Philippine Drama

FLOR: Well, my husband bought the Legazpi's rice fields in Pangasinan. It costs us one hundred thousand, but it’s worth it.

CALL ME FLORY

(A Satire) Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero THE CAST: FLORENCIA ARAGON DE CARACOLES MATILDE OSANG

MATIL: That's nice.

The action takes place somewhere in San Lorenzo Village.

MATIL: Its a benefit show we are holding to collect funds for the Sapang Palay people. You know the place?

FLOR: Well, now, just how do you want me to collaborate - er - help?

When the curtain rises, we see Florencia and Matilde seated on the sofa, in Matilde's sala, talking. FLOR: Yes, Matilde, when you called me up by phone to come and see you, I came right away. MATIL: That's nice of you, Mrs. de los

Reyes.

FLOR: I hope you don't mind, Matilde. My last name is Caracoles. But just call me Florencia Aragon de Caracoles. But just call me Florencia. We must be good friends. Its quite an honor to know you, Matilde. MATIL: Oh, don't mention it. I was told by Marilu to get in touch with you. She said you'd surely help. FLOR: I still think it's a great honor to know you, Matilde. After all, you're considered one of the best known society women in Manila. And you're so close to Malacañang, they tell me. MATIL: It isn't true, not true at all. I just help occasionally when the First Lady asks me to pitch in. FLOR: You're so modest, Matilde. You don't mind if I call you Matilde? Since we are going to collaborate - er- work together, we might as well call each other by our first names. MATIL: As because -

you

wish.

Well,

I

called

you

FLOR: Did you say Marilu called you up? Marilu de Legazpi? Marilu's husband owns that big department store on Buendia, doesn't he? MATIL: Yes. But what I really called you up for -

FLOR: (With a gesture of disgust) Uff, yes. Those squatters who were formerly in Intramuros. Thank God they were evicted. Can you imagine? I used to hear Mass everyday at the Cathedral. And whenever we passed in our Mercedes Bench 600 by those streets, I felt myself suffocating with smells and sights of those horrible people. Uff, such disgusting people, squatters all. MATIL: It is not their fault really. After the war, thousands came from the provinces and didn't know where to settle. FLOR: Uff, don't talk to me about them. I couldn't hear Mass properly. I couldn't pray because of them. Once a little boy made a face at me. Can you imagine he stuck out his tongue at me. But I forgave him, just as our Lord forgave His enemies. MATIL: This drive we are conducting FLOR: And another time a woman spat on my car - it wasn't the Mercedes Benz this time - just the Buick which is used to take the children to school and the maid to go marketing - yes, spat on my car. Uff, I had to hear two Masses that morning because I was so furious. That's why I transferred to the Santuario de San Antonio in Forbes Park. Oh, the beauty and the quiet of the place. And such decent, respectable people. There, you see the Matia's family, the Legazpi's, the Urdanetas, the Zarates. You must here Mass there too, Matilde. MATIL: I there.

go

to

Ermita

church.

I

was

born

FLOR: Uff, such a small church - no distinction at all. You know who sat beside me the other day in church? Mrs. Consuelo Cartinage who is related to the Count of Cartinage. The Count, they say, is related to Queen Isabella

and Spain. I think I saw Mrs. nod and smile at me.

Cartinage

MATIL: Members of the committee are supposed to dispose of at least 5 tickets.

MATIL: That’s nice. FLOR: Ah, yes, it’s so nice meeting decent people. People who have money and prestige and class. Not that I am a snob. But it seems to me that we must learn to be aloof from the common hoi poloi. The bakya crowd, as they call it. Not that I am uncharitable. After all, I give large sums to the church. And whenever I give a party, I never forget to send a dozen eggs to the nuns of Santa Clara. I have heard rumors that I might be given a Papal decoration. Now, I think you were saying something, Matilde?

FLOR: Ay, this is my chance to get acquainted with the Urdanetas of Forbes Park. Next time I hear mass, I shall approach MATIL: If you wish, I could tell the First Lady to give you a ring – FLOR: (Excitedly.) Oh, will you? I’ll give you my private number – I had to have a private number in my bedroom. People used to call up and say all sorts of ugly things – MATIL: What things? FLOR: Oh, it doesn’t matter now. Who else is in the committee?

MATIL: Yes, we are raising money for the Sapang Palay people. And we are calling it the Sapang Palay Drive.

MATIL: Maria Luz De la Dolorosa.

FLOR: Much as I find those horrible people distasteful, I should like to help. How do you want me to collabo – er – cooperate?

MATIL: You know her?

MATIL: We are showing a movie with Elizabeth Taylor – not yet released to the public – and we are selling tickets. FLOR: Who are in the committee? MATIL: Mrs. Chairman.

Consuelo

de

Cartinage

FLOR: Uff, that woman.

FLOR: (Hesitating briefly.) Well, slightly. She used to be in the buy-and-sell after Liberation. She dealt with jewelry. Now she is very rich. She puts on such airs – She has only two cars. MATIL: That is usually one too many.

is

the

FLOR: Ah? Really?

FLOR: Oh, no, we have five, not including the two jeeps and the station wagon which are used to take my husband to Capipisa.

MATIL: And there’s Mrs. Urdaneta.

MATIL: That barrio in Cavite?

FLOR: The wife of Senator Urdaneta?

FLOR: (Embarrassed.) Oh no, Matilde, not that barrio exactly - but another barrio nearby where my husband goes hunting.

MATIL: Yes, and of course, the First Lady is the over-all Chairman. FLOR: How much are the tickets? MATIL: At one hundred pesos. FLOR: Oh, that’s nothing. Here, give me one. MATIL: We were thinking of member of the committee.

making

you

a

FLOR: I shall be delighted to serve such a noble cause. Those poor people of Sapang Palay deserve all the help they can get. As our Lord said, those of us who have much must share with the lesser ones – something like that, anyhow.

MATIL: And he uses two jeeps and a station wagon to go hunting? My husband also goes hunting in Batangas, but he takes only our car. FLOR: Er – no, not all the jeeps at the same time. But you know how men are. But we’re talking about cars. Yes, we have five, two Mercedes Bench, one Buick, one Impala, and one Continental - that’s my son’s. MATIL: We have only a 1960 Chevy. FLOR: And Mrs. De La Rosa Dolorosa actually goes to Tagalog films. Such a plebeian woman.

MATIL: I go to Tagalog movies myself, when the film is interesting.

MATIL: Have you ever seen a Tagalog movie?

those displaced people in Sapang Palay. I shall go there and visit them. I shall bring my photographer so I can send the pictures to the papers. But I will not reveal my name. I shall wear a black veil covering my face and I will bring to them tuyo and tapa and dilis. I could buy some stale bread from the bakeries and bring them too.

FLOR: Me? Tagalog is know. But don’t want

MATIL: Don't you think they will welcome something more substantial than dilis and tuyo? After all, they eat that everyday, if at all. And stale bread is not exactly appetizing.

FLOR: Uff, with all those actors and actresses getting involved in such scandalous incidents – uff never, no, never.

Oh, never in my life. Besides, my poor. I am from Pangasinan, you I am taking French lessons, and I my accent spoiled.

MATIL: Now, back to the drive – FLOR: What can these people expect, goodfor-nothing, lazy, dirty, and uncivilized. I think they should be grateful I come to visit them.

FLOR: Who else is in the committee? MATIL: Ding Tabayong from Bacolod. FLOR: You mean the millionaire Tabayongs? MATIL: You know her? FLOR: Well, at a party, I smiled at her and – well, she must be shortsighted or something – MATIL: Could we gather at your place next week? That is FLOR: Of course, my house is on Dewey Boulevard. It belonged formerly to the Delascampas family who were murdered during Liberation. I have a large living room. Or perhaps we could gather near the swimming pool. MATIL: That would be perfect for a meeting. FLOR: Do come?

you

think

the

First

lady

would

MATIL: Well, I could ask her to be present. FLOR: I should extremely be delighted if she could come. MATIL: I am not sure. I could try.

MATIL: I am sorry to contradict you, Flory, but I am afraid they might resent it. Poor people are sometimes proud, you know. FLOR: That’s the trouble with the poor people nowadays. They have no sense of gratitude. Why before the war, people were appreciative - you could give them two centavos and they would be so grateful they’d kiss your hands. MATIL: Do you always expect gratitude from them? Times have changed. The poor need not be meek. FLOR: Why not? After all, we have no duty to help them. If they were not so lazy – MATIL: They may not naturally be lazy. Sometimes, poor food and poverty force them to seem lazy. FLOR: Oh, well, let’s not talk about them. It makes me feel uncomfortable. (Osang enters.) MATIL: Come in, towels?

