Silence.
Voices are heard again. They draw nearer, and stop. The door opens. ASTON and DAVIES enter, ASTON first, DAVIES following, shambling, breathing heavily.
ASTON wears an old tweed overcoat, and under it a thin shabby dark-blue pinstripe suit, single-breasted, with a pullover and faded shirt and tie. DAVIES wears a worn brown overcoat, shapeless trousers, a waistcoat, vest, no shirt, and sandals. ASTON puts the key in his pocket and closes the door. DAVIES looks about the room.
ASTON. Sit down.
DAVIES. Thanks. (Looking about.) Uuh. . . .
ASTON. Just a minute.
ASTON looks around for a chair, sees one lying on its side by the rolled carpet at the fireplace, and starts to get it out.
DAVIES. Sit down? Huh . . . I haven't had a good sit down . . . I haven't had a proper sit down . . . well, I couldn't tell you. . . .
ASTON (placing the chair). Here you are.
DAVIES. Ten minutes off for a tea-break in the middle of the night in that place and I couldn't find a seat, not one. All them Greeks had it, Poles, Greeks, Blacks, the lot of them, all them aliens had it. And they had me working there . . . they had me working. . . .
ASTON sits on the bed, takes out a tobacco tin and papers, and begins to roll himself a cigarette. DAVIES watches him.
All them Blacks had it, Blacks, Greeks, Poles, the lot of them, that's what, doing me out of a seat, treating me like dirt. When he come at me tonight I told him.
Pause.
ASTON. Take a seat.
DAVIES. Yes, but what I got to do first, you see, what I got to do, I got to loosen myself up, you see what I mean? I could have got done in down there.
DAVIES exclaims loudly, punches downward with closed fist, turns his back to ASTON and stares at the wall.
Pause. ASTON lights a cigarette.
ASTON. You want to roll yourself one of these?
DAVIES (turning). What? No, no, I never smoke a cigarette. (Pause. He comes forward.) I'll tell you what, though. I'll have a bit of that tobacco there for my pipe, if you like.
ASTON (handing him the tin). Yes. Go on. Take some out of that.
DAVIES. That's kind of you, mister. Just enough to fill my pipe, that's all. (He takes a pipe from his pocket and fills it.) I had a tin, only . . . only a while ago. But it was knocked off. It was knocked off on the Great West Road. (He holds out the tin). Where shall I put it?
ASTON. I'll take it.
DAVIES (handing the tin). When he come at me tonight I told him. Didn't I? You heard me tell him, didn't you?
ASTON. I saw him have a go at you.
DAVIES. Go at me? You wouldn't grumble. The filthy skate, an old man like me, I've had dinner with the best.
Pause.
ASTON. Yes, I saw him have a go at you.
DAVIES. All them toe-rags, mate, got the manners of pigs. I might have been on the road a few years but you can take it from me I'm clean. I keep myself up. That's why I left my wife. Fortnight after I married her, no, not so much as that, no more than a week, I took the lid off a saucepan, you know what was in it? A pile of her underclothing, unwashed. The pan for vegetables, it was. The vegetable pan. That's when I left her and I haven't seen her since.
DAVIES turns, shambles across the room, comes face to face with a statue of Buddha standing on the gas stove, looks at it and turns.
I've eaten my dinner off the best of plates. But I'm not young any more. I remember the days I was as handy as any of them. They didn't take any liberties with me. But I haven't been so well lately. I've had a few attacks.
Pause.
(Coming closer.) Did you see what happened with that one?
ASTON. I only got the end of it.
DAVIES. Comes up to me, parks a bucket of rubbish at me tells me to take it out the back. It's not my job to take out the bucket! They got a boy there for taking out the bucket. I wasn't engaged to take out buckets. My job's cleaning the floor, clearing up the tables, doing a bit of washing-up, nothing to do with taking out buckets!
ASTON. Uh.
He crosses down right, to get the electric toaster.
DAVIES (following). Yes, well say I had! Even if I had! Even if I was supposed to take out the bucket, who was this git to come up and give me orders? We got the same standing. He's not my boss. He's nothing superior to me.
ASTON. What was he, a Greek?
DAVIES. Not him, he was a Scotch. He was a Scotchman. (ASTON goes back to his bed with the toaster and starts to unscrew the plug. DAVIES follows him). You got an eye of him, did you?
