Harold Pinter Plays 2 Read Online Free PDF Page A

noises. (He looks at the window.) What’s this?
    He picks up another case and tries to open it. MICK moves up stage, silently.
    Locked. (He puts it down and moves downstage.) Must be something in it. (He picks up a sideboard drawer, rummages in the contents, then puts it down.)
    MICK slides across the room.
    DAVIES half turns, MICK seizes his arm and forces it up his back. DAVIES screams.
    Uuuuuuuhhh! Uuuuuuuhhh! What! What! What! Uuuuuuuhhh!
    MICK swiftly forces him to the floor, with DAVIES struggling, grimacing, whimpering and staring.
    MICK holds his arm, puts his other hand to his lips, then puts his hand to DAVIES ’ lips, DAVIES quietens. MICK lets him go. DAVIES writhes. MICK holds out a warning finger. He then squats down to regard DAVIES . He regards him, then stands looking down on him. DAVIES massages his arm, watching MICK. MICK turns slowly to look at the room. He goes to DAVIES ’ bed and uncovers it. He turns, goes to the clothes horse and picks up DAVIES ’ trousers, DAVIES starts to rise. MICK presses him down with his foot and stands over him. Finally he removes his foot. He examines the trousers and throws them back, DAVIES remains on the floor, crouched. MICK slowly goes to the chair, sits, and watches DAVIES , expressionless. Silence.
    MICK. What’s the game?
    Curtain.

Act Two
    A few seconds later.
    MICK is seated, DAVIES on the floor, half seated, crouched. Silence.
    MICK. Well?
    DAVIES. Nothing, nothing. Nothing.
    A drip sounds in the bucket overhead. They look up. MICK looks back to DAVIES.
    MICK. What’s your name?
    DAVIES. I don’t know you. I don’t know who you are.
    Pause.
    MICK. Eh?
    DAVIES. Jenkins.
    MICK. Jenkins?
    DAVIES. Yes.
    MICK. Jen … kins.
    Pause.
    You sleep here last night?
    DAVIES. Yes.
    MICK. Sleep well?
    DAVIES. Yes.
    MICK. I’m awfully glad. It’s awfully nice to meet you.
    Pause.
    What did you say your name was?
    DAVIES. Jenkins.
    MICK. I beg your pardon?
    DAVIES. Jenkins!
    Pause.
    MICK. Jen … kins.
    A drip sounds in the bucket. DAVIES looks up.
    You remind me of my uncle’s brother. He was always on the move, that man. Never without his passport. Had an eye for the girls. Very much your build. Bit of an athlete. Long-jump specialist. He had a habit of demonstrating different run-ups in the drawing-room round about Christmas time. Had a penchant for nuts. That’s what it was. Nothing else but a penchant. Couldn’t eat enough of them. Peanuts, walnuts, brazil nuts, monkey nuts, wouldn’t touch a piece of fruit cake. Had a marvellous stop-watch. Picked it up in Hong Kong. The day after they chucked him out of the Salvation Army. Used to go in number four for Beckenham Reserves. That was before he got his Gold Medal. Had a funny habit of carrying his fiddle on his back. Like a papoose. I think there was a bit of the Red Indian in him. To be honest, I’ve never made out how he came to be my uncle’s brother. I’ve often thought that maybe it was the other way round. I mean that my uncle was his brother and he was my uncle. But I never called him uncle. As a matter of fact I called him Sid. My mother called him Sid too. It was a funny business. Your spitting image he was. Married a Chinaman and went to Jamaica.
    Pause.
    I hope you slept well last night.
    DAVIES. Listen! I don’t know who you are!
    MICK. What bed you sleep in?
    DAVIES. Now look here—
    MICK. Eh?
    DAVIES. That one.
    MICK. Not the other one?
    DAVIES. No.  
    MICK. Choosy.
    Pause.
    How do you like my room?
    DAVIES. Your room?
    MICK. Yes.
    DAVIES. This ain’t your room. I don’t know who you are. I ain’t never seen you before.
    MICK. You know, believe it or not, you’ve got a funny kind of resemblance to a bloke I once knew in Shoreditch. Actually he lived in Aldgate. I was staying with a cousin in Camden Town. This chap, he used to have a pitch in Finsbury Park, just by the bus depot. When I got to know him I found out he was brought up in Putney. That didn’t make any difference to me. I know