Lord Kission

ACT I



A library in a big country house.  KISSION and FLOYD enter.

kission:

an argument against me will do you no profit.  A total collapse of confidence is all you will gain.

floyd:

But I must contest if not against your unkindness then against your disappearing sense.

KISSION:

need I remind your that I am a great man who once knew the princes and princesses of the kingdoms.  They came to this house, bowed to my learned fingers and completed their journey in purest satisfaction.

FLOYD:

I do not doubt that you were a great man but those princes and princesses have not visited in a long time.

KISSION:

they still might once they remember me.

FLOYD:

I am advising you with what skill I have to cease from your endeavors in this ludicrous search for this hidden girl.

KISSION:

the girl is someone I love.  She is what I follow my life for.  You stand there dissuade me from my passion in life.  What have you in yours?  A desert of life before you completely unlived.  You have never loved.

FLOYD:

No doubt I will, but hopefully not in the way you carry yourself about.  You're mind is lost and I am trying to retain it for you.  Before you go into that blackened wood.  These investigators you have hired, they will only further your delusions and not help you toward health.

KISSION:

what is health to an old man, the dust on books, when I can have love, the reading of a story.  I shall be in the front room waiting for the investigators.

KISSON exits.  Floyd is frustrated.

FLOYD:

Madness, it gives an air of authority to those undeserved- ad what can the rest of us do but let it give sway.  There must be a chink in his armor to allow me to grip hold and help him.

Enter WISTFUL

wistful:

Lord Kission past me on the way.  He seems to have a plan in mind.  What is he up to?

FLOYD:

You are not supposed to be here.  If you were only a maid and not my friend, who reads for me, I would not tell you.  I would clothe my concern with secrecy and shame.

WISTFUL:

What is the little Lord upset with now?

FLOYD:

The deterioration of this house, this crumbling house.

WISTFUL:

What is wrong with the old man?

FLOYD:

He has an ailment that has no cure, at least as far as I can tell.  He is dogged and stubborn in his utter stupidity.

WISTFUL:

No remedy?

FLOYD:

For a remedy you will need to eradicate his personality.  He is lost amongst the bookcases of the universe.  He is a frightful case invading common sense and peace.  I stand on the borders of a useless distraction, bored and inspired with the ongoing life.

WISTFUL:

There is a rumor flying that he is searching for a girl, pray, is that girl the one he is desperate to find?

FLOYD:

His first love, Romana.  He says she's trapped in a book.  That she read until the book absorbed her, but he doesn't know which one.  Any of these books in here could contain her.  That is his mad mission and he has enlisted the kindly help of two investigators to look for her.

WISTFUL:

Has she always searched for her?

FLOYD:

The idea is recent.  It's his age of delusion and nonsense and it cripples me.  His ideas once had integrity and wholesomeness, but he is crumbling like the environment we are living in.  He cannot see, the world has darkened and his only vision is for Romana, that vicious woman, that capturing illusion!  There are no portraits of her- she never lived.  He never loved, he only believes he does- and to criticize me for his own faults.  I stay for his needs.  I give my life for his and the whole remarkable affair is spat on.  I never asked for violence but I could be violent.

WISTFUL:

You aren't saying that you hate your father?

FLOYD:

My love for him composes itself into anger at his failings, despite his successes.  How can such a man be so great and not yet perfect?

wistful:

The atmosphere of this house, it's changed, once the corridors were sweet and though it has never been easy it was breathable.

floyd:

Ah, I remember clearly.  At least you are true to me.  At least you can read to me when I cannot.  This is why our friendship is strong.  We never lie to each other.  If something terrible happens will you hold me and clasp me tight with kindness?

WISTFUL:

Of course, I must obey you.  My obedience to you is what keeps our friendship strong.

FLOYD:

The investigators will be here soon.  I do not want to be here when they arrive.  Quickly, I must leave at once.  I shall be standing in the garden, hoping to become a plant.  Perhaps a burning sunflower.  Make note of me will you?

