"Not much of an appetite."
"You need exercise. When's the last time you had a swim?"
"Weeks ago. I feel too tired."
"That's precisely when you should exercise. Let's have a dip when we get back."
Though a swim was the last thing that Dennis wished for, he felt incapable of refusing. It was somehow easier to go into the locker room, change into trunks, and join Steinberg in the pool. Dennis marveled at the man's grace in the water, heavy as he was. Steinberg swam laps, dove from the high board, and went for great lengths underwater, breaching the surface and taking in great lungfuls of air that Dennis felt would have burst him in two. Dennis, on the other hand, paddled without much vigor back and forth across the pool, resting often, his arms on the cool tile of the pool's edge.
After twenty minutes of exertion, Steinberg pulled himself out of the water for the last time. "Well, I'm sufficiently exhausted for a good night's rest, even after the events of the past day. Join me for a nightcap?"
Dennis shook his head. "No thanks. This feels good. I think I'll just stay in the water a bit longer."
"You'll be all right alone?"
"Why, you think there's something here?" He said it before he even realized it was out of his mouth. It was the lassitude the water caused that made him careless. Steinberg's eyes narrowed. "Something? What do you mean, something?”
“I… don't know. I guess I'm spooked, that's all."
"There's nothing here," Steinberg said with more force than Dennis thought was necessary. The three words implied a multitude of sentiments, chief among them that Sid was safely in jail.
"You think he did it?" Dennis asked Steinberg. It was the first time either of them had spoken of it that night.
"Yes. I do. There is no one else." Without another word, Steinberg turned and walked into the locker room, leaving Dennis alone in the pool.
He closed his eyes and rested his head against his arms. "No," he whispered to himself, unable to believe his friend had done what everyone except he and a trusting child thought he had. Even the attorney had seemed dubious that anyone else could have conceivably murdered Donna.
As if to escape from his thoughts, he twisted backward into the pool, immersing his head beneath the water, diving down, down, until his fingers touched the smooth surface of the pool's bottom, then came up again, his eyes still closed against the chlorine, against what he himself was beginning to think was the truth.
But when he opened his eyes, he saw that he had been right after all, saw that Sid was innocent. When he opened his eyes, he saw the Emperor standing by the side of the pool.
He was holding out a towel.
(THE EMPEROR wears his full dress uniform. His skin shows no signs of perspiration from the humidity of the pool. Smiling, he holds the towel toward DENNIS, who, treading water, seems stunned, and afraid to swim any nearer.)
THE EMPEROR
Not ready to come out? It won't wash off, you know. No matter how long you stay in there.
DENNIS
What… won't wash off?
THE EMPEROR
The blood. Your friends' blood on your hands.
DENNIS
You're… you're holding it.
THE EMPEROR
The towel? Oh yes. I'm quite capable of corporeality now, no small thanks to you. (He swings the towel about in demonstration.) I owe you a great deal, oh creator of mine. I owe you my very existence, of course, but you knew that. What you don't know is that I also owe you lives. Lives that I, in my imperial power, have taken.
DENNIS
(He is growing tired, continually treading water.) You killed Donna.
THE EMPEROR
I did.
DENNIS
Why? For God's sake!
THE EMPEROR
Why? Surely not for God's sake, but for the sake of the Emperor. You see, my friend, you no longer have the strength of will, the force of character required to hold such high office. It is time, my dear fellow, to abdicate to a higher power. Me.
DENNIS
No! It's a character, just a character! There is no emperor!
THE EMPEROR
(He spreads his arms) There is now.
DENNIS
Why did you let me think you were… harmless?
THE EMPEROR
It amused me to play such a game, to pretend, to perform. After all, was I not born of performance? Born of an actor? Born of artifice? Yet, in a way my… harmlessness was true. My corporeality grew slowly, like a child learning to walk. I pulled the pin that dropped the curtain on that scheiskopf of an assistant stage manager – my first physical act, and it exhausted me. There was no way I could physically destroy one of your sycophants – not then – without great care and happy coincidences. But I could be seen, and I could move objects, were they small enough. (He grins) Like the servant's knife.
DENNIS
Harry… Harry Ruhl…
THE EMPEROR
Yes. The physician was correct, you know. He did perform those.. . surgeries upon himself. But at my direction, and by my will. He had practically none of his own. His brain was like butter. Your wife, I had hoped, would prove a worthier subject, but she was not. I had merely to drop the suggestion that she destroy your mistress, and she was off like a hound on scent.
DENNIS
You told her to kill Ann?
THE EMPEROR
Nothing so crude. I only opened the portal – she rushed through it. A few subtle clues, a hint of perfume, overheard voices, a lost handkerchief – had she never seen Othello? – and vengeance quite o'ertopped her thoughts. I little cared which one perished, though I hoped that only one would, so as to save a treat for later. (He shakes his head.) I had no idea you felt so deeply for the girl. After her death my strength was increased fivefold. More than enough to throttle the woman last night.
DENNIS
Oh my God…
THE EMPEROR
You have no idea of the pleasure of it – to actually hold a life in your hands, and make it ebb away. The strength I felt, the power, the… reality.
DENNIS
Everything then. you've done everything.
THE EMPEROR
I have indeed. Including the peccadillo with the young wardrobe person. That brought you more than a little grief from your aging mistress, I vow. It was an interesting sensation, but all in all I prefer execution more. Mating is only… a little death.
DENNIS
(Near tears) Why? Why have you done this?
THE EMPEROR
For a simple reason – self-preservation. I wish to live, and to keep growing in my existence. In order for all things to grow, they must derive strength from something. And I derive my strength from my creator. As your spirit ebbs, mine grows stronger. Each loss undermines the structure of your life, and makes my dais more solid, my throne more permanent. Soon everyone you love, everyone upon whom you depend, will be taken from you, and Dennis Hamilton will fade away, leaving only the Emperor. And on that day, as Dennis Hamilton became the Emperor, so will the Emperor become Dennis Hamilton.
DENNIS
(In a voice filled with fury) You're a liar.
THE EMPEROR
I beg your pardon?
DENNIS
(Desperately) You're a liar. I don't know what else you are, but I do know that. I don't even believe in you. Sid was right. You're nothing but a figment of my imagination. Maybe you're a part of me, but you're a part of my mind, nothing more.
THE EMPEROR
You know that's not true. You're only denying a reality that you're afraid of, that you feel ultimately responsible for. I can't blame you. It's such a human trait, but one that, under these circumstances, can accomplish nothing.
DENNIS
You don't exist.
THE EMPEROR
So I must prove it. Dear me. (He looks upward, as though hearing something.) Very well then. You wish proof? You shall have it. The little girl. Get out of the pool. Run and see. By the time you arrive it shall be done. Do not think to arrive before me, for you take the high road, while I take the low. (THE EMPEROR vanishes. The towel he has been holding falls to the floor.)