# Farewell

Людмила Николаевна Ансельм

Michael Anna's ex-friend comes to say goodbye because he is going to marry Julia to Anna's friend but instead of farewell he explains his love to Anna.

Farewell


Ludmila Anselm

Translated by Jim Clinton


Characters:

Anna: College girl, twenty three years old.

Michael: College boy, same age.

Time: 1950"s


Anna"s sparsely furnished dorm room. A basketball lies in a corner. Anna is rinsing clothes by hand in a small washtub on a stand. Anna answers a knock on the door to find Michael there.


Michael (with forced cheerfulness): Anne...I was going by ... saw a light in your window...


Anna (Surprised): ...Uh... Michael! ... Come in.


Michael: Uh... You are in the middle of laundry? ...


Anna (quiet voice): Washing some things. Have to do something. Can"t just sit...


Michael (seeing the basket ball): My ball...still.


(He picks up the basket ball and starts bouncing it)


Anna: Please, my head aches.


(Michael puts the ball back on the floor)


Michael: Did you listen to the game? ... We lost. Back and forth all the way until they started getting baskets one after the other at the end... Why aren"t you using the washing machine?


Anna: Too late. People complain... Why did you come?


Michael: I have a lot to explain... (Pause) Do you know anything?


Anna (sad): Julie called me this morning. She told me that you both had decided to get married... (Angry) ...You never even mentioned her to me!


Michael: Julie is pregnant and I"ve got to marry her... there is no way out. I just found out yesterday.


Anna: How many months?


Michael: She said two...


Anna: Abortion?


Michael: No... She is adamant... She won"t discuss it.


Anna: This happened two months ago? Right after our party?


Michael: Yes...

(Pause)


Anna: The first time I ever invited Julie!


Michael (agreeably): Yes, yes. It was your idea.


Anna: You danced with her... all night!


Michael: Out of politeness. She didn"t know any one... She obviously wanted to dance...such sad eyes.


Anna: I wanted to dance too.


Michael: You danced with Peter.


Anna: I couldn"t dance with you.


Michael: Julie stuck to me the whole time... I... I just couldn"t get away from her.


Anna: You both left together! ...


Michael: You were busy talking to Peter.....We went to her apartment.


(Pause)


Julie made me feel like a man...and you...


Anna (taking a deep breath): OK... OK... (Pause). I understand... and I don"t.... this is why you decided to marry her?


Michael: Like I"ve said. I"m marrying Julie because of the child... our child

Julie is pregnant and I"m the father.


Anna: Why didn"t one of you use protection?


Michael: She assured me she was safe.


Anna: She once said she wanted a child, but she never could get pregnant... not with anybody.


Michael (quietly): Ya...and it happened with me! On the first night! (Pause)...

She said she was safe.


Anna: You know she lied to you.


Michael: So...


Anna: And now you use condoms?


Michael: Now... always. Always with me.


(Pause)


Anna (angry): We"ve gone to every home game together! ... You owed it to me to tell me that you were seeing Julie.... She never told me a thing.


Michael: I guess.... I just didn"t have the words.


(Pause)


Anna: Michael, looking back I don"t understand how all this happened.


Michael: Me neither...


Anna: Of course, in the back of my mind I was always afraid of getting pregnant.


Michael: I began to feel that I didn"t turn you on. I was not attractive to you.


(Pause)


Anna: I was afraid that I didn"t turn you on...... but we got along so well anyhow!


(Pause)


Michael: Well, now, there are the means to not worry about pregnancy.


Anna: Condoms are not 100% safe.


(Pause)


Michael: Ah...Anna... were you ever thinking about us getting married?


Anna: I dropped hints but I couldn"t let on...yes.


Michael: I never suspected.


Anna: You didn"t want to think about it! You always talked around my approaches when you could have just said those magic words of love.


Michael: Just "I love you"?


Anna: Yes.


Michael: I resolved to say them ... but... Maybe saying them to my pillow every night made them harder to really say, harder to know when to say them.


(Pause)


Anna (dreamily): Michael, I think that this could have happened during that hot summer rain storm. Do you remember? .... The intimacy and excitement?


Michael (Excited voice): Of course! ... We were soaked thru and thru...nothing dry. You were sopping wet... you"re ... bra...and... all


Anna: We laughed so...not knowing why...we felt good


Michael: You wore a white dress with pink flowers...


