Two's A Crowd. (2) Isa: Kate, you have to listen. Harrison’s a whore’s son. He couldn’t save himself if he were paid to. Kate: Please, I’m tired. Lisa: Go to bed. Stop this nonsense and go to bed. Kate: It’s not true, is it? Lisa: Yes. It’s true. You’ve become like a stranger to us. Isa: One of these days, Kate we’re going to sort him out, you and I. Sort him out for the last time. Kate: No, no, please don’t say that. Lisa: Well, it’s up to you to change into that girl we all knew and loved. Isa: Some good it did us. Kate: I’m too tired. (Rises from the chair and walks to her bedroom door.)Can’t listen to you anymore. (Opens the door, goes in, and shuts the door behind her.) Lisa: What a child. (Sighs. Turns to face the window and peers out.)Should I tell Harrison? Is it worth the trouble? (Isa walks towards the window and stands behind Lisa.) Isa: I’ll be seeing you in all the old familiar places. That this heart of mine embraces all day through… Lisa: No. Best say nothing. Best be quiet about this morning. Isa: Liar. Liar. Your bums on fire and your soul will burn in hell. And so will that good for nothing husband of yours. He of the lustful nature. He of the incestuous urges. (Lisa peers in silence. Isa stares at her back.)We’ll be waiting for you both. We’ll be waiting. (Isa moves back up stage to Kate’s bedroom. She gives Lisa a long glance then goes in the bedroom and closes the door behind her.) End of Scene Three. Act One. Scene Four. Half an hour later. Jefferson comes out of his bedroom and puts a book on the table. He looks around the room for a few moments the goes to the window and peers out. He is dressed differently from the morning. He peers out for a minute or two, then walks upstage to the door of Kate’s bedroom and knocks. Jefferson: We’ve to meet Mum and Dad in the restaurant in half an hour, so best be ready, Kate. (No reply. Knocks again.)Kate. Wake up, Kate. If we’re not there Dad will get annoyed. (No response. He knocks again louder.)Kate, come on. (Noise off stage.) Are you up now? Kate. Kate. (Door opens and Kate stands at the entrance of her doorway. Jefferson moves back and walks to the window without looking back at her. Isa stands behind Kate. Kate moves slightly into the room and stares at Jefferson. Isa moves passed her and walks downstage to the table. Kate closes her door and walks downstage to the table too.) Kate: How was your boating trip? Isa: Didn’t drown then, I see. Shame. Jefferson :( Turns round and stares at Kate.)How was the art gallery? Kate: How did it go this boating experiment? Was it as good as you both made out? Jefferson: It was fantastic. I’ve never felt so alive in my life before. Isa: That’s a disappointment. Jefferson: Dad was wonderful. He taught me a lot. He said I’ve the making of a fine yachtsman. So how was your day? Kate: Boring. Tedious. I would enjoy myself more if I were dying. Isa: That’s it, you tell him, Kate. Let him see how miserable you are. Jefferson: How morbid you are. No wonder Mum gets nervous being left with you. It’s hardly something to get excited over. Isa: Hit him. Hit him. Kate: No, no, I mustn’t. Jefferson: Mustn’t what? Are you in one of your talking to yourself moods? Kate: What do you know about anything? (Picks up Jefferson’s book and stares at it.)Boats and yachting? How lovely. How absolutely lovely. (Holds the book up above her head.)The grand book. The bible of boatmen. Kneel down you believers and worship the book of books. Jefferson: That’s Dad’s book. He lent to me. Be careful with it. Isa: Throw it out of the window. Cast it into the sea! Kate: What’s special about this book, then? Jefferson: It’s Dad’s. Kate: Oh, I see. How careful I must be. Mustn’t darken its pages with my shadow must I. Isa: Throw the darn thing. Drop it down the toilet. Jefferson :( Hurries upstage to the table and snatches the book from Kate. He holds it against his chest.) It’s a good book if you must know. Not something to be messed about with. Kate: I was only looking at it. Aren’t I even permitted to look at it? Jefferson: Knowing you, you’d do something with it and I’d get the blame. Isa: What a grand idea. Kate: I wasn’t going to do anything with it. Jefferson: I’m not taking any chances. (Takes the book with him to the window.)You’ve got to change. Kate: Change what? Jefferson: Your ways. The way you behave. Mum’s getting to the point where she’ll agree to have you… Kate: Agree to have me what? Put down? Sent to a Looney bin? Jefferson: Seen by a specialist. Isa: Oh. It’s all