The Hasty Heart Page #6

I ended up hating the whole world

and everyone in it.

I tell you, Sister, I despaired.

You mustn't think you were alone, Lachie.

We've all felt that way at times.

That's good to hear.

In my blindness and my rage

I was wicked enough to think

that only I knew the meaning of suffering.

And now I'm twenty-four years old,

and for the first time today

it occurred to me

I've never really been alive before.

I've been a poor dour man with nothing

in my favor, and no reason to exist.

- Don't, Lachie, you mustn't talk like that.

- Aye, but it's true, girl.

And I've got to do something about it.

I owe so much.

If it's the goodness of my fellow man

I've wronged,

well, I must make up for it.

Lachie, if you feel you've made a mistake,

you don't have to rush out

- and pay for it immediately.

- But, it's like repentance, Sister.

I've got a terrible need to help.

It's a great torment to me.

If there was only something I could...

There's my farm,

- maybe I could share it in some way.

- Slowly, Lachie.

Remember, sorrow is born

in the hasty heart.

Well, I'm not hasty. I know my duty.

And I've made up my mind.

Everything I own, my farm and all,

I'll share with my fellow man.

Lachie, I...

Oh, it's a great relief to me.

Do you know something, Sister,

if I had not stopped my bit of shrapnel,

I'd never have known

I could be so content with myself.

I had to be hurt to learn.

Oh, I don't think you had to be hurt,

but there was good in it.

I've come to the conclusion

the world would be a healthier place

if more people were sick.

Well, I don't know about that.

Come on, back to bed with you.

Aye.

How have you felt today?

- It's odd you should ask that.

- It's one of my duties.

I thought you had read my mind.

I've a wee weariness.

My hands sweat a bit,

and my feet seem swollen.

You've been thinking too much.

Could be I'm not used to thinking.

Sister, could I move my bed

in the morning?

I think there's a bit more breeze

at that end.

- I don't see why not.

- Thank you.

Lachie, it just occurred to me.

If you want to share something

with your fellow man,

instead of the things you own,

why don't you share yourself?

- Share myself?

- Yes.

Tell them about yourself.

About, well, where you live

and the things you've done,

what you like. They'll be richer for it.

I know I am, for the things

you've shared with me already.

- You cannot mean me, Sister.

- But I do.

As a human being,

I don't suppose

I have any real individuality.

I'm the people I've met.

I'm a mixture of everything

I've ever read or seen.

I'm everyone I ever loved.

And you've taken something from me?

Without your knowing it.

Sister,

do you ken you've given me something,

too, without your knowing it?

Something I've never had before.

Something that makes me know

when you come into the room.

Even when I can't see you.

Lachie, have you been as happy with us

as you've ever been in your life?

I think I've shared a moment with kings.

That's very sweet.

- Good night, Lachie.

- Good night, Sister.

You're a lovely, lovely angel.

I shouldn't have done that.

I had no right.

No right at all.

And you may recall,

when a humble Member of the House

asked Parliament for thruppence

to be added to the old-age pension,

what happens?

You'd have thought the government

would've been asked

to throw away the crown jewels!

Their Lordships leaped to their feet

like jack-in-the-boxes.

"Bankrupt the empire," they shouts!

For thruppence, mind you!

- Thruppence to help the poor.

- Very interesting, Lachie. Very interesting.

Why don't you talk to Yank.

He knows more about politics than I do.

"Where will the money come from?"

says the Prime Minister.

You cannot get blood from a turnip.

But do you happen to know how much

His Majesty's government

- spent daily to persecute the war?

- Why don't you relax, buster?

- You haven't stopped talking for a week.

- But do you know?

- Well, it must've been plenty.

- Aye!

Over a million pounds a day.

A million pounds!

And where did the money come from

in the first place, eh? Eh?

- You cannot answer, can you?

- Blossom.

Well, I'll tell you.

They ups and print it. That's what they do.

Do you realize how much it costs

to train each soldier put into the field?

Ten thousand pounds a piece!

Now, if they'd given just a half of that

to each man on both sides,

they could've stopped the war

in two minutes

and cut the national debt in half.

Look, Lachie, my lad,

if it's votes you're after,

you can have mine and welcome.

Tommy?

- Could I have a minute of your time?

- Why, of course.

Hey, it occurred to me

that when we go home

you might like a place to visit

and rest a bit.

Well, as you ken,

I've got a wee place in Scotland.

There'd always be tobacco to smoke

and bread to eat.

And a good chair of your own

to sit and talk in.

Why, thanks for the offer, Lachie.

But if I'm to get away from my old woman,

I'll have to go further than Scotland.

But you'd like Ayrshire.

It's not a hasty offer.

Oh, I'm very grateful to you.

But it's me for old London.

Remember now, if you ever come

to the city, my wife's home is yours.

- Kiwi?

- Yeah?

Have you got a job waiting for you

back home?

Nothing definite,

but now I got Kiwi Junior.

Well, have you ever thought

of looking for work in Scotland?

Good Lord, no, has anyone?

Well, as you no doubt recall,

I've got a bit of land

with a wee house on it.

And you're most welcome to it,

for you and your family.

- Oh, well, I...

- There'd be no charge.

Well, no thanks, Lachie.

When I turn in my pay book

I'm heading in one direction only,

New Zealand.

When I think of it,

it gives me a toothache in my heart.

But I'll visit you someday, when I get rich.

When you're rich you'll need no help.

I'll not see you again.

Don't worry, I'll never get that rich.

Are you having trouble

with the mosquitoes, Digger?

Yeah, it's a wonder I haven't got malaria.

- Could you not sleep with your socks on?

- That wouldn't make any difference.

Those little monsters would

just gang up and pull them off.

They seem to think my feet

are a blood bank.

Hey, there are no mosquitoes

to speak of in Scotland.

- Oh, yeah?

- Aye.

That's interesting.

I dare say they're quite ferocious

where you're from.

Oh, terrible.

- Well, then why don't...

- But Australian mosquitoes

can have all my blood they want.

When I get home nothing's

ever going to get me away again.

- You really must go home?

- Afraid so, Lachie.

Did you ever transplant anything

and manage to get all the roots

out of the ground?

Aye, that's true.

Blossom?

Would you like to...

They'd not understand you in Scotland.

Lachie?

Get Sister.

Sister, it's Lachie.

I do not ken what came over me.

- What happened?

- He keeled over.

- He'd been walking about too much.

- And talking too much.

You do talk when you get started.

But a man must walk and talk a bit.

He's not a vegetable.

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