Anna: It was soaking wet. I took it off. We were still laughing while we twisted it from both ends. Like taffy... It started to tear somewhere.


Michael: It was still very wet but we shook it out and you went and put it on with nothing under.


Anna: You said that it was not proper to walk out of the park like that... it would be too provocative.


Michael: The dress was completely transparent. Your tummy, belly button, breasts... and all the rest...


Anna: You without pants... just wet underwear didn"t look so proper either.


Michael: It made me excited...


Anna: I was also excited by you... (With disappointment)... but nothing happened between us.


Michael: You wanted...?


Anna: Yes.


Michael: Why didn"t you say something?


Anna: What to say?


Michael: That you also wanted....


Anna: I tried. Remember I took your hand and pressed it to my hot cheek?


Michael: I don"t remember... show me.


(Anna takes Michael"s palm and presses it on her cheek.)


Michael: Pressing my hand to your cheek... shows... desire?


Anna: What else should I have done?


Michael: Press yourself against me.


Anna: Why didn"t you hug me yourself?


(Pause)


Michael: If you wanted to be woo-ed that rainy day you would of had to help me...it... it would have been my first time.


(Pause)


Anna: Help you? How? As a man and a woman we have different roles: the man chases, the woman runs...


Michael: Why is this important?


Anna: I read...


Michael: And you never learned that the woman could have an active part in sex?


Anna: No! Never happens...except, in James Joyce"s memoirs. He said it happened on a bridge... an attractive woman walked by. Joyce called out to her. She walked right up to him, undid his pants and thrust her hands in... I just read it. I was so shocked...


Michael: And Joyce?


Anna: He was pleased.... He later married her.


Michael: Look....


Anna: Michael, I"m sad that nothing more happened between us that day.


Michael: Me too... I wasn"t persistent maybe... I was afraid...


Anna: Why? You are a man! What were you afraid of?


Michael: I didn"t know how to go about it... maybe if you had helped me that day, everything would have been different.


Anna: Wait!


(Anna joyfully skips out to another room. She returns holding the thin white summer dress with pink flowers. She throws it into the washtub making it all wet.)


Anna (starts to wring the dress out): Michael, help me.


(Anna hands the other end of the dress to Michael and they start to twist the dress dry)


Anna: Careful it might tear.


(Anna holds the damp dress in front of her.)


Michael: It"s the same dress!


Anna: Should I put it on?


Michael: Yes... yes...no... Not now ... it"s...already late.


Anna (disappointed): Late? What do you mean?


Michael: It"s night.


Anna: Why don"t you go then?


Michael: I want...you want me to stay?


Anna: The whole night?

(Pause)


Michael: Look, I came to say I"m sorry. Anna, I came to say that tomorrow I go to Julie. We"ve decided to live together. The child needs...


Anna (sadly): Really so sorry? Some things you don"t understand and never will. Like other peoples feelings... just as you never understood me.


Michael: And how else should I say: "I"m sorry"?


Anna: I don"t know... It is not a humane way, when a person is suddenly just abandoned...


Michael: Anna, you are not abandoned. We"re such close friends.


Anna (crying): Were! ... We were close friends!


Michael: And now?


Anna: Now? I don"t know....


Michael: No matter what, I want to stay your friend.


Anna: Why?


Michael: Anna I need you. I"m telling you about the baby before I"ve told anybody...you are the one closest to me...talking with you always quieted me...


Anna (starts to cry): Don"t talk foolishness anymore! Go! Go! Stop upsetting me!


(Pause)


Michael: I won"t go. I want to be with you. It"s my last night...our last chance ... we must forgive in a humane way.


Anna: I can"t stand the sight of you! (Pause) You want a humane way!


(Anna crying grabs the dress and beats Michael with it. Michael manages to grab Anna"s arms. Then with his arms around her he presses against her and hugs her)


Michael: Dear, dearest, cherished...calm...calm. Forgive me...maybe I"m lost... help me, I don"t understand, what I need. I don"t know who I need, what is happening to me? I just know that today we are together... like I want never to forget...calm down... nothing to say... press to me...tightly ... there now... good girl... so wise... O God how long I"ve wanted you... you surely too? Say something... you...OK? You don"t want to talk... nod your head... and now kiss me...

(The dress slips off Anna"s arms. She hugs Michael, and presses him to her... kisses him.)

Michael: Anna, I love you...


CURTAIN