After the End

MARK: Chilli

Chilli

Chilli

Baked beans, baked beans with sausages

Chilli

Tuna

More tuna, with mayonnaise, I dont think thats very

Chilli

MARK: Okay, I’ll shut up, I’ll just shut up then, shall I.
Beat. She begins to scoop out the rice, try and make it into balls.
D’you remember softball? Softball? D’you remember softball? I remember softball. Everyone there, the whole company and I remember sitting under that tree with you, do you remember the tree, it was like a big, it was a big, and I wish I knew what type of tree it was, that’s something I always mean to do is learn the names of trees, maybe some plants, I dunno, but we sat under that tree and this was probably only for, no more than, what? fifteen minutes? twenty at the most? and yes there was drink and yes you’d had a few and yes I’d been doing very well, a home run and I’d caught that, their first batter, I’d caught her out and yes, yes alright, all these things, yes, but we talked, we talked, Louise. D’you remember? We really talked. D’you remember? do you Louise? we talked about the existence of life on other planets. And I was saying how they’d discovered methane on Mars and that this was probably the result of microbes producing the methane, d’you remember? and we talked about what happens if we discover life on the first planet we go to considering there’s billions of galaxies, two hundred million stars in ours alone, that it would mean the universe was teeming with life, and it was like we were explorers, d’you remember? it was like we were explorers in ideas, it was like we were the first humans in an alien landscape and I could almost feel the tree growing under our backs and I turned to you and said ‘Aren’t we lucky.’ And you said ‘Yes.’ ‘Yes’ you said. And ‘I thought I love this woman, this woman, I love –’
The radio suddenly goes silent. Pause. LOUISE goes over to it.
No radio.

LOUISE: I think a lot about what makes people do things. What makes us behave in certain ways, you know. Every night I been thinking about this. Trapped in whatever, behaviour, I dunno, cycles of violence or something and is it possible to break, these cycles, is it possible to break... And I’d be sitting there thinking about this and this cat, this gorgeous cat with no tail would come to my door, I’d have the back door open because the garden looks, and she’d be terrified at first, it looks beautiful it really does. So I bought some food for her and the first time she just sniffed at it and ran away, the moment I moved, you know, no sign of her for the rest of the night, and I’m thinking, reactions and responses, patterns, violence breeding violence, and the next night she’s in a bit further

and is it actually possible to break these patterns or whatever

Shows him.
see?
MARK: Yeah.
LOUISE: Just here.
MARK: Yeah.
Beat.

Shows him.
see?
MARK: Yeah.
LOUISE: Just here.
MARK: Yeah.
Beat.

moment I moved, you know, no sign of her for the rest of the night, and I’m thinking, reactions and responses, patterns, violence breeding violence, and the next night she’s in a bit further and I’m looking at her tail thinking ‘that’s been cut off’ and I don’t think it was, I think she’s a Manx, I think they’re born without tails, and the next night she’s further in and I’m beginning to get used to this, beginning to look forward to it. And the next night she’s in and she’s eating and from then on she’s in every night; she’s on my lap, she’s following me around, she’s waiting on the window ledge for me when I get home. And we sit there every night and I’m thinking behaviour and patterns and is it actually possible to break these patterns or whatever and she’s eating and meowing to be let in. Every night. And one night she scratches me, out of the blue, cats, you know, just a vindictive cat-scratch, look:
Shows him.
see?
MARK: Yeah.
LOUISE: Just here.
MARK: Yeah.
Beat.
LOUISE: She knew she’d done wrong.
Took her three nights to get back into my lap. And I’m stroking her and thinking. Warm, delicate, you know. And I put my hands around her neck. And I squeeze. And I squeeze. Until her neck is about the thickness of a rope. And still I squeeze. And I’m sitting there – and this is last night – with this dead cat in my lap, and I thought I’d come in and see you.

think a lot about what makes people do things. What makes us behave in certain ways, you know. Every night I been thinking about this. Trapped in whatever, behaviour, I dunno, cycles of violence or something and is it possible to break, these cycles, is it possible to break... And I’d be sitting there thinking about this and this cat, this gorgeous cat with no tail would come to my door, I’d have the back door open because the garden looks, and she’d be terrified at first, it looks beautiful it really does. So I bought some food for her and the first time she just sniffed at it and ran away, the

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