More Portmanteau Plays Part 74

NATHANIEL

Boy--boy--Jonathan!--I believe you are you.

JONATHAN

Uncle Nathaniel!

[_He rises slowly._

Oh, people of all the world, my Uncle Nathaniel understands.--I speak for all the boys of all times. Have patience--patience and understanding. Don't you remember when you were young? We come to you with hopes and dreams and wishes and fears,--and these are the things that life is made of--

NATHANIEL

I am here, Jonathan.

JONATHAN

I'm coming to you. I'm coming back to you with all my hopes and dreams.

NATHANIEL

We're waiting for you, Jonathan.

JONATHAN

I've made my wish that's coming true!!

[_He jumps into s.p.a.ce._

_Curtain._

ACT III

JONATHAN MAKES A WISH

[_The scene is a summer house on the estate of John Clay. It is charmingly furnished with wicker chairs and a table. The building is hexagon shape and we look into half the hexagon. The doors at the left open on to the path that leads from the house. The doors at the back open onto a garden path that leads to a gate. Eight weeks have elapsed since the first act._

_The curtain rises disclosing an empty stage. It is early evening and sunset is leaving only the faintest tinge above the hills. After a moment Jonathan enters. He is unchanged except that he still carries in his eyes some of the horror of his delirium. He opens the back windows and then sits above the table and begins to look at an ill.u.s.trated paper._

_Nathaniel enters carrying a ma.n.u.script. He seems a bit less carefree than at his homecoming, and he also seems closer to Jonathan._

NATHANIEL

Well, my boy--

JONATHAN

Uncle Nathaniel, did you know that Cap.r.o.ni was an artist?

NATHANIEL

You mean the Cap.r.o.ni who makes the wonderful aeroplanes?

JONATHAN

Yes, sir.

NATHANIEL

No, I didn't know it; but I'm not surprised.

JONATHAN

Aren't these pictures fine?

NATHANIEL

Excellent.

JONATHAN

He made them.... They're like great dragon-flies, aren't they?

NATHANIEL

A whole swarm of them.

JONATHAN

It must feel funny to fly through air.

NATHANIEL

Would you like to try it some time?

JONATHAN

Yes... but I'd have to get used to it.... It must be like diving.

NATHANIEL

When you were very ill you seemed to imagine you were falling.

JONATHAN