Read Online The Collected Shorter Plays by Samuel Beckett - Free Book Online
Authors: Samuel Beckett
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mind.
A Cripple? [
Without emotion
.] Poor wretch.
B Only one problem: the about-turn. I often felt, as I struggled, that it would be quicker to go on, right round the world. Till the day I realized I could go home backwards. [
Pause
.] For example, I am at A. [
He pushes himself forward a little, halts
.] I push on to B. [
He pushes himself back a little, halts
.] And I return to A. [
With élan
.] The straight line! The vacant space! [
Pause
.] Do I begin to move you?
A Sometimes I hear steps. Voices. I say to myself, They are coming back, some are coming back, to try and settle again, or to look for something they had left behind, or to look for someone they had left behind.
B Come back! [
Pause
.] Who would want to come back here? [
Pause
.] And you never called out? [
Pause
.] Cried out? [
Pause
.] No?
A Have you observed nothing?
B Oh me you know, observe . . . I sit there, in my lair, in my chair, in the dark, twenty-three hours out of the twenty-four. [
Violently
.] What would you have me observe? [
Pause
.] Do you think we would make a match, now you are getting to know me?
A Corned beef, did you say?
B Apropos, what have you been living on, all this time? You must be famished.
A There are things lying around.
B Edible?
A Sometimes.
B Why don’t you let yourself die?
A On the whole I have been lucky. The other day I tripped over a sack of nuts.
B No!
A A little sack, full of nuts, in the middle of the road.
B Yes, all right, but why don’t you let yourself die?
A I have thought of it.
B [
irritated
] But you don’t do it!
A I’m not unhappy enough. [
Pause
.] That was always my unhap, unhappy, but not unhappy enough.
B But you must be every day a little more so.
A [
violently
] I am not unhappy enough!
[
Pause
.]
B If you ask me we were made for each other.
A [
comprehensive gesture
] What does it all look like now?
B Oh me you know . . . I never go far, just a little up and down before my door. I never yet pushed on to here till now.
A But you look about you?
B No no.
A After all those hours of darkness you don’t—
B [
violently
] No! [
Pause
.] Of course if you wish me to look about me I shall. And if you care to push me about I shall try to describe the scene, as we go along.
A You mean you would guide me? I wouldn’t get lost any more?
B Exactly. I would say, Easy, Billy, we’re heading for a great muckheap, turn back and wheel left when I give you the word.
A You’d do that!
B [
pressing his advantage
] Easy, Billy, easy, I see a round tin over there in the gutter, perhaps it’s soup, or baked beans.
A Baked beans!
[
Pause
.]
B Are you beginning to like me? [
Pause
.] Or is it only my imagination?
A Baked beans! [
He gets up, puts down fiddle and bowl on the stool and gropes towards B
.] Where are you?
B Here, dear fellow. [
A lays hold of the chair and starts pushing it blindly
.] Stop!
A [
pushing the chair
] It’s a gift! A gift!
B Stop! [
He strikes behind him with the pole. A lets go the chair, recoils. Pause. A gropes towards his stool, halts, lost
.] Forgive me! [
Pause
.] Forgive me, Billy!
A Where am I? [
Pause
.] Where was I?
B Now I’ve lost him. He was beginning to like me and I struck him. He’ll leave me and I’ll never see him again. I’ll never see anyone again. We’ll never hear the human voice again.
A Have you not heard it enough? The same old moans and groans from the cradle to the grave.
B [
groaning
] Do something for me, before you go!
A There! Do you hear it? [
Pause. Groaning
.] I can’t go! [
Pause
.] Do you hear it?
B You can’t go?
A I can’t go without my things.
B What good are they to you?
A None.
B And you can’t go without them?
A No. [
He starts groping again, halts
.] I’ll find them in the end. [
Pause
.] Or leave them for ever behind me.
[
He starts groping again
.]
