The Early Ayn Rand

ESTERHAZY: [Looks at her, then walks resolutely to the telephone and picks up the receiver] Gladstone 2- 1018... Hello, Carl?... Those two staterooms on the Empress of Panama that you told me about — do you still want to get rid of them? Yes... yes, I do... At seven thirty a.m.?... I'll meet you there... I understand... Thank you. [Hangs up. KAY GONDA looks at him questioningly. He turns to her, his manner calm, matter-of-fact] The Empress of Panama leaves San Pedro at seven thirty in the morning. For Brazil. No extradition laws there.

KAY GONDA: What are you attempting?

ESTERHAZY: We're escaping together. We're outside the law — both of us. I have something worth fighting for now. My ancestors would envy me if they could see me. For my Holy Grail is of this earth, it is real, alive, possible. Only they would not understand. It is our secret. Yours and mine.

KAY GONDA: You have not asked me whether I want to go.

ESTERHAZY: I don't have to. If I did — I would have no right to go with you.

KAY GONDA: [Smiles softly; then:] I want to tell you.

ESTERHAZY: [Stops, faces her, earnestly] Tell me.

KAY GONDA: [Looking straight at him, her eyes trusting, her voice a whisper] Yes, I want to go.

ESTERHAZY: [Holds her glance for an instant; then, as if deliberately refusing to underscore the earnestness of the moment, glances at his wristwatch and speaks casually again] We have just a few hours to wait. I'll make a fire. We'll be more comfortable- [He speaks gaily as he proceeds to light the fire] I'll pack a few things... You can get what you need aboard ship... I haven't much money, but I'll raise a few thousands before morning-... I don't know where, as yet, but I'll raise it... [She sits down in an armchair by the fire. He sits down on the floor at her feet, facing her] The sun is terrible down in Brazil. I hope your face doesn't get sunburnt.

KAY GONDA: [Happily, almost girlishly] It always does.

ESTERHAZY: We'll build a house somewhere in the jungle. It will be curious to start chopping trees down — that's another experience I've missed. I'll learn it. And you'll have to learn to cook.

KAY GONDA: I will. I'll learn everything we'll need. We'll start from scratch, from the beginning of the world — our world.

ESTERHAZY: You're not afraid?

KAY GONDA: [Smiling softly] I'm terribly afraid. I have never been happy before.

ESTERHAZY: The work will ruin your hands... your lovely hands... [He takes her hand, then drops it hurriedly. Speaks with a little effort, suddenly serious:] I'll be only your architect, your valet, and your watchdog. And nothing else — until I deserve it.

KAY GONDA: [Looking at him] What were you thinking?

ESTERHAZY: [Absently] I was thinking about tomorrow and all the days thereafter... They seem such a long way off...

KAY GONDA: [Gaily] I'll want a house by the seashore. Or by a great river.

ESTERHAZY: With a balcony off your room, over the water, facing the sunrise... [Involuntarily] And the moonlight streaming in at night...

KAY GONDA: We'll have no neighbors... nowhere... not for miles around... No one will look at me... no one will pay to look at me...

ESTERHAZY: [His voice low] I shall allow no one to look at you... In the morning, you will swim in the sea... alone... in the green water... with the first sun rays on your body... [He rises, bends over her, whispers] And then I'll carry you up to the house... up the rocks... in my arms... [He seizes her and kisses her violently. She responds. He raises his head and chuckles with a sound of cynical intimacy] That's all we're really after, you and I, aren't we? Why pretend?

KAY GONDA: [Not understanding] What?

ESTERHAZY: Why pretend that we're important? We're no better than the others. [Tries to kiss her again]

KAY GONDA: Let me go! [She tears herself away]