MAN
(Putting the folded bed in the part used for luggage at the back of the motor cycle, goes back to take a sip from the cup of tea which he had put aside, then takes a card box, opens it and picks up a piece of tart using a fork)
Come and taste it, dear. It is still delicious. Very delicious. I thought that leaving this tart for a whole night would make it go off.
(The woman draws near, and he puts the piece in her mouth)
WOMAN
It won't go off even if it remained there for a whole week because the air here is free from the pollution which poisons food as well as human life. See how one wakes up full of energy, joy, refreshment and love of life.
(She opens up her arms, inhaling and exhaling the air)
I shall store in my body an extra amount of the fresh air, to help me live in the polluted environment of the city. I've never slept so beautifully in my life as I did last night. I had pleasant dreams. Shall I tell you something and promise me you won't laugh.
MAN
Say it, say it and don't ever remain silent, but don't prevent me from laughing. With you I want to laugh, play, let myself go and release all the charges of chagrin, pain and depression which weighed on my chest before I met you.
WOMAN
Would you believe me if I say that last night I imagined I heard the singing of the stars and that their singing was beautiful.
MAN
Of course I believe you. Human life on earth couldn't possibly have continued without the guidance of the stars which take care of it from the cradle to the grave. And whom should the stars sing to if not for a woman like you who shines and twinkles as they do in the night.
WOMAN
The tune was full of joy, and the stars were singing to me of love, calling me to be their guest, wishing to feed me from their divine banquets and offer me a drink of their heavenly light. I'll try to recall the tune. It was something like this.
(She hums the tune laughing, as she dances and claps her hand. The man participates in the clapping and the dancing and reiterates the tune with her. Then they laugh, fall in each other's embrace and separate.)
WOMAN
How beautiful this open ground is which seems as if it has slipped from human memory and nobody cared to inhabit it, and has remained in its pristine state since the early beginnings of the universe. We must come back to this place once again.
MAN
The credit goes to you for hitting upon it. You, who always refused to go to hotels or to stay inside houses and wanted us to go out and spend the night in the middle of naked nature.
WOMAN
I wanted the adventure to be complete. An adventure in love as well as an adventure in time and place. Our emotional adventure would be lacking without adding to it the adventure of escaping with our love to nature, which does not wear any dress or wear any colour other than the colours of earth and sky.
MAN
It was a stroke of good luck that the weather was just fine all the time.
WOMAN
Even if it had been cold and stormy, it wouldn't have diminished a single iota of my enjoyment of these fleeting exceptional moments outside routine repetition, pollution and the boredom of canned relationships.
MAN
This is because you're an exceptional woman by all measures. I don't know what your husband would say if he went back home last night. I hope he doesn't raise a problem.
WOMAN
If he returned, I'll not be helpless to fake up a reason for my absence. But I know he will not return from his journey before the weekend.
MAN
Still, you were extremely cautious we shouldn't meet at home.
WOMAN
Not out of fear he would return, but I was considerate of the feelings of the house itself.
MAN
Do you say the feelings of the house?
WOMAN
Yes. Houses are not merely stone. They are pulse and feeling, and it is decorous to take this into consideration, or else the relationships between us and the houses we inhabit would go wrong. But here, this open space is diametrically opposite. It is an invitation to liberation and freedom from all those considerations, provisos, fetters and conventions which have accumulated throughout the ages until they have become walls obstructing light and air from our minds, hearts and souls.
(The man invites her to go onto the swing, saying as he swings her)
MAN
My life was nothing but a dark cellar before I met you. That's why the love relationship that binds us is, to me, light and air, and after that it makes no difference whether we meet in a closed room or on naked ground blessed by the stars, because wherever you are with me becomes earthly paradise to me.
WOMAN
The beauty of this relation is to be what it is, as it is now. Moments stolen from the span of routine time, moments which do not repeat themselves, as the case is with marriage relations devoid of excitement and adventure. It is a relation renewed by places, times and atmospheres. I don't want it to turn into routine which would rob it of all excitement, dazzle and variety and turn it into one of those canned, readymade moulds into which we thrust our heads, and to which we pawn our hearts in search of comfort and security.
(She gets off the swing and goes back to gathering the luggage. In the meantime the man goes to the swings, sits on it holding an apple, which he nibbles at, his body rocking slowly with the movement of the swing.)
