MME. KRAP
You're being impertinent.
Qacques lowers his head) Show
me that card. Qacques holds out
the tray again , Mme. Krap takes
up the card again) Since when
8
SAMUEL BECKETT
does my sister go by the name of
Madame Piouk?
jACQUES
(Embarrassed) I think -
MME. KRAP
You think?
jACQUES
If Madame was to turn the card
over.
(Mme . Krap turns the card over
and reads)
MME. KRAP
Couldn 't you have told me so at
once?
jACQUES
I beg Madame's pardon .
MME. KRAP
Don 't b e so humble. (Jacques
silent) Think about your union .
jACQUES
Madame is joking.
MME. KRAP
Have her come in . (Jacques goes)
Send in Marie.
jACQUES
Very good, Madame. (Exit)
(Mme . Krap motionless. Enter
Jacques)
Madame Piouk.
(Enter Madame Piouk, in great
haste. Exitjacques)
MME. PIOUK
Violette !
MME. KRAP
Marguerite !
(They kiss)
MME. PIOUK
Violette !
MME. KRAP
You'll forgive me for not getting
up. I have a slight pain in the no matter. Sit down . I thought you
were in Rome .
ELEUTHERIA
9
MME. PIOUK
(Sits down ) How bad you look!
MME. KRAP
You ' re not so very blooming
yourself.
MME. PIOUK
It's the travelling.
MME. KRAP
Who 's this - (She looks at the
card) - this Piouk?
MME. PIOUK
He's a doctor.
MME. KRAP
I ' m not asking you what he does.
(A knock) Come in. (Enter
Marie) You may serve tea.
MARIE
Very good, Madame. (She goes)
MME. PIOUK
Not for me.
MME. KRAP
Marie !
MARIE
Madame?
MME. KRAP
You will serve the tea when Ma-
dame Meek is here .
MARIE
Very good, Madame. (Exit)
MME. PIOUK
You ' re not offering me something
else?
MME. KRAP
For instance?
MME. PIOUK
A glass of port.
MME. KRAP
It's time for tea.
MME. PIOUK
How is Henri?
MME. KRAP
Poorly.
MME. PIOUK
What's wrong with him?
MME. KRAP
I don ' t know. He no longer uri-
nates.
MME. PIOUK
It's the prostate .
MME. KRAP
So you got married.
MME. PIOUK
Yes.
1 0
S.-..fUEL BECKETI
M�tE. KRAP
At your age !
M�tE. PIOUK
'7e 're in love .
MME. KRAP
What's the connection? (Mme .
Piouk silent) But you must - I
mean - you no longer must- in
a word - let's see -
M�lE. PIOUK
Not yet.
M�lE. KRAP
I congratulate you.
MME. PIOUK
He wants a child.
M�tE. KRAP
No !
MllE. PIOUK
Yes!
M�tE. KRAP
It's madness.
M�tE. PIOUK
How is Victor?
M�tE. KRAP
Still the same, still there, down in
his hole. ·we never see him.
(Pause) Let's not talk about it.
M�tE. PIOUK
You're expecting Madame Meek?
M�tE. KRAP
With no great impatience .
M�tE. PIOUK
That old witch .
MME. KRAP
You don 't want to see her?
M�lE. PIOUK
I would just as soon not.
MME. KRAP
Yet she" likes you.
M�tE. PIOUK
That's what you think! It's playacting.
M�tE. KRAP
Yes, probably. (Pause) I expect
her any minute .
M�tE. PIOUK
Then I ' m leaving. (She gets up)
M�IE. KRAP
Your husband isn 't with you?
M�tE. PIOUK
(Sitting down again) Oh I can't
wait till you see him ! He's so
ELEUTHERIA
1 1
sweet, so bright, so
MME. KRAP
He isn't with you?
MME. PIOUK
He went to the hotel...
MME. KRAP
Which hotel?
MME. PIOUK
I don't know.
MME. K.RAP
When will you know?
MME. PIOUK
He's supposed to pick me up
here.
MME. KRAP
When?
MME. PIOUK
Oh in about half an hour, I think.
MME. KRAP
So you can't leave.
MME. PIOUK
I would have waited for him in the
drawing room.
MME. KRAP
What kind of medicine does he
do?
MME. PIOUK
He doesn't have a specialty. That
is-
MME. KRAP
He does everything.
MME. PIOUK
Mankind is what interests him.
MME. KRAP
Where does he perpetrate?
MME. PIOUK
He hopes to set up a practice
here.
MME. KRAP
And up until now?
MME. PIOUK
Pretty much everywhere.
MME. KRAP
I haven't congratulated you. (She
puts forward her cheek which
Mme. Piouk kisses) You could
have let me know.