Osang.

Do

you

OSANG: Yes, señora. embroidering them yesterday.

I

bring

the

finished

FLOR: Please ask her to come and I'll buy all the tickets she wants. I have an official photographer and he could take my picture with the First Lady. She is such a sweet lady. Tell her I'll buy ten tickets and sell twenty to my friends if only she'd attend.

MATIL: Let me see. (Looking at them.) How beautiful they turned out to be. (Flory stares at Osang, fascinated.)

MATIL: I'm sure she'll be pleased.

MATIL: Of course, Osang I was not in a hurry.

FLOR: But only on that condition. I'll buy as many tickets as she wants if she comes to my house. After all, my heart bleeds for

OSANG: (Scanning Flory’s face.) I may be mistaken - but aren’t you Enchang?

OSANG: I wanted to bring them earlier, but you know how far Sapang Palay is.

MATIL: You are mistaken, Osang. This is Mrs. Aragon de Caracoles. OSANG: (Looking more carefully.) I am not mistaken, señora, Enchang! (Flory pretends not to hear.) I am Osang. MATIL: No. Osang. This is Mrs. De Caracoles OSANG: I cannot Enchang Aragon.

be

mistaken.

She

is

MATIL: Did you say her husband collaborated with the Japs? OSANG: I don’t know if you can call it collaboration, but he sold scrap iron from which he used to gather, according to the neighbors, from the camps burned by the Americans.

MATIL: I said, she is Mrs. Florencia –

MATIL: No wonder she used the word “collaborate” so often – And you say she used to live in Intramuros?

OSANG: Of course! Mrs. Florencia Caracoles, but we used to call her Enchang. We were neighbors in Intramuros.

OSANG: Yes, just beside the Cathedral. She stayed there six months, then she married Juan Demonio, I mean, Mr. Caracoles.

FLOR: (Using her hand haughtily) I beg your pardon?

MATIL: By the way, I have some bedsheets. I want you to embroider them, too.

OSANG:

OSANG: week?

Naku, beg your pardon pa raw.

FLOR: You must somebody else.

be

mistaking

me

for

OSANG: No, I am not. You used to live in the Cathedral, remember? You came there soon after the Liberation and borrowed some of my cardboard to cover your windows. Then you married that Caracoles who made money with the Japs. He sold scrap iron, remembers? They used to call him Juan Demonio, remember? FLOR: I don’t nonsense.

remember

any

of

that

silly

OSANG: Of course, after you married, you moved away and the last I heard was that you were living on Dewey Boulevard. MATIL: Osang, don’t you think you must be mistaking her for another person who only looks like her? OSANG: No, señora, I am sure of course. If Enchang doesn’t wish to recognize me, I am sorry. FLOR : Matilde, I must appointment with the any number of tickets check. Goodbye. (She Osang).

run along. I have an beauty parlor. Send me and I shall send you a exits. Matilde stares at

MATIL: Is it true Osang? Are you sure, you are not inventing all of this? OSANG: Why telling the truth.

should

I,

señora?

I

was

You want them finished in one

MATIL: No hurry, Osang. Here’s the money for the towels. (She gives her the money.) OSANG: Thank you, señora. I am sorry - I hope I was not rude. You see, I thought Enchang would recognize me. MATIL: (Laughing briefly.) Don't mention this to anyone. OSANG:

(Giggling.) I won't.

(She exits. Matilde goes to the phone and dials.) MATIL: Marilu? Florencia Aragon de Caracoles was here a while ago…. Did I convince her? What do you mean some? I am going to sell her fifty here it well - fifty tickets….Why? Well, I can't tell you over the phone, but shall we call it a mild form of blackmail. If she refuses, all I have to do is whisper the name Demonio in her ear, and she won't be able to say no…I know it is sneaky and all that, but she had it coming to her, for being so pretentious…I'll call you again. (She hangs up, smiling.)

D. NARCISO: What news, children? I have come to be informed. And Marina --- where is she? GABRIELA: Very busy with her patients. Oh, she hasn’t been still a minute since she came back. Everybody who is sick wants to have her, especially the menfolk. I do believe some of them pretend to be ill. You have no idea how popular she is. D. NARCISO: in Zamboanga?

And how was her vacation

GABRIELA: Just wonderful. She has come back looking gorgeous --- and with such a lovely color. Don’t you think so Andres? ANDRES: noticed.

(Dryly)

I

really

hadn’t

D.NARCISO: And you, Andres --- how did you get that scratch? And how is your heart, Gabriela? Now, look --- one must not trifle with the emotions; the human heart is most untrustworthy. And at any moment at all … Oh, all right, all right --- I am glad it was nothing. But caramba, it seems to be the talk of the town. Look Andres --- would you like to tell me how it all began?

SHADOW AND SOLITUDE A translation of SOLO ENTRE LAS SOMBRAS (A Play in One Act) By Claro M. Recto Translated by Nick Joaquin Characters: GABRIELA, the wife ANDRES, the husband, a doctor MARINA, the sister DON NARCISO. The uncle LUISA, the family friend Scene: A living room marked by simplicity, good taste, and the atmosphere of culture is middle class. Door at left leads into the clinic and laboratory of Andres; two doors at the right lead into the bedroom and the rest of the house. At the rear, center, between wide sunny windows, is the main door which opens into a wide hall. Time: It’s five o’clock in the afternoon, April 1917. As curtain opens, Andres sits reading, Gabriela sits knitting, and Don Narciso is just coming in through the main door. GABRIELA:

Good afternoon, Tio Narciso!

ANDRES: (Rising and making gestures to kiss the older man’s hand) Hola, Tio Narciso

ANDRES: Quite simply. Last night, at the club, the scoundrel of a Flores thought fit to amuse friends by hinting that … Oh, nothing” A vile slander! The kind of rumor that’s so nasty that you could choke people for uttering it. But you know how it is here in Manila. There’s so much mudslinging no reputation can consider itself safe. D. NARCISO: Tell me.

But what was the rumor?

ANDRES:

It’s unspeakable!

GABRIELA: Oh, tell him Andres. Why worry? No sensible person believes it. ANDRES: Well --- the rumor is that between Marina and me … Oh it’s outrageous! You know what I mean, Tio Narciso. D. NARCISO: Yes, yes, I understand. And Flores dared to imply that? Without any basis? ANDRES: To vilify is not difficult. And one can always invent a reason to justify oneself. Well — I grabbed him by the neck as soon as I heard what he was saying. I was so blind with rage I didn't even noticed he had knifed me. D. NARCISO:

And those who were present?

ANDRES: D. NARCISO: Flores said?

They separated us. I mean, how did they take what

ANDRES: Well, you can imagine. A few seemed to be shocked. But the others — the majority — could hardly conceal their delight. Naturally. A new topic for gossip, another home for the brutes. D. NARCISO:

And Gabriela?

ANDRES: Oh, she had already been informed of the incident, by telephone, even before I came home from the club. And so she had this heart-attack which could have cost us so much anguish. You know how excitable she is. Fortunately it was nothing serious. GABRIEL: If these scandalmongers would only think of the harm they do D. NARCISO: for gossip.

It is good not to give occasion

ANDRES: But even better not to pay any attention to it. Let them talk. What else can we do? The world lives on slander and, like Satan devours its own children. D. NARCISO: Let us be fair, Andres. Gossip often serves the cause of morality. The fear of what they will say is like a sword of Damocles and stops us from committing a lot of follies. Ultimately, gossip is a necessary evil. However, the world usually does not molest you — unless you defy it first. ANDRES: GABRIELA:

And who is defying it? What do you mean, Tio Narciso?

D. NARCISO: That we are all slaves of convention; and that if we wish the world to leave us alone, we must act according to those conventions. The world has its rules — ANDRES: mean.

Its

prejudices, you

D. NARCISO: Perhaps. But what do you call, so disdainfully, prejudices? Ideas which may have become somewhat old-fashioned, but which were new once, and which are, perhaps, more worthy of our respect than these ideas now in vogue. These new ideas whose novelty enraptures a handful of idiots. Do not despise anything

because it is old Andres. There is a certain principle the splendor of which endures, no matter what upheavals the world may suffer, like those cliffs which resist the blows of the lightning. ANDRES: As an orator and sophist, you are certainly not meddling, sir.

a

D.NARCISO: Hombre, as an orator, I will not say that I am not capable, every now and then of spouting a fine peroration; but as for being a sophist, I would say that he fits the role better who insists that the world should not be what it is: prejudices (as you would say), conventionalism, social considerations — all the things that, together, make life, not the life we dream of but this life we live. ANDRES: (Smoldering) And are we to resign ourselves to carrying this yoke, sacrificing our ideas and our sentiments? A fine theory! If it depended on- you, sir, we would still be in fig leaves! GABRIELA:

Andres is right.

