Man in the moon [drama]

Media

Part of Panorama

Title: Man in the moon [drama]
Creator: Hufana, A. G.
Language: English
Year: 1960
Subject: Rizal, Jose P., 1861-1896.; Exiles -- Drama.; Exiles' writings.; Exiles in literature.
Rights
Fulltext: Drama MAN in t by A. G. Hufana Our time starts at 7:00 a.m., December 29, 1896. Fort Santiago chapel. One long bench and the steps to the altar are the most prominent fixtures of the scene. A sevenbranched candelabra, in turn, is the most prominent fixture of the altar which is draped with a blue mantlepiece with yellow trimmings. Lording over it is a painted full-moon-like Host on which is etched the Great Eye of God'radiating unto a painted chalice. Enter Rizal, in black suit and derby hat, with Spanish officers. Scene 1 RIZAL (looking around, fixes his eyes on the altar, and takes off his hat) Are you sure this is the right way, gentlemen? I thought you were taking me back to the cell. OFFICER (taking off his cap; the others follow) The Gen eral’s order, Senor Rizal. RIZAL (facing officers polite ly) I see. It is very fine of the General. (Walks up to the al tar; turns back) But what shall I do here? M. CHAPLAIN (coming in) Prepare your soul, my son. I offer my services. RIZAL Oh... oh. Thank you very much, Father. (Walks up to the altar, mounts the steps and fingers the candelabra) Would you mind, senores? M. CHAP. Be it so. We have nof much time left. (Walks up to Rizal) RIZAL (lighting the candles with a match) Father, I prefer to be alone, if you do not mind. (Walks down to the officers) Would you mind, senores? OFFICER As you wish, senor. As long as you will not receive outside visitors until further orders. RIZAL I appreciate the orders very highly. And it was an ho nor to have had breakfast with you. The roll and the coffee cake were very good. The cof fee — Dutch, I suppose? 36 Panorama he MOON OFFICER (chuckling in spite of himself) Very Dutch, senor. Recently imported. RIZAL (chukling with officer) Aliens produce our wants. (Seriously) Father, this matter of soul... I feel queer about it. M. CHAP. Queer, indeed, my son. That is why we cannot help being human. Every hu man being must be guided to understand. RIZAL Understand? To be guided to understand? (Looks at the altar) I have kept you long and I have kept God wait ing. Father, I shall be very glad to borrow your books on meditation. M. CHAP. Be it so. I will have them sent. God be with you. RIZAL Thank you. God for everybody is God for nobody. Thank you, senores. Oh, before you go, may I ask you a favor: Would you let in my pupil who is detained by the guard at the door? (One of the officers goes and returns with a boy of 17, held by a guard who begins searching him) RIZAL You need not look for contraband on him, guard. I did not teach my disciples to carry arms. (To the boy who looks happy at being freed) How are you, Doming? GUARD Remember: ony five minutes. OFFICER Man, you are giving orders! Remember yourself that Senor Rizal is to be given all courtesy due to a prisoner. GUARD Excuse me, sir. RIZAL Thank you, guard. You are very civil. Come, Doming. We have lessons to do. (Exit officers, chaplain and guard) BOY (taking Rizal’s hand; kiss es it) What did they do to you, Maestro? RIZAL Not that I discourage you but from now on, you must not kiss anybody’s hand if you are an orphan. A man should not worship another man. Now, to lesson two. You must not... December 1960 37 BOY Can we not go home again, Maestro? Will they not let you go? RIZAL (troubled, walks up and down) Yes, the farm must be harvested by now. Our chick ens are starved. Tomorow, you go back to Dapitan, huh? That is lesson two. I am afraid I have to stay for a while. You see. . . they got me. . . and. . . (forces himself to smile) You are really a big boy now. How tall are you? Let me see. (Makes boy stand up and stands back to back with him) Just as I thought: you are tal ler by three inches. BOY You are much stronger, Maestro. RIZAL Keep s rong: that is the secret of strength. Come, let us test ourselves. (They play In dian wrestling on the bench. Trick lighting fades in the Da pitan pupils of Rizal — rang ing from 10 to 16 in age —and they gather around the wrest lers. They clap when Rizal wins the match) Oho! You surprise me. How did you get here? BOYS Bravo, Maestro! We. were fencing by the river as you told us to when you left. (They show Rizal the big sticks they carry) RIZAL God! Do not mob me again with these, ha? Be good: I am not always with you. Tell you something? I never really left. How did you know I was back? BOYS Cosme Paez shouted it from the tree up there. VOICE (upstage) Heliow! I am here, Maestro! I saw you riding on your handkerchief over the surface of the river. You land ed on the other side. Then you jumped over to this side. RIZAL Lord! I could not be lieve it myself! That is twen ty feet across. Cosme, can you reach for the moon up there? VOICE (upstage) O, yes, Maes tro! I could even see the fiesta in Dipolog. Climb up and see for yourself. RIZAL You are joking, Cosme. Come down before you see too much. BOYS No, Maestro, he is not joking. Have you forgotten that you drew the map of Minda nao from the top of that tree? RIZAL I am not sure. Be care ful of legends. They are only told for entertainment. BOYS Show us how to shoot, Maestro. RIZAL (taking a gun) Very well. Whose initials will I shoot on the bark of that tree? BOYS (together) Mine! Mine! RIZAL Easy! Easy! Since I cannot please all of you I will have to please Cosme. He likes to see people shooting except at himself. (Levels gun up stage) Aim, hold breath, stea dy, count one, two. . . three ... (gun report) VOICE (upstage) Eeoow! (A hat flutters down) 38 Panorama RIZAL (laughing) Do not wor ry, Cosme! I just closed your eyes. That is it, boys: do not shoot to kill. Aim high. Now, do not play with guns. Run along now. See you. (Trick lighting fades out boys) BOY (pointing to Rizal’s back) Someone comes, Maestro. (Trick lighting produces a 20year old girl with a waterpail who picks up Cosme’s hat and approaches) GIRL Doctor, I want to see you... RIZAL (turning around) Bonifacia! How are you? GIRL I heard the shot. I was down to get water. O, it is good to walk again. RIZAL Do be careful yourself. Relapse is a harder thing to cure. (Trick lighting produces Josephine, big with child) JOSEPHINE (eyeing the girl crossly) I’m sorry. He’s my husband. GIRL (innocently) Are you. . . you. . . married? JOSEPHINE Can’t you see? (Embraces Rizal) Who’s she, darling? GIRL I am his patient. I have the right to know from my doc tor what is wrong with me. JOSEPHINE Okay. Okay. Nothing’s wrong with you that’s not the matter with me. If Pepe and I are not married, we think we are. And that’s as good as any of your outward ceremonies. RIZAL Josephine! When will you behave? Love is not a public scandal. I am sorry, Miss Elumba, Miss Taufer is my wife. GIRL (sobbing, produces, from her bosom a packet of letters tied with