coming out now isn’t it? See what I mean? Kate: I can’t help how I am. Jefferson: So you say. Nevertheless, it makes no difference. They want to do something about you. They say they can’t cope with you as you are anymore. Isa: The door is slowly closing on you, Kate. Bang. Bang. Locked away. Kate: Shut up, shut up. Jefferson: I’m only saying what they’ve said. I do see how hard it is for them, but you hardly help yourself, do you? All this talking to yourself. Voices in the head. Visions seen. What are we to think? Isa: Get him now. No ones about. He’s not one to put up much of a struggle. Kate: Will you shut up. (Turns and glares at Isa. Isa smiles.)I can’t think when you keep interrupting. Jefferson: I’m sorry. I really am. (Moves back upstage to the table.)It’s just that you’ve been so strange. I can’t get near you anymore. Can’t talk to you. Can’t touch you without you pushing me away. Isa: Touch her boy and I’ll rip your arms off and use them as paddles in that boat of Harrison’s. Kate: I don’t want to be touched. Don’t want to be talked to. Don’t want anyone near me. (Pause. Moves away from Jefferson. Isa stands by Jefferson’s shoulder peering at him.) I want to be alone. Isa: She wants to be alone. She’s the new Garbo. The new Garbo of the age. Jefferson: What’s got into you? You and I were close. We could talk together. Be together. Share secrets. Isa: Yes, go on. Tell him about Harrison. Tell him what Harrison’s done. Share that secret with him. Kate: I won’t listen. Won’t hear what you say. Jefferson: Then how can I help you? Isa: If you knew Kate, like I know Kate, Oh, oh, oh, what a girl. Kate: I want to be left alone. (Moves further away from Jefferson. Isa smiles at Kate. Jefferson sits in one of the chairs at the table.) Jefferson: We used to be a proper brother and sister. Close as peas in a pod. We’d talk together. Huddle up close and whisper about things we were worried over or just wanted to share. (Pause.)Do you remember that night when there was that long violent thunderstorm and we huddled together in bed, went under the blanket, and pretended we were rabbits in our burrows? Kate: (Stares at Jefferson. Nods. Moves downstage a little.) Yes. I remember. Jefferson: I was Peter rabbit. Kate: And I was…Long time ago. (Pause. Hesitates. Moves nearer the table.)I think I was…I can’t remember. Jefferson: We were close that night. Closer than we’d ever been before. Isa: Too damned close. You were too damned close for comfort as far as I was concerned. Kate: I don’t want to talk about it. (Moves upstage again. Stands by her bedroom door.)Have to get dressed in something else. Or he’ll only moan. Isa: The man always moans. He does nothing but moan and make threats. He’s like a gangster. Jefferson: We were close. Don’t forget it. Don’t shut me out, Kate. Isa: Wipe him out, more like. Stamp on the swine. Kate: Can’t listen anymore. Jefferson: Wait. (Kate stops. Jefferson rises from the chair and walks to Kate’s bedroom door. Isa follows and stands behind Jefferson.)Admit we were close. Even if we aren’t now. We were weren’t we? Kate: Yes. We were. Jefferson: So what’s changed? I haven’t. Isa: Oh, the talk. The smooth tongue. The sweet words rolling from his sickly lips. Kate: Can’t talk about anything. (Stares at Isa’s eyes over Jefferson’s shoulder.)There aren’t words to express what I want to say. Jefferson: Words are words. Isa: Kate, don’t listen to the creep. Kate: I won’t. Jefferson: Won’t what? Kate: Listen. Won’t listen. Jefferson: No, no, you can’t shut me out. I’ve a right to be listened to. (Pause. Looks at Kate’s eyes peering passed him. Looks round to see what she’s staring at, but sees nothing, so turns to face her again.)You give me the jitters when you do that. Kate: Do what? Jefferson: Look passed me like that. As if…Never mind. Just don’t shut me out. Isa: I think he’s getting too close. Kate: Is he? Jefferson: Is he what? Kate: Getting too close. Jefferson: Who? Kate: You. You’re getting too close. Jefferson: I’m your brother; I’m supposed to be close. (Moves close to Kate and takes her hand in his. Kate looks at his hand momentarily, then pushes it away.)It’s only a hand. It won’t bite. Isa: It’s not the biting that’s the problem, pal. It’s the touching and feeling. It’s the invasion of privacy, that’s the problem. Understand, brother? Kate: Brother? Brother? Jefferson: Yes, I’m your brother. Remember me? Or have you lost your memory all of a sudden? Isa: If only we could. Kate: You touched me. Jefferson: I only held your