Scampi: Well, your hands are in good condition.

 

Peter: As is the top of your head.

 

Scampi: Yes. And a bowl of tangerines by the window.

 

Peter: A green bowl.

 

Scampi: Sea green.

 

Peter: The light perhaps hurts my eyes.

 

Scampi: You should perhaps get your eyes checked.

 

Peter: Perhaps.

 

Scampi: I dreamed of open water.

 

Peter: I dreamed of a coastal village.

 

Scampi: The fishermen are mending their nets.

 

PAUSE.

 

Scampi: You look flushed.

 

Peter: Oh?

 

Scampi: And yet your hands are very pale.

 

Peter: Not very pale.

 

Scampi: White. Like the bleached bones of sardines.

 

Peter: My hands are white.

 

Scampi: The sea off the coast is green. Green as a bowl of tangerines.

 

PAUSE.

 

Scampi: Fruit ripens in the sun.

 

Peter: By the window?

 

Scampi: And one day we ourselves become dust.

 

Peter: Aye.

 

Scampi: Pale bones.

 

Peter: Including the top of your head.

 

Scampi: Your hands.

 

Peter: The tangerines.

 

Scampi: The light in the window and the bowl and the sea?

 

Peter: The sea contains dust.

 

Scampi: Silt. S’il te plait.

 

Peter: Also, crustaceans.

 

Scampi: Of course, at night the water’s black.

 

PAUSE.

 

Scampi: Can you do me a favour?

 

Peter: Such a thing may be within my powers.

 

Scampi: Next time, light a fire on the beach.

 

Peter: What beach?

 

Scampi: Of the village.

 

Peter: To what end?

 

Scampi: Just curious.

 

PAUSE.

 

Scampi: I want to know how far I am from shore.