Seascape Read online

  LESLIE

  Is that what they were?

  SARAH

  We observed them, though, and they had young with them; young! And it was most interesting: the young would attach themselves to what I assume was the female—the mother—would attach themselves to devices that I think were very much like those of yours; resemble them.

  NANCY

  Of course! To the mammaries! Oh, Sarah, those were whales, for whales are mammals and they feed their young.

  SARAH

  Do you remember, Leslie?

  LESLIE (Nods)

  Yes, I think I do.

  (To NANCY)

  And you have those? That’s what you have?

  NANCY

  Yes; well … very much like them … In principle.

  LESLIE

  My gracious.

  CHARLIE (To clear the air; brisk)

  Do you, uh … do you have any children? Any young?

  SARAH (Laughs gaily)

  Well, of course I have! Hundreds!

  CHARLIE

  Hundreds!

  SARAH

  Certainly; I’m laying eggs all the time.

  CHARLIE (A pause)

  You … lay eggs.

  SARAH

  Certainly! Right and left.

  (A pause)

  NANCY

  Well.

  LESLIE (Eyes narrowed)

  You, uh … you don’t lay eggs, hunh?

  CHARLIE (Incredulous)

  No; of course not!

  LESLIE (Exploding)

  There! You see?! What did I tell you?! They don’t even lay eggs!

  NANCY

  (Trying to save the situation)

  How many … uh … eggs have you laid, Sarah?

  SARAH (Thinks about it for a bit)

  Seven thousand?

  NANCY (Admonishing)

  Oh! Sarah!

  SARAH

  No?

  NANCY

  Well, I dare say! Yes! But, really!

  SARAH

  I’m sorry?

  NANCY

  No! Never that!

  CHARLIE

  (To LESLIE, with some awe)

  Seven thousand! Really?

  LESLIE

  (Gruff; the usual husband)

  Well, I don’t know. I mean …

  NANCY

  What do you do with them, Sarah? How do you take care of them?

  SARAH

  Well … they just … float away.

  NANCY (Chiding)

  Oh, Sarah!

  SARAH

  Some get eaten—by folk passing by, which is a blessing, really, or we’d be inundated—some fall to the bottom, some catch on growing things; there’s a disposition.

  NANCY

  Still!

  SARAH

  Why? What do you do with them?

  NANCY (Looks at her nails briefly)

  It’s different with us, Sarah. In the birthing, I mean; I don’t know about … well, how you go about it!

  SARAH (Shy)

  Well … we couple.

  LESLIE

  Shhh!

  NANCY

  Yes; I thought. And so do we.

  SARAH (Relieved)

  Oh; good. And then—in a few weeks—

  NANCY

  Oh, it takes a lot longer for us, Sarah: nine months.

  SARAH

  Nine months! Leslie!

  LESLIE

  Wow!

  SARAH

  Nine months.

  NANCY

  And then the young are born. Is born … usually.

  SARAH

  Hm?

  NANCY

  Is. We usually have one, Sarah. One at a time. Oh, two, occasionally; rarely three or more.

  SARAH (Commiserating)

  Oh, Nancy!

  LESLIE (To CHARLIE)

  If you have only one or two, what if they’re washed away, or eaten? I mean, how do you … perpetuate?

  NANCY (Gay laugh)

  That never happens. We keep them with us … till they’re all grown up and ready for the world.

  SARAH

  How long is that?

  CHARLIE

  Eighteen … twenty years.

  LESLIE

  You’re not serious!

  NANCY

  Oh, we are!

  LESLIE

  You can’t be.

  CHARLIE (Defensive)

  Why not?!

  LESLIE

  Well … I mean … think about it.

  CHARLIE (Does)

  Well … it is a long time, I suppose, but there’s no other way for it.

  NANCY

  Just as you let them float away, or get caught on things; there’s no other way for it.

  SARAH

  How many have you birthed?

  NANCY

  Three.

  LESLIE

  Pfft!