a red ribbon) Burn these for me. . . (Rizal takes the packet. She stares at him undecidedly. Rizal stares back at her and is about to put a hand over her shoulder when she shrinks and runs away, sobbing.) JOSEPHINE Well? RIZAL (absentmindedly) Well. JOSEPHINE Well, I didn’t know you had written her so many. Aren’t you going to re view your relics? RIZAL (skimming over the let ters) From my sisters... ex cept Narcisa and my favorite sister who died when I was four. I’m condemned to love one woman. That woman is you. Believe me. JOSEPHINE But one called Leonor? RIZAL Leonor is dead. Forget her. JOSEPHINE Let’s not quarrel again, darling. I shalln’t bur den you, I promise. You’ve other problems. RIZAL Problems! I’m out of politics. Now I can attend to my own house. Let’s live here in peace. You and I alone. (Josephine swgons) Josefina, what’s wrong? December 1960 39 JOSEPHINE Nothing... I just fell down the stairs. No... I struck against the iron stand. RIZAL The child! It’s my fault. I’ll tear down that step. I wish it is that friar who bungled with our license. I’ll wrench out that stand. I wish it is that friar who played politics with our love. JOSEPHINE Darling, take me home. I feel it kicking inside. RIZAL It’ll be a boy! 1 * 11 barter with heaven for it to be a boy! JOSEPHINE Pepe! It’s dead ... I know. . . I know. I am seeing things... (Trick lighting pro duces a man carrying lamps.) MAN It is just Tamarong. RIZAL Are you also part of this bad dream? MAN In person. . . fulfilling his personal promises. I promised when you restored my sight I would light the way to town so that no soul would stumble in the darkness that I once knew. Well, here lam — with the lamps. RIZAL What there! Who tempts me again? (Trick light ing produces a lay Jesuit with a bandaged finger) Ah, Brot her Tildot! LAY JESUIT A leak in the dike. I stopped it with a finger till your boys came to the res cue. RIZAL Brother, you are a hero. But please do not mention this incident again. The dam i? dreamed up by Father Sanchez and everything dreamed up by the Fathers ought to stand for ever. LAY JES. Do not be modest, Jose. The dike was laid out on your plan and direction. I sent the plan to the Governor this morning — with your name. I affixed mine in the order as constructor. RIZAL I am absolutely out of politics now, Brother. You could have signed the plan alone. LAY JES. And tell a lie in science? RIZAL Until science is known by another name. As of now, even God and man are inter mixed. Brother, please look after the mixing of the con crete. One of cement, two of sand. I will come down later. Come, Josephine, to our ivory tower. (Trick lighting fades them all except the boy who falls on his knees in the atti tude of silent prayer.) Scene II (The boy is seen still on his knees when Rizal reappears from the shadows) RIZAL On your feet, Doming. That is lesson four. What did I tell you about our past? BOY There was the Dawn Man. .. the Little Man. . . the Tall Man. . . the Brown Man. . . the Men of Cham pa. . . then Men of Band jar. . . I forget easily. After them I think no more. 40 Panorama RIZAL More, Doming. And more. Our history is an honor roll. We have only to sit back like in a moro-moro play. But someone has to call these players out. They know their audience. You do the calling, Doming. I like to pretend I enjoyed them myself. Do you know who comes next? BOY Lima. . . Lima. . . Limahong? RIZAL See? You forget be cause you are serious. What did I tell you? Take it easy. History is not catechism. To refresh your eye on the past, the next is a suicide. BOY One who killed himself? RIZAL Why not? History is the lives of suicides. BOY I do not get you, Maestro. RIZAL I do not even get my self, Doming. Someone did get himself. This someone got himself after getting ano ther. Lapu-lapu! (Trick light ing produces a well-built, nigh handsome warrior with long hair kept in place by a headband. Around his neck is a string of teeth. The most strik ing part of his body is his Gstringed torso, a deep bronze like the suntan of a recluse, on which leans a huge kampilan. He holds a big shield by his side. A man, in battered Span ish coat-of-mail, lies at his feet. The face of the lying man is bloodless and were it not for his bushy beard, we could take him as cut out of marble. His hands and the flesh out of his metal dress are caked with blood) WARRIOR (sternly) What do you want? BOY (fearfully) He is asking what you want, Maestro. RIZAL (matching his voice with the warrior’s) Relax, Mr. Lajulapu. I am a friend. WARRIOR If a friend, why do you not speak my tongue? RIZAL Ay, ay, kalisud. . . WARRIOR Kalisud... Aha, you are just a poet. So what? RIZAL So what? Poets have no country. I, without a country, respect you, with a country. Hail, Patriot! WARRIOR Stop it! Stop it! You are flattering me. I fear flatterers. They do more harm than a fighting enemy. The enemy can only kill or be kill ed. A flatterer can sell or buy you. I must be on guard against your kind. You can not buy me with talk as that Humabon and that Zula were bought. Pshe! Humabon with his granary! Zula with his goats! It is really their flat tery I fought this morning. This stranger (pointing to the man at his feet) was their me dium. He stood in my way so I cut him down. RIZAL By cutting him down, what did you get? WARRIOR Flatterers, that is all. Myself, above all. December 1960 41 RIZAL Why so? WARRIOR You are like a his torian. Historians are like wo men. They are very fertile from the neck up where wo men are from the neck below. RIZAL (determinededly) Why so? WARRIOR You are like a hunter. You please me. (Re laxes) RIZAL Not to flatter you or anybody, because I do not flat ter easily, I know the facts. Long long before and long long after I meet you today I was, am, and shall be used to you. WARRIOR Ay, ay, kalisud. It is my regret that I am Lapulapu. Today I have become an anito. Everybody is asking me to tell his fortune, to cure his mother-in-law, and so forth. I should not have led the day. It is far far better to have slept through the battle and to eat and sleep and live and die nor mally. I even had to please a newborn which could not be fed but with coconut milk. I climbed that high tree there, and fell. I stood up for fear of displeasing anybody. But I was really hurt by that fall. I am hurting all over now. But what can I do? I am Lapulapu so I have to stand here, pretending to be as useful as a dog and as long-lived as a cat. RIZAL This pretense will kill you. It is too late: you cannot die anymore. That is the trou ble. WARRIOR Be gone! You are telling the truth. Truth is very hard to take. I‘d rather climb many coconuts and fall many times than take the truth. If you desire passage, I give it free, but be gone! Be gone like the sea wind! RIZAL I am a magician. I could send you to the shades if I like. But I would not do that. I will bring your enemy to life so that you can rest at ease. You see, it is this killing