Scene Two

PROJECTED TEXT: PASSAGE OF SKIN.

The tavern. Cranston sits on the floor in great pain. Bristol stands nearby watching, seemingly unmoved by his pain.

CRANSTON: Go home. This is no place for you. It’s all dregs here—

BRISTOL: You raped my mother?

CRANSTON: Aye. I did. And I’d the fuckin’ gall to hope she still might run away with me. I’d buy her a pretty cottage in Lisbon, and the wages from sailing—

BRISTOL: The wages from slaving.

CRANSTON: I’d bring home to the both of you. (Beat) I was there at your birth. I was the one who first washed you.

BRISTOL: You will never be my father.

(Cranston muffles a sharp pain in his leg.)

CRANSTON: Jesus on the cross. The bitch wants out?! She’ll tear me in two!

BRISTOL: My mother should have killed you. (Calmly) You’ll die alone.

CRANSTON: I don’t expect anything less.

(Bristol produces her knife. We’re not sure what she might do with it.)

You’ll butcher me?!

BRISTOL:

            The human dress is forged iron,

            The human form a fiery forge,

            The human face a furnace sealed,

            The human heart its hungry gorge.

(Cranston hears this, then lets out a short and brutal scream as the worm tries to leave his body.)

CRANSTON: Cut it. Cut it out of me!

(Bristol, after a moment, puts the knife down near Cranston so he can do it himself. Then Bristol leaves. Cranston takes the knife and makes a long cut down his leg. The worm is set free. We see the worm crawl from Cranston’s leg, across the stage and then vanish. Cranston’s body sags. He seems completely emptied.

Lights up on another area of the stage. De Wolfe stands alone. There is a knocking. He thinks it’s the door. Then the knocking comes again, stronger.)

DE WOLFE: Who’s there? (Beat) I knew you’d be back again. Welcome. Come in.

(De Wolfe waits for someone or something to enter. Behind him, a small hole appears in the center of the painting. Then it gets larger. A large worm appears in the hole. De Wolfe does not see it. The worm slides into the room. After a moment, De Wolfe gasps as the creature enters his body. Then he itches himself. The itch gets stronger and stronger.

Lights out on De Wolfe.)