s#s

STHE LADY AOI

8S
s

FI YE
JVI ODERJV
l\f 0
PLATS
rnOM THE fApANEsE By DONATD rEENf,
"RAI\aSt/LTED

BY
YUKIO
MI SHII,I A
@*s
8! CHARACTERS: YAsuKo RoKUI6
HIKABU WAKABAYASITI
AOI
8/R
right is
NURS E bacfr, a I

(E*ters,
carrying
He speai

Yes, she'

It won't

You can
is taking
& A ROOM i* a haspital. It is late at night. To stag*
right is a large aindou draped aith a cartain. At the
bach", a bed in whiclt *or is sleeping. To the left is a door.

HIKARU

(Enters, led in by the NURsE. He wears a raincoat and is

carrying a saircase. He is an unusually goad-lookios mfirr.
He spcafrs in an undertona) She's asleep, isn't she i
NUBSE

Yes, she's sound asleep.

I{IKARU

It won't waken her if I talk in a normal voice, will it I

NURSE

You can talk a little bit louder if you wish. The medicine
is taking effect.
 THE LADY AOI S r46

I{IKARU

llaofting doun inuntly d Aots f*c) How peaceful shc

looks as she sleeps.

NT'RSE

Her facc Iooks peacefuI enough row.

Nowl
Nt,f,SE
Yes, but Iate at night - - -

IIIK^IRU
She's in paint

NUNSE

In terrible pain.

HITARU
(rcading thc chart at the foot of thc bcd) *Aoi lvakaba-
yashi. Admitted at 9 p.m. on the r2th." . . . I wonder
if
tJrere's anywhere I mighr spend the night here.

NUNSE

Yes. (.Si e points to the left-rear.) In the next room.

HIKARU
Is there bcdding and all I
NT'trSE

Yes, there is. Would you like to lie down nowl

 r46 t47 # TITE LADY AOI

HIKARU
ccful she No, I'll stay up a bit longer. {H, sirs an the cfiair,lights a
cigarette.) I wae on a business trip when I got word she
was sick. They said it was nothing serious. But when
somebody gets put in the hospital it must be serious,
mustn t itl

NURSE

Your wife has often had attacks like this, hasn't she P

HIKARU
It's not the first time. But it wes a very important business
trip. I managed this morning to ger rhrough my work and
I rushed back as fast as I could. Being away made rne
worry all the rloore.

NT'RSE

I'm sure it did.

(T he telephon€ on the table tinftlcs faintty.)
rffakaba-
vonder if HIKARU

Uifting the receiaer to his ear) lcan't hear anything.

NURSE

1. It often rings that way about this time of night.

HIKARU
It's out of, orderrl suppose. But why should there be a tele-
phone in a hospital room I
THE LADY AOI r48

Every room in this hospital has a telephone.

HIKARU

Who would want to telephone a sick man I

NURSE

It's for the patient$'use. There aren't enough nurses to gc

round, and we ask the patients to call for one on the in-
side line in case of an emergency. Or, supposing a patient
would like a book, he can telephone the bookshop him-
self. That's on the outside line. lVe have three operators
working twenty-four hours a day in shifts to take care of
the outside line. Of course, when patients require absolute
quiet, no calls are accePted.

rrmenu
And isn't my wife absolutelY quiet I

NURSE

She tosses around a good deal after she falls asleep. She
lifts her arms, groans, moves her body from side to side.
You really can't say she's absolutely quiet.

HIKABU

{getting angry) You mean to s?}r in this hospital '''

In this hospital we accept no rc$ponsibility for the dreams

of our patients.
(Paase.Tie lvunss shows signs of restlessness')
r48
I{IKABU

What are you $o nervous about I

NURSE

It s not neceslarily because I've been attracted'by you'

HITARU
crazier
(laughing in spitc of himsetf) This hospital seem$
"sesto go eYery minute.
n the in-
NURSE
a patient
You're a very good-looking man, You know'. A real
Prince
hop him-
operators Genji. But tie-discipline f*
t rtt s in this hospital is ter-
our
re care of ribly stricl 'We've Jl b."r, under psychoanalysis, and
e absolute ,.* .o*plexes have all been cleared up. (sie spread.s o?e?
h* armlr.) Attof them. Things are arranged so we can al-
ways satisfy our demands. fh. director of the
hospital and
the young doctors are very competent in this respect.
'whenever necessary they administer the medicine as pre-
scribed, tfte medicine known es sex. we never
have any
trouble with one another.
rsleep. She HIKARU
,de to side.
(imPrused) You don't saY I
NURSE

to all of us, without hav.

