Endgame Act Without Words I (2 page)

[
Pause.
]

What time is it?

CLOV
The same as usual.

HAMM
[
gesture towards window right
] Have you looked?

CLOV
Yes.

HAMM
Well?

CLOV
Zero.

HAMM
It’d need to rain.

CLOV
It won’t rain.

[
Pause.
]

HAMM
Apart from that, how do you feel?

CLOV
I don’t complain.

HAMM
You feel normal?

CLOV
[
irritably
] I tell you I don’t complain.

HAMM
I feel a little queer.

[
Pause.
]

Clov!

CLOV
Yes.

HAMM
Have you not had enough?

CLOV
Yes!

[
Pause.
]

Of what?

HAMM
Of this . . . this . . . thing.

CLOV
I always had.

[
Pause.
]

Not you?

HAMM
[
gloomily
] Then there’s no reason for it to change.

CLOV
It may end.

[
Pause.
]

All life long the same questions, the same answers.

HAMM
Get me ready.

[
Clov does not move.
]

Go and get the sheet.

[
Clov does not move.
]

Clov!

CLOV
Yes.

HAMM
I’ll give you nothing more to eat.

CLOV
Then we’ll die.

HAMM
I’ll give you just enough to keep you from dying. You’ll be hungry all the time.

CLOV
Then we won’t die.

[
Pause.
]

I’ll go and get the sheet.

[
He goes towards the door.
]

HAMM
No!

[
Clov halts.
]

I’ll give you one biscuit per day.

[
Pause.
]

One and a half.

[
Pause.
]

Why do you stay with me?

CLOV
Why do you keep me?

HAMM
There’s no one else.

CLOV
There’s nowhere else.

[
Pause.
]

HAMM
You’re leaving me all the same.

CLOV
I’m trying.

HAMM
You don’t love me.

CLOV
No.

HAMM
You loved me once.

CLOV
Once!

HAMM
I’ve made you suffer too much.

[
Pause.
]

Haven’t I?

CLOV
It’s not that.

HAMM
[
shocked
] I haven’t made you suffer too much?

CLOV
Yes!

HAMM
[
relieved
] Ah you gave me a fright!

[
Pause. Coldly.
]

Forgive me.

[
Pause. Louder.
]

I said, Forgive me.

CLOV
I heard you.

[
Pause.
]

Have you bled?

HAMM
Less.

[
Pause.
]

Is it not time for my pain-killer?

CLOV
No.

[
Pause.
]

HAMM
How are your eyes?

CLOV
Bad.

HAMM
How are your legs?

CLOV
Bad.

HAMM
But you can move.

CLOV
Yes.

HAMM
[
violently
] Then move!

[
Clov goes to back wall, leans against it with his forehead and hands.
]

Where are you?

CLOV
Here.

HAMM
Come back!

[
Clov returns to his place beside the chair.
]

Where are you?

CLOV
Here.

HAMM
Why don’t you kill me?

CLOV
I don’t know the combination of the cupboard.

[
Pause.
]

HAMM
Go and get two bicycle-wheels.

CLOV
There are no more bicycle-wheels.

HAMM
What have you done with your bicycle?

CLOV
I never had a bicycle.

HAMM
The thing is impossible.

CLOV
When there were still bicycles I wept to have one. I crawled at your feet. You told me to go to hell. Now there are none.

HAMM
And your rounds? When you inspected my paupers. Always on foot?

CLOV
Sometimes on horse.

[
The lid of one of the bins lifts and the hands of Nagg appear, gripping the rim. Then his head emerges. Nightcap. Very white face. Nagg yawns, then listens.
]

I’ll leave you, I have things to do.

HAMM
In your kitchen?

CLOV
Yes.

HAMM
Outside of here it’s death.

[
Pause.
]

All right, be off.

[
Exit Clov. Pause.
]

We’re getting on.

NAGG
Me pap!

HAMM
Accursed progenitor!

NAGG
Me pap!

HAMM
The old folks at home! No decency left! Guzzle, guzzle, that’s all they think of.

[
He whistles. Enter Clov. He halts beside the chair.
]

Well! I thought you were leaving me.

CLOV
Oh not just yet, not just yet.

NAGG
Me pap!

HAMM
Give him his pap.

