CADAVER BY ALBERTO S.
FLORENTINO Carding: (leans forward and feels Torio’s
(SCRIPT)
Characters: Torio, Marina, Carding
Time: Afternoon
Scene: The interior of a squalid dwelling located
on the edge of a cemetery in Manila. The walls
and roof—made of empty fruit boxes, tarpaulin,
bamboo, and cardboard patched together—
threaten to collapse any minute. A door, upstage
left, leads to the outside and another, right, to
the kitchen. Upstage center is a small window. At
right corner is a cot placed diagonally across the
room. Two fruit boxes, standing on their sides,
serves as seats, and another, flat on ground,
serves as a table where an oil lamp gives off the
only light in the semi-darkness.
(Torio is lying on the cot, a manta blanket
covering him to the waist. He is around 28 years
old, with a square jaw and well-developed body.
He is sick, his eyes being closed as if in sleep.)
(Carding, a frail-bodied, slow-moving man, in
dirty pants and T-shirt, enters. He crosses to taps
him in the shoulder.)
______________________________________________
Carding: (as Torio seems to wake up) Were you
asleep, Torio?
Torio: No, Carding, I was not…..sit down.
Carding: (still standing) So you’ve been sick. I
didn’t know it until Marina told me.
Torio: Where did you see her?
Carding: She passed by the house just a while
ago.
Torio: Damn that woman! So she insisted on
seeing you. I told her not to bother you!
Carding: Oh….it isn’t any bother at all, Torio. I
was even chiding her for not letting me know
right away. (Takes a seat at foot of cot) She was
so excited when she showed up, at first I thought
you were dead or dying!
Torio: Don’t you let that woman alarm you
again! There’s not a time when she doesn’t worry
about something. Sometimes, I even think she
worries about what will worry her next! tries to
laugh but end up coughing)
Carding: But she has reason to be worried. You
look very sick.
Torio: I’m a just a bit feverish, that’s all.
temperature) Your whole body is on fire! How did
you get that fever?
Torio: I don’t know. I guess it’s the tiny wound on
my foot. (exposes his right foot, bandaged in dirty
rags)
Carding: Maybe you didn’t go to the dispensary
as I told you. It’s nothing serious. (pulls his foot
under the blanket)
Carding: Nothing serious! If it can put a man of
your size and strength to bed, it is something
serious! But you need not worry. I sent Marina to
the dispensary.
Torio: What for?
Carding: I told her to ask the doctor to come and
look you over. She should have thought that
before.
Torio: Are you dreaming? Do you think the
doctor will come when we have no money to pay
him?
Carding: But you don’t have to pay him
anything. He’s the public doctor. He’ll treat you
for free.
Torio: Maybe if I got there. But do you think he’ll
take the trouble of coming to me? What do you
think I am, a congressman?
Carding: He must come. He’s paid to take care
of the sick…wherever they are.
Torio: But will he come? Hell, no! (Mumbles to
himself) Nobody comes to me… no body. Not
even those firemen…they did not come…
Carding: What firemen are you talking about?
Torio: (with bitterness) do you remember the
house we had before this that was burned to the
ground?
Carding: I remember. I even helped you built
this one.
Torio: When it was burning, did the firemen
come to put the fire out? No! Oh, yes, the came—
but only up to there! (points through the window)
When they found out it was only my house
burning, they drove away, pretending it was only
a grass fire they saw…Now, why would they do
that? Don’t I deserve to be treated like any other
citizen?
Carding: (jocosely) maybe they found out that
you never once brought a cedula! (Laughs; rises
and paces about) Oh, Torio….try to forget that.
Thinking about it will not make you feel any
better.
Torio: Could you forget it if everything you had in
the world went up in flames? I can’t forget that.
I’ll remember that to my dying day.
Carding: (pauses at the door, looks out, and
turns around) Torio…why don’t you move out of
this cemetery? Maybe it’s the place that brings
you bad luck. Why don’t you out up a house
somewhere else? Anywhere but here… You live
all alone here.. among all these dead…
Torio: (continues to mumble to himself) Maybe,
just because we live here with the dead, people
think we’re as good as dead…
Carding: (walks to foot of cot: tires to divert his
thoughts..) If the doctor does not come, Torio,
we’ll move you to the hospital.
Torio: To the hospital! To the free ward? Oh no!
Carding: So what if it’s a free ward? You know
very well we cannot afford to be choosy.