MAN
I didn't know love, or that it has a magic touch which turns our life from one extreme to another, from boredom and resentment of life into a promise, a hope and love of life. Perhaps I would have been a drug addict or become a gangster, had I not met you at a moment blessed by heaven. The moment I set my eyes on you at The Beautiful Promise Club, I realised you were the missing part of me, without which my life wouldn't be one whole. I wish you would leave this absent husband absent forever and agree on our building a cottage on this piece of land deserted by human beings and live here for the rest of our life.
WOMAN
(Leaves off, collecting the luggage and comes forward to sway the swing)
I love you just as you love me and if I didn't I would not be here with you. But I don't hate my husband, home or work. I hate the routine, and I'll go back to my work and home more refreshed and more capable of overcoming the routine. It'll always be a pleasure to have this kind of meeting, once every month if you wish. This suits me better than any other arrangement.
(The man gets off the swing and pulls the bed linen off the tree branch. The woman helps him to shake, fold and put it with the other pieces of luggage on the motor cycle.)
MAN
(As he pulls the swing) We've got to leave before it gets hotter and there's no shade to protect us. (He resumes his former talk) I cannot bear to be away from you for a single hour. How can I endure our separation for a whole month? I wish I had met you one day before your marriage. Had this happened everything would have changes:].
WOMAN
Don't say that, because I loved my husband when I got married to him. But who can issue a guarantee certificate to ensure that the emotions of love can remain the same, untouched by change throughout life.
MAN
I don't understand why you cannot walk out on that man to whom you aren't bound by any tie except a meaningless contract in the register of civil affairs. I'm ready to write a guarantee certificate, endorse it with my blood and make it a pledge and a covenant that my love for you will never be quenched as long as life lasts.
WOMAN
You can guarantee yourself. But I cannot guarantee myself. All I can tell you is that I'm living joyful moments with you, as it is, and I honestly wish that they continue and last. What is wrong with that?
MAN
I don't say there's anything wrong except that you're a married woman.
WOMAN
What harm does this do to you? It's my problem, and I know how to handle it. Perhaps you don't know that my husband too has his own love affairs, for the sake of which he travels and stays away from home. I quarrelled a lot with him about these relations which he denied. But I know they are there, and find an excuse for him, because I know the boredom he feels as he lives a life devoid of hobbies and variety. I do not suffer any sense of guilt for what I do. On the contrary, I feel I have reached conciliation with him and with myself. All I wish for is that our relationship keeps its secrecy and privacy, because everything will fall apart, if this relation leaks through the frame of secrecy and privacy.
MAN
I cannot bear to have one word that offends you fly in the air. That's why I shall keep the secrets of this relationship in my heart, and I'll always choose such isolated places to spend the nights of love which will bring us together till the end of life.
(They finish collecting the luggage and the other things. They stand wrapped in silence as if they do not want to leave the place.)
WOMAN
(Pause) Shall we really leave this place?
MAN
We leave it today to come back to it some other day.
WOMAN
I forgot to put on my shoes. Even they have become fetters. How nice it is to be free of them sometimes.
(She puts on one shoe and looks for the other, while the man gets ready to ride the motor cycle. A man's voice is heard offstage shouting.)
VOICE
Stay where you are and don't move.
(They stand looking at each other in wonder, whereas the voice resumes warning them)
Stay where you are and do not budge.
MAN
What does this fool say? What does he want from us?
WOMAN
(Also taken by surprise) Perhaps he is a criminal who wants to do us harm. But I don't see a weapon in his hand.
MAN
He is certainly a lunatic. (He shouts in the direction of the voice) Why all this shouting? Come over here and tell us what you want.
VOICE
I say stay where you are.
WOMAN
Let's leave him and go. He won't be able to overtake us.
WOMAN
But why does he threaten us so? (He moves towards the voice) Let me understand quietly. What is your objection to ...
VOICE
(Interrupting) Don't you hear me? I say stop. You are in danger. Any movement can cost you your life and the life of your woman.
.
MAN
Heavens! Where does this danger lie. (He turn_ right and left.) Please come over here and let's understand this riddle.
VOICE
Danger. I say danger. There is more than one signboard stuck all around this place saying it's dangerous. I cannot walk into this open ground because it is a mine field. A field full of mines. It has been deserted since the war. There's a mine in each inch. Do you understand?
MAN
(Turning to the woman and exchanging a look of surprise with her) Were we really lying down on mines without knowing it?
WOMAN
(Panic-stricken) I don't believe this. I don't want to believe what he says.