D. NARCISO: We who are just plain nobodies should let the world run its natural course, until the operation of chance, or some other stronger element, pushes it into a new direction. If anyone rashly tries to alter the course of the world out of mere vanity or presumption…or to justify a folly... it will be merely justice should he be crushed to death. And there are certain acts which, in any kind of society, constitute a brazen provocation which no society should tolerate. ANDRES: (Visibly stung) But of what am I accused by this society which you seem to represent at this moment? Of believing the way I do? Let me say that if I should ever find myself caught in a conflict between the dictates of society and those of my own conscience, I would follow what my conscience commanded— and society can go to. . .to wherever it pleases! Why not speak plainly, Tio Naricso? GABRIELA: your temper

For God's sake, Andres, don't lose

D. NARCISO: If you think I have come to investigate your actions, Andres, you are foolishly mistaken. I was speaking of people in general and of no one in particular. GABRIELA: That's right, Andres. Tio Narciso did not mean to offend you. He was merely teasing you— as usual. But you have made yourself so nervous. Why should you care

what other people think as long as I am sure of your love? ANDRES: Thank you, Gabriela — you're right. You're the only one who should judge me. And as long as you do not say that I do wrong, I can be confident that my behavior is without reproach. D. NARCISO:

(Aside) An excellent idea!

GABRIELA: Andres loves me very much, Tio Narciso, and he will never be capable of stabbing me here. This heart is too sensitive and fragile. He knows that, he is a doctor—don't you, Andres? Between you and deception stands this fortress. You know how weak it is. But on it I rely, because I know you would never dare to storm it if you saw you were destroying it... ANDRES: That's enough, that's enough. Don't say anything more. You can be tranquil on that score. D. NARCISO: (Aside) Something grips her in the heart... Poor Gabriela! GABRIELA: Very well, I'll leave you a moment— but, careful, no quarreling, eh? ANDRES:

Where are you going Gabriela?

GABRIELA: To the hospital, to visit Charito Medina. I've just heard she had another attack. You know that she and I suffer from the same sickness. And it looks as if this time the poor dear is going... Would you like to come with me to the hospital, Tio Narciso? D. NARCISO:

Why not?

GABRIELA: Then wait here just a moment, and while you and Andres are straightening up the world — or upsetting it, I'll go out to the garden and cut a few roses for Charito. Haven't you noticed, Tio Narciso, that my roses are in bloom? They are a heavenly sight. How about you, Andres— will you be coming with us to the hospital? ANDRES: (Irritable and uneasy) Yes, yes, darling. You better hurry, it’s getting late. (Exit GABRIELA through front door. ANDRES moves toward his laboratory.) Do make yourself at home, Tio Narciso. And you'll have to excuse me, I have to go and bury myself in my clinic. There's a very urgent case I have to study. I don't believe I can accompany you to the hospital. With your permission, sir.

D. NARCISO: Very well, don't let me keep you. But, frankly, I came to have a few words with you — if that is not too much of a bother. ANDRES: You can begin, Sir.

All right,

I’m

listening.

D.NARCISO: I waited until Gabriela had left us alone. She must not know anything. It would be criminal to rob that hapless woman of her illusions. She is so in love with you, so blindly in love. And for her — a romantic and a sentimentalist - the blow could be fatal. But that is how she has been brought up — for a good love, a good home, a good life, nothing more. She is not strong enough to grapple with the difficulties of modern life, like you, or like Marina. ANDRES: (Mockingly) Yes, yes — you don't have to continue, I know what's coming. I am a practical man and I always see the point at once. Are you one of those who have been throwing to the greedy dogs of society this bit of bone to crunch? D. NARCISO: You are insulting me, Andres. If this matter did not involve these orphans, these daughters, of my only sister, I would not waste my time here. I expected, before I came, that I would be a mere voice crying in the wilderness. ANDRES: But you seem to be just as avid as everyone else, sir, to lick up this latest piece of smut. D.NARCISO: A little more decency, Andres. Your house is not a brothel. ANDRES: Oh, come now, sir— just why have you, come? To lecture me on how to behave? D. NARCISO: No, but on something more important: how to live among decent people. A fine scandal you have raised; and you have dragged down not only your name but the dignity of other people — a dignity that deserved all your respect, since you had so little respect for you own. I cannot ask you not to have mistresses; that is something only your conscience can decide. But have you become so heartless, so unscrupulous, that you could corrupt this girl who should have been sacred to you, because she is the sister of your wife and, therefore, your own sister? Marina— ANDRES: Lies, lies, lies! How is it possible that you can join these people so

envious of our position and our happiness that they are now spitefully trying to destroy my home?

MARINA: Good Narciso. Are you leaving?

D. NARCISO: (Contemptuously) You have destroyed your home, hypocrite!

D. NARCISO: (Dryly; already outside) Yes, but I'll be back at once. Goodbye.

ANDRES: You can think what you will of me, sir. But you can do nothing, because Gabriela believes in me and has faith in my love. You would not dare to kill her with a lie.

(Exit DON NARCISO. Enter GABRIELA right, with a sheaf of roses in her arms.)

D.NARCISO: Stop clowning! (Solemnly) In the name of my forefathers, who lived and died with honor, and of all my kinsmen, who are bound to keep intact that heritage of honor, I demand that you make reparation — no, not reparation; that is not possible, for how can water thrown into a pigsty be made clean again? — But a step, yes; a stop to your madness, by wearing a strait jacket if necessary, for the good of all of us, and to save Gabriela, who, if she should discover your iniquity, would die of horror and shame. And I do not speak of a metaphorical death. She would actually die— and don't you doubt it. ANDRES: Enough of lies, enough of lies! It's easy to make an accusation but it's not enough to point one's finger. Where are your proofs? You hear a piece of gossip and start raging. I beg you, sir, to quiet your nerves and believe in my innocence. D. NARCISO: That is why I came — to convince myself that you had sunk so low. Unfortunately, it is" useless to plead innocent. I have proofs. ANDRES: they are.

Then tell me, sir, what

D. NARCISO: I should not have said proofs — since there is only one, although it is worth a lot, because it is a living proof, a vital proof.... Shall I go on? The fruit of your iniquity! ANDRES: Oh, that is false, Don Narciso! God forgive you and all those who join you to slander me!

GABRIELA: Where's Tio Narciso?

afternoon,

Tio

at

(placing roses on the table)

MARINA: When I arrived, he was just leaving. He looked mad. GABRIELA: The usual row with Andres, over ideas. They can't seem to agree on anything. Well, and how was it at the hospital? MARINA: Frantic, but nothing new. Mother and child doing well. GABRIELA: There was no scandal? They say her father almost killed her. MARINA: scandal.

(Indifferently): No, no

GABRIELA: I am shocked by the nerve of these modern girls. But with this freedom to go out alone whenever they please, this mixing of the sexes in the schools (co-education, they call, it), these provocative movies — what other result can you expect? MARINA: Young people in other countries enjoy greater freedom, but the atmosphere there is all security and confidence. This free air nowadays seems more healthy and wholesome than the cloistered safety of our grandmothers. The girls of today are learning to be strong. GABRIELA: Very strong indeed. We see now in what their strength consists. MARINA: they want to.

If

they

fall, it is because

D. NARCISO: Ask forgiveness for yourself, you need it. I will not say more. You will soon crash to the ground, for you are walking on a tightrope and you are a poor acrobat.

GABRIEL: I see no difference between stumbling on purpose and stumbling by accident. You twist your ankle just the same, or maybe break a leg, and that is what we try to avoid. And the girls of today seem to be more unsteady... We are educated differently in the old days.

(Andres flees into his clinic as DON NARCISO goes toward front door, where he encounters MARINA entering, in her nurse's uniform.)

MARINA: How one is educated does not matter. There have been cases of "stumbling" too, among girls who never stepped

out of their houses. And that was in the old days, under the old system.

friend of all of you, to learn just what happened at the club last night.

GABRIELA: Yes, I know. But not in such alarming numbers. Those were isolated cases, products of the human condition. These of today have become a plague. And if it's true that many of these girls, to save their honor, result to criminal means... Ugh, how horrible! That's where all this progress and modernity have bought us. And the sad thing, is that nobody seems eager to correct the situation.

GABRIELA: Oh, nothing. Andres got a scratch. I had a, little scare. It's over now. It all started with a joke by that rascal of a Flores. And now you know everything.

