The Long Voyage Home Page #6

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Axel, my ticket! Where's my ticket?

In your coat, lad. In your coat. There it is.

Large as life.

You couldn't lose that | without losing the coat itself.

Well, we go soon, Drisk. | I don't wanna miss boat to Stockholm.

Sure, lad, and fine shipmates we'd be | if we didn't see you on your way,

but you've ladles of time!

- Sure! | - Quiet down!

Aye, I'll treat you a toast, lads!

May the devil burn | that black Scot of a Mate.

- Yeah! I'll drink to that! | - What will you have, mate?

He'll have a pint of beer. | And you know who'll pay for it? I will.

Now, it won't do you | the least bit of harm, mate.

Why, you're the strongest in the whole lot.

Here, stand up. Come on. Don't be afraid. | Come on. Up. Stand up.

There you are. That's the kind of fo'c's'le | on hand that skippers is looking for.

He'll have just a pint of beer, Joe, on me.

No, he won't have a pint on you!

He won't have a pint on anybody! | You stop talk like that!

Oh, I just take one.

Ole, hold that.

All right.

You just take one drink, and I hurt you!

I agree with the square-head. | Nothing for Ole.

All right, I just take ginger beer.

- What? | - He say ginger beer.

He wants ginger beer!

- Ginger beer! | - Oh, ginger beer.

What devils...

Well, I was just telling Joe the ladies | is coming over to have a drink with you.

And what lovely, what beautiful, | what seductivity.

Ladies, if I may?

Hello, mates.

Ship ahoy!

Provocative! Tantalizing.

Have a good voyage?

A rotten voyage, but never mind that.

My name's Freda. Hers is Kate. | Hers is Meg.

You're welcome, as the saying is.

Are you gonna buy us a whit?

I like them fat!

Come on, square-head. | Play us a tune, an Irish tune.

Would you care to dance?

No, I go now.

Where you going?

Goodbye, Axel.

I'll think you don't like me | if you don't come back.

Well, you is wrong. I do like you.

Why won't you come back then?

Won't you come in | and have a pint with me?

I go home. I catch boat.

Well, you don't wanna go without | a sweetheart to say goodbye to, do you?

Please.

All right, I just take a ginger beer.

Won't you sit down? Over here.

All right, shipmates, | come on out the back room.

Everything is free and easy there,

and we got a lovely gramophone, | and the cops can't hear us. Come on.

Now tell me something about yourself. | Where was you born?

- In Norway? | - No.

- Denmark. | - No.

Ja.

Ain't that funny? I was born there, too.

- Where, Miss Freda? | - In Sweden.

- Do you speak Swedish? | - Oh, no.

You see, my old man and woman | come here to England

when I was only a baby. | I'm an orphan, you know.

And they was speaking English | before I was old enough to learn.

So I never knew Swedish. I wished I had.

No place like your home, I says.

Ja.

I leave home when I was kid. | Now, I don't leave no more.

I got all the sea I want for my whole life.

What did you do before you was a sailor?

I work on farm till I'm 16.

And we lived... | My mother and brother live.

My father is dead.

We live on farm | just little way outside Stockholm.

I got plenty money now.

Sewn in pocket. Two years' pay.

How clever.

You'll be getting married, too, I suppose. | You got a sweetheart?

Oh, I don't know, Miss Freda, I think so. I...

Well, I...

What's your hurry? | You haven't bought me my drink yet.

I only takes a drop of gin now and again.

For my health.

A drop of gin, Joe, if you please.

With a beer chaser.

You hear that, Joe?

A drop of gin and a beer chaser | for her ladyship.

Right-o.

Now, come on, sailor. Come on. | You can't let the little lady drink all alone.

- Well, I... | - Please.

Now, come on. Sit down. Sit down.

You got a new matey, you know. | Here, what you gonna have?

Well, then I take a little ginger beer.

- Ginger beer. | - Small one.

Small ginger beer. You shall have it.

No! No.

Tell me something about your old lady.

Your mother, | she won't be half glad to see you, will she?

Does she know you're coming?

No, I thought I just give her a surprise.

She must be old, ain't she?

You know, Miss Freda, | I don't see my mother in...

Must be 10 years. | Oh, I write to her once in a while.

She writes many times. | My brother, he writes, too.

My mother say in all her letters, | "You come right home!"

And I write back always, "I come soon."

And I mean all time to go | at end of voyage.

But I come ashore. I take one drink. | I take two drinks. I...

I ship away for another voyage. | Something always happens.

Here we are.

And I took the liberty | of having one myself.

Skol.

- Skol!

More beer!

Well, this time I go home.

I feel homesick for farm

and to see my people again. I...

Just like little boy, I feel homesick.

My mother,

she gets old. I want to see her.

She might die. I would...

Ship ahoy! Ship ahoy!

- Can I keep the parrot? | - Oh, you...

What devil's trick is this?

What kind of... Where's Ole?

Who?

The big lad, Ole!

Oh, him. Oh, he left on a steamer. | He said he couldn't wait.

And he told me to say goodbye.

Ole go home.

The big lug made it.

Ole's gone home to Stockholm.

bon voyage. Come on.

Before you go, | how about a farewell drink on the house?

- Good idea. Good idea. Good idea. | - Come on. Let's get out of this rat hole.

Ole's gone.

What'll you have, whiskey?

Irish whiskey.

That's a queer thing for Ole to be doing.

If Ole's gone to the steamer, Drisk, | we got time to catch him.

Well, we've come to see him off anyway.

Well, come on now. Sling your hooks!

- Shall we go? | - Goodbye, mate!

- Happy trip. | - Goodbye!

- Goodbye. Goodbye. | - Goodbye.

It's not in my nature | to feel unkindly toward any man,

to be holding a grudge inside of me | when I might let bygones be bygones.

- Thank you, mate. | - So feeling in a merciful mood toward you

- when I might never see you again... | - Now.

...it would be a hard thing to have on me.

Of course, it would. Of course.

So...

Ship ahoy! Ship ahoy! Ship ahoy!

Excuse me, mates, but you haven't got it | quite right. It goes something like this.

- Where's Ole? | - Where's Ole?

- What did you do to him? | - Where's Ole?

Driscoll.

Yes, Driscoll, you...

- Ole! | - Ole!

Come on!

Quick!

Ole! Ole! Ole!

Give me...

Come on. Go on. Get him off here. Quick.

Hurry up! Hurry up, there. Hurry up!

All clear!

Take him forward.

Drisk.

Where's Ole?

Ole go home.

- Good. | - Yeah. Ole go home to Stockholm.

Where's Drisk? | What happened to Driscoll?

Drisk gone.

Gone? Gone where?

Amindra.

Amindra.

He's gone.

He's gone.

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