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No. 00287 |
September 13-19, 2003 |
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Faces of Truth
Truth has many FacesHow many Faces have you…?
Act 2, Scene 1 War dance and song. A childs voice is heard pleading indistinctly. Reddish lighting. Act 2, Scene 2 At Rebeccas, in Kijenge. Kimolo is stretched out on a sofa. Rebecca sits by a cooking fire and stirs a pot. A drunkard sits on a stool in a corner. Room should be gloomy. Kimolo - God! Oh God! Oohh…no. Not again. Drunk - Bad dream, eh? Kimolo - Shut up. Drunk - The other day, I - Kimolo - Shut up. Or else. Rebecca - This mans my customer. You cant keep chasing away my - Kimolo - Customer? How much has he spent? Two hundred shillings? Three? Hes had that glass for bloody hours. What do you think that is, my friend? Johnny Walker Red? Dimple Haig? Drink and go! Rebecca - You cant - Kimolo - Ill pay whatever damn coins he would of paid. Rebecca - What if you were to drop dead tomorrow? Who would pay his damn coins then? Drunk - Yeah. Whod pay for them then? Eh? Kimolo - Im warning you. Rebecca - AND IM WARNING YOU!! DON'T MESS MY CUSTOMERS ABOUT!! Drunk - Damn right! Rebecca - Are you having another drink? Drunk - Er, well, actually - no. Rebecca - Then leave. Drunk - But you just said that - Rebecca - Leave now. Come back later. Kimolo - With money. Drunk stumbles out. Rebecca - It was bad? Kimolo - Bad. Rebecca - The same thing? Kimolo - Yes. Rebecca - Your father beating you? Kimolo is silent. Rebecca - Im sorry. That was stupid. Kimolo - Ive a better word than that. Rebecca - It's a nice day outside. Kimolo - Is it? Rebecca - Don't you want some fresh air? Kimolo - Im all right. Rebecca - Youre all right? Another silence Rebecca - Its stuffy in here. Why don't you go for a little walk? Kimolo - I - am - all - right. Rebecca - Of course you are. Kimolo - Don't use that tone with me. Why don't you go out? Rebecca - Who will look after this? Kimolo - What do you mean? Rebecca - What do you think? Kimolo - I cant manage a pot of miserable beans? Rebecca - The way you managed it last time? Kimolo - Bloody hell? So I burnt a pot of bloody beans! So what? Am I the first one to do that in this precious slum? AM I? Rebecca - No. Kimolo - Then? Rebecca - I don't want to go out. Kimolo - Who is asking you to? Eh? Who is asking you? Rebecca - Leave it. Kimolo - All I want is a simple quiet forbidden glass of gongo and to enjoy the stench in this place. In peace. But nnoooo… Rebecca - Who made the stench? Kimolo - I don't remember any of what you said. Its not true. Rebecca - Fine. Tell me then. What do you remember? Kimolo - Everything. Rebecca - How did you get that swollen eye? Kimolo - Stop nagging. STOP NA - GGING. I can get nagged at in twenty different places in this miserable God forsaken city. I didn't have to come to this terrible slum of slums TO BE NAGGED. 0 - K? Rebecca - Yes. Kimolo - You know the light hurts my eyes and you want me to go out. Rebecca - I thought that problem was over. Kimolo - But did you ask? Did you ask me? Rebecca - Just leave it. Please. Kimolo - Give me another drink. Rebecca gets up to pour his drink. As she does so, Margo steps quickly into the room. Margo - Better finish that quick! Kimolo - Margo! Je - sus! You gave me a shock! Margo - Good you should be shocked. Cops are near. Rebecca - What?! Hurry UP, Kimolo! Kimolo gulps his drink and hands the glass to Rebecca who collects some other things and runs out. Kimolo - I thought you people sorted the cops out? Margo - You cant sort them all out. What do you mean when you say you people like that? Kimolo - Come on, Margo. You know. Margo - Yes. Slum whores. Riff raff. Trash. Kimolo - Margo! Margo - Margo! No one asked you here. Just remember that. No one. Kimolo - I didn't mean to . . . Margo - I know what you meant. Rebecca returns Rebecca - What? Margo - Nothing. Look Rebecca. I have to warn the others. Rebecca - Of course. Come back later. Margo - I will. Margo leaves. Rebecca - What was that? Kimolo - Like she said. Nothing. Was it a cop who shut my damn eye? Rebecca - I thought you remembered everything? Kimolo - Keep that up and there wont be so many beans in the bloody pot. Rebecca - Heh! Was I starving before you came? Kimolo - Im sorry. I should not have said that. Rebecca - Instead of fighting your real enemies, whoever or whatever they are, you pick quarrels with me. I, Rebecca, who once stood between you and an angry mans knife. Who else would have done that? TELL ME? WHO?! Kimolo - I said. I am sorry. Rebecca - All right. Continues next week
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Last modified:
September 11, 2003. Webmaster: WDJMallya |
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Play By John F Masare