The Anarchist (5 page)

ANN
: I . . .

CATHY
: But he
did
bear it, Ann. He did. Though terrified. And thought himself forsaken. Like you.
(Pause)
Like me.

ANN
: I . . .

(Ann starts to speak. The phone rings. It rings again. Ann answers it.)

(Into the phone)
Yes? No, presently. Please, please apologize to the . . . and make them comfortable.
(She hangs up)
Well.

(Pause.)

CATHY
: Oh.
(Pause)
Then, are we done? . . .

(Ann checks her notes.)

ANN
: Who are “the People”?

CATHY
: Ann, you know who the people are.

ANN
: Am I one of them?

CATHY
: Say it was written by another woman.

ANN
: The Speech?

CATHY
: Yes.

ANN
: And the other woman was you?

CATHY
: A man killed and spent his life in anguish. And he asked Christ if He could forgive a man who had killed.

ANN
: And Christ said?

CATHY
: Christ said, “No. But you are now
another
man. For now in Me you are reborn.”

ANN
: Are you reborn?

CATHY
: You find the concept arrogant. It's quite the opposite. It means
acceptance
.

ANN
: Of?

CATHY
: The human condition.

ANN
: Are you the people?

CATHY
: I am of the people.

ANN
: And yet you come from great wealth.

CATHY
: I renounced their wealth.

ANN
: . . . and.

CATHY
: I renounce it now . . .

ANN
: And attended prestigious schools . . .

CATHY
: And I renounced their teachings. And the
wealth
I renounce, my father's wealth, I . . .

ANN
: . . . you . . .

CATHY
: I understand.
You
might say, I'm going to work with the Sisters, and, so . . .

ANN
: . . . you . . .

CATHY
: And so will not
require
wealth . . .

ANN
: . . . with the Sisters.
Why
?

CATHY
: Because they will have me.
(Pause)
I wanted . . . to be cloistered.

ANN
: . . . as you are here?

CATHY
: But of my own choice. I fantasized that I could trade Shame for Degradation. And “wash the privies with my hair.” To play the
piano
for them.

ANN
: You said you had forgotten you studied the piano.

CATHY
: . . .
and
equitation,
and
French. When I was young. When it was thought that it was a presumption. On the part of a Jew.
(Pause)
Listen: All evil regimes. Pressed their adherents into monstrous acts. As, afterwards, the actors could not face themselves, and so had to collude
with the only society which could abide them. To
break
from those regimes, is, therefore, an act of wrenching. It is a sort of death.
(Pause)
I do not require wealth, and, so, the act of renunciation, you are correct, is perhaps, insufficient penance. But it is all I have.

(Pause.)

ANN
: You do not require wealth.

CATHY
: That's right.

ANN
: As?

CATHY
: As I'm going to work with the Sisters. I was going to say “in poverty,” but I'm not sure I remember what that word means.

ANN
: Why do you want to work with them?

CATHY
: I've told you. Can I dissect myself and find a self-serving intention? Of course. But would it be more true than an altruistic one?

ANN
: Which might be?

CATHY
: That people are suffering. Should we not do what we can? To alleviate pain?

ANN
: And the families of the Policemen.

CATHY
: . . . yes?

ANN
: We know that they suffer. Are they Of the People? Can they be? Or are the People specifically, but those whom you specify? All others being allowed to suffer?

CATHY
: All people suffer.

ANN
: Is that true?

CATHY
: You suffer.

ANN
: How do you know?

CATHY
: Because I've watched you.

ANN
: How do I suffer?

CATHY
: I've told you.

ANN
: Why do I suffer?

CATHY
: The question is not what or why one suffers, but what recourse one may have.

ANN
: And the answer is?

CATHY
: Submission.

ANN
: To?

CATHY
: I've told you that, too.

ANN
: Tell me again.

CATHY
: Our Savior.

ANN
: And where did you learn that?

CATHY
: At the only place at which it may be learned. The Foot of the Cross.

ANN
: Yes. But you were born a Jew.
(Pause)
“Christ was a Jew”?

CATHY
: Christ
is
a Jew. And to mock the possibility of salvation is to mock Him. Whom you profess, by the cross around your neck, to worship. But you cannot worship Him, for to do so is to Renounce the Worship of your sorrows. Which is to say of yourself.

