[As the record plays, you see that some one has stopped outside the door of the room where the MAID is working and the boy is sitting. The man is wearing a beret and a trench coat, and he leans against the door jamb to steady his aim and shoots the boy in the back of his head with a long-barrelled Mauser pistol. The MAID screams—“Ayee”—then starts to cry into her apron. PHILIP, as he hears the shot, pushes DOROTHY toward the bed and goes to the door with a pistol in his right hand. Opening the door he looks both ways from it keeping himself covered, then rounds the corner and enters the room. As the MAID sees him with the pistol she screams again]

PHILIP. Don’t be silly.

[He goes over to the chair where the body is, lifts the head and lets it drop]

The bastards. The dirty bastards.

[DOROTHY had followed him to the door. He pushes her out]

PHILIP. Get out of here.

DOROTHY. Philip, what is it?

PHILIP. Don’t look at him. That’s a dead man. Somebody shot him.

DOROTHY. Who shot him?

PHILIP. Maybe he shot himself. It’s none of your business. Get out of here. Didn’t you ever see a dead man before? Aren’t you a lady war correspondent or something? Get out of here and go and write an article. This is none of your business.

[Then to the MAID]

Hurry up and get those cans and bottles out of here.

[He commences to throw things from the armoire shelves onto the bed]

All the cans of milk. All the corn beef. All the sugar. All the tinned salmon. All the eau de cologne. All the extra soap. Get them out. We have to call the police.

CURTAIN

END OF ACT I

Act Two  •  Scene One

A room in Seguridad headquarters. There is a plain table, bare except for a green-shaded lamp. The windows are all closed and shuttered. Behind the table a short man with a very thin-lipped, hawk-nosed ascetic-looking face is sitting. He has very thick eyebrows.PHILIPsits on a chair beside the table. The hawk-faced man is holding a pencil. On a chair in front of the table aMANis sitting. He is crying with very deep shaking sobs.ANTONIO (the hawk-nosed man) is looking at him very interestedly. It is theFIRST COMRADEfrom Scene 3, Act 1. He is bareheaded, his tunic is off, and his braces, which hold up his baggy I.B. trousers, hang down along his trousers. As the curtain risesPHILIPstands up and looks at theFIRST COMRADE.

PHILIP. [In a tired voice] I’d like to ask you one more thing.

FIRST COMRADE. Don’t ask me. Please don’t ask me. I don’t want you to ask me.

PHILIP. Were you asleep?

FIRST COMRADE. [Choking] Yes.

PHILIP. [In a very tired flat voice] You know the penalty for that?

FIRST COMRADE. Yes.