MME. PIOUK
I wanted to send you a telegram
but Andre told me that-
1 2
SAMUEL BECKETI
MME. KRAP
Anyhow all this is of no importance. (A knock) Come in.
(Enter Jacques)
jACQUES
Madame Meek.
(Enter Madame Meek, a bulky
woman heavily laden with furs,
capes, umbrella, handbag, etc.
Exit jacques)
MME. MECK
Violette !
MME. KRAP
Jeanne ! {They kiss. Mme. Meek
sits down, unloads, fixes herself
up) Forgive me for not getting up.
MME. MECK
You're still in pain?
MME. KRAP
Getting worse and worse. You
know my sister.
MME. MECK
(Turning toward Mme. Piouk)
Why it's Rose !
MME. KRAP
Of course not, it's Marguerite.
MME. MECK
My dear Marguerite ! (Extends her
hand, which Mme. Piouk takes)
Where did you come from? I
thought you were in Pisa?
MME. KRAP
She's gotten
married.
MME. MEeK
Married!
MME. KRAP
To a doctor who is interested in
mankind.
MME. MECK
Let me give you a kiss. (Mme.
Piouk lets herself be kissed)
Married! Oh! - (with an
undescribable movement) - I'm
so glad!
ELEUTHERIA
1 3
MME. PIOUK
Thank you.
MME. MECK
What's his name?
MME. KRAP
(Looking at the card) Piouk,
Andre.
MME. MECK
(Ecstatically) Madame Andre
Piouk!
(A knock)
MME. KRAP
Come in.
(Enter Marie with the tea tray,
which she sets down on the table)
Has Monsieur come back?
MARIE
No, Madame.
MME. KRAP
Send Jacques in.
MARIE
Very good, Madame. (Exit)
MME. PIOUK
(To Mme. Meek) Don't you find
that my sister looks bad?
MME. MECK
Bad?
(Mme. Krap serves the tea, offers
a cup to her sister who refuses)
MME. KRAP
She'd rather have port.
MME. MECK
Port! At five in the afternoon!
MME. KRAP
She's right. I'm worn out.
MME. PIOUK
What's wrong?
(A knock)
MME. KRAP
Come in. (Enter Jacques) Ah,
Jacques.
JACQUF-'i
Madame.
MME. KRAP
Has Monsieur come back?
JACQUF-'i
Not yet, Madame.
MME. KRAP
You will tell him, as soon as he
1 4
SAMUEL BECKETI
does come back, that I have to
speak to him.
jACQUES
Very good, Madame.
MME. KRAP
You may turn on the light.
jACQUES
Very good, Madame. (He turns on
the floor lamp)
MME. KRAP
The other one too.
jACQUES
Very good, Madame. (He turns on
the wall lamp)
MME. KRAP
That will be all.
jACQUES
Very good, Madame. (Exit)
MME. MEeK
How is he?
MME. KRAP
Who?
MME. MECK
Henri.
MME. KRAP
Poorly.
MME. MECK
Oh.
.
MME. KRAP
He doesn't piss any more.
MME. MECK
Ooh!
MME. PIOUK
It's the prostate.
MME. MECK
Poor thing. And he so lighthearted, so -
MME. KRAP
What's more he is eating himself
up.
MME. PIOUK
For sure.
MME. KRAP
Because of Victor.
MME. MECK
By the way, how is he?
MME. KRAP
Who?
MME. MEeK
Your Victor.
MME. KRAP
Let's not talk about it.
MME. MECK
Me neither, I'm not doing well.
ELEUTHERIA
1 5
MME. PIOUK
What's the matter with you?
MME. MECK
It's the lower belly. It's descending, so it appears.
MME. KRAP
Like me. Except that mine has
descended.
MME. PIOUK
Isn't there anything to drink in
this house?
MME. KRAP
To drink?
MME. MECK
I n the middle of the afternoon?
MME. PIOl/K
Henri no longer pisses, Victor, we
mustn't talk about it, and you, you
have a descending lower belly.
MME. KRAP
And you, you've gotten married.
MME. MECK
Is that a reason to drink?
MME. KRAP
It's of no use.
MME. MECK
Our little Victor! What a thing to
happen! And he so light-hearted,
so alive!
MME. KRAP
He's never been either lighthearted or alive.
MME. MECK
What! Why, he was the very soul of
the household, for years.
MME. KRAP
The very soul of the household!
Talk about something for the
books.
MME. PIOUK
He's still at the Impasse de
l'Enfant:Jesus?
MME. KRAP
Jeanne sees life and lightheartedness everywhere. It's a
permanent hallucination.
