Blue Crystal : Part 2

Liam : Are there any smokes left?

Steve : Yes.

Liam : Thanks, you are a mate.

(Liam goes and picks up the cigarette packet)

Here, have one yourself.

(Liam offers Steve a cigarette. Steve accepts. They both light up. Liam sits down on a chair which is fairly close to the bed. Steve is still lying on the bed.)

I think that the drugs are starting to work on you, aren’t they?

Steve : Yeh. My limbs are heavy.

Liam : I see clear water, clear water that kisses our souls. The coral waters of aquamarine.

Steve : I suppose you ride a seahorse too.

Liam : No, I give in to the forces of the world, and make love with Mother Nature. She is pure spirit but seen through the reflections of the stars becomes fountains and raindrops and eternal blue skies. She is a snowdrop and a field of purple violets.

Steve : You are fusing with the universe, it’s obvious.

Liam : I am happy, yes.

Steve : I don’t feel unhappy but I am not like you, why?

Liam : I have had more.

Steve : In your life? Or just now?

Liam : Both. My drug history is different, my body chemistry is different, my experience is different.

Steve : I feel as if I am drifting on a raft sometimes but that is all.

Liam : I can see the pattern of the cosmos.

Steve : What does it look like?

Liam : It’s like a jigsaw puzzle.

Steve : Is that it?

Liam : Yes.

Steve : Surely the pattern of the cosmos is not disappointing. I think a lot of things in life are disappointing but surely not something like creation.

Liam : Look, no one can really discover the key to the world’s creation or even get a glimpse of supernature. I am just dreaming.

Steve : I think that supernature is a dream.

Liam : Probably.

Steve : They say that the universe is built on mathematical principles, as if there was a super mathematician or some kind of grand architect behind it all.

Liam : Rubbish, it’s just chance. Yes, the universe has a pattern and a design, just like we do, but that doesn’t mean anything. Everything comes from amoeba.

Steve : You appreciate the world though?

Liam : Yes, why shouldn’t I? I believe in spirit too, in a way, but only inasmuch as it gives life to the world. It’s an animater if you like.

Steve : It’s in us, isn’t it?

Liam : Yes, it’s in everything living.

Steve : I think it’s creepy really.

Liam : Don’t be such a wet. Are you afraid of ghosts or something?

Steve : No, but it’s like a ghost.

Liam : Mmm.... maybe.

Steve : Pass me that can of lager over. I’m thirsty.

Liam : Me too.

(Liam hands over a can of lager to Steve)

Steve : Help yourself.

Liam : Thanks, you are a pal.

(Brief pause while both characters take a swig from the lager cans)

Steve : There are many different things in the world, aren’t there?

Liam : That sounds really subtle.

Steve : You know what I mean. The universe is heterogeneous. It should even be able to satisfy you.

Liam : Oh, the wonder of the world.

Steve : I thought that the world was marvellous to you.

Liam : It is. I see not one vision of everlasting happiness but a positive myriorama of fun.

Steve : A myriorama of fun?

Liam : Yes, I see a beautiful girl on every step of life’s staircase.

Steve : And when you get to the top?

Liam : When you get to the top you are through.

Steve : You are stuck on the first step.

Liam : Shona wasn’t my first girlfriend. There have been at least six girls in my life.

Steve : So you are halfway up the stairs?

Liam : Maybe.

Steve : Well it’s a wonder Shona didn’t shove you down those stairs.

Liam : Shona was not like that.

Steve : No, she was going up the staircase and you were going down.

Liam : Drop the stupid staircase idea. I wish I had never brought it up.

Steve : Okay when I said there are many different things in the world I said it as a statement of hope. I think that you have given up on the possibilities of life. Life is big. The only problem is that the best ways of tapping into its infinite resources are sometimes rather nebulous.

Liam : Like clouds on a Caravaggio ceiling. The angel’s wings and heavenly things floating there on high. A cherub playing his sweetest harp and cupid with his amorous dart are all just out of reach.

