The Anarchist Read Free Page B

His money. Was it returned to him?
    ANN : No.
    CATHY : Why?
    ANN : As he was party to a crime.
    CATHY : But perhaps he didn’t know the book was stolen.
    ANN : And perhaps he did.
    CATHY : But that seems harsh.
    ANN : In any case . . .
    CATHY : If he didn’t know the book was stolen, might the State return the money to him?
    ANN : I don’t know the law. Do you recall the Notations? (Reads aloud) “While the unafflicted may toy with an entertaining doubt, The Blind must believe the number of steps in the staircase Cannot Vary.”
    CATHY : Oh, my, and someone made a lot of money. Selling that.
    ANN : Who are the unafflicted?
    CATHY : I’m not sure.
    ANN : Who are The Blind?
    CATHY : I’m not sure that I wrote it.
    ANN : But who could have written it?
    CATHY : Someone who, who took it from me.
    ANN : The “thief,” someone who robs is called a “thief.”
    CATHY : Yes. They’re called a thief. But it seems harsh. That someone who may have purchased it in good faith should suffer.
    ANN : I don’t know the law.
    CATHY : The officer’s family are here?
    ANN : That’s right.
    CATHY : I always assume that they are. How are they?
    ANN : As you might expect.
    CATHY : I always picture them. As they were then. As much as I know that they aren’t. Do you know? I saw the newspapers. After one of our meetings. Eight or nine years ago? Showing my photo. From the time at the Apartment. And I thought, “Oh, poor defrauded reading public. Beautiful, young totem. What can have become of her?”
    ANN : They let you read the Papers?
    CATHY : Well, sometimes the rules need interpretation.
    ANN : For?
    CATHY : The new Guards. And the new Girls. To whom would they look for guidance?
    ANN : And you guide them.
    CATHY : If I can.
    ANN : And do you Love them?
    CATHY : Do I have sex with them?
    ANN : Yes.
    (Pause.)
    CATHY : Do you know, I’ve always felt your thoughts were fixed in adolescence.
    ANN : How so?
    CATHY : On the Sin and Wonder of your body.
    ANN : Is that adolescence?
    CATHY : Oh yes. But the body grows old. And an appropriate notice of it would lead us to finish with Sin and to think on death. And what is beyond death.
    ANN : What is beyond death?
    CATHY : Christ. And the potential of redemption. No, of course I loved them. As they loved me. Why should they not? That’s a question for you. Ann. But it begins to come back. Doesn’t it? When one is being set free?
    ANN : . . . it begins . . .?
    CATHY : When our possessions are few. And we review our thoughts.
    ANN : And what do we find?
    CATHY : Regret.
    (Pause.)
    ANN : What do I regret?
    CATHY : Would you like to tell me?
    ANN : Do I know?
    CATHY : You said: “Was he your lover?” You said: “Did the women love you?” After all this time . . . (Pause) You could have had any woman here that you wanted.
    ANN : It doesn’t escape you that would have meant breaking my oath.
    CATHY : None the less
    ANN : Do I lack Sex?
    CATHY : You lack something . Which is equal. In your mind. To the lack of sex. And, so, is signalized by it. And if you name it . . .
    ANN : When did you take to psychiatry? . . .
    CATHY : In Algeria, I was troubled. Guillaume asked me. And I said, “No, I don’t know what’s troubling me.” He said, “If you did , what would it be?”
    ANN : And so? . . .
    CATHY : And so, Ann? So I told him.
    ANN : Be? . . .
    CATHY : Because I didn’t want to be a coward.
    ANN : . . . to be a coward.
    CATHY : No. I knew I was a coward. But I wanted to be Brave.
    ANN : And what was it that troubled you?
    CATHY : What do you think?
    ANN : If it were “conscience” why would overcoming it have been an act of courage?
    (Pause.)
    CATHY : Can people change?
    ANN : I don’t know.
    CATHY : If they had changed, could you recognize it? (Pause) If there were any thing that I could do for you. I’d do it. (Pause) If it were this close . And you only had to ask for it.