Woods, Lakeboat, Edmond
Page 5
RUTH: I'll get it.
NICK: No. What time is it?
RUTH: Eight-thirty.
(Pause.)
NICK: Do you want to go inside and lie down for a while?
RUTH: No.
NICK: Did you get any sleep?
RUTH: I didn't want to sleep.
NICK: You could go in and take a nap. I'll wake you.
RUTH: I can nap on the way back.
NICK: What will you do when you get back?
RUTH: I don't know.
NICK: Do you want to call me up to tell me you got in alright?
RUTH: No.
NICK: Did you take your wet stuff?
RUTH: Yes.
NICK: There's any stuff you want to leave, I'll bring it in.
RUTH: Why would I want to leave it?
(Pause.)
NICK: To dry.
RUTH: It's alright.
NICK: Call me up tonight to tell me you got in alright.
RUTH: I have things that I have to do.
NICK: Oh.
(Pause.)
I'll think about you.
RUTH: Will you.
NICK: Yes.
RUTH: You'll think about me while you're here.
NICK: Yes.
(Pause.)
RUTH: I bet.
NICK: I will.
RUTH: The gulls fly. Caw, Caw, Caw. And Winter comes and they go somewhere else.
Do they go somewhere else when Winter comes?
NICK: I don't know.
RUTH: You were up here.
NICK: Well, I don't remember.
RUTH: All the times that you came up here?
NICK: I didn't come up here that many times.
RUTH: No, huh?
NICK: No.
RUTH: In Winter.
NICK: No.
RUTH: With all your little memories.
NICK: What memories?
RUTH: About things.
NICK: What things?
RUTH: Everything. I don't know. (Pause.) I'm going swimming.
NICK: It's too cold.
RUTH: It's not. The water still stays warm.
NICK: The air.
RUTH: I'll dry off.
NICK: It might rain again.
RUTH: Uh-huh. What? Lightning's going to kill me?
(Pause.)
NICK: Why are you going swimming?
RUTH: To wake up.
NICK: It's filthy. All the beach is mud.
The water is all muddy. (Pause.) Huh?
RUTH: Just leave me to be by myself for a minute.
NICK: You want me to come with you?
RUTH: No.
NICK: You sure?
RUTH: I'm, yeah, I'm sure. Yeah. What time is it?
NICK: Your suit will be cold.
RUTH: Mm.
NICK: Don't wear it, it will just get wet again.
RUTH: You want me to go down there naked?
NICK: Yes.
RUTH: Fuck you.
(Pause.)
NICK: Why do you say that?
RUTH: I don't have to tell you.
NICK: What, your body? (Pause.)
I want to see your body?
That's why I tell you to go down there?
(Pause.)
I can see your body anytime I want to.
Isn't that a little bit ridiculous?
Don't you think that that's a little silly?
RUTH (pause): If you say so.
NICK: I can see your body anytime I want to. (Pause.)
Can't I?
RUTH: You know that is all gone, Nicky.
NICK: That's all gone?
RUTH: That is all over now.
NICK: It is?
RUTH: You know it is. If I stay in too long, will you call down for me?
NICK: Stay here a second.
RUTH: What? I'm freezing, what?
NICK: Come here.
RUTH: What?
NICK: Just come here. I want to talk to you.
RUTH: Come on now, Nicky.
NICK: Come here.
RUTH: Oh, just stop it, huh? Just stop it.
NICK: What?
RUTH: Grow up. (He goes to her.)
NICK: Does that feel good?
RUTH: Please.
NICK: Doesn't that feel good?
RUTH: For Christ's sake, stop it!
NICK: Let's go upstairs.
RUTH: Come on, Nick.
NICK: Let's do it.
RUTH: I'm—just grow up—I am going swimming. Please.
(She moves away from him.)
NICK: Come upstairs with me.
RUTH: Will you come and call me in a half an hour?
NICK: I want you to come upstairs with me. I want to fuck you.
