A Search for Buried Treasure - Act One |
| ANNA REINACH’S living room. ANNA REINACH is sitting in a comfortable-looking chair, reading a book. EDITH and VIKTOR can be heard conversing off stage. ANNA does not hear any of the following off stage dialogue. |
VIKTOR | Did we really need to come all this way in the middle of this terribly frigid night? I’m shivering all over. We come all this way just to collate poor dead Adolf Reinach’s papers for him? |
EDITH | You didn’t have to come at all. |
VIKTOR | Well... I guess you have a point |
EDITH | Stop complaining. Frau Reinach asked me to collect Adolf’s papers for her. You’re the one who asked me if you could come along. |
VIKTOR | All right, all right. Let’s just go inside before our feet freeze to the ground. |
| Sound of a doorbell, then an off stage door opening.
EDITH greets ANNA REINACH’S butler, KARL, off stage. |
EDITH | Oh, greetings, Karl. She’s in the sitting room? |
 | EDITH and VIKTOR enter; EDITH with a box of chocolates,
and VIKTOR with a bottle of apricot brandy. |
EDITH | We came as soon as we heard. |
ANNA | Edith — oh... you brought a guest. Very well... Hmm... I’ll have to find a room for your friend — but I trust Karl has shown you to yours? |
EDITH | No — we wanted to see you first ... How are you? |
ANNA | I am fine, friends. I am fine... My Adolf would have wished for me to remain strong. I’m sure he would. |
| Pause as all reflect on their personal memories of Adolf Reinach,
ANNA’S recently deceased husband. |
ANNA | Oh, I’m sorry. Please, sit; I’ll have Karl prepare the study for your friend to stay in, Edith. |
VIKTOR | Not at all, Frau Reinach. I’ll fetch him. You stay here. |
ANNA | Who is your friend, Edith? You didn’t introduce me to him. |
| VIKTOR exits. |
EDITH | Him? (Disdainfully) Oh... That’s Viktor Brun. I met him while doing research in Freiburg for Professor Husserl. Viktor has known Adolf for roughly 3 years. I’m surprised you haven’t met him. |
ANNA | My husband had many academic peers, Edith. I couldn’t possibly keep up with all of them. He usually only introduced me to those he thought most exceptional. |
EDITH | Viktor and I are doing our best to assist professor Husserl; it’s not particularly easy... Actually, Viktor was the last of us to converse with Herr Reinach before he left for the front. Viktor was at the train station to see him off — I was busy back at Freiburg, babysitting the good professor that afternoon. |
ANNA | I was with my mother that week. What is Viktor like, personally? |
EDITH | A bit cold and detached... I don’t think he really likes Herr Husserl very much at all—principally because Viktor’s an Atheist. He has a melancholy about him — there’s something almost comically tragic about him... You understand. |
ANNA | All too well. |
| Pause. VIKTOR enters. |
VIKTOR | Karl instructed me to tell you that he is turning in, and to ring if you need him, Frau Reinach. |
ANNA | It was you who last saw my Adolf, correct? |
| VIKTOR nods. |
ANNA | Do you remember what he said before he left for the front? Any brilliant explications? Any deeply profound insights? |
VIKTOR | We spoke of the weather... It was warm for that time of year. |
ANNA | I see. |
VIKTOR | Anna. (Regarding the bottle) Shall we? Apricot brandy — it’s from Herr Hursserl’s private stock. |
ANNA | Certainly. I’m sure both of you could use a little something to warm you up after suffering that dreadful cold outside. |
| VIKTOR gets glasses out of a liquor cabinet and pours drinks for the three of them. While he is doing this, EDITH opens the box of chocolates and offers one to ANNA who accepts. They converse while this action takes place. |
VIKTOR | I was just thinking of last summer with Adolf; remember, Edith? |
EDITH | How could I forget? |
ANNA | Are you speaking of that hike through the Black Forest? A pity I couldn’t come. I was dreadfully ill. |
VIKTOR | There were rumors that an expatriate Spaniard had buried treasure somewhere near our trail many years ago while being chased by the Basques. Apparently he was quite a character judging from the standards of 17th Century Europe... I ended up searching for it for quite some time. I went so far as to turn stones over, check near trees that seemed vaguely pirate-esque, if that makes any sense. I swear I must’ve spent the better part of the summer consumed with the quest for it — |
EDITH | (Cutting in) I’ll say, we hardly saw you at all around the camp. He even kept maps, Anna. He’d come back after a long day of searching and go directly to his tent with maps in hand and leave before the rest of us got up. |
