Literature

The Lighthouse Keeper

SCENE 3

Stage setting as before; the candle however is not burning, the lighthouse keeper is sitting motionless in the dark. It is again the following night. For some time all is silent, then hasty steps are heard behind the stage. Finally somebody is knocking vehemently on the door, a moment later, the door is opened; Jason cautiously enters the room. The lighthouse keeper does not even look up.
Jason slowly walks towards the table, touches the lighthouse keeper's shoulder; he still does not react in any way.

JASON: [loud:] What is wrong with the light?

He grabs the lighthouse keeper with both hands and shakes him, but he still does not react.

JASON: Hey! What is wrong with the light?! Why is the light not burning?!

Now the lighthouse keeper slowly turns his head and looks at Jason, who, frightened, takes a step back. For a few moments they both remain like that, then the lighthouse keeper grabs a match and lights the candle, then turns again towards Jason, who now avoids the gaze and looks to the ground.

JASON: [in a low voice now:] You scared me. I thought —

He pauses and looks briefly up. The lighthouse keeper deliberately looks away, takes a sheet of paper and starts folding a boat. Then he places it on the table and looks at it, silently. Jason also looks at the boat. They both remain silent for quite a while.

JASON: [calmer:] The night is clear; I had the stars. And the moon is bright enough to let me find my way without your light. Still, I thought, maybe something had happened.

KEEPER: [without hesitation] What should have happened?

Jason takes another step back, startled, not having expected the lighthouse keeper to reply anything. The lighthouse keeper takes the boat into his hand and looks at Jason.

KEEPER: I asked, what should have happened? You will find your way without my light; you have no need for me!

He stands up; Jason takes another step back. The lighthouse keeper pauses for a moment, unsure what to do, and looks down or towards the audience; then he takes another step towards Jason, who backs away further, until he bumps into the wall. The lighthouse keeper positions himself in front of Jason, only one step away.

KEEPER: I scared you, you say? I scared you? Only because the light was not burning? Where would you be without me, then? Where would you be, when nobody is left to look after the light?

Jason looks down.

KEEPER: I'll tell you; when the storm comes up, you will be helpless. You do not believe you would find your way without my light. No; when the sky gets dark, when the next storm comes up, you will be lost.

Pause. A moment later the lighthouse keeper turns away.

KEEPER: But why would I want that?

Jason moves one step closer.

JASON: Why then is the light not burning?

The lighthouse keeper abruptly turns towards Jason and hits him hard in the face, sending him back to the wall.

KEEPER: Be quiet! Just be quiet. You called me a crazy old man; perhaps you are right, perhaps I am. Not a word, you said. Now you got what you always wanted, now I am talking! And what do you ask me about the light? Yesterday it was burning; and where have you been? Where have you been?

Jason starts to say something, but the lighthouse keeper raises his hand, as if he would hit him again.

KEEPER: Be quiet; just be quiet. You are not telling me what I should have done. I could not do anything back then. The light, if the light had been burning, he still would not have had a chance, I know that. And what difference does it make whether the light is burning now? You are here anyway; and he will not come back.

JASON: But the –

Another movement of the lighthouse keeper makes him pause.

KEEPER: Be quiet; I am telling you for the last time. Nobody longer than three months, those were your words, were they not? Why then are you still here? Where have you been yesterday? Why did you come back? No, be quiet, I do not want to hear. But you are not going to do that again; and do not dare to say again that I scared you.

The lighthouse keeper takes a step back and looks at Jason for a moment longer; then he turns away and slowly returns to the table, sits down again, takes the paper boat, looks at it for a moment, crumbles it up and angrily throws it to the ground.
Jason is standing with his back to the wall, motionless; it is obvious that he is frightened. The lighthouse keeper does not seem to take note of him, but takes a sheet of paper from one of the stacks, and the quill, and after a moment of hesitation starts writing again, this time though without speaking out loud what he is writing.
After a few minutes Jason dares to come closer; the lighthouse keeper does not even look up, but only writes faster. Jason stops about two steps away from the table, his eyes to the ground. After a while, the lighthouse keeper stops writing and puts the quill down on the paper, still not looking up.

JASON: [very low:] I am sorry. [Pause, then a bit louder:] I am sorry that I did not come yesterday; I could not, I needed some time. For three months I had not given up hope that things could change; but every night, when I came, you were silent; I do not know why, but I could not take it. All those before me gave up, some sooner, some later, and I did not understand them and had not thought that I would feel the same. And then I sailed over, last night, but halfway here I was so afraid that again nothing would have changed, that I turned the ship and sailed home. I could not help it. I could not. Like all the others I made the mistake of hoping that my commitment would change anything. And yesterday night, I just could not take it any more. I am sorry.

KEEPER: [in a low voice:] Stop that.

JASON: I understood that it was not right. And I was angry at myself. It was not right to just give up like that. These three months were not to be in vain. I decided to keep trying. No matter what happened. I would never give in. And then I sailed out, tonight, and the light was not burning, and I was afraid that it was too late.

KEEPER: [loud:] Stop it!!

For quite some time there is only silence. Finally the lighthouse keeper stands up, and Jason, scared, takes a step towards the door.

JASON: I – maybe I should look after the light.

Jason takes another step towards the door, but the lighthouse keeper bars his way.

KEEPER: I will look after the light – later.

The lighthouse keeper points to the place where he had been sitting. Hesitating, Jason follows the unmistakable request, and sits down at the table.

KEEPER: And now, Jason — write.

Jason takes the quill. Curtain.


----- to Scene 4

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