ACT TWO

Scene 1

A cell. Michal sitting on a wooden chair, tapping his thighs, listening to the intermittent screams of his brother, Katurian, being tortured a room away. A blanket on a thin mattress and a pillow lie a few yards away.

MICHAL： "Once upon a time ... a long long way away ... " （Katurian screams again. Michal mimics them at length, till they fade away.） "Once upon a time, a long long way away, there was a little green pig. There was a little green pig. Who was green. Um ... " （Katurian screams again. Michal mimics till they fade, then gets up, idles around.） "Once upon a time, a long long way away, there was a little green pig ... " Or was it a long long way away? Where was it? （Pause.） Yes, it was a long long way away, and he was a little green pig ... （Katurian screams. Michal mimics, irritated this time.） Oh shut up, Katurian! Making me forget the little green pig story now with your screaming all over the place! （Pause.） And what did the little green pig do next? He ... he said to the man ... He said to the man, "Hello ... Man ... " （Katurian screams. Michal just listens.） Ah, I can't do stories like you do stories, anyway. I wish they'd hurry up and stop torturing ya. I'm bored. It's boring in here. I wish ... （Sound of next-door room being unbolted. Michal listens. Michal's cell is unbolted and the bloody, breathless Katurian is thrown in by Ariel.）

ARIEL： We'll be back to work on you in a minute. I'm getting my dinner. （Michal gives him the thumbs-up. Ariel bolts the door behind him. Michal looks over Katurian, who is shivering on the floor, goes to caress his head, can't quite do it, and sits on the chair.）

MICHAL： Hiya. （Katurian looks up at him, crawls over and hugs Michal's leg. Michal stares down at him, feeling awkward.） What are you doing?

KATURIAN： I'm holding on to your leg.

MICHAL： Oh. （Pause.） Why?

KATURIAN： I don't know, I'm in pain! Aren't I allowed to hold on to my brother's leg when I'm in pain?

MICHAL： Of course you are, Katurian. Just seems weird.

KATURIAN： （Pause.） How are you doing, anyway?

MICHAL： Great. Just a bit bored. Cor, you were making some racket. What were they doing, torturing ya?

KATURIAN： Yeah.

MICHAL： （Tuts. Pause.） Did it hurt? （Katurian lets go of Michal's leg.）

KATURIAN： If it didn't hurt, Michal, it wouldn't be torture, would it?

MICHAL： No, I suppose.

KATURIAN： Did yours hurt?

MICHAL： Did my what hurt?

KATURIAN： When they tortured you.

MICHAL： They didn't torture me.

KATURIAN： What? （Katurian looks him over for the first time, seeing there are no cuts or bruises.）

MICHAL： Oh, no, the man said he was going to torture me, but I thought, "No way, boy, that'd hurt," so I just told him whatever he wanted to hear, and he was fine then.

KATURIAN： But I heard you scream.

MICHAL： Yes. He asked me to scream. He said I did it really good.

KATURIAN： So he just told you what to say and you agreed to it?

MICHAL： Yeah.

KATURIAN： （Pause.） Swear to me on your life that you didn't kill those three kids.

MICHAL： I swear to you on my life that I didn't kill those three kids. （Katurian breathes a sigh of relief hugging Michal's leg again.）

KATURIAN： Did you sign anything?

MICHAL： Huh? You know I can't sign nothing.

KATURIAN： Then maybe we can still get out of this.

MICHAL： Get out of what?

KATURIAN： Get out of being executed for killing three children, Michal.

MICHAL： Oh, get out of being executed for killing three children. That'd be good. How?

KATURIAN： The only thing they've got against us is what you've said, and the stuff they said they found in the house.

MICHAL： What stuff?

KATURIAN： They had this box full of toes. No, hang on. They said they were toes. They didn't look that much like toes. They could've been anything. Shit, man. （Pause.） And they said they'd tortured you too, his hands were all covered in blood. Are you saying he didn't touch you at all?

MICHAL： No, he gave me a ham sandwich. Except I had to take the lettuce out. Yeah.

KATURIAN： Let me think for a minute. Let me think for a minute ...

MICHAL： You like thinking, don't ya?

