I'mnot sure. It seems like weeks. It's so damn hot!
ANNEAL
And
here we are, sunbathing almost nude.
STERLING
Almost.
The sun'd scorch your teats - .
ANNEAL
And
your precious sea cucumber - .
STERLING
And
you love it.
ANNEAL
"Onlymad dogs and Englishmen" and usin the noonday sun.
But if we were in Palm Springs where it's hotter
and
drier we'd be out roasting by the pool.
STERLING
You
would. I'd be in the bar where any civilized man retires to if he had any brains.
If he had the ability
to
want to be comfortable.
ANNEAL
Certainly,
Sterling. With a full, tall icy scotch, and tall blonds
wiggling away obtusely in your potted brain.
But
you love my tanned skin, even if you shun the sun.
STERLING (Sighs,
shifting position.)
I
think I'm getting sunstroke. I feel like I'm floating on the heat, like a bit
of pollen.
ANNEAL
It'
s the ocean heaving. Everything seems to be rising and nothing is heavy on this
ocean.
I'm
sure I've gained weight.. I've been eating like a pig.
STERLING
It's
the latitude. You're hungrier nearer the equator.
ANNEAL
That'
s ridiculous.
STERLING
If
it were true.
ANNEAL
Is
it?
STERLING
What?
I agree yes, you've ben eating like a shark out of a monastery.
(ANNEAL
leans up suddenly, feels her stomach, her thighs. Gets up. She surveys herself,
with
her eyes and hands. Stretches out one leg, Her movements must be cooly balletic.
She
must be admired as you admire the Venus di Milo.)
STERLING
(Though apparently not looking, indifferent.)
You're
beautiful.
(ANNEAL
strikes a classical pose, freezes in tableau vivant. Then, unfreezing - )
If
they saw you now, this whole island's men would
choke themselves to death. The lower branches of all
the
trees would creak simultaneously, bending in unison. That' s love. Death.
ANNEAL
You're
just talking about sex, darling. Belly sex, The kind that happens if you don't
know each other' s name.
In
bars. In buses. In the bush.
STERLING
You
don't know anything, a damn thing, about the bush, Anneal.
ANNEAL
In
Central Park there are bushes and trees - .
STERLING
What
- ?
ANNEAL
In
Central Park - .
STERLING
You
?!
ANNEAL
Almost
- once. Between the times when
the
branches were leafless and the sky
twisted
the bodies with cold. When it was summer.
STERLING
Well,
what happened?You said, almost - .
ANNEAL
You'll
laugh.
STERLING
No.
Never.
ANNEAL
It'
s really too simple and I'm not even sure it would have happened. There was
chemistry between us,
though
he was a stranger. We got to talking and ... before we knew it, it could have
been the smell
of
the eucalyptus or his eyes, well, maybe, it was ..just.. the excitement of being
outside and the lush bush
with
its drab leaves nearby ... but...
(Sound of native music.)
I
had just bought a new dress, a gorgeous. . . It would have gotten soiled.
STERLING
Ha,
ha, ha, ha.
(Native
music stops when he laughs,
then
comes up again, subtly, not intrusive.
His laughter is his dialogue.)
Scene
5
Right
stage is the banana grove with RIKLON.
Left
stage is the coconut palm. grove. LOMONA
reclines
on a palm. Wind drives from her to the
banana
grove,causing leaves to ripple again.
LOMONA
The
tide is low, I have sand in my hair.
I
drink the waves. I can not drown if the ocean is pure.
The
fish are like silver sand when they jump out of the water
in
their game that never ends and the white long-tail jungle birds
get
dizzy when they see the horizon. I think, at night in the treetops
close
under the stars they have strange dreams that make them feel like steel
and
they are afraid then of the straight horizon. It is the only abstract thing
that
can be seen from my island, when you are high up squinting with the birds.
The
fish are always calm.
I
am too young to know anything.
I
see only with my eyes, my ears, my hands, my tongue, my heart,
my
thighs which give pleasure, and my belly in which the great pain lies waiting,
like
a ghost.
O,
Riklon - !
(The
wind blows and crosses
to
RIKLON in the banana grove.)
