31[Normal voice.] He can't hear us from there. But for [goodness] sake, Mom, what happened? I told you to be firm with him . . . then you and the nurses should have held him down, taken his crutches away . . . I know only too well he's my father! . . . I'm not being disrespectful, but I'm sick and tired of emptying stinking chamberpots full of phlegm and [urine] . . . Yes, I do! When you're not there, he asks me to do it . . . If you really want to know the truth, that's why I've got no appetite for my food . . . Yes! There's a lot of things you don't know about. For your information, I still haven't got that science textbook I need. And you know why? He borrowed the money you gave me for it. . . . Because I didn't want to start another fight between you two . . . He says that every time . . . all right, Mom! [Viciously.] Then just remember to start hiding your bag away again, because he'll be at your purse before long for money for booze. And when he's well enough to come down here, you better keep an eye on the till as well, because that is also going to develop a leak . . . then don't complain to me when he starts his old tricks . . . Yes, you do. I get it from you on one side and from him on the other, and it makes life hell for me. I'm not going to be the peacemaker anymore. I'm warning you now; when the two of you start fighting again, I'm leaving home . . . Mom, if you start crying, I'm going to put down the receiver . . . Okay . . . [Lowering his voice to a vicious whisper.] Okay, Mom. I heard you. [Desperate.] No . . . Because I don't want to. I'll see him when I get home! Mom! . . . [Pause. When he speaks again, his tone changes completely. It is not simply pretense. We sense a genuine emotional conflict.] Welcome home, chum! . . . What's that? . . . Don't be silly, Dad

SAM: Of course it is. That's what I've been trying to say to you all afternoon. And it's beautiful because that is what we want life to be like. But instead, like you said, Hally, we're bumping into each other all the time. Look at the three of us this afternoon: I've bumped into Willie, the two of us have bumped into you, you've bumped into your mother, she bumping into your Dad . . . None of us knows the steps and there's no music playing. And it doesn't stop with us. The whole world is doing it all the time. Open a newspaper and what do you read? America has bumped into Russia. England is bumping into India, rich man bumps into poor man. Those are big collisions, Hally. They make for a lot of bruises. People get hurt in all that bumping, and we're sick and tired of it now. It's been going on for too long. Are we never going to get it right? . . . learn to dance life like champions instead of always being just a bunch of beginners at it?

SAM: There's no collisions out there, Hally. Nobody trips or stumbles or bumps into anybody else. That's what that moment is all about. To be one of those finalists on that dance floor is like . . . like being in a dream about a world in which accidents don't happen.

SAM: Maximum of ten points each for individual style, deportment, rhythm and general appearance.

HALLY: Yes, gentlemen, that is precisely what I am considering doing. Old Doc Bromely - he's my English teacher - is going to argue with me, of course. He doesn't like natives. But I'll point out to him that in strict anthropological terms the culture of a primitive black society includes its dancing and singing. To put my thesis in a nutshell: The war-dance has been replaced by the waltz. But it still amounts to the same thing: the releases of primitive emotions through movement. Shall we give it a go?

So do American cream soda and ice cream. For [goodness] sake, Sam, you're not asking me to take ballroom dancing serious, are you?

didn't say it was easy. I said it was simple - like in simple-minded, meaning mentally retarded. You can't exactly say it challenges the intellect.

From now on there will be no more of your ballroom nonsense in here. This is a business establishment, not a bloody new Brighton dancing school. I've been far too lenient with the two of you. [Behind the counter for a green cool drink and a dollop of ice cream. He keeps up his tirade as he prepares it.] But what really makes me bitter is that I allow you chaps a little freedom in here when business is bad and what do you do with it? The foxtrot! Especially you, Sam. There's more to life that trotting around a dance floor and I thought at least you knew it.

HALLY: Get back to your work. You too, Sam. [His ruler.] Do you want another one, Willie? Sam and Willie return to their work. Hally uses the opportunity to escape from his unsuccessful attempt at homework. He struts around like a little despot, ruler in hand, giving vent to his anger and frustration.

