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5

WARDROBE is motionless. THRASH is tender.

THRASH: Darling / I do /

(She gazes. At last WARDROBE turns onto his side to observe her. At the same moment BIBLE lurches into the room, triumphant.)

BIBLE: I was good / I was very good / if only Sisi could have seen me /

WARDROBE: (Drily.) If only /

BIBLE: For one thing / in these poems / I made radical advances in technique / and this was a consequence not of study / or meditation / but of spontaneity / instinct / bad temper / possibly / I was / briefly / or permanently / it’s impossible to judge / delivered from those inhibitions and constraints which / until now / I had submitted to / thinking them necessary disciplines / after all / it is not only choice that makes the poem / but equally / the denial of choice / what one puts in / obviously / but also / what one leaves out / all this I knew / and yet / somehow / abolished / I was reckless / I was rash / I did not weigh words for their suitability / I grabbed them from the darkness / violently / as men might be dragged out of the deepest prisons and flung screaming on their backs / I was / I was /

(In his exhilaration, BIBLE lifts his hands over his head.)

WARDROBE: Rash? /

BIBLE: Rash / yes / I said rash / didn’t I? / and this rashness was wholly correct / after all / under these circumstances / had I been mistaken / how could it matter? / who hears out here? /

(He looks at WARDROBE.)

But I was not mistaken /

(He smiles.)

Sisi would have /

(He stops. He lifts his shoulders pitifully.)

What would Sisi have done? /

(He taunts himself.)

SAID THAT’S SHIT / BIBLE / UTTER SHIT THAT STUFF /

(He shakes his head.)

But Sisi would be wrong /

(For a moment BIBLE savours his conviction. His satisfaction rapidly decays.)

I must lie down /

(He shrinks.)

I must lie down /

(He turns forlornly to WARDROBE.)

WARDROBE: It’s not your turn /

BIBLE: It’s not my turn / still I must lie down /

WARDROBE: Silly /

BIBLE: Wardrobe /

WARDROBE: Silly / I said /

BIBLE: I am in a condition of horrible frailty / Wardrobe /

WARDROBE: You are / I know /

BIBLE: The more so because to innovate in poetry / whilst intellectual obviously / drains your physical resources /

(He half-sobs.)

My knees are going /

WARDROBE: Who asked you to innovate? / not me /

BIBLE: LET ME HAVE THE BED / WARDROBE /

(By way of reply, WARDROBE turns his back, and plucking up a sheet, examines the enlarged image of SISI’s nakedness. BIBLE wails like a child. THRASH goes to him and in the fashion of a pieta, drapes him across her lap. He falls silent.)

WARDROBE: It would be very easy for me / every time some weakness overcame you / to concede the bed to you / whether it was your turn or not / but let us admit / the consequences of this generosity would be to shift the weakness from you to me / which is neither sensible / nor just /

(He lets this sheet fall, and drags up another, which he pretends to peruse.)

We agreed very early on / in a spirit of profound comradeship / that we had an equal right to life / and an equal right to whatever miserable facilities might serve to preserve it / did we not? /

(BIBLE snorts.)

We did / and among these facilities / this wretched bed is uniquely and pitifully significant / I do not recall / when I returned from my recital / you dragging yourself off the bed and surrendering it to me / nor did I plead for it / and I assure you / my shoulders ached worse than your knees /

BIBLE: (Sullenly.) You don’t know that /

WARDROBE: Allow me to confirm for you / Bible / that the exhaustion / spiritual and physical / consequent on a public performance given by me / I can’t speak for every soloist / obviously / is vastly more enervating than the mere weariness associated with reading poetry /

(BIBLE snorts.)

Yes / and this you were more than willing to admit during the first weeks of our exile / offering / if I recollect precisely / to allow me three spoonfuls of porridge to your every two / yes / yes / a privilege I declined in a spirit of equality which you / apparently / find yourself unable to /

THRASH: Shh /

WARDROBE: Imitate /

THRASH: Shh /

WARDROBE: Besides / when you came in / you were uncommonly energetic / claiming to have smashed / yet another obstacle / to greater poetry /

THRASH: Shh /

WARDROBE: Be quiet / you stink /

(THRASH accepts the rebuke.)

This weakness overcame you only when you contemplated the effect this revolution would have on Sisi /

(He exchanges one photograph for another.)

Sisi weakens you /

(Now BIBLE sinks into despair.)

She does / it’s a fact / she always did / she possesses an extraordinary talent for weakening you /

THRASH: Shh / shh /

WARDROBE: Distance / climate / notwithstanding / she weakens you /

(WARDROBE desists. BIBLE shakes his head. THRASH strokes his brow. Silence returns but for the crisp turning of the photographs and the eternal wind of the frontier.)

THRASH: I don’t say live /

(WARDROBE views SISI from another angle.)

