The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore Page 8

mrs goforth: What a peculiar - puzzlesome young man you are 1 You came out here like a dandy, kissed my hand, and now you're coming on like a young hood all of a sudden, and I don't like the change, it makes me nervous with you, and now I don't know if I want you around here or not, or if I'm - not superstitious. See? You've made me shaky.

  chris: You didn't know I was teasing?

  Mrs goforth: No. You're too good at it.

  chris [turning seaward again]: I see it, your oubliette on the beach, it looks attractive to me.

  *O8 THE MILK TRAIN DOESN'T STOP HERE ANYMORE

  MRS GOFORTH:-Help me into my bedroom. [ Tries to rise: falls

  back into the chair.] - It's time for my siesta. Chris: Could I stay there, a while? mrs goforth: Later maybe: now now: I need to rest. chris: I meant the grass hut on the beach, not your bedroom. mrs goforth: Be still, she's coming back out, my secretary,

  and I'm not sure I trust her. Chris: Do you trust anybody? mrs goforth: Nobody human, just dogs. All except

  poodles, I never trusted a poodle.... [blackie comes on to the terrace .]

  In again, out again, Finnegan I What's it this time, Blackie ? blackie: Is it true you've discharged the kitchen staff, Mrs

  Goforth?

  mrs goforth: Yes, it's true. ... Haven't you heard about the inventory?

  blackie: What inventory, inventory of what?

  mrs goforth: I had an intuition that things were disappearing and had Rudy check my list of fabulous china, my Sevres, Limoges, Lowenstoff, against what was still on the mountain. Half of it gone, decimated! And my Medici silver, banquet silver used by the Medicis hundreds of years ago, gone! - That's what the inventory disclosed !

  blackie: Mrs Goforth, is it possible you don't remember -

  mrs goforth: what?

  blackie: You had it removed to a storage house in Naples, in an armoured truck.

  MRS goforth: me?

  blackie: you!

  mrs goforth: not true!

  blackie: Mrs Goforth, when people are very ill and taking drugs for it, they get confused, their memories are confused, they get delusions.

  mrs goforth: this mountain has been systematically pillaged! - That's what the inventory -

  blackie: An inventory made by the bodyguard of a syndicate gangster?

  mrs goforth: How dareyou suggest - I have a guest at the tablet

  SCENE FIVE . 209

  blackie: I will always dare to say what I know to be true! MRS goforth: Go in, find my cheque-book and write out a cheque for yourself for whatever's coming to you, and bring it out here and I'll sign it for cash, at the Naples branch of my bank! You wanted out, now you got it, so TAKE IT! TAKE IT! blackie: G!ad(y! Gladly! mrs goforth: Mutually gladly! GO IN!

  [blackie starts off: mrs goforth's shouting has brought on a coughing spasm. She covers her mouth with her hands and rushes, in a crouched position, toward the upstage area of the library..]

  chris: - Boom ... blackie: Release! chris: Blackie? Look! - [Points at the terrace pavement^ �

  Blood, she's bleeding....

  mrs goforth's voice [offstage, hoarsely]: DOTTORE, CHIAME LO DOTTORE! GIULIO, SIMON-ETTA!

  chris: You'd better go in there with her. blackie: I can't yet. They'll get the doctor for her. [She moves downstage,gasping.] You see, she's made me inhuman

  [giulio and simonetta explode on to the forestage.] simonetta: Signorina, la Signora e molto, molto malatta! blackie [crossing to her]: Dov'e la Signora, in camera da

  letto? simonetta: No, nella libreria, con il dot tore! [She sits on a bench

  and sobs hysterically.]

  blackie: Well, I'd better go in there. chris: What shall I do? Anything? blackie: Yes, stay here, don't go.

  [Then to simonetta who is now crying theatrically'.] Ferma questa - commedia.

  [simonetta stops and begins straightening up the table. To chris] Call the hospital in Rome, Salvatore Mundi, and ask for Dr Rengucci. Tell him what's happening here and a nurse is needed at once. Then come in there, the library, and we'll -

  [giulio rushes out. ]

  Giulio: Signora Goforth vuol vedere il Signore, presto, molto presto!

  THE MILK TRAIN DOESN'T STOP HERE ANYMORE

  blackie: She's calling iotyou. - I'd better go in first. Make the call and then come to the library.

  [She exits one way: chris the other.] Giulio [To simonetta]: She's dying? simonetta: No one's paid this week, who will pay us if she

  dies today? giulio: Guarda! [He displays a gold bracelet.]

  [simonetta snatches at it. giulio pockets it with a grin and starts off as she follows.]