VIKTOR | (Pause) At any rate, nothing turned up. |
ANNA | And you really expected to come upon a treasure trove in the middle of the Black Forest? |
VIKTOR | I don’t know; the Spanish are an idiosyncratic lot — but the actual treasure doesn’t really matter. It is symbolic. The moral of the story is that there is no buried treasure. We search for meaning, and it eludes us at every juncture. One might get the impression that there... is... no meaning. |
EDITH | Don’t be so fatalistic, Viktor. The search for meaning is what we’ve dedicated out lives to. It’s why we suffer the endless ramblings of Herr Husserl. |
VIKTOR | Is it? Is it really? Frankly I’m starting to question. |
EDITH | Frankly you sound like you’ve come to a conclusion. |
ANNA | Please, please. Edith, Viktor, don’t be hostile. I can’t abide by arguing guests. |
EDITH | Oh, dear. I’m sorry. Viktor and I don’t mean any harm — our debates most usually become heated under normal circumstances. (Adjusts herself accordingly) I trust you have Herr Reinach’s papers collected? |
ANNA | Most are in his study at the moment, although there are quite a few in the attic, I haven’t been able to go up there because of my allergies. I was planning a big breakfast for you, Edith, tomorrow so you’ll have the energy to collate my Adolf’s papersÉ He was a rather sloppy penman. |
VIKTOR | You’re telling me. |
ANNA | I hadn’t planned two visitors, but I’m sure we’ll have enough for you, Viktor. |
VIKTOR | I don’t usually eat breakfast, Frau Reinach — it makes me feel bogged down early in the morning. I prefer a hearty lunch early in the afternoon and a small supper. But I guess it all depends on what you’re offering. |
ANNA | My, what a character you are. I’ll surprise you, Viktor. |
EDITH | (To VIKTOR) Do you recall the evening when Adolf had words with that awkward-looking young positivist from London? |
VIKTOR | (Starting to chuckle) That was an evening to remember. I seem to recall you holding your own quite well against the young fop. |
EDITH | I did my best. |
VIKTOR | Oh, don’t be so modest, Edith, it’s very unbecoming. |
ANNA | I feel left out. It seems that all the important events of my husband’s prolific life were witnessed by his confreres. |
EDITH | I’m sure that cannot be true, Anna. There must be hundreds of anecdotes you could tell us about him. |
ANNA | (Jovially) Oh dear... it seems that my husband was so busy impressing his friends that he lost his drive to entertain at home. |
VIKTOR | That can’t be true. Say what you will about the man, he never tired of anything. |
EDITH | It makes sense, though. Adolf did not feel the need to impress you, Anna. He knew you loved him dearly, and would be content to share quiet, seemingly insignificant moments with you, the importance of which would be lost on others. |
ANNA | You’re very perceptive, Edith. My Adolf did not lose his genius when he was alone with me — on the contrary, his poetic ramblings were always very eloquent. I think that my Adolf was most brilliant at the breakfast table, preparing himself for his lectures, using me as a sort of guinea pig. |
EDITH | He was brilliant. I remember his lectures at Göttingen. It was pure joy to hear them. True, he had a manuscript before him, but he hardly seemed to look into it. He spoke in a lively and cheerful tone, softly, freely, elegantly, and everything was transparently clear and compelling. One had the impression that it did not cost him any effort — |
VIKTOR | (Cutting in) I once had the chance to check those manuscripts after the course was over, and to my amazement they were almost word for word what he said in class — he was brilliant. |
VIKTOR | (To ANNA) Frau Reinach... Please forgive me if you think I’m prying, but you seem quite serene for a woman whose husband has come to his demise recently. |
ANNA | I told you before; my Adolf would want me to stay composed through this ordeal. He is gone, there is nothing I can do to change that — to fool myself into thinking so would only lead to despair. |
EDITH | I don’t understand. Your perception of your husband’s posthumous wishes couldn’t be enough to keep you sedate through this ordeal. |
ANNA | Edith... I am not sedate. I am sad, but I will not let myself despair over his loss. I must respect him for what he was, and not merely what comfort he gave to me. It would be selfish for me to pine over his loss merely because his passing affects my happiness. |
