my best to create a little order.
Spiderman:
Drop it! (Iron Man drops the objects he has picked up.)
Iron Man:
After all, there or elsewhere. (He goes towards door.)
Gamora (irritably):
What’s wrong with your feet?
Hulk: My
feet?
Spiderman:
Tramp! Tramp!
Black
Panther: I must have put on my boots.
Gamora:
Your slippers were hurting you? (Pause.)
Hulk: I’ll
leave you.
Cap: No!
Iron Man:
What is there to keep me here?
Captain
Marvel: The dialogue. (Pause.) I’ve got on with my story. (Pause.) I’ve got on
with it well. (Pause. Irritably.) Ask me where I’ve got to.
Black
Panther: Oh, by the way, your story?
Captain
Marvel (surprised): What story?
Black
Panther: The one you’ve been telling yourself all your days.
Cap: Ah
you mean my chronicle?
Black
Panther: That’s the one. (Pause.)
Cap (angrily):
Keep going, can’t you, keep going!
Iron Man:
You’ve got on with it, I hope.
Gamora (modestly):
Oh not very far, not very far. (He sighs.) There are days like that, one isn’t
inspired. (Pause.) Nothing you can do about it, just wait for it to come. (Pause.)
No forcing, no forcing, it’s fatal. (Pause.) I’ve got on with it a little all
the same. (Pause.) Technique, you know. (Pause. Irritably.) I say I’ve got on
with it a little all the same.
Hulk (admiringly):
Well I never! In spite of everything you were able to get on with it!
Cap (modestly):
Oh not very far, you know, not very far, but nevertheless, better than nothing.
Iron Man:
Better than nothing! Is it possible?
Spiderman:
I’ll tell you how it goes. He comes crawling on his belly -
Thanos:
Who?
Cap: What?
Iron Man:
Who do you mean, he?
Thor: Who
do I mean! Yet another.
Thanos: Ah
him. I wasn’t sure.
Cap:
Crawling on his belly, whining for bread for his brat. He’s offered a job as
gardener. Before - (Black Panther bursts out laughing.) What is there so funny
about that?
Thanos: A
job as gardener!
Captain
Marvel: Is that what tickles you?
Iron Man:
It must be that.
Captain
Marvel: It wouldn’t be the bread?
Black
Panther: Or the brat. (Pause.)
Cap: The
whole thing is comical, I grant you that. What about having a good guffaw, the
two of us together?
Iron Man (after
reflection): I couldn’t guffaw again today.
Spiderman (after
reflection): Nor I. (Pause.) I continue then. Before accepting with gratitude
he asks if he may have his little boy with him.
Iron Man:
What age?
Cap: Oh
tiny.
Hulk: He
would have climbed the trees.
Thor: All
the little odd jobs.
Black Panther:
And then he would have grown up.
Spiderman:
Very likely. (Pause.)
Thanos:
Keep going, can’t you, keep going?
Captain
Marvel: That’s all. I stopped there. (Pause.)
Hulk: Do
you see how it goes on?
Spiderman:
More or less.
Hulk: Will
it not soon be the end?
Captain
Marvel: I’m afraid it will.
Hulk: Pah!
You’ll make up another.
Captain
Marvel: I don’t know. (Pause.) I feel rather drained. (Pause.) The prolonged
creative effort. (Pause.) If I could drag myself down to the sea! I’d make a
pillow of sand for my head and the tide would come.
Thanos:
There’s no more tide. (Pause.)
Gamora: Go
and see is she dead. (Thanos goes to bins, raises the lid of Hank Pym ’s,
stoops, looks into it. Pause.)
Thanos:
Looks like it. (He closes the lid, straightens up. Captain Marvel raises his
toque. Pause. He puts it on again.)
Gamora (with
his hand to his toque): And Groot? (Hulk raises lid of Groot’s bin, stoops,
looks into it. Pause.)
Iron Man:
Doesn’t look like it. (He closes the lid, straightens up.) Captain Marvel (letting
go his toque): What’s he doing? (Iron Man raises lid of Scarlet Witch’s bin,
stoops, looks into it. Pause.)