  SCENE DIMS OUT

  SCENE SIX

  A while later, toward sundown. The interiors of the white villa are screened and the terrace is lighted more coolly.

  blackie is seated at the downstage table,jotting memoranda in a notebook, of things to be done before leaving.

  The stage assistants stand by the flag-staff ready to lower the banner of MRS goforth.

  one: Cable her daughter that the old bitch is dying. two: The banner of the Griffin is about to be lowered. blackie [as if translating their speech into a polite paraphrase]:

  Cable Mrs Goforth's daughter at Point Goforth, Long

  Island, that her mother is not expected to survive the night:

  and I'm waiting for - immediate - instructions. one: Fireworks tonight at Point Goforth, Long Island. two: A champagne fountain. together: Death: Celebration. blackie: Call police in Amalfi to guard the library safe till

  Rudy has gone. one: Rudy's root-a-toot-tooting through that safe right

  now. two: He's disappointed to discover that the old bitch still has

  on her most important jewels. one: And she's still conscious; fiercely. blackie: Contact mortuary. Amalfi. two: That Blackie's a cool one.

  [chris comes on to the terrace, now wearing his repaired lederhosen and a washed but unironed white shirt.] Chris: Blackie? blackie [glancing up]: Oh. I'm making out a list of things to

  do before leaving.

  chris: You're not leaving right away, are you? Blac kie: Soon as I get instructions from her daughter. Chris: I called the Rome doctor and told him what had

  happened. He said he's expected it sooner and there's

  ZIZ THE MILK TRAIN DOESN'T STOP HERE ANYMORE

  nothing more to be done that can't be done by the doctor on the place.

  blackie: The little doctor, Lullo, has given her a strong shot of adrenalin which was a mistake, I think. She won't go to bed, keeps pressing electric buzzers for Simonetta who's run away, and she's put on all her rings so they won't be stolen: she's more afraid of being robbed of her jewellery than her life. What time would it be in the States ? Chris: What time is it here? blackie: Sundown, nearly.

  Chris: About seven-thirty here would make it - about two-thirty there.

  blackie: Maybe a phone-call would get through before a cable.

  [Rises; one of the stage assistants brings a phone from the table by the chaise-longue, a little upstage.

  Taking the phone.]

  Try her daughter's husband at Goforth, Faller and Rush, Incorporated, Plaza 1-9000, while I - [She gives chris the phone and pours herself a brandy.]

  [rod Y comes out with a stong box from the safe.] blackie: Who's that? Oh! you! What are you taking

  out?

  rudy: Just what I was told to take out. blackie: Well, take it out, but don't forget that everything's

  been listed.

  rudy: I don't forget nothing, Blackie. [Goes off.] stage assistant one [removing the crested screen]: Her bedroom in the white villa.

  two: The griffin is staring at death, and trying to out-stare it. [We see mrs goforth seated: she wears a majestic ermine-trimmed robe to which she has pinned her 'most important jewels', and rings blaze on her fingers that clench the chair-arms.] one: Her eyes are bright as her diamonds. two: Until she starts bleeding again, she'll give no ground to

&n
bsp; any real or suspected adversary.... one: And then?

  [During this exchange between the assistants, who back into the wings, now, on their soundless shoes, blackie has made

  SCENE SIX 2Ij

  several other notations: now, without looking up at chris, she asks him - ]

  blackie: You're still very hungry, aren't you? chris: Yes, very.

  blackie: The new kitchen staff has arrived. I've put a bottle

  of milk in your rucksack and your rucksack is in the

  library. You'd better just have the milk now: we'll have

  dinner later together.

  chris: Blackie, I've seen her grass hut on the beach, her

  oubliette, as she calls it. And -blackie: (?) chris: I wonder how long I could stay down there before

  I'd be discovered and - evicted? blac kie: Long as you want to, indefinitely, I guess, but how

  would you live down there with the villas all dosed? chris: On, on -frutta de mare: shell-fish. - And I'd make a

  spear for spear-fishing. blackie: There's no fresh water down there, just the sea

  water.

  chris: I know how to make fresh water out of sea-water. blac kie: Why would you want to stay down there? chris [as a wave crashes under the mountain]: boom! I'd like to make a mobile; I'd call it boom. The sea and the sky are turning the same colour, dissolving into each other. Wine-dark sea and wine-dark sky. In a little while the little fishing boats with their lamps for night fishing will make the sea look like the night sky turned upside down, and you and I will have a sort of valedictory dinner on the terrace. blackie: Yes, it sounds very peaceful. ...