MAN
(Addressing voice) But we walked into this place and we spent a whole night and nothing happened
VOICE.
Thank heavens for this miracle. Only luck kept you alive until now. Be careful from now on. One step can finish you both off.
WOMAN
Perhaps he is joking. He is lying. God! It is a catastrophe.
MAN
(Shouting) The war ended years ago. What has kept this field full of mines? Perhaps you're joking.
VOICE
I do not joke. If you want evidence, you can look behind you. Some stray horse entered this field only two days ago and a mine went off under its hooves. Perhaps you see the splinters also.
MAN
(Turning round to make sure of what the voice says) I actually believe I see the remains of the horse, and as for the splinters, there they are scattered - nearby. Look. I see bones showing in that side also.
WOMAN
I don't want to see anything. We've got to get out of here. We must get out of this place.
MAN
Don't panic, my darling. Don't panic. We'll find a way out of this dilemma. (He addresses the voice) What is to be done now?
VOICE
I don't know. I'll go notify the village police. Fortunately they are nearby. They don't have the means to help you, but they'll contact the city and ask for a solution. It will be rather difficult. Take care. Goodbye.
MAN
No doubt a long time will pass before the solution comes. I don't know how it can be. I don't know either how we can get water and food in the meantime. It may take days. And we didn't take into account except the night we spent here.
WOMAN
(Panicking) What do you say? Do you say days? Here? In this terrifying desert? Among these mines and explosives? Beside those bones? And under this sun which will shower us with fire in a short while? Are you out of your mind?
MAN
I wish we had a magic recipe to change us into two birds so that we can soar and escape. But we can't help it.
WOMAN
Can't you do anything?
MAN
We can do nothing but wait.
WOMAN
My throat has become dry. I want a drink of water.
MAN
We don't have any more water.
WOMAN
Then a can of juice. Anything to quench my parched throat.
MAN
(Shakes his head sorrowfully)
WOMAN
Have we really consumed everything?
MAN
Did we read the future to bring along extra food and drinks?
WOMAN
Then perdition inevitably awaits us. If not by the mines, then by hunger and thirst. (She falls into his embrace, shivering) I'm afraid. Afraid.
MAN
Always remember I'm with you. And be sure everything will end up alright.
WOMAN
I do not fear death as much as I fear scandal.
(They separate)
MAN
Forget about these dark thoughts. There'll be neither death nor scandal.
WOMAN
Don't forget I am a married woman. The scandal is no doubt coming.
MAN
We've got to think of a way out of this dilemma quickly. Perhaps we can follow the trace of the bike as it came in. (Looks at the traces of the wheels then emits sounds of boredom) There are many areas where the traces of the bike have disappeared. We're doomed to stay until rescue comes. It's going to be a difficult wait.
WOMAN
I don't know what the impact of the shock will be like on my husband when he gets to know about my betrayal of him. I fear also for my sick father who always takes pride in the origin of our home and our descent from an extinct royal dynasty. A piece of news like this will finish him off.
MAN
Then you're one of those in whose veins flows royal blood. This explains everything.
WOMAN
Explains what?
MAN
Explains your domineering personality and your temperament which likes variety and excitement. No wonder that the stars should select you and choose you as a friend to fondle and sing to.
WOMAN
Is this the proper time for sarcasm and joking?
MAN
What I say is neither sarcasm nor joking. I do believe that you descend from royal lineage and I'm proud of that no doubt. But the time and the place do not allow welcoming and celebrating this secret which you reveal for the first time.
WOMAN
Please, poke fun as much as you like, but don't make me the butt of your satire.
MAN
It's just talk to while away the time. Don't you find this waiting difficult and boring in such a place, where nothing neighbours us except this tree.
WOMAN
And those mines. Don't forget.
MAN
I said the tree in the hope of recalling the primitive man when he slept among the branches of trees. That would be a lot safer.
WOMAN
(Raising her head to contemplate the branches) Man must change into a squirrel, before he can sleep among those dead branches.
MAN
Perhaps we can throw a robe on them to provide us with a shade, which can protect us from the ferocity of the sun at siesta time.
WOMAN
Now you have begun to work out practical thoughts.
MAN
I'm still puzzled. I don't understand what happened. We were able to get into this place and spend all this time running, playing around and moving in complete freedom, without any thing happening. Then <.l fool comes to tell us we're walking on a field of mines and that any step we take will bring about perdition. The question is, why didn't those mines explode when we were running on them. They didn't explode, because we didn't care about them or know anything about them. We didn't take them into account, so they also didn't take us into account and left us alone. I'm sure we would have gone out safe just as we entered, if that man had not come to plant with his words the mines in our hearts.
