CLIVE
I have never thought of you having the weakness of your sex, only the good qualities.
BETTY
I am bad, bad, bad –
CLIVE
You are thoughtless, Betty, that’s all. Women can be treacherous and evil. They are darker and more dangerous than men. The family protects us from that, you protect me from that. You are not that sort of woman. You are not unfaithful to me, Betty. I can’t believe you are. It would hurt me so much to cast you off. That would be my duty.
BETTY
No, no, no.
CLIVE
Joshua has seen you kissing.
BETTY
Forgive me.
CLIVE
But I don’t want to know about it. I don’t want to know. I wonder of course, I wonder constantly. If Harry Bagley was not my friend I would shoot him. If I shot you every British man and woman would applaud me. But no. It was a moment of passion such as women are too weak to resist. But you must resist it, Betty, or it will destroy us. We must fight against it. We must resist this dark female lust, Betty, or it will swallow us up.
BETTY
I do, I do resist. Help me. Forgive me.
CLIVE
Yes I do forgive you. But I can’t feel the same about you as I did. You are still my wife and we still have duties to the household.
They go out arm in arm. As soon as they have gone EDWARD sneaks back to get the doll, which has been dropped on the floor. He picks it up and comforts it. JOSHUA comes through with a tray of drinks.
JOSHUA
Baby. Sissy. Girly.
JOSHUA goes. BETTY calls from off.
BETTY
Edward?
BETTY comes in.
There you are my darling. Come, papa wants us all to be together. Uncle Harry is going to tell how he caught a crocodile. Mama’s sorry she smacked you.
They embrace. JOSHUA comes in again, passing through.
BETTY
Joshua, fetch me some blue thread from my sewing box. It is on the piano.
JOSHUA
You’ve got legs under that skirt.
BETTY
Joshua.
JOSHUA
And more than legs.
BETTY
Edward, are you going to stand there and let a servant insult your mother?
EDWARD
Joshua, get my mother’s thread.
JOSHUA
Oh little Eddy, playing at master. It’s only a joke.
EDWARD
Don’t speak to my mother like that again.
JOSHUA
Ladies have no sense of humour. You like a joke with Joshua.
EDWARD
You fetch her sewing at once, do you hear me? You move when I speak to you, boy.
JOSHUA
Yes sir, master Edward sir.
JOSHUA goes.
BETTY
Edward, you were wonderful.
She goes to embrace him but he moves away.
EDWARD
Don’t touch me.
ALL (sing ‘A Boy’s Best Friend’)
While plodding on our way, the toilsome road of life,
How few the friends that daily there we meet.
Not many will stand by in trouble and strife,
With counsel and affection ever sweet.
But there is one whose smile will ever on us beam,
Whose love is dearer far than any other;
And wherever we may turn
This lesson we will learn
A boy’s best friend is his mother.
Then cherish her with care
And smooth her silv’ry hair,
When gone you will never get another.
And wherever we may turn
This lesson we shall learn,
A boy’s best friend is his mother.
Scene Four
The verandah as in Scene One. Early morning. Nobody there. JOSHUA comes out of the house slowly and stands for some time doing nothing. EDWARD comes out.
EDWARD
Tell me another bad story, Joshua. Nobody else is even awake yet.
JOSHUA
First there was nothing and then there was the great goddess. She was very large and she had golden eyes and she made the stars and the sun and the earth. But soon she was miserable and lonely and she cried like a great waterfall and her tears made all the rivers in the world. So the great spirit sent a terrible monster, a tree with hundreds of eyes and a long green tongue, and it came chasing after her and she jumped into a lake and the tree jumped in after her, and she jumped right up into the sky. And the tree couldn’t follow, he was stuck in the mud. So he picked up a big handful of mud and he threw it at her, up among the stars, and it hit her on the head. And she fell down onto the earth into his arms and the ball of mud is the moon in the sky. And then they had children which is all of us.
EDWARD
It’s not true, though.
JOSHUA
Of course it’s not true. It’s a bad story. Adam and Eve is true. God made man white like him and gave him the bad woman who liked the snake and gave us all this trouble.
CLIVE and HARRY come out.
