Waiting for Godot (9 page)

VLADIMIR:
Tell me that.

ESTRAGON:
True.

VLADIMIR:
We must have thought a little.

ESTRAGON:
At the very beginning.

VLADIMIR:
A charnel-house! A charnel-house!

ESTRAGON:
You don't have to look.

VLADIMIR:
You can't help looking.

ESTRAGON:
True.

VLADIMIR:
Try as one may.

ESTRAGON:
I beg your pardon?

VLADIMIR:
Try as one may.

ESTRAGON:
We should turn resolutely towards Nature.

VLADIMIR:
We've tried that.

ESTRAGON:
True.

VLADIMIR:
On it's not the worst, I know.

ESTRAGON:
What?

VLADIMIR:
To have thought.

ESTRAGON:
Obviously.

VLADIMIR:
But we could have done without it.

ESTRAGON:
Que voulez-vous?

VLADIMIR:
I beg your pardon?

ESTRAGON:
Que voulez-vouz.

VLADIMIR:
Ah! que voulez-vous. Exactly.
Silence.

ESTRAGON:
That wasn't such a bad little canter.

VLADIMIR:
Yes, but now we'll have to find something else.

ESTRAGON:
Let me see.
He takes off his hat, concentrates.

VLADIMIR:
Let me see. (He takes off his hat, concentrates. Long silence.) Ah!
They put on their hats, relax.

ESTRAGON:
Well?

VLADIMIR:
What was I saying, we could go on from there.

ESTRAGON:
What were you saying when?

VLADIMIR:
At the very beginning.

ESTRAGON:
The very beginning of WHAT?

VLADIMIR:
This evening . . . I was saying . . . I was saying . . .

ESTRAGON:
I'm not a historian.

VLADIMIR:
Wait . . . we embraced . . . we were happy . . . happy . . . what do we do now
that we're happy . . . go on waiting . . . waiting . . . let me think . . . it's
coming . . . go on waiting . . . now that we're happy . . . let me see . . . ah!
The tree!

ESTRAGON:
The tree?

VLADIMIR:
Do you not remember?

ESTRAGON:
I'm tired.

VLADIMIR:
Look at it.
They look at the tree.

ESTRAGON:
I see nothing.

VLADIMIR:
But yesterday evening it was all black and bare. And now it's covered with
leaves.

ESTRAGON:
Leaves?

VLADIMIR:
In a single night.

ESTRAGON:
It must be the Spring.

VLADIMIR:
But in a single night!

ESTRAGON:
I tell you we weren't here yesterday. Another of your nightmares.

VLADIMIR:
And where were we yesterday evening according to you?

ESTRAGON:
How would I know? In another compartment. There's no lack of void.

VLADIMIR:
(sure of himself). Good. We weren't here yesterday evening. Now what did we
do yesterday evening?

ESTRAGON:
Do?

VLADIMIR:
Try and remember.

ESTRAGON:
Do . . . I suppose we blathered.

VLADIMIR:
(controlling himself). About what?

ESTRAGON:
Oh . . . this and that I suppose, nothing in particular. (With assurance.) Yes,
now I remember, yesterday evening we spent blathering about nothing in
particular. That's been going on now for half a century.

VLADIMIR:
You don't remember any fact, any circumstance?

ESTRAGON:
(weary). Don't torment me, Didi.

VLADIMIR:
The sun. The moon. Do you not remember?

ESTRAGON:
They must have been there, as usual.

VLADIMIR:
You didn't notice anything out of the ordinary?

ESTRAGON:
Alas!

VLADIMIR:
And Pozzo? And Lucky?

ESTRAGON:
Pozzo?

VLADIMIR:
The bones.

ESTRAGON:
They were like fishbones.

VLADIMIR:
It was Pozzo gave them to you.

ESTRAGON:
I don't know.

VLADIMIR:
And the kick.

ESTRAGON:
That's right, someone gave me a kick.

VLADIMIR:
It was Lucky gave it to you.

ESTRAGON:
And all that was yesterday?

VLADIMIR:
Show me your leg.

ESTRAGON:
Which?

VLADIMIR:
Both. Pull up your trousers. (Estragon gives a leg to Vladimir, staggers.
Vladimir takes the leg. They stagger.) Pull up your trousers.

ESTRAGON:
I can't.
Vladimir pulls up the trousers, looks at the leg, lets it go. Estragon almost
falls.

VLADIMIR:
The other. (Estragon gives the same leg.) The other, pig! (Estragon gives the
other leg. Triumphantly.) There's the wound! Beginning to fester!

ESTRAGON:
And what about it?

VLADIMIR:
(letting go the leg). What are your boots?

ESTRAGON:
I must have thrown them away.

VLADIMIR:
When?

ESTRAGON:
I don't know.

VLADIMIR:
Why?

ESTRAGON:
(exasperated). I don't know why I don't know!

VLADIMIR:
No, I mean why did you throw them away?

ESTRAGON:
(exasperated). Because they were hurting me!

VLADIMIR:
(triumphantly, pointing to the boots). There they are! (Estragon looks at the
boots.) At the very spot where you left them yesterday!
Estragon goes towards the boots, inspects them closely.