WOMAN
How stupid I was when I thought this open ground had slipped from human memory, only to discover now that human kind has never forgotten it. They have taken more care of it than any other place, because they have deposited in its depths the greatest achievements of terror and perdition.
MAN
They are the traps of death, which man sets to catch another man, according to a game called war and here we're in time of peace, after long years of the end of war, and we fall in this trap. God forgive the dead ancestors.
WOMAN
I don't know why you brought us to this damn place, as if the earth lacked comfortable, safe places.
MAN
It hasn't become damn except now. You forget you were the cause. I suggested spending the night in the places you term comfortable and safe. But you wanted the taste of adventure.
WOMAN
And you have the audacity to blame me after all the sacrifices I made for your sake. I handed myself over to you and put my trust in you and what was the result? You didn't even see the signboards stuck along the road, cautioning against entering this open ground.
MAN
Wasn't it you who urged me to drive the bike at the utmost possible speed? You even wanted more than its maximum speed. How could I, then, slow down to read the signboards? You were doing this for the sake of more excitement. Why do you regret it now? Why don't you enjoy this excitement unparalleled by any excitement in the world.
WOMAN
I cannot imagine how I can stay with you for one more hour after now.
MAN
You can leave the place. Nobody is stopping you.
WOMAN
I'll go immediately. Fetch my shoe lying over there.
MAN
Perhaps it's Cinderella's shoe that'll carry you in a jiffy to the palace of your royal forefathers. How smart of you to think that if the mine goes it will hit me alone. It'll hit you too.
WOMAN
How stupid I was to overlook the happiness that filled' my life to rush after an adventure which brought me humiliation and misery.
MAN
You were only using me to satisfy one of your caprices. Your love for me was not love but exploitation. It was I who was stupid when I accepted to be an instrument to your desires to bestow the element of renewal on your empty, boring life.
WOMAN
What about your life? Why do you seem mysterious and secretive. You don't reveal any of the secrets of your life and relationships. I am not that stupid or ignorant of your deceit, or of your relationship with that rich, fat and ugly widow.
MAN
And you reckon it is deceit there is another woman I know and meet her every now and then. I knew her before I knew you.
WOMAN
And did you put an end to your relationship with her, or do you still keep it up, with an eye on her fortune?
MAN
Now you admit you know everything about my relationship with her. Where is the deceit then? And if I did carry on my relationship with her, it was only because you too refuse to break off with your husband fur my sake
.
WOMAN
I've been open with you from the start.
MAN
I also was sincerely desirous to break off any other relationship to stay with you.
WOMAN
Do you really love her?
MAN
She loves me. I'm sure of that. And she doesn't want anything in the whole world except to stay with me.
WOMAN
As for you, you love nobody but yourself. You want me for picnicking and amusement. And you want her for her fortune.
MAN
Perhaps I wronged her and myself when I ran after your love which was nothing but mirage.
WOMAN
You can go back to her and satisfy your ambition to climb into the rich class.
MAN
Perhaps this is what I should do. Avail myself of the chance and try to float on the surface of this world instead of remaining at the bottom. This is what all people do in these times.
WOMAN
It's too late for you, my dear. You've lost me and you'll lose her when she gets to know about your deceit. You're playing a losing game.
MAN
(pause) What brought us here? These mines spoil everything.
WOMAN
You are responsible for my being here. And you've got to take me back where you picked me up.
MAN
Now, now? You're very optimistic, my dear. Even if you managed to get out of here, that will not be before you hear the singing of the stars for many nights to come.
WOMAN
What stars? Did you believe that the stars sing? That was nothing but a nightmare.
MAN
It was you who said that. They sing, dance, talk and know the secrets of men, or else astrologers wouldn't use them to know the future and read the unknown. I'm surprised. They did not tell you about the danger all around us. The stars have deceived you. And now they disappear from their sky and leave you in the company of terror and mines.
WOMAN
And with you, which is more cruel than the terror of mines. I actually want to go back home and never leave it or my husband. But scandal is something terrible. I don't know what to do with this scandal.
The police will come and the proceeding of investigations. My husband will know everything. My throat is parched. I want water. (She picks an empty can and throws it away.) You're the cause of all these catastrophes. Please leave me. I want to be on my own. I cannot think with you around.