Floyd Exits

WISTFUL:

It is not how it used to be- the clutter was manageable, the waste controlled but in the old man's infirmities came a slackening of command.  If it was not for his son I would  find it hard to cope with.  The Lord is a troublesome gent in the midst of great storms and testing, but what for I could not say.  I hear people walking to this room.  I must hide!

WISTFUL hides.  Enter KISSION with KENT and OBLET.

KISSION:

here it is gentlemen, my humble library where the treats of knowledge bloom like ripe fruit.  So here, gentlemen, is my golden room where I keep all of my prizes.  It is in here that my beloved treasure is hiding.

kent:

this woman, Romana?  She is hiding in here?

KISSION:

in one of the books.  She may be a sentence, possibly a paragraph, a phrase or a metaphor.  I do not know exactly- but that is for you two to find.  You can start with this pile of books and work you way round.  You have the description of her; dark red, pale white skin- I've forgotten what colour will need that detail.  I shall leave you now, I am in much need of rest but if you need anything ring the bell to summon a maid who will wake me for you.  Good luck.

KISSION exits.

KENT:

Luck...?

oblet:

On a cosmic scale.  He's a barmy one but as least he's rich.

KENT:

Barmy as it comes but we have our duty as investigators to look through his books.

OBLET:

Yes, I know you well enough to know that you will always stand on principle just for that kind night's sleep.

KENT:

It keeps me whole and content that I am doing the right thing.  If Lord Kission was mad through and through I would not have took on this assignment.  To manipulate a vulnerable old man goes beyond what I think is fair.  Lord Kission, for the moment in my opinion, is not mad.  All he has are some uncommon, energetic ideas.  He was always a wild one with his outspoken views and influence.  This is simply a continuance of that.  That is how I see it.

OBLET:

You always wanted to be a bit like him, didn't you?

KENT:

When I thought I could be a scholar, a mind locked in books.

OBLET:

Aren't you jealous of Lord Kission- he could do it, but you could not.

KENT:

Yes, but it is me he needs now.  I am grateful to have this opportunity.  Even if it is laced with a little disappointment.  These books must be very old.

OBLET:

Collectors books, that's why he gave us these gloves so our sticky skin doesn't come into contact with his legacy.

KENT:

This is the source of his power.  He's spent a time of quality reading, discussing and analyzing these books.

OBLET:

It's all boring.  There's no action.  It all goes on inside and that seems imaginary.  He's never made a real mark on the world.  At least we, if it is of any comfort, solve real problems for people.  He only poses more questions.

KENT:

There's more to him than that.  You look too shallowly.

OBLET:

Our profession is to look, to perceive the smokes and mists of this world.  I know when I've seen enough.  Fact is your vision is cloudy because you see yourself in him.

KENT:

You look up to no-one that's your problem.

OBLET:

It's a characteristic, a dimple in my personality.  You have views on education that I couldn't understand or find in my corrugated heart to be concerned.

KENT:

You don't have any children.

OBLET:

I'm thinking about adoption.

KENT:

You're joking, you would never have children.

OBLET:

What would you know?  Do you really think that people can inhabit books, become trapped?

KENT:

Only if a writer thinks of a certain person while writing their description.  Otherwise people cannot fall into books.

OBLET:

Do you think the author of this book could be him?

KENT:

It could be an old book that he had forgotten he had written.

OBLET:

Perhaps she is in his first book that he published?

KENT:

His most inspired book.

OBLET:

In your opinion?

KENT:

To critical acclaim.

OBLET:

We should find that one first.  I feel that it will be the hardest book to find amongst this.

KENT:

We must, even if we think otherwise, try to isolate that one treasured book within this library.

OBLET:

I've never liked that old man.  He's too mad and pushy, even when he was younger.

KENT:

So what do you intend to do?

OBLET:

I've had a plan since we were assigned this case.  This may seem bold but I think we should kill him.

KENT:

It does seem bold.

OBLET:

Why not?  He is too dangerous for people like us.

KENT:

He does have power over us.

OBLET:

Tell me you've been thinking the same.

