Incognito

by Nick Payne

  Martha Anything else?

  Anthony I remember she told me her father had died when she was very young. He had a heart attack. She told me he used to read to her from The Time Machine. She said to me that she was obsessed with that book and that that was what drew her to physics. She committed to the idea that she could build a time machine and go back to him. And she loved Albert Einstein.

  Martha Did she?

  Anthony Oh yeah. She fell in love with him because of how he changed our understanding of time. Deborah told me that before Einstein, time seemed like a river, flowing in one direction; yesterday the past is upstream and we can never get back to it, and tomorrow is downstream and we’re constantly being swept along by the tide. But Einstein said no, it isn’t like that.

  Martha Anything else?

  Anthony I can remember our first night together.

  Martha You do?

  Anthony Oh yeah. I was sick. I’d had too much to drink. I threw up all over her bathroom. I blocked the sink. It was so embarrassing.

  Martha What did Deborah say?

  Anthony She … Do you know, I’m not quite sure.

  Martha Don’t worry.

  Anthony She made a pot of coffee, I remember that. The morning after. We ended up talking about Einstein. He died when he was seventy-six. I can’t remember what it was that killed him, but it had the most extraordinary name. She told me that the person who did the … I’m not sure what you call it? You examine the, to try and work out what the problems were …

  Martha Don’t worry.

  Anthony The bloke who did the thing on Einstein took his brain. And his eyes. And Einstein was cremated. He was cremated without his brain and without his eyes. Awful. The bloke was a lunatic; he threw himself off the Brooklyn Bridge. We’re only aware of a tiny amount of what’s happening was what she said.

  Martha What do you mean?

  Anthony …

  Martha Anthony? Anthony.

  Anthony Yes.

  Martha Alright?

  Anthony I think so.

  Martha Anthony, I don’t know if I can help you, do you understand? You’re not going to see Deborah again. And I, I don’t know what to do with you. (Beat.) Maybe we ought to stop …

  Anthony Margaret, can I ask you a question?

  Martha Martha.

  Anthony What?

  Martha My name is Martha.

  Anthony What did I say?

  Martha Margaret.

  Anthony Have I told you about Deborah?

  Martha You have.

  Anthony Is she on her way, do you think?

  Martha No.

  Anthony I’m starting to get a bit worried about her.

  Martha I know.

  Anthony Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world – do you know who said that?

  Martha Who?

  Harvey It’s a real honour to make your acquaintance.

  Evelyn Well aren’t you a peach. Evelyn; it’s a pleasure. Get you fellas something to drink?

  Evelyn Then let’s talk brains.

  Harvey You bet. Well. I brought some photographs with me, if you would like to see some of those.

  Evelyn Alright.

  Harvey (shows Evelyn photographs) The majority of these were taken way back when – 1955. We took over two hundred photographs of the professor’s brain. From a variety of different angles, different aspects. That one right there (photograph) is the olfactory nerve, I believe.

  Evelyn You performed the whole autopsy single-handedly, Dr Harvey, correct?

  Harvey You bet.

  Evelyn May I see it?

  Harvey Yes ma’am.

  Evelyn What was that like?

  Harvey Humbling.

  Evelyn Albie loved goose.

  Harvey Is that right?

  Evelyn He loved the fat of the goose. He loved fat. Whenever we ate ham, he would cut off the fat and fry it.

  Harvey Coupla weeks before he died, professor came to see us. His, uh, his cholesterol was through the roof.

  Evelyn He was a real drinker too.

  Harvey Huh.

  Evelyn Cheese, and wine, you name it … You weigh the brain?

  Harvey You bet.

  Evelyn How much’d it weigh?

  Harvey Just over two and half pounds.

  Evelyn That it?

  Harvey That’s a pretty normal weight for a brain.

  Evelyn Oh yeah?

  Harvey You bet.

  Evelyn May I see it?

  Harvey Absolutely.

