Soul of a Whore and Purvis by Denis Johnson Read Free Book Online Page B

                          Not a thing.
    WILL : The vegetable’s entire day is free.
    NURSE : What you don’t seem to realize is a coma
    Doesn’t make them deaf. They hear us talk,
    They understand, and Simon knows what’s what.
    WILL : You claim the calabash is cognizant.
    NURSE : If I was being visited by you,
    And I was in a coma—I would die!
    WILL : I think—Is that my sister-in-law out there?
    NURSE : I’d slip on out to sea and sail away.
    WILL : It is. Ah, God!—the other one! Her sister!
    What’s this all about?
    SIMON :                                     Who owns the rain
    NURSE : It doesn’t take a death grip!
    WILL :                                                Like he cares!
    He didn’t even blink. He kinda sorta
    Rolls his eyes around though, doesn’t he.
    A six-foot-long Señor Potato-Head…
    And not one blister, huh? Not one hair singed.
    That’s what ya git fer smokin’!—might as well
    Be ashes, huh?
    NURSE :                        He got like this from smoking?
    WILL : Not exactly smoking—breathing smoke,
    Smoke inhalation. Very bad for you.
    SIMON : I would kiss you even if it killed me
    Meanwhile, JAN and STACY have entered.
    JAN : Let him a- lone !
    WILL :                        It shuts him up, or so
    I’m told—and as we’ve just been demonstrating.
    SIMON : Even if it killed me I would kiss you
    JAN : Simon, hon?…I think he’s glad to see me!
    STACY : Simon? Can he hear? His voice is all—
    SIMON : Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur
    JAN :                   See! He knows Ko-ala Lumpur!
    STACY : All those voices, all those different—Jan,
    I never heard those voices before.
    Did you ever hear those voices before?
    NURSE : Visiting hours haven’t really started —
    STACY : He’s like a boombox on a merry-go-round!
    WILL : This is Simon’s wife, my sister-in-law—
    JAN : Jan.
    NURSE : I’m pleased to meet you.
    JAN :                                            This is Stacy,
    Simon’s sister-in-law, which is because
    I’m Simon’s wife, and she’s my sister—Calling
    Koala Lumpur! Simon!
    STACY :                                      Can he hear?
    JAN : Are you receiving, Simon?
    WILL :                                        No. He’s not.
    STACY : He talked right to us!—He was buying gold
    In Koala Lumpur when the fire struck
    That shopping mall and pumped it full of smoke
    And choked him till he got like this! Now, Simon,
    Form your thoughts, take all the time you want,
    Visiting hours haven’t even started—
    WILL : He isn’t “forming” any “thoughts.” All right:
    You’re here; he’s here; everybody’s here.
    Now how about a little explanation?
    JAN : Well! The lights came on!
    NURSE :                                      It’s eight a.m.
    It’s still a half an hour till official —
    WILL : And not “Koala.” K- U -A-L-A—
    JAN : He was buying gold , he was investing —
    Tragedy strikes us anytime it wants,
    Even in places like Koala Lumpur—
    STACY : Kua- la Lumpur, Kua- la Lumpur, Jan—
    JAN :—No matter what you try to call yourself!
    You can’t escape life even by pretending!
    Meanwhile, the DOCTOR has entered.
    DOC : So, Simon draws a crowd!
    NURSE :                                        They jumped the