The Iron Rainbow : Part Three

(The cast leave the stage. Some time has passed and it is now early evening of the same day. Mole and Jason are sitting in the TV lounge of the hostel. Mole is reading a newspaper. Jason is smoking with his feet up.)

JASON : You have been staring at that newsprint all night. It’s no wonder you can’t see.

MOLE : Just because you do a bit of reading doesn’t mean that you lose your eyesight. It’s ideas like yours which stop people doing anything. You don’t realise you con yourself as well as get conned by others. It’s made you anti-social.

JASON : They made me a victim so I’m not bothered about other people.

MOLE : Yes, but you encourage people to do nothing in life. You are bothered enough to do that. It’s one of the things that makes you a deviant.

JASON : The fact that there has already been a fight here today doesn’t rule out another one, only it would be more of an attack. Although from what has been said I think that was just an attack. I can’t imagine any of them standing up to Marti. Compared to him all they could fight off would be a cold, and then the odds would be stacked against them.

MOLE : If they are getting violent here in an obvious and physical way I would say that I was in danger, if only because I am an older man. I suppose the sadist in all of you enjoys that idea, that you can terrorise a defenceless, old man. I’m against violence regardless of what you might think of me, and yes, so far all of you have been wrong. Muttering about murder and molestation when speculating on my predicament is so ridiculous. You’re always going on about being cheated yourselves and never even consider the possibility that I could be someone cheated. I do realise though that being here hasn’t done any of you any good. To my mind if you don’t start off as ‘sheep-shaggers’, to use one of your expressions, you end up as one.

JASON : You aren’t starting to see things our way are you, Grandad?

MOLE : It seems a good idea if you’re starting on the physical violence bit, because let’s face it, my pooch is pure chihuahua.

JASON : Kenneth had a chihuahua about the same time that he wanted to be a train driver. I got that out of him when a few of us were talking about pet history. Jonathan had a pedigree Dulux dog and Marti had a well-trained Alsation.

MOLE : Animal Farm eat your heart out. Where I live very few people have pets. There’s a few persian pussies knockin’ about but they are the sort that never change out of towelling robes and mules. And I always think that claw of pussy, tooth of dog, like eye of newt and fang of bat are things already in the neighbourhood cauldron. You don’t need pets. If you don’t like it – tough. There’s nothing else to eat.

JASON : Are you trying to confuse me? I don’t know what the hell you are talking about. I was tallking pets and you end up rabbiting on about witches and no choice of menu.

MOLE : Well, I started of about aggression and stuck to it. Some would call it natural vigour, and why not, when the sap rises there’s bound to be some flux. But all in all I believe in giving you the benefit of the doubt when it comes to giving my opinion on your ability to remain amicable. You seem okay to me.

JASON : That’s because we are.

MOLE : Exactly.

JASON : Remember that.

(Jason exit. Enter Len)

LEN : No one in here, George?

MOLE : No, they are confining themselves to their rooms as if they were bloody hotel guests.

LEN : I don’t see them like that. I think the majority prefer to be in here, mucking in together. It will just be a temporary lull in the raging storm.

MOLE : Apparently the raging bull has shown what he’s made of. Jason has filled me in on the ‘macho man’ versus ‘friends’ contest. Quite honestly I can’t stand either of them, but I say nothing, certainly not to their face. I hope I can trust you, Len, and rely on you to keep them in place. Do you know I’m beginning to think that they could get to me for a bashing?

LEN : I doubt it, George. We aren’t talking gratuitous violence. What happened today had been building up for some time between the two characters concerned so I for one was not surprised to see them come to blows. I only hope the ‘friends’ side has got the message.

(Enter Marti)

LEN : (Aside to Mole in a lowered voice) Ah, the first side in is the ‘macho man’. (Addressing Marti in a normal voice) Have you cooled down and got this hormonal hang up out of your system?

MARTI : If you’re talking about what happened at lunch-time it’s his hormones that are scrambled, my only hang up is that I’m here while he is.

LEN : Yes, I know he’s the one who has the problem, Marti, but I think he will realise now that there’s no point in bothering you. All I ask, Marti, is that you tolerate him, because let’s face it, there is something positive there. It is just being expressed in the wrong way.

MARTI : Yes, some would be flattered, I appreciate that, but to me they would be creeps. If he keeps away from me in that respect and just knows that I’m different I’d be a lot more prepared to tolerate him. It’s the fact that he thinks people can swing both ways, as if it’s normal, that Idon’t like.

LEN : Yes, that’s true but I think that coming up against you he is going to be a lot more circumspect in the end. He hasn’t worn shorts again.

MOLE : Or buckled his breeches above the knee.

LEN : That’s the same thing. Look, you know what I’m getting at. It is not a sod’s brothel and that’s how it stays. Inside here you show restraint. There have been lads in here as young as fourteen dying from AIDS, and showing no interest in either sex. I don’t think I need say anymore, do you?

(Lee appears at the door and remains standing there, unseen by the others)

MARTI : I don’t feel sorry for him. He should have known someone like me is rigid about who I go to bed with and it is implying that it is frigid is soddin’ pansy. That is what makes me angry. Being here is difficult enough without being bothered by his kind. He’s in a different situation to me. I face serious charges; he’s just involved in a scuffle with rent boys, though he makes out he’s tripped up an old man. I’m not pansying around anybody, certainly not him.