  [The bedroom of the white villa is brightened: mrs goforth staggers from her chair, knocking it over. The stage assistants dart out to snatch the small chair up and move it further upstage, as she leans on a bed-post, gasping. Then she draws herself up: advances to the chair's new position a little further upstage. She reaches out for it. The assistants draw it further upstage. She staggers dizzily after it. The assistants exchange inquiring looks at each other: silently agree to allow her the chair: back out of the area. She sits down with a cry of fury and resumes her fierce contest with death: a

  214 THE MILK TRAIN DOESN'T STOP HERE ANYMORE

  reserve of power, triggered by the adrenalin, begins to re-animate her: she rises and drags the chair to a small boudoir table and calls out �.]

  mrs goforth: CHRIS? CHRIS? blackie: That's her, she's calling for you. � Can you stand to

  go in there? chris: Sure I can - It's a professional duty.

  [Ashe turns upstage the stage assistants remove the screen masking the library: he enters that area: one of the stage assistants turns the screen perpendicular to the proscenium so that it represents a wall-division between bedroom and library. boom!

  Mrs Goforth?

  mrs goforth: Oh, you've finally got here. Stay out there,

  don't come in here right away. The doctor gave me a shot

  that's made me a little dizzy, I'll call you in - in a minute....

  [She staggers up from the chair, knocking it over.]

  chris: -Are you all right, Mrs Goforth? [He discovers his sack:

  removes and opens the milk bottle.]

  mrs goforth: Just a little unsteady after the shot, the doctor said. The bleeding was from a little blood-vessel at the back of my throat. But he thinks I ought to lay off the work for a while, just wind up this volume and save the rest for - sequels....

  [chris opens the milk bottle and sips the milk as if it were sacramental wine.]

  -Don't you think that's better, since it's such a strain on me ? chris: Yes, I do, I think it's a - [Drinks milk.] - a wise decision.... [He catches some drops of milk that have run down his chin: licks them almost reverently off the palm of his hand.]

  [mrs goforth enters the library.]

  mrs goforth: All that work, the pressure, was burning me up, it was literally burning me up like a house on fire.

  [He assists her to the desk chair.]

  chris: Yes, we - all live in house on fire, no fire-department to call; no way out, just the upstairs windows to look out of while the fire burns the house down with us trapped, locked in it. mrs goforth: What do you mean by - what windows?

  SCENE SIX

  2IJ

  chris [touching his forehead]: These upstairs windows, not wide enough to crawl out of, just wide enough to lean out of and look out of, and - look and look and look, till we're almost nothing but looking, nothing, almost, but vision-----

  mrs goforth: Hmmm. - Yes. - It isn't as cool out here as it was in my bedroom and this robe I've put on is too heavy. So come on in. We can talk in my bedroom. [She retires behind bedroom screen.]

  MRS goforth's voice [from behind her screen]: Talking between rooms is a strain on the ears and the vocal cords - so come in, now: I'm ready.

  [He crosses to the screens: stops short.]

  chris: Oh. Sorry. [He turns away from the screens.] I'll wait till you've -

  MRS goforth's voice: Modesty? Modesty? I wouldn't expect you to suffer from modesty, Chris. I never was bothered with silliness of that kind. If you've got a figure that's pleasing to look at, why be selfish with it?

  Chris: Yes, it was a pleasure, Mrs Goforth.

  mrs goforth's voice: Then why'd you retreat, back away? In my bedroom, in here, I almost never, if ever, wear a stitch of clothes, in summer. I like to feel cool air on my bare skin in summer. Don't you like that? Cool air and cool water on the bare skin in summer's the nicest thing about summer. Huh? Don't you think so, too?

  Chris: I've found my duffle-bag. It wandered in here, for some reason.

  Mrs goforth's voice: I had it brought there so I could get your passport for the local police. They want a look at the passport of anyone just arrived.

  Chris: I see.

  Mrs goforth's voice: You'll get it back when you go, you know, there's no hurry, is there?

  Chris: I'm not sure about that. [Finds passport.] Anyway, it's already been returned.

  Mrs goforth: We've just been getting acquainted. The preliminaries of a friendship, or any kind of relationship, are the most difficult part, and our talk on the terrace was just a -preliminary.

  Zl6 THE MILK TRAIN DOESN'T STOP HERE ANYMORE

  chris [wryly, beneath her hearing: Sometimes the preliminaries are rougher than the main bout. [He is rearranging the articles in the rucksack.]

  mrs goforth: I didn't catch that. What was that? chris [to himself]: I didn't mean you to catch it. mrs goforth: Stop mumbling and fussing with that metal stuff in the sack, the fussing drowns out the mumbling. D'ya want me to break another blood vessel in my throat talking to you from here ? chris: Are you dressed now, Mrs Goforth? mrs goforth: Hell, I told you I'm never dressed in my

  bedroom.

  chris: You said 'rarely if ever' - not never. [He sighs and crosses to the door again.] - You have a beautiful body, Mrs Goforth. It's a privilege to be permitted to admire it. It makes me think of one of those great fountain figures in Scandinavian countries.