ASTON. Yes.
DAVIES. I told him what to do with his bucket. Didn't I? You heard. Look here, I said, I'm an old man, I said, where I was brought up we had some idea how to talk to old people with the proper respect, we was brought up with the right ideas, if I had a few years off me I'd . . . I'd break you in half. That was after the guvnor give me the bullet. Making too much commotion, he says. Commotion, me! Look here, I said to him, I got my rights. I told him that. I might have been on the road but nobody's got more rights than I have. Let's have a bit of fair play, I said. Anyway, he give me the bullet. (He sits in the chair). That's the sort of place.
Pause.
If you hadn't come out and stopped that Scotch git I'd be inside the hospital now. I'd have cracked my head on that pavement if he'd have landed. I'll get him. One night I'll get him. When I find myself around that direction.
ASTON crosses to the plug box to get another plug.
I wouldn't mind so much but I left all my belongings in that place, in the back room there. All of them, the lot there was, you see, in this bag. Every lousy blasted bit of all my bleeding belongings I left down there now. In the rush of it. I bet he's having a poke around in it now this very moment.
ASTON. I'll pop down sometime and pick them up for you.
ASTON goes back to his bed and starts to fix the plug on the toaster.
DAVIES. Anyway, I'm obliged to you, letting me . . . letting me have a bit of a rest, like . . . for a few minutes. (He looks about.) This your room?
ASTON. Yes.
DAVIES. You got a good bit of stuff here.
ASTON. Yes.
DAVIES. Must be worth a few bob, this . . . put it all together.
Pause.
There's enough of it.
ASTON. There's a good bit of it, all right.
DAVIES. You sleep here, do you?
ASTON. Yes.
DAVIES. What, in that?
ASTON. Yes.
DAVIES. Yes, well, you'd be well out of the draught there.
ASTON. You don't get much wind.
DAVIES. You'd be well out of it. It's different when you're kipping out.
ASTON. Would be.
DAVIES. Nothing but wind then.
Pause.
ASTON. Yes, when the wind gets up it. . . .
Pause.
DAVIES. Yes. . . .
ASTON. Mmnn. . . .
Pause.
DAVIES. Gets very draughty.
ASTON. Ah.
DAVIES. I'm very sensitive to it.
ASTON. Are you?
DAVIES. Always have been.
Pause.
You got any more rooms then, have you?
ASTON. Where?
DAVIES. I mean, along the landing here . . . up the landing there.
ASTON. They're out of commission.
DAVIES. Get away.
ASTON. They need a lot of doing to.
Slight pause.
DAVIES. What about downstairs?
ASTON. That's closed up. Needs seeing to. . . . The floors. . . .
Pause.
DAVIES. I was lucky you come into that caff. I might have been done by that Scotch git. I been left for dead more than once.
Pause.
I noticed that there was someone was living in the house next door.
ASTON. What?
DAVIES (gesturing). I noticed. . . .
ASTON. Yes. There's people living all along th
e road.
DAVIES. Yes, I noticed the curtains pulled down there next door as we came along.
ASTON. They're neighbours.
Pause.
DAVIES. This your house then, is it?
Pause.
ASTON. I'm in charge.
DAVIES. You the landlord, are you?
He puts a pipe in his mouth and puffs without lighting it.
Yes, I noticed them heavy curtains pulled across next door as we came along. I noticed them heavy big curtains right across the window down there. I thought there must be someone living there.
ASTON. Family of Indians live there.
DAVIES. Blacks?
ASTON. I don't see much of them.
DAVIES. Blacks, eh? (DAVIES stands and moves about.) Well you've got some knick-knacks here all right, I'll say that. I don't like a bare room. (ASTON joins DAVIES upstage centre). I'll tell you what, mate, you haven't got a spare pair of shoes?
ASTON. Shoes?
ASTON moves downstage right.
DAVIES. Them bastards at the monastery let me down again.
ASTON (going to his bed.) Where?
DAVIES. Down in Luton. Monastery down at Luton. . . . I got a mate at Shepherd's Bush, you see. . . .
ASTON (looking under his bed). I might have a pair.