So, you see, ids perfectly obvious
al ...
id;" make ,o! ,p.rial analysis, that y:* wife's for dreams
you
all-result from sexual complexes. There's nothing
to worry a,bout. she shouu ue placed unler
analysis so she
the dreams her the
can be freed from her complexes. we're giving
sleep treatment as a first steP
THE LADY AOI s r50

IIIKARU
You rlean, my wife, with this sleep treatmerrt ...
NT'BSB

Yes. ( ttitl fidyetirr1) That's why I can'r have the least of

what th.y call *understanding" for the patients or, if you'll
excuse me, the patients' families or visitors. Don't you
agree I Every last one of them is the ghost of a libido. Even
that strange visitor who comes here every night . . .

IIIKARU

Every nrght I Here I A visitor ?

NI,RSE

Oh;-now Ite said iL It's been going.oa every nrght, ever .,,-

,;
since your wife entered the hospital. And ir's always late, t]:
ii'

around this time, because the visitor isn't free any earlier.
I've been stricdy forbidden to mention it, but it came out
before Ikneirit .. . ,

HIKARU

Is it a man-this visitorl

NI'RSE

Please set yoru mind at ease-it's a middle-aged women, a

very beautiful one. . . . She'll be coming any minute rlow.
l{hen she arrives I always take advantage of her visit to go
out and rest for a while I don't know why it is, but it
makes me feel oddly deprcsed to be near her.
r50 r)r
HIKARU

What sort of woman is she I

NUBSE

least of A very stylishly dressed lady. The uPper bourgegisie-

if you'Il that's the'imprlssion she gives. You know, surprisingly
enough, it's in bourgeois families that you find thc
worst
rn't you
lo: Even ,.*J repressionr. I . . Anyway, she'll be here before
long. (sh, ueths to wi*dow at right, raisy the curtain.)
Look. There's hardly a house left with its lights bu-rning'
All you can see are the two sharp linel { 9: $treet lamps'
Now is the hour of love. Of loving, of fighting, of hating'
When the daytimg combat ends, the war by night begins,
a gorier, more abandoned suuggle' Th: bugles of th3
rght, ever ,,iInt that proclaim the outbreak of hostilities are soun&
vays late, inl now. A *o*an sheds blood, dies, and co*es back to
ry earlier. lifi time and time again. And she must always die once
-These
came out before she can live. men and women who fight
$rear black badges of morning over their weapons' Theil
flags are all p,rl whire, but uampled on, wrinkled,
and
sometimes stained with blood. The drummer is beating
his drum, th. drum of the heart, the drum of honor
and
about
shame. . . . How gently th.y breathe, th.y who are
to die, Look at thei, dig brazenly flaunting their wounds,
wornanr a the gaping, fatal wounds. Some men go to death with
wear'
nute now. theirfaces in the mire. Sharne is the decoration they
lie
visit to go Look. k's nor surprising you can't see any lights. \illhat
are not
t is, but it before you, row on row, as far as the eye can $ee'
houses tot gr*ues, foul, putrefied graves. The
light of the
m@n will never glitter on those granite slabs. . . .
we're
angels compared io them. We stand aloof from
the world
THE LADY AOI s r52

of love, from the hour of love. All we do, and that only
occasionally, is to produce in bed a chemical change, No
matter how many hospitals like this there may be, tfiere
aren't enough. The director always says so. . . .
Oh, she's come. She's come! In that car she always rides
in, a big silvery car. It will race here as if it's on wings, and
pull up smardy in front of the hospital. I,ook ! (rrre*u
goes to the windout.) It's going oyer the viaduct now. It
always come$ from that direction. There-you see-it's
taking the long way round. . . . Oh, it's herc already, in
front of the hospital, before it seems possible, The door of
tte car has been opened. I'll be leaving you. Good night
(She bolts precipit*aly fratn ,he roam by the daor to the
left. Pa*se. The telephone gives forth a fai*t, chofred
tinftle. Pause. From the door to the left appears the liting
phantasm of xasuro noru16. She is dressed in fapenesc
clothes of an erpensiae c*t. She ,uears blocfr gloues.)

