Brecht Collected Plays: 1: Baal; Drums in the Night; In the Jungle of Cities; Life of Edward II of England; & 5 One Act Plays: "Baal", "Drums in the Night", "In the Jungle of Ci (World Classics) (26 page)

GARGA
: That’s how it is. The snow tried to fall, but it was too cold. My family will eat left-overs again, and again they’ll be hungry. But I, I will strike down my enemy.

JOHN
: All I see is weakness, nothing else. Since the day I first laid eyes on you. Go ahead and leave us. Why shouldn’t they take the furniture away?

GARGA
: I’ve read that feeble waters erode whole mountains. And I still want to see your face, Shlink, your damned invisible, frosted-glass face.

SHLINK
: I have no desire to talk with you any further. Three years. For a young man that’s no more than a swing of the door. But for me! I’ve drawn no profit from you if that’s any comfort to you. But you’re not leaving a trace of sadness in me, now that I’m going back into the noisy city to carry on my business as I did before we met.
Exit
.

GARGA
: All that remains for me to do now is phone the police.
Exit
.

JANE
: I’m going to the Chinese bar. I can do without the police.
Exit
.

MAE
: Sometimes I think Mary will never come back either.

JOHN
: She has only herself to blame. Can we be expected to help them when they live in vice?

MAE
: Is there any better time to help them?

JOHN
: Don’t talk so much.

MAE
sits down next to him
: I wanted to ask you: what are you going to do now?

JOHN
: Me? Nothing. This part of our life is over.

MAE
: You understand, don’t you, what George is going to do to himself?

JOHN
: Yes. More or less. It won’t help us any.

MAE
: And what are you going to live on?

JOHN
: On the money that’s still left. And we’ll sell the piano.

MAE
: They’ll take it away, it was come by dishonestly.

JOHN
: Maybe we’ll go back to Ohio. We’ll do something.

MAE
stands up
: There’s something else I wanted to tell you, John, but I can’t. I’ve never believed that a man could suddenly be damned. It’s decided in heaven. This is a day like any other, and nothing has changed, but from this day on you’re damned.

JOHN
: What are you going to do?

MAE
: I’m going to do a certain thing, John, something I want very much to do. Don’t imagine I have any special reason. But first I’ll put some coal on the fire, you’ll find your supper in the kitchen.
Goes out
.

JOHN
: Take care that the ghost of a shark doesn’t eat you on the stairs.

WAITER
enters
: Mrs Garga has ordered you a grog. Do you wish to drink it in the dark, or should I put the light on?

JOHN
: What do you think? Give us some light.
The waiter goes out
.

MARY
enters
: Don’t make any speeches. I’ve brought money.

JOHN
: You dare to set foot here? A fine family. And look at you!

MARY:
I look fine. But where did you get all this new furniture? Have you taken in some money? I’ve taken in some money too.

JOHN
: Where did you get the money?

MARY
: Do you really want to know?

JOHN:
Give it here. You people have brought me to this with hunger.

MARY
: So you’re taking my money? In spite of your new furniture? Where’s Mother?

JOHN
: Deserters are stood up against the wall.

MARY
: Did you send her out on the streets?

JOHN
: Be cynical, wallow in the gutter, drink grog. But I’m your father, you can’t let me starve.

MARY
: Where has she gone?

JOHN
: You can go, too. I’m used to being left.

MARY
: When did she leave here?

JOHN
: At the end of my life I’m condemned to being poor and licking my children’s spittle, but I won’t have any truck with vice. I have no hesitation about throwing you out.

MARY
: Give me back my money. It wasn’t meant for you.

JOHN
: Not a chance. You can sew me up in a shroud, I’ll still beg for a pound of tobacco.

MARY
: So long.
Goes out
.

JOHN
: They’ve no more to say to a man than can be said in five minutes. Then they run out of lies.
Pause
. Actually everything there is to say could be covered in two minutes of silence.

GARGA
comes back
: Where’s mother? Gone? Did she think I wasn’t coming back up again?
He runs out and comes back
. She won’t be back, she’s taken her other dress.
He sits down at the table and writes a letter
: ‘To
The Examiner
. I wish to call your attention to C. Shlink, the Malay lumber dealer. This man molested my wife, Jane Garga, and raped my sister, Mary Garga, who was in his employ. George Garga.’ I won’t say anything about my mother.

JOHN
: That wipes out our family.

GARGA
: I’ve written this letter. I’ll put it in my pocket and forget the whole business. And in three years – that’s how long they’ll hold me – a week before I’m discharged, I’ll send my letter to the newspaper. This man will be exterminated from this city, and when I come back he’ll have vanished from my sight. But for him the day of my release will be marked by the howling of the lynch mobs.

C. Shlink’s Private Office

20 October 1915, 1 p.m.
Shlink and a young clerk
.

SHLINK
dictating
: Write to Miss Mary Garga, who has applied for a position as secretary, that I will never again have anything to do with either her or her family. To Standard Real Estate. Dear Sirs: As of today not a single share of our stock is in the hands of any outside firm and our business situation is secure. Consequently, there is nothing to prevent us from accepting your offer of a five-year contract.

AN EMPLOYEE
brings a man in
: This is Mr Shlink.

THE MAN
: I’ve got three minutes to give you some information. You’ve got two minutes to understand your situation. Half an hour ago
The Examiner
received a letter from one of the state penitentiaries, signed by one Garga, showing you’ve committed a number of crimes. In five minutes the reporters will be here. You owe me a thousand dollars.
Shlink gives him the money. The man goes out
.

SHLINK
carefully packing his suitcase
: Carry on the business as long as you can. Mail these letters. I’ll be back.
Goes out quickly
.