KENT:

To kill my source of inspiration and disappointment, it has crossed my mind.  I'm too tired to make decisions.  It all depends on whether your immediate command can overwhelm Lord Kission's orders.

OBLET:

It's an idea we can only do once while we are in his presence.

KENT:

It would be tricky with the maid and his son about.

OBLET:

We would kill them too.  We are in a distant place for most people and this house hasn't received visitors for years.  We could hide the bodies and run away.  Nobody would know until much, much, later.

KENT:

Probability is almost on our side but the likelihood of another person turning up will increase after we had performed the deed.

OBLET:

You don't know that.

KENT:

Neither do you, but I know Sod's Law

OBLET:

It's worth the risk.

KENT:

Let's stretch this objective for as long as we can and I'll think about it.

Enter Floyd.

FLOYD:

Ah, you're here.  Having a good rummage through my old man's legacy?  You know you are assisting a delusion.  You will never find what you are paid to look for, but you'll take the money and let the blood that runs through this house.  Mad blood.  I could well be just as mad as our dear Lord, who hasn't earned his respect.  It's the strain of prolonged stress that produces a man like me.  Have fun you corrupt guards!

Floyd exits.

KENT:

Alright, let's kill them.

OBLET:

We need to find weapons, you search the west wing, I'll do the east.

Oblet and Kent exit.  Wistful appears.

WISTFUL:

The death of my employer, the death of me!  All this empty seeking for resolution, and this is the way it has to come.  What's wrong with wanting to live?  Colours, sounds, textures, pleasure abounds and now is our sad fate about to weld shut on an airplane that never lands?  Plots against life are awful and worse then I could say.  It pierces through the layers like a needle nobody wanted and touches deep within.

Enter Floyd.

FLOYD:

And another insult...Wistful?  How brave you are remaining in a place designateded for you.

WISTFUL:

Floyd, I must tell you...

FLOYD:

Oh, what new information do you now have?

WISTFUL:

Those investigators that you pour scorn on, they are in preparation to kill us all.

FLOYD:

I could hardly be surprised.  A family like us are only destined to die by the hands of others.

WISTFUL:

But what should we do?

FLOYD:

I don't believe that they won't even try.  Because in this house it is all commentary and no action.

WISTFUL:

You haven't heard them as clearly as I did.  Their tone conveyed all.

FLOYD:

You have never liked strangers much, have you?  A new person for you is a challenge; two new people with a special mission and you are overcome with fear.  I knew that they could be the end of us, that's why I don't co-operate- I fight.  You flight but in mental sense of the word.  You create false images of strangers and mark them as your enemy without proof.  We both mean well but we both can come up with wrong conclusions.

WISTFUL:

Why don't you trust me?  My whole life is for you and your father, even if you don't love me, but if there is nothing for us to do but to wait and be killed then why don't we...

Enter Lord Kission.

KISSION:

One more thing...they've gone.  Wistful!  What are you doing here?  Floyd are you allowing her to stay here in a room which is only designed for family and special guests.

WISTFUL:

I am sorry Lord Kission.

FLOYD:

Haven't you heard?  We are all going to be killed by these men you have so carelessly invited in.

KISSION:

Ha!  You are getting worse everyday.  That would please you wouldn't it?  If I was dead you would be able to make use out of this place and turn it into a car-park like you had always wanted!

FLOYD:

Don't you know when to take a warning?

KISSION:

Get out of here.  You are limiting my patience.  Get out!

FLOYD:

this maybe the last time we talk to each other.

Exit Wistful and Floyd.

KISSION:

What can I do with such young people who plot and deceive the aging.  If they were scholars they would respect me and my accomplishments.  He's going to be a builder I am sure of it.  More earth-crackling ugly buildings for people to survive in and with not one room with a bookcase.  What good is a habitat without books?  He likes the garden, it has to be said for him, and he tends it well- but I'm sure he is hoping to buy a flamethrower and burn it all for his perverse pleasure in destruction.  It is too late for me to give him any help.  I can't change the course he is on.  All the beauty I have shown him, worth nothing.  What can I do?

Enter Kent.