CLIVE
Run along now, Edward. No, you may stay. You mustn’t repeat anything you hear to your mother or your grandmother or Ellen.
EDWARD
Or Mrs Saunders?
CLIVE
Mrs Saunders is an unusual woman and does not require protection in the same way. Harry, there was trouble last night where we expected it. But it’s all over now. Everything is under control but nobody should leave the house today I think.
HARRY
Casualties?
CLIVE
No, none of the soldiers hurt thank God. We did a certain amount of damage, set a village on fire and so forth.
HARRY
Was that necessary?
CLIVE
Obviously, it was necessary, Harry, or it wouldn’t have happened. The army will come and visit, no doubt. You’ll like that, eh, Joshua, to see the British army? And a treat for you, Edward, to see the soldiers. Would you like to be a soldier?
EDWARD
I’d rather be an explorer.
CLIVE
Ah, Harry, like you, you see. I didn’t know an explorer at his age. Breakfast, I think, Joshua.
CLIVE and JOSHUA go in. HARRY is following.
EDWARD
Uncle.
HARRY stops.
Harry, why won’t you talk to me?
HARRY
Of course I’ll talk to you.
EDWARD
If you won’t be nice to me I’ll tell father.
HARRY
Edward, no, not a word, never, not to your mother, nobody, please. Edward, do you understand? Please.
EDWARD
I won’t tell. I promise I’ll never tell. I’ve cut my finger and sworn.
HARRY
There’s no need to get so excited Edward. We can’t be together all the time. I will have to leave soon anyway, and go back to the river.
EDWARD
You can’t, you can’t go. Take me with you.
ELLEN
Edward!
HARRY
I have my duty to the Empire.
HARRY goes in. ELLEN comes out.
ELLEN
Edward, breakfast time. Edward.
EDWARD
I’m not hungry.
ELLEN
Betty, please come and speak to Edward.
BETTY comes.
BETTY
Why, what’s the matter?
ELLEN
He won’t come in for breakfast.
BETTY
Edward, I shall call your father.
EDWARD
You can’t make me eat.
He goes in. BETTY is about to follow.
ELLEN
Betty.
BETTY stops.
Betty, when Edward goes to school will I have to leave?
BETT
Y
Never mind, Ellen dear, you’ll get another place. I’ll give you an excellent reference.
ELLEN
I don’t want another place, Betty. I want to stay with you for ever.
BETTY
If you go back to England you might get married, Ellen. You’re quite pretty, you shouldn’t despair of getting a husband.
ELLEN
I don’t want a husband. I want you.
BETTY
Children of your own, Ellen, think.
ELLEN
I don’t want children, I don’t like children. I just want to be alone with you, Betty, and sing for you and kiss you because I love you, Betty.
BETTY
I love you too, Ellen. But women have their duty as soldiers have. You must be a mother if you can.
ELLEN
Betty, Betty, I love you so much. I want to stay with you for ever, my love for you is eternal, stronger than death. I’d rather die than leave you, Betty.
BETTY
No you wouldn’t, Ellen, don’t be silly. Come, don’t cry. You don’t feel what you think you do. It’s the loneliness here and the climate is very confusing. Come and have breakfast, Ellen dear, and I’ll forget all about it.
ELLEN goes. CLIVE comes.
BETTY
Clive, please forgive me.
CLIVE
Will you leave me alone?
BETTY goes back into the house. HARRY comes.
Women, Harry. I envy you going into the jungle, a man’s life.
HARRY
I envy you.
CLIVE
Harry, I know you do. I have spoken to Betty.
HARRY
I assure you, Clive –
CLIVE
Please say nothing about it.
HARRY
My friendship for you –
CLIVE
Absolutely. I know the friendship between us, Harry, is not something that could be spoiled by the weaker sex. Friendship between men is a fine thing. It is the noblest form of relationship.
HARRY
I agree with you.
CLIVE
There is the necessity of reproduction. The family is all important. And there is the pleasure. But what we put ourselves through to get the pleasure, Harry. When I heard about our fine fellows last night fighting those savages to protect us I thought yes, that is what I aspire to. I tell you Harry, in confidence, I suddenly got out of Mrs Saunders’ bed and came out here on the verandah and looked at the stars.