HALLY: Sam! Willie! [Grabs his ruler and gives Willie a vicious whack on the bum. How the hell am I supposed to concentrate with the two of you behaving like bloody children

HALLY: And also plain bloody boring. You know what he wants, don't you? One of their useless old ceremonies. The commemoration of the 1820 Settlers [a resettlement scheme, in which British settlers were given land and paid to resettle in Cape Province] or, if it's going to be culture, Carols by Candlelight every Christmas.

HALLY: [Before he can stop himself.] And we've got him! Please! I don't want to talk about it anymore. [Unpacks his school case, slamming down books on the table.] Life is just a plain bloody mess, that's all. And people are fools

You heard right. My Dad wants to go home. SAM: Is he better? HALLY: [Sharply.] No! How the hell can he be better when last night he was groaning with pain? This is not an age of miracles! SAM: Then he should stay in hospital. HALLY: [Seething with irritation and frustration.] Tell me something I don't know, Sam. What the hell do you think I was saying to my Mom? [ . . . ]. SAM: I'm sure he'll listen to your Mom

don't like Mohammed. I never have. I was merely being hypothetical. As far as I'm concerned, the Koran is as bad as the Bible. No. Religion is out! I'm not going to waste my time again arguing with you about the existence of God. You know perfectly well I'm an atheist . . . and I've got homework to do.

And those burning, visionary eyes. My [goodness], the face of a social prophet if ever I saw one! And remember my words when I showed it to you? Here's a man, Sam

12SAM: Ha! There's the social reformer we're waiting for. He sounds like a man of some magnitude. HALLY: I'm not so sure about that. It's a damn good title for a book, though. A man of magnitude! SAM: He sounds pretty big to me, Hally. HALLY: Don't confuse historical significance with greatness. But maybe I'm being a bit prejudiced. Have a look in there and you'll see he's two chapters long. And hell! . . . has he only got dates, Sam, all of which you've got to remember! This campaign and that campaign, and then, because of all the fighting, the next thing is we get peace Treaties all over the place. And what's the end of the story? Battle of Waterloo, which he loses. Wasn't worth it. No, I don't know about him as a man of magnitude. SAM: Then who would you say was? HALLY: To answer that, we need a definition of greatness, and I suppose that would be somebody who . . . somebody who benefited all mankind. SAM: Right. But like who? HALLY: [He speaks with total conviction.] Charles Darwin. Remember him? That big book from the library. The Origin of the Species. SAM: Him? HALLY: Yes. For his Theory of Evolution. SAM: You didn't finish it. HALLY: I ran out of time. I didn't finish it because my two weeks was up. But I'm going to take it out again after I've digested what I read. It's safe. I've hidden it away in the Theology section. Nobody ever goes in there. Any anyway who are you to talk? You hardly even looked at it. SAM: I tried. I looked at the chapters in the beginning and I saw one called "The Struggle for an Existence." Ah ha, I thought. At last! But what did I get? Something called the mistletoe which needs the apple tree and there's too many seeds and all are going to die except one . . . ! No, Hally. HALLY: [Intellectually outraged.] What do you mean, No! The poor man had to start somewhere. For [Goodness] sake, Sam, he revolutionized science. Now we know.

any reforms. Napoleon regarded all people as equal before the law and wanted them to have equal opportunities for advancement. All ves - ti - ges of the feu - dal system with its oppression of the poor were abolished." Vestiges, feudal system and abolished. I'm all right on oppression.

Well, I'll put my money on you in the English exam. HALLY: Piece of cake. Eighty percent without even trying.

ALLY: So-so. I'll scrape through. In the fifties if I'm lucky. SAM: You didn't do too badly last year

ou've also told me that one many times. HALLY: Well, it just so happens to be the truth

iling a maths exam isn't the end of the world, Sam. How many times have I told you that examination results don't measure intelligence?

ALLY: [A world-weary sigh.] I know, I know! I oscillate between hope and despair for this world as well, Sam. But things will change, you wait and see. One day somebody is going to get up and give history a kick up the backside and get it going again.