DAVIES. I got this mate at Shepherd's Bush. In the convenience. Well, he was in the convenience. Run about the best convenience they had. (He watches ASTON.) Run about the best one. Always slipped me a bit of soap, any time I went in there. Very good soap. They have to have the best soap. I was never without a piece of soap, whenever I happened to be knocking about the Shepherd's Bush area.
ASTON (emerging from under the bed with shoes). Pair of brown.
DAVIES. He's gone now. Went. He was the one who put me on to this monastery. Just the other side of Luton. He'd heard they give away shoes.
ASTON. You've got to have a good pair of shoes.
DAVIES. Shoes? It's life and death to me. I had to go all the way to Luton in these.
ASTON. What happened when you got there, then?
Pause.
DAVIES. I used to know a bootmaker in Acton. He was a good mate to me.
Pause.
You know what that bastard monk said to me?
Pause.
How many more Blacks you got around here then?
ASTON. What?
DAVIES. You got any more Blacks around here?
ASTON (holding out the shoes). See if these are any good.
DAVIES. You know what that bastard monk said to me? (He looks over to the shoes.) I think those'd be a bit small.
ASTON. Would they?
DAVIES. No, don't look the right size.
ASTON. Not bad trim.
DAVIES. Can't wear shoes that don't fit. Nothing worse. I said to this monk, here, I said, look here, mister, he opened the door, big door, he opened it, look here, mister, I said, I come all the way down here, look, I said, I showed him these, I said, you haven't got a pair of shoes, have you, a pair of shoes, I said, enough to keep me on my way. Look at these, they're nearly out, I said, they're no good to me. I heard you got a stock of shoes here. Piss off, he said to me. Now look here, I said, I'm an old man, you can't talk to me like that, I don't care who you are. If you don't piss off, he says, I'll kick you all the way to the gate. Now look here, I said, now wait a minute, all I'm asking for is a pair of shoes, you don't want to start taking liberties with me, it's taken me three days to get here, I said to him, three days without a bite, I'm worth a bite to eat, en I? Get out round the corner to the kitchen, he says, get out round the corner, and when you've had your meal, piss off out of it. I went round to this kitchen, see? Meal they give me! A bird, I tell you, a little bird, a little tiny bird, he could have ate it in under two minutes. Right, they said to me, you've had your meal, get off out of it. Meal? I said, what do you think I am, a dog? Nothing better than a dog. What do you think I am, a wild animal? What about them shoes I come all the way here to get I heard you was giving away? I've a good mind to report you to your mother superior. One of them, an Irish hooligan, come at me. I cleared out. I took a short cut to Watford and picked up a pair there. Got onto the North Circular, just past Hendon, the sole come off, right where I was walking. Lucky I had my old ones wrapped up, still carrying them, otherwise I'd have been finished, man. So I've had to stay with these, you see, they're gone, they're no good, all the good's gone out of them.
ASTON. Try these.
DAVIES takes the shoes, takes off his sandals and tries them on.
DAVIES. Not a bad pair of shoes. (He trudges round the room.) They're strong, all right. Yes. Not a bad shape of shoe. This leather's hardy, en't? Very hardy. Some bloke tried to flog me some suede the other day. I wouldn't wear them. Can't beat leather, for wear. Suede goes off, it creases, it stains for life in five minutes. You can't beat leather. Yes. Good shoe this.
ASTON. Good.
DAVIES waggles his feet.
DAVIES. Don't fit though.
ASTON. Oh?
DAVIES. No. I got a very broad foot.
ASTON. Mmnn.
DAVIES. These are too pointed, you see.
ASTON. Ah.
DAVIES. They'd cripple me in a week. I mean these ones I got on, they're no good but at least they're comfortable. Not much cop, but I mean they don't hurt. (He takes them off and gives them back). Thanks anyway, mister.
ASTON. I'll see what I can look out for you.
DAVIES. Good luck. I can't go on like this. Can't get from one place to another. And I'll have to be moving about, you see, try to get fixed up.
ASTON. Where you going to go?
DAVIES. Oh, I got one or two things in mind. I'm waiting for the weather to break.
Pause.
ASTON (attending to the toaster). Would . . . would you like to sleep here?
DAVIES. Here?
ASTON. You can sleep here if you like.
DAVIES. Here? Oh, I don't know about that.
Pause.
How long for?