KISSION:

Ah, you, Kent is it?  I'm glad you are here for there is something I should tell you...but first I want to ask you, are you going to kill me?

KENT:

Lord Kission!  Where did you hear that?

KISSION:

I am joking of course.  It would be foolish for you to do such a thing to a person like myself.  The nation would not stand it.  You would be hung!  I'm an old man but I hold on to my own power, and its a power none can take away.

KENT:

 You have been like a hero to me.  I respect your writings and acknowledge your formidable self.

KISSION:

Of course, of course, I am used to that.  If you can find me Romana I will allow you a preview of a book I am currently writing.

KENT:

You are still writing?

KISSION:

Yes, one never retires from it.

KENT:

May I ask what it is about?

KISSION:

Do your job and you shall find out.

KENT:

Yes, I will sir.

KISSION:

Good, good.

Exit Kission.

KENT:

What a privilege.  I had no idea that he was still active.  Imagine receiving that book of his, the first to be printed, signed by him.  It would make my young self very happy.  But he's got to finish first.  He cannot be killed before.  I shall have to convince, in some manner, Oblet, who will not want to take orders from me.  Maybe I will have to kill him first before he agrees.  The lives we live are structured by madness, shaped by insanity, but we carry on as insane as we are...

Enter Oblet.

OBLET:

I found this wire; there's nothing else.  A pretty safe house, but it won't be for long.

KENT:

Oblet, we can't kill them.

OBLET:

What!  Another change of mind?  Of course we can kill them.  They're not indestructible.  They can fall foul to hidden agendas.

KENT:

No, just because they can be destroyed doesn't mean we should be the ones to do it.

OBLET:

You've talked to Lord Kission, haven't you, Kent?  And in your mind your kind heart you have decided to spare him.

KENT:

He's still writing, still producing books.

OBLET:

I thought your hero worshiping days were over.  Why do you praise that man?  He's done nothing for you.

KENT:

He had illuminated my life as I live it.  He's made me see in a new way.  You've never read his books so how could you judge?  Your against reading, you can't see the point of it and it makes you dull.

OBLET:

You are without power.  You've given it all up to him.  You're a slave in his goings on.  I'm giving you an opportunity to free yourself.

KENT:

I'm no slave to anyone's thought; not his, not yours.

OBLET:

I can't kill him without you.

KENT:

I'd stop you if you tried

OBLET:

They must be a singular way to convince you.

KENT:

Don't try.  His word has been given.

Oblet punches Kent in the gut.

OBLET:

That is my anger.  We agreed on a plan and you are backing out.  You push me aside for no good reason.  Am I wallpaper to you that you can clearly deface?  A urinal you piss into?  I'm not collecting your waste, I am giving you an opportunity.

KENT:

you don't...

OBLET:

Admit it, I'm a tough guy.  You don't want to deal with a tough guy.

KENT:

I'm pretty tough too...

OBLET:

Look at you, you're out of shape, in a bad condition.  You couldn't beat me.  I get seven hours sleep each night.  I eat a full breakfast.  I'm in the gym most evenings.  You couldn't keep up with me.

KENT:

I can disagree.  I don't need you imposing fantasy on me.  You are not in such good health.  Your smoking limits your lungs and you'll be in bed with cancer that will rot you all up.  To think we have worked together through many a year and this is the first time that we realise we really don't know much about each other,and we couldn't care less.

Kent exits.

OBLET:

Well, what to do.  It's a one man job and the odds are stacked, raised too high for my unruly benefit.  Kent tries me and I could do with some sleep.  Truth is all I need is to kill something.  I won't feel satisfied if I don't.  It's a habit that ends following up on and I can't let it go.  It looks like I'm going to have to get my gun from home and take out the nearest person on the street.  Rabbits, chickens, they are all cannon fodder for my hobby.  What should I do?

Romana appears.

romana:

I could give you some options.

OBLET:

Did you come from the air or slipped in through the walls?  It doesn't matter.

ROMANA:

I was summoned.  Somebody wants something.

OBLET:

I was giving to kill a person, it might as well be you.

