Fifty Contemporary One-Act Plays - LightNovelsOnl.com
You're reading novel online at LightNovelsOnl.com. Please use the follow button to get notifications about your favorite novels and its latest chapters so you can come back anytime and won't miss anything.
TOWNSMAN. As long as you have your tongue, my dear, you are not defenseless.
TOWNSWOMAN. It is your business to talk to him. [_Kisses the Child._]
My poor little Phillip! Your father is no man.
TOWNSMAN. I was before I got married. [_Crosses to the American._] Sir, my name is Aristide Beaurepard.
AMERICAN. Is that my fault?
TOWNSMAN. I am the father of a family.
AMERICAN. I am very sorry for you, indeed.
TOWNSMAN. I have a wife and children--
AMERICAN. You have only yourself to blame.
TOWNSMAN. Your dog--
AMERICAN. I have no desire to discuss dogs with you. I don't believe you know anything about thoroughbred dogs. Waiter, sit this man down in his place.
TOWNSMAN. This is I must say, this is--
WAITER. Monsieur, you must not make a racket around you. This is a first cla.s.s establishment. A real prince once dined here, I would have you understand. Come on now, if you please. [_Leads Townsman back to his seat._]
TOWNSMAN [_sits unwillingly_]. Not a centime tip will that fellow get from me. Not a centime.
AMERICAN. Waiter, Waiter, bring my dog a portion of liver, and not too fat. And a roast potato.
BEGGAR. [_Coming down C._] [_Jumps up, cries out wildly._] I can't stand any more. For eight days I have not had a warm morsel of food in my stomach. I am not a human being any more. I'll kill myself. [_Runs to the edge of the dock and jumps overboard._] [_The splash of the water is heard. The Townswoman and the Waiter call "help, help!" Whereupon, from every side a crowd collects so that the entire background is filled with people staring into the water._]
TOWNSWOMAN. For G.o.d's sake he has thrown himself into the Seine. Oh, G.o.d! Oh, G.o.d!
OMNES. He's in the river!
AMERICAN. [_At table Right._] What a noisy place this is.
[_Townsman at center throws off his coat and is unb.u.t.toning his vest when his wife seizes him._]
TOWNSWOMAN. [_Center._] [_Whimpering._] Aristide, remember you have a wife and children.
TOWNSMAN. That is why I want to do it.
TOWNSWOMAN. Aristide, I'll jump in after you--as true as I live I'll jump in after you.
TOWNSMAN. [_Slowly puts his coat on again._] Then I won't do it. [_Goes with her into the crowd._]
A VOICE. Get the life buoy. [_Willing hands try to unloosen the life buoy, but it sticks._]
ANOTHER VOICE. Let that life buoy alone. Don't you see the sign "Do not touch"?
A MAN. The buoy is no good. It will not work.
ANOTHER MAN. Of course not. It's city property.
COCOTTE [_shuddering_]. I can't look at it. [_Comes back to her table._]
A WOMAN. Look! He's come up! Over there!
CHILD. I can't see.
TOWNSWOMAN. My little heart of gold [_to her husband_]. Why don't you lift him up? Don't you hear that the child can't see? [_Townsman takes the child on his shoulder._]
YOUNG MAN [_coming back to table_]. These people are utterly heartless.
It is revolting.
AMERICAN [_loudly_]. I'll bet twenty dollars he drowns. Who'll take the bet? Twenty dollars.
YOUNG MAN. Are you a man or a beast?
AMERICAN. Young man, better shut your mouth. [_Fills his gla.s.s._]
YOUNG MAN. Does no one hear know the meaning of Altruism?
ARTIST. Altruism! Ha, ha! [_Laughs scornfully._] Love of one's neighbor.
G.o.d preserve mankind from Altruism!
COCOTTE. What do you mean? You are not in earnest?
ARTIST. In dead earnest. [_Some one in the crowd brings a boat hook and reaches down into the river._]
AMERICAN. I'll bet twenty-five dollars that he doesn't drown--thirty dollars! [_Disgustedly, seeing that no one takes him up._] Tightwads!
ARTIST. Life is like that. One man's success is another man's failure.
He who sacrifices himself for an idea is a hero. He who sacrifices himself for a fellow man is a fool.
YOUNG MAN [_theatrically_]. No, it is the highest, the n.o.blest of instincts. That is why my heart bleeds when I see all these people stand indifferently by while a fellow man is drowning. No one jumps in after him--
AMERICAN. Jump in yourself, young man, jump in yourself.
YOUNG MAN [_center_]. It is different with me, I am with a lady--it wouldn't be right.
AMERICAN. n.o.body will bet. This is a h.e.l.l of a bunch. They ought to see one of our n.i.g.g.e.r lynchings. [_Strokes the dog._] Poor Molly! She is so nervous. Things like this get her all excited.
[_Two Policemen enter._]
FIRST POLICEMAN. Look at the mob. Something is liable to happen there.
SECOND POLICEMAN. Isn't it forbidden for such a mob to gather on the dock?
