The White Plague [Volume: 7(1988), pp. 431-504]

446
KAREL CAPEK
SCENE THREE
(A family seated areound a lamp.)
FATHER (reading a newspaper)
Another article about that disease! I wish they'd give us some peace. I've
got enough to worry about as it is...
MOTHER
That woman on the third floor is having a hard time of it. No one can
stand to go in and see her any more. Haven't you smelt it on the stairs?
FATHER
No... Look, here's an interview with Dr. Sigelius. A man you can trust,
a world expert... There, you see? My words exactly.
MOTHER
Meaning?
FATHER
All that talk about leprosy-it's a lot of hooey. A few scattered cases and
the papers blow it up into a catastrophe. You know how people are: somebody goes to bed with a sniffle and they start crying 'plague.'
MOTHER
Remember what my sister wrote. They're seeing a lot of it too.
FATHER
Nonsense. Pure panic... Interesting what this Sigelius says, about its starting in China and all. Haven't I always told you we should make China a
colony of Europe, straighten things out for them? The only way we'll
get some peace around here. We've put up with those backward countries
long enough. All that hunger and poverty, and no hygiene at all-it's no
wonder they end up with leprosy... Sigelius here say's its contagious.
Something's got to be done about it.
MOTHER
Yes, but what?
FATHER
Lock the lepers up, that's what. Keep them away from the rest of us. Take
them out of circulation the minute the first signs appear. It's outrageous,
that woman up there dying. You don't feel safe in your own home. And
the stench on the stairs!
MOTHER
I think I'll take her up a little soup. She's so alone.