HIKARU

Mrs. Rokuj6!

MRs. noru16
Hikaru! What a long time it's been, hasnt itl
HIKARU

So it wa$ you, the visitor in the middle of the night.

Mns. noruJ6
Who told you ahut itl (nrxenu does *ot reply) It must
have been that ourse. She's such a chatterbox, . . . You
know, I've not been coming here to pay a sick<all-it's
 r52 r53 # THE LADY Aor

hat only been to deliver flowers, every night, on your behalf, ever
.nge. No since I heard you were away.
be, there
HIKARU

ays rides Flowers ?

ings, and MRs. noru16
(mxenu (She oPerrs her hanils.) No, there's nothing in my hands.
: now. ft My floweff are invisible. Flowers of pain is rir.hat they are.
see-it's (Sh.e p*ends to arrange floarcrs at thi head of eor's bed.)
ready, in These buds I arrange by her pillow will open into ash-
g door of
colored blossoms. M*y horrible thorns are hidden under-
ad night. neath the leaves, and the fowers themselves exude a loatlr-
,or to the
some odor that will permeate the room. Look, the peace-
, chofred ful expression drains from her face; the cheeks tremble
'he living and are filled with dread. (She h.olds her gloued hands
lapanesc oa€r Aor's f*r.) Aoi is dreaming now that her face has be-
s.) come.hideous to look at. The face she had always thought
beautiful when she saw it in her mirror has turned into a
mass of wrinkles-that is what she dreams. If now I gen-
tly touch my hand to her throat {she tasches tlte sicft
iltomen's throat) Aoi will dream she is being strangled. A
rush of blood comes to her face, the breath is choked, her
hands and feet writhe in anguish.

HIKARU

}t. (pashing MRs. norry6t hand mide in conster*atior.) What

are you doing to Aoif

Ivfxs. noru16
) It must I am
...You {She moacs afi)ay. Sp*ht gently, from a distance.)
l-call-it's trylng to make her suffer.
THE LADY AOI @ 154

. HIKARU

Excuse me, but Aoi is my wife, and I won't permit you to

bother her any further. Please be so good a$ to leave.

MRS. nOrU;6
(caen gentler) I wiII nor leaye .

IIIKARU
What do you-

MRS. nOrU;6
(She approacltes and gently taftes HTKARU's ha*d.) I came
tonight because I wanted to see you.

HIKARU
(He wrests nan y his hand.) Your hand is like ice.

MRs. noru16
That's not $urprising. There's no blood in it
HIKARU

Those gloves of your$ .. .

MRS. nOrU;6
If you dislike my gloves I'll remoye thein. Nothing could
be simpler. (,fie slips off her gloctes as she n alks across the
roonr, and puts them next to the telepha*,e.) At any rate, I
have business, important business, that must bc disposed
of. That's why I have been running about this way--don't
think it hasn't been a nuisance-in the middle of the
night. The middle of the night . . . (,S, e loofts at her
 154 t55 # THE LADY AoI

owistusatch.) Itt already after one. The ntght is not like

,it you to the day, it's free. All things, people and inanimate objects
re. afike, sleep. This wall, the chest of drawers, rhe windout
panes, the door-all of them are asleep. And while th.y
sleep tfiey're full'of cracks and crevic.r-itt no problem
to pass through them. When you pas$ through a wall not
even the wall is aware of it What do you suppose night is I
Night is when all things are in harmony. By day light
and shadorF rryar, but with nightfall the night inside the
house holds hands with the nighr ourside the house. They
are the same thing. The ntght air is party to the con-
spiracy. Hate and love, pain and joy: everything and any-
) I came
thing join hands in the nighr air. The murderer in the
I
daik, am sure, feels afiection for the \roman he has
killed. (Laughs.) What is itP Why do you srare at me thar
way I You must be shocked to see what an old woman I've
become.

HIKANU

I thought you swore never to see me again.

MRs. noru16
You were very h"ppy to hear me make that vow. Then
you married Aoi. (She tarns fiercely at th.e sleeping aor.)
ng could
This weak, sickly womant (emptily) Since then every
rctoss the
night has been sleepless. Even when I shut my eyes I have
ny rate, I
not slept. I have not slept a wink since tfren.
disposed
ry-don't
HIKARU
e of the
is at ha Have you come here to be pitied by me I
 THE LADY AOI # ry6

.MRs. ROKUTo
I really don't knorr myself why Ite come. When I feel I
want to kill you, I must be thinking that I'd like to bc
pitied by your dead self. And amidst feelings of every
sort, simultaneouslyr there is myself. Isn't it strange that I
'should be present at the same time
with all those difierent
exirferlces P

HIKARU
I don't understand what you're talking about.