MARINA: Now, don't start blaming the system of education. Falling into sin, does not form part of the curriculum. GABRIELA: What's wrong is that there is too much laxity and not enough religious training and so we have indecency and shamelessness. The decay of our customs is a consequence of this lack of balance. Perhaps that is considered good in other countries, but here the effect one sees is disastrous. It is too foreign to our traditional upbringing, to our way of life. And when these countrymen of ours are so prone to exaggeration when they start copying, they turn into unhappy caricatures of their models. It's really amazing: this talent of ours for imitating precisely what is bad. As Tio Narciso once remarked, when it comes to importing new fashions, our policy is free entry for the bad, a high tariff for the good. MARINA: The remarks of Tio Narciso have an absolute authority for you. You repeat them as if they were Holy Scriptures. I prefer to think and to act on my own account. GABRIELA: They are not just remarks, Marina. They are maxims, old proverbs that carry the folk wisdom of our fathers. Who will not listen to them goes through the sea of life on a rudderless boat, adrift, and in peril of shattering against the first rock. MARINA: Narciso!

Just a carbon copy of Tio

(Enter LUISA through the. front door.) LUISA: GABRIEL: MARINA: miracle!

Good afternoon! Hola, Luisa! Luisa, you here?

A

LUISA: How goes everything here? I heard that Marina has just returned from Zamboanga, and I have come to greet her- Oh, and also, like a good

exactly

LUISA: Well, I'm glad it was nothing. (To MARINA) How you have treated me, you wicked girl! Five months away and not even a post card. When you suddenly left for Zamboanga, everybody was surprised — naturally, since you didn't tell any of your friends. And how was it down there? You must have liked it, to have been able to stand five months of that boring banishment. Do you mean to go back? MARINA:

Who knows?

(Enter ANDRES from left) ANDRES:

Luisa! How are you?

LUISA: Fine, Andres. Thank you. (To MARINA) How about sweethearts - any news in that department? MARINA: Oh, stop teasing me. Sweethearts, indeed... I don't have the time or the talent for that sort of silliness. GABRIEIA: You know how she is, Luisa. Romance does not interest her. That is where she and I differ. She thinks I am silly, and oldfashioned, and maybe she is right. 'I'm only seven years older than she is, but we are half a century apart in the way we regard life. LUISA: As for me, I have chosen the middle course, and nothing can make me budge from there. I represent the transition half Gabriela half Marina — a compromise between two vicious extremes. I am not all heart like Gabriela, nor all brains like Marina. For the heart, Marina, must also be given its due. ANDRES: Marina will give her heart its due when the messenger she awaits knocks on her door. In the meantime, none of these silly fantasies which are so useless. She has received a practical education, this modern education that is going to make us strong, that will teach us to overcome everything and everybody, to attain a certain ideal in this life. GABRIELA: Andres has an answer to everything. He is a fine doctor but he would have made an even finer lawyer. For him, there is no lost cause; when he wants to, he can defend, with equal ardor and ability, both sides of an

argument. When he was making love to me, for instance, and when we were first married, he was arguing in a different manner. ANDRES: I was not speaking of us, Gabriela. With you, I am always the same; we have passed the formative years. I was referring to the youth of today, and of the need to give them a strong education, so that they may learn to depend on themselves. LUISA: But there's a lot of egoism in this' education that you praise so much. ANDRES: And why shouldn't there be? Happiness is egoism. I know that you'll ask in a burst of charity: And what about other people? Well, let them find their own happiness and be egoists too. By this method, the time will come when everybody, without any exception, will be happy— and what will it matter then if they are egoists? It’s a matter of fact, nothing will be lift of egoism except our name for it, since in a world where happiness is the common lot, everyone will have just with his neighbor has and— LUISA: And until that time, what? Is it not just that those who have achieved happiness should lend, as it were, some of their happiness to others? ANDRES: In that case, the method will lose its efficacy, for either this method is rigorously applied or it is not applied at all. There is always, too much cunning and not enough desire to work; and if you start lending, or giving away happiness, few people will trouble to struggle for it. There will be in this, as in everything else, a lot of cadgers and beggars — don't you doubt it. But shut the door on these parasites and they will be in the struggle, of course, but others will rise to take their place — and always they will be moving closer to the ideal: each and everyone with us his own share of happiness. Let's stop calling this world a “valley of tears." Actually, it is a battlefield, and it belongs to the strong ones to Caesar and Alexander, and not to the weeping ones, like Job or Jeremiah — or that Moorish king Boabdil, who lost Granada because all he could do was weep. GABRIELA: Say what you will, this world will always be for me'-the abode of the unfortunate. There will always be more people conquered than conquering. I prefer my Christian ideal to share what I have it with others. ANDRES: Fundamentally, this charity of yours is egoism. You would like to be the custodian of happiness, so that you can administer and distribute it as you please,

keeping of course, the lion's share for yourself.... But haven't we drifted away from our original topic? Let me see now... yes, we were talking of a practical education. These "fantastical" girls who spend their time chasing the dragonflies of their dreams are in constant danger of bumping their noses against that big hard post of life: reality. GABRIELA: Jesus! Andres, don't say that! The ones who are always bumping hard and getting the biggest bumps are precisely these modern tomboys of yours. LUISA:

Or tomcats. It's all the same.

MARINA: That tongue Luisa, that tongue of yours.

of

yours,

GABRIELA: Tomboys or tomcats — what's the difference? The fact is that the virtues of yesterday are now down on the ground. LUISA: Or up in the clouds. they are not where they should be— in people. ANDRES:

Anyway

You two are terrible!

GABRIELA: All right, we have chattered enough and... Luisa, what have you heard about Charito? LUISA: condition.

I

heard she is in a very serious

MARINA: I just came from there. The doctors have given up hope! GABRIELA: Oh, poor dear, I must go see her right away. Will you come with me Andres? ANDRES: I'd like to, Gabriela, but I have to finish studying a clinical case tonight. GABRIELA: excuse, me, Luisa? LUISA: formal. GABRIELA:

Oh,

I see. Will you

Of course, dear. Don't be so I'll see you soon.

(Exit GABRIELA with her roses.) LUISA: This Gabriela never changes. She seems to live in a world apart— a world of goodness and illusions. But you, Marina every day you become more aloof and less

communicative and your friends have reason to be worried. ANDRES: Luisa, is inexcusable. LUISA:

But what you're doing,

(Startled) What?

ANDRES: Not coming here more often, where you know you have friends who appreciate you. MARINA:

That's very true.

LUISA: Well, thanks— but you have set the example. Look, one of my brothers got married today and you people were conspicuous by your absence, ANDRES: You will have forgiven us already. You know why we could not come and nasty coincidence. LUISA: Yes, I guessed that was the reason. Everyone already knew last night. That sort of news travels faster than sound. ANDRES: Oh, this society of ours is intolerable! The peace of our homes seems to depend on whether some blackguard wakes up in good or bad humor. The smallest spark that a charlatan happens to let drop, instantly bursts, into flame, and before you know it, you are caught in the midst of a raging fire. It's only here that people have to live so closely spied upon. The day may come when it will be necessary to appear at the window very early in the morning to ask of each passerby: "Listen, my good man, is it all right for me to live? Do you give your permission?" Ah, all this is very depressing, Luisa. Well, I must leave you alone with Marina for a moment with your permission? LUISA:

Certainly, my lord.

(Exit ANDRES at left.) MARINA: Well, now we are alone, Have you anything to tell me? LUISA: How can you ask? You know that when two women meet, they always have so much to tell each other they could talk a horse's head off. MARINA: Oh, let's leave the head on the poor horse and talk about ourselves. What, have you got a sweetheart? LUISA: My dear girl you don't know what it means to have a sweetheart, just a single one, in

these days of general scarcity. No man proposes and only God disposes, as they say, the situation is desperate. MARINA: Really? Frankly, I had no idea. You know the matter does not interest me. Why, what ails the enchanted kingdom of the romantics? LUISA: Well, the main trouble is that it has become difficult to find young men who are worth the trouble. Oh, a few dazzle by their elegance, but pluck off a few feathers and you find some very anemic chickens'. Spiritual anemia, I mean. MARINA:

Do be serious, Luisa.

LUISA: Well, then, let me tell you that there's a lot of false gold around. The genuine varieties are not in circulation I mean; you never see them at dances or gatherings, which are the marts where the gypsies of our society go to hawk the virtues of their damaged merchandise MARINA: Whether you speak mockingly, or seriously, you are not only just as good as Andres and Tio Narciso at tonguelashing, but you leave blisters too. So, you are still hot in the pursuit of— LUISA: No, truly— not any more. I have a sweetheart. And he is pure gold, of the kind that's not in circulation, and which is as rare a fortune to find as ancient coins. MARINA:

May one know who he is?

