Giraffes - Act Two, Scene Six.

This isn't going to make much sense unless you start at the beginning - Giraffes - Act One, Scene One.

SCENE SIX

(Beach. Simon and Kirsty look out to the sea, where Anna is swimming. They are tipsy.)

SIMON. She's beautiful, isn't she?

KIRSTY. Mmm. There's something about a swimming woman.

SIMON. There is when it's Anna.

(Pause.)

KIRSTY. I love her hair.

SIMON. God yes. Have you seen her just after a haircut yet?

KIRSTY. No?

SIMON. There's a real ritual to it. When its just been cut it's not exactly severe... but it is... gamine. Tufty. I call her the fawn. And then it takes four months to grow into the floppy, curtainy thing that she's got now.

KIRSTY. So there's a cycle to it.

SIMON. Whenever I remember something that we did together I can always recall what stage her hair was at at that time. Whereas mine is always short and I'd imagine that yours is consistently long.

(Pause.)

SIMON. I touched her hair once.

KIRSTY. Once?

SIMON. Well, many times since then. But for the first six months or so that I knew Anna I never really touched her. She did put her head on my shoulder on the first night that I properly talked to her though. She was drunk. I can remember thinking: "Please. This is so good. This beautiful, delicate, heavy weight entrusted to me. This is all that I want from life."

(They are each lost in their own dreams.)

KIRSTY. So when did you touch her hair?

SIMON. We were talking about hair at the time, so I felt that I was permitted to. It was such a... I can remember feeling two simultaneous impulses that I'd never felt together before.

KIRSTY. What were they?

SIMON. I wanted to burst into tears and have a raging erection.

KIRSTY. And did you?

SIMON. I was composed enough to prevent either reaction. But I wanted to.

KIRSTY. Anna can have a powerful effect on people.

SIMON. She can.

(Pause.)

SIMON. Was it love at first sight?

(Pause.)

KIRSTY. I think so. It was certainly something that I'd never felt before.

SIMON. Where did you meet?

KIRSTY. The gallery cafe. A Friday. It was crowded, hectic, but I was feeling quite calm, almost like I was expecting something momentous to happen. Not though it usually does, except that this time it did, because this woman walked in, and when she opened the door, she did in such an elegant, considered, happy way -

SIMON. Anna has got a way with furniture, hasn't she? I sometimes think that she can turn any object into a part of herself.

KIRSTY. Yes! That's it! Precisely. And, if that wasn't enough, she sat opposite me, even asked if she could. And I thought -

SIMON. - "This is all that" -

KIRSTY. - "I want from life."

(They laugh.)

ANNA. (Off) Shall I come back now?

SIMON. Whenever you want!

(Pause.)

KIRSTY. Oh! Those arms!

SIMON. Mm. The legs too.

KIRSTY. Oh I think that I'm going to melt.

SIMON. I can't think of anything more erotic than watching Anna swim.

KIRSTY. Apart from fucking her, of course.

(Simon looks hurt. Then he laughs. Then Kirsty laughs.)

KIRSTY. God I feel happy.

SIMON. Me too.

(Pause.)

SIMON. Well, why shouldn't we? Sitting in the sun on this warm and sweet beach.

KIRSTY. We have wine, we have bread, you're going to cook us a paella when we go home.

SIMON. And we are on our own, save for the company of a friend and a lover.

SIMON.
} Cheers!
KIRSTY.


Next - Giraffes - Act Two, Scene Seven.