MRs. noruy6
(lifting her face to lzis) Kiss me.

HIKARU
Stop it, please.

MRs. norul0
Your beautiful eyebrows, your terrifyingly clear eyes, your
cold nose, 1lour-

HIKARU

Stop it, please.

Mns. noru16
lips (Sle ftisses hirn quickly.)
-!our
gumptns bachlstop r,, ;.ili rrr.
ry6 t57 # TnE LADx Aor
MRs. r.oru16
I feel I The first time I kissed rou, rCIo, you shied away like a deer,
etobe just as you did now.
f every
e that I HIKARU
ifferent Yes, I did. I wasn't particularly in love rvith you. All I had
was a childish curiosity. You took advantage of it. I sup
pose you've learned rtow the punishment a woman gets for
taking advantage of a man's curiosity.

- MRs, noru16
You were not the least in love. You srudied me. That, at
least, was your intent, wasn't iti How adorable you were !
I hope you'll always stay t{rat way !

HIKARU
I'm not a child any more. I am in fact the head of a house-
hold. F{ave you no sense of 'shame i That', *y wife whons
:s, your sleeping there next to you.

MRs. noruy6
My only purpose in coming here has been to dispose of my
business" I have nothing to be ashamed of.

HIKARU

lVhat business have you I

Mns. noru;6
To be loved by you.
TITE LADY AOI r58

HIKARU
Are you in your right mind, ldrs, Rokujo ?

MRs. noru16
My name is Yasuko.

HIKARU
I am not obliged to call you by your first name.

MRs. noxuJ6
(saddcnly ftneels, th.rows her arms eround HTKARU''
frnees,
ond rubs her cheefr ag*inst them.) I beg You, please don't
be so cold to me.

HIKARU
This is the first time I've ever seen you lose your pride so.
(to himself) It's funny. Ir doesn't feel as if a human being
\trere holding me, and yet I can't moye my feet.

MRs. noruyd
I had no pride, from the very beginning.

HIKARU
You should have confessed it earlier. Perhaps things might
have lasted awhile longer.

MRs. noxuy6
It was your fault not to have realized it. couldn't you tell
that my eyes had long since lost their pride i rhe clearesr
sign that a woman has lost her pride is when she talks in a
highhanded way. A woman longs to be a queen because a
r58 r5g # TI{E LADY AOI

queen has the most pride to lose. . . . Ah, your knecs-

your knees are a cold, hard pillow.

I{IK,{RU
Yasuko . . .

MRs. noru16
I could sleep on this pillow. A col4 hard pillow that
would never get warm. . . . My pillow becomes scalding
hot as soon as my head touches it, and my head spends the
fs frnees, night feeing from the pillow's heat to the cold. A man
rse don't who could walk barefoot over burning desert sands could
not tread orr my pillow
I{IKARU

pride so. (somewhat gentler) Please be careful. I am a very weak

an being man when my pity is aroused.

MRs. xoruy6
Norry I understand! You married Aoi out of pity tool
Didn't you I

HIKARU

gs might (pushing h.cr aside) Don't iump to any conclusions like

that. (He sirs an the chair. Mrts, noru16 still clings ta h.is
le gs and rabs her cheeft again* his frnees lifte e €er.)

tvtRs. noru16
t you tell
e clearest Please don't abandon me,
talks in a
because a
 ffi
THE LADY AAT @ tfu
HIKARU ffi
(srnofring) You were abandoned long ago ffi

ffi
MRS. nOrU;6
1ffi
You still love me.
ffi
HIK.AAU
.$
Did you come here to tell me thatl (teasingly) I thought
you said you came to torture Aoi.
$
ffi

M*,S. nOru16 $
.iiffi
I was aiming to kill nyo birds with one srone. Give me a $
cigarette, please. (uxenu affers hcr one, but **s. noruJS .$
..:!S
. {$
snatches the half+rtofted cigarette from HTNABU's mouth.
$
and pufrs at it. HTKARU, a, a loss what else ta do, pu.ts the ,l;3

cigarute h,e had offcred her into his mouth. and lights it.) ili

HIKARU
I
,,i
In those days I was unstable, shaky on my feet. I wanted to
:
be chained. I wanted a cage to shut rae in. You were that
cage. Then, when I wished to be free again, you were still
a cage, a chain.