Steve : I think I preferred swimming with the water-babies. There’s no merit in going off at a tangent.

Liam : I thought I would have a change. Life is big.

Steve : I don’ t know why you are making fun of me. I am trying to help.

Liam : Yeh, yeh, yeh.

Steve : Don’t you think it’s worth having a career?

Liam : No quite honestly I don’t. I live for a good trip and that’s it.

Steve : Life has let you down, hasn’t it?

Liam : I don’t blame anyone or anything. Things just happen. If they are rotten things it’s bad luck, but I don’t feel I’ve missed anything. You said before I could probably do something scientific for a career.............. that’s rubbish. It’s like saying that because you know the names of half a dozen star formations you can be an astrophysicist.

Steve : Okay, maybe I was being a bit optimistic but I think it is better to be positive rather than think that there are no possibilities for success, particularly when there is a whole variety of rewarding occupations. I think that the travel business is a good thing to be in today. It must be great going to hotels and resorts for a company to give your opinion on them. It would be like one long holiday. You could do something within the same business. After all it is not everybody who can swim like a water-baby. They would probably take you on as an instructor in water sports, working on some palm-fringed mediterranean shore. Don’t you think that would be ideal? I think it would suit you perfectly. You speak a bit of Spanish already.

Liam : Water sports and good weather.................mmm.

Steve : It’s not too late. You have just got to kick the habit.

Liam : You are naive about me. I’m not serious enough to be a fun guy.

Steve : You are starting to sound like a wimp.

( Liam grabs Steve’s wrist threateningly and says...........)

Liam : I am not a wimp. Remember that or you won’t live to see a wet day in Huddersfield, let alone balmy nights in Bermuda.

( Liam throws Steve’s wrist down)

Steve : Sorry, you are not a wimp, I am only trying to be constructive. I would just like to think that for some trips we would actually leave the room.

Liam : I have had trips where I’ve left the planet.

Steve : Mmm........... I give up.

Liam : I’m taking some more stuff. All I’m getting on my airwaves is interference.



(Pause while Liam takes some more whizz)



Through Orion’s gold I see the heavens

And jewelly stars, a diamond seven.

Whilst rippling waters glitter dark

An amethyst stone through onyx sparks.



All my senses now feel bliss

A happy joy, the sweetest kiss.

With angel friends I fly through rainbows

The jewelled arcs of the brightest world.





But when the snake appears once more

And shuts the marbled temple door

The sprinkled waters upon my flesh

With complex webs my life enmesh.



Steve : Was that something from Macbeth? It sounded like a chant from one of the three witches.

(In an old crochety manner he then says........)

Hubble, bubble, toil and trouble.

Liam : No, it’s how I feel.

Steve : It’s something to do with poverty, isn’t it?

Liam : Middle class people would say that and they would be boring middle class too.

Steve : At least you know what I’m getting at.

Liam : You think that you know everything, don’t you?

Steve : I can see that we are falling out again.

Liam : You are impossible to get on with. You put on airs and graces as if you are a somebody.

Steve : Yes, Orion’s gold or indeed anything else has not got me a job with Funworld Holidays, so I suppose you are right to say that.

Liam : I will have another can of lager before we stop talking.

Steve : You have had your share.

Liam : Oh come on. I know you have got some more cans stashed away.

Steve : Urr (exasperated).

(Steve takes two cans of lager out of a bedside cabinet and gives one to Liam)

Here.

Liam : Thanks, you are a mate. It is that hot in here you need to keep drinking. I’ll buy some cans when I get paid.

Steve : Don’t worry about it. I’m sure things will work out so you are not embarrassed.

Liam : Embarrassed?

Steve : Well, the government’s money doesn’t stop, does it?.................. so how can you be embarrassed?

Liam : That’s a point. I wonder where it comes from.

Steve : It comes from the people that work : bus drivers and bank managers, factory workers and floor walkers. They are all keeping us going.

Liam : I suppose so.