LUISA: I don't see why not. You know I have no secrets from you and, besides, there's no reason to keep it secret. He is Arturo, the poet. MARINA: You're not joking? Because it seems to me that a poet, at the rate things are going -LUISA:

My ideas are different, Marina.

MARINA: I can see you are in love and I won't say anything more. One cannot argue over love. The lovers are always right. So, congratulations! And what, you love each other? LUISA: Very much, with a very sweet love — feel love of two souls that understand each other; that delight in the same spiritual food, and that soar as one into the infinite, embarrassed by no earthly fetter.

MARINA: You haven't been able to escape infection, a poet. You talk like a poet. LUISA: I'm so happy with this love. I have even convinced myself that I am no longer myself but another— the very soul of Arturo. MARINA: Well, well, well — up in the clouds. And here's wishing it will be a long time before you land. LUISA: Don't you worry. And how about you? You're the same as always— very secretive about yourself. We who are your friends know nothing about you. Well, do we hear all these things — what they say about you and Andres, which of course, we do not believe. But, look, people are gossiping and they say you are too independent and that this modern education you have had is no protection against the violence of passion. MARINA: Let them talk. soon loses its news value. LUISA: your life?

Gossip

LUISA: Ah, but I want a life of great Joys and great sorrows, for the soul fulfills itself as much in pain as in pleasure. Life with its honey and its gall, its cruelties and its consolations— that is the life I want to have. My soul was made for rage and rapture but not for indifference no, never for indifference! And may such a life make

LUISA: Thank you, dear friend. And now I must go. Say goodbye for me to Andres, and to Gabriela when she comes back. And when are you coming to the house? MARINA: When you least expect me. Give my regards to your mother. LUISA: Goodbye, Marina. MARINA:

She

shall

receive

ANDRES:

Ah, you are alone?

MARINA: Yes, Luisa just left.

(Instantly moving away)

ANDRES:

(Anxiously) Marina!

MARINA: What is it, Andres? Speak, for God's sake! You make me nervous. Has anything happened? ANDRES:

Yes. Don’t you know?

MARINA:

What?

ANDRES: Fate has begun to pursue us. Now more than ever, we should stand as one to defend our love from everything. MARINA: God! What are you saying? Has Gabriela found out? ANDRES:

All right— but what, actually, is

MARINA: My life? As you see: indifferent as life itself. I have learned to live it in my own way, without great illusions, to spare myself the disappointments that ambush us at every turn. It's a life that you would call dull, but which I would not change for any other.

MARINA: you happy, Luisa!

turns away from the door.)

them.

Goodbye, Luisa.

(Exit LUISA, accompanied to the door by MARINA. Enter ANDRES as MARINA

MARINA:

Gabriela, no. But she - suspects?

ANDRES: Nothing. But the dogs that go hunting for scandals in the streets and the clubs are now barking at our door. Gabriela will become alarmed, and then will follow suspicion -and suspicion is worse than certainty. He who knows the truth be it, sweet or bitter, is at rest. But suspicion is a sea without shores, a sea wracked by the worst of tempests, a wild sea raging in the skull. I am undisturbed, but I fear for you. Your love must not be frightened into flight when I need it most. MARINA: You don't know what I go through. Since I came back, I have not been living. When I go out to the street or when I enter those houses where my services are needed— always those same eyes that fix me with a prying or a malicious look; always those same scarcely veiled hints... And this entire inquisition torments me; in vain I pretend to be indifferent; and I would gladly abandon mankind and go live with the beasts, which seem kinder, or bury myself sixty miles under the earth! ANDRES: You were educated to be strong to rise above these monkish scruples. MARINA: Of no use has that education been to me. Gabriela is right. I was arguing with her just a moment ago, because I wanted to bolster my own spirit, but in vain. How many times has I Invoked that spirit so that it might say to me: You did well to sacrifice others

for the sake of this ideal of your life. But I was merely deceiving myself, like a sacred child whistling as he walks past a graveyard at night. No Andres— a soul is not re-educated in a couple of years, especially when, like ours, it was forged by three centuries in the heat of the ancient principles. This new education is a costume that is too big or too small for us, that bursts at the seams the moment we are careless or that flaps loosely in the wind, revealing us as we really are. Fools and boors applaud us, but we are the laughing stock of the prudent. ANDRES: It's not that, Marina. What had happened is that you have been so crushed by all the prejudices in the air about us that you now think it easier to turn your back on the enemy. It would be dismal to let what they say prevail over the voice of our conscience. MARINA: Andres; it has condemns me.

My conscience has spoken, already' judged me, and it

ANDRES: That conscience is not yours, Marina, but of the people who have been waging war on your spirit and have nowsucceeded in making it say these preposterous things. We must fight, Marina — fight! MARINA: No, Andres, it is madness. This is their camp; we are the intruders, the impostors. We cannot throw them out because they are right. It is madness to fight — madness! ANDRES: They are not strong, Marina. They are shadows, phantoms — nothing more. We are the light, because we are reality, which is the only truth in life. Tradition is obsolete, the shadow of the past, the ghost of the night. It will fade away as soon as the, dawn breaks again on your conscience. It can scare only babies. MARINA: Say what you will, you are a man and you're wise and you can argue better than I. But it is not the mind that should speak now— not the mind, which is cunning and corrupt, which creates paradoxes and mixes truth with falsehood— but the conscience, which alone knows how to speak the truth. My conscience has spoken, Andres, and it says that I have trespassed on other people's affections. ANDRES: God, Marina— that is the voice of the siren! Do not listen to it! MARINA: We have strangled without pity the happiness of another person, of Gabriela, and your own happiness, too, for the joy I gave

you was false. The truth is the love of Gabriela, the true love of your love. ANDRES: You're raving! The only truth in my life is your love. Gabriela is good, but she has never understood me. Never between her and me was that fusion of thought and feeling which is the secret,, of happiness,. I have always lived in her heart like a stranger. But I called to your heart and I found my true home there, and know that I cannot live unless I live in your life. Nature refuse to recognize my union with Gabriela, but it has blessed our love, your love and mine, with a son, our son. MARINA: For God's sake, Andres — don't ravish my heart, which has been the cause of so much misfortune! The heart is selfish — and I no longer wish to be so. The time has come to make amends. I will do penance for you, for both of us, but go back to Gabriela while there is time. Let us not make our crime worse with our willfulness I have my son, and I shall live for him, for him alone. ANDRES: We shall both live for him. I will do penance, if God wills it, but at your side — beside you and the child of our, loins, of our two souls fused in the fire of love! What do we care about other people? MARINA: Don't be cruel, Andres. We have been cruel enough. ANDRES: It would be crueler to part from each other, because our union is the happiness of our son. Rather than be cruel to him, let us be cruel to others. Yes. Marina, life is cruel; we cannot remedy that. If you're in a shipwreck, it's lawful to kill to save yourself or to save those you love. Think of our child. Look, the caravan of the happy is passing at this moment. Let us join it, bearing our child like a trophy, and forget everybody else. May they forgive us! Let us run away from here! MARINA: No, Andres! No! It is a crime! Oh, fear the justice of God! ANDRES: Turn your eyes away from the shadows and look there, in the distance — life triumphant . . . the future . . . our son. . . MARINA: Yes, our son, my little Andres... He bears your name my son... Yes, we must save him, we must save him first! We must be ruthless for the sake of our son.... Where are you, Andres? I can't see you... I'm troubled, I'm afraid.

ANDRES: Here I am; fear nothing, for nothing is stronger than love. And should evil break your spirit or the spirit of my son, I would destroy my own soul first. Marina, come to my arms (Embracing her) Like this: always together) MARINA: for me!

For me, Andres —only

ANDRES: you and for your son.

Yes, for you, only for

(As they stand clasped together speaking those last words, GABRIELA appears in the front door, stares a moment at the lovers, then sways and presses a hand to her heart and silently withdraws, unnoticed by the lovers.) MARINA: (Suddenly and savagely breaking away) No, Andres—stop it! Godwill punish us! ANDRES: God has willed it. If he is just, he will not punish us. MARINA: Andres, please! Do not mock at God, or He may punish us through our son. Let us be willing to sacrifice ourselves so that our son may live and be happy. ANDRES: I can't go on without you. I have had no life of my own since you became my life. You never loved me, Marina! MARINA: You will know the greatness of my love when you understand the greatness of my sacrifice. Andres, the hours of pleasure are over. Let us think no more of ourselves; let us think of our son and how we may spare him from evil through repentance and sacrifice. If I did not have him, I would... who knows? But I am the mother of my son rather than the lover of Andres. ANDRES: their power again!