that really bothers you. Blood is on your mind. Magellan, come forth! (The prostrate man arises, shakes himself as if from deep sleep, and looks around but seems not to see anybody) RESURRECTED MAN Pobre me! What a nightmare! (Laughs to himself) Killed by an Indian! Me, killed by an Indian? (Looks at himself). But I am wounded and it is painful. Where are my. . . Barbosa! Serrano! The co wards! They have left with the boats. Nothing but seagulls in the distance. I wonder if the birds will feed me with worms. Not even roots perhaps on this godless reef. Exiles usually choose their domiciles but now I reside actually on no thing, without family, country and church. And what did I 42 Panorama think once? Ha! Ha! An em pire. . . An empire on a reef? A reef for the Queen? That Queen has a vast amor propio. She fell for my fish talk about a land of onions, garlic and pepper where the sun pops up every morning unmindful of current events. Now where is this land of the morning? This? (Scoops up dirt from the ground) This? What will the Queen say? Poor Queen! She cashed in her jewels in this hide-and-seek on an outdated paper map that promised spices. I pity her. She has been dieting on the King’s dog bis cuits just to let me have five boats to look for onions, garlic and pepper. O, she must be very thin by now. Dieting on a husband’s dog food is very bad for a blueblooded wife. I should not have played with her amor propio so. Now, she must be dreaming of me and onions and so forth. Hungry women have hungry dreams. If I could only kiss her lips to lips — I am not very old for a lover, am I? Then she would forget I bring her this earth— a fistful of barren earth. But I could not do that. A woman’s lips are reserved for a man who tickles with sweet pro mises, not with results. Such a man is the King. Wait a min ute! I got an idea! I am always leading with misleading ideas. I hope they lead me back to the Queen this time. There are footprints on this earth. Aha! I named such a foothold of dust on March 17. Would the Queen understand and for give? I have not known any woman who understands and forgives. The King could not even advise her without ad vancing grounds for divorce. Ah, me, Spain’s darling! RIZAL I would that you were criticized to death. To be cri ticized is to be immortalized. R. MAN (looking around) What is that? It sounds like my scriptwriter Pigafetta. Pig^fetta is always whispering greatness into my ear. Pigafet ta, if you are alive come out and do not converse at the back of my head! Come out to be seen! RIZAL He has written your epitaph, Magellan. You will like it next to an empty sto mach. R. MAN Who is that who speaks unseen? Pigafetta has never been like this. He com pliments in the face. He values face values very much. Piga fetta, come out to be seen! You have not been false to anyone. I thank you, Pigafet ta! We are the only ones left. The others have run away. A pack of cowards. Pigafetta, can you hear me? You have always stuck to my side like a spare sword, December 1960 43 even in thirst and drunken ness, how coud you talk at my back like that! You who have willingly made me a shadow, I respect you! Come, let us drink what is spilt and be sad and forget we are alive! Let me hang unto you. I wilt let you hang unto me! WARRIOR Stranger, it is blood that is spilt, not tuba. Look at me. R. MAN Alas Pigafetta... I (Feels Lapulapu from head to toe) By my soul, I seemed to have met you before... WARRIOR Dawn this morn ing, old scalawag! R. MAN What are you, dear lad? RIZAL May I have the plea sure of introducing you to each other? You were not in the the mood for formalities this morning. Mr. Lapulapu, meet Mr. Magellan — a Portuguese sailor in the service of the Spa nish Crown, circumnavigator of the globe, discoverer of the Philippines. Mr. Magellan, meet Mr. Lapulapu, chief and stubborn individualist of Mactan, a gentleman without humor. R. MAN Ha? You are that La pulapu who could fight like me when I was younger? Well, I am glad to know you. I want to offer you my sword but I see it is broken. WARRIOR You broke it on my shield. You were a brave man. It was my honor to have killed you. You are foolish: you work for nothing but a crown. Tell me, are you from hell? R. MAN From hell? My young friend, you do not say that even in jest. With an interest ed third party here... RIZAL I am sorry to be a wit ness to your amicable settle ment of a little quarrel out of court. I am glad to be of use, however. I am Jose Rizal from the present. R. MAN You infer that we (pointing to himself and the warrior) are from the past. The past is the refuge of those who could not exist. Better know what you are talking about. (Rizal laughs) But, Mr. Lapulapu, you have a good place out here. WARRIOR Do feel at home, Mister. Your companions — they were so scared — were asking for your body before they left I know not where. . . and... RIZAL 115 are all that is left of Mr. Magellan’s men. They are still looking for spices but all they can meet with is hung er. You will not go hungry anymore, Mr. Magellan. R. MAN You mean . . . WARRIOR Yes, you are con quered, Mister. But you, Mr. Rizal, you are butting into this polite conversation. As I was saying, Mr. Magellan, your 44 Panorama companions were asking for your body but I did not let them. They would only com mit you to the water whereas I intend to preserve you in a jar with full military honors. R. MAN A pagan burial! Am I truly dead? RIZAL Neither of you is dead or alive. You are very much a set of political inspirations to the future. R. MAN Que barbaridad! Mur der is cleaner than suicide. And I thought of committing suicide. So it was you who killed me, Mr. Lapulapu. I remember it all now, can you forgive me? WARRIOR So it was me you wanted dead or alive, Mr. Ma gellan. Can you forgive me too? I will give you my kampilan as a souvenir. Here. R. MAN I do not need it. Let us bury our wrongdoings here and npw. I am tired. WARRIOR I am tired too. But you sleep first. I watch over you. RIZAL Too comfortable to be true. History is fun, no? And the fun of it is played out of history. Before you retire, Mr. Magellan, I have news for you. R. MAN Out with it quickly. This is not a play. This is real. And I am so tired...ex cuse me. (Falls down at the feet of the warrior) RIZAL (reading) “Thus our light was extinguished.” Signed Pigafetta. R. MAN (sleepily) Never mind that. Pigafetta is always playing with words. He can not be serious. Playwrights are punsters. They have noth ing to say. Ho.. hum ... the earth is very warm, and sleep is healthy. WARRIOR Go, Mr. Rizal! Can you not see that my righteous enemy wants to be left alone? And what are these sons-ofdirty-loins going to do? Hey, you! (Trick lighting produces a number of men setting up a papier mache obelisk) RIZAL In memory of Fernan do Magallanes, killed by Lapu lapu through some slight mis understanding. That is the best they can guess to do. WARRIOR An excuse for a