EDITH | There must be another reason as to why you could stay calm through this. There must be. |
ANNA | There is: resignation to divine providence. I have to believe that this is not the end for Adolf. There must be a plan to his existence, a purpose. There has to be some other plane on which he now resides... I like to think that it is a better place than the one in which we presently dwell. |
EDITH | You take your consolation from a blind belief that he is in a better place? Anna, that kind of thinking was not worthy of a man with the intellectual prowess of Adolf. You cannot be serious. |
ANNA | You didn’t know? |
EDITH | Know what? |
ANNA | I can’t believe it. You really didn’t know it? |
EDITH | Didn’t know what? |
ANNA | Adolf converted to Lutheranism shortly before he left to fight in France. |
VIKTOR | I knew. (To EDITH) I’m surprised he didn’t inform you. He told me that he wanted to break it to you himself, seeing as he thought you had an aversion to religion... I always felt that you gave him an inordinate amount of credit—a bit too much for merely an academic peer. (Glances at EDITH strangely). |
EDITH | What? He never told me anything about a conversion. I knew he was of the theistic persuasion, but a Christian? How is that possible? He always seemed such a rational figure. |
ANNA | Edith, is it so hard to believe? He had been searching his entire life for a purpose to life, a justification as to why evil could exist without a manifest punishment in this world. |
EDITH | That does not explain a conversion to an antiquated belief system, hinging upon the mindless sacrifice of some zealot upon a cross. Adolf was too smart for that. |
ANNA | Don’t presume too much, Edith. My Adolf was humble enough to realize that his intellect was not the greatest force in the universe. He was a smart man, not an egomaniac. Adolf was always looking for signs of a Supreme Being in the world; he found them, eventually. |
EDITH | I’m not trying to suggest that my intellect is, or that your poor dead husband’s was a supreme entity. I merely find it hard to believe that a thinking person would stake his existence on the poorly grounded belief that an impoverished 30-year-old carpenter had saved the souls of all men through being put to death for civil disobedience. |
ANNA | Religion is less a conscious act of faith than openness to the workings of divine grace, Edith. My husband was smart enough to make himself open in that way. I find the death of Our Lord upon the cross as symbolic of everything you two had been crusading so tirelessly for. Christ was not merely put to death for civil disobedience, Edith. You must realize that. His life, His death, and Resurrection, altogether compose the map to that buried treasure of yours, Viktor. |
VIKTOR | Christ was weak. He was a weak man. He cried — he wept in the garden of Gethsemane. I find it hard to trust in that kind of God... What possible benefit could a supreme being secure by weeping for His creatures? |
EDITH | You raise an interesting question, Viktor. That there may be a supreme being I’ll grant you — but on what basis do you presume that He would necessarily love His creatures? It doesn’t seem that he loves them very much at the present — people dying everywhere. Could you explain? Could you please explain to me — to us — how His death could be the end of our search? It seems that Christianity is a religion of death, not life. |
ANNA | I just converted months ago, Edith. You cannot expect me to eloquently and succinctly defend a faith that I’ve only recently adopted. |
EDITH | (With an air of contempt) No... I suppose not. |
ANNA | Christ’s cross is the model by which all men ought to live, Edith. In the cross is eternal peace, the peace of knowing that your life, in the end, does matter; that the lives of all those men dying on foreign fields are not wasted. |
EDITH | But Adolf’s death makes no sense. He was so young. There is no reason to it. |
ANNA | Of course there’s a reason to his death. All earthly things are transient. The flesh is mortal, Edith. |
EDITH | That’s what Adolf used to say — although I don’t think he meant it in the same way back then... At least I hope not. |
ANNA | Edith, there is a reason to his death. There is an ultimate plan, you have to realize that Edith; otherwise you can never hope for peace. |
EDITH | I still can’t see the reason behind it. There is no cause for this effect. |
VIKTOR | Of course there is. Adolf Reinach was shot to death in a field in Flanders. |
