Read Online Complete Works, Volume IV by Harold Pinter - Free Book Online Page B

men of evil, we could destroy you without a glance, we take care of this gentleman, we do it out of love.
    He turns to Briggs.
    Why am I talking to him? I’m wasting my time with a nonstarter. I must be going mad. I don’t usually talk. I don’t have to. Normally I keep quiet.
    He turns back to Spooner.
    I know what it is. There’s something about you fascinates me.
    SPOONER It’s my bearing.
    FOSTER That’s what it must be.
    BRIGGS I’ve seen Irishmen chop his balls off.
    FOSTER I suppose once you’ve had Irishmen you’ve had everything.( To Spooner. ) Listen. Keep it tidy. You follow? You’ve just laid your hands on a rich and powerful man. It’s not what you’re used to, scout. How can I make it clear? This is another class. It’s another realm of operation. It’s a world of silk. It’s a world of organdie. It’s a world of flower arrangements. It’s a world of eighteenth-century cookery books. It’s nothing to do with toffeeapples and a packet of crisps. It’s milk in the bath. It’s the cloth bellpull. It’s organisation.
    BRIGGS It’s not rubbish.
    FOSTER It’s not rubbish. We deal in originals. Nothing duff, nothing ersatz, we don’t open any old bottle of brandy. Mind you don’t fall into a quicksand.( To Briggs. ) Why don’t I kick his head off and have done with it?
    SPOONER I’m the same age as your master. I used to picnic in the country too, at the same time as he.
    FOSTER Listen, my friend. This man in this chair, he’s a creative man. He’s an artist. We make life possible for him. We’re in a position of trust. Don’t try to drive a wedge into a happy household. You understand me? Don’t try to make a nonsense out of family life.
    BRIGGS ( to Foster ) If you can’t, I can.
    He moves to Spooner and beckons to him, with his forefinger.
    BRIGGS Come here.
    HIRST Where are the sandwiches? Cut the bread.
    BRIGGS It’s cut.
    HIRST It is not cut. Cut it!
    Briggs stands still.
    BRIGGS I’ll go and cut it.
    He leaves the room.
    HIRST ( to Spooner ) I know you from somewhere.
    FOSTER I must clean the house. No one else’ll do it. Your financial adviser is coming to breakfast. I’ve got to think about that. His taste changes from day to day. One day he wants boiled eggs and toast, the next day orange juice and poached eggs, the next scrambled eggs and smoked salmon, the next a mushroom omelette and champagne. Any minute now it’ll be dawn. A new day. Your financial adviser’s dreaming of his breakfast. He’s dreaming of eggs. Eggs, eggs. What kind of eggs? I’m exhausted. I’ve been up all night. But it never stops. Nothing stops. It’s all fizz. This is my life. I have my brief arousals. They leave me panting. I can’t take the pace in London. Nobody knows what I miss.
    Briggs enters and stands, listening.
    I miss the Siamese girls. I miss the girls in Bali. You don’t come across them over here. You see them occasionally, on the steps of language schools, they’re learning English, they’re not prepared to have a giggle and a cuddle in their own language. Not in Regent Street. A giggle and a cuddle. Sometimes my ambitions extend no further than that. I could do something else. I could make another life. I don’t have to waste my time looking after a pisshound. I could find the right niche and be happy. The right niche, the right happiness.
    BRIGGS We’re out of bread. I’m looking at the housekeeper. Neurotic poof. He prefers idleness. Unspeakable ponce. He prefers the Malay Straits, where they give you hot toddy in a fourposter. He’s nothing but a vagabond cock.( To Spooner. ) Move over.
    Spooner moves out of his way.
    BRIGGS ( to Hirst ) Get up.
    Hirst slowly stands. Briggs leads him to the door.
    BRIGGS ( to Hirst ) Keep on the move. Don’t look back.
    HIRST I know that man.
    Briggs leads Hirst out of the