(Slowly in a low, tense voice.) Why did he send us matches if he knew there was no gas?
Silence.
BEN stares in front of him. GUS crosses to the left side of BEN, to the foot of his bed, to get to his other ear.
Ben. Why did he send us matches if he knew there was no gas? BEN looks up.
Why did he do that?
BEN. Who?
GUS. Who sent us those matches? BEN. What are you talking about?
GUS stares down at him.
GUS (thickly). Who is upstairs?
BEN (nervously). What's one thing to do with another? BEN fumbles for his paper on the bed.
GUS. I asked you a question.
BEN. Enough!
GUS (with growing agitation). I asked you before. Who moved in? I asked you. You said the people who had it before moved out. Well,
who moved in?
BEN (hunched). Shut up.
GUS. I told you, didn't I?
BEN (standing). Shut up!
GUS (feverishly). I told you before who owned this place, didn't I?
I told you.
BEN hits him viciously on the shoulder. I told you who ran this place, didn't I? BEN hits him viciously on the shoulder.
(Violently.) Well, what's he playing all these games for? That's what I want to know. What's he doing it for?
BEN. What game?
GUS (passionately, advancing). What's he doing it for? We've been through our tests, haven't we? We got right through our tests, years ago, didn't we? We took them together, don's you remeber, didn's we? We've always done our job. What's he doing all this for? What's the idea? What's he playing these games for?
The box in the shaft comes down behind them. The noise is this time accompanied by a shrill whistle, as it falls. GUS rushes to the hatch and seizes the note.
(Reading.) Scampi!
He crumples the note, picks up the tube, takes out the whistle, blows and speaks. WE've GOT NOTHING LEFT! NOTHING! DO YOU UNDERSTAND?