GLAGOLYEV SR. Who’s calling for me?
GLAGOLYEV JR. People!
GLAGOLYEV SR. I assume it’s people . . . (Gets up.) As you like, but I won’t give up on you, Anna Petrovna! Chances are you’ll be talking out of the other side of your mouth once you get to know me! I’ll be seeing you . . . (Exits into the house.)
SCENE XVII
ANNA PETROVNA and GLAGOLYEV JR.
GLAGOLYEV JR. (sitting beside her). The old goat! The jackass! No one is calling for him! I put one over on him!
ANNA PETROVNA. When you learn to be more clever, you will curse yourself for the way you treat your father!
GLAGOLYEV JR. You must be joking . . . Here’s why I came out here . . . Two words . . . Yes or no?
ANNA PETROVNA. Meaning?
GLAGOLYEV JR. (laughs). As if you don’t understand? Yes or no?
ANNA PETROVNA. I have no idea what you mean!
GLAGOLYEV JR. You will in a minute . . . A flash of gold is great at giving people ideas . . . If it’s “yes,” then wouldn’t you like, generalissimo of my heart, to creep into my pocket and pull out my billfold with Daddy’s money in it? . . . (Holds out his side pocket.)
ANNA PETROVNA. That’s frank . . . Clever people actually get slapped for that kind of talk!
GLAGOLYEV JR. From an attractive woman even a slap can be attractive . . . First she slaps you, and then a little later she says “yes” . . .
ANNA PETROVNA (gets up). Pick up your cap and clear out of here this very second!
GLAGOLYEV JR. (gets up). Where to?
ANNA PETROVNA. Wherever you like! Clear out and never dare show your face here again!
GLAGOLYEV JR. Phoo . . . What’s there to get angry about? I will not leave, Anna Petrovna!
ANNA PETROVNA. Well then, I’ll give orders to have you turned out! (Exits into the house.)
GLAGOLYEV JR. What a temper you’ve got. After all I didn’t say anything so very, specially . . . What did I say? There’s no need to lose your temper . . . (Exits following her.)
SCENE XVIII
PLATONOV and SOFYA YEGOROVNA enter from the house.
PLATONOV. Even now at the school I’m stuck in a job which really isn’t my sort of thing, but ought to belong to a real teacher . . . So that’s how things have been since we split up! . . . (Sits down.) Putting aside what I’ve done to other people, what good have I done to myself? What seeds have I planted, nurtured, and cultivated in myself? . . . And now! Ech! Things are ghastly and hideous . . . It’s outrageous! Evil is bubbling all around me, polluting the earth, swallowing up my brothers in Christ and my fellow Russians, while I just sit with my arms at my sides, as if I’d been doing hard labor; I sit, I stare, I keep my mouth shut . . . I’m twenty-seven, at thirty I’ll be the same — I don’t foresee any changes! — later on obesity and torpor, obtuseness, complete indifference to anything that isn’t of the flesh, and then death!! A wasted life! My hair starts to stand on end, whenever I think about that death!
Pause.
How am I to rise above this, Sofya Yegorovna?
Pause.
You don’t say anything, you don’t know . . . Well, how could you? Sofya Yegorovna, I’m not feeling sorry for myself! To hell with this fellow, with my ego! But what’s happened to you? Where is your pure heart, your sincerity, sense of fair play, your boldness? Where is your health? What have you done with it? Sofya Yegorovna! To idle away whole years, to make other people work for you, to feast your eyes on other people’s sufferings and yet look them square in the face — that’s what I call depravity!
SOFYA YEGOROVNA gets up.
(Sits her down again.) This is my last word, just hold on! What turned you into such an affected, languid, mealy-mouthed creature? Who taught you to lie? And the way you used to be! Excuse me! I’ll let you go right away! Let me speak! You were so good, Sofya Yegorovna, so great! Dearest, Sofya Yegorovna, maybe you could still rise above it, it’s not too late! Think about it! Gather all your strength and rise above it, for heaven’s sake! (Grasps her by the hand.) My dearest, tell me frankly, for the sake of what we’ve shared in the past, what compelled you to marry that man? What lured you into that marriage?
SOFYA YEGOROVNA. He’s a fine man . . .
PLATONOV. Don’t say what you don’t believe!
SOFYA YEGOROVNA (gets up). He’s my husband, and I must ask you . . .
PLATONOV. Let him be whatever he wants, but I’m telling the truth! Sit down! (Sits her down.) Why didn’t you pick out a hard-working man, a man who was suffering? Why didn’t you pick out anybody except that pygmy, bogged down in debts and idleness? . . .
SOFYA YEGOROVNA. Leave me alone! Stop shouting! Someone’s coming . . .
GUESTS pass by.
PLATONOV. The hell with them! Let everybody hear! (Quietly.) Forgive me for my crudeness . . . But I did love you! I loved you more than anything in the world, and that’s why you are dear to me now . . . I so loved this hair, these arms, this face . . . Why do you powder your face, Sofya Yegorovna? Stop doing it! Ech! If someone else had come your way, you would quickly have risen above this, but now you’ll just sink deeper into the mud! Poor creature . . . Wretch though I am, if I had the strength, I’d tear both of us out of this morass by the roots . . .
Pause.
Life! Why don’t we live the way we could?!
SOFYA YEGOROVNA (gets up and hides her face in her hands). Leave me alone!
A noise inside the house.
Get away from me! (Walks toward the house.)
PLATONOV (follows her). Take your hands away from your face! That’s right! You aren’t leaving? Surely not? Let’s be friends, Sophie! You can’t be leaving? We’ll have another talk? All right?
Inside the house louder noise and running down stairs.
SOFYA YEGOROVNA. All right.
PLATONOV. Let’s be friends, my dearest . . . Why should we be enemies? Let me . . . Just a few words more . . .
VOINITSEV runs in from the house, followed by GUESTS.
SCENE XIX
The same, VOINITSEV and GUESTS, then ANNA PETROVNA and TRILETSKY.
VOINITSEV (running in). Ah . . . There they are, the leading characters! Let’s go set off the fireworks! (Shouts.) Yakov, to the river, march! (to Sofya Yegorovna.) Changed your mind, Sophie?
PLATONOV. She’s not going, she’s staying here . . .
VOINITSEV. Really? In that case hurray! Your hand, Mikhail Vasilich! (Squeezes Platonov’s hand.) I always trusted your powers of persuasion! Let’s go set off the fireworks! (Goes with the guests upstage into the garden.)
PLATONOV (after a pause). Yes, that’s how things are, Sofya Yegorovna . . . Hm . . .