[IV-5]

[Chekhov]

MED.: And now I've got six mouths to feed, and the price of flour goes up again.

DORN: (laughing) Have to cut corners, I guess.

MED.: Go ahead. laugh - you have more money than you know what to do with.

DORN: You think so? I practiced medicine for thirty years, on call day and night, never a moment to myself, and you know what I managed to save? Two thousand rubles. And I just spent that on my trip abroad. So now I'm broke.

MASHA: (to Med.) I thought you were leaving.

MED.: (guiltily) Your father won't give me a horse.

MASHA: (under her breath) I can't stand the sight of you.

(Sorin is wheeled to a side of the room, where all but Medvedenko gather around him. Med. moves across the room, alone.)

DORN: (brightly) I see you've turned this room into a study!

MASHA: Konstantin likes to work here. It's close to the garden, where he can go and think.

SORIN: Where's my sister?

DORN: She went to the station to meet Trigorin. She should be back shortly.

SORIN: If you went to all the trouble to send for her, then I must be very sick. But if I'm so sick, why doesn't anyone give me any medicine?

DORN: Well, what would you like? Valerian drops? Soda? How about some quinine?

SORIN: He's making fun of me again. (He gestures toward the sofa.) A bed for me?

POLINA: Yes, just for you.

SORIN: Thank you.

DORN: (humming) "The moon drifts across the evening sky . . ."

SORIN: I could give Kostya a subject for a story. He could call it, "The Man Who Wanted." L'Homme qui a voulu. When I was young, I wanted to become a writer. I didn't. Then I wanted to be a great orator - but I spoke abominably. (Mimicking himself) "And furthermore, and so on and so forth, blah blah . . ." I could go on like that for hours, sweating like a pig. I wanted to get married - but didn't. I wanted to live in the city - and here I am, dying in the country. And so on and so forth.

DORN: You wanted to become a State Councilor - and became one!

SORIN: (laughing) I didn't set out to do that, it just happened.

DORN: Arguing with your life at sixty-two is a little ungrateful, don't you think?

SORIN: You're so stubborn. Can't you get it through your thick skull that I still want to live?

DORN: You're being irrational. The laws of nature dictate that every life comes to an end.

SORIN: You talk like a man who's had everything he ever wanted. You can afford to be philosophical now - but wait, in the end you'll be afraid to die just like the rest of us.

DORN: The fear of death is an animal instinct - one that should be overcome. Only religious people have a reason to fear death because they have to pay for their sins. But you're not religious - and have never sinned! Well, except for serving in the Ministry of Justice for twenty-five years.

SORIN: (laughing) Twenty-eight.

(Treplev enters and sits on a stool beside Sorin. Masha never takes her eyes off him.)

[continue]