  SARAH

  (Still with the wonder of that)

  Only three.

  NANCY

  Of course, there’s another reason we keep them with us.

  SARAH

  Oh? What is that?

  NANCY (Puzzled at her question)

  Well … we love them.

  (Pause)

  LESLIE

  Pardon?

  CHARLIE

  We love them.

  LESLIE

  Explain.

  CHARLIE

  What?

  LESLIE

  What you said.

  CHARLIE

  We said we love them.

  LESLIE

  Yes; explain.

  CHARLIE (Incredulous)

  What love means?!

  NANCY (To SARAH)

  Love? Love is one of the emotions.

  (They look at her, waiting)

  One of the emotions, Sarah.

  SARAH (After a tiny pause)

  But, what are they?!

  NANCY (Becoming impatient)

  Well, you must have them. You must have emotions.

  LESLIE (Quite impatient)

  We may, or we may not, but we’ll never know unless you define your terms. Honestly, the imprecision! You’re so thoughtless!

  CHARLIE (Miffed)

  Well, we’re sorry!

  LESLIE

  You have to make allowances!

  CHARLIE

  All right!!

  LESLIE

  Just … thoughtless.

  CHARLIE

  All right!

  SARAH

  Help us, Nancy.

  NANCY (To SARAH and LESLIE)

  Hatred. Apprehension. Loss. Love.

  (Pause)

  Nothing?

  (A bedtime story)

  We keep them with us because they need us to; and we feel possessive toward them, and grateful, and proud …

  CHARLIE (Ironic)

  And lots of other words describing emotions. You can’t do that, Nancy; it doesn’t help.

  NANCY (Annoyed)

  Then you do it! And when we get back home, I’m packing up and taking a good long trip. Alone. I’ve been married to you far too smoothly for far too long.

  CHARLIE (To LESLIE)

  That’s an example of emotion: frustration, anger …

  NANCY (To herself)

  I’m too old to have an affair.

  (Pause)

  No, I’m not.

  (Pause)

  Yes, I am.

  CHARLIE (Chuckling)

  Oh, come on, Nancy.

  (To LESLIE and SARAH)

  Maybe I can do it. How did you two get together? How’d ya meet?

  LESLIE

  Well, I was just going along, one day, minding my own business …

  SARAH

  Oh, Leslie!

  (To CHARLIE)

  I was reaching my maturity, and so, naturally, a lot of males were paying attention to me—milling around—you know, preening and snapping at each other and generally showing off, and I noticed one was hanging around a little distanc
e away, not joining in with the others …

  LESLIE

  That was me.

  SARAH

  … and I didn’t pay too much attention to him, because I thought he was probably sickly or something, and besides, there were so many others, and it was time to start coupling …

  LESLIE

  You noticed me.

  SARAH

  … when, all of a sudden! There he was, right in the middle of them, snapping away, really fighting, driving all the others off. It was quite a rumpus.

  LESLIE (An aside, to CHARLIE)

  They didn’t amount to much.

  SARAH (Shrugs)

  And so … all the others drifted away … and there he was.

  LESLIE

  They didn’t drift away: I drove them away.

  SARAH

  Well, I suppose that’s true.

  (Bright)

  Show them your scar, Leslie!

  (To CHARLIE and NANCY)

  Leslie has a marvelous scar!

  LESLIE (Proud)

  Oh … some other time.

  SARAH

  And there he was … and there I was … and here we are.

  CHARLIE

  Well, yes! That proves my point!

  LESLIE

  What?

  CHARLIE (Pause)

  About love.

  (Pause)

  He loved you.

  SARAH

  Yes?

  CHARLIE

  Well, yes. He drove the others away so he could have you. He wanted you.

  SARAH

  (As if what CHARLIE has said proves nothing)

  Ye-es?

  CHARLIE

  Well … it’s so clear. Nancy, isn’t it clear?

  NANCY

  I don’t know. Don’t talk to me; you’re a terrible person.

