Scene 17

Flashback. POUBELLE comes in as her child self. GLASS is at his desk with a small pig. POUBELLE stands next to him.

GLASS

All right, Poubelle, here is your scalpel.

POUBELLE

It looks like a knife.

GLASS

It is, essentially.

POUBELLE

Why?

GLASS

Because you wanted to learn about organs, you've been begging for weeks.

POUBELLE

Oui, Monsieur, I want to see a heart.

GLASS

So today, my little scientist, you are going to do your first dissection. We are going to dissect a fetal pig.

POUBELLE

Qu'est-ce que c'est, Monsieur?

GLASS

We're going to open a pig and see inside.

POUBELLE

Open him?

GLASS

With your scalpel. First I want you to trace a Y with your blade.

POUBELLE

Cut him?

GLASS

Yes, Poubelle, so you can take the heart out.

POUBELLE

We're going to take his heart out?

GLASS

Yes, my dear. Don't worry, I am here to help you along the way.

GLASS takes her hand and guides her cut.

POUBELLE

Monsieur! I can feel his skin break!

GLASS

That's all right, keep going. A little harder; there, good girl. Now cut through the muscle and you'll start to see the veins. Good, good, now spread the ribs.

POUBELLE

Why is he so small?

GLASS

Because he's a fetus.

POUBELLE

C'est quoi? Fetus?

GLASS

A baby… not yet born.

POUBELLE

What do you mean not yet born?

GLASS

Harvested before birth.

POUBELLE puts her scalpel down. She is visibly upset.

POUBELLE

Where is his maman?

GLASS

Donated to science.

POUBELLE

Why?

GLASS

So you could learn about organs.

POUBELLE

Non!

GLASS

Yes, Poubelle, it's all right. It's very normal.

POUBELLE

He was killed for me!

GLASS

It was killed so that we could learn more about organs, hearts. You said you wanted to learn about hearts.

POUBELLE starts to cry.

POUBELLE

I didn't want to, I didn't know, I just wanted to learn to be a scientist.

GLASS

And you are, you are my little scientist.

POUBELLE

Non, no more. Never!

GLASS

Poubelle, come here.

She goes to him.

It's normal, it's part of life. We use the knowledge we get from—

POUBELLE

From cutting the baby piggy, from taking him from his maman so… I could, I murdered him.

GLASS

No, Poubelle, you didn't. Look at me. I promise you didn't. This is new to you, but when this kind of thing has to be done, when you have to do something you maybe don't like, you need to create a scientific distance.

POUBELLE

I go far far away from it?

GLASS

Yes, but only in your mind.

POUBELLE

Le petit cochon and his pauvre maman.

GLASS

This is how life works, Poubelle. This is how we get through life.

He takes her hand and guides her scalpel.

ANGELIQUE

Just look at the body as a sum of its parts.

POUBELLE

Cut through the ribs to get to the heart.

ANGELIQUE

Slowly cut into the organ like a knife through a cake.

POUBELLE

Just concentrate on the present, don't make a mistake.

ANGELIQUE

Don't think of the red bleeding on to your gloves.

POUBELLE

Don't think of its maman and the things that it loves.

ANGELIQUE

If you let yourself feel, you'll slip with your knife.

POUBELLE

You must create the distance to get through this life.