HAMM I knew it! [Angrily.] But there's no light there! Th e other! [CLOVstops the chair under window left, HAMM tilts back his head.] That's what I call light! [Pause.] Feels like a ray of sunshine. [Pause.] No?
CLOV No.
HAMM It isn't a ray of sunshine I feel on my face? CLOV NO. [Pause.] HAMM A m I very white? [Pause. Angrily.] I'm asking you am I very white! CLOV Not more so than usual. [Pause.] HAMM Ope n the window.
CLOV What for?
HAMM I want to hear the sea.
CLOV You wouldn't hear it.
HAMM Even if you opened the window?
CLOV NO.
HAMM The n it's not worth while opening it?
CLOV NO.
.
ENDGAME / 2415
HAMM [Violently] Then open it! [CLOVgets up on the ladder, opens the windoxv. Pause.] Have you opened it?
CLOV Yes. [Pause.]
HAMM You swear you've opened it? CLOV Yes. [Pause.] HAMM Well . . . ! [Pause.] It must be very calm. [Pause. Violently.] I'm asking
you is it very calm!
CLOV Yes.
HAMM It's because there are no more navigators. [Pause.] You haven't much
conversation all of a sudden. Do you not feel well?
CLOV I'm cold.
HAMM What month are we? [Pause.] Close the window, we're going back. [CLOV closes the window, gets down, pushes the chair hack to its place, remains standing behind it, head bowed.] Don't stay there, you give me the shivers! [CLOV returns to his place beside the chair.] Father! [Pause. Louder.] Father! [Pause.] G o and see did he hear me. [CLOVgoes to NAGGS bin, raises the lid, stoops. Unintelligible words, CLOV straightens up.]
CLOV Yes. HAMM Both times? [CLOV stoops. As before.] CLOV Once only. HAMM Th e first time or the second? [CLOV stoops. As before.] CLOV He doesn't know.
HAMM It must have been the second. CLOV We'll never know. [He closes lid.] HAMM Is he still crying?
CLOV No.
HAMM Th e dead go fast. [Pause.] What's he doing?
CLOV Sucking his biscuit. HAMM Life goes on. [CLOV returns to his place beside the chair.] Give me a
rug. I'm freezing. CLOV There are no more rugs. [Pause.] HAMM Kiss me. [Pause.] Will you not kiss me? CLOV No.
HAMM On the forehead. CLOV I won't kiss you anywhere. [Pause.] HAMM [Holding out his hand.] Give me your hand at least. [Pause.] Will you
not give me your hand? CLOV I won't touch you. [Pause.] HAMM Give me the dog. [CLOV looks round for the dog.] No! CLOV Do you not want your dog?
HAMM No.
CLOV The n I'll leave you. HAMM [Head bowed, absently.] That's right, [CLOV goes to door, turns.] CLOV If I don't kill that rat he'll die. HAMM [As before.] That's right. [Exit CLOV. Pause.] M e to play. [He takes out
his handkerchief, unfolds it, holds it spread out before him.] We're getting on. [Pause.] You weep, and weep, for nothing, so as not to laugh, and little by little . . . you begin to grieve. [He folds the handkerchief, puts it back in his pocket, raises his head.] All those I might have helped. [Pause.] Helped! [Pause.] Saved. [Pause.] Saved! [Pause.] Th e place was crawling with them! [Pause. Violently.] Use your head, can't you, use your head, you're on earth,
.
241 6 / SAMUEL BECKETT
there's no cure for that! [Pause.] Get out of here and love one another! Lick your neighbour as yourself!4 [Pause. Calmer.] Whe n it wasn't bread they wanted it was crumpets. [Pause. Violently.] Out of my sight and back to your petting parties! [Pause.] All that, all that! [Pause.] Not even a real dog! [Calmer.] Th e end is in the beginning and yet you go on. [Pause.] Perhaps I could go on with m y story, end it and begin another. [Pause.] Perhaps I could throw myself out on the floor. [He pushes himself painfully off his seat, falls hack again.] Dig my nails into the cracks and drag myself forward with m y fingers. [Pause.] It will be the end and there I'll be, wondering what can have brought it on and wondering what can have . . . [He hesitates.] . . . why it was so long coming. [Pause.] There I'll be, in the old shelter, alone against the silence and . . . [He hesitates.] . . . the stillness. If I can hold my peace, and sit quiet, it will be all over with sound, and motion, all over and done with. [Pause.] I'll have called m y father and I'll have called m y . . . [He hesitates.] . . . m y son. An d even twice, or three times, in case they shouldn't have heard me, the first time, or the second. [Pause.] I'll say to myself, He'll come back. [Pause.] An d then? [Pause.] An d then? [Pause.] H e couldn't, he has gone too far. [Pause.] An d then? [Pause. Very agitated.] All kinds of fantasies! That I'm being watched! A rat! Steps! Breath held and then . . . [He hreathes out.] Then babble, babble, words, like the solitary child who turns himself into children, two, three, so as to be