The shadows have you in

MARINA: Shadows! If only you were right. But even if you were, I know that, for the sake of my son, I must deny myself, immolate myself, offer myself in expiation. And if you love me, as you say, you too would share this holocaust. ANDRES: We can offer another victim and God would accept her! MARINA: That's enough! This is your selfishness speaking. Now is the time to be strong for this is the hour of sacrifice. If you are scared, Andres, leave me alone!

ANDRES:

Marina!

MARINA:

Leave me alone!

ANDRES:

Marina!

MARINA:

No, Andres! Go away!

ANDRES:

I shall wait.

MARINA: — never!

(Resolutely) No, Andres

(Exit ANDRES at left. Marina sits down and bursts into tears, covering her face with her hands. Then she rises and walks toward right as one of the doors there opens and GABRIELA enters, looking exhausted.) MARINA: (Alarmed) My God! What’s the matter, Gabriela? What has happened to you? GABRIELA: Nothing... A shock... Charito is dead. I saw her die. That scene at the hospital... No, nothing. Will you fetch me a glass of water? Where is Andres? Don't tell him anything. (Exit MARINA, returning at once with the glass of water.) MARINA: lemon in it.

Here it is. I put some,

(As MARINA sits down beside her sister, there's a moment's awkward silence, broken only by GABRIELA's labored breathing.) GABRIELA: I feel better. Stand up, Marina. (Marina rises) Stand back a little. That's enough. (She gazes admiringly at MARINA) You have a fine figure. And such poise. (With a touch of admiring envy) And that uniform accentuates your slenderness. And that coiffure suits you perfectly; makes you look like an angel. How men must feel when they look at you...On the other hand, just see how dowdy I have become. (Studying herself pityingly) I look like a sack of potatoes. When I married, I didn't look so awful. But now. MARINA: lovely and you still are.

(Interrupting) You were

GABRIELA: (Hardly noticing the interruption) I stopped taking care of myself to

take care of this house, and to make Andres happy, in my own way, and I have failed. I learn too late that, when a woman marries, she should not only become a wife but should go on being a sweetheart, to keep the fire of love burning. Sit down, Marina, no, closer. You know what? (MARINA stares at her with anxiety and fear.) It’s four years today that Mama died and now we hardly remember her. How impious we are! This day, which should have been sacred to her memory, I had intended to pass very gaily — and God has punished me by sending me this sorrow. How true is the old saying that a daughter does not begin to pay the debt of love she owes her mother until she becomes a mother herself. And I'm not a mother! God has not wanted me to pay the full price of love I should have paid to my mother. (Beginning to weep) Marina, do you remember Mama? MARINA: Why not? But don't go on like this. You'll make yourself ill with these thoughts. We will say a rosary for Mama and she will be pleased. And you will feel a great relief, you will stop worrying. GABRIELA: (Not listening to MARINA) Poor dear, how she loved us and you especially. I remember everything as if it were yesterday… Papa would buy you toys; you had yours and I had mine, so we wouldn't fight. But you always wanted my toys too, and when I wouldn't give them up, you cried. And Mama would scold me and take away my toys and give them to you, and she would tell me that you were younger and that I should always give in to you. Then I would creep to a corner with my little heart broken, and weep all alone. One time — remember?---the Three Kings brought me a big doll that moved its eyes and its arms and said mama, papa. But I had that doll only for an instant because you took it from me too, and I wept like never before. Oh, I wanted to die, I couldn't explain such an injustice to myself. But afterwards I forgot all about it. Children do not hold grudges. Then the years passed — and now I understand. It was not Mama but life itself that is unjust. It breaks all your illusions, even the poor little lamp you need to light you when you are unhappy... MARINA: (Vainly pretending not to understand) Childhood silliness! Why make such a fuss over it? All children are selfish. (Aside) Does she know or does she suspect? Besides, I always gave you back the toys I took from you. GABRIELA: broken them, like that doll.

Yes, —after you had

MARINA: No, Gabriela, no! I gave them back to you unbroken. (Seeing Don NARCISO coming, she quickly leaves the room through door at right. ) D. NARCISO:

Here I am, back.

GABRIELA: worried waiting for you!

Why so late? I

was

D. NARCIS0: Why, my child? What does my dear niece want from her old uncle? (Looking at her more closely) But what's the matter? You have been crying. Yes, tell me what has happened. GABRIELA: Nothing. We were talking about Mama, who, four years ago today, left us orphans. D. NARCISO: (Sitting down) But why all these memories? You just want to make yourself suffer. Look, I am going to scold you as if you were a little girl again. GABRIELA: Yes, do scold me as if I were a little girl, I want to be one again, to retreat into the cradle, to dream that I have many, many toys and nobody to take them away from me! D. NARCISO: But what is this, Gabriela? My child, you are not well look, I am going to call Andres. GABRIELA: Oh, please don't call him. (Making an effort to smile) I'm not crying any more — look. D. NARCISO: No, Gabriela, you can't deceive me. A storm rages inside you. Tell me your troubles, my child, and this old man will go to the ends of the earth to find a remedy for them. If you try to hide them from me, I shall think that you do not love me. GABRIELA: You're the only one I have in the world! Love me much, Tio Narciso, very much. I need --- if I am to go on living — love. D. NARCISO: Gabriela, for God's sake— you will have me crying? GABRIELA: Then cry — cry with me so I, won't be along in my grief. How good you are. How you love me. The others have no heart. D. NARCISO: Open your heart to me, Gabriela. If not, you will hurt me deeply. Sorrow,

when shared, becomes lighter – GABRIELA: Yes, yes, I will speak — but you shouldn't leave me. This life is a great burden and I need a good love like yours to lean on. D. NARCISO:

What has happened, my child?

GABRIELA: You must have known and you never told me. I was being robbed of love, and you knew it and kept quiet. D. NARCISO: I know what you refer to. But there are no proofs. Anyway, it is a mere trifle; not worth bothering about. GABRIEL: Narciso.

It is all my life, Tio

D. NARCISO: Very well— but no reason to work yourself up like this, frightening those who love you. I can understand how, in this state of mind, you have been able to torment yourself because of a' mere suspicion. GABRIELA: not a suspicion.

No, Tio Narciso. It is

D. NARCISO: Then, it is a calumny, mere envy of your happiness. Nobody has any proofs. GABRIELA:

I do.

D. NARCISO: Impossible! It’s not half an hour since I came. With whom have you been talking since then? GABRIELA: With no one. But they have been so careless and I have seen them. Yes, I surprised them in each other's arms, Marina and Andres, and so drunk with their joy, they did not even noticed my presence. Ah — and they were speaking of their love and — yes, I remember — of a child also, a son, their son. D. NARCISO: My God— what are you saying, Gabriela, you are delirious! GABRIELA: It's not delirium, no. It's the brutal truth tearing away the veils. Andres had no pity. He stormed this fortress and destroyed it. Oh, I can't breathe! Love... It doesn't matter now... Air, air, Tio-Narciso! I'm choking! I forgive them... Mother, Mother, forgive me for believing you were unjust. You never were. It is life itself that is cruel... (She collapses in Don Naricso's arms . )

D. NARCISO: Gabriela! Oh, my God! (he feels her heart) She is dead! (Shouting) Marina! Andres! (He lays the dead woman on the Sofa) Murderers! (Enter running, MARINA from right Andres from left.) ANDRES: What happened? She has had another attack! Gabriela! MARINA:

Gabriela! My sister!

D. NARCISO: (Warding off both of them) no. It is too late.

You,

ANDRES: Dead? (He flings himself upon the dead woman; Marina kneels down beside the sofa) D. NARCISO: Useless now your science. Andres, your pity, Marina, with which you can give death but not life. Your iniquity has been so brazen. MARINA: Gabriela!

God, forgive me! Forgive me,

(Andres sobs, holding the dead woman's hands in his.) D. NARCISO: But Gabriela, died as she lived, without a word of hate for those who killed her, loving and forgiving them. Marina, let us go away from here. God have mercy on you, Andres; and pray that your worst punishment shall not be to go wondering through the world, feeling as though you carried on your shoulders, hour after hour, the unburied body of your wife. (Marina staggers up, sobbing and follows Don Narciso to the door. Andres springs up and runs after them.) ANDRES : (Imploringly) Tio Narciso, Marina — do not leave me alone! I am afraid. (The room has been steadily darkening) D. NARCISO: (Mockingly) They are merely shadows and phantoms, Andres. They never scared you, Marina must not remain a minute longer here--in this house that was the clean home of your marriage, and which you turned into the theatre of your treachery, and that is now a house of death. An abyss has opened between you and Marina. No, it is not Gabriela's heart — that weak fortress, so easy to conquer and betray. It is death, mistress of the world. Come, Marina!

