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	KUDU The plains of the Serengeti. Two female kudus are grazing. KERRY: He did it seven times yesterday. WANDA: You're lucky. The first year we had him, he was wanting to do it at night. Can you believe it? KERRY: That's them all over. Eleven months of the year, they don't know you're there, and then suddenly they won't leave you alone. Still, at night. I never heard of that before. Doesn't it spoil your sleep? WANDA: Maybe it does. I don't know, do I? KERRY: (Sniggering) You mean it drove you so wild you can't remember. WANDA: (Tartly) That isn't what I mean. You don't think I'd do a thing like that! It was some other cow. She was probably asking for it, too. Well, look who it isn't. GRANT: (Gallops on and skids to a halt behind KERRY, looking her up and down. WANDA chews and he ignores her.) Well, darling, how are you today? KERRY: (Simpering uncertainly) Alright ... I suppose. GRANT: Alright? Alright then. (He moves up close behind her and puts his hands on her shoulders. She twists and sidles off a bit.) Ah, don't be like that. What's the matter, then? KERRY: I don't know. I just don't feel like it. (She turns to face him. GRANT looks away.) I don't know how you really feel about me. WAYNE: (Gallops in and skids to a halt behind WANDA.) Hi mum. Any food? (WANDA simpers uncertainly.) GRANT: What do you mean, food? You're in grass up to your arse. You've got teeth, haven't you? WAYNE: Hello, dad. What are you doing with Kerry? GRANT; Get lost. Sorry darling. Kid's got no respect. WAYNE: Muum. GRANT: Just leave your mother in peace. She's got more important things to worry about than you. WAYNE: You're always on at me. I'm allowed to talk to her, aren't I? WANDA: Stop it, you two. GRANT: (Looking offstage and snorting) What's that bloody Baldwin up to with Grace? (Gallops off, shouting.) Grace! Grace! If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand ... WANDA: You shouldn't be cheeky to him. It's not fair. He's got a lot on his plate. WAYNE: Yeh, he's got plenty of everything. KERRY: Mmm, I know one thing he's got plenty of. WANDA: Don't talk like that in front of him. He's just a kid. WAYNE: No I'm not. What do you mean he's got plenty of? I'm hungry. WANDA: Well, your father - well, there's some nice grass over here, dear. WAYNE: I don't like it. You've trodden on it. It's too dry. I'm thirsty. WANDA: You're too big for that. I can't go on feeding you for the rest of your life. You're going to have a little brother. WAYNE: Oh .. but what ... how do you know? If he's little, he won't need much milk; there'll still be plenty for me. WANDA: ... or a little sister. WAYNE: Yes, well she won't need much either. You've got two tits, she can have one and I'll have the other. WANDA: ... or twins. I had twins once. It was lovely. KERRY: Terry and Teresa. I remember. Teresa broke her leg. WAYNE: Why? KERRY: 'cos she was a stupid kid, like you are, asking for milk at your age. She stuck it in a hole, cornering too fast, and the hyaenas had her after a few days. WANDA: Do you have to talk like that? KERRY: Well, he's got to learn, hasn't he? I don't see why he has to hang around all the time now. It smells wrong. WAYNE: Why did she stick it in a hole? KERRY: You're as thick as a zebra. Why don't you go and ask your father why he sticks it in a hole? I bet he doesn't know, mind you. I'm sure I don't know why I let him. WANDA: Don't talk to him like that. He's just a ... well, he's just trying to find out things KERRY: And I'm just telling him things. WAYNE: (Mooching off) 'Bye Kerry. 'Bye mum. KERRY: I want some of that water-weed we had before; it's really crunchy. WANDA: That's the snails. It's all covered with little snails underneath. They're good for you, you know - all those little twisty shells make your horns grow twistier and - lovelier. You've got lovely horns, you know, Kerry. Mine used to be like yours, smooth in the grooves and all those neat little ridges, but now ... KERRY: Don't be silly. You've got lovely horns still - for your age. Let's go and eat weed - and snails, then we'll both have lovely horns. The river's just over there. (Starts to go.) WANDA: (Not budging. Darkly.) There's crocodiles. It'll be dark soon. KERRY: Crocodiles! They're even stupider than Zebra. I watch them floating out there in the river with just their eyes showing thinking that I can't see them. I can though, I can because my eyes are more beautiful than theirs, and if one comes close, I'll just stick a horn in his stupid cold eye, gnatch!, then I'll bounce away, bim! bim! and laugh at him bleeding from the bank all safe, hah! WANDA: (Sardonically) Bim, bim, eh? on your beautiful strong legs, splashing watersmooth just like that, yes, as long as there's only one crocodile - but there isn't, there never is, and the other one's got you by the hind leg, bim, bim, you dipstick, what do you think of that, eh? KERRY: Oh, don't be like that, Wanda. I was feeling really good - and I want some of that weed - and the crunchy snails - and if you come with me then we can both watch out for both the crocodiles - pleease. WANDA: Seeing you so full of yourself just makes me laugh, that's all. 