(Len goes over to Marti and pats him on the shoulder)

LEN : Fair enough.

(Exit Len and Mole)

(Enter Lee)

LEE : It was my fault I admit it. I’ve been unhappy in my life but not in the way you are now. As you say I’m not facing serious charges. I haven’t killed anybody, and as far as I know, the old man who got knocked over was only bruised, and that is the truth. I’m not here because of rent boys, although maybe that has something to do with it in an oblique kind of way. You’ve suggested people don’t like me and that is why I’m in trouble. It’s possible I suppose but I’m not perfect. I know I have a big mouth and I have been taking the mickey out of this place since I arrived, but it’s more like a holiday camp to me than punishment. I have been punished on the streets for three years and coming to live here was a relief. A reprieve if you like from all that is sordid. I would like to think that although I’m not very intelligent I am clever enough to know the nature of the world by now. But being street-wise can sometimes blind you from seeing the thing which possesses most beauty.

MARTI : I was never really against you. I only became prejudiced when you didn’t see me as I am. You were being vain and cynical and completely unaware of the effect it has on people. To spell it out, sweety, you didn’t believe in me being straight and I knew it.

LEE : Yes, I can see that now. Different people take me in different ways. Some think I’m funny and that’s okay but I suppose it’s always a mistake to meddle with a man that doesn’t swing a medallion.

MARTI : Yeh, that’s more or less it, but I don’t think you could be serious to save your life and that always irritates people, no matter what they make out. I think you’ll fit in better now that we both know.

LEE : I thought I knew more about people;  I was wrong.

MARTI : Yes, Blue Moon, I think you do have a song in your heart and you may even have a love of your own. As long as you keep it to yourself we’ll all be happy. I don’t want to sound like Len because he can be boring, but I think you should know that the idea of the hostel running down to a sod’s brothel is a horror story to all of us.

(Slight pause)

You and me will get on better, that’s all. See you.

(Exit Marti)

(Lee sits down and lights a cigarette)

(Enter Kenneth and Susan)

(Kenneth takes a seat, Susan remains standing)

SUSAN : The weather is very bad out there.

KENNETH : It doesn’t affect us.

SUSAN : No, it doesn’t, Kenneth. It’s like Tenerife in here.

LEE : You don’t try to give people the wrong impression deliberately do you? It’s starting to dawn on me that wherever I live next won’t be half as comfortable as this.

SUSAN : Don’t be neurotic. If you feel at home here it’s because this is a modern building with good facilities. The only psychology we use is to improve character and help you develop along the right lines.

LEE : Yeh (in a resigned, unconvinced manner).

KENNETH : I thought I was already developed along the right lines.

SUSAN : Something must have gone wrong.

KENNETH : Mmm... this so-called offence. I just lost my temper when I was under stress. You know I mentioned before our school never got on with the secondary modern. He was from there. I’d more or less forgotten the enmity from the Henry Morgan lot until this incident. When I look back that childish rivalry was really the beginnings of anti-catholic feeling. The fact that most of them at school were faithless or have ended up that way is irrelevant. We had a different religion and it’s obvious that that was enough to cause disagreement and eventually a well-established resentment.

SUSAN : You don’t feel any hostility here though, do you?

KENNETH : No.

SUSAN : I won’t say that I think you’ve imagined something like victimization on account of religion but it can never be actually proved, so I’d drop it, in everybody’s best interests.

KENNETH : You can never talk about feelings like that anyway. They would say you were mentally ill.

SUSAN : Yes, they are negative feelings apart from anything else. My only advice to you is to show people on the other side of the fence that you are just like them. Doing what others do is always the best policy. You’ve seen what it’s like in here and if you have faced up to the reality of it you have a chance of fitting in when it is all over. Think it over Kenneth............I’ll be back in a few minutes.

(Exit Susan)

LEE : Marti doesn’t puke when he sees me now. Knowing that should give anyone hope that feels at odds with the world.

KENNETH : Mmm... at odds with the serpent, that’s me. Seeing it writhe increases your experience but it is a knowledge I could have done without.

LEE : That’s a coward’s attitude. Sometimes when it writhes you do have to become masochistic to withstand it.... I know you are not that one.... but knowing that we’re all aware of it together must help, doesn’t it?

KENNETH : I suppose so, but some would say that we are just getting the same gas.

LEE : No, we’re the ‘snake aware gang’. It’s something else.

KENNETH : Do you think there’s glamour in evil?

LEE : There’s glamour in everything if you show it in a ceratin light, but the end result, that’s another matter.

KENNETH : That sounds like an answer influenced by a belief in good.

LEE : No, just common sense, and knowing that the law says that they are good.

KENNETH : Yes, but none of us are Charles Manson or Ian Brady, are we?

LEE : No, but nobody’s a saint either.

KENNETH : Yeh, everybody thinks that I’m innocent and out of touch with a world that’s rotten and bent. That’s not the case. I’m innocent maybe but I’m a lot less naive than I used to be. This place would open anybody’s eyes to society’s lack of interest in what used to be called love.

LEE : I agree with you but society won’t go away. (Slight pause) I’m going out for a while......... See you later.

(Exit Lee)

 

Continued in Part Four