Brian Friel Plays 1 Read Online Free Page B

Sweepstakes?
    PUBLIC : ( With fitting hesitation ) I-I-I-I have considered all these, Sir.
    PRIVATE : Of going to a profane, irreligious, pagan country of gross materialism?
    PUBLIC : I am fully sensitive to this, Sir.
    PRIVATE : Where the devil himself holds sway, and lust– abhorrent lust – is everywhere indulged in shamelessly?
    ( PUBLIC winks extravagantly and nudges an imaginary man beside him. )
    PUBLIC : Who are you tellin’? ( Poker-stiff again. ) Shamelessly, Sir, shamelessly.
    ( MADGE has entered from the scullery, carrying an old suitcase and a bundle of clothes .)
    PRIVATE : And yet you persist in exposing yourself to these frightful dangers?
    PUBLIC : I would submit, Sir, that these stories are slightly exaggerated, Sir. For every door that opens –
    ( MADGE opens the bedroom door. )
    MADGE : Oh! You put the heart across me there! Get out of my road, will you, and quit eejiting about!
    PUBLIC : Madge, you’re an aul duck.
    MADGE : Aye, so. There’s the case. And there’s a piece of rope for I see the clasp’s all rusted. And there’s your shirts and your winter vests and your heavy socks, and you’ll need toair them shirts before you – Don’t put them smelly hands on them!
    PUBLIC : Sorry!
    MADGE : See that they’re well aired before you put them on. He’s said nothing since, I suppose?
    PUBLIC : Not a word.
    PRIVATE : The bugger.
    MADGE : But he hasn’t paid you your week’s wages?
    PUBLIC : £3 15s – that’ll carry me far.
    MADGE : He’ll have something to say then, you’ll see. And maybe he’ll slip you a couple of extra pounds.
    PUBLIC : Whether he says good-bye to me or not, or whether he slips me a few miserable quid or not, it’s a matter of total indifference to me, Madge.
    MADGE : Aye, so. Your tea’s on the table – but that’s a matter of total indifference to me.
    PUBLIC : Give me time to wash, will you?
    MADGE : And another thing: just because he doesn’t say much doesn’t mean that he hasn’t feelings like the rest of us.
    PUBLIC : Say much? He’s said nothing!
    MADGE : He said nothing either when your mother died. It must have been near daybreak when he got to sleep last night. I could hear his bed creaking.
    PUBLIC : Well to hell with him –
    MADGE : ( Leaving ) Don’t come into your tea smelling like a lobster-pot.
    PUBLIC : If he wants to speak to me he knows where to find me! But I’m damned if I’m going to speak to him first!
    ( MADGE goes off to the scullery. )
    ( Calling after her ) And you can tell him I said that if you like!
    PRIVATE : What the hell do you care about him. Screwballs! Skinflint! Skittery Face! You’re free of him and his stinking bloody shop. And tomorrow morning, boy, when that little ole plane gets up into the skies, you’ll stick your head out the window ( PUBLIC acts this ) and spit down on the lot of them!
    ( S. B . appears at the shop door. He is in his late sixties. Wears a hat, a good dark suit, collar and tie, black apron. S. B . O’DONNELL is a responsible, respectable citizen. )
    S. B .: Gar!
    ( PUBLIC reacts instinctively. PRIVATE keeps calm. )
    PRIVATE : Let the bugger call.
    S. B .: ( Louder ) Gar!
    ( Instinct is stronger than reason: PUBLIC rushes to his door and opens it. But as soon as he opens it and looks out at his father he assumes in speech and gesture a surly, taciturn gruffness. He always behaves in this way when he is in his father’s company. )
    PUBLIC : Aye?
    S.B. : How many coils of barbed-wire came in on the mail-van this evening?
    PUBLIC : Two. Or was it three?
    S.B .: That’s what I’m asking you. It was you that carried them into the yard.
    PUBLIC : There were two – no, no, no, three – yes, three – or maybe it was … was it two?
    S.B .: Agh!
    ( S.B . retires to the shop. PUBLIC and PRIVATE come back into the bedroom. )
    PRIVATE : What sort of a stupid bugger are you? Think, man! You went out and stood yarning to Joe the Post; then you carried one coil into the yard and came out with the sack