'Course it's him you're full of, really. KERRY: Him? Grant? I don't mind if he never comes near me again. Yeh, actually, I've really gone off him. I don't mean I fancy anybody else, mind. I just don't need him, if he can't show some commitment. If he goes sniffing after Roxanne, like yesterday, he can forget about me and good riddance. Come on (Moves off) WANDA: No. You come here. (Confidentially) You've got a calf, a little one ... KERRY: No, I haven't ... WANDA: Don't you understand? Inside you. He put a little one inside you, and it's going to grow until it comes out. KERRY: Ugh! You're joking. Everybody knows they come from grass. We eat good grass and it makes us fat with calves. WANDA: Men eat the good grass too, so why aren't they fat with calves? KERRY: They gallop about too much. They're stupid. Come on Wanda, I want some crunchy weed. What's got into you, anyway? WANDA: Weed's not the only thing that's crunchy. KERRY: What? What do you mean? WANDA: You - you are. To a crocodile. KERRY: Wanda! Don't be so horrible! You must be hungry. You need some weed. Are you coming or aren't you? (Exit) WANDA: Yeh, I suppose so. What's the difference anyway? (Exit) (GRANT enters watchfully. Looks after Kerry and Wanda and raises his head to sniff the air, then lowers it to sniff the ground. When he finds an interesting patch, he rolls in it, snorting and wriggling. WAYNE enters and watches him for a little while.) WAYNE: Dad. GRANT: (Scrambles to his feet) Hallo, son. (Awkward pause) Just having a little lie-down. Got to chew this cud for a bit. Why don't you join me? Keep the flies off together, eh? WAYNE: I haven't got any to chew ... GRANT: What've you been doing all day? You haven't been pestering your mother again for milk, have you? WAYNE: Not for milk, no, I just ... GRANT: I don't want to tell you again, son. You're too old for that now. You should be out there jumping around with the other young bucks, sniffing a few nice ... things. Enjoy life while you can, bang your heads together. I tell you there's no rest once you're grown-up (sighs deeply) Responsibilities, you're on the go all day ... WAYNE: That Malcolm kicked me GRANT: Did he? Well kick him back. You've got to learn to take a few knocks and to give as good as you take - that's my philosophy and I've lived by it. But the first thing is to build up your strength with plenty of good grass. You're so thin, I could tie a knot in you. You need weight, to get some muscle on you. WAYNE: What for? GRANT: What for? So you can throw it around! I'll give you what for! You want to grow up big and strong like me, don't you? (pause) 'Course you do! and have your own cows, eh? What about that Kerry, eh? I've seen the way you look at her. You wouldn't mind a bit of that, would you? WAYNE: A bit of what? I just look at her because she keeps talking to me. GRANT: Does she? WAYNE: Yeh, only I don't think she likes me much. She said I was as stupid as a Zebra. Oh, yeh, and she said I should ask you something, something about why do you stick ... (Some instinct warns him this is not a good question to ask) why do you stick so close to us all day? GRANT: I'm protecting you, aren't I, because you're all very precious to me. That's a funny question. WAYNE: That's what she said - I think; to ask you why you stick ... so close ... GRANT: She's a wild one, all right. She gets a bit moody sometimes ... it's still a funny question, though. WAYNE: That wasn't really what I wanted to ask. Dad ... GRANT: What? WAYNE: Dad ... where did we come from? GRANT: What do you mean, where'd we come from? We came from the south, didn't we? WAYNE: Well, where did we come from before that? GRANT: Are you stupid? We came from here, didn't we. Last year here we were, here, and then we were down south, like every year, and now here we are back here where we always are. WAYNE: Yeah, but where did we come from before that? I mean first ... ? GRANT: We come for the grass; first there's the grass, then there's us. WAYNE: So ... we come from the grass? GRANT: No. We come from the south. I already told you. I've got a cud to chew, so why don't you go and spoil your mother's digestion instead of mine WAYNE: All right, I will. (Trots off) GRANT: (Chews his cud. KERRY and WANDA enter, he notices them.) That kid of yours was here. I tell you, he's a strange one. He was asking really strange questions. KERRY: There's a few questions I'd like to ask. GRANT: Like to ask who, darling? KERRY: Like, you, Grant! GRANT: Me? What've I done? KERRY: That's what I'd like to know. Who were you with last night? GRANT: I was with you, wasn't I? KERRY: Oh, yes. For about half an hour, like always. Then you went off again. GRANT: What do you want to do that takes more than half an hour? (Moves closer, lowers voice) More foreplay, is it? I don't know what else I can do. KERRY: You're so crude, Grant. You don't understand anything. GRANT: Well, I'm here now, aren't I? I want to understand, I really do. Just tell me what you want, darling, and it's