Harold Pinter Plays 2 (6 page)

Silence.

A
drip
sounds
in
the
bucket.
They
all
look
up.

Silence.

You still got that leak.

ASTON.
Yes.

Pause.

It’s coming from the roof.

MICK.
From the roof, eh?

ASTON.
Yes.

Pause.

I’ll have to tar it over.

MICK.
You’re going to tar it over?

ASTON.
Yes.

MICK.
What?

ASTON.
The cracks.

Pause.

MICK.
You’ll be tarring over the cracks on the roof.

ASTON.
Yes.

Pause.

MICK.
Think that’ll do it?

ASTON.
It’ll do it, for the time being.

MICK.
Uh.

Pause.

DAVIES
(abruptly).
What do you do—?

They
both
look
at
him.

What do you do … when that bucket’s full?

Pause.

ASTON.
Empty it.

Pause.

MICK.
I was telling my friend you were about to start decorating the other rooms.

ASTON.
Yes.

Pause.

(
To
DAVIES
.) I got your bag.

DAVIES.
Oh. (
Crossing
to
him
and
taking
it
)
.
Oh thanks, mister, thanks. Give it to you, did they?

DAVIES
crosses
back
with
the
bag.
MICK
rises
and
snatches
it.

MICK.
What’s this?

DAVIES.
Give us it, that’s my bag!

MICK
(warding
him
off).
I’ve seen this bag before.

DAVIES.
That’s my bag!

MICK
(eluding
him).
This bag’s very familiar.

DAVIES.
What do you mean?

MICK.
Where’d you get it?

ASTON
(rising,
to
them).
Scrub it.

DAVIES.
That’s mine.

MICK.
Whose?

DAVIES.
It’s mine! Tell him it’s mine!

MICK.
This your bag?

DAVIES.
Give me it!

ASTON.
Give it to him.

MICK.
What? Give him what?

DAVIES.
That bloody bag!

MICK
(slipping
it
behind
the
gas
stove).
What bag?
(To
DAVIES
.) What bag?

DAVIES
(moving).
Look here!

MICK
(facing
him).
Where you going?

DAVIES.
I’m going to get … my old …

MICK.
Watch your step, sonny! You’re knocking at the door when no one’s at home. Don’t push it too hard. You come busting into a private house, laying your hands on anything you can lay your hands on. Don’t overstep the mark, son.

ASTON
picks
up
the
bag.

DAVIES.
You thieving bastard … you thieving skate … let me get my—

ASTON.
Here you are. (
ASTON
offers
the
bag
to
DAVIES
.)

MICK
grabs
it.
ASTON
takes
it.

MICK
grabs
it.
DAVIES
reaches
for
it.

ASTON
takes
it.
MICK
reaches
for
it.

ASTON
gives
it
to
DAVIES
.
MICK
grabs
it.

Pause.

ASTON
takes
it.
DAVIES
takes
it.
MICK
takes
it.
DAVIES
reaches
for
it.
ASTON
takes
it.

Pause.

ASTON
gives
it
to
MICK
.
MICK
gives
it
to
DAVIES
.

DAVIES
grasps
it
to
him.

Pause.

MICK
looks
at
ASTON
.
DAVIES
moves
away
with
the
bag.

He
drops
it.

Pause.

They
watch
him.
He
picks
it
up.
Goes
to
his
bed,
and
sits.

ASTON
goes
to
his
bed,
sits,
and
begins
to
roll
a
cigarette.

MICK
stands
still.

Pause.

A
drip
sounds
in
the
bucket.
They
all
look
up.

Pause.

How did you get on at Wembley?

DAVIES.
Well, I didn’t get down there.

Pause.

No. I couldn’t make it.

MICK
goes
to
the
door
and
exits.

ASTON.
I had a bit of bad luck with that jig saw. When I got there it had gone.

Pause.

DAVIES.
Who was that feller?

ASTON.
He’s my brother.

DAVIES.
Is he? He’s a bit of a joker, en’he?

ASTON.
Uh.

DAVIES.
Yes … he’s a real joker.

ASTON.
He’s got a sense of humour.

DAVIES.
Yes, I noticed.

Pause.

He’s a real joker, that lad, you can see that.

Pause.

ASTON.
Yes, he tends … he tends to see the funny side of things.

DAVIES.
Well, he’s got a sense of humour, en’ he?

ASTON.
Yes.

DAVIES.
Yes, you could tell that.

Pause.

I could tell the first time I saw him he had his own way of looking at things.