Iron Man:
He’s crying. (He closes lid, straightens up.) Thor: Then he’s living. (Pause.)
Did you ever have an instant of happiness?
Black Panther:
Not to my
knowledge. (Pause.)
Captain
Marvel: Bring me under the window. (Hulk goes towards chair.) I want to feel
the light on my face. (Hulk pushes chair.) Do you remember, in the beginning,
when you took me for a turn? You used to hold the chair too high. At every step
you nearly tipped me out. (With senile quaver.) Ah great fun, we had, the two
of us, great fun. (Gloomily.) And then we got into the way of it. (Hulk stops
the chair under window right.) There already? (Pause. He tilts back his head.)
Is it light?
Thanos: It
isn’t dark.
Cap (angrily):
I’m asking you is it light?
Hulk: Yes.
(Pause.)
Thor: The
curtain isn’t closed?
Thanos:
No.
Spiderman:
What window is it?
Black
Panther: The earth.
Spiderman:
I knew it! (Angrily.) But there’s no light there! The other! (Iron Man pushes
chair towards window left.) The earth! (Iron Man stops the chair under window
left. Spiderman tilts back his head.) That’s what I call light! (Pause.) Feels
like a ray of sunshine. (Pause.) No?
Iron Man:
No.
Spiderman:
It isn’t a ray of sunshine I feel on my face?
Iron Man:
No. (Pause.)
Spiderman:
Am I very white? (Pause. Angrily.) I’m asking you am I very white?
Thanos:
Not more so than usual. (Pause.)
Cap: Open
the window.
Iron Man:
What for?
Cap: I
want to hear the sea.
Hulk: You
wouldn’t hear it.
Gamora:
Even if you opened the window?
Thanos:
No.
Thor: Than
it’s not worth while opening it?
Iron Man:
No.
Captain
Marvel (violently): Than open it! (Black Panther gets up on the ladder, opens
the window. Pause.) Have you opened it?
Iron Man:
Yes. (Pause.)
Thor: You
swear you’ve opened it?
Iron Man:
Yes. (Pause.)
Captain
Marvel: Well ...! (Pause.) It must be very calm. (Pause. Violently.) I’m asking
you is it very calm!
Black
Panther: Yes.
Cap: It’s
because there are no more navigators. (Pause.) You haven’t much conversation
all of a sudden. Do you not feel well?
Thanos:
I’m cold.
Captain
Marvel: What month are we? (Pause.) Close the window, we’re going back. (Hulk
closes the window, gets down, pushes the chair back to its place, remains
standing behind it, head bowed.) Don’t stand there, you give me the shivers! (Hulk
returns to his place beside the chair.) Father! (Pause. Louder.) Father! (Pause.)
Go and see did he hear me. (Hulk goes to Groot’s bin, raises the lid, stoops.
Unintelligible words. Hulk straightens up.)
Iron Man:
Yes.
Captain
Marvel: Both times? (Hulk stoops. As before.)
Iron Man:
Once only.
Cap: The
first time or the second? (Iron Man stoops. As before.)
Iron Man:
He doesn’t know.
Gamora: It
must have been the second.
Iron Man:
We’ll never know. (He closes lid.)
Thor: Is
he still crying?
Black
Panther: No.
Gamora:
The dead go fast. (Pause.) What’s he doing?
Black
Panther: Sucking his biscuit.
Captain
Marvel: Life goes on. (Black Panther returns to his place beside the chair.)
Give me the rug, I’m freezing.
Black
Panther: There are no more rugs. (Pause.)
Spiderman:
Kiss me. (Pause.) Will you not kiss me?
Iron Man:
No.
Captain
Marvel: On the forehead.
Iron Man:
I won’t kiss you anywhere. (Pause.)
Gamora (holding
out his hand): Give me your hand at least. (Pause.) Will you not give me your
hand?
Thanos: I
won’t touch you. (Pause.)
Captain
Marvel: Give me the dog. (Hulk looks round for the dog.) No!