yours. Have some grass. KERRY: I don't know; I'm so confused. We've got to talk this through, Grant. (Looks sideways at Wanda.) Alone. GRANT: (Pleading) This is the first chance I've had to relax all day. KERRY: Now, Grant! or do you want to talk about it in front of - you know. (She stalks off, knowing that Grant will follow. He does, groaning, with a great show of tiredness. He and Wanda avoid each other's eyes. She has some important eating to do.) GRANT: See you, er ... WANDA: Wanda GRANT: Yeh, Wanda (Exit, trying to be casual.) (WANDA chews for a bit, humming an irritating jingle tune rather tunelessly. She shakes her head.) WAYNE: (Trotting on) Mum! I've been looking for you. Where've you been? WANDA: Here. WAYNE: But I couldn't find you. WANDA: I've been here all the time. WAYNE: I didn't know where to look. Mum, I wanted to ask you something. WANDA: I'm not giving you a drink. I haven't got any. WAYNE: Muum, I'm not a kid. No, what I mean is: where do we come from? WANDA: That's a question. What makes you ask that? WAYNE: I just want to find out where I came from. WANDA: Oh, well, I know where you came from. You came from me. WAYNE: From you? WANDA: Yes, you came out of me. You know, back there. WAYNE: The south? WANDA: I suppose, yes. It was a windy day, I remember, and I ate a lot of those little white sugar-flowers. They always give me terrible wind, but I can't resist them. So anyway, when I felt a bit funny later on, I thought it was just gas, so I ran about a bit, but it felt worse, then I knew something was happening... WAYNE: What, Mum? WANDA: You. It was you, Wayne. It was running down my leg and I leant up against a thornbush and you dropped down on the ground and I licked you all over and after a while you managed to stand up and you had a drink of milk and here you are ... WAYNE: But Mum, how did you know it was me? WANDA: Well, of course I recognised you as soon as I saw you. I am your mother, after all. WAYNE: Oh, yeh ... but Mum, if I came out of you, I'm much too big. I couldn't fit inside you. WANDA: (Looks at him appraisingly.) No, I'm sure you weren't nearly as big then. You were quite different, really, your coat was different. You had lots of spots when you were young. WAYNE: How did you recognise me then? If I was different? WANDA: I don't know. I just knew it was you. WAYNE: I don't know, either. But I've always been me, I know that, so how could I be different? It would feel different. WANDA: I think you grow. I'm sure you were much smaller. You know, I think a lot of things grow. WAYNE: Huh! Like what? WANDA: Like all sorts of things. The Zebras, the trees. Those by the river yesterday - I saw them before, they weren't so big but they were the same trees. You must have noticed the zebras yourself. I've watched the little ones - they're quite sweet really - and they start off taller than they are long, then they get fatter and stronger ... WAYNE: ... and louder and stupider. Honestly, mum, watching zebras - they don't even have horns! WANDA: (Eureka moment) Of course - you didn't have horns! when you were born. New born fawns don't have horns. They grow ... you grew, and the zebras - They start very small and they get bigger. Lions grow, trees grow, snails, vultures - yes, I see it; everything grows (Song) Even the grass grows, I expect mountains grow, but so slow, we don't know. Moons grow, a new one every month ... WAYNE: (impressed) What are you on, mum? WANDA: Nothing. Just a bit of weed I had with Kerry. WAYNE: Mum, what's a mushroom? WANDA: Just another thing that grows ... WAYNE: But what's it like? WANDA: Oh, there are lots of them, different kinds. They're all different funny colours, like birds. WAYNE: They're like birds? Malcolm said ... WANDA: No, no, they don't fly. They're sort of plants. WAYNE: Malcolm said, if you ate some, you could fly, sort of ... WANDA: (Doubtfully) Some of them make you sick. Better not to risk it, if you ask me. WAYNE: I'd like to fly, though. If I get some muscle on me, do you think I could? WANDA: No. Don't be so daft. I've never seen a kudu fly. WAYNE: Dad said I should get some muscle. Weight, he said. WANDA: That's good advice. That's growing, too. WAYNE: It's all very well, this growing; maybe I did grow inside you, and fall out, like you said, but then where did you come from? WANDA: I don't know. WAYNE: Where did we all come from? and all the other animals? WANDA: I don't know, except the zebra come out of other zebra. WAYNE: Maybe you had a mum and you came out of her like I came out of you. WANDA: No, I'd remember. WAYNE: Well, I can't remember coming out of you. WANDA: You must have been asleep when it happened. WAYNE: You could have been asleep too. I think everyone is asleep when they're inside, and they wake up when they're out. So you came out of your mum, and she came out of hers, and dad came out of his, but none of you can remember. WANDA: Yeh, I suppose. WAYNE: I'm going to tell dad. (Starts to leave) WANDA: I think he's busy. It's nearly dark. Leave it until tomorrow. He won't mind. WAYNE: Mum, can I have a drink? WANDA: Well, just a little