Equus Page #5

How do you know that?

Well, I just know, that's all.

Was that girl Jill Mason?

I don't know her name.

Excuse me, Mr. Strang, what do you know?

- I can't say anymore.

- Mr. Strang...

Ask him! Just ask him about taking

a girl out that very night. It's...

Thanks for the tape.

It was excellent.

Yeah, I'm not making anymore.

One thing I didn't quite understand,

you began to say something

about the horse on the

beach talking to you.

Tsk. Stupid, horses don't talk.

So I believe.

I don't know what you mean.

Never mind about that.

Tell me something else.

Who introduced you to the stable

to begin with?

Someone I met.

Where?

Hello, can I do something for you?

No.

You're always staring in here,

aren't you?

Me?

Yes. Every day, at lunchtime.

I've seen you.

Not me.

Course it's you.

You looking for a job, or something?

Is there one? I can only do weekends.

That's when most people ride.

We could use extra hands.

It will mainly be mucking out.

Oh, I don't mind.

Please.

Come up on Saturday.

I'll introduce you to Mr. Dalton.

And you went?

Yeah.

Hello!

You came, then.

Let's find Mr. Dalton.

My name's Jill, by the way. What's yours?

All riders are accompanied, madam.

No riders are allowed out on their own.

All right, I'll put her down for 3:00.

What is the name, please?

Mrs. Shawcross.

Thank you. Goodbye.

This is Alan Strang, Mr. Dalton.

Oh?

You ever worked in a stable before?

- Can you ride?

- No, I don't want to.

It's not extra, you know.

It comes with the job.

No, I just want to work here.

You like horses?

Well, we can certainly use the help.

There's enough work around here

for six lads.

Four quid a day.

Saturdays and Sundays. All right?

- Yes, sir.

- Good.

Now, I expect the place neat, dry

and clean at all times.

The main rule is,

never pretend you know something

when you don't.

Actually, the main rule is, enjoy yourself.

Remember, 7:
30 on the dot.

Horses don't oversleep, you know.

See you later.

This is Nugget. Come on, that's it. Yeah.

Come on, come on.

He's my favorite.

This is a body brush.

You use it with a currycomb.

Now, you always groom the same way,

from the ears, downwards.

Don't be afraid to do it hard.

The harder you do it,

the more the horse loves it.

Push it right through the coat, like this.

Work towards the tail,

and right through the coat.

See how he loves it?

Giving you a lovely massage, aren't I, boy?

Here, you try.

Nice and easy.

Never rush.

Work towards the tail,

and right through the coat.

That's it.

Again.

You've got a feel for it, I can tell.

It's going to be fun teaching you.

Jill! Jill!

What?

Mr. Dalton wants you, please. Right away.

Keep that up for 15 minutes.

Then do old trooper.

See you later.

All right, I'm off now.

I'll be back after lunch.

If anyone rings, just put it in the book.

Two rides this afternoon. That's the lot.

Was it good? Touching them?

Must've been marvellous,

being near them at last,

making them fresh and glossy.

Tell me,

you worked at the stable every weekend?

Yeah.

You must have seen a lot of the girl.

Tell me about her. Did you like her?

- Come on, Alan, tell me.

- All right.

MARTINI Was she friendly?

ALAN; Yes.

Or standoffish?

Yes.

Well, which?

What?

Which was she?

Tell me, did you, uh...

Did you ever take her out?

- Did you have dates with her?

- What?

Tell me if you did.

"Tell me!"

"Tell me, tell me, tell me" on and on.

Standing there, nosy parker.

That's all you are, a bloody nosy parker,

just like my dad.

"Answer this, answer that," never stop.

- Well, I'm sorry.

- All right.

Well, now it's my turn.

You tell me, answer me.

We're not playing that game now.

We're playing what I say.

All right.

What do you want to know?

Do you have dates?

I told you, I'm married.

I know. Her name's Margaret,

she's a dentist.

You see? I found out.

What made you go with her, then?

Did you used to bite her hands

when she did you in the chair?

That's not very funny.

Do you have girls behind her back?

No.

Then what? Do you f*** her?

All right.

Come on, tell me, tell me, tell me.

- That's enough now.

- I'll bet you don't.

I bet you never touch her.

You've got no kids, have you?

Is that because you don't f***?

Go to your room.

Quick march.

Alan.

Give me those cigarettes.

Give them to me!

Now go.

Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.

The boy's on the run, so he turns defensive.

What am I, then?

Wicked little bastard.

He knew exactly what questions to try.

Not that there's anything novel about that.

Advanced neurotics can

be dazzling at that game.

They aim unswervingly

at your area of maximum vulnerability,

which is, I suppose, as good a way

as any of describing Margaret.

Now, stop it.

Do I embarrass you?

I suspect you're about to.

My wife doesn't understand me,

your honor.

Do you understand her?

No.

Obviously, I never did.

I'm sorry.

I never like to ask.

But I always imagined you weren't

exactly compatible.

We were.

It actually worked for a bit.

I mean, for both of us.

She, for me, through a kind of...

Briskness,

a clear, redheaded, inaccessible briskness,

that kept me keyed up for months.

Mind you, if you're kinky

for northern hygiene, which I am,

you can hardly find

anything more compelling

than a Scottish lady dentist.

It's you who are

wicked, you know.

Not at all.

She got exactly the same from me.

Antiseptic proficiency.

I was like that in those days.

I see us in our wedding photograph,

Dr. And Dr. Macbrisk.

We were brisk in our wooing,

brisk in our wedding,

brisk in our disappointment.

We turned from each other briskly

into our separate surgeries,

and now, there's a nice,

brisk nothing.

You never had children, did you?

No.

We did not go in for them.

Instead she sits and knits things for

orphans in some home she works with,

and I sit opposite turning over the pages

of books on mythical Greece.

Mentally, we're in different parts

of the world.

She's forever in some drizzly chapel

of her own inheriting,

and I'm in some doric temple,

clouds tearing through the pillars,

eagles bearing prophesies out of the sky.

She finds all that repulsive.

All that my wife has ever taken

from the Mediterranean,

from that whole, vast, intuitive culture,

are four bottles of Chianti

to make into lamps,

and two China condiment donkeys

labeled Sally and Pepe.

Now you're being cruel.

I Wish...

There was somebody in this life

I could show.

One...

Instinctive, absolutely unbrisk person

that I could take to Greece,

and stand in front of certain shrines

and sacred streams and say,

"Look,

"life is only comprehensible through 1,000

"local Gods.

"Not just the old, dead Gods,

with names like Zeus,

"but living geniuses of place and person.

"Not just Greece, but modern England.

"Here, spirits of certain trees,

"of certain curves of brick wall,

"of certain fish-and-chip

shops, if you like,

"and... and slate roofs, and

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