20
SAMUEL BECKETI
M. KRAP
Two years already! Only two !
MME. KRAP
(At the height of excitation ) Let
him get out of the neighborhood,
the city, the county, the country,
let him go croak in - in the
Balkans ! (A knock) As for me I -
MME. PIOUK
Come in .
(Enter Jacques)
M. KRAP
What do you want?
jACQUES
Monsieur rang?
M. KRAP
Of course not. The port.
jACQUES
At once, Monsieur. (Exit)
(A silence)
MME. MECK
You were saying?
MME. KRAP
I wash my hands of it. (She gets
up painfully) I 've had enough.
( Goes painfully to the door)
Enough . (Exit)
MME. PIOUK
That's the way she can ' t get up.
MME. MEeK
Where is she going?
M. KRAP
(With a sigh) To the toilet probably. She goes there from time to
time.
(A silence)
MME. MECK
You look marvellous.
MME. PIOUK
She isn 't serious.
MME. MEeK
What?
MME. PIOUK
Violette. They' re idle words.
MME. MEeK
Of course . Washing her hands of
him ! Her only child ! Can you
ELEUTHERIA
2 1
imagine !
(A knock)
M. KRAP
(Too low) Come in.
MME. MECK
A mother doing that!
(Another knock)
MME. PIOUK
Come in ! (Enter Jacques carrying
a tray. He looks for a place to put
it) Place it on the chair. ( He
places the tray on Mme. Krap's
chair) On the other one. (He
places it on the other chair) You
will ask Marie to come and clear
the table .
jACQUES
Very good, Madame. (Exit)
MME. PIOUK
When one has servants one is no
longer in one 's own home .
MME. MECK
They' re needed all the same.
(A silence)
MME. PIOUK
I 've been without news for so
long. So is there something new
in this business?
M. KRAP
What business?
MME. PIOUK
This business of Victor.
M. KRAP
Not one new item.
MME. MECK
It appears that he comes as far as
Rue Spontini to dig around in the
garbage cans.
M. KRAP
I wasn ' t told anything.
MME. PIOUK
You don 't seem to care a bit.
M. KRAP
You mean that?
MME. MECK
I never understood a thing about
22
SA�IUEL BECKETI
this business.
M. KRAP
Dramatically speaking, my wife's
absence serves no purpose.
(Mesdames Piouk and Meek
exchange looks. A knock)
MME. PIOliK
Oh, come in !
(Enter Marie . Tray business. Exit
Marie)
Do you want some?
MME. MEeK
A drop.
MME. PIOUK
And you, Henri?
M. KRAP
Thank you, no.
(Mme. Piouk serves Mme. Meek)
MME. MEeK
Oh that's too much ! I ' ll be tipsy!
(She drinks) It's s_trong!
(Mme. Piouk serves herself,
empties her glass in one gulp,
pours herself a second) She 's
been long.
MME. PIOUK
"What?
MME. MEeK
Violette has been long.
M. KRAP
You think so?
MME. PIOUK
But something must be don e ! He
can ' t be left like that.
M. KRAP
Like what?
MME. PIOUK
In that - that sordid inertia.
M. KRAP
And if it's what he wants .
MME. PIOUK
But it's a disgrace to the family!
MME. MEeK
It's not right at his age .
MME. PIOliK
It will kill Violette.
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2 3
M. KRAP
You don ' t know her.
(A silence)
MME. PIOUK
(To Mme . Meek) How is the
general? (A silence) Or should I
say field-marshal?
(Handkerchief of Mme. Meek)
M. KRAP
Come now, Marguerite, think
about what you're saying.
MME. PIOUK
I don ' t understand.
M. KRAP
There 's a shade of difference
between mourning-wear and chic.
MME. PIOUK
Oh, poor Jeanne, I didn ' t know,
I ' m dreadfully sorry, forgive me,
forgive me.
MME. MEeK
(Drawing upon the military tradi-
tion ) His last breath was for
France.
(A knock)
MME. PIOUK
That is becoming impossible .
M. KRAP
We would be better off leaving the
door open . Or roundly doing
away with it.
(Another knock)
MME. PIOUK
So just come in for crying out
loud !
(Enter Jacques)
jACQUES
Doctor Piouk.
M. KRAP
Don ' t know him .
MME. PIOUK
Andre ! (Rushes out)
M. KRAP
Who?
24
SAMUEL BECKETT
MME. MECK
Her husband.
M. KRAP
(To Jacques) Have you seen
Madame?
jACQUES
Madame has gone out, Monsieur.