one. (Night falls rapidly in the tropics: The sun sets.) KERRY: Grant, you can't GRANT: Just stand still and I can, darling. KERRY: Ow, that's my ear. GRANT: Just keep still then. You'll see if I can. KERRY: (Giggles) I won't see anything: It's pitch black. Ooh, Grant, they warned me about you, but I didn't believe it. GRANT: I told you I could do it. Yeh, I'm really on top of things now. Back a bit, that's right. I'm the boss, I'm the boss, I'm the boss ... whew! KERRY: What do you mean, you're the boss. GRANT: Come on darling, I didn't mean anything. I mean, you got to say something. I'm the stud, aren't I, eh? Somebody's got to be boss kudu. KERRY: Why? GRANT: Somebody's got to be in charge. Things'd be chaos, otherwise. KERRY:You think you're the boss because you're big and strong but Wanda says you were smaller than Wayne, once. We all were. GRANT: Wanda's off her head. She was babbling about mushrooms earlier on, how she was worried about them. Hah! a mushroom never ate anybody. KERRY: She says you were smaller than Parvati, even, (aside) but not as clever. GRANT: Are you trying to be insulting? Parvati's so small, I'm not sure she's a kudu at all. She's probably a spy for the Impala. KERRY:Wanda says you were once so small, you would fit inside me. GRANT: I do, I do; A very nice fit, if I say so myself. KERRY: You've got a one-track mind. I mean all of you. You came out of your mum. GRANT: (Incredulous) I came out of old Doris? Don't make me laugh. She was a nice old cow, but I'd never have got inside her. It wouldn't be right. Whatever happened to her, anyway? KERRY: Leopard. GRANT: Uh? KERRY: A leopard happened to her. One afternoon. She was under a tree. She went to sleep and the leopard woke up and ... GRANT: What? What happened. KERRY: What do you think? The leopard saw Doris, so it dropped out of the tree and killed her. I didn't see it. GRANT: How do you know all this? She was my mum, and I never knew any of this. KERRY: Oh, I take an interest in these things. I can read between the lines. I can see more and smell more because my eyes are more beautiful and my nose is more beautiful. GRANT: That's right, darling, you're beautiful. Come here. KERRY: I think I want to lie down for a bit. GRANT: All right then, darling, you lie down. Don't worry, I'll look after you. (He takes up a Monarch of the Glen pose of watchfulness, but as DAWN pales the Eastern sky, he falls asleep, and DAYLIGHT finds them sleeping side by side. WAYNE gallops across the stage, leaps over their recumbent bodies and disappears. GRANT and KERRY stir and stretch and groom themselves. KERRY finishes first and immediately starts to graze.) GRANT: (With much yawning and scratching.) Morning. See you, er - (Exit) KERRY: Kerry. (Continues to chew but gives a hard look after him) WAYNE: (Enters, glad to find someone) Kerry, have you seen mum? KERRY: No. WAYNE: She went off very early, before the sun rose. KERRY: Went off where? WAYNE: Last night we were just the other side of those rocks. There's some lovely grass - I wasn't hungry but mum had a lot ... KERRY: Get on with it! WAYNE: She woke me up just before sunrise, and said she was going up to see the sun grow, and to find out if mountains grow. KERRY: Mountains?! WAYNE: Yeh, I know. She said that was why she chose the small, smoky one - it was the most likely to grow. That mountain smells terrible. KERRY: (With relish.) I'm sure it's dangerous. Something terrible may happen to her. WAYNE: No! KERRY: It could have. She told me herself, there's always another crocodile. WAYNE: (After a little pause.) There aren't any crocodiles up the mountain. KERRY: There are things worse than crocodiles. WAYNE: What? KERRY: Somebody told me once ... I don't know if I should tell you ... WAYNE: Yes, tell me. I am a growthing. I am growing horns. KERRY: There was an old buck called Garth, before me and you were here. He was very brave, and one day, when the smoky mountain was smelling specially terrible, so that all the kudu were choking with it, he decided to go up there and tell the mountain to stop smoking. He went up in the middle of the day, but the sun was brown with the smoke, and he stayed up there all day, and all night he did not come back. In the morning, the smoke and the smell were gone and there was rain. WAYNE: And did Garth come back? KERRY: No, he never came back. But some time later, some of the young bucks went up there to see if they could find him - I think your father was one - and they did find him, in front of a cave near the top of the mountain, lying asleep with his head on the ground, and there he has been sleeping ever since, guarding the cave so that the smoke and the smell can't get out and choke us. WAYNE: Wah! but ... it's smoking and smelling now. KERRY: Not very much. WAYNE: How do you know all this, Kerry? KERRY: I told you, someone told me. WAYNE: When? KERRY: Yesterday. WAYNE: Tell me who told you. KERRY: The person who told me told me not to tell anyone he'd told me. WAYNE: So it was a he? he, he, he! KERRY: Stop sniggering, you little lout. I can talk to anyone I like, so there! WAYNE: