SCENE 4A (OPTIONAL) — EARLY NIGHT: IMAGINED ARRIVALS
(Time passes. Candles flicker. Silence grows. SUBHAS cannot bear it.)
SUBHAS (to audience):
When you wait long enough, you become both actor and audience.
A dangerous arrangement.
(To an empty chair.)
Roy, you’re sitting there.
I know your posture.
Always upright—like your spine is offended by comfort.
(To another.)
Mrs. Dalloway—here. One glass. You’ll say “Oh, just a little” like you’re stealing sweetness.
(SUBHAS mimes pouring into empty glasses—one, two—then stops himself.)
To Arthur—
to Harry—
to all the men who learned to leave without meaning to.
Dr. Sinha—please take some more goat meat. He will say, “You know I have high blood pressure.” But he will eat it anyway.
MANTU:
Borda…
SUBHAS (sharp):
Let me.
No. They will come for real.
This is only… rehearsal.