hand. Kate: That night of the thunderstorm. You touched me. Isa: Let him have it, kid. Let him have both barrels. Jefferson: We were children. It was innocent. Nothing strange about that. Isa: Oh. I see. It was innocent. Kate we got it wrong. We got it wrong. (Moves up to Jefferson’s face and stares at him.)I don’t think so, pal. I don’t think for a minute that it was innocent. You were fourteen years old. She was nine. I was there. I saw it all. Kate: I don’t want to hear anymore. (Kate rushes into her bedroom and shuts the door. Isa stares at Jefferson. Jefferson stares at the door for a few moments the goes to the window. Isa sits on the sofa in silence.) End of Scene four. Act One. Scene Five. After dinner. Door upper stage opens and Harrison enters dragging Kate with him. Isa enters behind them and moves downstage. Harrison shuts the door and pushes Kate downstage with his right hand until they come to the sofa where he pushes her down and stands over her. Isa stands beside Harrison glaring at him. Harrison: What the hell was all that about? Never been so embarrassed in my life before. Isa: You should see yourself from my angle, Harrison. You’re a laugh a minute. A cut and dry joker. Kate: Didn’t mean to do it. It just comes out. Harrison: I’ll give you it just comes out. (Goes to hit her, but stops. He stands with his right hand raised for a few moments, and then slowly lowers it.)What are you playing at? This has to stop. You’re making life for us so awkward. So damned awkward. I won’t have it. I won’t, do you hear me? (Kate nods nervously.)I could have killed you back there. Easy. Isa: Leave her be, you coward. Leave her alone. Kate: It’s not me. It’s her. (Points to Isa beside Harrison. Isa smiles.)She does it. Isa: You’ll only make matters worse, Kate. Blaming me is like blaming yourself. Harrison: And who is she? Some thing the cat brought in? Are you referring to your mother? Kate: No, her, there. (Points again beside Harrison. Isa shakes her head. Harrison turns and looks about him. Then he turns and suddenly hits out at Kate. Kate puts up her hands to protect herself, but Harrison hits her again.) Harrison: You’re getting to me and that’s dangerous. Really dangerous. (He stands back from the sofa and walks downstage his hands clenched inside each other. He pauses by the window and peers out. Isa sits beside Kate and cuddles her. Kate huddles close to Isa like a small child.) Isa: See what I mean? We are one. We are not separable. Kate: I’m sorry. (Takes Isa’s hand in hers.)I am sorry, I really am. Harrison: Sorry’s not good enough. It won’t buy you anything. Sorry is merely a word. Isa: We’ll remember that. We’ll keep that in mind, Harrison. Kate: I thought…Please let me go out and see Mummy again. Isa: Don’t plead with him. Don’t plead with the sour scum. Harrison: She’s had enough of you. You have made her nerves bad. I won’t let you do it anymore. You have to learn. (Looks round at Kate.)Fifteen years old and you act like a five year old. Act I think being the operative word. If you want to act five, then you’ll be treated like a five year old. You’ll be punished like a five year old. (Harrison shakes his head. He sighs heavily.)I try to treat you like an adult and you act like a child. Isa: We could take him now, Kate, while he least expects it. We could finish him off with little effort. Kate: No, no, we can’t. We mustn’t. Harrison: Can’t what? Mustn’t what? Have you gone completely mad? Isa: We could do it between us. Share the blame. Share the joy of him in our power. Kate: No, we mustn’t. Harrison: Mustn’t what? Kate: Mustn’t do whatever it is that she’s saying… Harrison: You’ve lost the plot. You’ve missed the bus to sanity land. (Pause. Harrison walks slowly upstage towards Kate on the sofa. Kate huddles up close to Isa. Isa glares at Harrison as he approaches. Harrison stands over Kate.)In a minute, I’m going to hit you so hard they’ll hear it in Lapland. They’ll hear it in Moscow and think Lenin’s back. (Kate cringes up as small as he can get. Isa stands up and squares up to Harrison.)I can’t believe I have a daughter who’s as crazy as brain-dead clown. (Shakes his head.)All those years. Thought you’d be something special. A daughter to be proud of and show off to people. A daughter to love. Isa: Leave her be, you two bit bum. Go back to your neurotic wife and lusty son. Kate: Didn’t mean it, didn’t want it to happen. Harrison: Well it has. It’s happened. You’ve broken through into crazy town. (Sighs.)We could have been all right