Salvation

by Alan Cliff

lad being in Spain and Italy?

  PADDY. 'Tis how men speak to each other. To try and impress. 'Tis all a joke, a game.

  AIDAN. Ye were lying to me.

  PADDY. Gah! Ye know I am a jester, full of stories. Harmless fun.

  AIDAN. Ye were havin' fun with Deirdre before she died, weren't ye?

  PADDY. (Surprised) Fun? No, lad. She was nursin' me.

  AIDAN. What nursin'?

  PADDY. (Disliking this line of questioning but getting on with it) She was trying to put a wooden thing on me chest. I wouldn’t have it. She wanted to see if I have the fever.

  AIDAN. You told her I was a drinker and gambler. Soiling my name. You wanted her for yourself!

  PADDY. No!

  Deirdre enters, as a ghost. She walks slowly past Aidan who is transfixed on her. She smiles and possibly touches his face.

  PADDY. (Who cannot see Deirdre, possibly clicking his fingers at Aidan) Aidan? Aidan?

  AIDAN. You know what my final words to her were?

  PADDY. Don’t do this boy.

  AIDAN./DEIRDRE. You betrayed me. I can’t tolerate the sight of ye.

  Deirdre runs out.

  AIDAN. She only came here to help people! (Moving to leave) Thanks for the rotten drink. (He throws the bottle back at Paddy)

  PADDY. Your quarrels should be with God, Aidan, not with me.

  AIDAN. What do ye know of God?

  PADDY. A man has the right to change his mind and his ways. I am havin’ some second thoughts. Some doubts about the non-existence, aye.

  AIDAN. Ye lied to me about your women and ye lied to me about believin' in God.

  PADDY. Ye are sick and I will not listen to ye.

  AIDAN. All them nights drinking the rum and ye telling me there might not be a God. Now there is a God. Tell me, man of God, why would he take my Deirdre?

  PADDY. Ye have some notions calling her ‘your Deirdre’.

  Aidan squares up to Paddy.

  AIDAN. I’m not too sick to be giving you a beatin'.

  PADDY. I'm unafraid of a beatin' from a leper.

  Mary enters and breaks them up.

  MARY. What is the meaning of this? If Guardian Power found ye at this ye'd be thrown in the hole.

  AIDAN. Would give me a rest from ye two.

  MARY. (To Aidan) My dormitory. Now.

  He doesn’t move.

  MARY. Now!

  Aidan begins to move away.

  PADDY. Least ye still have your mother.

  Aidan stops.

  Mary slaps Paddy.

  MARY. (To Aidan) Go, I will be with you shortly.

  Aidan leaves.

  Mary examines the room. Sees the rum, takes it and drinks some.

  Paddy snatches the bottle away.

  MARY. Our deal is broken. Where did ye get that (the rum) so soon?

  PADDY. I have me secrets, missus, there's aplenty of other things ye do not know about me. Ye carry on drinkin' like a mad bitch and I'll soon to be gettin’ me pouch back. Are ye behind every door?

  MARY. I am here to protect. God told me to.

  PADDY. Did God tell ye to protect by killin’ our only hope?

  MARY. God is our only hope. No nurse can replace His wisdom.

  PADDY. Ah, His wisdom. Has His wisdom given the lad the fever?

  MARY. A small cough is all that ails him.

  PADDY. He is sick and ye are too blind to see it.

  MARY. My boy is not sick.

  PADDY. He is not your boy, missus.

  MARY. He is my child and God's son. I found him; made him the man he is today. He is healthy and he is well.

  PADDY. There's an asylum in the city with a bed and chains waitin’ for ye.

  MARY. 'Tis hell you're going.

  PADDY. You'll be there well before me.

  MARY. (Punching him) The devil is locked inside you Patrick O'Doherty!

  PADDY. Yea, yea, the devil is locked inside of us all. Ye keep talking like that woman. That’ll help us all get into heaven.

  MARY. You must listen to me, Patrick!

  PADDY. Missus! Ye are nothing but an interference. They were happy, the devil doesn’t deal in happiness, ye should have let them be.

  He goes to leave.

  MARY. Have ye a little drop for me to help me sleep after the day we've had?

  Paddy, who is still holding the bottle, looks at it, then hands it to her, smiling.

  MARY. What’s wrong with it?

  PADDY. Nothing missus, ye enjoy a little drink for yourself.

  MARY. A rare act of kindness from ye.

  PADDY. Ye deserve it, drink up now. All the way down. I feel we shouldn’t be at each others throats the whole time. Sure, what good would that serve? I can get meself another bottle no bother. Ye enjoy that.

  MARY. (Surprised) Thank you, Patrick.

  PADDY. Now I’ll head away and fix that leak for ye.

  Paddy leaves.

  Mary looks at the bottle, examines it thoroughly.

  She concludes that there is nothing wrong with it and drinks.

  She gasps ‘ahhh’ with delight and licks her lips.

  Fade to black.