  Michael passes Harvey a small, brown cardboard box. Harvey removes from the box a smallish bell jar, filled with liquid, and home to several pieces of Albert Einstein’s brain. Harvey passes the bell jar to Evelyn.

  Careful now.

  Evelyn takes the bell jar and, gazing at it, inspects its contents.

  Those are, I believe, from the professor’s hippocampus. We attribute short- and long-term memory to this particular region of the brain.

  Evelyn grows upset. Harvey takes the bell jar from Evelyn and returns it to Michael, who returns it to the box. Harvey offers Evelyn a handkerchief.

  Ma’am?

  Evelyn No thank you.

  Evelyn takes out her own handkerchief, blows her nose; perhaps she also coughs.

  Dr Harvey, may I share something with you?

  Harvey Please. And call me Thom.

  Evelyn Two months ago now, I had a telephone call from a gentleman working on a book. About Albie. The gentleman, a fella named Brian Schulman, put it to me that I had not been told the whole truth about my lineage. He put it to me that the man I thought to be my father, Hans Albert, was in fact my brother. The theory goes, when Albie was sixty-two, he had an affair with a ballet dancer. When he was alive, Albie’s executor did everything he could to keep my … father’s indiscretions well and truly buried. But as soon as he died, Thom … Well, you get the picture. Dr Harvey, I wonder if you might be kind enough to bring your research to a close? I fear there is nothing whatsoever remarkable about Albie’s brain. But, more importantly, I would greatly appreciate it if you would be so kind as to return the brain. To me. In its entirety.

  Harvey I, uh … I’m sorry, I’m, I’m not quite sure I … quite …

  Evelyn My hope is that the brain can be used to perform a DNA test. I hope you will understand.

  Harvey I can … I can certainly give you a portion of the … But I’m, I’m sorry, there is still a great deal of work still to be done, that needs to be done.

  Evelyn How so?

  Harvey Studies, there are still … We have, we have portions of … all over the world. Some of the, some of the top guys in … We have guys in, in Tokyo, Germany, Canada –

  Evelyn Dr Harvey –

  Harvey And, and, and recently, I’ve been working with a gentleman named Britt Abraham from the University of Alabama and, and Britt and I, we, we have a paper coming out. We have a paper coming out. Alterations in cortical thickness and neuronal density in the frontal cortex of –

  Harvey And, and, and Steven Pinker, you know Steven Pinker? He’s going to be –

  Evelyn Dr Harvey –

  Harvey In the New York Times, he’s going to be writing about –

  Evelyn Thom, I think you and I both know that there is nothing whatsoever remarkable about Albie’s brain.

  Harvey No.

  Evelyn Albie worked like a dog and he treated his family like crap.

  Harvey No.

  Evelyn He worked and he worked and he worked day after day after day and he found the time and the energy required to do so through sheer neglect. Most of my family, Dr Harvey, they hated Albie. They loathed him. They found him to be arrogant, selfish –

  Harvey No. Your grandfather –

  Evelyn Albie was not a genius because of his brain; he was a genius because he worked himself to death.

  Harvey A hundred years ago we thought the universe was static. We had no idea of its scale, its extraordina
ry scope. But he changed all that, your –

  Michael Doc –

  Harvey No, we, we went from being the centre of the universe to just some little piece. But it sure as hell didn’t happen overnight. Science proceeds and confounds and enlightens through its continued and systematic observation of our world, exactly as it is.

  Evelyn Dr Harvey, please stop.

  Harvey Favours – You know – ‘Chance favours the prepared mind’, you know who said that?

  Evelyn It’s time to stop, Thom.

  Harvey I’m … I’m sorry, but I, I cannot do that. I’m sorry.

  Evelyn That’s okay.

  Harvey I disagree. I’m sorry.

  Evelyn Don’t apologise.

  Harvey I cannot share your point of view. (He is growing upset.) I’m sorry. That I cannot do. I wanna help you, Evelyn, but stopping is something that I cannot … I’m sorry.

  Evelyn I understand.

  Jon Martha?

  Martha Yes.

  Jon Jon.

  Martha Jon, hi.

