Читать книгу Chimera - Wendy Lill - Страница 7

Light up on ROY RUGGLES, dressed in jeans and a sports jacket, wearing a pair of swimming goggles. He is holding a well-thumbed paperback edition of The Origin of Species.

ROY:

In this story, only the strongest, the fittest, the fiercest survive. Only the wily remain standing when the dawn breaks. The Origin of Species. Charles Darwin. Wrote it about a million monkeys ago. Friend of mine gave it to me, thought I needed some winter reading. (opens book, flips through and reads) “If we could but dimly see ... if we could turn our imaginings to this teeming awesome race, the true nature of this struggle ...” (closes the book) Charles Darwin. Now there’s a guy who knew all about stalling. He stumbled upon the very essence of life, but decided to keep it to himself. Didn’t want to tell his friends they’d come from pond scum, not angels. Couldn’t bear to break his devout wife’s heart. So instead of broadcasting his news to the world, he stuffed it in a drawer for fifteen years and went off to study butterflies. I mean it’s one thing to want to pick your spots ... but fifteen years? Come on. That’s a helluva long time to sit on a ... (stops, takes a deep breath) But this isn’t Darwin’s story. It’s mine.

Lights change.