holiday? Hey, you! Do not trespass! RIZAL (addressing men) Real ly, my countrymen, you should not... Some other time, not now. There will be a time for monuments. Let us honor the past with more worthwhile work. Go home and raise ve getables. (Trick lighting fades out the men, Magellan, and Lapulapu in a final glow of triumph) MESSENGER (enters with books) Padre Cordero sends books to you, senor. He says you can keep or give them December 1960 45 away. He wants a last word from you. RIZAL Convey my deepest gratitude to him, will you? MESSENGER Something deeper than that, he says, senor. Something like what you are thinking between to day and tomorrow. RIZAL I am not prepared... Well, I am not the last man. BOY Maestro, I was thinking ... what if you are him? RIZAL Him what, Doming? BOY The Last Man ... RIZAL Last Man. Oh, Last Man. I see what you mean. Of course, you are not the last to say I am the Last Man. You are carrying history too far, Doming. It does not end with me or any last man of yours. There simply is no Last Man. (To the messenger) Can you take down dictation? I have a message for Padre Cordero. I could write it my self but my hands are trem bling. (The messenger takes out pad and pencil) Are you ready? I will pronounce very slowly so that you can take down every word I say. Ready? (The messenger nods. Rizal looks longingly at the altar, breathes deeply, and walks slowly up and down) Now and... at the hour ... of our death ... we ask for . . . strength to accept... the lot that we deserve ... O God... O Amun-Ra ... O Buddha ... O Tao... O Allah... O Batha la ... (The messenger looks up disturbed) Never mind then. Padre Cordero will understand perhaps if I do not say any thing. (Absentmindedly) Be cause the worst world wars happen in the soul... what if only those who are driven by thoughts of death live? O, it is cruel... it is like disturbing someone in his grave... to look for buried gold or for a needle in eternity. Doming, let me see how you can endure a prayer. After this you can go. I shall have set you free. (He falls on his knees, motions the boy and the messenger to fall on their knees on his sides) Scene III (Rizal is seen awakened from a nap on the bench by a voice loudly expostulating offstage in the direction of the guards at the door to the chapel) RIZAL (peeping outside) Good evening, guards. Have you ever been in love? VOICE I am not allowed to speak to you. No puedo aceptar ninguna responsabilidad ... RIZAL Espero se servira despensar buena acojeda. And you, master, could you tell me if the moon is out by now? SECOND VOICE The moon might not rise until Three Kings, senor. RIZAL Oh! I have been in doors too long. I feel I could 46 Panorama walk through the walls. How are the other prisoners? SECOND VOICE They are all snoring. One is talking in his sleep. RIZAL Ah, blessed are their bones! I would like to walk among them. Sleeping men remind me of breathing tombs. How young is the youngest? SECOND VOICE Hard to tell. A new one was brought in yesterday. He was running high with fever. He was cry ing for milk and wanted only his mother to give it to him. RIZAL I feel like a child my self. It is not joke to be a child. A child must always have a mother. This afteroon my mother was here. She looked very old. The hard years have caught up with her. (Swooning) O, I nay! (Trick lighting produces Doha Teodora beside Rizal. They embrace lovingly) DONA TEODORA My son! My son! RIZAL (tenderly) Inay! (Checks his emotion and holds D. Teodora apart) There: my big old lady has never been so little and young looking! Your tears are like the tears of someone who is sixteen, and in love. Here, my handker chief is scented with April blossoms. Let me wipe the tears of my sweetheart. (Wipes her eyes) Are you happy? D. TEODORA (shedding tears anew) Pepe, I pleaded to Senor Polavieja. RIZAL (stunned) For what? For my life-imprisonment, Inay? D. TEODORA Yes, yes. It is better than losing you forever, my son. But he would not listen. He did not even re ceive my petitions asking life for you, even in prison for ever. RIZAL (absentmindedly) That is better. O, you did not see me about these things, Inay. How are my sisters? What do they think about me? D. TEODORA They came with me. We can only see you one by one. They are waiting out side for their turn. Josefina is in the fort, too. Not with your sisters. RIZAL Josephine... so... so un happy. Inay, it was a long time. It want to see them ... all of them... one by one ... D. TEODORA Not until I go out, Pepe. I am jealous of them all now. Let me feel how much you are still a baby. (Fulls him to the bench; takes his head to her laps and combs his hair with her fin gers) Do you remember ask ing me big questions when you were so little? RIZAL Little questions have big answers. I ask myself: Are the people on the other side of the lake happy? Why does December 1960 47 the moth dive to sure death in the flame? Inay, I have done nothing to make you happy. I have been a very naughty boy. D. TEODORA Filio! My Pepe is filio! RIZAL When I operated on your eyes I felt God take over the operation. Miracle! I could not believe I did it. D. TEODORA Love guided your hands, my son. Then I could see Hongkong clearly. Such a new world! Not like Manila which ends at walls every turn you make. There were the kites! The rockets! The tinpans! Was that a fiesta below your terrace? RIZAL (laughing) That was the Year of the Horse and the Chinese Day of Lovers. I wore my mother’s heart that day. (Trick lighting fades out Dona Teodora. Rizal goes to the door and peeps outside) Can one of you stand guard inside? (A guard bearing a lantern enters) Thank you, guard. I feel weak. The flesh is weak. Can you tell me something about the dungeon which somebody said I am lucky not to be in? GUARD Nine cells run down to it. It is like a deep well. I would lose myself in it with out a companion. The pri soners there do not receive any sunlight. The jailer him self smells of moss when he comes up. RIZAL I am luckier then. GUARD O yes, senor. The new prisoner was taken down there this morning. He took the chains of the oldest one I knew. This old one was trans ferred to your cell. You could not know him if he were your twin brother — beard a foot long: I think he has not much time to live. He does not talk of dying. Perhaps death has missed him. RIZAL Life has missed him equally. I am luckier I guess. At least the sun had been reaching me in the cell. I had visitors, both friend and ener my. The first one greeted me after the misa de gallo. (Trick lighting produces Lt. Luis T. Andrade, defense counsel of Rizal, extending his hands) ANDRADE Merry Christmas, Pepe. RIZAL Same to you, Luis. You are risking everything in haggling for my freedom. ANDRADE This can be a page in history, Pepe. I think we can make it if we bluff well with our last card before the Council. The hearing will be resumed tomorrow. RIZAL (contemplatively) No, Luis, that would be gambling