I don’t say live / do I? / when did you ever hear me say live? / never / not to any man / and some found this peculiar / I’m dying / they would say / and it’s nothing / is it? / nothing to you? /

(WARDROBE turns the photograph.)

No /

(The floorboards creak in the wind.)

No /

(WARDROBE studies SISI.)

No / it isn’t /

(The wind, the boards.)

On the frontier / you don’t need exaggeration /

(She looks down at BIBLE, who is frowning.)

I don’t say live / but you are half the weight you were / you two /

(WARDROBE lets fall his arm, whilst his hand remains clutching the photograph. He gazes at the ceiling. He states his article of horror but in a different and milder tone.)

WARDROBE: Did you frig my mother? / did you? / did you? / did you frig my mother? /

(No one reacts to this. He is pensive. After a while he plays with the remainder of the words.)

Your fingers shone / your shining fingers / he says /

(He frowns. He articulates with intense concentration.)

you / frigged / my / mother /

(WARDROBE seems to contemplate the words as if they were engraved on the ceiling.)

Frigged /

(He weighs the syllable.)

Frigged /

BIBLE: (Helpfully.) It’s the juxtaposition / it’s not really the idea /

WARDROBE: Yes /

BIBLE: The quality of the first word / and the entirely different quality of the second /

WARDROBE: I think so / yes /

BIBLE: The first being / possibly / I don’t know / onomatopoeic / and consequently / as is usually the case with onomatopoeia / vulgar / and the second / the second being / both soft-syllabled / but / more importantly / endowed with cultural and sentimental / associations which /

WARDROBE: Yes /

BIBLE: Which render it / somehow / sacred / yes / that is not I think / to overstate the /

WARDROBE: Not at all /

BIBLE: The significance of mother / as a noun / as a concept /

WARDROBE: Quite / quite /

BIBLE: So / to place these two words /

WARDROBE: These two ideas /

BIBLE: These two ideas / yes / in such proximity / it’s no wonder you / in a frisson of disgust / require to / somehow / abolish the pain of having heard it by incessant repetition / I myself /

WARDROBE: You say it /

BIBLE: Can hardly bear to hear it / whereas /

WARDROBE: You say it / Bible /

BIBLE: The idea itself / yes / yes / I’m certain of it / the idea is less appalling than the language used to describe it /

(He is bemused by his meditation.)

That’s interesting / very interesting /

WARDROBE: Say it / Bible / say it / please /

BIBLE: Say /

WARDROBE: Say it / say this thing that / I am not unaware of this / profoundly irritates your nerves /

(The wind creaks the floorboards. BIBLE’s reluctance becomes evident.)

Bible? / would you / please? /

BIBLE: I think / I think the reason you are asking me to say these words is less to do with / whatever it appears to be to do with / than coercing me to /

(He frowns with his concentration.)

I don’t want to say the words /

(WARDROBE gazes at the ceiling.)

I can say the words / I can say them / though the thought of actually saying them / as opposed to hearing them / is rather worse than I anticipated / still I /

(BIBLE falters and is silent.)

WARDROBE: You can’t / can you? / you cannot say the words? /

BIBLE: I can / I can but I decline your invitation to do so /

(The wind, for a long time.)

WARDROBE: (Without chagrin.) All right /

(The three are motionless as the wind blows litter through the room, and leaves scrape the floor. BIBLE’s discomfort is greater than his triumph.)

THRASH: Peculiar / hearing you / the volume of exaggeration /

WARDROBE: I do not / I promise you / exaggerate in the slightest degree / when I say you stink / you do stink / it is possible / however / and in this respect I admit the possibility of overstatement / the offence of stinking in a place like this is lessened / abolished even / by the fact I stink myself / perhaps in saying you stink/ I am merely remarking on a circumstance / there’s no criticism intended /

(THRASH does not respond for a long time. BIBLE stares into space.)

THRASH: Me and the Captain / we don’t exaggerate /

(WARDROBE gazes at her back without replying.)

Do we? / when did you ever hear the Captain exaggerate? /

(WARDROBE shifts violently onto his back. He clasps his hands over his chest.)

I don’t say live / but if you want to live / it’s possible / without exaggeration /

(WARDROBE ponders this advice as THRASH, with a certain resignation, undoes her garment, exposing her breast for BIBLE, who suckles her.)

WARDROBE: Yes /

(He frowns. He twists uncomfortably.)

Yes /

(He struggles with a thought.)

But it’s culture / isn’t it? / exaggeration? /

(THRASH makes no reply to this. BIBLE makes infantile sounds of gratification. In a spasm of mental agony WARDROBE sits up violently and reiterates his article.)

DID YOU FRIG MY MOTHER? / DID YOU? / DID YOU? / DID YOU FRIG MY MOTHER? / YOUR FINGERS SHONE / YOUR SHINING FINGERS / HE SAYS YOU FRIGGED MY MOTHER /