PARTISAN REVIEW
231
COHN:
(sits her down)
OK.
(pause)
Let's take this a little bit at a
time. First of all, there's an Emperor, right?
(JOAN
nods)
And he
lives - where
does
he live?
(JOAN
points)
He lives that way.
(JOAN
nods)
And you are heading a delegation of citizens to petition the
Emperor to build a spaceship -
JOAN:
A thousand spaceships!
COHN:
To take us to heaven. You said heaven, am I right?
(JOAN
nods)
Because the sky which has always been up there is not up
there anymore.
(JOAN
nods)
In fact, it is missing. And we are to
bring this piece of news to the Emperor, this man you call the
Emperor. And he is to put two of every kind on spaceships - and
thus save us from the holocaust.
(JOAN
nods)
And everybody else
dies. We're saved. Everybody else dies. Is that a mission or is that
a mission!
JOAN:
Don't be dense; it has nothing to do with dying. It's more or
less like moving. Some people live in the city and some people live
in the suburbs and some people live in the country and some peo–
ple live in heaven.
COHN:
You don't have to die to go to heaven anymore?
JOAN:
Not since the sky is missing. You simply
move
there. But
first, of course, you have to know it's there. For example, if your
entire life were spent in the city would you know about cows and
trees? No ! Well, it's no different with heaven. True, we may know
about it in a
religious
sense, but certainly not as a place to migrate.
COHN:
(with infinite patience)
But isn't it cruel- maybe cruel is
too strong a word - isn't it thoughtless to abandon everyone else
to the holocaust?
JOAN:
(brightly)
I'm glad you asked me that question. I, too, thought
it was cruel but my voices tell me that people will never know it's
a holocaust. They'll adapt themselves. Many may even find happi–
ness.
(goes to door)
Are you ready?
COHN:
Young lady, sit down. I have some shocking news to break
to you.
(He sits
JOAN
back down in a chair)
There is no Emperor.
JOAN:
You might as well say there is no God.
COHN:
There is no God.
JOAN:
You might as well say there is no me and there is no you.
COHN:
There is a me; that's all I concede.
JOAN:
But there
is
no me?
