Nachtland (eBook)

Nicola My father died two weeks ago.

Philipp Our father.

Nicola What?

Philipp Our father. Not just yours. You’re not an only child.

Nicola I’m not a child at all, I’m an adult.

Philipp Fine.

Nothing.

Nicola Is something wrong?

Philipp Nothing. Go on.

Nicola Why is that important now?

Philipp What?

Nicola That you’re his son, is that important?

Philipp Important?

Nicola How important is that now?

Philipp Well, he’s my father. Of course that’s important to me.

Nicola Was. He was your father. That’s over. He’s no longer a father, he’s dead. Don’t you get it?

Philipp I do, yes, but –

Nicola What’s so difficult to get?

Philipp Maybe I really don’t get it yet –

Nicola Dear God –

Philipp The fact that Daddy doesn’t exist any more. Or can you grasp it? That he’s gone forever now? Can you really understand what happened?

Nicola Fine. Fine. You do it then.

Philipp What?

Nicola I’m not going to listen to this esoteric waffle. He’s dead, Philipp, dead. And no, I haven’t solved the metaphysical mystery of life and death. It’s a mystery, Philipp. A mystery. A metaphysical one.

Philipp Fine.

Nicola If you can’t bear the fact that I’m the centre of attention for once and you’re not – terrific: you go ahead, I don’t mind, I don’t need to do this –

Philipp No, it’s fine.

Nicola Apparently not. Apparently I’m doing something wrong –

Philipp No –

Nicola Otherwise you wouldn’t feel the need to tell everyone –

Philipp You’re not doing anything wrong –

Nicola Apparently I’m moving too quickly for you, I’m too pragmatic –

Philipp I didn’t say that –

Nicola Apparently you’d like to spend a bit more time thinking about what happened, what on earth actually happens when a person dies. I can tell you what happens –

Philipp It’s okay, Nicola, calm down.

Nicola No, I’m getting upset. Why is this idea hitting you now? Now that he’s dead?

Philipp What idea?

Nicola That you’re somehow also our father’s child –

Philipp That’s not an idea, that’s a fact.

Nicola A few weeks ago that might have been helpful. But the timing was awkward, sure, it’s a lot more convenient now that he’s dead, you can really wallow in the fact that you’re an orphan now, now that Daddy’s nappies no longer need changing.

Philipp Here we go with the nappies –

Nicola Now that he no longer knows best about everything and has finally shut up, the old idiot –

Philipp Daddy is not –

Nicola Was, Philipp. Was. Daddy was an idiot. He’s dead.

Fabian Nicola, we’re not talking about –

Nicola We’re not? Why not, Fabian, are you trying to tell me what we’re talking about? Because you know all about it, Fabian?

Fabian No, but –

Nicola Shut it, Fabian, shut the fuck up, I’m telling my brother what we’re talking about, we’re talking about – about – where was I?

Fabian The painting.

Philipp That I wasn’t there when Daddy was suffering –

Nicola Daddy was suffering?

Philipp Yes, you just said –

Nicola You’re saying he suffered when he was with me?

Philipp No, I didn’t –

Nicola You’re such an arsehole –

Fabian He didn’t say –

Nicola Shut it, Fabian.

(To Philipp.) Of course he was suffering, and you know whose name he was calling out?

Philipp Calling out?

Nicola When his body got rid of everything in it, like an old sack being emptied, until nothing was left, not even in his brain? Do you know who he was calling out for?

Philipp No, no idea.

Nicola Of course not because you weren’t there –

Nothing.

Philipp For me?

Nicola For you?

Philipp Not for me?

Nicola He was calling out for Luise.

(Shouts.) Luise!

As if she held the keys to paradise. A Luise none of us knows anything about.

Philipp Luise?

Nicola You don’t know her? No one knows her. But now you’re standing here claiming he’s your father –

Philipp Well, he is.

Nicola You’re a fucking idiot.

She walks away.

Philipp Nicola?

Nothing.

Fine. I can do it. So, my father died. Two weeks ago. Our father.

Fabian And we’re here in order to clear out his flat –

Philipp What do you want?

Fabian And there’s this painting –

Philipp I didn’t know you were now in a position to –

Nicola is suddenly back.

Nicola What did you think? Of course all this needs to be cleared out. We’re not going to open a museum here, are we –

Philipp No, but –

Fabian I understand you getting emotional, after all he was your father.

Nicola For God’s sake, Fabian –

Philipp No, but Nicola –

Nicola Yes, Philipp, what is it?

Philipp He’s meddling.

Nicola Fabian is my husband, of course my husband is going to be present when I clear out my father’s flat –

Philipp Our father’s. ‘We’re dissolving our father’s –’

Nicola Dear God, Philipp –

Philipp The way that sounds, ‘clear out’. As if he was a piece of rusty metal we throw on a scrap heap. As if we don’t want anything of him to remain –

Fabian If I could just get back to the painting –

Nicola Nothing is going to remain. Here, in this place, nothing is going to remain. The lease has been terminated. Next week some single student is going to move in, he’ll throw his mattress into the room where Daddy died and fuck his own brains out.

Philipp You know what I mean –

Nicola No, Philipp, I don’t know, down here, in this vale of tears, in this godforsaken hovel, nothing of him is going to remain, Daddy is going to be completely exterminated here – but in our hearts we’re going to keep him forever, or to be precise in our brains, he’s never going to die there, he’ll live forever –

Philipp Fine, but –

Nicola And then he’ll haunt us in our worst nightmares and make us break out in cold sweats until one day we die too, and even his great-grandchildren won’t remember – speaking of which, where is your wife?

Philipp My wife?

Judith I’m here.

Nicola Very good. I thought you were already up in the attic, cherry-picking.

Philipp Are there cherries in the attic?