  mrs goforth: Yeah, well, baby, a fountain figure is a stone figure, and my body isn't a stone figure, although it's been sculpted by several world-famous sculptors, it's still a flesh and blood figure. And don't think it's been easy to keep it the way it still is. I'm going to lie down and rest now on this cool bed, mmm, these sheets are so cool, come on in. Why are you standing there paralysed in that door?

  chris: I'm - silent on a peak in - Darien.... [Turns away from the door.] I came here hoping to be your friend, Mrs Goforth, but-

  mrs goforth's voice: You said 'but' something, but what?

  chris: I wouldn't have come here unless I thought I was able to serve some purpose or other, in return for a temporary refuge, a place to rest and work in, where I could get back that sense of reality I've been losing lately, as I tried to explain on the terrace, but - [He has removed the large mobile under her desk: he climbs on the desk to attach the mobile to the c
handelier above it.] - You knew I was hungry but it was ' black coffee or else',

  mrs goforth: Is that why you won't come in here?

  scene six

  217

  chris: It would just be embarrassing for us both if I did. [He jumps off the desk.]

  MRS goforth: What's that, what're you doing?

  chris: I hung up a gift I brought you, a mobile called 'The Earth is a Wheel in a Great Big Gambling Casino'. And now I think I should leave, I have a long way to go.

  MRS goforth: Just a minute. I'm coming back out there to see this mobile of yours. [She comes from behind the screen, pulling the regal white robe about her.] Well, where is it?

  chris: Right over your head.

  [She looks up, staggering against the desk.]

  mrs goforth: It doesn't move, doesn't go.

  chris: It will, when it's caught by the wind. [The mobile begins to turn, casting faint flickers of light.] There now, the wind's caught it, it's turning. [Hi? picks up his canvas sack as if preparing to leave.]

  mrs goforth [picking up the phone, suddenly]: Kitchen, cucina, cucina! � Cucina? Uno momentol [She thrusts phone toward chris.] Tell the cook what you would like for supper.

  chris: Anything, Mrs Goforth.

  mrs goforth [into the phone]: OK - Cucina? Senta - Pranza questa sera. - Pastini in brodo, per commencare. Capish? -SI! - Poi, una grade pesca, si si, una grandissima pescha, anche - carne freddo, si, si, carne freddo - ROAST BEEF, BIF, BEEEEEEF! [Gasps, catches her breath.] Prosciutto, Legume, tutte, tutte legume. Capito? Poi, ua insalata verde. No, mista! Insalata mista, MISTA1 - they

  don't know their own language.__- Poi, dulce, zuppe

  Inglesa, frutta, fromaggio, tutte fromagio, e vino, vino, bianco e rosa, una bottiglia de Soave e una bottiglia de -[Gasps for breath again.] - Valpolicella. - Hanh? - va bene. � [Hangs up.] This new cook sounds like a - Mau-mau.... She'll probably serve us long pig with - shrunk heads on

  toothpicks stuck in it___[Tries to laugh: coughs. Hanging up

  phone.] Now, then, you see you're not just going to be fed, you're going to be wined and dined in high style tonight on the terrace. But meanwhile, we're going to enjoy a long siesta together in the cool of my bedroom which is

  2l8 THE MILK TRAIN DOESN'T STOP HERE ANYMORE

  full of historical treasures, including myself! [She crosses to the bedroom doors, beckons him commandingly.]

  [He doesn't mope.] - Well?!

  chris: I'm afraid I came here too late to accept these -invitations.

  mrs goforth: Who else has invited you somewhere?

  Chris: I've passed the point where I wait for invitations but I think I'll be welcomed by the elderly spinster lady whose mother died in Taormina today.

  mrs goforth: Not if she's heard your nickname. And Sicily's an island. How'U you get there, can you walk on water?

  chris: Your discharged secretary gave me a bottle of milk with some ten thousand lire notes attached to it with a -rubber band. So - goodbye, Mrs Goforth. [He bends to hoist his rucksack over his shoulder.]

  mrs goforth: Mr Flanders, you have the distinction, the dubious distinction, of being the first man that wouldn't come in my bedroom when invited to enter.

  chris: I'm sorry.

  mrs goforth: Man bring this up road, huh?

  chris: No, I -

  mrs goforth: What else? Your book of poems, your calling card? Y'must be running short of 'em, here, take it back! [She hurls it off her desk to his feet.] I haven't read it but I can imagine the contents. Facile sentiment! to be good a poem's got to be tough and to write a good, tough poem you've got to cut your teeth on the marrow-bone of this world: I think you're still cutting your milk teeth, Mr Flanders.