MAN
(laughs sarcastically) And where do you want me to go?
WOMAN
To hell if you want.
MAN
Is there a greater hell than the one which surrounds us?
WOMAN
Well, I'll go then.
MAN
Don't forget to close the door behind you.
WOMAN
(Rushing forward as the man tries to stop her. She takes two steps and stops frozen in her place) I feel something moving under my foot. Help me, please. It's the mine. I need quick rescue.
MAN
(Jumps and hides in (he trunk of the tree ) Don't raise your foot. Stay where you are. If you raise your foot the mine will go off. Don't move. Perhaps you imagine things. Perhaps it is not a mine but a beetle moving under your foot. Look carefully.
WOMAN
It is certainly a mine. It emits a buzzing sound. Please, move. Do something. Help me before the explosion shatters my body to pieces.
MAN
What can I do? I can do nothing. Stay where you are.
WOMAN
Hurry up and dig a hole with your nails behind my feet. Throw yourself into it, so the mine doesn't explode in my body.
MAN
My feet do not help me make any movement:" Stay as you are until the police come.
WOMAN
(Raises her leg without anything happening. She goes back to her place under the tree) I was only testing your magnanimity. Come out of your hiding place, you coward. For nothing will happen, because there was no mine there.
MAN
(Goes back to his place beside the woman) That was joking in very bad taste. It could have been a reality, and you'd have killed yourself and me along with you.
WOMAN
And how do you want us to spend the interim. This kind of joking is useful to us, because it make us know each other more.
MAN
You know the moment of danger has its own logic, when the conscious will is absent, and nothing remains but the instinct of self-preservation.
WOMAN
What honesty the angels would envy you of! I don't know how you are not ashamed of yourself.
MAN
What do you mean?
WOMAN
I mean we're here in this place together merely because there are mines besieging us, because I do not want to see your face any more.
MAN
What a pity, for you'll see it a lot these days. Because it is the only face before you. There'll be many occasions which will make you change your feelings towards me. Come on, let the smile return to your face.
WOMAN
What? A smile becoming this ordeal. I wish I could find one drop of water, for thirst will kill me before rescue arrives.
(The man's voice is heard offstage accompanied with the clamour of a crowd of people who have come with him to watch what happened)
VOICE
You there!
(The man and woman stop and look in the direction of the source of voice and noise)
MAN
There he has come back. Perhaps he's brought with him the rescue team.
WOMAN
Our ordeal will be over then. Thanks to heaven.
VOICE
I have notified the police and they are still contacting the capital asking for rescue. I have with me here a number of the media men who want to talk to you.
WOMAN
My God! Look at that crowd of people. Men, women, children and cameras. They are watching us as if we were animals in a cage.
.
MAN
And instead of the rescue team we have the media team. No doubt they'll be overjoyed if they see a mine go off under our feet and are able to shoot it picture and sound. It'll be a world media hit.
WOMAN
It's the scandal. The unprecedented scandal. I'll be exposed before the whole world. I'm a fallen woman. This is what the world will say about me.
(She hides her face between her hands, then averts her face in the opposite direction of the so/tree of ,voice before she takes her hands off her face)
ANNOUCER’S VOICE
Would the lady please turn her face towards us for we've started shooting. Raise your voices that we can take the whole scene with picture and voice. We want some information.
MAN
(Shouting) We need speedy rescue. We have no water or food to enable us to wait.
ANNOUCER’S VOICE
We shall force the government to intervene as soon as possible. It'll be a big case which will stir public opinion and fire the spectators' imagination. Help us with information. Who are you? Where did you come from? And what are you doing in this place?
WOMAN
My God! What horrible questions.
MAN
Picnic. We've come on a picnic.
ANNOUCER’S VOICE
I hope you've had a pleasant picnic.
WOMAN
What pleasure is he talking about? He's poking fun at us. Why don't you answer him?
ANNOUCER’S VOICE
Did you read the signboard cautioning people against entering this place? Are you lovers who want to commit suicide in anew, original fashion which suicide lovers haven't hit upon before?
MAN
We neither saw the signboard nor read it. We didn't know it was a mine field.
WOMAN
Why don't you tell him it's he who is driving us to suicide with these silly questions.
ANNOUCER’S VOICE
Then you were ignorant of the nature of the place. You took it for an innocent place and it turned out to be a mine field. This is the way stories always begin. All the great stories, including Man's journey through life. I'll say this in my comment. And now we want to see the lady's face. The public will sympathise with her when they see the tears in her eyes. We want to know who you are in particular, and what you do for a living.
