Fifty Contemporary One-Act Plays Part 59

FOMa. What is it called?

AST. It is called the Wolf!

FOMa. Does it ever come out?

AST. It has come out twice. The first time I found a purse in the street which somebody had lost. The second time the man above me at the office died, and I got his place.

FOMa. It brings good luck then?

AST. To me at least.

FOMa. How glad Praskovya Petrovna will be!

[_Enter Varvara with vodka bottle, which she sets on a table; no one drinks from it yet._]

VAR. Do you not want to drink tea?

FOMa. Very much, you rogue.

VAR. Then I will set the samovar for both of you in here. [_She gets out tumblers, lemon and sugar._]

AST. I did wrong in moving the seven.

FOMa. Put it back then.

AST. It is too late. Once it has been moved, it must not be put back.

[_Enter Praskovya from the street hurriedly with a lantern._]

PRAS. [_crossing herself_]. Hospodi Bozhe moy!

VAR. [_running to her, frightened_]. Have you seen him again?

PRAS. [_agitated_]. I do not know. There seemed to be men standing everywhere in the shadows.... Good-evening, Foma Ilyitch, good-evening, Asteryi Ivanovitch.

[_Varvara goes out, and brings in the samovar._]

FOMa. I have been making myself at home; my stove smoked.

PRAS. Sit down, sit down! What ceremony! Why should you not be here? And vodka too? What is the vodka for?

AST. I will tell you when I have finished my patience. [_They all drink tea._]

PRAS. So you are playing already.

AST. If it comes out, the good luck that it brings shall be for you!

PRAS. For me? [_They all watch Asteryi playing._] The knave goes on the queen. [_A pause._]

FOMa. That is unfortunate.

VAR. You should not have moved the ten. [_A pause._]

AST. That will be better. [_A pause._]

PRAS. How brightly the eikon lamp burns before the portrait of my boy.

VAR. It does indeed.

PRAS. It is the new fire from the Candlemas taper.

FOMa. It is the new oil that makes it burn brightly.

PRAS. [_crossing herself_]. Nonsense! it is the new fire.

FOMa. Did ever one hear such stuff? She put out the lamp at Candlemas, and lighted it anew from the taper which she brought home from the midnight service, from the new fire struck by the priest with flint and steel; and now she thinks that is the reason why it burns so brightly.

VAR. Is that not so then, Asteryi Ivanovitch?

AST. Oh, Foma Ilyitch is a chemist; he can tell you what fire is made of.

FOMa. So you have been all the way to St. Pantaleimon's in the Marsh?

Oh, piety, thy name is Praskovya Petrovna! Not a person can hold the most miserably little service in the remotest corner of the town but you smell it out and go to it.

VAR. It is a Christian deed, Foma Ilyitch.

AST. Now I can get at the ace.

VAR. [_to Praskovya_]. I must get your supper. [_She gets a plate of meat from a cupboard._]

FOMa. And on All Souls' Day she brought home holy water in a bottle and sprinkled the rooms of all the lodgers. The schoolmaster was very angry.

You spotted the cover of his Greek Lexicon. He says it is a pagan custom, come down to us from the ancient Scythians.

PRAS. I do not like to hear jokes about sacred things. One may provoke Heaven to anger.

AST. Now I get all this row off.

FOMa. You are always afraid of offending Heaven.

PRAS. Of course I am. Think what I have at stake. For you it is only a little thing. You have a life of your own on earth; I have none. I have been as good as dead for twenty years, and the only thing that I desire is to get safely to heaven to join my son who is there.

FOMa. We all wish to get to heaven.

PRAS. Not so much as I do. If I were in h.e.l.l it is not the brimstone that would matter; it would be to know that I should not see my son.

[_Foma nods_].

AST. I believe it is coming out.

[_They all concentrate their attention eagerly on the patience._]