  CHARLIE

  (Under his breath)

  Oh, for God’s sake! Leslie! Why did you want Sarah?

  LESLIE

  Well, as I told you: I was just going along one day, minding my own business, and there was this great commotion, with all the others around her, and so I decided I wanted her.

  CHARLIE

  (Losing, but game)

  Didn’t you think she was … pretty—or whatever?

  LESLIE

  I couldn’t really see, with all the others hovering. She smelled all right.

  CHARLIE

  Have you ever, you know, coupled with anyone else since you met Sarah?

  NANCY

  Charlie!

  LESLIE

  (Pause; too defensive)

  Why should I?

  CHARLIE (Smiles)

  Just asking.

  (Patient)

  Is that your nature? Not to go around coupling whenever you feel like it, whatever female strikes your fancy?

  SARAH (Fascinated)

  Very interesting.

  LESLIE (To shut her up)

  It is not!

  (To CHARLIE)

  I’ve coupled in my time.

  CHARLIE

  Since you met Sarah?

  LESLIE

  I’m not going to answer that.

  SARAH (Hurt)

  You have?

  CHARLIE

  No; he means he hasn’t. And he’s embarrassed by it. What about you, Sarah? Have you been with anyone since Leslie?

  LESLIE

  Of course she hasn’t!

  NANCY

  What an awful question to ask Sarah! You should be ashamed of yourself!

  CHARLIE

  It’s not an awful question at all.

  NANCY

  It is! It’s dreadful! Of course she hasn’t.

  CHARLIE (Annoyed)

  What standards are you using? How would you know?

  NANCY (Up on her high horse)

  I just know.

  CHARLIE

  Things might be different, you know …

  (Gestures vaguely around)

  … down … there. I don’t think it’s dreadful at all.

  SARAH (To NANCY and CHARLIE)

  The truth of the matter is: no, I haven’t.

  LESLIE

  What are you getting at?!

  CHARLIE

  It’s hard to explain!

  LESLIE

  Apparently.

  CHARLIE

  Especially to someone who has no grasp of conceptual matters, who hasn’t heard of half the words in the English language, who lives on the bottom of the sea and has green scales!

  LESLIE

  Look, buddy …!

  SARAH NANCY

  Leslie … Now you two boys just …

  CHARLIE (Half to himself)

  Might as well be talking to a fish.

  LESLIE

  (Really angry; starts toward CHARLIE)

  That does it!

  NANCY

  Charlie! Look out! Sarah, stop him!

  SARAH (Stamps her paw)

  Leslie! You be nice!

  LESLIE (To SARAH)

  He called me a fish!

  SARAH

  He did not!

  NANCY

  No he didn’t; not quite. He said he might as well.

  LESLIE

  Same thing.

  CHARLIE

  (A glint in his eye)

  Oh? What’s the matter with fish?

  NANCY (Sotto voce)

  Calm down, Charlie …

  CHARLIE (Persisting)

  What’s the matter with fish, hunh?

  SARAH

  Be good, Leslie …

  LESLIE

  (On his high horse—so to speak)

  We just don’t think very highly of fish, that’s all.

  CHARLIE

  (Seeing a triumph somewhere)

  Oh? You don’t like fish, hunh?

  NANCY

  Now, both of you!

  CHARLIE

  What’s the matter with fish all of a sudden?

  LESLIE

  (Real middle class, but not awful)

  For one thing, there’re too many of them; they’re all over the place … racing around, darting in front of you, picking at everything … moving in, taking over where you live … and they’re stupid!

  SARAH (Shy)

  Not all of them; porpoises aren’t stupid.

  LESLIE (Still wound up)

  All right! Except for porpoises … they’re stupid!

  (Thinks about it some more)

  And they’re dirty!

  CHARLIE

  (Mouth opens in amazement and delight)

  You’re … you’re prejudiced! Nancy, he’s … You’re a bigot!

  (Laughs)

  You’re a goddamn bigot!