MRs, noruy6
I loved to lsok at your eyes, those eyes searching for free-
dom inside the cage that was myself, the chain that was
myself. That was when I first really fell in love with you.
It was auhrmn, the beginning of autumn. You had come
to visit rne at my house on the lake. I went to meet you in
my sailboat, as far as the yacht harbor next to the station.
r60 16t # THE LADY AOI

. . . ft
was a wonderfully clear d.y. The mast was creak-
ing gently. The boat . . .

HIKARU

The sail above the boat ...

MRs. roruy6
thought (aith sadden asperity) Don't you find it disagreeable to
share the same memories with me I

HIKARU

Yemea Theyte not the same. We happened to have been togetfrer,

noru15 that's all. +

s ruouth.
MRS. ROTUTO
pats the
ghts it.) But it
was the same boat. The sail was fapping madly
above us. Oh, if that sail were here again! If only it stood
oYer us again !
'anted to
I{IKARU
,ere tlat
refe still (staring a.t the windaat) Is that it coming from out there I
MRs. noru16
It's come !

for free-
:hat was (Weird tn*sic" From the rigltt a large sailboat glides on'
rith you. stage. L moses forarcrd with the d.eliberation of a, srsa.n,
ad come and halts betarcen th.em and thc bed, airere it stands lifre a
:t you in scr€efl shielding the bed.HIKARU and xns. noruy6 act as if
: station. they fircr€ aboa.rd the boat.)
THE LADY AOI s l'6z

IURS. ROKUTo

Wete on the lake !

HIKARU

A wonderful breezel

MRs. noru16
This is the first time youte come to my country house,
isn't it I It's on the side of thc lake below dre mountain.
Soon you'll be able ro see the roof, behind that clump of
trees. It's a pale-green roof. Foxes prowl around the house
when it gets dark, you know, and you can hear them
yelping in the mountains. Have you every heard a fox's
cries I

HIK.6RU

No, never.

MRs. noru;6
Tonight you'll hear them. And the strieks that a chicken
lets out before it dies, when a fox is ripping irs rhroat.

HIKARU

I'd iust as s@n not hear such things.

MRs. norul0
I'm sure you'll like my garden, I'm sure of it. In the spring
parsley grows along the borders of the lawn and fills the
garden with the most delicious scent. Then, when the
spring rains fall, the garden becomes submerged and com-
pletely disappears. You can see the hydrangea blossours
 16z 63 ' ffi THE LADr Aor

drowning as the water creep$ up tfuough the grass. Have

you eyer $een a drowned hydrangea I lt's autumn now and
swarrns of tiny insects will be fyirg up from the reeds in
the garden to skim over ttre surface of the lake, like sleds
on the ice.

HIKARU

y house, That's your house oyer there, isnt it I

.ountain.
lump of MRs. noruJ6
he house Yes, the onewith the pale-green roof. You can tell it from
ar them much farther off in the evening, kcau$e of the sunset
I a fox's The roof and the windows sparkle, and the light is like a
beacon that tells from afar where the house is. (?a*se.l
What's the matter i You're not saying a word.

HIKARU
(gendy) There's no need to say anything.
chicken
nL MRs. noru16
Itt medicine to me to hear you talk that way, a medicine
that cures all my wounds in an instant, a marvelous medi-
cine. But I know the kind of person you are-you give the
medicine first and only afterward inflict the wound. You
never do it the other way. First the medicine, after the
re spring medicine the wound, and after the wound no more medi-
fills the cine . . , f understand well enough. I'm already an old
'hen the woman. Once I get wounded I won't recover quickly like
.nd com- a girl. I remble with fright whenever you say anything af-
rlossoms fectionate. I wonder what horrible wound awaits me after
 THE LADY AOI 164

so efrcacious a medicine. of latg the less afiectionate you

alk the h*ppier ir makes me.

HIKARU
You seem convinced that you re going to sufier,

MRs. noru16
Pain comes, as night follows the day, sooner or tater.

HIKARU
I can't believe I have the strength to cau$e anybody pain.

