A More Perfect Heaven (22 page)

RHETICUS. I’ve got to take it with me to …

COPERNICUS. Not this. No.

RHETICUS. But how can I … ?

COPERNICUS. A copy. I meant for you to take a copy with you. Not my manuscript.

RHETICUS. I’ve copied only the first few chapters. Not enough to …

COPERNICUS. I can’t let it go.

RHETICUS. There isn’t time now to copy …

COPERNICUS. (
breaking down
) I can’t.

RHETICUS. You’ve got to let me …

COPERNICUS. I can’t. It’s been with me my whole life. It is my life. I cannot part with it.

COPERNICUS
clutches the manuscript to his chest.

RHETICUS. All right. I’ll just take the parts I copied.

COPERNICUS. I can’t.

RHETICUS. It’s all right. But what about the rest? How will you … ?

COPERNICUS. I’ll copy it for you. I’ll …

RHETICUS. You can’t do that by yourself.

COPERNICUS. I’ll get someone to help me. You’ll see.

RHETICUS. I’ll be waiting for it. In Nuremberg.

COPERNICUS. I know you will.

RHETICUS. I won’t fail you.

COPERNICUS. Go now.

RHETICUS. Everyone will be waiting for it.

COPERNICUS. Yes. Now go.

RHETICUS
closes the satchel, looks around the room.

COPERNICUS. Joachim!

COPERNICUS
embraces
RHETICUS
in a long good-bye hold.

COPERNICUS. Good-bye, Joachim.

RHETICUS. Good-bye, my teacher.

RHETICUS
goes to the door, turns for a last look.

COPERNICUS. May God forgive you, and bless you.

RHETICUS. God be with you, my teacher. My father.

RHETICUS
exits.

COPERNICUS. And with you. May God be w-w-w—

COPERNICUS
shakes his head to clear it, tries to speak. His right arm falls to his side, but he still clutches the manuscript to his chest with the left as he sinks into a chair.

Blackout.

SCENE xvi. COPERNICUS’S BEDROOM
DE REV

COPERNICUS
lies in bed, comatose.
Giese
kneels beside him, praying. A loud knocking comes from the front door, but
Giese
tries to ignore it.

ANNA. (
offstage
) For pity’s sake! Let me in. Oh, why won’t you open the door? Let me in, I say. Have you no heart?

GIESE
relents, goes to the door.

ANNA. (
offstage
) Let me in. Let me in!

GIESE
opens the door.

ANNA. (
entering
) Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t anyone say anything? Oh, where is he?

ANNA
rushes past
GIESE
to the bedside.

GIESE
stays close behind her.

ANNA. Oh, Mikoj! It’s me, my dearest. I’m here with you now. It’s all right. They didn’t want me to know, but I found out. And now I’ll stay with you. I’ll be here every minute. Don’t worry. I’m here.

GIESE. He doesn’t hear you.

ANNA. Shh. Look! He’s trying to speak.

GIESE. He hasn’t said a word in weeks now. Nothing.

ANNA. But his eyes are open. His lips are moving. Look.

GIESE. The duke sent his personal physician. He said that’s just a … a reflex.

ANNA. You don’t know that. He may hear everything we’re saying. (
to
COPERNICUS) Can you hear me, Mikoj? You don’t have to talk if you don’t want to. If it’s too hard for you, you just rest. I know. It’s all right. I’m not leaving you now.

GIESE. There’s nothing to be done.

ANNA. You should have told me.

GIESE
puts a hand on her head, as though to bless her, but she stands up to face him.

ANNA. (
whispering
) He wouldn’t want this.

GIESE. He is not afraid to die.

ANNA. There are certain powders I know about. They could … end his suffering.

GIESE. God will take him when it’s time.

ANNA. I’m just saying, it would be possible to ease his … Even to hasten his entry into the next life.

GIESE. You mustn’t say such things, my child. You must not even think them.

ANNA
kneels by the bed again, takes
COPERNICUS’s
hand.

GIESE
prays.

FRANZ. (
running in
) Bishop Giese! It’s here, Bishop Giese! It’s here! Look!

GIESE. Hush. What’s … ?

FRANZ. Miss Anna!

GIESE. What have you got there?

FRANZ. It’s from Nuremberg. See? This must be it.

GIESE. Let me look.

ANNA. Something for him?

GIESE. Let’s just see what we have here.

FRANZ. Is it … ?

GIESE. Look at that!

ANNA. What is it?

FRANZ. I knew it!

ANNA. Is that his book?

FRANZ. All those hundreds of pages I copied for him. For both of them.

GIESE. I never thought I’d see the day.

FRANZ. Is there a note? Any word from … ?

ANNA. That can’t be it. Just a pile of paper?

GIESE. “On the Revolutions of the …”

ANNA. That’s really it?

GIESE. “Heavenly Spheres.“ By …

FRANZ. There’s nothing else in the package?

GIESE. Nicolaus Copernicus.

ANNA. It’s not at all what I imagined. That professor played a mean trick on him.

FRANZ. No.

ANNA. How shabby it looks. That will never impress anyone.

