Enza - Scene Six.

This isn't going to make much sense unless you start reading from the beginning - Enza - Scene One.

SCENE SIX

(Back to the sterile place. Mr. Stokoe and Ms. Bullock return. Ms. Bullock has been given a packet of herbal teas)

BULLOCK. Are you sure that it’s alright for me to take them?

STOKOE. Yes, go ahead. They’ve only been hanging around for a year. I don’t know who it was that thought that we’d want to drink elderflower tea in the first place.

BULLOCK. Do you think that you’re okay with this now?

STOKOE. Oh. Yes. I just… She… A corpse ought to look more decomposed than that, I feel.

So…

BULLOCK. So?

STOKOE. Here are the gloves.

(The gloves are long, veterinary-style ones.)

STOKOE. Wash your hands in the fluid?

BULLOCK. (Smelling her hands with displeasure) Mm. It must be eighty-five years since someone last touched her. Wonder what she must think about all of this?

STOKOE. She doesn’t know, does she? I’m sure that she never anticipated something like this was going to happen to her, when she was still alive. She’s dead, Ms. Bullock. She just looks alive. But look at her - look how waxy and rigid the flesh is, look how lank the hair is.

There’s no gleam in her eye. She’s not really here.

BULLOCK. We should respect her wishes.

STOKOE. We don’t know what her wishes are. She can’t tell us.

BULLOCK. She lived here, she was a nurse. I suppose that she must have had some sense of duty.

(Stokoe fetches a new, sterilised plastic case in which to store Phyllis’ clothing. He removes its protective covering and carefully places it at the foot of the coffin. He takes out a plastic body bag from its protective wrapping, unfolds it, unzips it and places it alongside the coffin.

He starts to strip the corpse in silence, occasionally pointing to Bullock to assist him. He handles the body more expertly and with greater care than Bullock. They remove Phyllis’ left shoe and he puts it into the box. They remove Phyllis’ right shoe and he puts it into the box.

He motions to Bullock to assist him in lifting Phyllis out of the coffin.)

STOKOE. Lay her out on the plastic.

(They lay out Phyllis onto the body bag. Stokoe turns her onto her side, and they start to remove her funeral dress. This is a complex and slow procedure as Stokoe is unfamiliar with handling such a garment and Bullock is not used to handling a corpse. Stokoe gently folds the dress and puts it into the box. Now that Phyllis is in her underclothes, the pair hover around the body and momentarily consider their next action.)

Next - Enza - Scene Seven.