KATURIAN： Why are we being so stupid? Why are we believing everything they're telling us?

MICHAL： Why?

KATURIAN： This is just like storytelling.

MICHAL： I know.

KATURIAN： A man comes into a room, says, "Your mothers dead," yeah?

MICHAL： I know my mothers dead.

KATURIAN： No, I know, but in a story. A man comes in to a room, says to another man, "Your mother's dead." What do we know? Do we know that the second man's mother is dead?

MICHAL： Yes.

KATURIAN： No, we don't.

MICHAL： No, we don't.

KATURIAN： All we know is that a man has come into a room and said to another man, "Your mother is dead." That is all we know. First rule of storytelling. "Don't believe everything you read in the papers."

MICHAL： I don't read the papers.

KATURIAN： Good. You'll always be one step ahead of everybody else.

MICHAL： I think I'm pretty sure I don't know what you're going on about, Katurian. But you're funny, though.

KATURIAN： A man comes into a room, says, "Your brother's just confessed to the killing of three children and we found one of the kid's toes in a box in your house." What do we know?

MICHAL： Aha! I get it!

KATURIAN： Do we know that the brother has killed three children?

MICHAL： No.

KATURIAN： No. Do we know that the brother has confessed to killing three children?

MICHAL： No.

KATURIAN： No. Do we know that they found a kid's toes in a box in their house? No. Do we ... Oh my God ...

MICHAL： What?

KATURIAN： We don't even know that there were any children killed at all.

MICHAL： It was in the papers.

KATURIAN： Who runs the papers?

MICHAL： The police. Ohh. You're quite clever.

KATURIAN： Oh my God. "A writer in a totalitarian state is interrogated about the gruesome content of his short stories and their similarities to a number of child-murders that are happening in his town. A number of child-murders ... that aren't actually happening at all." （Pause.） I wish I had a pen now. I could do a decent story out of this. If they weren't going to execute us in an hour. （Pause.） Whatever they do, Michal, no matter what, you don't sign anything. No matter what they do to you, you don't sign anything. You got it?

MICHAL： Whatever they do to me, I don't sign anything. No matter what they do to me, I don't sign anything. （Pause.） Can I sign your name?

KATURIAN： （Smiling.） Especially don't sign my name. Especially don't sign my name.

MICHAL： "I killed a loada kids," signed Katurian Katurian. Hah!

KATURIAN： You little shit ...

MICHAL： "And it was nothing to do with his brother, Michal, not even a bit," signed Katurian Katurian. Hah!

KATURIAN： I'll beat the shit out of ya ...

MICHAL： Don't ... （Katurian hugs him. Michal hugs back, too strongly on Katurian's wounds.）

KATURIAN： Arrghh, Jesus, Michal!

MICHAL： Sorry, Katurian.

KATURIAN： It's alright. （Pause.） We'll be alright, Michal. We'll be alright. We'll get out of here. If we just stick together.

MICHAL： Yeah. My arse is really itchy today. I don't know why. Have we got any of that powder left?

KATURIAN： No, you used it all. Like it was going out of style.

MICHAL： Mm. But we ain't going home for a while anyway, are we?

KATURIAN： No.

MICHAL： Gonna have to sit here with an itchy arse then.

KATURIAN： Yeah, but could you keep telling me about it, because it's really keeping my spirits up.

MICHAL： My, really? No, you're just being stupid. You can't have an arse keep your spirits up, can ya?

KATURIAN： It depends on the arse.

MICHAL： What? Stupid. （Pause.） Well it's itchy anyway. I'll tell you that. I'm trying not to itch it or anything, y'know, 'cos you're here, but, I'll tell ya, it's itchy, man. （Pause.） I've got one itchy arse. （Pause.） Tell us a story, Katurian. It'll take my mind off ...

KATURIAN： Take your mind off your itchy arse ...

MICHAL： My itchy arse, yeah ...

KATURIAN： What story do you want?

MICHAL： Um, "The Little Green Pig."

KATURIAN： No. Thatsh justh thilly ...

MICHAL： Itsh not justh thilly, it's good, "The Little Green Pig." I was trying to r'member it just now.

KATURIAN： No, I'll do a different one. What'll I do?