EDITH | I’m speaking metaphysically. |
VIKTOR | Oh... well... Metaphysically. |
ANNA | Edith, we are not always capable of seeing the reason behind everything. |
VIKTOR | (Languorously eating a chocolate) I’m inclined to agree with you, Frau Reinach. (Pause) All things considered, I’d have to say that chocolate is better than reason. |
EDITH | The fields of Western Europe are drenched in blood and all you can talk about is chocolate? You appall me. |
VIKTOR | You know very well what I mean... One cannot live merely in the realm of the mind. Life becomes too ethereal. People must have real life experiences — and real physical life experiences at that — in order to maintain their sanity. Living completely in the intellectual sphere has played a large role in drenching the very same fields you so readily mention, Stein. |
EDITH | (Noticeably hostile) Don’t try to justify your disrespect, Brun. You have showed nothing but contempt for Herr Reinach since his demise. It is shameful — I am ashamed I even know you. |
ANNA | Edith, control yourself. |
EDITH | I’m sorry, but it is terrible what Viktor has been saying. You haven’t the chance to hear him speak when he’s in comfortable surroundings. The slander, the slander that he has uttered against your Adolf in secret is sickening. The disgrace — (To VIKTOR) his body isn’t even interred and yet you have the gall to trivialize his death! |
VIKTOR | Don’t put words in my mouth, I was merely trying to ease the tension in this room — obviously I’ve failed. Please, let me explain. Living in the world of phenomenological abstractions is not fulfilling, Edith. It’s not. Yes, you said that fields are drenched in blood. Yes, they are drenched; soaked in the blood of those young men sent to their deaths by high-minded people such as our superiors at Freiburg, willing to sacrifice our compatriots out of some antiquated respect for ideology. These men give their lives for our principles.(Pause) Upon reflection, it seems that such men have lost all patriotic feeling. |
ANNA | Do you feel proud? You are — or at least claim to be — a philosopher, Viktor. You cannot say this. Things exist. There are principles, laws that cannot be broken. |
VIKTOR | What is more important, Frau Reinach, a human life, or your principles? Would you rather have water circle down to the left or your Adolf’s heart still beating? |
EDITH | How dare you sully his name once more? Have you no shame? (Infuriated) In front of his widow! (Pause.) |
ANNA | Please, both of you. You’re tired—you don’t know what you’re saying — |
EDITH | (Cutting in) I’m not tired in the least. I’ve spent my life searching for ultimate truth, ‘the peace that passeth all understanding.’ I thought I’d made progress with Herr Husserl. I thought there could be found meaning even in the search for meaning itself. Your husband’s demise does not square with that theory, Anna. The one man I truly and deeply respected was killed because of a balance of power political conflict... There is no hope of finding meaning. There cannot be. |
ANNA | Never say that, Edith. Never say that, there is always hope. There must be hope, without hope we’re lost. |
VIKTOR | (Introspective, quiet. To ANNA) I’ve always thought that the three virtues associated with your religion — faith, hope, and charity were not blessings, but curses. And of these curses, above all hope is the cruelest. The hope that there is solace waiting beyond the end of this world... Every silver lining has a hole in it, Anna. |
EDITH | (To VIKTOR, on the verge of breaking down) My, aren’t we cynical today? (Quickly rising) I need a cigarette; I won’t be long. |
ANNA | You can smoke in here if you wish. (Pause.) |
EDITH | (Flustered) I — I, ah... I need some air. |
| EDITH exits. Pause. |
ANNA | She must be falling apart. |
VIKTOR | Why do you say that? |
ANNA | If life has no meaning, than what is the point of it? I didn’t expect my husband’s death to affect her so much — she seemed so joyful before... Although, I’ve only known her for a few years. |
VIKTOR | I think it might have something to do with her Jewish upbringing. I myself was raised — or I should say hardly raised — in agnostic surroundings. I never had any religious illusions to be later shattered by maturity. I’ve spent my whole life getting used to the idea that this is it: this world is all that there is. (Pause. Half chuckling-half crying) I’ve found that life without meaning is comparatively easy to live, Anna. |