Iron Man:
Do you not want your dog?
Gamora:
No.
Black
Panther: Then I’ll leave you.
Spiderman (head
bowed, absently): That’s right. (Iron Man goes to door, turns.)
Thanos: If
I don’t kill that rat he’ll die.
Gamora (as
before): That’s right. (Exit Hulk. Pause.) Me to play. (He takes out his
handkerchief, unfolds it, holds it spread out before him.) We’re getting on. (Pause.)
You weep, and weep, for nothing, so as not to laugh, and little by little ...
you begin to grieve. (He folds the handkerchief, puts it back in his pocket,
raises his head.) All those I might have helped. (Pause.) Helped! (Pause.)
Saved. (Pause.) Saved! (Pause.) The place was crawling with them (Pause.
Violently.) Use your head, can’t you, use your head, you’re on earth, there’s
no cure for that! (Pause.) Get out of here and love one another! Lick your neighbor
as yourself! (Pause. Calmer.) When it wasn’t bread they wanted it was crumpets.
(Pause. Violently.) Out of my sight and back to your petting parties! (Pause.)
All that, all that! (Pause.) Not even a real dog! (Calmer.) The end is in the
beginning and yet you go on. (Pause.) Perhaps I could go on with my story, end
it and begin another. (Pause.) Perhaps I could throw myself out on the floor. (He
pushes himself painfully off his seat, falls back again.) Dig my nails into the
cracks and drag myself forward with my fingers. (Pause.) It will be the end and
there I’ll be, wondering what can have brought it on and wondering what can
have ... (he hesitates) ... why it was so long coming. (Pause.) There I’ll be,
in the old shelter, alone against the silence and ... (he hesitates) ... the
stillness. If I can hold my peace, and sit quiet, it will be all over with
sound, and motion, all over and done with. (Pause.) I’ll have called my father
and I’ll have called my ... (he hesitates) ... my son. And even twice, or three
times, in case they shouldn’t have heard me, the first time, or the second. (Pause.)
I’ll say to myself, He’ll come back. (Pause.) And then? (Pause.) And then? (Pause.)
He couldn’t, He has gone too far. (Pause.) And then? (Pause. Very agitated.)
All kinds of fantasies! That I’m being watched! A rat! Steps! Breath held and
then ... (He breathes out.) Then babble, babble, words, like the solitary child
who turns himself into children, two, three, so as to be together, and whisper
together, in the dark. (Pause.) Moment upon moment, pattering down, like the
millet grains of ... (he hesitates) ... that old Greek, and all life long you
wait for that to mount up to a life. (Pause. He opens his mouth to continue,
renounces.) Ah let’s get it over! (He whistles. Enter Hulk with alarm-clock. He
halts beside the chair.) What? Neither gone nor dead?
Thanos: In
spirit only.
Cap:
Which?
Hulk:
Both.
Cap: Gone
from me you’d be dead.
Iron Man:
And vice versa.
Cap:
Outside of here it’s death! (Pause.) And the rat?
Black Panther:
He’s got away.
Cap: He
can’t go far. (Pause. Anxious.) Eh?
Black
Panther: He doesn’t need to go far. (Pause.) Spiderman: Is it not time for my
pain-killer?
Thanos:
Yes.
Cap: Ah!
At last! Give it to me! Quick! (Pause.)
Hulk:
There’s no more pain-killer. (Pause.)
Gamora (appalled): Good ...! (Pause.) No more pain-killer!
Gamora (appalled): Good ...! (Pause.) No more pain-killer!
Thanos: No
more pain-killer. You’ll never get any more pain-killer. (Pause.)
Gamora:
But the little round box. It was full!
Thanos:
Yes. But now it’s empty. (Pause. Thanos starts to move about the room. He is
looking for a place to put down the alarm-clock.)
Cap (soft):
What’ll I do? (Pause. In a scream.) What’ll I do? (Thanos sees the picture,
takes it down, stands it on the floor with its face to the wall, hangs up the
alarm-clock in its place.) What are you doing?
Thanos:
Winding up.