Torio: I was there once. Do you know how they
treat you there? They will neglect you until you’re
on the brink of death. Then they send young
doctors to practice on you… . Not for anything in
the world would I go there again.
Carding: (sits down and leans forward) Look,
don’t you want some pretty nurses hovering
about you like butterflies? Oh, how I wish I would
get sick just to be bear them. I would hate to get
well.
Torio: Don’t try that kind of talk to me; I won’t
fall for it. I won’t let those nurses or anybody else
touch me…If I’ll die, I’ll die in spite of all the
doctors and pretty nurses in the world.
Carding: (rises and walks a little) My God, you
should be in the hospital now…and not here,
arguing with me.
Torio: You’ve got a chicken’s heart. You’re just
like my wife. I get a tiny wound and a little
fever…and she thinks I’m dying. Can you imagine
me dying of a tiny wound like this (puts out his
foot)—at this age and with this body? During the
Japanese Occupation I had a bayonet wound that
deep. (demonstrates with his fingers) Does it look
as if I died of it? Is this a dead man’s ghost you’re
talking to?
Carding: (looking out the window) We’re never
sure of our fate, Torio. Strange things happen to
us when we least expect them.
Torio: I’ll bet you, in a few days I’ll be well and
strong. Then we will continue our work. We’ll
make up for the time we lost since I got sick. You
haven’t tried doing it alone have you?
Carding: (turns to him) No, I—
Torio: It’s all right. I know you couldn’t do it. Not
alone. You need me…But don’t get impatient. I’ll
get well sooner than you expect.
Carding: You don’t get what I mean, Torio….I’m
giving it up.
Torio: (surprised) What? You’re giving it up?
You’re joking!
Carding: I’m not joking, Torio.
Torio: But why? Have you found an easier way of
making a living?
Carding: I’m frightened, Torio. See what
happened to you. Suppose it happened to me?
I’m not even half as healthy as you are.
Torio: Oh! So this little wound had you really
scared huh? Why, it’s only a scratch! It did not
even bleed a drop.
Carding: You know what old folks say about
those accidents!
Torio: What do they say?
Carding: They say…if one gets wounded—or
even only scratched—by the bones of the
dead….he will die.
Torio: And you believe that?
Carding: Of course!
Torio: (laughs) You’re just a child. Besides, it was
an accident! A corpse did not rise from his tomb
to plunge one of his ribs into my foot! Nothing
like that happened….so there’s nothing to be
scared of!
Carding: Even then. You got that wound in a
cemetery…(leans toward him) Torio. Let’s not
offend the dead any more. It’s so frightening.
You’ll never know what they’ll do to punish us.
Torio: What can they do except haunt us? And
who is scared of ghosts?
Carding: (straightens up)I’d rather offend living
people—
Torio: And if they catch you, what do they do?
They throw you in jail. The dead are more kind
Carding.
Carding: I haven’t had a good night’s sleep since
we started that thing. It’s seems so mean and
ugly—just like stealing candy from an innocent
baby.
Torio: Carding, if you start being sentimental in
this world, you’ll starve to death.
Carding: Oh…here comes Marina.
(Marina enters, a plain woman of 25 or 26,
sloppily dressed in a formless, tunic-like gray
dress.)
Carding: Where is the doctor Marina? (looks
outside)
Marina: He’s not with me.
Torio: (with a cynical triumph) See! I told you so I
would have died in surprise if he came!
Carding: (to Marina) Why couldn’t he come? Was
he busy?
Marina: No, he was not. (feels Torio’s
temperature) Your temperature is still rising.
Carding: (to Marina) What did he say?
Marina: He wants us to take Torio to the
dispensary.
Carding: How? He couldn’t even sit up.
Torio: Who says I can’t even sit up? I can! (tries
to sit up as Marina cries out: “Don’t!” but he
fails.) I know I can… if I really try.
Carding: That doctor must be crazy.
Torio: The doctor’s afraid that, instead of paying
him, I would beg from him. If he came, I would
have really begged from him. (laughs)
Carding: Are you sure you tried to make him
come?
Marina: Of course I did! Now, what shall we do?
Torio: You’re both afraid I might die. For all you
know, I might outlive both of you. (smiles and
starts murmuring to himself)
Marina: (crosses to Carding downstage; speaks
low) Listen to him. I’m afraid the fever has
touched his brain.
Carding: Let’s take him to the hospital.