HARRY
I couldn’t sleep last night either.
CLIVE
There is something dark about women, that threatens what is best in us. Between men that light burns brightly.
HARRY
I didn’t know you felt like that.
CLIVE
Women are irrational, demanding, inconsistent, treacherous, lustful, and they smell different from us.
HARRY
Clive –
CLIVE
Think of the comradeship of men, Harry, sharing adventures, sharing danger, risking their lives together.
HARRY takes hold of CLIVE.
CLIVE
What are you doing?
HARRY
Well, you said –
CLIVE
I said what?
HARRY
Between men.
CLIVE is speechless.
I’m sorry, I misunderstood, I would never have dreamt, I thought –
CLIVE
My God, Harry, how disgusting.
HARRY
You will not betray my confidence.
CLIVE
I feel contaminated.
HARRY
I struggle against it. You cannot imagine the shame. I have tried everything to save myself.
CLIVE
The most revolting perversion. Rome fell, Harry, and this sin can destroy an empire.
HARRY
It is not a sin, it is a disease.
CLIVE
A disease more dangerous than diphtheria. Effeminacy is contagious. How I have been deceived. Your face does not look degenerate. Oh Harry, how did you sink to this?
HARRY
Clive, help me, what am I to do?
CLIVE
You have been away from England too long.
HARRY
Where can I go except into the jungle to hide?
CLIVE
You don’t do it with the natives, Harry? My God, what a betrayal of the Queen.
HARRY
Clive, I am like a man born crippled. Please help me.
CLIVE
You must repent.
HARRY
I have thought of killing myself.
CLIVE
That is a sin too.
HARRY
There is no way out. Clive, I beg of you, do not betray my confidence.
CLIVE
I cannot keep a secret like this. Rivers will be named after you, it’s unthinkable. You must save yourself from depravity. You must get married. You are not unattractive to women. What a relief that you and Betty were not after all – good God, how disgusting. Now Mrs Saunders. She’s a woman of spirit, she could go with you on your expeditions.
HARRY
I suppose getting married wouldn’t be any worse than killing myself.
CLIVE
Mrs Saunders! Mrs Saunders! Ask her now, Harry. Think of England.
MRS SAUNDERS comes. CLIVE withdraws. HARRY goes up to MRS SAUNDERS.
HARRY
Mrs Saunders, will you marry me?
MRS SAUNDERS
Why?
HARRY
We are both alone.
MRS SAUNDERS
I choose to be alone, Mr Bagley. If I can look after myself, I’m sure you can. Clive, I have something important to tell you. I’ve just found Joshua putting earth on his head. He tells me his parents were killed last night by the British soldiers. I think you owe him an apology on behalf of the Queen.
CLIVE
Joshua! Joshua!
MRS SAUNDERS
Mr Bagley, I could never be a wife again. There is only one thing about marriage that I like.
JOSHUA comes.
CLIVE
Joshua, I am horrified to hear what has happened. Good God.
MRS SAUNDERS
His father was shot. His mother died in the blaze.
MRS SAUNDERS goes.
CLIVE
Joshua, do you want a day off? Do you want to go to your people?
JOSHUA
Not my people, sir.
CLIVE
But you want to go to your parents’ funeral?
JOSHUA
No sir.
CLIVE
Yes, Joshua, yes, your father and mother. I’m sure they were loyal to the Crown. I’m sure it was all a terrible mistake.
JOSHUA
My mother and father were bad people.
CLIVE
Joshua, no.
JOSHUA
You are my father and mother.
CLIVE
Well really. I don’t know what to say. That’s very decent of you. Are you sure there’s nothing I can do? You can have the day off you know.
BETTY comes out followed by EDWARD.
BETTY
What’s the matter? What’s happening?
CLIVE
Something terrible has happened. No, I mean some relatives of Joshua’s met with an accident.
JOSHUA
May I go sir?
CLIVE
Yes, yes of course. Good God, what a terrible thing. Bring us a drink will you Joshua?
JOSHUA goes.
EDWARD
What? What?
BETTY
Edward, go and do your lessons.
EDWARD
Cloud Nine Page 5