ANNA | You love her, don’t you? |
VIKTOR | How did you guess? |
ANNA | Why else would you come? I know you didn’t respect my husband. |
VIKTOR | You’re quicker than I would’ve guessed... Frau Reinach, I love Edith more than anything I know. The problem is I’m almost positive nothing will ever come of it. |
ANNA | How so? |
VIKTOR | I found that treasure—you know, in the black forest? |
ANNA | Really? Why wouldn’t you tell anyone? |
VIKTOR | Well, there really wasn’t much treasure in the chest—mainly personal items which could be valuable in personal terms, but not really of much use to me. But that’s not the point. Once I found it I didn’t care for it any longer, almost the second I secured it it lost my interest. |
ANNA | That’s odd. |
VIKTOR | Is it really? But that’s the point, isn’t it? I devoted an entire summer to searching for that treasure—I even came back late because of it, missing key lectures and incurring the wrath of Herr Husserl. I’m pretty sure my neglect of Edith and my conduct during the trip essentially closed the door to any possible romantic endeavor. But yet I still pursue her, as I did the treasure. (Pause) I don’t know if I should tell you, but I can’t help it — Edith was in love with your husband. |
ANNA | I knew. You don’t have to tell me. I could see the signs, but I think I was fooling myself into believing it was just my imagination. The final realization came only after my Adolf left for the front... I had always figured it was a simple crush of hers; his leaving seemed to suggest that it was something more. |
VIKTOR | And this did not bother you? |
ANNA | I cannot blame Edith for falling in love with my husband. That would be hypocrisy. |
VIKTOR | But you fell in love with him before he was married... At any rate she didn’t try to pursue it, if you were worried at all. |
ANNA | I understand. |
VIKTOR | She’s under a great deal of stress, Frau — Anna. She’s on the verge of a decision, whether to follow the seemingly endless trail of clues on her road to salvation, or to give up the search and join the throng of the disillusioned. |
ANNA | (Pause) That’s unfortunate. |
VIKTOR | You see, the problem with really amazing people like Edith who give such excellent counsel is that they do not have recourse to themselves... Let me explain. While she does such an excellent job of consoling her friends, she cannot turn to herself for counsel, do you understand? Granted, she can give herself words of encouragement, but that never works; we’ve all tried that before, mumbling to ourselves about positive change. |
ANNA | That’s what God is for, Viktor. We doubt ourselves, we may even doubt Him, but He’s there for us, to console us at anytime we wish — even those times when we don’t desire Him; especially during those times. |
VIKTOR | The trouble is, I don’t think she buys it. |
ANNA | Nor do I, sadly. |
| EDITH enters. |
EDITH | I’m sorry I stormed out so quickly. I’ll be honest, I became a little too emotionally involved in the argument — I don’t like it when that happens. I lose my objectivity, and nothing good ever comes from that. |
ANNA | I understand completely. No need to apologize. Well... (Gives an indicative look to VIKTOR). |
VIKTOR | (Picking up on it) Oh... I think I could use a cigarette myself. |
| VIKTOR exits. |
ANNA | Edith, you look pale; tell me what’s wrong. |
EDITH | I can’t. You wouldn’t understand—you couldn’t. |
ANNA | Just give me a chance; that’s all I’m asking of you, Edith. |
EDITH | I urge you not to delve into this, Anna. There are things about me that I think you’d rather not know. |
ANNA | There are things about lots of people that they wish others wouldn’t know. Edith, you haven’t been acting like yourself lately — you need to talk to me. We used to talk all the time. |
EDITH | It’s too terrible. |
ANNA | You can’t be serious; you still don’t think I could tell? |
ANNA | Edith, you loved my husband... I cannot fault you for that. |
EDITH | What? What are you talking about? (Sensing that she has been found out) Yes... Yes you’re right. I did love your husband. But you don’t know the joy which that love gave me. You couldn’t; not without understanding what I’ve been through these last 20-odd years. |
ANNA | Please Edith, tell me. |
EDITH | (Slowly) Anna... All my life I’ve been unsure about the Supreme Being, or God, or Vishnu, whatever you want to call Him. Don’t get me wrong, I worked it out in my head early on that there must have been a cause for existence... but that cause has always seemed cold and distant from me. |