Yes, but who do you like, Kerry? You talked to me yesterday, but I didn't tell you. You talked to dad, but he didn't tell you, otherwise you would know he had been there. So what other hes have you been talking to? KERRY: None of your business. WAYNE: Maybe not, but I think your story is wind if you can't even tell me who you heard it from. KERRY: (Muttering) All right, it was Baldwin. WAYNE: Who? KERRY: Baldwin! He's very interesting, and he's really sincere. I want you to swear you won't tell anybody, especially Grant. WAYNE: Maybe I will, or maybe I won't. I still don't believe your stupid story. KERRY: All right, you little creep, I'll go up there and see for myself. I suppose you'll believe the evidence of my own eyes. They've never let me down. WAYNE: Pah! You'll never go up there. You said it was dangerous. KERRY: You see if I don't. I'll go up there now and find Garth and wake him up and tell him to tell you he's real. WAYNE: No need for that. I'll believe you if you tell me the truth. KERRY: Right, I'm off, then. (She hesitates, but there is only one way out) 'Bye, then. (She takes it. Exit.) WAYNE: 'Bye. (He looks around carefully, then lies down. his eyes start to close, and he jerks awake. He is just nodding off again, when GRANT enters, followed by WANDA.) GRANT: Wake up, boy. Here's your mother, safe and sound. I've brought her back. WAYNE: Mum, where did you go? Were you lost? GRANT: I don't know what would have happened to her if I hadn't found her. She was just wandering around. I can't get any sense out of her. WANDA: I was born to wander. GRANT: There, you see. WAYNE: Mum! You made a joke! Didn't you? You never make jokes. GRANT: Ha ha. What joke? WANDA: I never used to make jokes, but now I have achieved comic understanding. (Silence from Grant and Wayne) Oh well. GRANT: Just humour her, son. She'll snap out of it soon. (To WANDA) You just lie down quietly here in the shade. (To WAYNE) Do you know where I found her? Up there, the men have grown some of their big grass. There was one of those silly fences, but it was broken down; the zebra had been in, so it was all trampled. There she was, stock still in all those smashed plants. (Lowers his voice) she told me the ants were growing, and she couldn't tread on them. I had to give her a good kick to bring her out of it, but she came along quite peacefully after that. Alright, Wanda? WANDA: (Mysteriously) I'm perfectly all right, thankyou. GRANT: What's the matter with you, dar ... dear? I've never known you like this before. WANDA: You have never known me, Grant. WAYNE: Just leave her, dad. Like you said, she'll come out of it soon. Tell me about the big grass. GRANT: Haven't you seen that? We had lots of it last year ... no, of course you weren't here last year. WAYNE: No. I have grown. GRANT: Never mind about that. This grass is as tall as my horns, and it has a thick stem in the middle with brown hairs at the top, which is very juicy inside with yellow berries. WAYNE: That's like the grass me and mum found last night. That had juicy bits at the top, but it wasn't so tall. Maybe it'll grow. GRANT: Maybe. This stuff grows in straight lines, and nothing else grows with it. There's usually a fence, too. WAYNE: Ours was like that. Except I don't think there was a fence. What's a fence? GRANT: Well, it's sort of sharp lines that run along above the ground, to stop the big grass getting out. It's nasty if you don't see it, but once you know where it is you just jump over it. WAYNE: Can we go up and get some, dad? GRANT: Not now, son. We'd better stay here and make sure your mother's all right. All right, Wanda? WANDA: Good, Grant. GRANT: I'll tell you a story. This happened to me a year or two ago. It was when we first found the big grass. I was with - yes, I was with that bastard Baldwin - only he wasn't a bastard then. No, he was all right then; we used to go around together; we were mates, sort of. WAYNE: Don't you like Baldwin, then, dad? GRANT: Bastard! He smells so bad, I don't know how anyone can stand it! Still, this was a long time ago, and him and me were mates, sort of. We spent most of the morning buzzing the rhino, but they're dull so we got bored with that and we went a long way with the sun on our horns. We saw the grass like a green wall, but we didn't see the fence until we ran into it. I found it was no higher than me, so I hopped over and Baldwin followed. We soon found the juicy stems and we ate and ate. While we were in there, we heard a noise like wind and rain, and saw a very big stork coming towards us, so we ran between the plants to hide. It came on, and it made a great white cloud which covered us and all the plants. It smelled like dead stones, and it made us both cough and sneeze, but it soon went, and the stork flew away. After it had gone, the crickets stopped, there were no flies and all the ticks fell off. I had some in my nose I was glad to get rid of, and for weeks I wasn't bothered by flies and ticks, wonderful. We all went back later and ate more, but ... WANDA: That was wrong. That was a bad cloud. Don't you understand? The