Steve : There is no suppose about it. If we were to find work we would start to support the unemployed.

Liam : I am quite happy with the way things are.

Steve : Well I’m not. I have got an interview tomorrow with an occupational guidance counsellor and she’s going to talk to me about opportunities in tourism.

Liam : What a pain. You are wasting your time.

Steve : Why? As far as I can see if I can get the right job it will give me the things that I have always wanted: the chance to meet a lot of pretty girls, good money prospects and unlimited travel.

(Liam takes some more whizz)

When you get more of that junky rubbish you can forget me. I don’t want anymore.

Liam : You want to be too safe.

Steve : Maybe but at least I will have a chance of seeing what happens in the world in this new millennium. You will be that spaced out you won’t even know what’s going on.

Liam : I will be happy, just as I am now.

Steve : As long as the supply is regular.

Liam : So.

Steve : So nothing. You have decided on your life.

Liam : Yeh, I know things will turn out alright for me. You go on about opportunities. I have the opportunity of getting Shona back. I’ve always had that because I know the places where she hangs out. All I have got to do is be there. I miss her.

Steve : What makes you think she’ll come back?

Liam : I can persuade her.

Steve : You can’t persuade me to take drugs.

Liam : Don’t be so friggin pessimistic. I know she still loves me and I know she will come back.

Steve : Mmm............... (uttered in an unconvinced way)

Liam : We might as well split up.

Steve : You make it sound as if we were a couple.

Liam : Now you are being ridiculous. Friends split up.

Steve : Okay............ these friends are breaking up and water-babies everywhere are sinking fast.

Liam : I shall swim like a water-baby in the oceans of blue crystal all my life. It’s because I have chosen to. You have chosen to walk on dry land. Fair enough, any fool can do that.

Steve : I would like to think that I fit into the grand design somewhere and I am not just another drug or suicide statistic.

Liam : No, you are leaving that fate to me.

Steve : Well it doesn’t look too promising, does it?

Liam : You don’t even get to see the grand design if you don’t do any tripping.

Steve : That is obviously what you have decided. I can’t change your mind.

Liam :

Through rainbow strands of angel hair

The temple doorway open stands,

And in its path I feel how good

Are dew-pearl’d nights of the red rosebud.

Then when at last at pathway’s end

I see the vision angels send,

I ride the moons of crystal glass

And swim in seas of coloured stars.



Steve : Losing touch with reality won’t get you a job. You are living in tinsel town and the only pay-off is going to be something like a piece of tinsel – a bit of glitter you can wrap around your bare navel.

Liam : And I believed I was the glittering star on the top of the tree.

Steve : No, I believe that of me. I’m good enough to get what I want so I probably will.

Liam : You make it sound so easy.

Steve : Well, it makes more sense than believing anything worthwhile is too impossible to achieve.

Liam : Oh, you are always right. You make me sick.

Steve : You will be jealous of me next.

Liam : I’m not jealous of you. You’ve got nothing. This positive attitude you’ve got means nothing.

Steve : Well it’s a much better starting point than the attitude you’ve got.

Liam : I’m not arguing with you.

Steve : Fair enough – we are not achieving anything by arguing.

Liam : Men don’t ever really like each other unless they are gay.

Steve : Well that could be true. We both like women.

Liam : So our excuse for not getting on is we both like women.

Steve : Yes, the fact that Shona is not the object of a dual desire is irrelevant.

Liam : No, we are not fighting over her. Quite honestly I don’t think you could get her if you wanted to.

Steve : Maybe not but then you don’t know how you stand anymore.

Liam : I am sure she will come back.

Steve : I hope so.

Liam : Why?

Steve : I’m not that straight.

Liam : Very funny. You know I will always swim like a water-baby.

Steve : Yeh, yeh, yeh, in the waters of blue crystal.

Liam : Forever.

Steve : Forever.



(Steve breaks into song, at first Slip slidin away, then Liam sings his song, Twas a sunny day. Then they both sing the words of Slip slidin away together)



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