"If that's what he intended, it did not come across in the play I read."
"Did it come across in the play you saw?"
"Objection!" Willow shouted.
"Sustained. I'll have no more of that, Mr. Brackman."
"Will you accept my word, Mr. Driscoll, if I tell you that Colonel Peterson as played on the New York stage definitely came across as a man with homosexual tendencies?"
"I found no evidence of that in the mimeographed play."
"If I tell you it was in the play as staged, will you accept it?"
"Not unless you also tell me the part was played by a homosexual actor."
"You would not accept it otherwise?"
"I would not."
"Because you found no lines or scenes in the play that indicated Peterson was homosexual."
"I found none."
"Would you take this please, Mr. Driscoll, and turn to page 2–6, the middle of the page, Colonel Peterson speaking. Do you have the place?"
"Yes."
"The colonel is in the field, he is standing in the midst of carnage left by a Japanese counterattack, and he is with Corporal Janus and Sergeant D'Agostino, two of our principal characters. Are we clear as to the background?"
"Yes."
"May I read this to the Court then? And would you please follow it in the copy I've given you."
Brackman cleared his throat. The courtroom was silent. From the corner of his eye, Driscoll could see his wife sitting erect and attentive in the otherwise empty jury box. At the defense table, Jonah Willow was idly toying with a pencil.
"This is the scene," Brackman said, and began reading:
PETERSON
Look at them.
D'AGOSTINO
Easy, sir.
JANUS
Try to get a hold of yourself, sir.
PETERSON
Who's this man?
(He kneels, rolls over one of the dead men.)
Sergeant, who is this man?
D'AGOSTINO
That's Kirby, sir. Sir…
PETERSON
(Clasping his hands together)
He has blood all over his hair, sergeant.
D'AGOSTINO
Sir, let's get out of here. Let's get back to…
PETERSON
All over his hair.
(He touches Kirby's hair.)
Kirby? Kirby, are you all right?
D'AGOSTINO
He's dead, sir.
PETERSON
Open your eyes, Kirby.
JANUS
Colonel, the man's…
(Shrieking it)
No!
(He lifts the dead Kirby into his arms, slowly rocks him as he would a child.)
"That's the end of the scene," Brackman said. "Were you able to follow it, Mr. Driscoll?"
"I was."
"Since you seem to be an expert on matters homosexual…"
"I never said I was an expert."
"… perhaps you can tell me what this scene is all about, if not homosexuality?"
"This scene is all about a man on the edge of a mental breakdown."
"And nothing more?"
"On the next page, they take him to the field hospital, and he's raving about death and blood and—"
"We're concerned with this scene, Mr. Driscoll, and not with what follows it or proceeds it."
"You're taking it out of context," Driscoll said flatly.
"I have read nothing in this particular scene out of context, and I would like to address my questions to this scene and to what is in this scene. Does the colonel touch the dead boy's hair in this scene?"
"He does."
"Do you consider that normal?"
"I've just told you that the colonel is about to crack up. Whatever he does—"
"Please answer the question."
"In the context of what is about to happen, this is a natural gesture."
"Do either of the other men touch the boy's hair?"
"No. But neither of them are about to suffer a mental breakdown."
"You find nothing homosexual about one man touching the hair of another man?"
"Not in this scene. The colonel is obviously losing control, he's just noticed blood in the dead man's hair…"
"Losing control in what way?"
"Losing control of his mental faculties."
"Not of his inhibitions?"
"Certainly not."
"Do you feel it is natural to touch hair that is covered with blood?"
"In this scene, in a combat situation, where a man suffering from battle fatigue…"
"Please answer the question."
"Yes, I think it's a natural gesture."
"What about rocking him in his arms?"
"I accept it in this scene."
"You do not feel there is anything homosexual about one man rocking another man in his arms?"
"The author did not indicate anything homosexual."
"He says in the stage direction that Peterson takes the dead boy in his arms and slowly rocks him."
"Read the rest of the sentence," Driscoll said.
"What?"
"Read the rest of the sentence. It says 'slowly rocks him as he would a child.' "
"Yes, well?"
"What's homosexual about that?"
"About a man rocking another man in his arms? That would seem clearly homosexual to me."
"It would seem only paternal to me, especially when the author indicates he's rocking him as he would a child. He does not say as he would a woman, or as he would a lover, he specifically says a child."
"And you find nothing homosexual in that?"
"Nothing."
"I will accept your answer."
"What?"
"I said I will accept your answer. Do you recall the rank of your nurse, Jan Reardon, in The Paper Dragon?"
"She is a first lieutenant."
"Do you recall the rank of Mr. Constantine's nurse, Diane Foster, in Catchpole?"
"I think she's a first lieutenant."
"She is in fact so. How do you explain this similarity, Mr. Driscoll?"
"I've already said that the only nurses I met in Korea were—"
"Did you meet any nurses who were captains?"
"I did."
"Or majors?"
"Yes."
"Yet you chose to make your nurse a first lieutenant. Why?"
"A first lieutenant sounds more feminine somehow than either a captain or a major. Besides, she has only been in the service a year longer than Cooper, and a higher rank than first lieutenant would have sounded implausible."
"Mr. Driscoll, you wrote the book, did you not?"
"Yes."
"Therefore her length of time in the service was not prescribed. You chose the exact amount of time, you chose one year rather than two or three or four."
"Yes."
"And it was this length of time that determined her rank?"
"Yes."
"Are you sure it was not her rank that determined the length of her service? Which came first, Mr. Driscoll?"
"Her being a year… her being in the service a year longer."
"Are you certain?"
"I'm certain."
"And this is the only explanation you have of their identical ranks, the two nurses?"
"It's the only explanation."
"Or the identical line 'I outrank you'?"
"This line is not in Mr. Constantine's play."
"But his nurse does joke with the lieutenant about rank."
"Only superficially. A point is not made of it."
"I see. Mr. Driscoll, what do Alex Cooper's fellow officers call him?"
"Coop."
"What do Roger Mason's fellow officers call him?"