crickets, the flies, even the ticks, they all grow. They have to, because they're part of everything. We have to let them, because we're part of it, too, and it all works together - WAYNE: How? How does it work, mum? WANDA: I don't know exactly. It's very complicated, but I've been looking at everything and I understand more and more. I'll tell you tomorrow. I'm sure I'll have it worked out by then. WAYNE: Mum, I've been thinking, too - GRANT: Don't you start! You'll only encourage her. Isn't one of you in the family already one too many? WANDA: One of what? GRANT: You - you growthings. You think things. You talk the hind leg off a zebra. You used to be so nice and quiet, Wanda. WANDA: Stupid, you mean. GRANT: No - no, you had plenty of common sense. Now that's gone and you can't tread on an ant. WANDA: I was stupid, to be quiet for so long. But now I understand, I have to speak. I was looking at the ants this morning, because I understand that the anthill is really one thing - all the ants are parts of it together, but each one matters, they're all connected. GRANT: Who cares about insects? Except flies - I hate flies. The only good fly is a dead fly! WANDA: If you kill a fly that's biting you, that's all right; but some insects are good. We shouldn't just wipe them all out, like the cloud you were talking about. The world is like an anthill, and we, everything that grows, are like the ants. We are all needed to make it work. Even a butterfly that flaps its wing makes a tiny puff of air that might grow and join with others, until it makes a cloud that will grow into a storm that will fill the lake on the other side. WAYNE: Wow. GRANT: That's all rubbish, and dangerous rubbish. Kudu are meant to eat and run and jump and, in my case, kick ass and screw. That's it, and that's enough. You need all your wits about you to manage that. Look what happened to Garth, and to Doris, that really tore me up to hear about that. It was all because they got distracted, they didn't stick to the point. If you go filling the boy's head with this kind of junk, he'll be inviting lions to dinner. Is that a good idea? Are the lions our friends? WANDA: Lions have their place. I'll work it out. GRANT: She's impossible. Look, son, tomorrow we'll go and eat the big grass, but today I've got too much on my plate. We shouldn't really leave your mother alone until she's better, and I've got to find Kerry. Have you seen her? (Sniffs) WAYNE: Oh yeh, she was here just before you came. She said she was going to find Garth on the smoky mountain, but I don't believe she'll go up there. She isn't really brave. GRANT: Who told her about Garth? I know I haven't. There aren't many that know about that. WAYNE: I know about it, because she told me, this morning. GRANT: Somebody must have told her - it was bloody Baldwin, wasn't it? WAYNE: Yes, but she told me not to tell you. Please don't tell her I did. GRANT: You've told me all I need to know. I'm going to find her and give her a piece of my mind. WANDA: If you're sure you can spare it. GRANT: You still awake? Look after her, Wayne, make sure she doesn't get into any trouble. WAYNE: You don't need to go and look for Kerry. She's just coming. GRANT: (Sniffs the air.) So she is. (Shouts) Kerry! (Shoots off) WAYNE: (Turns immediately to WANDA) I really like that stuff you were talking about. Tell me some more. WANDA: I can't now. I'm tired and I haven't finished thinking about it yet. Go and eat some grass in the place we found last night; it'll help you think like it helped me. Then we'll talk tomorrow. WAYNE: All right. Thanks, mum. (Shoots off) ( KERRY runs in, flustered, and stands by Wanda to face GRANT, who is just behind her.) GRANT: Don't run away from me! What's this I hear about you seeing that Baldwin? KERRY: What's it to you? GRANT: You're my business, aren't you? You're mine! KERRY: Oh yes? And you're mine, I suppose. GRANT: Course I am. Well not exclusively, if you know what I mean. KERRY: Exactly. GRANT: Well, I've got a lot of responsibilities. KERRY: I know. And I'm just one of them. GRANT: I've got a lot to cover, specially this time of year. KERRY: Hah! Well, you cover what you want. And I'll take cover where I can find it! GRANT: What is this?! Wanda, have you been putting your crazy ideas into her head? WANDA: No, I haven't. (WAYNE scoots in. The others take no notice of him and carry on without a pause, so he stops and listens.) KERRY: They're very good ideas. You're no bigger than the end of my nose; you're just a growthing. GRANT: All right, that's enough. This is your doing, Wanda. You've been listening to the vultures again. Or else your head's full of mushrooms. WAYNE: There isn't mush-room inside! Ha ha ha ha ha ... (The others continue to ignore him.) WANDA: (Peaceful and centred) Maybe I have. Maybe it is. You think what you like. It doesn't matter. No thing does. Only everything does. Everything is a grow-thing. The more I see it, the more I see it. Everything changes. I can smell changes coming here. Those clouds over the hills ... GRANT: Aaaargh! Now it's prophecy. Somebody shut her up