a page of history on a story stake. ANDRADE But, Pepe, do you not see what the stake is? Your life! You are on trial as a traitor and you are still 48 Panorama talking about the rightful course of events. RIZAL Who cares? Is there no law? ANDRADE There is only your honor system which makes it hard... even for me ... to ... Pepe, come! Come to it! Do you not see that if we oblige them a little you shall live? RIZAL And remain bowed though the strong wind shall have passed? I thank you for everything you are doing for me. ANDRADE (clasping Rizal’s hands tightly) On your honor system then. If I lose I will not be able to face you again. Goodbye, Pepe. (Trick lighting fades him out) RIZAL Guard, where are you from? GUARD The Sacromonte hills, senor. RIZAL You are Cale then? I am sort of gypsy too. My name is Jdse Protacio Rizal y Mercado. Friends call me Pe pe. What is yours? GUARD Zumel. Julian Abad Zumel. I am better known as Gitano among my comradesat-arms. My Spanish is not good because we gypsies al ways speak Cale at home. RIZAL Any language will do as long as you can express yourself in it. But next to Tagalog, I like to know enough English to come to think in English about the prophecy of our fellow gypsy Jagor. He is a very free man. (Trick light ing produces Feodor Jagor, in a German professor’s clothes of the 19th century) JAGOR Hello, Don Jose. The Spirit of Good Voyages put me ashore and told me to see you. I did not expect to find you here. RIZAL You look well yourself, sir. JAGOR Ugh... I feel spent. The trouble with the few of us is we are everybody’s con science. RIZAL Who are with you? JAGOR Progressives. We are. a boatload. Most of us are dead but each time we put to shore, the dead come to life again. Does it not tickle you to read Apocalypse? That is our boat’s name. It is really the Flying Dutchman’s ship. We seized it from him. It is keeling with barnacles on which the living feed on in mid-ocean. The dead are nour ished by memory. RIZAL No politicians on board? JAGOR I assure you no rats, no pearls, no swine. We might sink with them. But we are a merry lot. When we weigh anchor we are again in our element. RIZAL I was about to ask you something but I have forgot ten it. It is tipping on my tongue. December 1960 49 JAGOR Ask it and it shall be answered. If I cannot, I can summon one of the crew to answer it. That is our univer sal purpose. We are called to answer the nearest call. First come, first served: we also practice this capitalistic creed. RIZAL Your prophecy about an English-speaking people who will someday succeed the Spanish ... I was thinking over and over that if we are to have another master ... JAGOR Did I put that down in black and white? O, yes, I published it. I even copy righted it. But I imitated it. I cannot remember how I imi tated it. It just came about when I was lonely, I guess. And in the confusing course of my travels, I unwittingly wrote it down in my diaries. I should have burned such an emotion. Emotion only hap pens in a play. The players memorize the emotion and deliver it an emotion. Nothing is original with them. They mouth substanceless memory. RIZAL You could not have imitated the players, sir. JAGOR O, that I myself could play the part I write for others! But I must observe the ethics of visiting. I could talk on and on but I am not your last visitor. Hmmm, what do you have here? (Picks up one of the books on the bench) De la Irrjtacion de Cristo y Menosprecio del Mundo. Nice book. Suppose you talk with Thomas-a-Kempis. He is mas ter of imitation. I simply could not imitate anybody but myself. Excuse me. RIZAL I will. Thank you, sir. Auf wiedersehen. (With a goodbye flourish of his hand, Jagor fades out. Trick light ing fades in St. Thomas-aKempis.) A-KEMPIS How do you do, son of man? RIZAL Is it you—in the flesh? I will not touch you lest I will not believe. A-KEMPIS (laying his hand on Rizal’s head) Christ be with you. Faith is too much of a confidence but,, in all faith, you can confide to Christ. RIZAL Kindly, O Saint, re move this mortal agony from me. (Sinks to the bench) I feel very sick at heart. A-KEMPIS Promise me you will not join the Apocalypse. I am not one of them. RIZAL I promise. I promise you everything if you relieve me of this exceeding sorrow. A-KEMPIS Belief can only make you happy. You have not believed sincerely. Let us pray. (They cross themselves and pray silently) RIZAL (stands and looks up at heaven) I believe! I have al ways believed! A-KEMPIS Therefore be hap py. Feel happy. Do not think you are unhappy. That is the 50 Panorama whole of life. Life stays the earth while it turns the stars. RIZAL For a little while... (covers his face with his hands) O, it is terrible, Saint, to know I have done nothing. A-KEMPIS Then you feel you have done everything. Know ledge comes to naught. Love is the only reality worth knowing. RIZAL So ... if I... if I do not love at all?... if I only loved myself? Myself is my death. Grass will cover me. A-KEMPIS Eternity has hum bled you. Christ will raise you from the grave. RIZAL My most serious doubt has been the existence of life after death. A-KEMPIS Doubt is the first step to faith. I doubted much. Very much. But I troubled hell with my doubting. The devil: came in the form of a torch singer. I stood my ground against that thing and many things afterwards. When I was ready, I was conferred faith. Faith is a crown, only the coronation takes place in side you. All hell will clear off your path when you walk and you will walk back to God. RIZAL (inspiredly) Eternity, Eternity, here I come! But how could I earn it, Saint? A-KEMPIS By not denying the Resurrection and the Life. RIZAL It takes a lot of cour age to do that. A-KEMPIS A lot of humility. Heaven is at the bottom of humility. To be humbled is to be awed as to be gentle is to be in love. It is only through the eyeview of the worm we see that to be hum bled is to lose pride and to be in love is to begin to lust. RIZAL Death, then, can only be proud? No human being can? A-KEMPIS Life alone can be proud. (Unbares his chest) Look: I once burned myself with a torch, with which I conquered my first desire. How does the firebrand look to you? RIZAL (tracing the tattoo on a-Kempis’ chest with his fin gers) It looks like a burning bush... a flowering cactus. A-KEMPIS You know much of plants and flowers. RIZAL Rice, orchids, every thing that has roots. A-KEMPIS With all the care for other plants, it is a won der how a cactus grows un aided, no? It does not even begin with roots. It thrives best where other plants could not grow. But is not the de sert more deathly without the cactus? Life is in the strangest places. Over death it plants its burning bushes and flower ing cacti. Trust there is no December 1960 Si end to this and you trust in life. Creation goes on and on. RIZAL You have died and arisen: what agonies must these experiences be! O, Saint, you are calm: how do you suffer and not show it? A-KEMPIS (producing a cruci fix which he kisses and extends to Rizal who kisses it) Re sign yourself to the Divine Will. He who conquered death for you and me was also born to fear the death of the body. If He was God why was He not able to save Himself? If a mortal, why did he not run away? Lest we fall into temp tation, son of man, let us pray. (They fall on their knees. Trick lighting fades out aKempis) RIZAL (dazedly) I must have fallen asleep. Gitano, has my visitor gone? GUARD Visitor? There is no one but us' here, Senor Rizal. You were talking about the sun reaching you, then you were talking about man reach ing the moon. You were mur muring many foreign names. RIZAL Dr. Ferdinand Blumentritt... ever constant to the last moment... (Trick lighting produces Blumentritt, walking in with a cane, and with a pince-nez which he takes off on seeing Rizal) BLUMENTRITT Happy birth day. Jose. RIZAL (surprised) O! Thank you, Doctor. Yes, it is June 19 again. 