| Over | |
|||
|
|
|
|
|
| (Their positions have not changed from the previous scene as Mann snaps on the light.) | |
| MANN: | You, my little sister, are insane, do you hear me? Totally and irrevocably insane. There are factors of stress which I attribute some of this reaction to but, overall, entirely, there seems to be little rhyme or reason to this unabashed insanity. |
| OTTER: | You’re right, there’s nothing. There’s nothing. Nothing. |
| MANN: | I don’t know if you know the gravity. |
| OTTER: | No, there’s no gravity. |
| MANN: | No gravity? You are a fool, a fool. I pick up this book and I let it go (he drops the dictionary) and what happens? Otter, I pick up this book and I let it go (he drops the dictionary) and what happens? Otter, I pick up this book and I let it go (he drops the dictionary) and what happens is : it falls. It falls and falls and falls. And that (lets the book go) is gravity. Now, I pick up this chair. And I let the chair go and what happens? Otter, tell me what happens. |
| OTTER: | You are a liar. |
| MANN: | That’s wrong, you’re wrong there. The answer is, simply, the chair falls. You see, I’ll demonstrate more. You see, I am an object that lies in gravity’s path. You throw myself into the air and what happens? (he leaps into the air and comes crashing down) You see? Gravity. No gravity? No gravity? Do you see how I’ve proved you wrong. I’ve totally taken you apart and left you standing there holding an empty egg. |
| OTTER: | I was an anemic child. |
| MANN: | (confused) Yes, you were. |
| OTTER: | I have suffered. |
| MANN: | We all have. |
| OTTER: | Who do you think suffered the most? |
| MANN: | Suffering is not, suffering is not, suffering has nothing to do with any of this. |
| OTTER: | You have suffered. |
| MANN: | Yes, I have. |
| OTTER: | Mom suffered. |
| MANN: | Absolutely. |
| OTTER: | Dad suffered in his way. |
| MANN: | Suffering is epidemic. |
| OTTER: | Every day I scrub my hands. I scrub and I scrub and I scrub! |
| MANN: | (further confused) No, you don’t. |
| OTTER: | I lie in bed, scrubbing my hands, I make breakfast and I’m scrubbing my hands. I try to read a book and I can’t concentrate. I scrub. It’s all I can do. |
| MANN: | (surprised) I have a headache. |
| OTTER: | Look how clean my hands are. Look at my hands! |
| MANN: | I can see your hands clearly. |
| OTTER: | See how clean they are?! |
| MANN: | I see, I see! |
| OTTER: | They’re clean because I scrub. I scrub and I scrub and I scrub! |
| MANN: | I hear you, I hear you! |
| OTTER: | I can’t stop scrubbing! |
| MANN: | So don’t, don’t stop scrubbing! |
| OTTER: | (urgently) I’ve read they’re proving things. |
| MANN: | (even further confused) Who’s proving things?! |
| OTTER: | Scientists. Philosophers. Psychologists. |
| MANN: | But they’re always proving things. |
| OTTER: | They’re proving things they shouldn’t be proving. |
| MANN: | Shouldn’t? If they proved it, what does it matter? If it’s proved it was always there to be proved, whether they proved it or not. |
| OTTER: | That’s exactly what they’re not proving. |
| (Otter snaps out the light.) |