ESTRAGON:
They're not mine.

VLADIMIR:
(stupefied). Not yours!

ESTRAGON:
Mine were black. These are brown.

VLADIMIR:
You're sure yours were black?

ESTRAGON:
Well they were a kind of gray.

VLADIMIR:
And these are brown. Show me.

ESTRAGON:
(picking up a boot). Well they're a kind of green.

VLADIMIR:
Show me. (Estragon hands him the boot. Vladimir inspects it, throws it down
angrily.) Well of all the�

ESTRAGON:
You see, all that's a lot of bloody�

VLADIMIR:
Ah! I see what it is. Yes, I see what's happened.

ESTRAGON:
All that's a lot of bloody�

VLADIMIR:
It's elementary. Someone came and took yours and left you his.

ESTRAGON:
Why?

VLADIMIR:
His were too tight for him, so he took yours.

ESTRAGON:
But mine were too tight.

VLADIMIR:
For you. Not for him.

ESTRAGON:
(having tried in vain to work it out). I'm tired! (Pause.) Let's go.

VLADIMIR:
We can't.

ESTRAGON:
Why not?

VLADIMIR:
We're waiting for Godot.

ESTRAGON:
Ah! (Pause. Despairing.) What'll we do, what'll we do!

VLADIMIR:
There's nothing we can do.

ESTRAGON:
But I can't go on like this!

VLADIMIR:
Would you like a radish?

ESTRAGON:
Is that all there is?

VLADIMIR:
There are radishes and turnips.

ESTRAGON:
Are there no carrots?

VLADIMIR:
No. Anyway you overdo it with your carrots.

ESTRAGON:
Then give me a radish. (Vladimir fumbles in his pockets, finds nothing but
turnips, finally brings out a radish and hands it to Estragon who examines it,
sniffs it.) It's black!

VLADIMIR:
It's a radish.

ESTRAGON:
I only like the pink ones, you know that!

VLADIMIR:
Then you don't want it?

ESTRAGON:
I only like the pink ones!

VLADIMIR:
Then give it back to me.
Estragon gives it back.

ESTRAGON:
I'll go and get a carrot.
He does not move.

VLADIMIR:
This is becoming really insignificant.

ESTRAGON:
Not enough.
Silence.

VLADIMIR:
What about trying them.

ESTRAGON:
I've tried everything.

VLADIMIR:
No, I mean the boots.

ESTRAGON:
Would that be a good thing?

VLADIMIR:
It'd pass the time. (Estragon hesitates.) I assure you, it'd be an occupation.

ESTRAGON:
A relaxation.

VLADIMIR:
A recreation.

ESTRAGON:
A relaxation.

VLADIMIR:
Try.

ESTRAGON:
You'll help me?

VLADIMIR:
I will of course.

ESTRAGON:
We don't manage too badly, eh Didi, between the two of us?

VLADIMIR:
Yes yes. Come on, we'll try the left first.

ESTRAGON:
We always find something, eh Didi, to give us the impression we exist?

VLADIMIR:
(impatiently). Yes yes, we're magicians. But let us persevere in what we have
resolved, before we forget. (He picks up a boot.) Come on, give me your foot.
(Estragon raises his foot.) The other, hog! (Estragon raises the other foot.)
Higher! (Wreathed together they stagger about the stage. Vladimir succeeds
finally in getting on the boot.) Try and walk. (Estragon walks.) Well?

ESTRAGON:
It fits.

VLADIMIR:
(taking string from his pocket). We'll try and lace it.

ESTRAGON:
(vehemently). No no, no laces, no laces!

VLADIMIR:
You'll be sorry. Let's try the other. (As before.) Well?

ESTRAGON:
(grudgingly). It fits too.

VLADIMIR:
They don't hurt you?

ESTRAGON:
Not yet.

VLADIMIR:
Then you can keep them.

ESTRAGON:
They're too big.

VLADIMIR:
Perhaps you'll have socks some day.

ESTRAGON:
True.

VLADIMIR:
Then you'll keep them?

ESTRAGON:
That's enough about these boots.

VLADIMIR:
Yes, but�

ESTRAGON:
(violently). Enough! (Silence.) I suppose I might as well sit down.
He looks for a place to sit down, then goes and sits down on the mound.

VLADIMIR:
That's where you were sitting yesterday evening.

ESTRAGON:
If I could only sleep.

VLADIMIR:
Yesterday you slept.

ESTRAGON:
I'll try.
He resumes his foetal posture, his head between his knees.

VLADIMIR:
Wait. (He goes over and sits down beside Estragon and begins to sing in a
loud voice.)
Bye bye bye bye
Bye bye�

ESTRAGON:
(looking up angrily). Not so loud!

VLADIMIR:
(softly).
Bye bye bye bye
Bye bye bye bye
Bye bye bye bye
Bye bye . . .
Estragon sleeps. Vladimir gets up softly, takes off his coat and lays it across
Estragon's shoulders, then starts walking up and down, swinging his arms to
keep himself warm. Estragon wakes with a start, jumps up, casts about
wildly. Vladimir runs to him, puts his arms around him.) There . . . there . . .
Didi is here . . . don't be afraid . . .