such patience with me. When we're together it's as though there's nothing
wrong with me at all.
MARY: What does your husband do?
CoLLECTOR : He's a chef.
MARY : A che£.
CoLLECTOR: Not in any famous restaurant. Just an
ordinary chef. But it's good enough for
me. Sometimes, when he's joking, he says
I married him for his profession. (MARY
tries to laugh.) Well I've been chatting
too long about myself and I have the rest
of this block to cover. How much do you
think you'd like to give. I know you're
a working girl.
MARY: I don't know, I really don't know.
CoLLECTOR: May I make a suggestion?
MARY: Of course.
CoLLEcToR: Two dollars.
MARY: Two dollars. (Goes to her purse obediently.)
CoLLECTOR: I don't think that's too much, do you?
MARY: No no.
CoLLECTOR: Five dollars would be too much.
154
MARY : Too much.
CoLLECTOR: And one dollar just doesn't seem right.
MARY: Oh, I only have a five. I don't have any
change.
CoLLECToR: I'll take it.
MARY: You'll take it?
CoLLEcToR: I'll take it. (A command.)
(MARY drops the bill in the transaction,
being afraid to make any physical contact
with THE CoLLECTOR. MARY stoops to
pick it up. THE COLLECTOR prevents her.)
COLLECTOR: Let me do that. The whole idea is not to
treat us like invalids. You just watch how
well I get along. (THE CoLLECTOR retrieves the money with immense difficulty.)
CoLLECTOR: That wasn't so bad, was it?
MARY: No. Oh no. It wasn't so bad.
CoLLECTOR: I've even done a little dancing in my
time.
MARY : That's nice.
CoLLECTOR: They have courses for us. First we do it
in water, but very soon we're right up
there on dry land. I bet you do some
dancing yourself, a girl like you. I heard
music when I came.
MARY: Not really.
CoLLECTOR: Do you know what would make me very
happy?
MARY: It's very late.
CoLLECTOR: To see you do a step or two.
MARY: I'm quite tired.
CoLLECTOR: A little whirl.
I •55
MARY: I'm not very good.
CoLLECToR: A whirl, a twirl, a bit of a swing. I'll put
it on for you.
(THE CoLLECTOR begins to make her way
to the record-player. MARY, who cannot
bear to see her expend herself, overtakes
her and switches it on. MARY performs
for a few moments while THE CoLLECTOR
looks on with pleasure, tapping out the
time. MARY breaks off the dance.)
MARY: I'm not very good.
CoLLEcToR: Would a little criticism hurt you?
MARY : No-
CoLLECTOR: They're not dancing like that any more.
MARY: No?
CoLLECTOR: They're doing something altogether different.
MARY: I wouldn't know.
CoLLECTOR: More like this.
(The record has reached the end of its
spiral and is now jerking back and forth
over the last few bars.)
CoLLECTOR: Don't worry about that.
(THE CoLLECTOR moves to stage centre
and executes a terrifying dance to the repeating bars of music. It combines the
heavy mechanical efficiency of a printing
machine with the convulsions of a spastic. It could be a garbage heap falling
down an escalator. It is grotesque but
military, excruciating but triumphant_
It is a woman-creature proclaiming a
disease of the flesh. MAJ!.Y tries to look
away but cannot. She stares, dumbfounded, shattered, and ashamed.)
CoLLEcToR: We learn to get around, don't we?
MARY: It's very nice. (She switches off the machine.)
CoLLECTOR: That's more what they're doing.
MARY : Is it?
CoLLECTOR: In most of the places. A few haven't
caught on.
MARY: I'm very tired now. I think-
CoLLEcToR: You must be tired.
MARY: I am.
CoLLEcToR: With all my talking.
MARY: Not really.
CoLLECTOR: I've taken your time.
MARY: You haven't.
CoLLECTOR: I'll write you a receipt.
MARY: It isn't necessary.
COLLECTOR: Yes it is. (She writes.) This isn't official.
An official receipt will be mailed to you
from Fund headquarters. You'll need it
for Income Tax.
MARY: Thank you.
CoLLECTOR: Thank you. I've certainly enjoyed this.
MARY: Me too. (She is now confirmed in a state
of numbed surrender.)
CoLLECTOR (with a sudden disarming tenderness that
changes through the speech into a vision
of uncompromising domination): No,
you didn't. Oh, I know you didn't. It
frightened you. It made you sort of sick.
It had to frighten you. It always does at
the beginning. Everyone is frightened at
I 157
the beginning. That's part of it. Frightened and-fascinated. Fascinated-that's
the important thing. You were fascinated
too, and that's why I know you'll learn
the new step. You see, it's