ASTON. Till you . . . get yourself fixed up.
DAVIES (sitting). Ay well, that. . . .
ASTON. Get yourself sorted out. . . .
DAVIES. Oh, I'll be fixed up . . . pretty soon now. . . .
Pause.
Where would I sleep?
ASTON. Here. The other rooms would . . . would be no good to you.
DAVIES (rising, looking about). Here? Where?
ASTON (rising, pointing upstage right). There's a bed behind all that.
DAVIES. Oh, I see. Well, that's handy. Well, that's . . . I tell you what, I might do that . . . just till I get myself sorted out. You got enough furniture here.
ASTON. I picked it up. Just keeping it here for the time being. Thought it might come in handy.
DAVIES. This gas stove work, do it?
ASTON. No.
DAVIES. What do you do for a cup of tea?
ASTON. Nothing.
DAVIES. That's a bit rough. (DAVIES observes the planks.) You building something?
ASTON. I might build a shed out the back.
DAVIES. Carpenter, eh? (He turns to the lawn-mower.) Got a lawn.
ASTON. Have a look.
ASTON lifts the sack at the window. They look out.
DAVIES. Looks a bit thick.
ASTON. Overgrown.
DAVIES. What's that, a pond?
ASTON. Yes.
DAVIES. What you got, fish?
ASTON. No. There isn't anything in there.
Pause.
DAVIES. Where you going to put your shed?
ASTON (turning). I'll have to clear the garden first.
DAVIES. You'd need a tractor, man.
ASTON. I'll get it done.
DAVIES. Carpentry, eh?
ASTON (standing still). I like . . . working with my hands.
DAVIES picks up the statue of Buddha.
DAVIES. What's this?
ASTON (taking and studying it). That's a Buddha
.
DAVIES. Get on.
ASTON. Yes. I quite like it. Picked it up in a . . . in a shop. Looked quite nice to me. Don't know why. What do you think of these Buddhas?
DAVIES. Oh, they're . . . they're all right, en't they?
ASTON. Yes, I was pleased when I got hold of this one. It's very well made.
DAVIES turns and peers under the sink.
DAVIES. This the bed here, is it?
ASTON (moving to the bed). We'll get rid of all that. The ladder'll fit under the bed. (They put the ladder under the bed.)
DAVIES (indicating the sink). What about this?
ASTON. I think that'll fit in under here as well.
DAVIES. I'll give you a hand. (They lift it.) It's a ton weight, en't?
ASTON. Under here.
DAVIES. This in use at all, then?
ASTON. NO. I’ll be getting rid of it. Here.
They place the sink under the bed.
There's a lavatory down the landing. It's got a sink in there. We can put this stuff over there.
They begin to move the coal bucket, shopping trolley, lawn-mower and sideboard drawers to the right wall.
DAVIES (stopping). You don't share it, do you?
ASTON. What?
DAVIES. I mean you don't share the toilet with them Blacks, do you?
ASTON. They live next door.
DAVIES. They don't come in?
ASTON puts a drawer against the wall.
Because, you know . . . I mean . . . fair's fair. . . .
ASTON goes to the bed, blows dust and shakes a blanket.
ASTON. You see a blue case?
DAVIES. Blue case? Down here. Look. By the carpet.
ASTON goes to the case, opens it, takes out a sheet and pillow and puts them on the bed.
That's a nice sheet.
ASTON. The blanket'll be a bit dusty.
DAVIES. Don't you worry about that.
ASTON stands upright, takes out his tobacco and begins to roll a cigarette. He goes to his bed and sits.
ASTON. How are you off for money?
DAVIES. Oh well . . . now, mister, if you want the truth . . . I'm a bit short.
ASTON takes some coins from his pocket, sorts them, and holds out five shillings.
ASTON. Here's a few bob.
DAVIES (taking the coins). Thank you, thank you, good luck. I just happen to find myself a bit short. You see, I got nothing for all that week's work I did last week. That's the position, that's what it is.
Pause.
ASTON. I went into a pub the other day. Ordered a Guinness. They gave it to me in a thick mug. I sat down but I couldn't drink it. I can't drink Guinness from a thick mug. I only like it out of a thin glass. I had a few sips but I couldn't finish it.
Complete Works, Volume II Page 2