Marina: It’s not as easy as that Carding. He
hates hospitals.
Carding: We’ll drag him to it…if we have to.
Marina: We can’t make him do anything that he
hates.
Carding: (touches his arm) But we just can’t
leave him alone, Marina. He’s really more sick
than he appears to be. It is only his will to live
that keeps him going. He’ll break down soon and
it may be too late then.
Torio: (notices them conversing) Hey! What are
you two doing there…whispering like two
lovebirds?
Carding: (loud enough for Torio to hear) You’d
better go down to the street and get a jeep.
Marina: We haven’t even a centavo to pay for
the driver.
Carding: I’ll take care of that.
Torio: What do you want a jeep for? (sarcastic)
Are you two eloping? Can’t you wait ‘till I’m dead?
Carding: Torio, we’re taking you to the hospital.
Torio: You’re not taking me anywhere!
Carding: Torio, we don’t have to ask you.
Torio: Oh, no? You speak as if you own my body!
Carding: Because I know it’s for your own good.
Torio: But I don’t want it, I don’t need it! Don’t
tell me I can’t refuse anything for myself.
Carding: Torio, listen to me. Be reasonable.
You’re sick. If you refuse to go, we’ll drag you if
we have to.
Torio: Just try, Carding….just try! I’ll fight you
with my last strength!
Carding: Torio—
Torio: Carding: you’re my friend. Don’t do
anything I hate. And don’t worry, I’m in my right
senses.
Carding: (irked) All right, all right, I won’t insist!
(Sits down)
Marina: Torio please….listen to us..
Torio: Why are you so worried about me?
Marina: What a silly question!
Torio: That’s not a silly question! Why should
you worry that I might die? Haven’t you always
wanted me to die?
Marina: Torio!
Torio: You were never really happy with me,
were you? I know you’ve grown tired of me.
Marina; No, Torio!—
Torio: Don’t be ashamed to admit it. I wouldn’t
mind. I confess I also get bored sometimes. But
where I could always seek change, you cannot. I
can imagine how you must feel inside…
Marina: Torio, whatever gave you those ideas?
Torio: So if you think I’m going to die, don’t take
this all trouble of pretending you don’t want it to
happen. Just let me alone to die. This could be
your chance to get rid of me and take another
man. Carding, for instance—
Marina: Torio!
Torio: Carding hasn’t taken a wife yet. And he’s
quite a man too. Even before I’m dead and gone,
he has started to lay his hands on you—
Marina: Torio! He’s our only friend and you dare
speak of him like that! (to Carding) Carding, you
must forgive him. He doesn’t know what he’s
saying.
Carding: Don’t worry. I understand very well.
Torio: See? I’m not yet dead and you have taken
his side against me!
Marina: Torio—
Torio: Do you think he can take care of you as I
have been doing? He cannot even earn enough
money to support himself. He cannot take over
our business when I get sick—
Marina: What business—?
Torio: how much more if he had you take care
of? He’d starve you to death.
Marina: What business does he mean Carding?
Carding: Don’t mind him. He’s gone mad!
Torio: So I’m mad huh? (to Marina) I’ll tell you
what kind of business we have.
Carding; Torio!
Torio: It’s a business that requires no capital. All
you need is a good, strong stomach—
Carding: (shaking him) Torio, stop it!
Torio: (pushing him off) Why? Are you ashamed
to let others know that the dead have been
supporting you all along?
Marina: What does he mean, Carding?
Carding: Don’t listen to him. He’s out of his
mind.
Torio: really? (to Marina) Do you want to know
where the money I bought home came from? Do
you believe I really earned it by breaking my back
at the waterfront? I’ve fooled you so well you
never suspected, did you?
Marina: What did you do?
Torio: To put it plainly—
Carding: Torio! Don’t—
Torio: I robbed the dead people around us…
(Carding, exasperated, sites at doorway and looks
out)
Marina: (shocked) What! You mean—
Torio: I was one of those who force open the
graves in the cemetery.
Marina: (hardly able to speak) And you stole
from them? And you…sold what you found?
Torio: Yes! Why not? Rich people are always
being buried with something valuable on them.
Rings, earrings, necklaces—even gold teeth! Why
let such treasures rot under the ground…while
above that ground people like us are starving!
Marina: Torio…you didn’t do that!