B Straighten my rug, I feel the cold air on my foot. [
A halts
.] I’d do it myself, but it would take too long. [
Pause
.] Do that for me,
A Cripple? [
Without emotion
.] Poor wretch.
B Only one problem: the about-turn. I often felt, as I struggled, that it would be quicker to go on, right round the world. Till the day I realized I could go home backwards. [
Pause
.] For example, I am at A. [
He pushes himself forward a little, halts
.] I push on to B. [
He pushes himself back a little, halts
.] And I return to A. [
With élan
.] The straight line! The vacant space! [
Pause
.] Do I begin to move you?
A Sometimes I hear steps. Voices. I say to myself, They are coming back, some are coming back, to try and settle again, or to look for something they had left behind, or to look for someone they had left behind.
B Come back! [
Pause
.] Who would want to come back here? [
Pause
.] And you never called out? [
Pause
.] Cried out? [
Pause
.] No?
A Have you observed nothing?
B Oh me you know, observe . . . I sit there, in my lair, in my chair, in the dark, twenty-three hours out of the twenty-four. [
Violently
.] What would you have me observe? [
Pause
.] Do you think we would make a match, now you are getting to know me?
A Corned beef, did you say?
B Apropos, what have you been living on, all this time? You must be famished.
A There are things lying around.
B Edible?
A Sometimes.
B Why don’t you let yourself die?
A On the whole I have been lucky. The other day I tripped over a sack of nuts.
B No!
A A little sack, full of nuts, in the middle of the road.
B Yes, all right, but why don’t you let yourself die?
A I have thought of it.
B [
irritated
] But you don’t do it!
A I’m not unhappy enough. [
Pause
.] That was always my unhap, unhappy, but not unhappy enough.
B But you must be every day a little more so.
A [
violently
] I am not unhappy enough!
[
Pause
.]
B If you ask me we were made for each other.
A [
comprehensive gesture
] What does it all look like now?
B Oh me you know . . . I never go far, just a little up and down before my door. I never yet pushed on to here till now.
A But you look about you?
B No no.
A After all those hours of darkness you don’t—
B [
violently
] No! [
Pause
.] Of course if you wish me to look about me I shall. And if you care to push me about I shall try to describe the scene, as we go along.
A You mean you would guide me? I wouldn’t get lost any more?
B Exactly. I would say, Easy, Billy, we’re heading for a great muckheap, turn back and wheel left when I give you the word.
A You’d do that!
B [
pressing his advantage
] Easy, Billy, easy, I see a round tin over there in the gutter, perhaps it’s soup, or baked beans.
A Baked beans!
[
Pause
.]
B Are you beginning to like me? [
Pause
.] Or is it only my imagination?
A Baked beans! [
He gets up, puts down fiddle and bowl on the stool and gropes towards B
.] Where are you?
B Here, dear fellow. [
A lays hold of the chair and starts pushing it blindly
.] Stop!
A [
pushing the chair
] It’s a gift! A gift!
B Stop! [
He strikes behind him with the pole. A lets go the chair, recoils. Pause. A gropes towards his stool, halts, lost
.] Forgive me! [
Pause
.] Forgive me, Billy!
A Where am I? [
Pause
.] Where was I?
B Now I’ve lost him. He was beginning to like me and I struck him. He’ll leave me and I’ll never see him again. I’ll never see anyone again. We’ll never hear the human voice again.
A Have you not heard it enough? The same old moans and groans from the cradle to the grave.
B [
groaning
] Do something for me, before you go!
A There! Do you hear it? [
Pause. Groaning
.] I can’t go! [
Pause
.] Do you hear it?
B You can’t go?
A I can’t go without my things.
B What good are they to you?
A None.
B And you can’t go without them?
A No. [
He starts groping again, halts
.] I’ll find them in the end. [
Pause
.] Or leave them for ever behind me.
[
He starts groping again
.]
B Straighten my rug, I feel the cold air on my foot. [
A halts
.] I’d do it myself, but it would take too long. [
Pause
.] Do that for me,
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