1861 to the present. A long time... BLUMENTRITT You were not down at the coffee shop. So I came up to know what is so important that keeps you from breaking your fast. RIZAL I thought... But did you not meet my double on the street? I sent him to eat my usual toast and eggs for me... a little while ago. BLUMENTRITT Man alive! You are exhausted. It is late morning outside. RIZAL Did the kingdom change much the last three days? BLUMENTRITT Not at all. But I have taken to stretching my legs around town at sun rise lest I start forgetting their use. They are not meeting yours in the park or in the museum anymore these days. RIZAL (laughing, feels for something in his pocket) Ah, the invitation to the tea ses sion at Hidalgo’s three days back. (Takes another piece of paper from his pocket) Oho! It seems I have stood uo a sweet senorita at the Filipino colony’s party which was intended for her. BLUMENTRITT There! The kingdom is palming you these symptoms of decadence. (A newsboy’s voice cries offstage: “El Anuncio! El Anuncio!”) 52 Panorama Hear that? They usually shout the whole headline at some world-shaking event. Today, it is just some banker that shot himself, or another bishop has been incarcerated by the long arm of the Minister of Ultramar. Or another who could have been a Caesar has been stabbed in a free-for-all. (Female vendor’s voice cries offstage: “Roses! Roses! Fresh roses!”) Or another bachelor hood and spinsterhood have happily terminated. Or ano ther boy and girl have eloped and returned asking forgive ness. But flowers always re mind me of death. Spring is too pretty to hide her frailty like a bride. Death never misses... RIZAL Death never misses ... death never misses. That is a very pretty phrase. Doctor, if I did not know you were a scientist I could call you a poet. BLUMENTRITT (mockingly) Or another canned soup is advertised. Very soon we will also forget the use of our teeth. There are not even volcanoes now to shake us in to our senses. RIZAL Krakatoa gutted itself out for its own sake. We can not always apply science on humanity without dismember ing it. BLUMENTRITT Leave that to the police and the Cortes. Genius does not even get mini mum wage. Come, you need food. (Trick lighting fades him out) RIZAL What time is it? GUARD Five to six by my timepiece. RIZAL Mine has stopped at 12:00. It has been behaving this way since the verdict. (Trick lighting produces Polavieja presiding over the Council of War. Andrade is standing beside Rizal who is seated. The Council men nod. A clerk of court stands up) CLERK OF COURT Will the prisoner please stand up? (Rizal stands) Be it known to all present that: Whereas the defendant, Jose Rizal, was found guilty of the charges brought against him which are, to wit, rebellion against the Church and State and treason appurtenant thereto, by official decree of His Excel lency, the Governor-General, which is concurred upon by the Council of War assembled and Her Majesty, the Queen Re gent of Espana, the said de fendant is ordered to be exec uted by a firing squad compos ed of his countrymen. . . (Ri zal gasps in surprise at “coun trymen”) ... at seven o’clock in the morning, Manila time, on the thirtieth of December in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred ninetysix, on the field of BagumbaDecember i960 53 yan. The said defendant is further required to indemnify the court the sum of twenty thousand pesetas for damages. That is all. POLAVIEJA Senor Rizal may now say what he wants to say. ANDRADE I will speak for Se nor Rizal as his legal defense. Your Excellency, you will be only igniting the fuse of war by. . . RIZAL (holding Andrade) Lieutenant, a word with you. (Take him aside) Luis, I thank you as I have not thanked any body before. Give me your hand. (They shake hands wordlessly) Thank you, Senor Polavieja. I have nothing to say. POLAVIEJA I hate to do this, Senor Rizal. However, if you change your mind and wish to retract, I might still consider... ANDRADE Pepe! Now is your chance, Pepe! RIZAL (smiling) Hundreds have already read the truth, Luis. I do not have the strength to rob them of their reading pleasure. Even you, I think, consider the truth good fiction. Read it someday and remem ber me. (To Polavieja) I have nothing to say, General. ANDRADE Goodbye, Pepe. Think kindly of me. RIZAL Goodbye, Luis. Pray for me. (Trick lighting fades out Polavieja, Andrade and the council) RIZAL I am always asking the time from guards. I think God has a hand in this. Both time and God seem... (Cockcrow in the distance) It is dawn. Not much farther is. . . Gitano, how long do you expect to live? GUARD As long as I may be in my right mind, senor. When my time comes I hope to mum ble a little adios to my friends. RIZAL In bed? I wish I could die in bed and choose the friends I like to see me leap like a bird to the sun. It must be terrible to die in the night, Gitano. GUARD Not if in the open, se nor. RIZAL There is not always a mcon to look up to. Right now it is a dead moon up there. It cannot borrow light from the source. The earth stands be tween, a shadow. I wonder if in the shadow I could find. . . (Trick lighting produces Trining, Rizal’s sister, wearing a bandana with which she tries to hide her tears) TRINING Kuya! RIZAL (turning to her) Trining! (Embraces her) O, you have grown up overnight. Do you gather mushrooms for Paciano? How you used to hate me in the season of mush rooms! TRINING I love you, kuya. RIZAL (holds her chin up and 54 Panorama takes off her bandana) Quick, smile. Why these tears if you love me? TRINING (smiles forcibly) We have lost you after all, ku ya. We have burned a thou sand candles at the Virgin’s feet for many nights and days. But she has not heard us. She has not heard us, kuya. RIZAL Virgin Mary is the Mo ther of the living, Trining. God also wants to father me and he has bidden St. Joseph to lead me to my Brother, Jesus. Jesus is very glad to have me be cause He has only few play mates. Thrice a night I wake up to Him