Scene 7
from Somewhere on the Border
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 June 2019
Summary
An improvised canteen, somewhere on the border. Sounds of the African night provided throughout this scene by a buzz-track. The men wear floppy bush hats and have their rifles with them at all times. The disco version of The Lion Sleeps Tonight (by Tight Fit) is heard over the loudspeakers. The music switches to a portable radio on the stage as the lights snap on to reveal BADENHORST dancing on a table. His trousers are in a pool around his ankles and his genitals are tucked between his legs to create the illusion of a vagina.
CAMPBELL and MOWBRAY [shouting]: Take it off! Take it off! Take it off! Take it off!
BADENHORST removes his bush hat, performs a lewd ritual with it and throws it to MARAIS.
Show us some more! Show us some more!
BADENHORST twists around, bends over and exposes his backside and genitals.
CAMPBELL: Hey then, she's an impostor.
MOWBRAY: Don't strangle your dangle.
BADENHORST takes his rifle in one hand and his genitals in the other.
BADENHORST [chanting]: This is my rifle. This is my gun. This is for shooting. This is for fun!
LEVITT enters during the above. He turns the radio off.
LEVITT: The batteries.
An awkward silence. BADENHORST pulls up his trousers.
MARAIS: Dave, come pull up a chair, man.
BADENHORST: Back to the States tomorrow, Davy.
CAMPBELL: Don't count on it.
LEVITT sits. He is withdrawn and edgy.
BADENHORST: Okay, beach bum, pay up.
CAMPBELL: I had my fingers crossed.
BADENHORST: Twenty-five rand.
CAMPBELL: You gyppoed [cheated].
BADENHORST: Twenty-five rand!
CAMPBELL: I said to the end of the song.
BADENHORST [indicating LEVITT]: Ja, but he … No, listen, my man.
CAMPBELL: You blew it.
BADENHORST: You sailing for a nailing.
CAMPBELL: Like listen. If you do it again, but properly, you'll get your bread.
BADENHORST: I know you, Campbell. You full of shit. One day you'll come short.
CAMPBELL: Give us a kiss.
BADENHORST: Watch it!
MARAIS: Never mind, Hennie. I thought you was good in the dancing.
BADENHORST: Go jump at a lake.
Silence, boredom and restlessness.
Five months without a poke.
LEVITT: What?
BADENHORST: Must be my record, man.
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- Somewhere on the Border , pp. 57 - 72Publisher: Wits University PressPrint publication year: 2012