(Pause.)
RUTH: That's charming.
NICK: IS it?
RUTH: Yes. It is.
NICK: I want to fuck you.
RUTH: Well, you just go fuck yourself. I ‘m going swimming.
NICK: What did you say?
RUTH: I said you can fuck your own self.
NICK (pause): You're so full of shit.
RUTH: I ‘m what?
NICK: Okay. Okay. Go.
RUTH: What? I'm full of shit?
NICK: GO. GO on. Go. I'll call you. (Pause.) G o in the water.
RUTH: Wait. I'm full of shit about what? (Pause.)
You have bizarre ideas, you know? (Pause.)
With your fantasies. You're goddamn right go fuck yourself.
Go up here all the time—I don't know—some poor babe you get to come here you can stick your fingers in them and you tell them how Your Father Fought in World War Two.
And those dumb Martians. You're so fucking corny.
You don't belong here . . .
You don't even know the things are good for you.
You do not know what's going on . . . (Pause.)
Your father and that guy they sat—You're so afraid of everything—
You make this manly stuff up . . .
Him and that guy with the Martians, they were going to die.
Inside that hole.
What did they think of?
When they talked about their broads.
When they were going to die?
You stupid shit.
. . . sucking each other off inside that hole . . .
Who did they think of?
(Pause.)
When they were dead?
You stupid shit.
NICK: Shut up.
RUTH: There are no men.
NICK: Shut up.
RUTH: You don't know dick. And I respected you, too. (She snorts.) You lure the poor babes up here in the Winter and you roll around and tell them of the Indians. You fuck them and you send them home.
I hope you're very happy. (Pause.) You don't deserve me.
NICK: Me. I don't deserve you.
RUTH: No. You don't.
NICK: You're nothing, honey.
RUTH: YES, I AM.
NICK: You're nothing with your cheapjack shit.
(He throws bracelet which has been on table down to floor.)
This talk is cheap. This sentiment.
You're nothing. And do you know why?
RUTH: No.
(Pause.)
NICK: You have no self-respect.
RUTH: I don't.
NICK: No.
(Pause.)
RUTH: And then I ‘m not worth anything. (Pause.) So that when you get—I don't know—when you become bored, I am supposed to pack up and go off.
To not upset you.
I am supposed to go and drown myself.
And if I don't, I've got no self-respect.
(Pause.)
NICK: That's right.
(RUTH goes to oar, takes it and swings it viciously at him.)
RUTH: I hope you die.
(He parries the blow and hits her in the mouth. She falls off the porch. Pause.)
You don't like women.
NICK: Are you alrig
ht?
RUTH: You do not respect me.
(Pause.)
NICK: Are you alright?
RUTH: I don't think that you like women.
NICK: Are you alright? (Pause.) I'm sorry.
RUTH: You do not respect me at all.
NICK: Did I hurt you?
RUTH: I don't know . . .
(NICK goes to her.)
RUTH: Please. Please don't touch me. I am going home.
This is wet. This is all wet.
I'm going home.
NICK: Let me come and dry you off.
RUTH: No. I'm alright. I'm alright here.
(Pause.)
NICK: Did I hurt you?
RUTH: No.
NICK: Good.
(Pause.)
RUTH (to self): Oh, who can know what I should do here?
(Pause.)
NICK: Ruth, what did I do to you?
RUTH (to self): Ruth.
NICK: Did I hurt you?
RUTH (to self): This is all wet.
NICK: I got nuts.
RUTH: We look back, we look back at things. The things that we knew. About each other.
NICK: Come in.
RUTH: All those things we knew.
NICK: You're going to catch your death.
RUTH: The Lake. Those things live down there.
NICK: What things?
RUTH: The Plankton.
NICK: Aren't you wet?
RUTH: The screaming.
NICK: Come up.
RUTH: Blood. Your tongue. (Pause.) When I had you in me the first time. (Pause.) When you had me. (Pause.) Must I be punished? (She starts to cry.)