ANN
: Is that so?

CATHY
: And when you leave here; having, to your mind, wasted your life. On, what you understand as a fool's errand, you will, to your mind, have nothing. And you know it.

ANN
: Was it a fool's errand?

CATHY
: I believe you think it was.

ANN
: But was it?

CATHY
: You must say. If you are strong enough to say. I don't think that you are.

ANN
: Why would that be?

CATHY
: Which is why you toy with me.

ANN
: How do I toy with you?

CATHY
: You've moved my cell.

ANN
: All right. Why have I moved your cell?

CATHY
: For out-processing.

ANN
: Which conclusion you arrive at? As?

CATHY
: You're leaving. And want to conclude here with an Act of Grace. I understand.

(Pause.)

ANN
: What did you plan to do on your release?

CATHY
: I've told you.

ANN
: To “Work with the Sisters.” You . . .

CATHY
: . . . you have that correspondence.

ANN
: To “Work with the Sisters.” Doing “Good.”

CATHY
: That's right.

ANN
: And would you like to do Good.

CATHY
: With all my heart.

ANN
: Where is Althea?

(Pause.)

CATHY
: Althea . . .

ANN
: Yes.

CATHY
: Why Althea? Finally?

ANN
: Tell me.

CATHY
: Is she the last one left?

ANN
: Marty, of course, died in the apartment. Marianne died in the shoot-out . . . John and Jack . . .

CATHY
: I know what happened to John and Jack.

ANN
: Do they write you?

CATHY
: No.

ANN
: They don't?

CATHY
: If they did I wouldn't accept their letters.

ANN
: Oh, yes, as they were “traitors”? Were they traitors?

CATHY
: If it amuses you, you may say that they were.

ANN
: To what?

CATHY
: All right.

ANN
: To what?

CATHY
: To “The Cause.”

ANN
: What was The Cause?

CATHY
: There was no Cause.

ANN
: But you've said that they were traitors.

CATHY
: That's right.

ANN
: But, to what, if not “The Cause”?

CATHY
: . . . and they sinned.

ANN
: Against what, if not “The Cause”?

CATHY
: We all sin.

ANN
: But can they have no forgiveness? You say you have found forgiveness. Can you not forgive them?

CATHY
: Which of us is perfect?

ANN
: You wrote that Althea was perfect.

CATHY
: I wrote that?

ANN
: At the beginning.

CATHY
: You may read my letters if you like.

ANN
: I may read them with or without your permission. They were found in the apartment.

CATHY
: Ah, yes.

ANN
: And, so, are in Evidence.

CATHY
: Of course.

ANN
: And, further, you, who believed in the “cleansing force of Violence,” are powerless to stop me. As power comes, as you've said, “from the end of a gun.”

CATHY
: I have embraced Christ, and have renounced violence.

ANN
: But you will not forgive “traitors.”

CATHY
: I said I have embraced Christ. Not that I have become Him.

(Pause.)

ANN
: You believe. That the time has come. For us to release you. An old woman. Not that she deserves compassion. But that she no longer poses a threat. Is that the gist of your plea?

CATHY
: Look at me.

ANN
: All right

CATHY
: Am I a threat?

ANN
: Where is Althea?

CATHY
: I don't know.

ANN
: If you knew, would you tell me?

CATHY
: What can that question mean? . . .

ANN
: Who are The Blind?

CATHY
: “The Blind . . .”

ANN
(Reads)
: “While the unafflicted may toy with the notion . . .”

CATHY
: Yes, I wrote it. The, the . . .

ANN
: Who are The Blind?

CATHY
: I don't know.

ANN
: But you wrote it. “The . . .”

CATHY
: Yes, I wrote it, but people change. You change.

ANN
: Who are “the unafflicted”?

CATHY
: I . . .

ANN
: Would that be you? What is the affliction you escaped?

CATHY
: I . . .

ANN
: Which allowed you such freedom? “Hov'ring at the margins of the real . . . We strive to disabuse ourselves . . .”

CATHY
: They were the writings of a child. Who had the facility to ape that language. I confess. Now I have nothing more to confess.

ANN
: Where is Althea?

CATHY
: I don't know.

ANN
: I don't believe you.

CATHY
: What if you are wrong?

ANN
: Then you must stay in prison.