  LESLIE (Dangerous)

  Yeah? What’s that?

  NANCY

  Be careful, Charlie.

  LESLIE (Not amused)

  What is that?

  CHARLIE

  What? A bigot?

  LESLIE

  I don’t know. Is that what you said?

  CHARLIE (Right on with it)

  A bigot is somebody who thinks he’s better than somebody else because they’re different.

  LESLIE (Brief pause; anger defused)

  Oh; well, then; that’s all right. I’m not what you said. It’s not because they’re different: it’s because they’re stupid and they’re dirty and they’re all over the place!

  CHARLIE

  (Parody of studying and accepting)

  Oh. Well. That’s all right, then.

  NANCY (Wincing some)

  Careful, Charlie.

  LESLIE

  (Absorbed with his own words)

  Being different is … interesting; there’s nothing implicitly inferior or superior about it. Great difference, of course, produces natural caution; and if the differences are too extreme … well, then, reality tends to fade away.

  NANCY (An aside; to CHARLIE)

  And so much for conceptual matters.

  CHARLIE

  (Dismissing
it with bravado)

  Ooooooooh, he probably read it somewhere.

  SARAH

  (Looks at the sky, and about her, expansively)

  My! It is quite something out here, isn’t it? You can see! So very far!

  (She sees birds with some consternation)

  What are those?

  (LESLIE sees them. Tenses. Does an intake of breath)

  NANCY (looking up)

  Birds. Those are birds, Sarah.

  (LESLIE in reaction to the birds starts moving up the dune)

  SARAH

  Leslie! Leslie!

  (LESLIE continues to move to top of the dune; growling)

  NANCY

  What’s he doing?

  SARAH

  He’s …

  (Shrugs)

  … well, he does it everywhere we go, so why not up here? He checks things out, makes sure a way is open for us …

  CHARLIE

  It’s called instinct.

  SARAH

  (Polite, but not terribly interested)

  Oh? Is it.

  CHARLIE (Nods; quite happy)

  Instinct.

  SARAH

  Well, this isn’t the sort of situation we run into every day, and … creatures do tend to be devious; you don’t know what’s going to happen from one minute to the next …

  NANCY

  Certainly, certainly. Will he be all right? I mean …

  SARAH

  Oh, certainly. He’s kind and he’s a good mate, and when he tells me what we’re going to do, I find I can live with it quite nicely. And you?

  NANCY

  Uh … well, we manage rather like that I guess.

  SARAH (Rapt)

  Oh, my goodness; see them up there! How they go!

  CHARLIE

  Seagulls.

  SARAH

  Sea … gulls.

  (Still absorbed)

  The wonder of it! What holds them up?

  CHARLIE (Shy, but helpful)

  Aerodynamics.

  SARAH (Still enraptured)

  Indeed.

  NANCY

  Oh really, Charlie.

  CHARLIE (Feelings hurt)

  Well, it is.

  SARAH (To HIM)

  Oh, I wasn’t doubting it.

  (Attention back to the birds)

  See them swim!

  CHARLIE

  (More sure of himself now)

  Fly, they fly; birds fly.

  SARAH (Watching the birds)

  The rays are rather like that: swimming about; what do you call it—flying. Funny creatures; shy, really; don’t give that impression, though; stand-offish, rather curt.

  NANCY

  Rays. Yes; well, we know them.

  SARAH (Pleased)

  Do you!

  CHARLIE

  Nancy means we’ve seen them; photographs.

  SARAH

  What is that?

  CHARLIE

  Photographs? It’s a … no, I’d better not try.

  SARAH (Coquettish)

  Something I shouldn’t know? Something you could tell Leslie but not me?

  NANCY (Laughs)

  Heavens, no!

  SARAH

  I mean, I am a married woman.

  CHARLIE (Surprised)

  Do you do that? I mean, do you …? I don’t know what I mean.

  NANCY

  Charlie! Just think what we can tell our children and our grandchildren: that we were here when Sarah saw it all!