Bar Across the Street from the Prison

28 October 1915
Worm, Baboon, the Pugnosed Man, the Salvation Army Preacher, Jane, Mary Garga. Noise from outside
.

BABOON
: Do you hear the howling of the lynch mob? These are dangerous days for Chinatown. A week ago the crimes of a Malayan lumber dealer came to light. Three years ago he sent a man to prison, for three years the man kept quiet, but a week before his release he wrote a letter to
The Examiner
, telling the whole story.

THE PUGNOSED MAN
: The human heart!

BABOON
: The Malay himself, naturally, has skipped town. But he’s done for.

WORM
: You can’t say that about anybody. Consider the conditions on this planet. A man never gets finished off all at once, but at least a hundred times. A man has too many possibilities. For instance, let me tell you the story of G. Wishu, the bulldog man. But I’ll need the nickelodeon.
The nickelodeon is played
. This is the story of the dog, George Wishu. George Wishu was born on the Emerald Isle. When he was eighteen months old a fat man took him to the great city of London. His own country let him go like a stranger. In London he soon fell into the hands of a cruel woman, who subjected him to gruesome tortures. After much suffering he ran away to the country, where he was hunted down between green hedges. Men shot at him with big dangerous guns, and strange dogs chased him. He lost a leg and from then on he limped. After several of his undertakings had failed, weary of life and half starved, he found refuge with an old man who shared his bread with him. Here, after a life full of disappointments and adventures, he
died at the age of seven and a half with great serenity and composure. He lies buried in Wales. – Now tell me, sir, how are you going to fit all that under one roof?

THE PUGNOSED MAN
: Who is this man that’s wanted?

WORM
: It’s the Malay they’re looking for. He went bankrupt once before, but in three years he managed by all sorts of dodges to recover his lumber business, and that made him a lot of enemies in his neighbourhood. But no court could have touched him if a man in jail hadn’t brought his sex crimes to light.
To Jane
: Exactly when is your husband getting out?

JANE
: Yes, that’s it: I knew it a while ago. Gentlemen, don’t go thinking that I don’t know. It’s on the twenty-eighth, yesterday or today.

BABOON
: Cut the comedy, Jane.

THE PUGNOSED MAN
: And who’s that woman in the indecent dress?

BABOON
: That’s the victim, the sister of the man in jail.

JANE
: Yes, that’s my sister-in-law. She pretends not to know me, but when I was married she never came home a single night.

BABOON
: The Malay ruined her.

THE PUGNOSED MAN
: What’s she dropping into the sink behind the bar?

WORM
: I can’t see. She’s saying something, too. Keep still, Jane.

MARY
lets a banknote flutter into the sink
: When I held the bills in my hand that day, I saw God’s eye watching me. I said: I’ve done everything for him. God turned away, there was a sound like tobacco fields rustling in the wind. I kept them, though. One bill! Another! Pieces of myself! I’m giving my purity away. Now the money’s gone! I don’t feel any better…

GARGA
enters with C. Maynes and three other men
: I’ve asked you to come with me so you could see with your own eyes that I’ve been done an injustice. I’ve brought you with me, Mr Maynes, to witness the kind of place I find my wife in after
three years of absence.
He leads the men to the table where Jane is sitting
. Hello, Jane. How are you?

JANE
: George! Is this the twenty-eighth? I didn’t know. I’d have been home. Did you notice how cold it is there? Did you guess I’d be sitting here just to get warm?

GARGA
: This is Mr Maynes. You know him. I’m going back to work in his store. And these are neighbours who take an interest in my situation.

JANE
: How do you do, gentlemen. Oh, George, it’s awful for me that I missed your day. What will you gentlemen think of me? Ken Si, wait on the gentlemen.

BARMAN
to the Pugnosed Man
: That’s the fellow from the pen who informed on him.

GARGA
: Hello, Mary. Have you been waiting for me? My sister’s here too, as you can see.

MARY
: Hello, George. Are you all right?

GARGA
: Let’s go home, Jane.

JANE
: Oh, George, you’re just saying that. But if I go with you, you’ll scold me when we get home. I’d better tell you right away that the housework hasn’t been done.

GARGA
: I know that.

JANE
: That’s mean of you.

GARGA
: I’m not chiding you, Jane. We’re going to make a fresh start. My fight is finished. I’ve driven my opponent from the city, and that’s the end of it.

JANE
: No, George. Things will keep getting worse and worse. People say things are going to get better, but they keep getting worse, they can do that. I hope you like it here, gentlemen. Of course we could go somewhere else…

GARGA
: What’s the matter, Jane? Aren’t you glad I’ve come for you?

JANE
: You know perfectly well, George. And if you don’t, I can’t tell you.

GARGA
: What do you mean?

JANE
: Don’t you see, George, I’m different from what you think, even if I’m almost done for. Why did you bring these gentlemen? I’ve always known I’d end like this.
When they told me in Sunday school what happens to the weak, I said to myself: that’s what will happen to me. You don’t have to prove it to anybody.

GARGA
: Then you won’t come home?

JANE
: Don’t ask me, George.

GARGA
: But I am asking you, my dear.

JANE
: Then I’ll have to put it a different way. I’ve been living with this man.
Points to Baboon
. I admit it, gentlemen. And what’s the use? Nothing’s going to get any better.

BABOON
: She’s out of her mind.

MAYNES
: Dreadful!

GARGA
: Listen to me, Jane. This is your last chance in this city. I’m ready to wipe the slate clean. These gentlemen are my witnesses. Come home with me.

JANE
: It’s nice of you, George. It certainly is my last chance. But I won’t take it. Things aren’t right between us, you know that. I’m going now, George.
To Baboon
: Come.

BABOON
: That’s that.
Both go out
.