TRISTANA & ISOLDE.

Tristana Tenchfish strolls along the corridor in subdued silence. As she walks,
her head is lowered and her eyes watch her feet as they move along the dark
tiled floor, so that it seems to her that it is the floor that moves and not her
feet.

After a few minutes, she stops and lifts her head. Thirty-nine steps, she mutters
to herself. Then, after a few seconds staring, she moves close to the window
which reveals a green open space below and a dense wooded area beyond
that. She stands and stares, her face a few centimetres from the glass
windowpane.

Nurse Liza Lephant, a plump, blonde haired woman, with a swaggering walk,
comes up behind Tristana and stands looking over her shoulder. - What are
you looking at, Tristana? Lephant says, indifferently. Tristana continues to stare
unmoved, but murmurs a few incoherent words, which Lephant fails to grasp.
Tristana raises her right hand slowly and points at the expanse of sky.
- That’s the gate to Heaven, Tristana informs in a whisper. There is a bright
light coming from an opening in the clouds, which are ablaze where the sun
shines, and beams from the sun spread out through the clouds giving the
impression there is an opening in the sky. My daddy's there, she adds after a
few moments. Nurse Lephant looks up at the sky and shakes her head. She
hasn't a great deal of patience, but tries temporarily to give the impression of
possessing it.

- Gone to Heaven, has he? Nurse Lephant says cynically.

- Yes, Tristana replies. Gone there, she says, pointing to the sun-soaked clouds.
Lephant sighs and looks momentarily at Tristana's dark brown hair, which falls
untidily about her shoulders. She wishes this women of thirty-five standing in
front of her, was more concerned about her appearance than about an
opening in the sky.

- Well, I can't stand around here chattering about holes in the sky, Lephant
says coldly. And, after a couple of seconds staring at Tristana's hair, she walks
away along the corridor back to the ward.

Tristana looks away from the sky and turning her head slowly, she watches as
Nurse Lephant disappears from view. She stands staring at the vacant space
which Lephant had occupied a few moments before, and mutters a few words
barely audible, which go nowhere, but cling about her like close friends.

Five minutes later, back on the ward, Nurse Lephant is folding soiled sheets
with another nurse. - That Tenchfish woman is as dotty as a dim wit, Lephant
says contemptuously. The other nurse looks across at Lephant and frowns. You
should have heard her just now, going on about her dad being up in the sky,
Lephant adds with a sneer.

- If it makes her happy, Nurse Nina Nooper says, what does it matter?
- It’s so bloody annoying, Nurse Lephant complains, all this nonsense about
humouring them. We should tell them to pull themselves together and then,
perhaps, we might get rid of a few of them.

- That’s not our job. Our job is to care and look after them. If they leave, it's
when they are ready to do so, and not when we want them to, Nurse Nooper
says. Lephant sniffs and shakes her head. She folds the sheets moodily and
casts a glance at the nurse opposite her. Nurse Nooper a small, dark haired girl
of nineteen, folds the sheets, aware that Lephant is watching her.

- You haven't been here more than three months, so don't tell me what the
job's about, Lephant informs stiffly.

- I was only saying, Nooper says, but pauses. She looks pass Lephant and sees
Tristana walking into the ward with Isolde Isherman. She’s back, Nooper says,
indicating with a nod of her head, and Isolde's with her. Lephant turns and
stares coldly as the two patients walk along the ward.

- A right pair those two. Both as loony as each other, Nurse Lephant states
harshly.

- They’re happy together, Nurse Nooper says, softly. They’re a support for each
other.

Lephant sighs deeply. - You’ve got a lot to learn, Nina, Lephant states irritably.
They're as weird as witches. Wouldn't surprise me if they weren't a couple of
lesbians, she adds coldly. Nurse Nooper frowns. Lephant stares for a few more
moments, then returns her gaze and interest back to the soiled sheets and the
task before them.

Isolde seeing the two nurses folding sheets at the far end of the ward touches
Tristana's arm to halt her. - Walk. Us? Isolde says clearly, but in a hushed voice.
Talk. Tristana nods her head and they turn back along the ward the way they
had just come. Isolde looks over her shoulder as they walk away and stares
briefly at the two nurses. She feels an opening in her head as Nurse Lephant
returns her stare. Her brain feels exposed. Her mind senses the icy look from
Lephant's eyes and turns away suddenly, as if an arrow had pierced her brain.

