JOSEPH BRODSKY
285
AAAAAAAIIi
Inanimate, you sa id'il
Petroooovich ' Petroooovich
'
Petrov ich
'
Petrovich
I
Inanim ate,
yes~
In animat e
'
Ah a
'
a nd w h at' s
th a t ~
Spi es ! M ata H ari
l
Oooooooooh
'
[Ill this state o(great agiTaTioll, PCTrOl'ich ya ll ks his /Ialldm{fs oliT
(~(
his pockeT, Throll/s
Matilda 011 Thcf/oor, ha!f-iIlTclldill,S; arreST, /Ial( rapc. He slIddmly realizes Th e conTradiaion
alld f ree.::es, GClleral CO IIIIII OTiol, . G IISTIlI', Cccilia, alld Boris Modestollich plill Petrollieh
arId MaTilda apa rT.
I
Meil1 Go" ,
yo u sho uld be ashamed ! Petrovich
I
Phe
'
Oh my, that's some Stani slavsky fo r you .
This is
MaTilda,
Petrov ich.
[Petrollicll is
ill
a ca TaTollic sTaTc,
I
T-t-t-rust but ch-ch-ch- cc .
[MaTilda solis.
I
N-yes,
I'm
afraid we 'll ha ve to switch ove r to the computer with o ut waiting for
the reelection.
[Pal/se, Boris ModesTollic/1 approacllcs Th e sobbillg Ma Tilda. 1
Calm down, baby. H e didn 't m ea n to
It
was unintenti o nal. Th e pressure,
you know. Under democ racy o ne Ius to think o f too many things at o nce.
Of two,
to
say th e least.
I bet he thought o f just o ne, G ustav.
From your point o f view , Cecilia, everybody thinks o nly o f o ne.
[Matilda sobs. Boris A10desTollich COllTilllleS ca ressill,1i her liarc bliTTocks.1
Calm down, ca lm down. The pressure, yo u know, it 's to o grea t. Eve n worse
than under tyranny. Fo r instance, o ne 's got to think about
[Sh OOTS a glance at the
bear,]
the West. Abo ut the future . Abo ut th e prese nt , too. Whereas before, you
see, it was j ust th e East. Plus, naturall y, th e past ... Two who le new
[His palm
makes a wave over Matilda
'5
behilld.1
tenses just got added . The pressure , you know.
Makes one's
I
Bri(j'g yratioll of the hipsl
he3d swell. Makes it really explode ... any
minute .. .Well , what was I
saying~
Ah , yes.
It
was unintention al.
[Matilda still solis.
I
O h , yea h. Unintenti o nal. Dirty beast.
But not a predato r, Matilda, is he
t
N o t a predato r.
[Regains collirol of himself.
J
Although of course a beast. A dirty o ld beast. Of all beasts, you kn ow , man
[His