ROMANA:

You wouldn't kill a lady.

OBLET:

You're more ghost than lady and so you have already been killed.

ROMANA:

Every new man I meet I die.

OBLET:

You look familiar, like somebody I'm looking for.

ROMANA:

You're looking at trouble, if you want it.

OBLET:

The management of trouble is my business, ordering the chaotic is what I'm paid to do.

ROMANA:

How about coming with me and ordering the chaos I have?

OBLET:

Life doesn't often give out pleasure, but when the windows open you have to jump through.

Romana and Oblet exit.  Enter Floyd and Kent.

FLOYD:

You don't understand that your help is actually ruining his health, and in his age it could be dangerous.  He could die.

KENT:

Die through fantasy?

FLOYD:

Yes, by fantastical visions.

KENT:

I hope you have prevented him from reading.  There are a lot of fantastic books out there that could kill him.

FLOYD:

Yes a lot of literature is dangerous.  Most of it in fact.  I've tried to limit his intake but you must understand reading was his life.  All day he read and did little else.  I'm sure you have come across his commentaries, so you would know.  How do you stop a lifelong habit?

KENT:

I couldn't answer you.

FLOYD:

No, it fades away by it's own accord.  It needs no involvement from men or women.

KENT:

How are we to find this Romana if she does not exist?

FLOYD:

It is a problem.  He'll die if you don't succeed.  You'll just have to stretch the task for as long as you can.  Keeping the Lord alive for as long as possible.

KENT:

Forgive me for what I am about to say but wouldn't you be better off with him dead?

FLOYD:

It's not an uncommon thought, but I have decided what would be best.  I think if I can get one more book from hi then, then, he can die in peace.

KENT:

Yes, he's promised me a first look at that book if I do my job, but I am finding that my job becomes more impossible by each new moment.

FLOYD:

I've done my best to placate him but even the actions of a son can only affect a father so far.

KENT:

In each new movement a series of chances are born.

FLOYD:

You know you are beautiful in your tidy button-up sort of way.

KENT:

Thank you sir; it's not everyday one is complimented in this business but when there is one then it has to be taken with open arms.

FLOYD:

Take the well deserved compliment and also be reminded that any other business you have here other than the one you are employed for I should sooner forget about.

KENT:

'Other business' sir?

FLOYD:

You know what I am talking of, I know you plan and for the reasons I have earlier outlined I dissuaded you of it.  But somehow I do not believe you will go through with it anyhow.

KENT:

How so, sir?

FLOYD:

You are a dangerous character, a lover of books.

KENT:

You have a keen perception sir, for it is true.  I do love books but I fear I have fallen short by them.

FLOYD:

Your strict discipline to the text is unwarranted and not needed.  Have you ever tried watching films?

KENT:

I couldn't sir, they make me sick.

FLOYD:

Maybe we should watch one together at some point.

KENT:

Thank you sir for the offer but I must keep my professionalism when on a job.

FLOYD:

What about when you clock off.

KENT:

I'm sorry but I've no interest in films.

FLOYD:

You'll come around, everybody does in time.

KENT:

I'm not sure what to do with this Romana girl.

FLOYD:

There must be a woman in this real world who looks like her, so why don't we try and find her, pay he to come here and pretend it is who father wants.

KENT:

It's risky.  What if he rejects her?

FLOYD:

It's the only plan I have.

KENT:

Fine, I'll stay here with the books and you go off to this Romana look alike.

FLOYD:

Wish me luck.

KENT:

No need it's inevitable.

Exit Floyd.

KENT:

When I was a child I would hide in a den of books, a fortress of literature.  I used to hide from my parents, from my brothers and sisters.  They sometimes found me and I had no choice but to play with them.  I didn't want to and that was the point about reading.  In reading I could be in my own safe bubble, warming with a story, a fantasy or robust knowledge.  Of course during my life I was sidetracked and ended up in a physical, demanding job that gave no space to reading.  I haven't read a book in years.  I don't think about it all that often.  Those books that I read when I was younger shaped me, formed me and in a certain sense created me.  I owe my personality to a few particular authors.  How people form themselves without books is beyond me.  Like Oblet, how does he live without the light of words?  Or Lord Kission, how does he create these beautiful  worlds?  Me, I'm between the two and there's no telling which way I would go...