calling me from the darkness. (A child’s voice: ‘ Pe pe! Pepe! Pepe!”) And I find him looking for little lost lambs in the starlight. He touches me and I am again a child. (Guard’s voice outside: “Hurry up! Hurry up!”) But man also calls you back. We are too near this world to be able to stay in that real life. TRINING I will not leave you, kuya! I will not leave you! RIZAL (takes her by the shoul der to an alcohol lamp) Re member me to Mrs. Tavera. She warmed me with this little lamp the nights in Paris. There is something inside. I wish you keep it safe. (Trining receives the lamp, wipes her tears away, faces Rizal bravely. Ri zal smiles. She puts back her bandanna and slowly goes out) RIZAL Do you believe in ghosts, Gitano? GUARD I have never seen one, senor. RIZAL You must also believe what you do not see. Look at the dogs. I think they are more religious. They detect ghosts. This is a time when ghosts walk back to the scene of their crimes, no? (Dogs howl in the distance. Two white habilimented priests enter) FIRST PRIEST Well, Jose, we can work together for your par don if you will just cooperate. RIZAL I am not clear on ibis thing, Father. SECOND PRIEST No, Jose, you made your stand against the Church very clearly. RIZAL What else could I do? F. PRIEST Retraction is anoth er way. RIZAL How? How can one be born a Christian and die in an other way? S. PRIEST Masonry, Jose, ma sonry. It is the enemy of the Church. RIZAL Once upon a time men wanted to know. Their eyes saw glory and they were baf fled. Finally, the question had to be asked and an ignorant judged, harried to decision by a mob of truth-seekers, did question the question: “What is truth?” S. PRIEST We have come a long way, yet the truth is never December 1960 nearer with our philosophizing it. We have come only to feel and not to use wayside facts to measure how far truth is still from us. There is a thing as wisdom of the heart. RIZAL We have come a long way to become single truth seekers. One thing is sure: no body is sure of the truth. It is the seeking that counts then. It is a virtue, unless virtue is sin. Did Pilate will it so? F. PRIEST Pilate started an age of doubt and it will not do us any good to make him a re ference. The origin of man can lead us to the truth. Man does have a soul. The soul is the ab solute truth. We are interest ed in knowing the nature of the soul. RIZAL Something in a fish tells me there is in it little that man has improved on himself. S. PRIEST Use your heart, Jose. It is, given you to feel. You can use your mind only against yourself. RIZAL Father, I am a-grieved. I felt like this a thousand times before. When I am writing a poem, I am praying, praying, praying. Between verses or prayers I am also thinking that this cannot be happening.... happening to me. O, no, not me! Yet, despite what I am thinking I keep praying or writing till the rosary or the poem is whole. Only then can I go back to my body which cannot understand again what I have just done. Father, the truth cannot be had in a sin gle lifetime. F. PRIEST We are all guessers at it, Jose. Sometimes the Ho ly Spirit does inhabit us and we get a glimpse of glory. But no one can get all what he wants. Now, will you sign? (Produces a document) RIZAL The earliest Christians were pretty sure that they would have. They signed with the figure of the fish when they were sure of being watched. The synagogues were full of eyes and I wonder if hell is not as packed as that. S. PRIEST. Just your signa ture, Jose, and you will be saved. Do you not want to live? RIZAL How can a human be ing live? All my life I have been asking myself: How can a human being live? F. PRIEST It is a pity that so gifted a youth shoud not have used his talents in a better cause. Jose, my son, masonry is the enemy of the Church. RIZAL My religion which is your religion has no enemy. Nobody could pretend to peace without reliigon. It is just our human practices that make re ligion inhuman. Hervosa, my brother-in-law, cannot even rest in death. Extreme unction was denied him. Suppose my 56 Panorama soul will fly around like that without anchor... Father, I prefer to be buried in Paang Bundok —with your permis sion. Will you give me your blessing? S. PRIEST See, you are just a shy Catholic, Jose. RIZAL I am a sinner. Father. F. PRIEST Reconcile with the Church now. The times is near. RIZAL Have I not been al ways with it? Vengan los mas valientes! (Enter Joesphine in immaculate white; a white mantilla makes her look like a bride) JOSEPHINE Darling, please live! Live for my sake! (To the priests) Father, I feel... un wanted ... RIZAL (approaching her) Don’t say that again, Josefina. I’ve always wanted you as no body ever did. Right now, I want you to be my wife and I’m asking you to live for my sake. Father, will you marry us? F. PRIEST Until you sign, Jose. JOSEPHINE I want you, Pepe! I want you, darling! RIZAL I am so earthbound I want to crawl. For your sake, Josephina. (He signs the docu ment which the priest extends to him without reading it) Whatever you say, Father. Now, will you marry us? S. PRIEST (handling Rizal a blue scapular) This is our greatest hour. God is looking down. JOSEPHINE (sobbing) Fath er, if you have power set Pe pe free. We’ll go to Borneo. . . far, far away where you’ll not see us again, I promise. We’ll not come back to this place. RIZAL Josefina. . . (takes Jo sephine aside: they embrace lovingly) This is not the place to talk of places. Why, we’re here! Together! And in a mo ment we’ll be united. Come, come, give me a smile. F. PRIEST (on the steps to the altar) Come now, Jose, Jose fina. RIZAL Now, you stand here. Be beautiful and you’re beauti ful. I’ll stand at the steps. I’ll be waiting for you there. This comes once in a lifetime. Pre tend you’re walking on a mountain trail which is straigh/t Be careful not to fall. On either side is a deep abyss. Let me see if you can walk your own. . . JOSEPHINE (walking slowly and fearfuly; midway she be comes braver and attains Rizal’s arms) O, Pepe, it’s fear ful in the imagination! Hold me! RIZAL Imagination’s always ■viul my dearest. Control yourself and you control everything. Now, you can walk alone. December 1960 57 JOSEPHINE Can I? O, darl ing, can I? RIZAL Yes, yes, yes. Now, are you ready? Father I am ready. (The ceremony is performed. S. PRIEST I congratulate you, Jose. Good luck, Josefina. (Produces a carving of the Sacred Heart) Jose, do you recognize this? RIZAL (taking the carving) The image I carved when I was a student. It has not aged... F. PRIEST Things God shall not be dated. They are only re discovered. RIZAL I wish to contemplate on the Sacred Heart for a while. JOSEPHINE Father, I wish to be with my husband alone for a while. S. PRIEST May you find peace, my children. Dominus vobiscum. (Both priests exit) JOSEPHINE (embracing Ri zal) Pepe... RIZAL Josefina. . . JOSEPHINE Pepe, we’re to gether always? You’ll be with me once in a while? RIZAL I will. I