As they walk along the corridor where Tristana had seen the opening in the sky
a little while before, Isolde takes hold of Tristana's hand in her own and holds it
firmly. - Talk about us, Isolde says suddenly, as if she'd just been switched on.
The nurses. Tristana turns her head and looks at the golden-brown hair of
Isolde, which, hanging in waves and curls over her shoulders, she finds
beautiful.

- Yes, Tristana replies after a few seconds thinking about the words Isolde had
spoken and her lovely hair, they do talk about us.

Isolde gazes deeply into Tristana’s eyes as they walk slowly along. - Horrible
things, Isolde says emotionally, nurses say. She holds Tristana's hand tighter
and turns her head and eyes forward as the locked wooden doors that lead out
of the ward come before them.

Tristana pushes one of the doors and finds it unlocked. - The doors are open,
Tristana says in surprise and excitement. Come on, Isolde, we'll go into the
garden and I'll show you the gate to Heaven. Isolde nods and follows her friend
through the door and to the top of a flight of stairs. There they both stop and
hesitate. Come on, Isolde, Tristana says, excitedly, come into the garden.

Isolde stares down the flight of concrete stairs. Her eyes widened and she bites
her lower lip. - Steep, Isolde says, pointing to the stairs with her right index
finger. Might fall. Hurt. She clutches Tristana's hand tightly again.

Tristana taps the hand in hers, gently. - No, you'll be all right, Tristana
reassures, I’ll hold your hand tightly. And slowly they descend the stairs until
after a minute or so they reach the lower floor and see a pair of white wooden
doors, which open, on to the garden grounds. They stand looking up and down
the lower corridor, and seeing no one about, they open the doors and enter
the garden. They stand and look around the garden, which has white wooden
seats dotted here and there across a well-mown lawn.

- Sit, Isolde says, there. And points to the nearest white garden seat. Talk,
Isolde says. Tristana nods and hand in hand they almost tiptoe to the seat
across the grass. On reaching the seat, they sit down. Warm, Isolde asserts,
after a moment or two of silence. Sun, hot. She puts her hand above her eyes
to shut out the glare.

- I told Nurse Lephant about the gate to heaven, Tristana informs. But it's gone
now, she adds looking up at the sky and giving off a look of deep
disappointment. Closed the gate. She sighs. She searches the sky slowly for the
opening she'd seen earlier, but it has disappeared. She sighs again and shakes
her head.

Isolde also looks up at the sky, her pale-blue eyes searching the blueness and
whiteness for the opening. - Closed, she mutters. Come again soon, she adds,
hopefully, expectantly. Tristana says nothing. Her hand, she senses, squeezed
again. She feels the warm, soft flesh of Isolde's hand against her own. She feels
linked; feels as if she and Isolde were one. She lowers her eyes from the sky
and contemplates deeply, Isolde beside her.

- Night, Tristana mutters to Isolde, studying her face. I hate night. Isolde
remains silent, continuing to search the blueness above her. I love day and the
light, Tristana remarks. Daddy said darkness of night was evil. He loved day,
too. She pauses and looks down at Isolde's pale-pink nightgown, which is open
at the neck. Isolde lowers her eyes and stares at Tristana. Their eyes meet and
for a few minutes they say nothing, but gaze in silence.

- Feel, Isolde states suddenly, breaking the silence. Feel, here, she continues,
touching her breast with her right hand. Feel, here, something. She hesitates.
Tristana looks away from Isolde's eyes and studies the hand on Isolde's breast.
The hand is long and slim, the nails uncut. Love, Isolde mutters. Again she
searches for a word, but when she opens her lips again, nothing comes.
Tristana takes the word that Isolde has just spoken into herself. So long ago
since she had heard that word. Long ago. Long long ago. Love, Isolde mutters
again, you. And pointing with her right finger lets her finger rest on Tristana's
white nightgown. Tristana feels the finger against her breast. She closes her
eyes. Long ago. She feels Isolde's hand gently brush against her cheek, as if
smoothing away fears. The gentle touch moves her. She takes hold of the hand
against her cheek, but doesn't open her eyes. She brings the hand to her lips
and kisses it.

- Soft hand, Tristana says softly.

- Love, Isolde mutters again. You, she adds gently.

- Love? Tristana asks. Me?

Isolde nods her head, but Tristana doesn't see. Her eyes are still closed. - Love.
You. Isolde pauses. A silence comes and rests between them. Tristana takes
the words into her being and warms against them.

- They’ve escaped, Nurse Lephant exclaims, looking down on to the grass

below from the window of the upper corridor.

