Three Plays: The Last Carnival; Beef, No Chicken; and A Branch of the Blue Nile by Derek Walcott

Author:Derek Walcott [Walcott, Derek]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781466880474
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Published: 2015-05-09T16:00:00+00:00

ACT II

SCENE 1

Next morning. The café. CARDIFF JOE is reading the newspaper. FRANCO enters, sits at a table away from CARDIFF JOE. Long silence. CARDIFF JOE looks up, then back down, reading.

FRANCO

Wales …

CARDIFF JOE

[Lowering newspaper] Hey?

FRANCO

I said, “Wales, eh?”

CARDIFF JOE

No. I said, “Hey!” You just said, “Wales.” [Resumes reading]

FRANCO

Amateur heavyweight champion of Wales, hey? [Silence] Got to work in the mines?

CARDIFF JOE

[Lowering newspaper] Shouldn’t you be out there?

FRANCO

Those little monkeys can take care of themselves. [Silence] Didn’t get to work in the mines?

CARDIFF JOE

The mines? No. [Rustling newspaper] White chap put me off. Said: “They won’t take black chappies in the mines.” You thinking of going to work in the mines?

FRANCO

No, thank you.

CARDIFF JOE

Quite right, man of your calibre don’t want to go down, does he? He wants to go up. [He returns to reading newspaper. Silence. The sound of bulldozers]

FRANCO

Where’s my fiancée?

CARDIFF JOE

Asleep.

FRANCO

[Consulting watch] At 9:30 a.m.?

CARDIFF JOE

We had a hard night.

FRANCO

A hard night? Doing what? [CARDIFF JOE lifts his head, stares at FRANCO] Is that supposed to be an enigmatic smile? [Silence] I hate Saturdays. It means weekends. And a weekend in Couva is like ten years in the mines. [CARDIFF JOE groans] Did you wear one of those round lights on your forehead?

CARDIFF JOE

[Patiently] Yes.

FRANCO

Aha! So you did work in the mines? [Silence] Moths bother you? [Silence] Do you know How Green Was My Valley?

CARDIFF JOE

No. How green was it?

FRANCO

It’s a very moving picture about the mines. With Walter Pidgeon. I’ve always wanted one of those hats to read in bed. But I’d need repellent because light attracts moths. Of course there aren’t many moths since they levelled the forest. On the other hand, the less moths the better. I read a lot, you see. I travel in books. I didn’t go chasing my arse all over the ocean, like Odysseus.

CARDIFF JOE

That what the bugger did?

FRANCO

Damned right. He stayed away for ten years, then he came back and started reading the papers. You chaps go away and expect us to hold the fort. Then you sit there, reading the papers. [Silence] So you moved in last night? [Silence] Man of few words, correct? Deep chap.

CARDIFF JOE

I learnt it in the mines.

FRANCO

Feeble. [Silence. FRANCO starts throwing bits of chalk at CARDIFF JOE] But most boxers are brain-damaged, so that’s okay. Where are your reflexes? Boxers have reflexes. How come when I throw chalk at you you don’t bob and weave? Throw a hook at me. I’ll show you what a boxer does, laddie. [CARDIFF JOE puts his hand around a bottle of ketchup. FRANCO, guard up, bobs and weaves, jabbing, talking] Ah, ah, ah! Watch it, laddie! Watch the footwork! These are the ankles of a dancer. Chap leaves native village nestling in the cane fields and sails to Wales to find his roots because his name is Alwyn. Childhood sweetheart waving in the coconuts, singing “Till We Meet Again.” A copra opera. Chap looks all over Wales for ten years. Can’t find his roots so figures he left them back home.

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