together you and I. Could have been real close. Could have been as one. Isa: You were you crazy incestuous fool. (Isa hits out at Harrison, but is ineffectual without Kate.) Kate: Please let me be with Mummy. I want her. Want to be with her. Harrison: Too late. You’ve pushed her away. (Pause.)If she comes to see you later, well then maybe she’s forgiven you for a while. Maybe. Maybe, not. If you want to be one of the family again you have to learn. To learn from your pain. You give pain you get pain. Isa: We’ll remember that, Harrison. We’ll remember that well. (Isa sits by Kate again and cuddles her. Kate huddles against her.) Kate: I don’t want pain. I want to be left alone. Harrison: Who wants pain? You give people pain you receive pain back, it’s as simple as that. Simple as ABC. (He stares at Kate for a few moments.) Isa: We can have him now. Together we can do it. Kate: Do what? Isa: Kill him. Simple as that. Simple as ABC. Kate: No, I couldn’t do that. Not at all. (Moves away from Isa, but Isa moves next to her again.) Harrison: Do you remember when you played me up at Christmas? Kate: Yes. Harrison: Do you remember what happened? Kate: Yes. Isa: Of course she does you cruel pig, she was there. And so was I. Harrison: I thought you would have learnt from that. Thought that would have cured you of this nonsense once and for all. I was wrong. I was wrong. Surprising isn’t it, me being wrong about something? Did you not learn? Kate: I want to learn to be happy. Isa: You tell him, Kate. Tell him. Harrison: You think happiness is a right? You have to earn happiness. Earn it by behaving yourself and doing as you’re told. What’s hard about that? Do you not remember Christmas? Kate: Yes. Harrison: Yet you behave as you do today and say you remember? Did I not teach you that day what would happen if you did such things again? Kate: Yes. Isa: It was be so easy now to do it. He’s not expecting a thing. Kate: Easy? Isa: Yes, easy. Harrison: Go to your room. (Drags Kate up by her arm and drags her to her bedroom door. He pauses. Kate tries to clutch at Isa’s held out hand, but fails.)I gave you your chances. I gave you time to mend. (Harrison pushes Kate into her bedroom and shuts the door behind him. Isa stands stiff staring at the door. Her hands clutch at each other as if they are about to do something strenuous. She closes her eyes and breathes heavy. Silence.) End of act One and Scene Five. Act Two. Scene One. Late afternoon. Harrison, Lisa and Jefferson are at the table. Kate and Isa are standing at the window staring out at the beach. Harrison holds some leaflets in his hands. Harrison: We’ll go there tomorrow. See the sights, have lunch, take a boat trip and come back here later. Jefferson: Sounds good, Dad. Isa: (In Mocking voice.) Sounds good, Dad. Lisa: If the weather’s good. Harrison: The weather will hold. Georgio told me. He can be relied upon. Jefferson: And a boat trip. I look forward to that. Isa: Drown you wimp. May the sea take you and not bring you back. Kate :( Softly.)Don’t say that. It might happen. Isa: Let’s hope it does. Save us the trouble. Kate :( Softly.)You frighten me. I don’t want to think about such things. Harrison: What are you mumbling about up there? Lisa: Leave her, Harrison, please; the child’s distraught as it is. Harrison: She’ll need to be distraught if she acts up tomorrow. In the mean time, we need to get ready for the beach. Have a little sun worshipping, then back here for dinner and then the party tonight. Jefferson: Yes, it should be good. Lisa: Is Kate going to this party? Harrison: If she behaves. Can’t leave her out of things too much. She’ll never learn otherwise. Isa: You’ll learn soon, Harrison. You’ll learn. (Puts her arms around Kate’s shoulder. Kate winces.) Kate: (In a whisper.)Don’t touch me. (Isa removes her arm and glares at Harrison.)I’m bruised. Isa: You can’t put up with it much longer. We have to put an end to it. Kate: No, don’t say such things. Harrison: What are you saying, Kate? Kate: Nothing. Just thinking aloud. Lisa: Better than talking to yourself, I suppose. Jefferson: This boat trip seems to be very interesting. We can see more of the coastline of Italy. Harrison: That’s the idea, Jefferson. To see what we can before we go home. Lisa: Kate, you need to change out of those clothes for the beach. Kate: Don’t need to change do I? Isa: Say, no. Tell them you’re happy as you are. Lisa: You can’t go to the beach with that dress on. Kate: I’m happy as I am.
Copyright © 2005 Terry Collett |