Happy Days Read Online Free PDF

now, Winnie, for a minute, don’t squander all your words for the day, stop talking and do something for a change, will you? [ She raises hands and holds them open before her eyes. Apostrophic. ] Do something! [ She closes hands. ] What claws! [ She turns to bag, rummages in it, brings out finally a nailfile, turns back front and begins to file nails. Files for a time in silence, then the following punctuated by filing. ] There floats up—into my thoughts—a Mr. Shower—a Mr. and perhaps a Mrs. Shower—no—they are holding hands—his fiancée then more likely—or just some—loved one. [ Looks closer at nails. ] Very brittle today. [ Resumes filing. ] Shower—Shower—does the name mean anything—to you, Willie—evoke any reality, I mean—for you, Willie—don’t answer if you don’t—feel up to it—you have done more—than your bit—already—Shower—Shower. [ Inspects filed nails. ] Bit more like it. [ Raises head, gazes front. ] Keep yourself nice, Winnie, that’s what I always say, come what may, keep yourself nice. [ Pause. Resumes filing. ] Yes—Shower—Shower—[ stops filing, raises head, gazes front, pause ]—or Cooker, perhaps I should say Cooker. [ Turning a little towards Willie. ] Cooker, Willie, does Cooker strike a chord? [ Pause. Turns a little further. Louder. ] Cooker, Willie, does Cooker ring a bell, the name Cooker? [ Pause. She cranes back to look at him. Pause. ] Oh really! [ Pause. ] Have you no handkerchief, darling? [ Pause. ] Have you no delicacy? [ Pause. ] Oh, Willie, you’re not eating it! Spit it out, dear, spit it out! [ Pause. Back front. ] Ah well, I suppose it’s only natural. [ Break in voice. ] Human.[ Pause. Do. ] What is one to do? [ Head down. Do. ] All day long. [ Pause. Do. ] Day after day. [ Pause. Head up. Smile. Calm. ] The old style! [ Smile off. Resumes nails. ] No, done him. [ Passes on to next. ] Should have put on my glasses. [ Pause. ] Too late now. [ Finishes left hand, inspects it. ] Bit more human. [ Starts right hand. Following punctuated as before. ] Well anyway—this man Shower—or Cooker—no matter—and the woman—hand in hand—in the other hands bags—kind of big brown grips—standing there gaping at me—and at last this man Shower—or Cooker—ends in er anyway—stake my life on that—What’s she doing? he says—What’s the idea? he says—stuck up to her diddies in the bleeding ground—coarse fellow—What does it mean? he says—What’s it meant to mean?—and so on—lot more stuff like that—usual drivel—Do you hear me? he says—I do, she says, God help me—What do you mean, he says, God help you? [ Stops filing, raises head, gazes front. ] And you, she says, what’s the idea of you, she says, what are you meant to mean? It is because you’re still on your two flat feet, with your old ditty full of tinned muck and changes of underwear, dragging me up and down this fornicating wilderness,coarse creature, fit mate—[ with sudden violence ]—let go of my hand and drop for God’s sake, she says, drop! [ Pause. Resumes filing. ] Why doesn’t he dig her out? he says—referring to you, my dear—What good is she to him like that?—What good is he to her like that?—and so on—usual tosh—Good! she says, have a heart for God’s sake—Dig her out, he says, dig her out, no sense in her like that—Dig her out with what? she says—I’d dig her out with my bare hands, he says—must have been man and—wife. [ Files in silence. ] Next thing they’re away—hand in hand—and the bags—dim—then gone—last human kind—to stray this way. [ Finishes right hand, inspects it, lays down file, gazes front. ] Strange thing, time like this, drift up into the mind. [ Pause. ] Strange? [ Pause. ] No, here all is strange. [ Pause. ] Thankful for it in any case. [ Voice breaks. ] Most thankful. [ Head down. Pause. Head up. Calm. ] Bow and raise the head, bow and raise, always that. [ Pause. ] And now? [ Long pause. Starts