MRs. noxu16
:ii
That's because you're young. one of these days you will
,j
wake up in the morning with nothing on your rnind, and r:,1
.',t
,:r
while you are out walking with your dog, perhaps, you
will suddenly become aware that dozens of women some-
where, unseen by you, are sufrering, and you will under-
stand that the very fact you are alive is in itself a cause of
suffering to many women. Even though you can't see
them, they can see you, and it is useless for you to turn
your eye$ awey, for you are as plainly visible as a castle
that rises on a herght oyer a city,

rtIKARU
Why don't we drop tire subject I

MRs. noru16
Yes, let's. As long as I can still talk about such things I
should count myself lucky.
 t65 w THE LAT'X iTJT
t64

nate you HIKARU

I can see your house very clearly now-t[elamicework of

the seconi-fl*r windows, the wooden railing of the bal-
cony. There's nobody at home, is there ?

MRs. noruJd
No, the house is empty. That's where I'd tike to live with
er. you until I die.

HIKARU

Llntil you die? You shouldn't talk of such uncertainties.

ldy pain
Who knows-vve may die tomorrow' Supposing, for ex'
ample, the boat caPsized ...

you will MRs. noru16

rind, and The boat capsized I I wonder why I didn t buy a boat -fo1
raps, you yotr which would instantly capsize ? Obviously I hadn't
r€O SOIIle'
my wits about me.
under-
'11
r ffiu$e of HIKARU
can't see (sha\ing the mast) Look! It's going to turn overl
r to turn (u^r. noruJ6 thronts her onns around r:IIKARIT. T hey em-
$ a castle brace .)

eol's vorcE
(faintly,from the distanre) Help! Helpl
(e, lrn aoice k heard, the sha.d.aru of *a\ aritlti*g et her
i;rpra with her arms ,hrsst oar' o?P€ars 06 the sail')

I{IKARTT
r things I
Wasn't that a voice somewhere just now ?
THE LADY AOI @ tffi
IvrRs. RoKUro

No, it must have been a fox. In the daytime, when the

lake is still, you can hear the fox yelps gliding over the
water, all the way from the mountain.

HIKAN,U

f can't hear it any more.

MRS. *OXU;6
I wonder why there musr be a left and a right to every-
thi*g. Now I am standing by your right side. That means
your heart is far away. But if I movg to your left side I
worl't be able to see your nght profile.

HIKARU
The only thirg for me to do is to &rn into a gas and
eva'orate'
Mns. x,oruy6
Yes- when I am on your,ght I am jealous of everything
to your left I feel as if someonc surely is sitting there.

HIKJTRU

(H, maftes the motions of leanirg oaer the sidc of the

boar and dipping t is hand in the uater.) The lake's the
only thirs sitting on my left. what a cold hand it has!
. . . Look at that | (He sh.ows her hk uet hanL) It's al-
most froze*. And it's only the beginning of autumn.
(T here is a groan behind the sail.)

HIKARU
What was thatl
 I.67
# THE LADY AOI
Mns. ROKUTo
,hen tfre
over the
EIKARU
I couldn't hear. It sounded as if someone were groaning.
Mns. noru;6
(she listens inte*tly.) It's the creaking
of tfte masr.
o every- HIKARU
rt fneans The wind has shifted, hasn'r it? (He
maftes the gestures
ft side I of maaipulating the sag.) I see t{re reed, o,
the shore
plainly now, bending in the wind. The
wind is shaking
spasms over the surface of the lake.

gas and MRs. noru16

Yes, isn'r itl
. . . r was just thinking th"t, if you fel in
Iove with some woman much younger
and prettier t{ran I,
and you married her . . .

TIIKARU
Yes ?

r of the MRs. toruyO

ke's the f don't rhink I would die.
I it hasl
I lt's al- ' lrIKARu
n. (Laaghs.) That's fine.

I\aRS. noxu;6
I wouldn't die, bur I rhink I would certainly till her. My
spirit would leave my body even while I was still alive,
Tr{E Lar}Y Aor s r68

and it would go to torfire her. My living ghost would

africt her and torment her and torture her, and it would
not cease until it killed her. She, poor creature, would die
haunted night after night by an evil spirie

Aor's volcE
(faiatly,from the d.istonce) Helpl Help!

HIKTIAU

That voice again. What can it be I

Mns. norulO
It's just the sail flapping in the wind, k's the sound of the
wind.

