MICHAEL
My hands want washing, too.
O Lord, you've turned the water into wine!
Fetch me some fresh.
[RADA approaches, stares at the bowl and moves back, swaying a little, as if faint.]
ARRAM
[Roughly]
I'll empty it. Give it to me.
[He goes out]
NANKO
The Old Testament, you know, is full of it.
Who is this, it says, that cometh from Edom
In dyed garments from Bozrah? It was blood
That dyed their garments. And in Revelations
Blood came out of the wine-press, till it splashed
The bridles of the horses; and the seas
Were all turned into blood. Doesn't that show
That man's a fighting animal?
MICHAEL [Goes to the door on the right and tries to open it.] What's in here?
RADA [Thrusting herself between him and the door.] No! No! Don't go in there! Don't go in there!
MICHAEL
So that's the treasury, is it? Loot? More loot?
What is it? The family stocking?
[ARRAM enters with the bowl and sets it down.
Then goes to the table and begins eating.]
NANKO
O, no! no!
The stocking is in the chimney-corner, see!
[He shakes the empty stocking that hangs in the fireplace.]
All ready for Santa Claus. It's a new custom.
They do it in Germany. The children, there,
Believe that Santa Claus comes down the chimney.
The doctor studied in Germany, you know.
MICHAEL
O, ho! So that's the trouble! A little girl,
Rada, a little girl? Well, Santa Claus
Must wash his hands. We mustn't frighten her.