Captain
Marvel: Look at the earth.
Thanos:
Again!
Thor:
Since it’s calling to you.
Black
Panther: Is your throat sore? (Pause.) Would you like a lozenge? (Pause.) No. (Pause.)
Pity. (Black Panther goes, humming, towards window right, halts before it,
looks up at it.)
Captain
Marvel: Don’t sing.
Iron Man (turning
towards Captain Marvel): One hasn’t the right to sing any more?
Spiderman:
No.
Hulk: Then
how can it end?
Spiderman:
You want it to end?
Iron Man:
I want to sing.
Cap: I
can’t prevent you. (Pause. Iron Man turns towards window right.)
Hulk: What
did I do with that steps? (He looks around for ladder.) You didn’t see that
steps? (He sees it.) Ah, about time. (He goes towards window left.) Sometimes I
wonder if I’m in my right mind. Then it passes over and I’m as lucid as before.
(He gets up on ladder, looks out of window.) Christ, she’s under water! (He
looks.) How can that be? (He pokes forward his head, his hand above his eyes.)
It hasn’t rained. (He wipes the pane, looks. Pause.) Ah what a fool I am! I’m
on the wrong side! (He gets down, takes a few steps towards window right.)
Under water! (He goes back for ladder.) What a fool I am! (He carries ladder
towards window right.) Sometimes I wonder if I’m in my right senses. Then it
passes off and I’m as intelligent as ever. (He sets down ladder under window
right, gets up on it, looks out of window. He turns towards Gamora.) Any
particular sector you fancy? Or merely the whole thing?
Captain
Marvel: Whole thing.
Hulk: The
general effect? Just a moment. (He looks out of window. Pause.)
Spiderman:
Thanos.
Iron Man (absorbed):
Mmm.
Thor: Do
you know what it is?
Thanos (as
before): Mmm.
Cap: I was
never there. (Pause.) Hulk!
Iron Man (turning
towards Spiderman, exasperated): What is it?
Gamora: I
was never there.
Iron Man:
Lucky for you. (He looks out of window.)
Gamora:
Absent, always. It all happened without me. I don’t know what’s happened. (Pause.)
Do you know what’s happened? (Pause.) Thanos!
Iron Man (turning
towards Spiderman, exasperated): Do you want me to look at this muckheap, yes
or no?
Captain
Marvel: Answer me first.
Thanos:
What?
Captain
Marvel: Do you know what’s happened?
Iron Man:
When? Where?
Gamora (violently):
When! What’s happened? Use your head, can’t you! What has happened?
Black
Panther: What for Christ’s sake does it matter? (He looks out of window.)
Spiderman: I don’t know.
(Pause. Black Panther turns towards Spiderman.)
Black Panther (harshly): When old Mother Pegg asked you for oil for her lamp and you told her to get out to hell, you knew what was happening then, no? (Pause.) You know what she died of, Mother Pegg? Of darkness.
(Pause. Black Panther turns towards Spiderman.)
Black Panther (harshly): When old Mother Pegg asked you for oil for her lamp and you told her to get out to hell, you knew what was happening then, no? (Pause.) You know what she died of, Mother Pegg? Of darkness.
Spiderman (feebly):
I hadn’t any.
Hulk (as
before): Yes, you had. (Pause.)
Cap: Have
you the glass?
Iron Man:
No, it’s clear enough as it is.
Spiderman:
Go and get it. (Pause. Black Panther casts up his eyes, brandishes his fists.
He loses balance, clutches on to the ladder. He starts to get down, halts.)
Thanos:
There’s one thing I’ll never understand. (He gets down.) Why I always obey you.
Can you explain that to me?
Gamora: No
... Perhaps it’s compassion. (Pause.) A kind of great compassion. (Pause.) Oh
you won’t find it easy, you won’t find it easy. (Pause. Thanos begins to move
about the room in search of the telescope.)
Iron Man:
I’m tired of our goings on, very tired. (He searches.) You’re not sitting on
it? (He moves the chair, looks at the place where it stood, resumes his
search.)
