Читать книгу Chimera - Wendy Lill - Страница 17

NELL HARRIER’S garden. May. Early evening. NELL is trying to move a heavy planter filled with earth. ROY opens the gate, enters, sees NELL, clears his throat. NELL, startled, lets out a gasp.

ROY:

I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to scare you. I’m from the Mirror. I just wanted to—

NELL:

Get out of my garden. No one comes into my garden!

ROY:

Can we meet somewhere else then?

NELL:

No!

ROY:

The Member from White Cloud says you’re putting human cells in gorillas ...

NELL:

Then you’ve got your headline. From an ignoramus who believes the world is flat. Just get out of here.

ROY:

I just need to confirm some facts.

NELL:

The media don’t care about facts.

ROY:

Maybe I do.

NELL:

And maybe you don’t.

ROY:

Please, if you could spare me just a moment. I’m a great admirer of your work.

NELL:

Really? What do you admire about it?

ROY:

(hesitates) Your papers on leaf mould.

NELL:

You read them?

ROY:

I did.

NELL:

And what did you think of them?

ROY:

They were ... thorough.

NELL:

Get out of here. You’re all the same! You’ll do anything, say anything to get a story. And when you get it, it bears no resemblance to the truth.

ROY:

Please, just a couple of—

NELL:

No! It’s been a three-ring circus since yesterday. I’ve got university and government bureaucrats crawling all over my lab. I have no comment other than what I’ve told them: my work falls squarely within the ridiculous snarl of contradictory and unhelpful regulations and edicts that comes down from on high. Now get out.

ROY:

Okay. Sorry I bothered you. (points to the planter) Can I move that for you before I go? That’s the least I can do after almost scaring you to death. I won’t talk.

NELL:

(hesitates, then nods) Put it over there into the light.

ROY starts moving the pot. NELL watches him.

ROY:

The name’s Ruggles, by the way. Roy Ruggles.

NELL:

You said you weren’t going to talk.

ROY:

I forgot.

After a moment, ROY speaks again.

ROY:

You got a nice spot here. It’s calm.

NELL:

It’s not at all calm. (she points to another pot to be moved) There are millions of things happening here every second. Thousands of miniscule creatures fighting, eating each other, running for their lives, giving birth, dying.

ROY:

I take that back.

NELL points to another pot. ROY studies it, begins to move it.

ROY:

I googled you last night. You grew up on the Isle of Man, took your training in Cardiff, Wales and London.

NELL:

I know where I grew up, thank you.

ROY:

Your husband was a biologist, too. Died ten years ago. You started in plant biology, moved to molecular cell biology, then into the study of congenital anomalies. My brother had one of those.

NELL:

What?

ROY:

A birth defect.

NELL:

Is that true, or just another ploy to stay longer, keep me talking?

ROY:

He had Down Syndrome.

NELL:

Older, younger?

ROY:

We were twins.

NELL:

Really? That’s unusual. What was his name?

ROY:

Stuart. We called him Sonny.

NELL:

You said “had.” Is he deceased?

ROY:

Yes.

NELL:

What happened to him?

ROY:

His heart gave out.

NELL:

In childhood?

ROY:

No. Just a ... couple of days ago.

NELL:

Good heavens, you must be ...

ROY:

Well, we hadn’t been ... I haven’t seen him in ... Can I move anything else?

NELL:

No. You can leave now. I don’t talk to the media.

ROY turns to leave.

NELL:

Mr. Ruggles? Sorry about your brother.