MAN
That doesn't matter. It's beside the point. We're thirsty and we've no water. Do something to save us.
ANNOUCER’S VOICE
The story will be inadequate if we don't convey to the spectators Who? When? Where? How? And Why? The spectator wants to know everything. So, tell me quick who you are and what you do for a living.
WOMAN
(To Man) Don't tell him anything that reveals my identity.
MAN
I'm a collector working for the electricity department. I read the electricity meters.
ANNOUCER’S VOICE
And the lady?
MAN
(To woman) I'll choose for you an illusory profession. (Loudly) She's assistant at a perfume store.
ANNOUCER’S VOICE
Wonderful. Light and perfumes. What analogy and harmony! No doubt you're married.
MAN
Friends. Only friends.
ANNOUCER’S VOICE
Then it is an emotional adventure. We'd like to see you in a more intimate posture. That'lI have a profound impression which will remain eternally in the minds of the spectators. A love scene in the middle of fire fields.
WOMAN
Tell him to leave before I look for a mine to hurl in his face.
ANNOUCER’S VOICE
We came here to offer you help and convey the tragedy of your presence here to public opinion.
WOMAN
It's they who are making the tragedy. They're making the scandal for us. I wish they would vanish.
MAN
I'm fed up. I don't know how to express my anger for the silliness of his talk and interrogation.
ANNOUNCER'S VOICE
What do you want to say to public opinion?
MAN
We want to get out of this damn field as soon as possible. We want to go back home.
ANNOUNCER'S VOICE
This will all happen. What else?
MAN
(To woman) What else? Shall I tell him I want to piss but I cannot do it with all the eyes of the cameras on us.
ANNOUNCER'S VOICE
We haven't heard the voice of the lady. What do you
want to tell your family and friends, lady.
WOMAN
He wants me to announce my scandal to the world. Tell him I'm dumb and do not talk. All my body has stiffened. I want water.
MAN
The lady is worn out. Thirst has robbed her of the ability to speak. I wish you could secure some water for us.
ANNOUNCER'S VOICE
Could we know what you've seen and heard during
this picnic. Anything funny that can please the spectators.
MAN
I wish you'd sent the national circus before you honoured us with your visit. That would've been a chance to tell you the funny things we saw and heard.
ANNOUNCER'S VOICE
You haven't lost your sense of humour despite the
tragedy. Still, they say that the victims of war get up in the night and emit voices which fill this place. Did you hear these voices or see their ghosts.
WOMAN
(To man) I don't care about the siege of the spirits or the mines. All I want is that this announcer and the photographers and inquisitive people with him disappear. We've got to expel them immediately from the place. We are not matter for a spectacle and satire. Do something, please.
MAN
(To announcer) No doubt we'll hear what the spirits say in the nights to come. But last night we heard nothing but the singing of the stars.
WOMAN
(To man) What do you say, you fool I ask you to expel them and you talk to them about the stars.
ANNOUNCER'S VOICE
Did you say the singing of the stars?
MAN
Yes, those in the sky. Those stars we don't see now because they aren't good at the game of disguise and disappearance the way they excel in playing music and singing. They made us hear beautiful songs last night.
ANNOUNCER'S VOICE
That'Il be exciting and new. It'Il be something delightful to the spectator to know the nature of this singing. Could you repeat that tune the stars sang to you.
MAN
The stars sang thus. (He sings the same tune the woman had hummed.)
WOMAN
Have you lost your mind?
(The man continues humming.)
ANNOUNCER'S VOICE
Would you raise your voice that it reaches the microphone. We want you to sing loudly. Would the lady also sing with you.
MAN
(To woman) Don't be that passive. We've got to be hospitable to those guests who came to serve us. Come on, sing with me as Mr. announcer has ordered. We'll give them the world information hit they are after.
(He hums the tune loudly and the woman joins him. They sing their tune nervously. as they dance and convulse. They leave their place and head as they dance for the mine field towards the Source of voice. Offstage rise shouts of terror, fear and warning.)
ANNOUCER’S VOICE
Stay where you are. It's lunacy. The mines will go off and we too will perish with you. We appeal to you to stop this dance. We've no way of escape or safety. By God, stop. It's suicide. It's lunacy. You'll kill us all.
(The shouts of the group offstage rise intermingling with the singing of the man and the woman.)
(The stage curtain closes while the shouting and the singing intermingle.)