(Exit Don Narciso and Marina. The room is now in darkness. Andres stands gazing at the body of his wife.) ANDRES: Gabriela, forgive me.... (Falling on his knees and clasping his hands together) Lord, you have conquered! They were not shadows, not phantoms; they were your commandments! -Your laws for all eternity! (Glancing around him in terror) Alone, God! Alone in the dark! (He buries his face in his hands as the curtains fall)

Torio: No, Carding, I was not…..(sitting down). Carding: (Still standing) So you’ve been sick. I didn’t know it until Marina told me. Torio: Carding: ago.

Where did you see her? She passed by the house just a while

Torio: Damn that woman! So she insisted on seeing you. I told her not to bother you! Carding: Oh….it isn’t any bother at all, Torio. I was even chiding her for not letting me know right away. (Takes a seat at foot of cot) She was so excited when she showed up; at first I thought you were dead or dying! Torio: Don’t you let that woman alarm you again! There’s not a time when she doesn’t worry about something. Sometimes, I even think she worries about what will worry her next! (Tries to laugh but end up coughing) Carding: But she has reason to be worried. You look very sick.

CADAVER ALBERTO S. FLORENTINO Characters: Torio, Marina, Carding Time: Afternoon The interior of a squalid dwelling located on the edge of a cemetery in Manila. The walls and roof—made of empty fruit boxes, tarpaulin, bamboo, and cardboard patched together—threaten to collapse any minute. A door, upstage left, leads to the outside and another, right, to the kitchen. Upstage center is a small window. At right corner is a cot placed diagonally across the room. Two fruit boxes, standing on their sides, serve as seats, and another, flat on ground, serves as a table where an oil lamp gives off the only light in the semi-darkness. (Torio is lying on the cot, a manta blanket covering him to the waist. He is around 27 years old, with a square jaw and well-developed body. He is sick, his eyes being closed as if in sleep.) (Carding enters: a frail-bodied, slowmoving man, in dirty pants and T-shirt crosses to Torio and taps him in the shoulder.) Carding: (As Torio seems to wake up) Are you asleep, Torio?

Torio:

I’m a just a bit feverish, that’s all.

Carding: (Leans forward and feels Torio’s temperature) Your whole body is on fire! How did you get that fever? Torio: I don’t know. I guess it’s the tiny wound on my foot. (Exposes his right foot, bandaged in dirty rags.) Carding: Maybe you didn’t go to the dispensary as I told you. (Pulls his foot under the blanket) Torio:

It’s not anything serious.

Carding: Nothing serious! If it can put a man of your size and strength to bed, it is something serious! But you need not worry. I sent Marina to the dispensary. Torio:

What for?

Carding: I told her to ask the doctor to come and look at you over. She should have thought that before. Torio: Are you dreaming? Do you think the doctor will come when we have no money to pay him? Carding: But you don’t have to pay him anything. He’s the public doctor. He’ll treat you for free.

Torio: Maybe if I got there. But do you think he’ll take the trouble of coming to me? What do you think I am, a congressman?

on the brink of death. Then they send young doctors to practice on you…. Not for anything in the world would I go there again.

Carding: He must come. He’s paid to take care of the sick…wherever they are.

Carding: (Sits down and leans forward) Look, don’t you want some pretty nurses hovering about you like butterflies? Oh, how I wish I would get sick just to be bear them. I would hate to get well.

Torio: But will he come? Hell, no! (Mumbles to himself) Nobody comes to me… anybody. Not even those firemen…they did not come… Carding: What firemen are you talking about? Torio: (With bitterness) do you remember the house we had before this that was burned to the ground?

Torio: Don’t try that kind of talk to me; I won’t fall for it. I won’t let those nurses or anybody else touches me…If I’ll die; I’ll die in spite of all the doctors and pretty nurses in the world.

I remember. I even helped you build

Carding: (rises and walks a little)My God, you should be in the hospital now…and not here, arguing with me.

Torio: When it was burning, did the firemen come to put the fire out? No! Oh, yes, they came —but only up there! (Points through the window.) When they found out it was only my house burning, they drove away, pretending it was only grass fire they saw… Now, why would they do that? Don’t I deserve to be treated like any other citizen?

Torio: You’ve got a chicken’s heart. You’re just like my wife. I get a tiny wound and a little fever…and she thinks I’m dying. Can you imagine me dying of a tiny wound like this (puts out his foot)—at this age and with this body? During the Japanese Occupation I had a bayonet wound that deep? (Demonstrates with his fingers) Does it look as if I died of it? Is this a dead man’s ghost you’re talking to?

Carding: this one.

Carding: Maybe they found out that you never once brought a cedula! (Laughs; rises and paces about) Oh, Torio….try to forget that. Thinking about it will not make you feel any better. Torio: Could you forget it if everything you had in the world went up in flames? I can’t forget that. I’ll remember that to my dying day. Carding: (Pauses at the door, looks out, and turns around.)Torio…why don’t you move out of this cemetery? Maybe it’s the place that brings you bad luck. Why don’t you out up a house somewhere else? Anywhere but here… You live all alone here.. Among all these dead…

Carding: (looking out the window) we’re never sure of our fate, Torio. Strange things happen to us when we least expect them. Torio: I’ll bet you, in a few days I’ll be well and strong. Then we will continue our work. We’ll make up for the time we lost since I got sick. You haven’t tried doing it alone have you? Carding: (Turns to him) No, I— Torio: It’s all right. I know you couldn’t do it. Not alone. You need me…But don’t get impatient. I’ll get well sooner than you expect. Carding: You don’t get what I mean, Torio….I’m giving it up.

Torio: (Continues to mumble to himself.) Maybe, just because we live here with the dead, people think we’re as good as dead…

Torio: (Surprised) What? You’re up? You’re joking! Carding: I’m not joking, Torio.

Carding: (Walks to foot of cot: tires to divert his thoughts...) If the doctor does not come, Torio, we’ll move you to the hospital.

Torio: But why? Have you found an easier way of making a living?

Torio: no!

To the hospital! To the free ward?

Oh

Carding: So what if it’s a free ward? You know very well we cannot afford to be choosy. Torio: I was there once. Do you know how they treat you there? They will neglect you until you’re

giving

it

Carding: I’m frightened, Torio. See what happened to you. Suppose it happened to me? I’m not even half as healthy as you are. Torio: Oh! So this little wound had you really scared huh? Why, it’s only a scratch! It did not even bleed a drop.

Carding: You know what old folks say about those accidents! Torio: What do they say?

Carding: (To Marina) What did he say? Marina: dispensary.

Carding: They say… if one gets wounded—or even only scratched—by the bones of the dead…. he will die. Torio: And you believe that? Carding: Of course!

Carding:

He wants us to take Torio to the

How? He couldn’t even sit up.

Torio: Who says I can’t even sit up? I can! (Tries to sit up as Marina cries out: “Don’t!” but he fails.) I know I can… if I really try. Carding: That doctor must be crazy.

Torio: (Laughs) You’re just a child. Besides, it was an accident! A corpse did not rise from his tomb to plunge one of his ribs into my foot! Nothing like that happened….so there’s nothing to be scared of!

Torio: The doctor’s afraid that, instead of paying him, I would beg from him. If he came, I would have really begged from him. (Laughs)

Carding: Even then. You got that wound in a cemetery… (Leans toward him) Torio. Let’s not offend the dead any more. It’s so frightening. You’ll never know what they’ll do to punish us.

Marina:

Torio: What can they do except haunt us? And who is scared of ghosts? Carding: (Straightens up) I’d rather offend living people— Torio: And if they catch you, what do they do? They throw you in jail. The dead are more kind, Carding. Carding: I haven’t had a good night’s sleep since we started that thing. It seems so mean and ugly —just like stealing candy from an innocent baby. Torio: Carding, if you start being sentimental in this world, you’ll starve to death. Carding: Oh…here comes Marina. (Marina enters, a plain woman of 25 or 26,sloppily dressed in a formless, tunic-like gray dress.) Carding: outside)

Where is the doctor Marina? (Looks

Marina: He’s not with me. Torio: (With a cynical triumph) See! I told you so I would have died in surprise if he came! Carding: (To Marina) Why Was he busy?

couldn’t

he

come?

Marina: No, he was not. (Feels Torio’stemperature) Your temperature is still rising.

Carding: come?

Are you sure you tried to make him Of course I did! Now, what shall we do?