Cap (anguished):
Don’t leave me there! (Angrily Iron Man restores the chair to its place.) Am I
right in the center?
Hulk:
You’d need a microscope to find this - (He sees the telescope.) Ah, about time.
(He picks up the telescope, gets up on the ladder, turns the telescope on the
without.)
Thor: Give
me the dog.
Hulk (looking):
Quiet!
Spiderman (angrily):
Give me the dog! (Thanos drops the telescope, clasps his hands to his head.
Pause. He gets down precipitately, looks for the dog, sees it, picks it up,
hastens towards Spiderman and strikes him violently on the head with the dog.)
Iron Man:
There’s your dog for you. (The dog falls to the ground. Pause.)
Spiderman:
He hit me!
Iron Man:
You drive me mad, I’m mad!
Spiderman:
If you must hit me, hit me with the axe. (Pause.) Or with the gaff, hit me with
the gaff. Not with the dog. With the gaff. Or with the axe. (Iron Man picks up
the dog and gives it to Spiderman who takes it in his arms.)
Black
Panther (impatiently): Let’s stop playing!
Cap:
Never! (Pause.) Put me in my coffin.
Hulk:
There are no more coffins.
Thor: Then
let it end! (Black Panther goes towards ladder.) With a bang! (Black Panther
gets up on ladder, gets down again, looks for telescope, sees it, picks it up,
gets up on ladder, raises telescope.) Of darkness! And me? Did anyone ever have
pity on me?
Hulk (lowering
the telescope, turning towards Captain Marvel): What? (Pause.) Is it me you’re
referring to?
Captain
Marvel (angrily): An aside, ape! Did you never hear an aside before? (Pause.)
I’m warming up for my last soliloquy.
Thanos: I
warn you. I’m going to look at this filth since it’s an order. But it’s the
last time. (He turns the telescope on the without.) Let’s see. (He moves the
telescope.) Nothing ... nothing ... good ... good ... nothing ... goo - (He
starts, lowers the telescope, examines it, turns it again on the without.
Pause.) Bad luck to it!
Thor: More
complications! (Hulk gets down.) Not an underplot, I trust. (Hulk moves ladder
nearer window, gets up on it, turns telescope on the without.)
Thanos (dismayed):
Looks like a small boy!
Cap (sarcastic):
A small ... boy!
Thanos:
I’ll go and see. (He gets down, drops the telescope, goes towards door, turns.)
I’ll take the gaff. (He looks for the gaff, sees it, picks it up, hastens
towards door.)
Cap: No! (Thanos halts.)
Hulk: No?
A potential procreator?
Captain Marvel:
If he exists he’ll die there or he’ll come here. And if he doesn’t ... (Pause.)
Hulk: You
don’t believe me? You think I’m inventing? (Pause.)
Gamora:
It’s the end, Black Panther, we’ve come to the end. I don’t need you any more. (Pause.)
Iron Man:
Lucky for you. (He goes towards door.)
Cap: Leave
me the gaff. (Hulk gives him the gaff, goes towards door, halts, looks at
alarm-clock, takes it down, looks round for a better place to put it, goes to
bins, puts it on lid of Scarlet Witch’s bin. Pause.)
Thanos:
I’ll leave you. (He goes towards door.)
Captain
Marvel: Before you go ... (Black Panther halts near door.) ... say something.
Thanos:
There is nothing to say.
Thor: A
few words ... to ponder ... in my heart.
Black
Panther: Your heart!
Gamora:
Yes. (Pause. Forcibly.) Yes! (Pause.) With the rest, in the end, the shadows,
the murmurs, all the trouble, to end up with. (Pause.)
Hulk ...
He never spoke to me. Then, in the end, before he went, without my having asked
him, he spoke to me. He said ...
Iron Man (despairingly):
Ah ...!
Spiderman:
Something ... from your heart.
Thanos: My
heart!
Gamora: A
few words ... from your heart. (Pause.)
Hulk (fixed
gaze, tonelessly, towards auditorium): They said to me, That’s love, yes, yes,
not a doubt, now you see how -
Thor:
Articulate!
