CHAPTER TITLE The Carpet
AUTHOR Selina Apostol
COPYRIGHT 2005 Selina Apostol
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
...
PERMISSIONS All text copyright as above.
CHAPTER NOTES ....
ILLUSTRATION NOTES
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(Parentheses signify thought balloons)
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2004.
Interior of a flat in New Cross, London.
Elliot enters room. There’s no furniture at first except for a ledge piled with books and a
typewriter and a stack
of magazines called "ultrafuture1986". A beam slides out of one of the walls and snags. Loud beeping
ELLIOT
Oh what is it now!
ALARM SYSTEM
“Y o u r c a r p e t i s m a l f u n c t i o n i n g”
ELLIOT- tetchily
I noticed!
- He pushes at a beam. It responds
by extending itself out the full length. 4 or 5 other beams slide out of the walls and stumps of the
same size rise out of the floor.
ELLIOT
A mess!
- Rosina comes in from an adjoining room.. TThey embrace.
ROSINA
They didn’t need me
to stay after all.
ELLIOT
Thank God.
- A bulldog appears behind Rosina.
ROSINA
I got back before 5
actually. I realised
I had time to take
Petey to the vet.
ELLIOT-
kneeling beside dog
Is he poorly?
Petey, have you
been feeling—
ROSINA
No.
I
took him
there to get
him neutered.
ELLIOT
What?
ROSINA
It’s done.
Thank God.
We shouldn’t
have left it so late.
It was lucky I had a
window today—
What’s the matter?
ELLIOT
Oh God, Petey!
- He is kneeling
beside dog.
I’m
so sorry,
I’m so sorry,
I’m so sorry!
Oh God.
Oh God!
ROSINA
What’s this?
ELLIOT
I wish you
could have
asked me
first.
ROSINA
Ask? If you
wanted to take him
yourself, then why
haven’t you done so
already--oh, no!
You didn’t want
him neutered?
ELLIOT
It’s just—it’s
just that it’s so cruel.
I mean—
It’s just that...
isn’t there...is it
actually...uhhh.
It’s just that
it’s so cruel.
What do the animal
rights people say about
neutering, actually?
ROSINA
Are you
out of your
mind?
Don’t you
realise what
we could be in
for, keeping an
un-neutered
dog?
ELLIOT
I’m sorry.
You’re right...
ROSINA
If you’d have
shown the slightest
interest in helping me
get his mess off the
floor...
ELLIOT
(Oh dear.)
I know.
You’re right.
you’re right
I’m sorry.
ROSINA
He was getting
aggressive.
It’s the responsible
thing to do. I never knew
you had objections. I—
ELLIOT - embraces her
I’m sorry. I’m
being silly. There’s
no way we could afford
to keep him un-neutered.
It’s true.
- Elliot:
eyes wide open, view from behind Rosina.
(Petey. I'm going
to miss you)
ROSINA - has pulled away
You’ve made
me feel like a
monster.
ELLIOT
I’m sorry.
You know I
didn’t mean it
that way?
ROSINA
It’s for his own
safety, too, you
know.
It'll stop his provocative
behaviour. It'll stop him
getting mangled...
ELLIOT
Yes.
ROSINA
Don’t worry.
It doesn’t change
their personality.
It just makes
them calmer.
ELLIOT
Calmer. (sighs)
Even my dog
has to be mad
to
go on
living with me.
ROSINA
(The sweetest
boy
any girl
could
meet.)
- Later
ROSINA
We ought
to get proper
chairs.
ELLIOT
Two months.
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ADDITIONAL NOTES
Beams spring out of walls to form shelving, a ledge for a desk, and
primitive seating. Real furniture
(free-standing furniture) has
become too dear.
The Carpet
S Apostol, 2004
Neutering,
a common practice in some countries, is a method of birth
control consisting in the removal of an animal's reproductive organ. Pet
owners are urged by most animal shelters and humane societies to neuter
their pets.
More on it
here.
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