Enter Romana.

ROMANA:

Are you wondering where your friends is?

KENT:

Not particularly.  I could do with his absence- I didn't catch your name.

ROMANA:

You don't need it.

KENT:

I don't need hair and yet I have it.

ROMANA:

Don't worry about it.   Wouldn't you like to come with me?

KENT:

I'm not used to women appearing and taking me off somewhere.  It doesn't make me feel comfortable.

ROMANA:

It's good to get out of your comfort.  Call it an experience.

KENT:

I don't know who or what you are but I'm staying right here.  You are welcome to stay with me.  Me and my friend are looking for this woman called Romana.  You never guess where she is hiding; in a book!  You haven't by any chance seen her about?

Pause.  Enter Floyd.

KENT:

So you came back.

FLOYD:

I came back.

KENT:

Was the floor hot or was it cool?

FLOYD:

What?

KENT:

Must have been hot because your feet never touched the ground.

FLOYD:

Is this woman your friend?

KENT:

I don't know, I'm still trying to figure that one out.

ROMANA:

I could be both your friends.

KENT:

You know her?

FLOYD:

No.

ROMANA:

Do you want to hear what my plans are?

FLOYD:

I see we have a situation here.  Stay here, I'll get the old man.

Exit Floyd.

KENT:

We have a plan for you.  How do you like playing a missing woman?

ROMANA:

A missing woman now found?

KENT:

Right, this very minute found.

ROMANA:

I don't like acting.  I don't like changing personalities.

KENT:

You wouldn't have to change very much.  You would only have to be called Romana.

ROMANA:

That's fortunate, that is my name already.

Pause.

KENT:

Are you telling me that you just stepped out of a book?

ROMANA:

I stepped out from somewhere.

KENT:

Then that is highly convenient.

ROMANA:

What are you going to do to me?

KENT:

That's up for the boss to decide.  I believe you knew our boss extremely well, or so he says.

ROMANA:

I know a lot of men extremely well.

KENT:

Yeah, but this one has some rights on you.  He owns you.

ROMANA:

Ha!  Ha-ha, funny the ideas men get while working too hard.  Some are idiots who fall in love with their own creation.  Have you heard the one where a boy falls in love with an ice-maiden, a woman made of ice, and when he tried to make love to her he got stuck?  Well, I'm the ice-maiden and many lips have got stuck on me.

KENT:

So your a piece of fiction who likes to invent her own stories? Framing devices are common but I had no idea how deeply they lay.

ROMANA:

The book is my home, but I like to travel from time to time.  The last place I was in before here was a city and I had an adventure.  I got bought and I've been taken to this house.  I don't like it much.  Would you take me away- anywhere you like but preferable a city.

KENT:

I don't usually make deals with quasi-ghost.  You're putting me on.  I don't really believe you as I don't think it is possible, but I'm willing to pretend.  For the sake of sanity.

ROMANA:

Who cares for sanity when there is passion to be fulfilled.

KENT:

Where is my friend?

ROMANA:

You weren't interested.

KENT:

I'm interested now.

Enter Wistful.

WISTFUL:

Excuse me, I'm not supposed to be here but I can't find master Floyd...

KENT:

He's not here.  Could you do me a favor and find Oblet for me?

WISTFUL:

I could.  Oblet was the gentleman who was with you?

KENT:

Dressed exactly the same.

WISTFUL:

Yes sir, I will.

Exit Wistful

KENT:

So what have you done with him?

ROMANA:

I did what he wanted.

KENT:

You splurt awfully tight answers for a character- what genre did you spring from?

ROMANA:

Travel thriller.

Enter Floyd and Lord Kission.

FLOYD:

There, there she is.

KISSION:

My god...Romana...it is you, in person.

ROMANA:

Yes, my Lord.

KISSION:

You are as I have imagined.