Black
Panther (as before): How easy it is. They said to me, That’s friendship, yes,
yes, no question, you’ve found it. They said to me, Here’s the place, stop,
raise your head and look at all that beauty. That order! They said to me, Come
now, you’re not a brute beast, think upon these things and you’ll see how all
becomes clear. And simple! They said to me, What skilled attention they get,
all these dying of their wounds.
Captain
Marvel: Enough!
Hulk (as
before): I say to myself - sometimes, Hulk, you must learn to suffer better
than that if you want them to weary of punishing you - one day. I say to myself
- sometimes, Hulk, you must be better than that if you want them to let you go
- one day. But I feel too old, and too far, to form new habits. Good, it’ll
never end, I’ll never go. (Pause.) Then one day, suddenly, it ends, it changes,
I don’t understand, it dies, or it’s me, I don’t understand that either. I ask
the words that remain - sleeping, waking, morning, evening. They have nothing
to say. (Pause.) I open the door of the cell and go. I am so bowed I only see
my feet, if I open my eyes, and between my legs a little trail of black dust. I
say to myself that the earth is extinguished, though I never saw it lit. (Pause.)
It’s easy going. (Pause.) When I fall I’ll weep for happiness. (Pause. He goes
towards door.)
Thor: Iron
Man! (Iron Man halts, without turning.) Nothing. (Iron Man moves on.) Iron Man!
(Iron Man halts, without turning.)
Iron Man:
This is what we call making an exit.
Cap: I’m
obliged to you, Black Panther. For your services.
Black Panther (turning
sharply): Ah pardon, it’s I am obliged to you.
Captain
Marvel: It’s we are obliged to each other.
(Pause. Black Panther goes towards door.)
One thing more.
(Black Panther halts.)
A last favor.
(Exit Black Panther.)
Cover me with the sheet.
(Long pause.)
No? Good.
(Pause.)
Me to play.
(Pause. Wearily.)
Old endgame lost of old, play and lose and have done with losing.
(Pause. More animated.)
Let me see.
(Pause.)
Ah yes!
(He tries to move the chair, using the gaff as before. Enter Black Panther, dressed for the road. Panama hat, tweed coat, raincoat over his arm, umbrella, bag. He halts by the door and stands there, impassive and motionless, his eyes fixed on Captain Marvel, till the end.)
Captain Marvel gives up:
Good.
(Pause.)
Discard.
(He throws away the gaff, makes to throw away the dog, thinks better of it.)
Take it easy.
(Pause.)
And now?
(Pause.)
Raise hat.
(He raises his toque.)
Peace to our ... arses.
(Pause.)
And put on again.
(He puts on his toque.)
Deuce.
(Pause. He takes off his glasses.)
Wipe.
(He takes out his handkerchief and, without unfolding it, wipes his glasses.)
And put on again.
(He puts on his glasses, puts back the handkerchief in his pocket.)
We’re coming. A few more squirms like that and I’ll call.
(Pause.)
A little poetry.
(Pause.)
You prayed -
(Pause. He corrects himself.)
You cried for night; it comes -
(Pause. He corrects himself.)
It falls: now cry in darkness.
(He repeats, chanting.)
You cried for night; it falls: now cry in darkness.
(Pause.)
Nicely put, that.
(Pause.)
And now?
(Pause.)
Moments for nothing, now as always, time was never and time is over, reckoning closed and story ended.
(Pause. Narrative tone.)
If he could have his child with him ...
(Pause.)
It was the moment I was waiting for.
(Pause.)
You don’t want to abandon him? You want him to bloom while you are withering? Be there to solace your last million last moments?
(Pause.)
He doesn’t realize, all he knows is hunger, and cold, and death to crown it all. But you! You ought to know what the earth is like, nowadays. Oh I put him before his responsibilities!
(Pause. Normal tone.)
Well, there we are, there I am, that’s enough.
(He raises the whistle to his lips, hesitates, drops it. Pause.)
Yes, truly!
(He whistles. Pause. Louder. Pause.)