  Jon Thank you for meeting with me; I know you must be very busy.

  Martha Occasionally.

  Jon Occasionally; I like that. So … I have absolutely no idea where to begin. So I’ll start at the start and you just tell me if you want me to hurry the hell up and get to the end. Now, and this is going back, God, donkey’s years, I was given the opportunity to meet a patient named HM.

  Martha Wow.

  Jon I know; turned out this bloke I’d read about during my PhD was in a home half an hour down the road. Since that first meeting, I’ve met with Henry, on and off, once or twice a month across virtually the whole of my career. Some months I see more of Henry than I do my own wife. Henry recently turned eighty and, as such, one thing I am very personally keen to do is ensure that we are given the opportunity to study Henry’s brain following his death.

  Martha Of course.

  Jon In order to secure a donation, we’ve had to explore various, how do I put this, ‘avenues’. One of which, of course, was whether or not Henry has any living relatives. Now I have to be honest with you, Martha, I have agonised over the appropriate – Let alone – Anyway, the best thing might be to just …

  Jon hands Martha a sheet or two of paper. Beat.

  Henry was married to a lady named Margaret who very sadly died giving birth to their first, well, only I suppose, daughter. Henry’s pre- and post-operative consultant, a bloke named Victor Milner, made various attempts, according to his notes this is, to break the bad news to Henry. But of course Henry’s condition meant that he couldn’t even remember to forget. He asks for her even now.

  Martha Jesus.

  Jon Henry and Margaret’s daughter was adopted and, in 1971, at the age of eighteen, she gave birth herself … Well, you can, you can read the rest for yourself I’m sure.

  Martha (beat) Can I hang on to this?

  Jon My God – please. I thought for the sake of clarity I’d try and condense everything into a single document.

  Martha No – Thank you – It’s very … Clear. Christ, I – (Laughs a little perhaps.)

  Jon I hope it’s not too much of a bombardment?

  Martha I don’t suppose you have any cigarettes do you?

  Jon takes out a packet of cigarettes, offers one to Martha. Martha takes a cigarette and Jon lights it. Beat.

  Do you mind?

  Jon Not only do I not mind, I might even join you.

  Martha and Jon smoke.

  Martha I’m trying to give up.

  Jon Have you tried those e-cigarettes?

  Martha I haven’t.

  Jon Are you alright, Martha?

  Martha I think so.

  Patricia You have a son.

  Martha (bit drunk) What?

  Patricia You. You have a son.

  Martha Who says?

  Patricia Don’t fuck around.

  Martha I’m sorry.

  Patricia Don’t fuck around and make jokes.

  Martha I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Yes. I have a son. I am mother.

  Patricia Fuck’s sake, Martha.

  Martha His name’s Ben.

  Patricia How old is he?

  Martha Who – how do you know?

  Patricia How old is he?

  Martha Why does that matter?

  Patricia I don’t know but for some reason it does.

  Martha Is it better if he’s younger or older?

  Patricia Nothing makes it better.

  Martha How do you know?

  Patricia Greg.

  Martha Who the fuck is Greg …?

  Patricia The guy who you told you were gonna break his legs, ring any bells?

  Martha Actually it was his fingers, it was his fiddly fucking fingers.

  Patricia Are you drunk?

  Martha A bit.

  Patricia Greg is a friend, do you understand?

  Martha Greg is a misogynist.

  Patricia I think you have a problem. I think you have a problem with drink and I think you have a problem with telling the truth.

  Martha What?

  Patricia And I know you don’t believe in free will, but I think you seriously need to exercise a bit of, like, self-fucking-control.

