(A pause. They study each other.)

DRUMMOND

(Slowly)

All motion is relative. Perhaps it is you who have moved away—by standing still.

(The words have a sharp impact on BRADY. For a moment, he stands still, his mouth open, staring at DRUMMOND. Then he takes two faltering steps backward, looks at DRUMMOND again, then moves off the stage. DRUMMOND stands alone. Slowly the lights fade on the silent man. The curtain falls momentarily.)

SCENE II

The courtroom, two days later. It is bright midday, and the trial is in full swing. The JUDGE is on the bench; the jury, lawyers, officials and spectators crowd the courtroom. HOWARD, the thirteen-year-old boy, is on the witness stand. He is wretched in a starched collar and Sunday suit. The weather is as relentlessly hot as before. BRADY is examining the boy, who is a witness for the prosecution.

BRADY

Go on, Howard. Tell them what else Mr. Cates told you in the classroom.

HOWARD

Well, he said at first the earth was too hot for any life. Then it cooled off a mite, and cells and things begun to live.

BRADY

Cells?

HOWARD

Little bugs like, in the water. After that, the little bugs got to be bigger bugs, and sprouted legs and crawled up on the land.

BRADY

How long did this take, according to Mr. Cates?

HOWARD

Couple million years. Maybe longer. Then comes the fishes and the reptiles and the mammals. Man’s a mammal.

BRADY

Along with the dogs and the cattle in the field: did he say that?

HOWARD

Yes, sir.

(DRUMMOND is about to protest against prompting the witness; then he decides it isn’t worth the trouble.)

BRADY

Now, Howard, how did man come out of this slimy mess of bugs and serpents, according to your—“Professor”?

HOWARD

Man was sort of evoluted. From the “Old World Monkeys.”

(BRADY slaps his thigh.)

BRADY

Did you hear that, my friends? “Old World Monkeys”! According to Mr. Cates, you and I aren’t even descended from good American monkeys! (There is laughter) Howard, listen carefully. In all this talk of bugs and “Evil-ution,” of slime and ooze, did Mr. Cates ever make any reference to God?

HOWARD

Not as I remember.

BRADY

Or the miracle He achieved in seven days as described in the beautiful Book of Genesis?

HOWARD

No, sir.

(BRADY stretches out his arms in an all-embracing gesture.)

BRADY

Ladies and gentlemen—

DRUMMOND

Objection! I ask that the court remind the learned counsel that this is not a Chautauqua tent. He is supposed to be submitting evidence to a jury. There are no ladies on the jury.

BRADY

Your Honor, I have no intention of making a speech. There is no need. I am sure that everyone on the jury, everyone within the sound of this boy’s voice, is moved by his tragic confusion. He has been taught that he wriggled up like an animal from the filth and the muck below! (Continuing fervently, the spirit is upon him) I say that these Bible-haters, these “Evil-utionists,” are brewers of poison. And the legislature of this sovereign state has had the wisdom to demand that the peddlers of poison—in bottles or in books—clearly label the products they attempt to sell! (There is applause. HOWARD gulps. BRADY points at the boy) I tell you, if this law is not upheld, this boy will become one of a generation, shorn of its faith by the teachings of Godless science! But if the full penalty of the law is meted out to Bertram Cates, the faithful the whole world over, who are watching us here, and listening to our every word, will call this courtroom blessed!