Free The Ride Across Lake Constance and Other Plays by Peter Handke

already?

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    GEORGE
    ( Hesitates; astonished ) Yes, that’s odd! ( Then continues rapidly .) Just as there are born losers, born troublemakers, and born criminals, there are ( He spreads his fingers .) born owners. Most people as soon as they own something are not themselves any more. They lose their balance and become ridiculous. Estranged from themselves they begin to squint. Bed wetters who stand next to their bed in the morning. (The bed signifies their possession. Or perhaps their shame?) ( Brief moment of confusion, then he continues at once .) I, on the other hand, am a born owner: only when I possess something do I become myself …
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    JANNINGS
    ( Interrupts him .) “Born owner”? I’ve never heard that expression.
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    ( Pause .)
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    GEORGE
    ( Suddenly ) “Life is a game”—you must have heard people say that? (JANNINGS makes no reply, waits .) And a game has winners and losers, right? (JANNINGS makes no reply .) And those who don’t get anything are the losers, and those who can have everything are the winners, right? (JANNINGS makes no reply, only bends forward, opens his mouth, but not to speak .) And do you know the expression “born winner”?
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    ( Silence. Suddenly both burst out laughing and slap each other’s thighs. While they are still doing so, a woman appears above left on the staircase. She is beautiful. She is wearing a long dress in which she moves as though it were carrying her. She has appeared noiselessly and has walked down a few steps. She stops in the middle of the left staircase, puts her hand on the bannister, and turns her head a little: it is ELISABETH BERGNER. Her hands are empty, no handbag .

    She observes the strange scene beneath her with lowered eyelids: JANNINGS and GEORGE are busy pulling each other’s ears and patting each other’s cheeks. She moves a few steps farther down and now remains standing, face forward, on the wide center staircase. With lowered eyelids she appears to observe the two below her: JANNINGS is just showing GEORGE the back of his hand; GEORGE replies by making a circle with his thumb and forefinger and then holding his hand in front of his face; and JANNINGS replies to this sign by holding both hands above his head, loosely clasping one wrist with thumb and forefinger of the other hand and letting the clasped hand circle about itself, whereupon both of them burst out laughing once again, and again start slapping each other’s thighs, making exclamations such as “Exactly!” “You guessed it!” Then one of them slowly calms down while the other continues to slap his thighs.
    In the meantime, two other persons have appeared on the right section of the staircase; both of them have stopped at once and observed the strange scene below: a man and a woman. One can recognize them: ERICH VON STROHEIM and HENNY PORTEN. He is impressive, wears a red dressing gown over a gray vest and pants as the only hint at a costume. She wears an evening dress with a velvet stole.
    As they appear , PORTEN loudly claps her handbag shut and VON STROHEIM pulls up the zipper in back of her dress, then fastens his collar button: “As I said …” But it now becomes unclear how they belong together; they stand two steps apart.
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    The noise of the handbag has made one of the two downstairs gradually quiet down . “Don’t turn around!” he says to the other.
    The other immediately turns around and sees the three persons standing on the staircase . “No corpse,” he says to the other . “You can turn around: everyone is alive.”

    The other turns around, then he rubs his eyes fervently.
    â€œDon’t you believe me?” the first one asks.
    â€œI just wasn’t prepared for such a bright light,” he replies. “I didn’t know that it was so late already. We’ve lost all track of time with our talking!”
    â€œWe?” the first