{The shadoariuage of tu thr**ing oott her artns in an-

guish is clcarty proieaed on th.e sail,)

Aor's vorcE
{fairry lodly thk time) Ah-hlAh-h! Helpl Hetp!
HIKARU
(agho*) I'm sure I heard a voice,

MRs. noruyE
It was the shriek of a chicken whose windpipe was
gnawed by , fox. The wind carried it here from the shore.
That showshou, close rye are.

HIKARU

I wonder if someone isn't drowning.

 r68 l.69 # THE LADY AOI

sr would MRs. noruJ6

it would Drowning? Who would be drowning} If anyone's
rould die drowning it's us !

Aor's vorcE
(dearly) Help! H.lp!

I{IKARU

It's Aoi!

MRS. *OrU;6
(Laughs.) No, it's a chicken.
nd of the
I{IKARU
I'm sure it's Aoi's voice.
ns in an-

MRs, noru16
Don't leave me !
r!
HTKARU

Youte responsible! You've been torturing Aoi.

MRs, x,oru16

No, it's not my fault. It's your-

Prye was
eor's volc,E
Lhe shore.
(Groans.)

HIKARU

Aoi!
 THE LADY AOI s 17a

Mns. RoKUro
Try to get hold of yourself! you're not in love with Aoi.
Look at me. Make no mistake. you're in love with me.
With rne.

HIKARU
(Shaftes his head.) Nq I am not'
(The tan confront eaclt other in silence. weird m,usic.
MRs. noru76 t*rfis from HTKARu and attempts to pa* be-
hind the sail. HTKARu staps her. **s. noru16 tuisti herself
frec ond disappears be hind the sail. IITKARU f olloar her.
T he stage becomes d*rft. Amidst arcird masic the sailbaat
sloaiy trroses off*age to the left, w lten it is no longer uisi-
ble the stag€ becomes tight again. Mns. noru;6 is nrot to be
se€r\. HTKARU stands alone i* apparent stupefaction.)

HIKARU
(As ,f strtrc\ by o sailden thought, he picfts up thc telc-
phone recciter on the dcsft.) Hello, hello. yes. outside
line, please. . . . rs this outside I Please grve me Nakano
ggg. . . . Hello. Is thar ldr. Rokujo's house I May I speak
to Yasuko ? Yes, Mrs. Rokuj6. . . . she retired some time
ago I Yes i In her bedroom ? . . . f'm $orry, it can't be
helped. Please wake her. Tell her Hikaru is calling. It's
urgent. Please wake her. Yes. . . .
{Pause. HrKAsu loofrs anxiously at r'ot's bed, she is ttu?-
ing peacefally in a supine position.)

HIKARU
Hello, hello . . . Is that you, Yasuko I rffhat I Have you
been at home all evening I You've been asleep t This ir
 17r W lrfE ,.tLtt .r n\rr

Yasuko I'm talkios *tth, isn't it ? (to himself) Yes, the

voice is certainly hers. . . . Then what I saw was a living
A,oi. ghost. . . . Yes, hello, hello.
me.
(Thcre is a ftaocft on the doot to the lfit.)
MNs. noru16's vorcr
(from otrtside the door. She speahs uoy disti*ctly.) Hi-
llsrc.
kanr, I've forgotten somethittg. I forgot my gloves. My
t be-
black gloves, next to the telephone. Do you see them ?
rsdf
Pleasc get them for me.
her.
'baat
(rrrunu diaractedly prkt up rhc blacfr glooes a*d, leaa'
uki-
ro be
ing the reuiw ofi the hoofr, walks to the door to the
l$t. He apeils the door and, gaes out. As soor! os HIx"frRU
leaues,MRs. noru;6's ttoice on the telephone s*ddcnly bc-
cott €s totd enough tor the aadience to hear')
telc-
MRs. noruJ6's vorcr
rtside
kano (from thc telephone) Hello. Hello . . . w'hat is it,
rpeak iiikrr,, ? What" *. rnatter ? You wake me up in thc
time rniddle of the night, and then suddenly you don't say a
,'t be word. what do you want? why don't you answer? . . .
Hello, Hikaru, hellq hello . . '
1. ICs

sleep- (At the last *hello" from the telephone, sor rhrusts out
her arms at the telephane and uith a horrible cry cal-
lapses ovcr the bed and dies. T lle stage immedietely blacfts
out.)
e you
his ls CURTAIN