before I ... KERRY: No, Grant, why don't you shut up? GRANT: Now look here - KERRY: Why don't you shut up and stop throwing your weight about? WAYNE: All of you shut up! (Stunned silence. All pay attention) The thing is, I know where there is some really special grass. Sort of grass. Mum and I had some this morning, didn't we mum? WANDA: I expect so, dear. GRANT: (Fuming) So what? What's so important about grass!? WANDA: (Almost Mantric) Grass is very important. The grass grows and we eat the grass. We grow and the lions eat us. The lions grow and ... KERRY: Ooh, Wanda, don't. It gives me the shivers. GRANT: (To WAYNE) We are trying to have an adult conversatioon here, something which your mother seems to have forgotten how to do, and which may not be of very much interest to you, but which if you listened to, you might learn something from, such as - KERRY: Will you listen to him? The pompous windbag, going on like he was I don't know what! Come on, kid - (She takes his arm) I mean, Wayne. I don't like it here. I've got a nasty taste in my mouth from last night. Let's go and find this nice grass of yours. Come on, Wanda. WAYNE: All right, good. What did you find up the smelly mountain? did you find Garth ... (They exit arm-in-arm, talking, and WANDA follows them, deep in thought.) (GRANT, left alone, tries to look unconcerned, but his attempt soon fails, and he follows them, his head low. KERRY and WAYNE cross the stage still talking, not arm-in-arm.) KERRY: ... the smoke was so thick, I couldn't see clearly - my eyes watered and I was choking. I couldn't go any further. I thought I saw Garth, but it might have been smoke ... WAYNE: So you didn't go anywhere and you didn't see anything. I knew you wouldn't. This is what I think of your story: (He kicks up his heels and farts, then runs off.) (KERRY chews for a bit. Scans the distance and sees GRANT coming. She smiles to herself and exits, not too fast, away from him. GRANT enters, his nose up, sniffing the air, and exits after her.) (WAYNE trots on and off again, looking around, brisk and alert.) (WANDA wanders on, casual, stopping to examine things. Her attention is caught by the sound of a chase a fair distance away. She follows it with her eyes - it is WAYNE, clearly.) WANDA: Silly boy - Oh! (WAYNE gallops across at full speed, pursued by lions.) (WANDA flings herself after him, diagonally across his path, to draw them off, which she succeeds in doing, so that she is caught and killed by the lions just off-stage, with squealing, grunting, lashing of desperate limbs, growling and feeding in digital detail. WAYNE returns, panting, and gazes, horrified.) WAYNE: Mum! No-o !! (NIGHT falls, rapidly as before. The voices are in the dark at first. The MOON rises, or fades up, as they say in the Serengeti. Something shrieks harshly.) WAYNE: Don't say it was my fault. She didn't need to do it. I didn't need any help. I was ahead of them, gaining up the hill, and I was heading for the patch of small scree on the shoulder: They hate running on that because it cuts their feet. I would have got away - easily. GRANT: (Heavily sorrowful) Perhaps you would. Or perhaps lions think fresh meat is worth sore feet: who can tell, with lions? Anyway you took the risk. Your mother had her prob- lems, we all know that, she wasn't really herself, and she paid the price for your gamble with death - I hope you've learnt something from it, that's all I can say. KERRY: Well, that's certainly a relief, because I don't think I could stand listening to you for another second. What do you know about it anyway? She was more herself in these last days than she's ever been. She was thinking, she was growing, and all you could do was kick her, tell her she was sick, she was mad - if she was unsure of herself, then you're the one to blame - they'll say you killed her. GRANT: Who says so? That's a lie! KERRY: Them. They'll say it, just the same. And I'll tell you something; I saw the whole thing. Wayne went up the hill fifty yards ahead of the lions, and she came across behind him to draw them off. The one above her on the hill, to her right, was the closest, and she got her claws over Wanda's shoulder, but Wanda was strong and clever. She checked and ducked her head and swerved to the left, down the hill, and the lioness fell and rolled on the ground. As she did, Wanda put a hoof in her armpit. The lion squealed - they're such cowards - and limped away. The trouble was, when Wanda turned downhill, she was turning away from the patch of stones that might have saved her, and into the path of the other lion, on her left. There's always another lion - she taught me that - and this one got its teeth in her windpipe and hung on her neck so her front legs were hampered. Her shoulder was already badly torn by the first attack. The second lion got its hind feet up and opened her belly. I could see it was all over. The other lions were catching up, but I had to look. They tore her apart. Her legs were still jerking, but I think she was dead. They stood around chewing while she twitched. (There is a silence. All hang their