M. KRAP
Gone out!
jACQUES
Yes, Monsieur.
M. KRAP
On foot?
jACQUES
Yes, Monsieur.
M. KRAP
She didn 't say where she was
going?
jACQUES
Madame didn ' t say anything,
Monsieur.
M. KRAP
That will do.
(Exit Jacques)
MME. MECK
Vive la France! Then came the
coma.
M. KRAP
I beg your pardon?
MME. MECK
I was reliving Ludovic's last moments.
M. KRAP
And then what?
MME. MECK
Raising himself roughly into a
sitting position, he cried out, Vive
la France! Then he fell back and
went into his death rattle.
M. KRAP
He was able to raise himself into a
sitting position?
MME. MEeK
Yes, to the great amazement of
every one of us. (Enter Madame
and Dr. Piouk. He is a hideously
ugly man . Embarrassed silence.
Introductions. Dr. Piouk sits
ELEUTHERIA
25
down)
MME. PIOUK
A bit of port, my darling?
DR. PIOUK
Thank you.
MME. PIOUK
Thank you yes or no thank you?
DR. PIOUK
No thank you.
M. KRAP
You ' ll excuse me for not getting
up. I have a slight pain in the
I ' m tired.
DR. PIOUK
You are suffering?
M. KRAP
Dying.
MME. MECK
Come, come, Henri, calm down.
M. KRAP
And I have every intention of
amazing nobody.
MME. MECK
Henri !
M. KRAP
By raising myself into a sitting
position.
MME. PIOUK
Where is Violette?
M. KRAP
My unbefitting position. Ha! Ha!
DR. PIOUK
A little port, after all .
(Mme. Piouk serves him)
MME. MECK
She went out.
M. KRAP
What?
MME. MECK
Marguerite is asking where
Violette is. I am telling her she
went out.
MME. PIOUK
(Decanter in hand) Went out!
M. KRAP
On foot.
MME. MECK
Without saying where she was
go mg.
M. KRAP
She won ' t be long getting back.
26
SAMUEL BECKETI
MME. PIOUK
She told you?
M. KRAP
She's never long getting back.
MME. MEeK
May what you say be the truth.
M. KRAP
Why?
MME. MECK
I ' ll be able to leave with an easy
mind.
M. KRAP
My son 's way is the truth.
MME. PIOUK
Henri !
M. KRAP
I ' m cutting loose.
MME. MEeK
(Pursuing her train of thought)
Without seeing her in my mind's
eye, all bloody, run over by a
truck.
M. KRAP
It's she who runs over the trucks.
DR. PIOUK
( Getting up) My darling -
M. KRAP
My darling, my darling.
DR. PIOUK
It is time we left.
M. KRAP
Jeanne.
MME. MECK
Henri.
M. KRAP
You remember the early days of
my marriage to Violette?
MME. MEeK
Do I remember!
M. KRAP
Before we ' d learned to appreciate
each other.
MME. MEeK
Those were the good old days.
M. KRAP
Did I have occasion to say darling
to her?
MME. MEeK
You used to coo.
M. KRAP
I can 't imagine .
DR. PIOUK
(Still standing) Marguerite.
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2 7
MME. PIOUK
I ' m coming, darling.
M. KRAP
My wife will be so sorry. Terribly
so.
MME. MECK
Me too, I should also be going.
M. KRAP
But you ' re staying.
MME. M:ECK
That is -
M. KRAP
You see , the world outside is
calling to her, but she makes a
point of holding out. But Marguerite has never been led by
anything but her own inclinations.
I ' m not saying this for your benefit, Doctor.
MME. PIOUK
You ' re being ungracious, Henri.
M. KRAP
(Without warmth) Stay for dinner,
we 're having cold cuts.
DR. PIOUK
Most kind. Unfortunately we are
expected elsewhere.
M. KRAP
(To Mme. Meek, lewdly) Aren ' t
they i n a hurry!
MME. MEeK
Be patient just five more minutes.
M. KRAP
Come come, a little restraint.
MME. MEeK
I will bring you back. In the
Delage.
DR. PIOUK
How about it, Marguerite?
MME. PIOUK
Whatever you like, my darling.
M. KRAP
The longer you wait, the better it
l S .
MME. PIOUK
I would so have liked you -
Violette to get to know you.
(Dr. Piouk sits down again. A
28
SAMUEL BECKETT
silence)
M. KRAP
Vous prenez u n cigare ?
DR. PIOUK
Thank you.
M. KRAP
Thank you yes or no thank you?
DR. PIOUK
I don 't smoke.