- How? Nurse Nooper asks. I thought the doors were kept locked.

Nurse Lephant curses and glares at the two patients on the white seat below
on the lawn. - Some stupid bugger must have forgotten to lock up after them,
Nurse Lephant states bitterly.

Nurse Nooper stares down at the two women on the white seat below. She
feels Lephant's anger breath against the window. - They seem harmless
enough, Nurse Nooper suggests, timidly.

- That’s not the point, Nurse Lephant says, coldly. They’re not meant to be out
of the ward. She bangs on the window, but the two women do not hear. Go
and get them in, she demands.
- On my own? Nurse Nooper asks, rubbing a slim finger against the glass.

- Yes. They won't harm you, Lephant informs.

- They’re not doing anything wrong, Nurse Nooper states looking at the figures
below. Just sitting there.

- Holding hands, Nurse Lephant says, cynically. Told you they were bloody
weird.

- Just friends, Nurse Nooper suggests in a whisper.

- Get them in, Nurse Lephant demands firmly. Nurse Nooper turns away from
the window and walks reluctantly along the corridor. Lephant continues to
glare at the two patients. She feels anger rise in her. Her hands clench into fists
tightly beside her. If only, she muses moodily, if only. But, after releasing a
deep sigh and a string of curses, she returns to the ward with her swaggering
walk.

Isolde stands up from the seat when she sees Nurse Nooper open the white
doors of the hospital that lead onto the lawn. - Nurse, she mutters. Trouble.
She turns her head and watches as Nurse Nooper crosses the grass towards
them. The nurse looks at them with a sense of apprehension about her. Her
eyes are nervous and her pace is slow.

- You shouldn't be out here, Nurse Nooper states as she reaches the white
seat. Not without permission, she adds as an afterthought.

Her small dark eyes lift to the two women, but settle on Isolde who is standing
gazing at her. Nurse Lephant told me to fetch you in. The two women stare at
her in a menacing silence. Their eyes unmovingly settle on her own. It isn't my
idea. I am just doing as I was asked, Nurse Nooper says, lowering her eyes to
the face of Tristana.
- Just looking for the gate to Heaven, Tristana informs eventually, after a few
minutes of muteness. She looks away from Nurse Nooper and lifts her eyes to
the sky above. Gone now. My daddy is there. Light. He loved the light, Tristana
states distantly, as if far away. Nurse Nooper looks up at the vast blue sky. She
wishes the two women would just come in with her. But they don't. They seem
disengaged, detached, as if they were on a different planet. Isolde sits down
again and crosses her legs.

- Sit here, Isolde declares. Us.

- You must come in, Nurse Nooper says, her voice taut.

- Sit here, Isolde repeats. Tristana looks away from the sky and studies Nurse
Nooper's face. Isolde stares ahead as if somewhere before her there was
something drawing her attention.

- Nurse Lephant will be annoyed, Nurse Nooper informs. You must come in.
But the two women remain seated. She stares at them both in turn with a look
of despair. A sense of gloom hangs about her eyes and mouth. She wants to
speak again, but the words don't come. Tristana turns her head away from
Nurse Nooper's view and looks once more at the sky, which has changed from
dark blue to light blue and then back to a dark blue again.

- Albert Camus, Tristana says suddenly, as if the thought had just woken her,
Camus says, for the poor the sky is a gift of infinite grace. She stares at the
blueness, musing on her words. Infinite grace, she repeats. But, she adds as if
recalling along ago memories, the rich find the sky as just an extra, a gift of
nature. She muses again in a silence. Isolde nods, but says nothing. Nurse
Nooper looks at her watch.

- Sky, Isolde says. And lifting her hand she points her finger at the dark-
blueness above her. Blue. Peace.

- If you don't come in, I'll have to get Nurse Lephant, Nurse Nooper states
nervously. She moves back from the white seat and stands stiffly. Isolde lowers
her hand and turns and stares at the nurse. Tristana moves her right hand and
takes hold of Isolde's hand in her own. She studies Isolde's face and then
glances up at the nurse. Come in, please, the nurse pleads. I want you to just
come in. I will say nothing of your... She pauses. The two women rise up from
the white seat. They embrace and kiss. The nurse looks away and senses
herself blushing. Come follow me, she says, without turning round, Come in,
come in, she pleads. The two women begin to walk.

- Heaven’s gate closed, Isolde states in a soft voice, following the nurse across
the grass. Tristana walks beside her hand in hand.

- Infinite grace, Tristana says. Heaven’s gate gone. Closed.