heads.) But you know, Wayne was right, he could have got away. They were tiring before they got to the stones; lions have no stamina, they would have given up. WAYNE: There, I told you. KERRY: - and if you hadn't destroyed her confidence, broken her down every chance you got, she would have seen that as clearly as I did and Wayne did. She wouldn't have sacrificed herself for nothing. GRANT: Don't say that! If you hadn't listened to her, encouraged her in all that nonsense about growing, she would still be alive. KERRY: No, it was because you'd upset her, she was emotional, or she would never have made the mistake. I just hope you've learned your lesson. GRANT: What lesson? WAYNE: Stop it, you two. KERRY: (Looks at him, amazed.) You sound just like her. GRANT: After all, he is her son. You and me, son. We'll keep her memory alive. WAYNE: She will never die; she will always be with us. When we see an ant or a lion, or a snail, she will be with us. I have learned a lesson, not from her death, but from her life: Everything is one. I asked her where I came from and she told me where all kudu come from, from other kudu, and other creatures from themselves the same way, so that the whole world is growing, and dying, always ... KERRY: Yeh, that's true. GRANT: That's beautiful, son. WAYNE: Tonight, I have seen into the spaces between things, and into the days before yesterday, as many as the ants in an anthill, and I have seen where I came from, and we all came from, and the whole world ... KERRY & GRANT: (Enthralled.) Yes, oh, yes! WAYNE: It is easy to see that the world is made for Kudu, with grass and water, a place to roll and a place to mate, so, when the first kudu were made, the world had to be made for them to live in. I have seen how this happened; at the beginning of time, there was nothing, nothing but a great kudu ... KERRY: What was her name? GRANT: What was his name? (They glare at each other) WAYNE: Er ... kudu. GRANT: Urkudu. (Emphasising middle syllable.) KERRY: Urkudu. (Emphasising first syllable. They glare at each other) WAYNE: Urkudu was taller than the tallest tree - there were no trees, and heavier than a herd of elephants, but there were no elephants. Urkudu made dung, and the dung was the world, with grass and stones, then made water and the water was all the lakes and rivers and water-holes for kudu to drink. Urkudu's breath was the wind and the clouds. Four times Urkudu's foot struck against the stones by the riverbank. The first time, there were yellow sparks and it was the sun. The second time, there were blue sparks and it was the moon. The third time, there were many sparks that were stars, and the fourth time, there were sparks of all colours that were the lightning and all the fires on the earth. The hairs that fell from Urkudu's tail were the forests. The saliva from Urkudu's tongue at the drinking place was the fish and the frogs. KERRY: But where did we come from? WAYNE: In the night at the end of the first day, Urkudu brought forth the first herd of kudu, and of all the other animals, so that we might be brave and cunning and proud and tender, and always have things to laugh and to cry for. And in the morning of the second day, the world was as it is. It grows all the time, and it changes all the time, yet it always is as it is, because we are all a part of Urkudu, who is also a part of us. KERRY: I understand. She is dead and not dead, like Garth, but he is strong and fierce, while she is kind, sleeps in us when we are awake and watches over us when we sleep. Praise her! GRANT: Now I understand. I have always known about him, but I have not known that I knew. Often I have smelt Urkudu in the morning by the river, and seen his hoofmarks in the soft places. Praise him! (Across the wide and silent Veldt, the Dawn, with dew upon its pelt, creeps like a shy gazelle. GRANT, KERRY and WAYNE sing a song in memory of Wanda and in praise of Urkudu. When they have finished singing, they lie down to sleep, murmuring the name of Urkudu. GRANT begins to snore. As the light grows, they stir, wake and begin to groom and graze.) KERRY: What should we do? Should we go on? WAYNE: Of course, we must go on, or we will be left behind, and the world will go on without us. Mum will live in me what- ever happens, wherever I am. GRANT: The way I see it, the important thing now is for us to go forward, as a family. That's what she would have wanted. There's lots of good grass, always, in the foothills. KERRY: And I'm eating for two, I do believe. WAYNE: I'm hungry too. Where's this grass? GRANT: You coming, Kerry? (He swaggers off, slowly) KERRY: (Following) Yeh, I suppose. (WAYNE starts to follow cautiously, but before he has gone more than a few steps, GRANT comes back, shouting and threatening to kick him.) GRANT: Waaaah!! (WAYNE runs like a rabbit, exiting on one side, and GRANT looks after him, a (self)satisfied expression on his face.) GRANT: That's my boy. (He exits, head high, after KERRY on the other side.) THE END Copyright Vincent Hetreed 1998. All rights reserved in accordance with section 77 of the copyright act of 1988