PARTISAN
REVIEW
237
COHN: Those son-of-a-bitch wishes!
(sound of a slap,
COHN
crzes
out.)
JOAN: I'm a servant of the Lord! Watch your tongue!
COHN: Go away, will you? Just go away.
JOAN: Did
I
hurt you?
COHN: Go, please go.
JOAN: What if
I
brought him back to life?
COHN: Lady-
JOAN: Would you then go with me to see the Emperor?
COHN: Oy!
JOAN:
If
I
brought Abe back to life?
CoHN:
If
you brought Abe back to life I'd believe you were Jesus
Christ himself. Don't hit me!
JOAN: Don't blaspheme!
COHN: Don't nag!
JOAN: Would you believe?
COHN: Would
I
believe? I'd believe! I'd believe! (ABE'S
legs twitch.)
JOAN: That
I
am Joan?
COHN: All right!
JOAN: And you
will
follow me?
COHN:
All
right! (ABE'S
legs twitch again. His head appears out of
the trunk. He climbs out, looks at his typewriter, punches a key,
and crosses to the refrigerator.)
ABE: Cohn! What's to eat? (COHN
appears in the doorway. He can–
not believe his eyes. He starts to collapse.
JOAN
catches him and
helps him to a chair.
ABE
turns around and sees them. He shuts
the refrigerator door and stares coldly at
JOAN.) Company?
COHN : You're dead.
ABE:
(coldly)
I didn't know you were having a party.
COHN: You're walking - you're talking - (COHN
rises, starts to
ABE)
ABE:
I
hope I'm not getting in the way.
I
know nobody invited me.
I
just live here.
COHN:
(goes to
ABE
and embraces him)
He lives, he breathes–
(holds
ABE
away from him and stares at him happily)
he smells!
ABE: You're drunk.
COHN:
(to
JOAN) Has there ever been such a friend, to rise from
the dead in a rotten mood?
I
love this man!
(hugs
ABE, ABE
breaks free.)