GIESE. Oh, but it will. It will. This is just the way books come from the printer. Just the pages, like this. But I shall have it bound for him. Something very grand, in red leather, with his name stamped in gold letters. Wait till you see it then.

ANNA. Let’s show it to him.

GIESE. All the times I urged him to do this … And how he fought against me. (
with a fond look at
COPERNICUS) The stubborn old mule.

ANNA. We should let him see his book.

FRANZ
takes a few sections and gives them to
ANNA
.

ANNA
turns her full attention to
COPERNICUS
, showing him the book, ignoring the other two.

GIESE
keeps looking at the rest.
FRANZ
peers over his shoulder.

GIESE. I remember when he watched this eclipse. I went along with him to see it.

ANNA. It’s here, Mikoj.

FRANZ. Where was that, Your Reverence?

ANNA. It’s finally here.

GIESE. Right out there, in the meadow. The Moon was full. So bright. You could have read this book out there in the moonlight. It was that bright.

ANNA. (
propping him up
) I want you to have a good long look at this.

GIESE. I must have fallen asleep while waiting for it to start, because I remember how he woke me when it was time. He wouldn’t leave the instruments, even for a moment, so he made a … a howling sound. Like a wolf! Awoooooow!

ANNA. It’s your book, Mikoj. Your very own book, that you wrote.

GIESE. I jumped up. But then everything happened so slowly, very gradual. It took an hour, I think, or maybe more, for the shadow to completely cover the Moon.

ANNA. All your work, all those years, and here it is, at last.

GIESE. And you know what happened then? The Moon turned red.

FRANZ. Really?

ANNA. (
putting pages in his hands
) Hold it. Feel it. Isn’t it wonderful?

GIESE. One of the most beautiful sights I ever saw.

ANNA. Mikoj?

COPERNICUS
slumps over, letting the pages fall to the floor.

Blackout. Choir sings “Salve Mater Misericordiae.”

SCENE xvii. CEMETERY
FUNERAL

The bowed heads of mourners, with the
BISHOP
presiding, suggest a graveside.

BISHOP. Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.

ALL. Amen.

BISHOP. Blessed are you, Father, Lord of Heaven and Earth, for revealing the mysteries of Thy Kingdom.

ALL. Amen.

BISHOP. I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.

ALL. Amen.

ANNA. (
pushing her way toward the
BISHOP) This, too!

BISHOP. Who is this woman?

ANNA. It’s only right.

FRANZ. (
coming to her aid
) What are you doing, Miss Anna?

ANNA. He would want this. I know he would.

ANNA
starts to throw her package into the grave.

BISHOP. Stop her.

FRANZ. (
taking the package
) Let me help you, Miss Anna.

ANNA
lets herself cry in
FRANZ’s
arms.

GIESE. (
receiving the package from
FRANZ) It’s his manuscript.

BISHOP. Get her out of here.

FRANZ. Come with me, Miss Anna.

FRANZ
walks
ANNA
downstage.

The
BISHOP
and
GIESE
remain behind, in darkness.

RHETICUS
steps in front of
ANNA
and
FRANZ.

FRANZ. I knew you’d come back.

ANNA. You!

RHETICUS (
to
FRANZ) Were you with him at the end?

ANNA. He doesn’t need you anymore.

GIESE. (
joining them
) What seems to be the trouble here?

FRANZ. I said he’d come, didn’t I? I knew he would.

ANNA. (
to
GIESE) Don’t let him have that. He doesn’t deserve it.

GIESE. (
to
FRANZ) Take her someplace where she can sit and rest.

FRANZ
obeys.

ANNA. (
exiting, crying
) Let that go to the grave with him. He would want to have it with him.

GIESE. You recognize this, of course.

RHETICUS. Did he see it? The finished book?

GIESE. Oh, yes. It arrived just in time.

RHETICUS. The moment I left it with the courier, I thought, “Why did I do that? Why don’t I go and give it to him myself?” But it had already gone. I started out the next morning, hoping to … And now …

GIESE. He was so pleased to see it. To hold it in his hands. Yes. And then he …

RHETICUS. But he did see it? He knew that I …

GIESE. He knew. Yes, my son. We are all so grateful to you, for what you’ve done. When I will read his book, it will bring him back to life for me.

GIESE
bows his head, grieving.
RHETICUS
also bows, puts a hand on
GIESE’s
shoulder.

GIESE. (
handing him the manuscript
) Here. You should have this. As much as I would like to keep it for my own … for my comfort …

RHETICUS. He wouldn’t let me take it.

GIESE. Now it belongs to you.

RHETICUS. You keep it. You’re his …

GIESE. No. You have been the chief instigator in this affair. It’s yours.

RHETICUS
takes the manuscript.

GIESE. He’ll never know what anyone thought about it … What people will say when they …

RHETICUS. No. They can say what they will, and he’ll never know.

GIESE. What are they saying?

RHETICUS. I’m almost glad that he can’t …

GIESE. What’s the reaction? Do you know?

RHETICUS. It’s … not as bad as he thought. Not what he feared.

GIESE. But not … good?

RHETICUS. No one is ready for what he had to say. The mathematicians I know, they’re happy. They just take what they need from the book, and ignore the rest.

GIESE. Ignore it?

RHETICUS. They skip over that part.