  Martha I’m sorry, I’m sorry, ‘self-control’? Do you have any idea – No, you know what, when you’ve – When you’ve actually – Because I can’t imagine what it must be like being you, how hard it must be being young, and brilliant, and funny, and fucking, with things actually ahead – So I’m sorry if I’ve had a bit to drink and I’m sorry if I lied to you but I’m afraid the truth is, the real truth is, I don’t know anything about it, I don’t know anything about anything, and I have to look at these patients and these people and their families, while they babble on and on and on, I have to look at them, in the eyes, in the eyes, and I have to tell them it’s going to be alright – But really what I wanna say is, what I really wanna say is: we’re pointless. We are pointless. We’re a blip. A blip within a blip within an abyss. So, yes, I have had a bit to drink because, otherwise, frankly, I think I’d be tempted to drive a fucking hammer through my head.

  Patricia (beat) I literally don’t even know what to say to that.

  Martha …

  Patricia I’d like you to leave.

  Martha That’s fair enough. That was probably a bit much.

  Patricia It was.

  Martha I think you’re amazing, Patricia, and I’m sorry I lied to you.

  Patricia Yeah.

  Martha I mean it, I think you’re amazing.

  Michael Hey, buddy, how’s it going? Good news –

  Harvey Not too good, actually.

  Michael Oh.

  Harvey I read your article.

  Michael What’d you think?

  Harvey Who the hell do you think you are –

  Michael Whoa, Doc –

  Harvey Reportage; are you kidding me?!

  Michael Doc, take it easy.

  Harvey You have embarrassed me – You have embarrassed my family –

  Michael Okay, Doc, you need to –

  Harvey I had a call, I had a call from my son, my son Robert –

  Michael Doc –

  Harvey Elouise is, is, is, inconsolable –

  Michael I’m sorry to –

  Harvey What does any of what happened between –

  Michael Okay, look –

  Harvey What does any of what happened with me and you have to do with Elouise?

  Michael Doc, you’re missing the p—

  Harvey She is an extraordinary human being, whom I loved, whom I loved, Michael, you understand that, and you have reduced her to –

  Harvey Can you please stop shouting at me for, like –

  Harvey It is BS, Michael. It is a joke. A joke. You’ve turned this whole, this whole thing into a, into a –

  Michael Can I please –

  Harvey A freak show, you turned it into a freak show.

  Michael In what universe is you carting around some
dead guy’s brain in the trunk of your car not –

  Harvey You son of a bitch, it is my life!

  Michael Oh gimme a – Where’s the proof? Huh, Doc? Where’s the evidence, where’s this hallowed research –

  Harvey The reason … The reason we haven’t published, yet, is because –

  Michael Doc, Jesus Christ, admit it: you got it wrong. You made – You took some guy’s brain – You went, okay, gee, maybe there’s something in this –

  Harvey You are a liar.

  Michael Yeah, well, you’re deluded, so.

  Harvey There is not one ounce of truth –

  Michael Truth, you wanna talk about truth? How about the fact you met some guy once, once, Doc – you drained his piss and then you cut him open and you stole his fuckin’ brain, and then, then, you had the nerve to act like some –

  Harvey I did not –

  Michael Evelyn was right, Doc: leave it the hell alone.

  Harvey You have –

  Michael Move on.

  Harvey The goal –

  Michael Are we done here?

  Harvey The goal of science is to eliminate the subjective viewpoint in order to reach an objective –

  Michael What in God’s –

  Harvey We had a deal!

  Michael Yes, we did. And I stuck to that deal. I paid for the gas and I got you a meetin’ with Evelyn. Oh, and by the way, a little company you mighta heard of called Paramount Pictures might have a little something to say about my –

  Harvey You, sir –

  Michael Paul Newman, Doc, hearda him?

  Harvey I’m not interested –

  Michael You know how much money they wanna throw at this thing?

  Harvey You lied. You lied to me.

  Michael Yeah, well, maybe I did. Maybe I did. But you lied to yourself, and I dunno which is worse.

  Beat.

  You shoulda just let the fucking thing be cremated.

  Martha Hello Henry.

  Henry Hello.

  Martha I’m Martha.

  Henry Hello Martha.

  Martha How are you?

  Henry I’m waiting for Margaret. Margaret and I are newlyweds.

  Martha Congratulations.

  Henry Thank you. We’re going to London.

  Martha I’m from London.