ASTON
stands,
goes
to
the
sideboard
drawer,
right,
picks
up
the
statue
of
Buddha,
and
puts
it
on
the
gas
stove.

ASTON.
I’m supposed to be doing up the upper part of the house for him.

DAVIES.
What … you mean … you mean it’s his house?

ASTON.
Yes. I’m supposed to be decorating this landing for him. Make a flat out of it.

DAVIES.
What does he do, then?

ASTON.
He’s in the building trade. He’s got his own van.

DAVIES.
He don’t live here, do he?

ASTON.
Once I get that shed up outside … I’ll be able to give a bit more thought to the flat, you see. Perhaps I can knock up one or two things for it.
(He
walks
to
the
window.)
I can work with my hands, you see. That’s one thing I can do. I never knew I could. But I can do all sorts of things now, with my hands. You know, manual things. When I get that shed up out there … I’ll have a workshop, you see. I … could do a bit of woodwork. Simple woodwork, to start Working with … good wood.

Pause.

Of course, there’s a lot to be done to this place. What I think, though, I think I’ll put in a partition … in one of the rooms along the landing. I think it’ll take it. You know … they’ve got these screens … you know … Oriental. They break up a room with them. Make it into two parts. I could either do that or I could have a partition. I could knock them up, you see, if I had a workshop.

Pause.

Anyway, I think I’ve decided on the partition.

Pause.

DAVIES.
Eh, look here, I been thinking. This ain’t my bag.

ASTON.
Oh. No.

DAVIES.
No, this ain’t my bag. My bag, it was another kind of bag altogether, you see. I know what they’ve done. What they done, they kept my bag, and they given you another one altogether.

ASTON.
No … what happened was, someone had gone off with your bag.

DAVIES
(rising).
That’s what I said!

ASTON.
Anyway, I picked that bag up somewhere else. It’s got a few … pieces of clothes in it too. He let me have the whole lot cheap.

DAVIES
(opening
the
bag).
Any shoes?

DAVIES
takes
two
check
shirts,
bright
red
and
bright
green,
from
the
bag.
He
holds
them
up.

Check.

ASTON.
Yes.

DAVIES.
Yes … well, I know about these sort of shirts, you see. Shirts like these, they don’t go far in the wintertime. I mean, that’s one thing I know for a fact. No, what I need, is a kind of a shirt with stripes, a good solid shirt, with stripes going down. That’s what I want.
(He
takes
from
the
bag a
deep-red
velvet
smoking-jacket.)
What’s this?

ASTON.
It’s a smoking-jacket.

DAVIES.
A smoking-jacket?
(He feels
it.)
This ain’t a bad piece of cloth. I’ll see how it fits.

He
tries
it
on.

You ain’t got a mirror here, have you?

ASTON.
I don’t think I have.

DAVIES.
Well, it don’t fit too bad. How do you think it looks?

ASTON.
Looks all right.

DAVIES.
Well, I won’t say no to this, then.

ASTON
picks
up
the
plug
and
examines
it.

No, I wouldn’t say no to this.

Pause.

ASTON.
You could be … caretaker here, if you liked.

DAVIES.
What?

ASTON.
You could … look after the place, if you liked … you know, the stairs and the landing, the front steps, keep an eye on it Polish the bells.

DAVIES.
Bells?

ASTON.
I’ll be fixing a few, down by the front door. Brass.

DAVIES.
Caretaking, eh?

ASTON.
Yes.

DAVIES.
Well, I … I never done caretaking before, you know … I mean to say … I never … what I mean to say is … I never been a caretaker before.

Pause.

ASTON.
How do you feel about being one, then?

DAVIES.
Well, I reckon … Well, I’d have to know … you know.…

ASTON.
What sort of.…

DAVIES.
Yes, what sort of … you know.…

Pause.

ASTON.
Well, I mean.…

DAVIES.
I mean, I’d have to … I’d have to.…

ASTON.
Well, I could tell you.…

DAVIES.
That’s … that’s it … you see … you get my meaning?

ASTON.
When the time comes.…

DAVIES.
I mean, that’s what I’m getting at, you see.…

ASTON.
More or less exactly what you.…

DAVIES.
You see, what I mean to say … what I’m getting at is … I mean, what sort of jobs.…

Pause.

ASTON.
Well, there’s things like the stairs … and the … the bells.…

DAVIES.
But it’d be a matter … wouldn’t it … it’d be a matter of a broom … isn’t it?