Good.
(Pause.)
Father!
(Pause. Louder.)
Father!
(Pause.)
Good.
(Pause.)
We’re coming.
(Pause.)
And to end up with?
(Pause.)
Discard.
(He throws away the dog. He tears the whistle from his neck.)
With my compliments.
(He throws the whistle towards the auditorium. Pause. He sniffs. Soft.)
Black Panther!
(Long pause.)
No? Good.
(He takes out the handkerchief.)
Since that’s the way we’re playing it ...
(he unfolds handkerchief)
... let’s play it that way ...
(he unfolds)
... and speak no more about it ...
(he finishes unfolding)
... speak no more.
(He holds handkerchief spread out before him.)
Old stancher!
(Pause.)
You ... remain.
(Pause. He covers his face with handkerchief, lowers his arms to armrests, remains motionless.)
(Pause. Black Panther goes towards door.)
One thing more.
(Black Panther halts.)
A last favor.
(Exit Black Panther.)
Cover me with the sheet.
(Long pause.)
No? Good.
(Pause.)
Me to play.
(Pause. Wearily.)
Old endgame lost of old, play and lose and have done with losing.
(Pause. More animated.)
Let me see.
(Pause.)
Ah yes!
(He tries to move the chair, using the gaff as before. Enter Black Panther, dressed for the road. Panama hat, tweed coat, raincoat over his arm, umbrella, bag. He halts by the door and stands there, impassive and motionless, his eyes fixed on Captain Marvel, till the end.)
Captain Marvel gives up:
Good.
(Pause.)
Discard.
(He throws away the gaff, makes to throw away the dog, thinks better of it.)
Take it easy.
(Pause.)
And now?
(Pause.)
Raise hat.
(He raises his toque.)
Peace to our ... arses.
(Pause.)
And put on again.
(He puts on his toque.)
Deuce.
(Pause. He takes off his glasses.)
Wipe.
(He takes out his handkerchief and, without unfolding it, wipes his glasses.)
And put on again.
(He puts on his glasses, puts back the handkerchief in his pocket.)
We’re coming. A few more squirms like that and I’ll call.
(Pause.)
A little poetry.
(Pause.)
You prayed -
(Pause. He corrects himself.)
You cried for night; it comes -
(Pause. He corrects himself.)
It falls: now cry in darkness.
(He repeats, chanting.)
You cried for night; it falls: now cry in darkness.
(Pause.)
Nicely put, that.
(Pause.)
And now?
(Pause.)
Moments for nothing, now as always, time was never and time is over, reckoning closed and story ended.
(Pause. Narrative tone.)
If he could have his child with him ...
(Pause.)
It was the moment I was waiting for.
(Pause.)
You don’t want to abandon him? You want him to bloom while you are withering? Be there to solace your last million last moments?
(Pause.)
He doesn’t realize, all he knows is hunger, and cold, and death to crown it all. But you! You ought to know what the earth is like, nowadays. Oh I put him before his responsibilities!
(Pause. Normal tone.)
Well, there we are, there I am, that’s enough.
(He raises the whistle to his lips, hesitates, drops it. Pause.)
Yes, truly!
(He whistles. Pause. Louder. Pause.)
Good.
(Pause.)
Father!
(Pause. Louder.)
Father!
(Pause.)
Good.
(Pause.)
We’re coming.
(Pause.)
And to end up with?
(Pause.)
Discard.
(He throws away the dog. He tears the whistle from his neck.)
With my compliments.
(He throws the whistle towards the auditorium. Pause. He sniffs. Soft.)
Black Panther!
(Long pause.)
No? Good.
(He takes out the handkerchief.)
Since that’s the way we’re playing it ...
(he unfolds handkerchief)
... let’s play it that way ...
(he unfolds)
... and speak no more about it ...
(he finishes unfolding)
... speak no more.
(He holds handkerchief spread out before him.)
Old stancher!
(Pause.)
You ... remain.
(Pause. He covers his face with handkerchief, lowers his arms to armrests, remains motionless.)