ANNA | We all feel that way at one point or another, Edith. |
EDITH | But certainty is important to me, Anna. Things must add up, they must — it’s why I went to Göttingen in the first place. I have to know that there exists a deity outside my own head. Things cannot merely be subjective, they cannot. |
ANNA | Absence of proof is not proof of absence, Edith. You cannot know all things; it’s impossible to know all things. |
EDITH | I don’t want to know all things; I want to know whether or not there is any buried treasure. Whether I am merely a tragicomic figure skating upon the rim of a bottomless abyss. (Pause) I’ve seen it in Viktor’s eyes. He believes that he is on the edge of that abyss... Only he stares into it and cannot help but laugh — he accepts the nothingness that approaches him... I do not want to become that way. |
ANNA | You won’t — |
EDITH | (Cutting in) I do not want to become that way, Anna. But I fear that I am. Your husband was more than merely an infatuation of mine; he was symbolic of something much deeper than you can know. |
ANNA | Tell me. |
EDITH | I cannot. |
ANNA | Edith! Tell me! |
EDITH | Your husband was the personification of what I’ve termed the echoes of the divine... The way your husband conducted himself and the way he thought represented to me the closest thing to divinity capable in the modern world. (Apologetically) I know this sounds crazy, I know. His death presents me with a quandary, Anna. I see this beautiful, profound creature struck down in a senseless war, and I think: what kind of a God would let this happen? |
ANNA | On the other hand you could see it as a manifestation of God’s love for us. |
EDITH | Come now, you don’t mean to — |
ANNA | (Cutting in) God loved man so very much that He allowed him to make as many mistakes as he wanted... It’s part of the double-edged sword that is free will, Edith. The downside of freedom is the fact that it can very often cause pain to others. Every man is free to go to hell in whichever way he sees fit, Edith. That’s a universal truth. |
EDITH | Don’t you think I know that? But why, why does pain have to exist? Couldn’t God have prevented it? Your religion states that He’s all-powerful. |
ANNA | Didn’t you hear what I just said? To me, Adolf’s death is a witness to the power and wisdom of Christ. Edith, if you believe in an afterlife, death is not all that tragic... My Adolf couldn’t have ceased to exist — it’s not possible. |
EDITH | But you can’t know that for sure. |
ANNA | Can we know anything for sure on a strictly ontological level? Oh sure, on an ontological level we could argue about it for decades — all I know is that his spirit was too bright to have been fully exhausted on this plane of existence. I have to believe that there is a world where he can reach his full potential. |
EDITH | I suppose this discussion cannot go much further if you fail to logically prove your arguments. |
ANNA | Edith, I think you need to converse with someone more learned than I on matters spiritual. I feel I’d be doing you a disservice if I allowed you to take my word as gospel. |
EDITH | Fair enough. |
ANNA | Edith, the journey to Christ is a personal one. I cannot force you to convert, but please — all matters intellectual aside — there is a peace particular to Christ that you have been missing your whole life. Just trust me. |
EDITH | Viktor’s been gone for some time now... Do you think I should check up on him? |
ANNA | If you wish. |
| EDITH exits. ANNA eats chocolates and picks up the book she was reading earlier and reads for a short while. Later, VIKTOR enters. |
VIKTOR | Boy, it’s cold out there, couldn’t stand it much longer—I swear my bones would turn to crystal. |
ANNA | You were gone for quite some time... Do you know where Edith might be? |
VIKTOR | She turned in for the night... Did she say anything odd to you before she went outside? I mean, about me? |
ANNA | No... why? |
VIKTOR | Well, she said something outside that took me sort of off-guard. I thought that maybe you’d be able to clarify. She said, partly under her breath as she left me, that she had come upon buried treasure. |
ANNA | (Trying — without much success — to hide a smile) That’s odd... |
VIKTOR | And you wouldn’t know anything about that? |
ANNA | Sorry... I don’t think I can be of any assistance to you in that matter... Goodnight. |
VIKTOR | (Pause) Goodnight |
| VIKTOR exits. Lights dim on ANNA reading her book. |
CURTAIN |
To Preliminaries |