MME. PIOUK
He's still at the Impasse de
1 6
SAMUEL BECKETI
l ' Enfant:Jesus?
MME. KRAP
Still.
MME. PIOUK
He's got to be shaken up.
MME. KRAP
He doesn ' t get up any more .
Another cup?
MME. MECK
Half a cup. He doesn ' t get up any
more, you say?
MME. PIOUK
He 's ill.
MME. KRAP
Nothing at all is wrong with him .
MME. MECK
Then why doesn ' t he get up any
more?
MME. KRAP
From time to time he goes out.
MME. MECK
He gets up then from time to
time.
MME. KRAP
It's when he has nothing more to
eat. Then he digs around in the
garbage cans. He pushes on as far
as Passy. The concierge saw him.
MME. MECK
When you think of it, the garbage
cans of Passy.
MME. PIOUK
It's horrible.
MME. KRAP
Isn ' t it though.
MME. PIOUK
But you do give him money?
MME. KRAP
Every month. I bring it to him
myself.
And what does he do with it?
MME. KRAP
How should I know? It's doubtless
not enough.
(Enter Monsieur Henri Krap)
M. KRAP
Good evening, Jeanne. Well,
ELEUTHERIA
1 7
Marguerite . (They kiss) I thought
you were in Venice .
MME. KRAP
Your wife is also present. (M. Krap
kisses his wife) She 's gotten married.
MME. MEeK
To a doctor.
MME. KRAP
Who loves mankind.
M. KRAP
(Sadly) Congratulations.
MME. KRAP
Sit down .
M. KRAP
Oh, I ' m not staying.
MME. KRAP
Oh, come now, of course you are.
M. KRAP
Think so? (Seats himself painfully
in the armchair) I ' m wrong.
(Ensconces himself) I won ' t be
able to get up again.
MME. KRAP
Don ' t talk nonsense .
M. KRAP
My freedom is being whittled away
more and more every day. Soon I
won ' t have the right to unlock my
jaw. Me, the one who expected to
make an ass of himself all the way
to death ' s door.
MME. MECK
What's the matter with him?
MME. KRAP
He consoles himself as best he
can.
M. KRAP
Yes, now I 've got it, now that it's
too late. Nimis sero, imber serotinus.
Peace of mind is the hallmark of
slaves. (Pause . Mme. Meek making faces) I ' m the cow that, up
against the bars of the slaughter-
1 8
SA.M:UEL BECKETT
house, understands the utter
absurdity of pastures. It would
have done better to think about it
earlier, out yonder, in the tall,
tender grass. More 's the pity. It
still has the courtyard to cross.
That nobody will be able to tear
away from it.
MME. KRAP
Pay no attention . He thinks he's
in his circle.
M. KRAP
I am. In the ninth. (Changing his
tone) So, Marguerite , at last
you' re a respectable woman .
MME. PIOUK
Flatterer!
M. KRAP
I'm congratulating you.
MME. KRAP
You've already congratulated her.
M. KRAP
That's true.
MME. PIOUK
Henri.
M. KRAP
Yes.
MME. PIOUK
I wouldn 't mind having a drink.
M. KRAP
But of course . (To Mme . Krap)
The bell .
MME. KRAP
You know very well I can 't get up.
M. KRAP
That's true . Besides it's not worth
it. He 'll come by himself.
MME. KRAP
Don 't count on it. We 've been left
in peace now for three minutes.
M. KRAP
So, Marguerite, if you would be
good enough to ring.
(Mme. Piouk gets up, rings, sits
down again)
ELEUTHERIA
1 9
MME. KRAP
Yesterday he stayed away a good
fifteen minutes before looking in .
I thought he was dead. (A knock)
Come in.
(Enter Jacques)
M. KRAP
I wonder why he always knocks.
·
For fifteen years he's been knocking and we 've been saying, Come
in, and he still knocks.
MME. MECK
It's a question of correctness.
M. KRAP
(To Mme. Piouk) What will you
have?
MME. PIOUK
Anything. Port.
M. KRAP
(To Jacques) Port.
jACQUES
Very good, sir. (Exit)
(A silence)
MME. PIOUK
We were speaking about Victor.
M. KRAP
Ah .
MME. KRAP
Does there exist another subject
of conversation? I begin to wonder.
MME. MECK
The poor thing!
MME. KRAP
(Violently) Be quiet!
MME PIOUK
Violette !
.
MME. MECK
What's the matter with her?
MME. KRAP
The matter is that I 've had
enough of hearing that scoundrel
being pitied and it's been going
on for two years!
MME. PIOUK
Scoundrel!
MME. MEeK
Your child !