) (A silence)
MME. MECK
(Together) I -
MME. PIOUK
MME. MECK
Oh, sorry. You were saying?
MME. PIOUK
Oh, nothing. Go on.
(A silence)
M. KRAP
Well, jeanne, spit it out.
MME. MECK
(Upon reflection) My goodness, I
don 't know any more.
(A silence)
M. KRAP
Incapable of reflection myself, it is
my organs that have taken over.
(A silence) It is with you, Doctor,
that I am striving to open communication .
DR. PIOUK
Oh, you know, I ' m not much of a
talker.
MME. PIOUK
He thinks so much !
M. KRAP
Nonetheless, what I 've just said
isn 't devoid of intelligence .
DR. PIOUK
It is meaningless.
M. KRAP
Wait a minute ! Meaning what?
DR. PIOUK
You are your organs, Monsieur,
and your organs are you.
ELEUTHERIA
29
M. KRAP
I am my organs?
DR. PIOUK
That is so.
M. KRAP
You are frightening me .
MME. MECK
(Sniffing out free medical advice)
organs?
DR. PIOUK
Without the least bit left over,
Madame.
M. KRAP
What a pleasure to meet at last an
intelligent man !
MME. PIOUK
(Ecstatically) Andre !
M. KRAP
Please do go on. Elaborate on this
grandiose train of thought.
DR. PIOUK
This isn ' t the right time.
M. KRAP
Before the return of that heap of
obsolete organs known as my wife .
MME. PIOUK
Henri !
DR. PIOUK
Please.
M. KRAP
You ' re going to force me to visit
your office.
(A knock)
MME. PIOUK
Come in.
(Enter Jacques)
jACQUES
Mademoiselle Skunk.
(Enter Mademoiselle Skunk, an
alluring young lady. Greetings,
hers glum . Exitjacques)
MME. PIOUK
You remember me?
MllE. SKUNK
Of course .
MME. PIOUK
It was two years ago, at Evian .
30
SA.1UEL BECKEIT
Mll.E. SKUl'K
What was I doing there?
(A silence)
MME. ProuK
May I introduce you to my husband, Doctor Piouk.
(Mlle. Skunk sits down in Mme.
Krap's seat)
MME. MEeK
You look marvellous.
MME. ProuK
A bit of port?
Mll.E. SKUl1{
If you like .
M. KRAP
Doctor.
DR. Proul<.
(Torn from his thoughts, makes a
show of giving a start) Did someone call my name?
M. KRAP
I ' m wondering of what use you're
going to be in this farce.
DR. PIOUK
(Upon mature reflection ) I hope
that I will be able to be useful.
MME. MEeK
(Worried) I don ' t understand.
DR. PIOUK
And your role, my dear sir, is it
very clear-cut?
M. KRAP
It is being cut.
DR. PIOUK
Yet you are on stage .
M. KRAP
So it appears.
MME. MEeK
I absolutely must go .
M. KRAP
Go, my dear Jeanne, go, since go
you absolutely must. We don 't
need you.
Mll.E. SKUl'K
Where is Violette?
DR. ProuK
(To M. Krap) Forcing things a bit
you might perhaps manage to
ELEUTHERIA
3 1
amuse the rubbernecks.
M. KRAP
You think so? From the bottom of
your heart?
DR. PIOUK
I say it as I think it.
M. KRAP
That is a possibility I hadn ' t
caught sight of.
MllE. SKUNK
Where is Violette?
MME. MEeK
It is a getting worrisome .
M. KRAP
What are you saying?
MME. MECK
Olga is asking where Violette is
and I am saying it is getting worrisome.
M. KRAP
What is getting worrisome?
MME. MECK
This inordinate absence.
M. KRAP
Inordinate absence ! Only Jeanne
comes up with words like that.
MllE. SKUNK
Where did she go?
MME. MECK
That we do not know.
M. KRAP
Driven by who knows what she left
the house on a sudden impulse,
on foot. For the longest time we
thought she was in the toilet.
That's it, right, Doctor?
DR. PIOUK
Intricate to a fault. Keep at it.
MllE. SKUNK
She asked me to come by before
dinner.
M. KRAP
She had to speak to you?
MllE. SKUNK
Yes, about things that couldn 't
wait.
M. KRAP
She had to speak to me as well, so
it appears. In fact it is the only
32
SA.fUEL BECKETI
reason why I am here among you ,
as you can easily imagine. And yet
she still hasn 't told me anything.
MME. MEeK
(To Mlle. Skunk) Have you seen
Victor?
M. KRAP
Right now I ' m the one who goes
to speak to him.