[Quietly] It’s over now; you are released.

SCENE NINE

The asylum gardens, a winter’s day. WILLIAM sits on the bench wearing a coat. STEF and BETSHEB sit on the grass wearing hand-me-down coats over their asylum uniforms. BETSHEB massages STEF’s scalp. WILLIAM reads a letter to her.

WILLIAM: ‘Some people say the war will be over by Christmas, others say it will go on forever. There is no point to this slaughter. The Germans will lose, but they don’t give in; they would sooner destroy the world than surrender. My handwriting is bad. We are snowed in and my hands are shaking with the cold. The snow and the blood are endless.’ [He points.] Like the snow on Mount Wellington.

BETSHEB nods.

BETSHEB: Pass snow; nowt more outcastin’.

WILLIAM: Once the snow thaws, perhaps his exile will be over. Nowt more outcastin’. [Continuing the letter] ‘I want to write about more pleasant things, Betsheb, but the war is my world at the moment. But once it is over I will return. Goodbye for now, my love. Francis.’

STEF no longer wants his head massaged. He moves away and coughs deeply. He laughs. BETSHEB rises and takes the letter from WILLIAM.

You must have quite a collection now.

She puts it down the front of her dress. There is a blast of icy wind. WILLIAM shivers.

What a wind, eh? Straight from the South Pole.

BETSHEB ponders. Silence. DR SIMON enters and stands at a distance, watching the odd trio.

BETSHEB: Nurse Greene got child.

WILLIAM: A baby boy.

BETSHEB: The belly o’ ’er quim. Lovely.

WILLIAM: She and her husband had been trying for years to have a child.

BETSHEB: Francis outcastin’; come back ’n’ look at ’is belle ’n’ ’e think ‘the dead moon o’ me cunt’.

WILLIAM: We don’t know for certain.

BETSHEB: Me bod shakin’ like a leaf, out o’ the blue.

WILLIAM: Those fits you have are rare.

BETSHEB: Me bod in the toothy bite o’ a bad dream.

Silence.

DR SIMON: What is Betsheb talking about?

WILLIAM: Nothing important.

DR SIMON: I’m curious.

WILLIAM: She just talks about things that interest her.

DR SIMON: And they don’t interest you?

WILLIAM: Of course they do.

DR SIMON: Then why wouldn’t I be interested?

Pause. WILLIAM turns his attention back to BETSHEB.

WILLIAM: [to BETSHEB] Don’t be afraid of your body—

DR SIMON: [interrupting] If I knew the language or if you translated for me, then I would be able to help them.

WILLIAM: Like you helped Mac with the photographs?

DR SIMON: I am Chief Psychiatrist here. I have every right to have patients photographed: photographs are a legitimate record of a patient’s condition.

WILLIAM: You treated him as if he were a freak.

DR SIMON: That’s not true. You have turned them against everyone except yourself. I have been here over four years and I still can’t understand her.

WILLIAM: [coldly] Perhaps you’re stupid.