 

  ACT TWO

  SCENE THREE

  The mortuary.

  Aidan and Mary enter.

  Deirdre's body has been removed.

  Peter Doyle's corpse remains.

  MARY. Ye are to get back to work today. No more of this maudlin’ about.

  Aidan goes to his bucket, starts washing the floor.

  MARY. There has been a change since she left us. Things are looking brighter, our prayers are being answered.

  AIDAN. (Stopping) Where was God when Deirdre was taken? She was so young and all she wanted to do was help people. Why did I ever listen to you?

  MARY. Stop talking like this, child.

  AIDAN. What's left for me now? It took me twenty one or twenty two years to meet Deirdre and…

  He has a terrible coughing fit, Mary thumps him hard on the back. He coughs up a little blood - he wipes his mouth, shows it to her then bares his teeth.

  AIDAN. (Smiling at the blood, then at Mary) I am close to her.

  MARY. Your sins have made God angry and He is punishing you.

  AIDAN. (Hysterically) Let Him! Meself and Deirdre committed the most vile of sins, Mary. We were possessed by the devil.

  Mary slaps Aidan, he falls. He starts to laugh.

  MARY. To the idiot room with you child! (Yelling) Guardian Power! Guardian Power!

  AIDAN. Mary! It was the greatest sin of all!

  Mary kicks him.

  MARY. I'll beat the devil out of ye!

  AIDAN. The devil took my soul! I wanted him to have it!

  Mary kicks him again.

  MARY. Out devil! Out! Out!

  AIDAN. I want that memory with me for the rest of my life. The only memory I have of feeling alive!

  MARY. God! God! My child needs You! My child needs You!

  AIDAN. Deirdre made me a man. Never did I think sinning could bring me so close to the Divine. Heaven called both of us as we tossed and turned and gave our love for each other. Why would God give me a body like this and a body like hers and not expect me to sin?

  MARY. I am going to call on Guardian Power, see what he makes of this.

  AIDAN. I don’t wish to set eyes on ye again. (He coughs, violently)

  MARY. Never did I think I would see the day my boy would turn his back on me.

  Mary exits.

  Aidan tries to get up and collapses, he crawls to a slab and perches on the edge of it.

  AIDAN. Deirdre. Deirdre.

  He bawls, crying.

  There is a violent storm for approximately ten seconds as we watch the figure of Aidan weeping, but then he smiles. The storm settles and the lights brighten.

  Aidan gets up, goes to his bucket, picks up his washcloth, starts whistling his tune and washing the floor. He is well again.

  Deirdre enters, as a ghost.

  DEI
RDRE. Aidan, I must confess, listening to your beautiful music brightens the darkest of my days.

  AIDAN. I thought you weren't coming.

  DEIRDRE. I wouldn’t miss this chance.

  AIDAN. How is the infirmary?

  DEIRDRE. Today has been a better day. No death. A victory in my eyes.

  AIDAN. You are a great nurse.

  DEIRDRE. Have you taken water? You look as if you need a rest.

  AIDAN. The men have not returned from the well just yet, but soon. I'm afraid we do not rest here Nurse Jacob.

  DEIRDRE. Everyone should have the right to a rest.

  AIDAN. I'm not sure if we have any rights at all, not like you, Nurse Jacob.

  DEIRDRE. You, most certainly, can call me 'Deirdre'.

  AIDAN. Guardians and nurses don’t normally wish to be associated with us.

  DEIRDRE. Are you afraid?

  AIDAN. I am not afraid.

  DEIRDRE. Are you afraid of rats?

  AIDAN. I stand on them!

  DEIRDRE. Spiders?

  AIDAN. I eat them!

  DEIRDRE. What about death?

  Long Pause.

  Deirdre goes to Aidan, puts an arm around his.

  DEIRDRE. This fills me with fear.

  AIDAN. It is my job to make you unafraid.

  Pause.

  Deirdre moves away from him.

  DEIRDRE. Sometimes the thought of death scares me. Sounds strange, doesn’t it? My job is to be surrounded by those being touched by death. Maybe that's what I love about it. I try to fight death away, fight away my fear. When death lurked in the shadows of my patients they looked lost and tormented, confused and angry and most of all, frightened. But some of them asked themselves, why be angry? Why be frightened? When they realised they had nothing to offer their broken lives they accepted their fate. They believed that life had already left them. And when they were taking their last breath they didn't fight, they didn't contest, they lay there and when they passed on, the last movement they made was with their lips. A smile. A smile of relief, of release, of liberation. Death, for them, was more welcoming than the suffering that occurred within workhouse walls.

  Beat.

  AIDAN. I am happy.

  DEIRDRE. We are in a lot of danger because of this.

  AIDAN. (Defiantly) I will protect you!

  DEIRDRE. I have never met a man who was so kind before.

  AIDAN. I have found courage, thanks to you. (Beat) Stay with me tonight.

  DEIRDRE. Where?

  AIDAN. In here. We can warm