Torio: But I did! You can ask Carding. He was
with me all the time. At first he was scared to
death.—He would tremble and perspire—but later
on—
Carding: (turns to them) I didn’t want to—
Torio: But he had to—because he had to eat—
even from a dead man’s hand. When he tries to
rob the living, he always get caught. He’s too
slow for them. But with the dead, once he got
used to it, it was so easy. The dead do not report
to the police, they don’t fight back, they don’t
even scream!
Marina: Stop it! How horrible! I can’t stand it!
(sits down) Oh…the poor sacred dead…
Torio: What so sacred about them? They’re
dead!
Marina: (almost crying) Torio…we had nowhere
to go, we moved into their place. We erected this
house on their land. They did not complain, they
did not call us “squatters”, they did not drive us
away. And what did you do in return, what!
Torio: I hate them! That’s why I robbed them! I
hate them!
Marina: Hate them? What did they do to you?
Did they ever try to harm you?
Torio: (pointing through the window) Look at
them! Doesn’t that sight infuriate you? Look!
Nothing worries them. They lie there day and
night, sleeping like babies, mocking our
sufferings…
Carding: (at doorway) Marina, stop listening to
him…if you want to keep sane. He used to tell me
that over and over again. Maybe that’s why he
made me do what he did.
Torio: One night, as I was coming home, A strong
rain overtook me. I ran for shelter to the nearest
tomb, that one near the road, belonging to a
dead millionaire. It was so beautiful. It looked
more like a palace than a place for a dead. It had
thick marble walls and a roof and festive lights.
Inside it was a dead body in a coffin. It was dry in
the rain and comfortable even in death. Why
should that dead merchant have marble walls
and a roof to protect him from the rain, while I
was outside, soaked to the bone and shivering,
waiting to go home, to a dark, dank place, with a
cardboard roof that leaks even in the lightest
rain! Why? He’s dead and I’m alive! I have more
right to the things wasted on him, don’t you think
so? Don’t you think we need thick walls more
than the dead?
Marina: He must have seen you…
Torio: Who could’ve seen us? We used to work
after midnight…when everyone was asleep.
Marina: it was God who saw you Torio. He keeps
eternal watch over the dead.
Torio: Why should God keep watch over the
dead? Why not you and me who are still alive?
Marina: Oh…what you did is a horrible sacrilege!
If you die, heaven will surely not receive your
soul…Yes, if you die, even hell would refuse your
damned soul!
Torio: (mad) Why do you always say “if you die”
“if you die”? Do you really want me to die?
Marina: No, why should I?
Torio: (vehemently) You really want to get rid of
me, don’t you? (Marina, throughout, tries to
interrupt—in vain) Now I see that you two have
been waiting for me to die so you could live
together! Maybe a little wound like this can put
me into bed. You’re praying—praying that I will
die. But I’ll disappoint you both! I will live on and
on if only to punish you by denying you the
chance to live together! I’m still young! I have
hundred years before me! Not all the dead in the
world can drag me to the grave! (his raving rises
in pitch) I dare them! Yes, I dare all the dead
whom I offended to take me! (raving mad, shouts
through the window) Take me if you can! I
despise all of you! Oh, that you were all alive now
and suffering in life! (suddenly collapses).
Marina: (rushing to him) Torio! What happened?
Carding!
Carding: (at Torio’s side) Torio! (to Marina) Get
some water quick! (Marina gets water as Carding
tries to revive him. Then makes him drink.)
Marina: Torio…are you all right?
Torio: (he comes to, sees Marina and speaks
between gasps) I’m all right…They cannot take
me…I’m not willing to go yet. (looks around
blindly) Where’s Carding? Has he gone?
Carding: (comes to his view) I’m still here.
Torio: I thought…. you had left… You are not
mad at me…are you?
Carding: No, I’m not, Torio.
Torio: I didn’t mean it…what I said about you. I
had a drunken feeling…I just said anything„,
Carding: You don’t have to explain. I understand
very well. Try not to talk…you need rest.
Torio: Yes, I feel tired…You two talk together…I’ll
take a short nap… (to Marina) Wake me up when
he’s ready to leave, Marina…

Marina: Yes, Torio.

(Torio closes his eyes; suddenly his head and his

arm fall over the edge of the cot)

Marina: (screams, shaking him) Torio! Wake up,

Torio! Wake up! (flings her body on him and cries
over the body for a time; later, Carding pulls her
away and covers the body as Marina, now
calmed, watches.)

-CURTAIN-