Bradbury, Ray - SSC 10 (9 page)

He saunters toward the bar, turning in a circle past his
wife,
who also turns in a circle, suspicious of the smell
of him.

The Wife
Well?

He reaches the bar, polishes the first sign,
STOP!

Finn

Well,
indeed!

He moves over to polish the second,
CONSIDER.
She turns
away
and huffs out. He flings down the rag.

Damn,
she didn't see! Or did she see and disapprove? All right,
steady, Finn, a calm mind in a calm body, eh?
(Pours)
Here's calmness.
(Drinks)
Ah.

At which point the doors fling wide, and a man enters, somewhat
in his cups. He freezes and stares.

finn
looks
at the man, follows his gaze to see what he is
looking at and finds it is the sign:
STOP!

The man sways there a moment, blinking, debating,
then
wheels about.

I-

The man charges back out, gone.

Now, what the—?
Well, where was I?
Oiling the
stormy seas.
Another drop of oil, eh?

He gives himself a drop. He rearranges one of the signs, smiles
at
it, pats it.

The same half-drunk man enters again, is again transfixed at what he
sees, wheels, and goes out.

I'll
be
...
Now that's most peculiar. That
was
Tom Noonan,
wasn't it?
(Shrugs)
Ah, he'll be back.

We can see
noonan,
outside, warming up
for another try. He
steels himself,
takes a deep breath, and bursts through the doors
again. He is half across the barroom floor, at
full steam, when
his eyes fix to the
dire sign and he cries in loud dismay, almost a
wail:

Noonan
Stop!

and
circles around to flail out and is gone again, this time for
good.

Finn
(going
after him)

Tom
Noonan, oh,
Tom! (
stops
, bewildered)
Gone.
Did he say "Stop"? Yes.
Must
have misunderstood.
That one sign wasn't
meant for
him.

He goes over and peers at the sign.
(Muses)
Stop . . .

He is wracked with indecision. He picks up the sign, puts it
down,
picks
it up again.

Well, it might be best, for the
first few hours, anyway, to turn this
one
around so no one can see it, right off. Later, I'll turn it back.
It's not really the most important sign, anyway, is
it? No!

He turns the sign around so we can't read it.

There!
Now we still have
(Points) CONSIDER! THINK! DO! (Rubs hands)
All right,
world, I'm ready for you! I'd best tell
the boys to come in and—

father leary
enters,
or rather, almost backs in through the
door.

There
you are, Father Leary!

Father
(bemused)

Am
I? So I am. On my way to Mrs. Kelly's I just saw Tom
Noonan on the street.

Finn
(suddenly uneasy)
Noonan?
Tom?

Father

Run
up to me and insisted right there on the curb I take his con
fession!

Finn
(attempting
cheer)
Did
he? That's nice.

Father

Nice, but not like Tom.
He wouldn't take no. Held onto my
elbow, he did. So I shut my eyes and pretended not
to know
and heard him out!

Finn
Fast
thinking, Father!

Father
The
Archbishop would jump straight up if he heard.

Finn

I
won't tell him.

Father
(looking
sharp)
Do
you
know
him?

Finn
(pulling
his horns in)
Now
that you mention
it,
no
. . .

Father
(baffled)

It
was over in a trice and Noonan gone. Said he'd stop this
and
stop
that and stop two of those and three of the
next-worst.
I
can't tell you
what
he
said he'd stop, of course, but
stop
it
was,
all
up and down the line.

finn
has backed over
to
the
counter to hide the sign with
his
back.
He is edgy.

Finn
Think of
that.

Father
I
am
thinking
of it, Finn.

finn
has the
"machine," the sign, in his hands behind his
back
now.

What's
that
behind your back, Finn?

Finn

Why,
Father,
it's
—

Crash! The
damn
thing
has fallen
to
the floor,
finn
turns
to look at the
shards. He
bends
to pick
them
up.

Why,
it's kind of a—
jigsaw
puzzle, Father.

Father
I like
puzzles.

