CECILIA: Deeply buried?

CARTER: I AM TRYING TO THINK HERE! I AM TRYING TO THINK!!

Pause. CARTER drinks and wanders. CECILIA collects laundry.

CECILIA: Maybe it’s a woman.

CARTER: Will you get out! What in the world is the matter with you? You’re like a termite or something, boring away. Why do you persist in staying when you know you’re not welcome?

CECILIA: You invited me.

CARTER: I know that!

CECILIA: Sometimes, if you just lay all your cards on the table, miraculous things begin to occur. Things you could never foresee.

CARTER: I don’t need any half-baked philosophical notions from you. Things are falling apart! THE SKY IS FALLING! THE SKY IS FALLING!

Pause. CECILIA stares at him.

CECILIA: “Chicken Little”, isn’t it?

CARTER: Look, smart ass!

CECILIA: You shouldn’t be so hard on Vinnie, just because he’s a detective and you’re not.

CARTER: He’s not a detective!

CECILIA: Where is he now?

CARTER: Kentucky! He’s in Kentucky!

CECILIA: That was fast.

CARTER: He couldn’t wait to double-cross me.

CECILIA: That’s where you’re from.

CARTER: Brilliant.

CECILIA: Are you going back out there? Track him down?

CARTER: I just came from there!

CECILIA: “What goes around, comes around.” You ever heard that one? A musician I knew used to say that all the time.

CARTER: I am going to hit you in a minute. I am going to strike you!

CECILIA: You’re not on the verge of a nervous breakdown, are you, Mr Carter?

CARTER: I’m being squeezed! Do you know what that’s like? Have you got any idea what that’s like? It’s almost as though he’s planned it or something. Set me up. (Pause.) You’re not in on this with him, are you? The two of you in cahoots?

CECILIA: Vinnie’s mind doesn’t work like that.

CARTER: His mind? Now we’re going to talk about his mind? He has no mind! He’s brainless!

CECILIA: You’re just jealous is all.

CARTER: Jealous?

CECILIA: I think so. There’s that tone about it.

CARTER: A jealous tone.

CECILIA: Yes.

CARTER: What is it, exactly, that you find so fascinating about him? It’s unbelievable. I mean, I don’t get it. You’re not a half bad-looking woman, Cecilia.

CECILIA: Gee, thanks.

CARTER: No, I mean really—You’re a very attractive young lady, in your own way. It would seem to me that you’d have a lot bigger fish to fry than some down-and-out loser with a detective complex.

CECILIA: Maybe you should lie down.

CARTER: I’m not lying down!

CECILIA: You might be able to think better.

CARTER: I am not lying down! I’m not playing into your hand. That’s it, isn’t it? You get me into the sack and keep me here, while he goes off to knife me in the back.