House of Many Tongues Read Online Free PDF Page A

Dalo: “A twist of fate brought us his co-biographer: the Palestinian.”
    Shimon: Good.
    Abu Dalo: “Illiterate and compassionate, the General has a deep-seated need to understand the enemy. To fix all problems. To maintain the engine of his country.”
    Shimon: “It was in that spirit the Palestinian and Jew forged a bond. Brought together by circumstance, fate, destiny.”
    SHIMON picks up the gun and starts to polish it.
    Abu Dalo: “This is a story, told from one man to his enemy. And from his enemy to the world.”
    Shimon: Introduction.

Scene 8
    The same day. ALEX’s bedroom. Reading.
    Alex: “As my father’s generation was so focused on fighting for this land, on war as the only solution to dealing with our enemies, of pushing forward, hard against them, into land, we, as followers of the Cunnilingus Manifesto , hereby renounce the act of copulation in favour of ten years strict cunnilingual training. It is possible that at the end of this process we may return to an era that would involve penetration. This thesis–antithesis line of progression is otherwise known as cunnilingual materialism.”
    Rivka: Alex, we need to be quiet. Your dad can’t know I’m here.
    Alex: What was my dad like when he was younger?
    Rivka: He was fearless. Had so much energy he couldn’t sit still. But he always said you were the best thing that happened to him. You calmed him right down.
    Alex: So he was a good general?
    Rivka: One of the best.
    Alex: Was he a good man?
    Rivka: Of course. He took care of you. He raised you by himself.
    Alex: You ever live with someone for years, but realize at a certain point that you don’t actually know who they are?
    Rivka: Sure. That’s what being in a family’s all about.
    Alex: I don’t know my father at all. He talks about the army all the time, his achievements and successes, yet he has no medals. He remembers entire vistas where battles were fought, down to the exact stone, and yet there are no pictures. He talks about the buddies he fought with, but none of them ever drop by. None of it adds up.
    Rivka: Your father’s a strange man. I mean, he’s a survivor, you know?
    Alex: Why did he leave the army at such an early age?
    Rivka: To take care of you, of course.
    Alex: Right. (writing)
    Rivka: What are you writing?
    Alex: None of your business.
    Rivka: What’s wrong?
    Alex: What’s wrong is that everything is becoming so much more clear.
    You. My father. You’re in on this together. Hiding things from me.
    Rivka: I hide nothing from you.
    Alex: Of course you do.
    Rivka: What are you writing?
    Alex: It’s not important.
    Rivka: Read it to me.
    Alex: (a beat) Okay. On one condition: you say yes.
    Rivka: Yes what?
    Alex: Yes, I’ll let Alex practise his cunnilingus—
    Rivka: Are you trying to blackmail me into having sex with you?
    Alex: I don’t want sex, Rivka. I want to give you cunnilingus.
    Rivka: (a beat) They’re sending me to Hebron next week. I’ll be working the checkpoint.
    Alex: Well, have fun protecting whacked-out settlers and shooting at little kids who throw stones.
    Rivka: I believe in this. It’s my duty. It’s my choice. Tell me what you wrote, Alex.
    Alex: Chapter Three:
    “No legionnaires of the Cunnilingus Manifesto may join the armed forces of any nation, nor will they bear arms, condoms or parachutes.”
    Rivka: You have to do your service.
    Alex: I can refuse. I’ll just say I’m not Israeli.
    Rivka: Don’t be an idiot. Of course you’re Israeli.
    Alex: I floated down the river in a basket. Come here. I want to practise my cunnilingual materialism.
    Rivka: Alex. What the fuck’s gotten into you?
    Alex: I’m trying to get deeper into this. You know. Trying to figure out what this manifesto is really about.
    Rivka: It’s about being fifteen. Whatever. (a beat) Why don’t you just hold me?
    Alex: Hold you?
    Rivka: We can lie on your bed. And you can hold me.
    Alex: Why on earth would I do that?
    Rivka: (a beat) Did you hear that Ilan