Oh!
They are the same. Do not worry about names. Names is not what you hold.
Maybe
the name is different. Another name!
One
name is enough.
(Throws
second stone into waves. Western music cones up.
CIGARETTE
struts.)
On
every island I know them
white
as clouds
wearing
expensive dresses
with
their faces made like shell
you
see them,
rushing,
going around, everywhere,
measuring
the islands.
I
have danced with them
in
Nan Madol Club on a high hill,
the
moon very bright,
and
just their white bodies
can
make you crazy.
Is
that skin possible
-
smooth -
that
smells like perfume paper?
And
eyes
-
you have seen? -
Ah,
so blue, green, Ithink yellow,
like
fire cowrie,
it's
impossible really,
and
when they smile at you and talk to you
you
think you know
the
inside of their face
But
their words are like magic,
with
the places of their country
like
magic-names faraway,
and
when
they say they love you,
of
course it is true
Because
you are different.
When
theylove you
they
follow you.
Even
they are so smart
they
do not forget
when
you are a real man.
"Oh,
Cigarette,
you
are so handsome!"
It
is my great
dancing
and this tattoo
on
my arm
that
the foreign girls
love.
(Native
music comes on. CIGARETTE
does
a Twist to the sound of the surf.)
RIKLON
Tattoo!
(Laughs.)
And
they did not laugh a. you?
(In
the background TIBRIK is drinking.)
CIGARETTE
Laugh?
Why should they laugh?
RIKLON
Because
you have no money. You have no education. You do not speak English too good.
CIGARETTE
(A little offended.)
I
had jobs. I have a high school diploma, don't forget.
And
I speak pretty good English.. "No problem, man!"
RIKLON
What
more?
CIGARETTE
Their
kissing is like sugar - expert!
(Western
music.)
RIKLON
And
- .
CIGARETTE
When
they hold you, it is - terrific, really!
Heaven,
you know. Like what the catechism says, in Paradise, only you are in hotel.
RIKLON
And
- .
CIGARETTE
Ah,
the rest is private.
(Silence.
TIBRIK stands up, ggressive,
staggers.
Sits down again.
Native
music
comes
up.)
But,
Riklon, where is Lomona?
RIKLON
I
do not know. Fishing in the lagoon maybe. Maybe cooking.
CIGARETTE
I
thought you and her - .
(RIKLON
shrugs.)
What
is in your mind?
(RIKLON
shrugs.)
Tibrik
wants her too. Everybody knows that. And he has a store selling Coleman
lanterns
and even beer.
RIKLON
He
is an old man.
CIGARETTE
Only
five years older than you.
RIKLON
He
is too fat. He is a drunkard!
Lomona
hates him.
CIGARETTE
You
love Lomona?
(RIKLON
shrugs.)
Remember
when we were boys we swam there
and
there that was good fishing.
One
tine a giant clam bit on your foot
and
I had to save you.
You
were so afraid and hit me later on
when
I said it.
It
is frightening to die, huh?
RIKLON
I
did not die.
CIGARETTE
You
know, Riklon, sometimes I am afraid . . . .
RIKLON
To
die?
CIGARETTE
No, to live. I see all this time ahead of me
and
I am on this island and I do not know what to do with all of it.
If
I were like my father I could fish my whole life
and
smell the wind morning to night
and
feel in it the great earth making love to me
and
I would never knowthat I was an old man until my sons told me so.
But
me - look! No kid yet,
and
already I drink too much
because
my skin now sings to me in words
I
no longer understand.
Are
you afraid sometimes?
RIKLON
(Shrugs.)
No.
CIGARETTE (Smiling.)
Go
on. Go find Lomona and beat him, that Tibrik, if he makes trouble.
It
is the thing he understands because he thinks he is brave. You are stronger.
(RIKLON starts to leave.)
Hey!
Maybe I will visit you tonight when your mother is cooking.
(Now
RIKLON does not hear.)
Something
bothers Riklon. But words are sea shells to Riklon
which
he never picks up. He looks out at the sea. Riklon never says.
Riklon
is all eyes.
When
he got hurt he never cried, he only sighed
as
though accepting the apology of the pain.
And
when we boys teased he never got mad and chased us,
he
just stared at us and made us feel like fools.
Riklon'
s heart is too dangerous
for
such a simple man. It should belong to a man who is willing to gamble.
Riklon
will die on this island with his heart in his eyes and he will know no language
but
his own.