Torio: You’re both afraid I might die. For all you know, I might outlive both of you. (Smiles and starts murmuring to himself.) Marina: (Crosses to Carding downstage; speaks low) Listen to him. I’m afraid the fever has touched his brain. Carding: Let’s take him to the hospital. Marina: It’s not as easy as that Carding. He hates hospitals. Carding: We’ll drag him to it…if we have to. Marina: We can’t make him do anything that he hates. Carding: (Touches his arm) But we just can’t leave him alone, Marina. He’s really sicker than he appears to be. It is only his will to live that keeps him going. He’ll break down soon and it may be too late then. Torio: (Notices them conversing.) Hey! What are you two doing there…whispering like two lovebirds? Carding: (loud enough for Torio to hear.) You’d better go down to the street and get a jeep. Marina: We haven’t even a centavo to pay for the driver. Carding: I’ll take care of that. Torio: What do you want a jeep for? (Sarcastic.)Are you two eloping? Can’t you wait ‘till I’m dead? Carding: Torio, we’re taking you to the hospital. Torio: You’re not taking me anywhere! Carding: Torio, we don’t have to ask you. Torio: Oh, no? You speak as if you own my body! Carding: Because I know it’s for your own good. Torio: But I don’t want it, I don’t need it! Don’t tell me I can’t refuse anything for myself.

Carding: Torio, listen to me. Be reasonable. You’re sick. If you refuse to go, we’ll drag you if we have to. Torio: Just try, Carding….just try! I’ll fight you with my last strength! Carding: Torio— Torio: Carding, you’re my friend. Don’t do anything I hate. And don’t worry; I’m in my right senses. Carding: (irked) All right, all right, I won’t insist! (Sits down.)

Torio: See? I’m not yet dead and you have taken his side against me! Marina:

Torio—

Torio: Do you think he can take care of you as I have been doing? He cannot even earn enough money to support himself. He cannot take over our business when I get sick— Marina: What business—? Torio: How much more if he had you take career? He’d starve you to death. Marina: Carding? Carding:

What

business

does he mean,

Don’t mind him. He’s gone mad!

Marina:

Torio please….listen to us...

Torio:

Why are you so worried about me?

Torio: So, I’m mad huh? (To Marina) I’ll tell you what kind of business we have.

Marina:

What a silly question!

Carding:

Torio: That’s not a silly question! Why should you worry that I might die? Haven’t you always wanted me to die? Marina:

Torio!

Torio!

Torio: It’s a business that requires no capital. All you need is a good, strong stomach— Carding:

(Shaking him) Torio, stop it!

Torio: You were never really happy with me, were you? I know you’ve grown tired of me.

Torio: (Pushing him off) Why? Are you ashamed to let others know that the dead have been supporting you all along?

Marina:

Marina:

No, Torio!—

Torio: Don’t be ashamed to admit it. I wouldn’t mind. I confess I also get bored sometimes. But where I could always seek change, you cannot. I can imagine how you must feel inside… Marina:

Torio, whatever gave you those ideas?

Torio: So, if you think I’m going to die, don’t take this all trouble of pretending you don’t want it to happen. Just let me alone to die. This could be your chance to get rid of me and take another man. Carding, for instance— Marina: Torio! Torio: Carding hasn’t taken a wife yet. And he’s quite a man too. Even before I’m dead and gone, he has started to lay his hands on you— Marina: Torio! He’s our only friend and you dare speak of him like that! (to Carding) Carding, you must forgive him. He doesn’t know what he’s saying. Carding: Don’t worry. I understand very well.

Carding: mind.

What does he mean, Carding? Don’t listen to him. He’s out of his

Torio: Really? (to Marina) Do you want to know where the money I bought home came from? Do you believe I really earned it by breaking my back at the waterfront? I’ve fooled you so well you never suspected, did you? Marina:

What did you do?

Torio:

To put it plainly—

Carding:

Torio! Don’t—

Torio: I robbed the dead people around us… (Carding, exasperated, sites at doorway and lookout). Marina:

(Shocked) What! You mean—

Torio: I was one of those who forced open the graves in the cemetery. Marina: (hardly able to speak) and you stole from them? And you…sold what you found?

Torio: Yes! Why not? Rich people are always being buried with something valuable on them. Rings, earrings, necklaces—even gold teeth! Why let such treasures rot under the ground…while above that ground people like us are starving! Marina:

Torio…you didn’t do that!

was outside, soaked to the bone and shivering, waiting to go home, to a dark, dank place, with a cardboard roof that leaks even in the lightest rain! Why? He’s dead and I’m alive! I have more right to the things wasted on him, don’t you think? Don’t you think we need thick walls more than the dead?

Torio: But I did! You can ask Carding. He was with me all the time. At first he was scared to death.—He would tremble and perspire—but later on—

Marina: He must have seen you…

Carding: (turns to them) I didn’t want to—

Marina: It was God who saw you Torio. He keeps eternal watch over the dead.

Torio: But he had to—because he had to eat— even from a dead man’s hand. When he tries to rob the living, he always gets caught. He’s too slow for them. But with the dead, once he got used to it, it was so easy. The dead do not report to the police, they don’t fight back, they don’t even scream! Marina: Stop it! How horrible! I can’t stand it! (Sits down) Oh…the poor sacred dead… Torio: dead!

Why so scared about them? They’re

Marina: (Almost crying) Torio…we had nowhere to go, we moved into their place. We erected this house on their land. They did not complain, they did not call us “squatters”, they did not drive us away. And what did you do in return, what! Torio: I hate them! That’s why I robbed them! I hate them! Marina: Hate them? What did they do to you? Did they ever try to harm you? Torio: (Pointing through the window) Look at them! Doesn’t that sight infuriate you? Look! Nothing worries them. They lie there day and night, sleeping like babies, mocking our sufferings… Carding: (At the doorway) Marina, stop listening to him…if you want to keep sane. He used to tell me that over and over again. Maybe that’s why he made me do what he did. Torio: One night, as I was coming home, A strong rain overtook me. I ran for shelter to the nearest tomb, that one near the road, belonging to a dead millionaire. It was so beautiful. It looked more like a palace than a place for a dead. It had thick marble walls and a roof and festive lights. Inside it was a dead body in a coffin. It was dry in the rain and comfortable even in death. Why should that dead merchant have marble walls and a roof to protect him from the rain, while I

Torio: Who could’ve seen us? We used to work after midnight…when everyone was asleep.

Torio: Why should God keep watch over the dead? Why not you and me who are still alive? Marina: Oh…what you did is a horrible sacrilege! If you die, heaven will surely not receive your soul…Yes, if you die, even hell would refuse you’re damned soul! Torio: (Mad) Why do you always say “if you die”“if you die”? Do you really want me to die? Marina:

No, why should I?

Torio: (Vehemently.) You really want to get rid of me, don’t you? (Marina, throughout, tries to interrupt—in vain) Now I see that you two have been waiting for me to die so you could live together! Maybe a little wound like this can put me into bed. You’re praying—praying that I will die. But I’ll disappoint you both! I will live on and on if only to punish you by denying you the chance to live together! I’m still young! I have hundred years before me! Not all the dead in the world can drag me to the grave! (his raving rises in pitch) I dare them! Yes, I dare all the dead whom I offended to take me! (Raving mad, shouts through the window) Take me if you can! I despise all of you! Oh, that you were all alive now and suffering in life! (Suddenly collapses). Marina: (rushing to him) Torio! What happened? Carding! Carding: (at Torio’s side) Torio! (To Marina) Get some water quick! (Marina gets water as Carding tries to revive him. Then makes him drink.) Marina:

Torio…are you all right?

Torio: (He comes to, sees Marina and speaks between gasps) I’m all right…They cannot take me…I’m not willing to go yet. (looks around blindly) Where’s Carding? Has he gone?

Carding: (comes to his view) I’m still here. Torio: I thought…. you had left… You are not mad at me…are you? Carding: No, I’m not, Torio. Torio: I didn’t mean it…what I said about you. I had a drunken feeling…I just said anything… Carding: You don’t have to explain. I understand very well. Try not to talk…you need rest. Torio: Yes, I feel tired…You two talk together… I’ll take a short nap… (To Marina) Wake me up when he’s ready to leave, Marina… Marina: Yes, Torio. (Torio closes his eyes; suddenly his head and his arm fall over the edge of the cot.) Marina: (screams, shaking him) Torio! Wake up, Torio! Wake up! (Flings her body on him and cries over the body for a time; later, Carding pulls her and covers the body as Marina, now calmed, watches.) Marina: It was so sudden – as if an unseen hand suddenly snatched him away! Carding: At last, he is now in peace. Marina: How can he ever have peace? The dead he offended will not let him alone. Carding: No ,Marina. The dead are not cruel and vindictive like us. They will understand him much more than we, the living, ever could.