NICK: Things change. Oh, this is no good.
RUTH: That's why I wanted to come here.
T o get back to Nature.
We can't do that in the City. (Pause.)
But we could do that here.
You said you loved me.
NICK: When?
RUTH: That time.
NICK: When?
RUTH: You remember.
NICK: No.
RUTH: You do.
NICK: I don't remember.
RUTH: Yes, you do.
I wouldn't lie about that.
(Pause.)
NICK: I don't remember.
RUTH: Yes. You told me.
(Pause.)
NICK: When? When?
RUTH: And we watched the lightning.
(Pause.)
I guess you're always better off to be the other one. She said that when the Polack knifed him, all the clocks stopped. On her locket.
The grandfather clock. They would not tell the time. (Pause.) Jacky Weiss said that was just a pile of shit. He hit him with a pitchfork in the chest.
She loved him, though. She always loved him. (Pause.) I think my shoulder hurts.
NICK: You want me to put something on it?
RUTH: No.
NICK: A bandage. (Pause.) Mercurochrome?
RUTH: Mercurochrome is only water.
NICK: Iodine? Some iodine?
(RUTH starts to cry.)
RUTH (to self): This mud . . .
NICK: I'm sorry, Ruth.
RUTH: Yeah. We will hang on to each other.
You don't want to know.
That's why you're stupid.
“Fuck me, I don't want to die.”
Nobody wants to die.
NICK: I always loved your body.
RUTH: . . . only madmen.
Sorry, lunatics.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, Christ.
You don't know anything.
You only hurt yourself.
Your own self.
(Pause.)
NICK: I'm sorry that I hurt you.
RUTH: No. You are a ghoul.
You never know what's going on.
NICK: I'm sorry, Ruth.
RUTH: I'm bleeding!
Why do you do this? (Pause.) That you want to kill me.
Do you know? (Pause.) Do you know? (She goes over and grabs him, and shakes him.)
NICK: I hit you.
RUTH: Why? Why?
NICK: I was frightened.
RUTH: Of what? Tell me. I am not a witch. I do not know.
You have to tell me. Why?
NICK: I thought.
RUTH: What?
NICK: All my life.
RUTH: What?
NICK: All my life I thought that I would meet a person.
She . . .
RUTH: What?
NICK: She would say, “Let us be lovers.” (Pause.)
She'd ask me.
“I know who you are.” (Pause.)
“I know you.”
“I know what you need.”
“I want to have your children.” (Pause.)
“I understand you.”
“I know what you are.”
RUTH (to self, very softly): Oh, God.
NICK: I would fall down. I would fall down and thank God.
I'd thank God for my life.
I'd kiss the Earth.
RUTH: You read too many books.
NICK: We'd sit here in the Winter and we'd talk and watch the snow.
And we would think things.
RUTH (to self): We could have sat here.
NICK: And I feel these things.
RUTH (to self): . . . we could have.
NICK: They confuse me.
(Pause.)
RUTH: Yes. (She starts to go in.)
NICK: Where are you going?
RUTH: Well, I have to change my clothes. I'm wet.
NICK: It all gets cold so fast. What is the point?
RUTH: Will you get dressed—because you have to drive me to the bus?
NICK: No. You should stay with me.
RUTH: No. I cannot. I have to go.
NICK: What is the point? No.
No. What is the point? If one is like the other?
(Pause.)
Where is your friendship in that?
(Pause.)
You made the bracelet. It says you will always love me.
(Pause.) You had it made.
No. You don't have to go.
I don't believe that.
(Pause.)
Why do you have to go?
RUTH: You do not love me.
NICK: How do you know?
RUTH: Nicky . . .
NICK: No. Please. No. Please stay with me.
RUTH: I wish I could.
NICK: But no. You can. You must stay.
I can't sleep alone, you know that.
I can't sleep when I am by myself. I have these dreams . . . you know that . . .
