PARTISAN REVIEW
497
MARTIN:
I
can't stay all night tonight. My mother is suspicious. She
asks why I'm staying out so late - she worries about me. I'm only
thirty-two. She worries about my health. What if
I
caught a disease
from this little maniac, how could
I
tell my mother? I'd be so
ashamed!
PETER
(at the sink; begins to wash his face):
She's absolutely clean,
I
swear it.
MARTIN: Are you clean, eh? What are you? Are you a little boy, eh?
What are you underneath this stuff?
MARTIN
pulls at her clothing. He pushes her down onto the mat–
tress and struggles with her.
PETER
takes shaving things out of the
cupboard.
PETER:
I
was in the neighborhood so
I
stopped in to see her and to
shave.
I
didn't mean to stay so long.
I
have a busy evening ahead
and
I
want to look my best....
MARTIN
struggles with
SHELLEY,
who cries out. He puts his
hand over her mouth.
PETER
stands at the sink shaving. The
light fades about him) until only he is illuminated and the rest
of the set is in darkness.
PETER:
I
prize my existence, personally.
I
am a young man standing
at a sink in a condemned building, in a condemned city, and yet
I
take pride enough in my own existence to shave. My face is very
real. My face is said to be handsome. But what if all this smiling
wears it out, the way water wears out porcelain? WiIl we all die,
then? Will we all come to an end? Will our existences be ques–
tioned so cruelly?
CURTAIN