ROMANA:

You must have a very fine imagination.

KISSION:

It has always been a valuable asset.

ROMANA:

In your line of business.

KISSION:

In my line of business.

KENT:

Am I to have it right, that this is the woman you were looking for?

KISSION:

Yes, and for it I must show you what I have been working on.  Where is your partner?

KENT:

The maid is finding him.

FLOYD:

Now you can finish your book with the utmost satisfaction.

KISSION:

Oh this reunion has given me many ideas for further books.

KENT:

We will all be quite pleased in reading them.

Enter Wistful.

WISTFUL:

Oh Sir, please forgive my intrusion but I have to inform you; the investigator who is called Oblet is running mad, half naked and trying to burn this precious house to the very ground we stand on.

Exit Kent.

FLOYD:

Who was with him last?

ROMANA:

I believe I was.

FLOYD:

What did you do to him?

ROMANA:

You assume so much.  You have the imagination of your father.  Tell me what do you write?

FLOYD:

I don't.  I hate books and reading and writing.  All I want to be is a gardener.

ROMANA:

So you can give pretty flowers to beautiful women?

FLOYD:

Or to women I love.

KISSION:

Stop this bickering and let me be close to you, Romana my dear.  How I've missed you.  You are like some classic tale that I had read in youth only to re-discover its brilliance in my old age.  How wonderful it is to have you back in my life, my muse.

ROMANA:

ha, ha, ha, yes, my love.

KISSION:

Do you respect my writing in my books or respect merely the fact that I wrote them?

ROMANA:

You need not ask questions to me; I am the answer to your needs

KISSION:

Yes, it was a vain question but I have become quite vain in your absence.  Can you remedy me?

ROMANA:

I am all answers to your every question.

KISSION:

Yes, I had forgotten that you are all I will ever want.  My inspiration, my movement, banked up on a sea of words gathering force and attaining brilliance.  Glittering as many jewels scatted and broken into dust.  See how eloquent you make me.  Do you like her Floyd?

FLOYD:

I haven't the time to compose an opinion but I can see her advantages.

KISSION:

An unusual word but quite right, she is a helper to men.

Enter Kent holding a half-dressed Oblet.

KENT:

Here he is and just as the maid says quite mad.

OBLET:

Let me go my harlot of a friend, speak my mad mind and go no further in stopping me, oh gods destroy that woman who in possession a poisons blood runs, all children of hers must die as she corrupts into a decline.  Oh she will not come easy but her love is deadly and her position insincere and begot full of wrong choices and regret.  Fear for the presence of this woman who manipulates the thoughts of men and crushes them upon a shore, do not feed her terrible power, the power to stay alive through others belief.  Let her not have her say on important matters as she will take the whole of it and chew it only to spit out.  The destruction of this house is the only way to preserve any dignity.  Listen to me!  Fire must be swept through or in shame we must sit.

KISSION:

I think now you have done your bit you should leave and be put into a hospital.  Wistful shall ring for an ambulance.  Kent, visit me soon and you can look at my work-in-progress.

KENT:

Thank you sir.

OBLET:

NO Kent, you bastard...my soul...O my soul...

Wistful and Kent with Oblet exit.

FLOYD:

I never trusted them.

KISSION:

They have been extremely helpful.  Why was he saying these hurtful things?

FLOYD:

The presence of a fictional character is too much for some minds to take.

ROMANA:

Am I to blame?

KISSION:

You are a most surprising woman.  Let me take you to the garden.  You must be most fed up with books.

ROMANA:

But not with writers.

Romana and Lord Kission exit.

FLOYD:

What am I to believe?  That one can conjure up love, can create it for oneself?  A self-abusing image.  I cannot do that, I couldn't grow a love out of the soil and I wouldn't want to.  For love to be real it has to be born human from a mother.  I couldn't scrape together a bundle of compassion just for me.  I must go out and find it for myself.  If father is happy here I will leave for an impressive horizon, a background to my own story.  Princes and princesses await me, I shall pack and I shall go.  Curse you father, curse you.

The End.