10SAM: Like Joan of Arc. HALLY: Correct. If she was captured today, she'd be given a fair trial. SAM: And then the death sentence. HALLY: [A world-weary sigh.] I know, I know! I oscillate between hope and despair for this world as well, Sam. But things will change, you wait and see. One day somebody is going to get up and give history a kick up the backside and get it going again.

know how to settle it. [Behind the counter to the telephone. Talking as he dials.] Let's give her ten minutes to get to the hospital, ten minutes to load him up, another ten, at the most, to get home and another ten to get him inside. Forty minutes. They should have been home for at least half an hour already. [Pause - he waits with the receiver to his ear.] No reply, chaps. And you know why? Because she's at his bedside in hospital helping him pull through a bad turn. You definitely heard wrong

Act your bloody age! [Hurls the rag back at Willie.] Cut out the nonsense now and get on with your work. And you too, Sam. Stop fooling around.

on't confuse historical significance with greatness

AM: they make you lie down on a bench. One policeman pulls down your trousers and holds your ankles, another one pulls your shirt over your head and holds your arms . . .

HALLY: Tried to be clever, as usual. Said I was no Leonardo da Vinci and that bad art had to be punished. So, six of the best, and his are bloody good.

ALLY: What do you mean? SAM: What do you call it again when a racehorse goes very fast? HALLY: Gallop!

ILLIE: There is nothing wrong with my legs. Sam is just making jokes. HALLY: So then you will be in the competition. WILLIE: Only if I can find me a partner. HALLY: But what about Hilda? SAM: [Returning with a bowl of soup.] She's the one who's got trouble with her legs. HALLY: What sort of trouble, Willie? SAM: From the way he describes it, I think the lady has gone a bit lame

7HALLY: You haven't been reading them, have you? SAM: Just looking. HALLY: [Examining the comics.] Jungle Jim . . . Batman and Robin . . . Tarzan . . . [Gosh], what rubbish! Mental pollution. Take them away. Sam exits waltzing into the kitchen. Hally turns to Willie. HALLY: Did you hear my Mom talking on the telephone, Willie? WILLIE: No, Master Hally. I was at the back. HALLY: And she didn't say anything to you before she left? WILLIE: She said I must clean the floors. HALLY: I mean about my Dad. WILLIE: She didn't say nothing to me about him, Master Hally. HALLY: [With conviction.] No! It can't be. They said he needed at least another three weeks of treatment. Sam's definitely made a mistake. [Rummages through his school case, finds a book and settles down at the table to read.] So, Willie!

AM: It sounded as if they were telling her to come and fetch him.

You can speak loud. Your Mom's not here.

ou the cream in my coffee, you the salt in my stew."

eating her up every time she makes a mistake in the waltz? [Shaking his head.] No, Willie! That takes the pleasure out of ballroom dancing.

WILLIE: I only got bus fare to go home. [He returns disconsolately to his work.] Love story and happy ending! [. . . .] Three nights now she doesn't come practice. I wind up gramophone, I get record ready and I sit and wait. What happens? Nothing. Ten o'clock I start dancing with my pillow. You try and practice romance by yourself, Boet Sam. Struesgod, she doesn't come tonight I take back my dress and ballroom shoes and I find me new partner. Size twenty-six. Shoes size seven. And now she's making trouble for me with the baby again. Reports me to Child Wellfed, that I'm not giving her money. She lies! Every week I am giving her money for milk. And how do I know is my baby? Only his hair looks like me. She's [messing]around all the time I turn my back. Hilda Samuels is a [bad woman]! [Pause.] Hey, Sam!

ow another one! What's romance?

ow can I enjoy myself? Not straight, too stiff and now it's also glide, give it more style, make it smooth . . . Haai! Is hard to remember all those things, Boet Sam.

He gets up and moves the bucket. Stands thinking for a moment, then, raising his arms to hold an imaginary partner, he launches into an intricate ballroom dance step

“She was scandalizin' my name, She took my money She called me honey But she was scandalizin' my name, Called it love but was playin' a game . . . '

Left-handed people tended to be less impaired, more reasonable andcomprehending, less driven by frustration, confusion, and anger.

People screamed or squawked in fear. Those nearby scrambled to get out of theway.

Still, their gesturesstopped just short of contact—mock punches, hand games of intimidation toreplace lost curses.