CLOV
There’s no more pap.

HAMM
[
to Nagg
] Do you hear that? There’s no more pap. You’ll never get any more pap.

NAGG
I want me pap!

HAMM
Give him a biscuit.

[
Exit Clov.
]

Accursed fornicator! How are your stumps?

NAGG
Never mind me stumps.

[
Enter Clov with biscuit.
]

CLOV
I’m back again, with the biscuit.

[
He gives biscuit to Nagg who fingers it, sniffs it.
]

NAGG
[
plaintively
] What is it?

CLOV
Spratt’s medium.

NAGG
[
as before
] It’s hard! I can’t!

HAMM
Bottle him!

[
Clov pushes Nagg back into the bin, closes the lid.
]

CLOV
[
returning to his place beside the chair
] If age but knew!

HAMM
Sit on him!

CLOV
I can’t sit.

HAMM
True. And I can’t stand.

CLOV
So it is.

HAMM
Every man his speciality.

[
Pause.
]

No phone calls?

[
Pause.
]

Don’t we laugh?

CLOV
[
after reflection
] I don’t feel like it.

HAMM
[
after reflection
] Nor I.

[
Pause.
]

Clov!

CLOV
Yes.

HAMM
Nature has forgotten us.

CLOV
There’s no more nature.

HAMM
No more nature! You exaggerate.

CLOV
In the vicinity.

HAMM
But we breathe, we change! We lose our hair, our teeth! Our bloom! Our ideals!

CLOV
Then she hasn’t forgotten us.

HAMM
But you say there is none.

CLOV
[
sadly
] No one that ever lived ever thought so crooked as we.

HAMM
We do what we can.

CLOV
We shouldn’t.

[
Pause.
]

HAMM
You’re a bit of all right, aren’t you?

CLOV
A smithereen.

[
Pause.
]

HAMM
This is slow work.

[
Pause.
]

Is it not time for my pain-killer?

CLOV
No.

[
Pause.
]

I’ll leave you, I have things to do.

HAMM
In your kitchen?

CLOV
Yes.

HAMM
What, I’d like to know.

CLOV
I look at the wall.

HAMM
The wall! And what do you see on your wall? Mene, mene?

Naked bodies?

CLOV
I see my light dying.

HAMM
Your light dying! Listen to that! Well, it can die just as well here,
your
light. Take a look at me and then come back and tell me what you think of
your
light.

[
Pause.
]

CLOV
You shouldn’t speak to me like that.

[
Pause.
]

HAMM
[
coldly
] Forgive me.

[
Pause. Louder.
]

I said, Forgive me.

CLOV
I heard you.

[
The lid of Nagg’s bin lifts. His hands appear, gripping the rim. Then his head emerges. In his mouth the biscuit. He listens.
]

HAMM
Did your seeds come up?

CLOV
No.

HAMM
Did you scratch round them to see if they had sprouted?

CLOV
They haven’t sprouted.

HAMM
Perhaps it’s still too early.

CLOV
If they were going to sprout they would have sprouted.

[
Violently.
]

They’ll never sprout!

[
Pause. Nagg takes biscuit in his hand.
]

HAMM
This is not much fun.

[
Pause.
]

But that’s always the way at the end of the day, isn’t it, Clov?

CLOV
Always.

HAMM
It’s the end of the day like any other day, isn’t it, Clov?

CLOV
Looks like it.

[
Pause.
]

HAMM
[
anguished
] What’s happening, what’s happening?

CLOV
Something is taking its course.

[
Pause.
]

HAMM
All right, be off.

[
He leans back in his chair, remains motionless. Clov does not move, heaves a great groaning sigh. Hamm sits up.
]

I thought I told you to be off.

CLOV
I’m trying.

[
He goes to door, halts.
]

Ever since I was whelped.

[
Exit Clov.
]

HAMM
We’re getting on.

[
He leans back in his chair, remains motionless. Nagg knocks on the lid of the other bin. Pause. He knocks harder. The lid lifts and the hands
of
Nell appear, gripping the rim. Then her head emerges. Lace cap. Very white face.
]

NELL
What is it, my pet?

[
Pause.
]

Time for love?

NAGG
Were you asleep?

NELL
Oh no!

NAGG
Kiss me.

NELL
We can’t.