Scene Four
Sound of rain.
The phone rings, once.
Blank light of the projector cast on the wall. The red couch has been overturned.
Stella is straddled over Gordon, whose legs stick out from behind the couch. What seems to be a struggle between the two of them turns out to be sex. There has been a minimum of disrobing.
Stella Donāt come, okay? (She pounds her fist on his chest.) Donāt come just yet.
Gordon Okay. Inside you, or?
The phone rings once: the signal.
Stella Move. Here.
They change position.
Gordon (breathless) Okay. Wait.
Stella Stop talking.
The phone now rings repeatedly.
Gordon Thereās something wrong. Thatās the ā
Stella Stop. Donāt. Stay, just there.
Gordon Wait.
Stella No. I said. Keep ā¦ Yes, right.
Gordon Okay. Oh my God. Oh my God, I love you.
Ringing stops.
Stella Mother. Fuck. Yes.
Gordon Youāre so fucking ā¦ Hang on, hang on, hang on. Oh my God.
Just as he slows, just as the sound of their breathing really synchronizes, Iris steps carefully into the room. She watches the couple for a moment, then checks behind the door. Carefully, she closes the door behind her.
Gordon and Stella resume, more aggressively.
Stella Yes. Yes. Yes, fucking. Yes.
Standing in the projectorās light, Iris pulls out a torch and raises it in their direction. Holds it.
Stella Youāre going ā¦. Youāre going to kill me. You. Mother ā¦ Ffff.
Gordon Oh, Jesus, tell me. You love me. Tell me ā¦
Stella Wait.
Iris lowers the torch. She turns away and looks around the room for a place to hide.
Gordon Sorry. Sorry. I just.
Stella No, itās not right. This doesnāt feel right.
The phone begins to ring, sporadically. Last gasps.
Noticing the curtain, Iris rushes as quietly as possible over to it. She slips behind the curtain and hides.
Stella (sitting up) I canāt.
Gordon But. No. You were almost ā¦
Long pause.
Stella (feeling around the floor for a missing stocking) I canāt. No.
Gordon But this is okay? Isnāt it? Just come here. Let me ā¦
He places a hand on her shoulder.
Stella What am I doing? What are you ā¦ What do you think youāre doing?
Shrugging his hand away, she shakes her head no.
Gordon Hang on a second. What just ā¦ ? You donāt just ā¦ change like that.
She stands up, pulling her tights back on.
Stella Well, I do ā¦ I can.
She rushes over to turn on the lights as Gordon lays back down beside the overturned couch. The lights go on just in time to show him zipping himself up. Then Stella goes over to the coffee table and slams her palm down hard on the projector until it switches off.
Stella Donāt be such a little girl, Gordon. These things happen. Thereās no need to sit here and sulk.
Gordon These things happen? Didnāt you hear the intercom? That, there, was an emergency. Thatās what it means, you know. And we missed it.
Stella I really donāt see what bloody difference it makes. Weāre in a terminal state of emergency.
Gordon sits up, just as Stella sits down on the green couch hugging her knees. He then uprights the red couch.
Gordon (straining) The point is, honey, that there is an emergency within. The barbarians are at the gate. Thereās probably a whole mob of them, right now, downstairs, dressed in black, searching this whole building. Sniffing out impostors, absentees ā¦
Stella Oh God. That old story. What does it matter, one way or another?
Gordon Theyāre out for vengeance, Stella.
Stella What for?
Gordon Well ā¦ for everything. I donāt know: all of this. Someoneās gotta take the blame. And theyāre bound to find us. Of course theyāll find us. The buck stops here. At best, youāre gonna be back out on the streets again, alone ā¦ Or, worst case scenario: you and I both get cuffed and rubbergloved and taken down for questioning, and thatās before they decide whether or not to send us off to God knows where. Cāmon, you-tell-me: where is it they send people like us, nowadays?
Stella Like us? ā¦ I donāt even know who you are, mister. āListen, officer, please. I just woke up, locked in an upstairs room with this man ā¦ disguised in a false moustache ā¦ā
Gordon (under his breath, at āmanā) Bitch.
Stella } āMaybe heās just some kind of American spy, I dunno, sent here to poke and prod whatās left of the country. Iād start by checking his papers.ā Tell me, Gordon, who are they going to believe do you think, you or the girl whoās been locked up?
Gordon } (to himself, from āthinkā) I shouldnāt have stayed. I should have realised weād end up here. Like this.
Pause.
Iām not the one holding the keys, here, Stella: the doorās right over there. Anyway, my papers are just fine. Iāve got the hard-headed wife, the crazy kid crying herself to sleep every night back in Pennsylvania. Iāve got obligations to get back to. Iāve got every excuse to leave ā¦ No, itās you. Itās you who should be the one whoās worried, here.
Stella Yes ā of one big gangbang, right?
Gordon Would you just ā¦ Cāmon. Take seriously what Iām saying to you. For once. Iām trying desperately hard, now ā¦ I could. I could easily just ā¦
Long pause.
Stella Everybody does, Gordon.
She hides her face against her knees.
Gordon Wait ā¦ Wait ā¦ No.
He steps over to her, his coat off, his shirt in disarray (buttoned badly) and with one of his own shoes now missing.
Gordon (kneeling down in front of her) Weāll go. Together. I can probably sneak us out and everything will be fine. Thereās your place, and thereās Gary Hobsbaumās. Whichever comes first. We can make do. Pool our resources. We can make a run for it. All right?
Stella looks up at him, passive now. She stares at his face. She turns to the bust, then back to Gordon, as if checking the resemblance. She lifts her hand and he rears back, for just a moment, afraid. Carefully, she takes her thumb and moves it across the place where the moustache was.
Stella (quietly) Youāre all red.
Gordon (quietly) I am?
Stella (quietly) And youāre still so oblivious.
Gordon (quietly) Fine. Okay.
Stella (quietly) But ā¦
Gordon But what? Whatās-a-matter?
Stella I donāt ā¦ Thereās this awful feeling I have that none of this is happening the way itās supposed to and Iām not really here. I feel, so much, like Iām made of glass. Barely there, about to break.
Gordon I know it. I know the feeling well.
Stella God, Iām such a bloody mess.
Gordon Me too. Look at me: Iām in pieces, here, already. Look, Iām the oblivious good-for-nothing hack. So letās just ā¦ Even if itās ā¦ We can at least try, Stella ā¦
As she speaks, Stella covers his mouth with the palm of her hand, then moves it, stroking his face.
Stella No. Please ā¦ I donāt want to go back out there. You donāt really know what ā¦ Iāve ā¦
As Gordon wraps his arms around her legs, Stella looks up to the skylight.
Then a thud emanates fro...