Finn
Ah, you couldn't work this one—

Father
Let
me
try.

finn
reluctantly puts
the
pieces
on the bar.
That don't
look
so difficult,
now, Finn.

Ftnn
(to himself)
More's
the pity.

Father
Eh?

Finn
Will you have a drink while you work it,
Father?

Father
(working)

This
piece would seem to go here . . . Eh? Yes, Finn, bless
you, man . . . and this piece here. . . .

FINN
pours.
FATHER LEARY
tinkers.

...
as
I was saying. Noonan now . . . right on the
street!
Nothing wrong really, I
suppose, confessing him in the open,
God's
everywhere . . . but still
...
it shook me
...
why
should old
Tom?
Stop
this
I will!
he
said, and stop
that!
and
stop
the others!
(He tinkers with
the bits)
Put this piece over here
.
. . and move this about . . . There
...
it seems to be a
word, Finn.

Finn
(mock
surprise)
Fancy that.

leary
shoves
some more bits about.

Father
S
would seem to be the first letter of the puzzle.

Finn
Are you
sure?

Father
5
...
T
—that's
a
T,
ain't
it?
(He moves a last shard in
place)

0
         
.
. .
P.

Finn
(brightly)
"Stop!"

Father
(disquieted)

I
can
read, Finn.

Finn

I've
always spoke well of your education, sir.

Father
(musing)

"Stop,"
Finn.
Stop.
Have you heard that word before in the last
three minutes?

Finn
You may
have used it, sir.

Father
Tom
Noonan, didn't
he
use it, too?

Finn

We
mustn't talk of it, Father. The vows of the confessional—

Father
Finn!

Finn
(quietly)
Yes, sir?

Father
Was Tom
Noonan in here lately?

Finn

Of recent date, Father?

Father
Date,
hell, man.
The last hour?

Finn

Well,
in and out, Father.

Father
Which is
it, in
or
out?

Finn
It became a
trifle circuitous, Father, to coin a word.

Father
Circuitous?
Do
you infer he weaved in circles, then?

Finn

I
only infer, Father, he made one arc coming and another going.
Six arcs in all, Father.

Father
Broken
down, you say he arrived three times—

Finn

And
left just as many—

Father
In how long
a time?

Finn

It
was remarkable for its shortness, Father. He came and went,
arrived and departed, came through the entrance
and looked for
the exit.

Father
(toying
with the reconstructed sign)
How
do you account for his behavior, Finn?

Finn
His wife
had been nagging him, sir.

Father
And?

Finn

And
he had been drinking hard at it, down the road, I suppose,
at Rooney's pub.

Father
Goon.

Finn

And
they heaved him out, no doubt, and he came up this way
seeking more of the
Same
or the Usual, begging your pardon, Father. And when he came in the door, I can
only figure he saw
this sign, sir.

Father

This
sign
made him go out and in three times, and then run to
me to confess in broad daylight?

Finn

Yes,
sir. I figure for thirty years now, Noonan's
wife
has yelled
at him, STOP this,
STOP
that! STOP the next
best
and the least-
worst and the
half-between. "STOP!" she
yells. But
mostly
STOP DRINKING!
It adds up, down the
years.
Well, today,
Noonan hears "STOP!"
from Rooney's bar, too, STOP!
no
more
ale,
whisky, or whatever, STOP!
and
threw him
out!
So
he comes
up here, shell-shocked, it's reached the point,
after
thirty years
of his wife screaming and Rooney yelling. And he
comes in the
door and what does he see?

Father
S-T-O-P.

Finn

Right,
Father. And that made a little drive-shaft go
loose
in
Noonan and he headed
straight off for you, sir.

Father
You sound
rather proud of the whole thing, Finn.

Finn

Shouldn't
I be, Father? A thirty-year sinner reformed? A
lost
soul changed—?

Father
(impatiently)
Ah, let be!
(
muses
)
Finn?

Finn
Sir?

Father

I
don't know how to explain it, but I have this
unearthly
sensa
tion,
lately, each time I drop by that some day I'll
come in and
find you selling Bibles and holding services.

Finn