will. We find ourselves in difficult circum stances. I can only give this (gives her a book) as a remin der. The most is the giver though. JOSEPHINE (reading the de dication) “To my dear and un happy wife — Josephine. De cember 30th, 1896, Jose Rizal.” About Christ! O, darling, it’s beautiful! RIZAL Christ will always look after you for me. JOSEPHINE Look, darling. . . (points to the painted Host) It’s like our moon in Dapitan. RIZAL Will you always look for me in the moon? JOSEPHINE I wish I’d follow you soon. Tell me there’s a land somewhere where we’d be alone. RIZAL No land, no earth but this one, Josefina. We all leave our loves behind here. We sur render to love here to be re deemed in the next. The next life will be all thanksgiving. . . and further work. Leaving the earth is an escape at its worst. Don’t do that. JOSEPHINE And you do it? RIZAL I’m forced to do it. Inay said I’d always amount to nothing. It’s true. Perhaps the people at Balintawak have been right after all. I didn’t believe at first in their method Now, now. . . O, Im just a Man in the Moon. I objected at first to my name used as a battlecry. Very soon I’ll be forgotten and what the people did will be remembered. Any way I’m happy. I’ve supplied the madness to their method. Josephine, what will you do after this exile? JOSEPHINE I can teach. I can join the guerrillas. I can 58 Panorama cook, and I can... I... can cry. . . RIZAL Don’t cry. Here, pro mise me, you’ll never cry. Once I saw you dancing. . . JOSEPHINE I danced alone — with our unborn. I didn’t know you were peeping. RIZAL Don’t be a wallflower. Even if you step on your part ner’s toes. Everybody wants you to dance. And dance you will (Shouts offstage: “Viva Espana!” thrice) JOSEPHINE They’re coming here, Pepe! They’re coming to get you. Pepe, I’ll follow you. RIZAL Josefina. . . (Embraces her) Josefina. . . JOSEPHINE Pepe. . . I dream ed you died but came back to life. . . RIZAL 0, never mind. Let them come. This is the last station of the cross. Gitano, what time is it now? GUARD Some minutes to se ven. I cannot see the numbers very well. What is the matter? RIZAL Open the door, Gitano, and admit the light. The altar lights are going out. Josephine, can you see me? JOSEPHINE No, Pepe, I can’t. . . Where are you? Voices at the door: “Kill the traitor! Kill the traitor!” Guard opens the door. Early morn ing light floods in. Voice: “At tention! Sergeant of the Guards speaking to guard in charge of chapel. Acknow ledge!”) GUARD (presenting arms) Guard in charge of chapel ac knowledges Sergeant of the Guards. VOICE OF THE SERGEANT Deliver the prisoner at once! (Shout offstage: “Kill the trai tor!”) RIZAL (standing at the en trance, in the full force of the light from outside) My body is safe through the night, ser geant. I am committing it to you. I was just accustoming ' my eyes to the light. O, I see: my escorts are ready. Pedes trians are lining the drive. They do this in victory pa rades, don’t they? It is like the homecoming of a hero to ac cept the key to the city. (Voices: “Viva Espana!” Three men break in —an Igorot, a Moro, and a contempo rary Filipino — and breath lessly take hold of Rizal’s hands, hat, clothes. . . ) SERGEANT (entering) Three wise men, eh? Do not be fun ny. You are only civilians. You are not bound by the articles of war. You do not have poli tics. Go before you break the law. I., M., & C. F. Law? SERGEANT Ignoramuses! The King is the law. GUARD Really, my friends... SERGEANT Friends? You call these friends? They cannot even write or read, I know. December 1960 59 GUARD May I have the per mission to speak to them, sir? SERGEANT All right, all right. Out with your talk. GUARD (to the three men) The King is the law, yes, my friends. And the King is noth ing but a human being that is obeyed. One Who disobeys is an outlaw. It is only an out law that is free. But who is the king that wants his people free? To be free is to help on ly one’s self. And who will help the King if everybody helps himself? SERGEANT Quickly! Quick ly! I., M., & C. F. Well, let him help himself. GUARD Think again and do not blame the King for being the law. He does not know any other occupation but being the law, poor King! SERGEANT What, Zumel? Poor'King? Clarify your state ment. GUARD Yes, sir. May I conti nue? I will clarify your state ment on politics. My friends, politics employs the King. Without politics he has no in come. If he has no income he has to resort to juez de cuchillo. So do not blame us soldiers too. Soldiers are only civilians working for the livelihood of the King for fear of their own lives. Now, go on. You have only to run in and out of luck: it is your game. The King and his men have to stay lucky: it is their duty. RIZAL Go on as ordered, my countrymen. I., M., & C. F. Dimas-Alang, a last message for us. RIZAL My message is known. Widows and orphans will only multiply if you do not watch out. SERGEANT Finished? You, you, and you, get lost! You do not, huh? Guard throw them in the dungeon. GUARD Sir, we cannot afford to multiply our enemies. SERGEANT Zumel, tomorrow your generation will be saying; ‘ Why did we have such a co ward for a father?” GUARD Other soldiers would comply with your wishes. . . SERGEANT You... you? Hey, guards! Throw them all to the dungeon! (Guards enter and seize the three men, in cluding the guard. The ser geant sizes the guard’s gun and rips his shirt) As of this mo ment, consider our connections ended. I will recommend you for dishonorable discharge. (The guards take them out) RIZAL Sergeant, may I have a last wish? Will you set them free? SERGEANT The order is or dered. I cannot change it. Come, yourself, senor. You are delay ing. . . (Shouts: “Kill the trai tor! Kill the traitor! Viva Es pana!”) 60 Panorama RIZAL Just a moment. Jose phine. . . (Josephine comes to him ) Cheer up. Now you stand here again. Be beautiful and you’re beautiful. Imagine I’m there at the altar as before. Pretend you’re walking on a mountain trail which is straight. Be careful not to fall. On either side is a deep ab yss. . . JOSEPHINE Kiss me! (Rizal kisses her) Pepe, the way. . . the way. . . is dark. . . RIZAL Can you manage it? JOSEPHINE O, Pepe, it’s fear ful. . . RIZAL Imagination is, my dearest. Imagine there’s a moon and I’m in it. Now, walk up to it. Are you ready? (Jose phine starts to walk up to the extinguished altar. Rizal sadly looks at her till she attains the steps and has fallen on her knees. Rizal smiles and turns to the sergeant) RIZAL Shall we go. . . our way? (The sergeant leads the way out. Shout: “Viva Espa na!”) ¥ ¥ ¥ Eat While You May Two cannibals met in a mental institution. One was tearing out pictures of men, women and chil dren from a magazine, stuffing them in his mouth and eating them. “Tell me,” said the other, “is that dehydrated stuff any good?” A Political Definition Another example of marvelous equilibrium is a politician standing on his past record. December 1960 61