RUTH: Nick . . .
NICK: I don't feel good.
I am inside this hole.
RUTH: Come back inside.
NICK: No.
RUTH: Yes. Before it starts to rain.
NICK: Stay with me.
RUTH: No.
NICK: I sit here. Wait. I sit here. It gets dark. I cannot read.
I need you to be up here. (Pause.) I need time. Do you hear me? I need time. Down in the City everything is vicious. I need time to be up here. (Pause.) Everything is filthy down there. You know that. I come up here, I see things. (Pause.) I cannot sleep. I have these dreams at night. I dream. No, wait. I'll tell you. (Pause.) I see the window, and the shades are blowing. There has come a breeze, and all the curtains blow.
They are on fire.
It laps around the window. On all sides.
Someone is calling my name. Nicholas.
I swear to you.
I hear them in a voice unlike a man or woman. When I look, I do not want to know. I know that there is something there. I look. I see a bear. A bear has come back. At the window. Do you hear me, Ruth?
Do you know what this is? To crawl beneath my house.
This house is mine now. In its hole it calls me.
In the Earth. (Pause.) Nicholas.
He's standing upright. On his legs. He has a huge erection. I am singed. He spe
aks a human language, Ruth. I know. He has these thoughts and they are trapped inside his mouth. His j aw cannot move. He has thoughts and feelings, BUT HE CANNOT SPEAK.
If only he could speak.
If only he could say the thing he wants.
RUTH: What does he want?
NICK: I DO NOT KNOW!
RUTH: No! (She hits him.)
(Pause.)
NICK: It smells like fish up here.
(She hits him again.)
RUTH: You speak to me.
NICK: You know I cannot speak.
I'm falling.
RUTH: No.
NICK: I'm falling in a hole.
RUTH: There is no hole.
NICK: There is. I do not like the way it smells.
RUTH: You stop this.
NICK: I have seen it all come back.
RUTH: You stop this.
NICK: I don't want to die. Oh, God. I do not want to die. I am insane. AM I insane? I knocked you off the porch. I hurt you. (Pause.) I feel like things are swimming. Ruth. AM I insane?
RUTH: No.
NICK: Yes. I am. How can I live like this? I tried to kill you.
RUTH: No. You didn't
NICK. Yes. You know I wanted to. I can't control myself. I'm going swimming. (He starts off the porch.)
RUTH: Sit down.
NICK: No. I'm going in the water.
RUTH: You sit down.
NICK: I cannot live like this. I'm sorry.
RUTH: You aren't going anywhere. There's nothing wrong with you.
NICK: There is.
(RUTH hits him.)
RUTH: You shit. You stupid shit. You sit down and don't move. You are alright. You are alright. (She hits him again.)
Can't you hear me?
Are you deaf?
You are alright. There's nothing wrong with you.
NICK: I'm going under. (He starts to get up.)
RUTH: No. You are not. (She stops him.)
NICK: Oh, yes. (Screaming:) What are we doing here?
What are we doing here?
(Pause.)
What will happen to us? We can't know ourselves.
. . . How can we know ourselves?
I have to leave.
RUTH: You stop this. I will kill you before you will leave this porch alive.
NICK: I'm going under. (He starts to go.)
RUTH: No. I will. (Attacking him:) I will. You stop! (She hits him in the face several times. Softer:) You stop.
(Pause. He is subdued. They both are on the floor.)
Nicky.
(A long pause.)
NICK: My face hurts.
RUTH: You are just afraid.
(Pause.)
NICK: No.
RUTH: You are alright.
NICK: I don't think that I am.
RUTH: I swear to you. You listen to me.
I swear on my life. You are alright now.
(Pause.)
RUTH: You are alright.
NICK: Hold on to me.
RUTH: Yes. (She does so.)
NICK: I feel strange.
RUTH: Yes. Tell me. Tell me.
NICK: Wait. I have to talk to you. I have to tell you something. Wait.