Extrait 5
Oliver runs away and meets the Artful Dodger on the road to London :
DODGER: Stone the crows! Is you alive? 'Cos if you're not I'll turn your pockets out if you don't mind? (Does so). Uhuh - empty. And just a penny. (OLIVER stirs) Saints alive! Is you a ghost? No offence, I was just warming my hands in your pockets. Well - what else is pockets for?
OLIVER: You are not Jesus?
DODGER: Hardly! And you is not a ghost. Though you will join the 'ost of ghosts if you don't get a cup of hot coffee and a slice of bread inside you. Well, I ain't got the coffee but I do have the bread. Tara! (Produces the bread. OLIVER wolfs it down).
OLIVER: You're as kind as Jesus.
DODGER: Going to London?
OLIVER: I hope so.
DODGER: Got anywhere to stay?
OLIVER: No.
DODGER: Money?
OLIVER: Oh yes! (Feels in his pocket for the penny, but it has gone) Oh no...
DODGER: I suppose you would want some place to sleep tonight?
OLIVER: I do indeed. (DODGER palms the stolen penny back into OLIVER's pocket.)
DODGER: Well, don't worry, I know a respectable London gentleman, what'll give you a place to stay for nothink. Not a penny. Not that my friend, the respectable gentleman knows me - oh no. If we passed each other in the street we would walk straight by! (Makes a hand movement and winks at Oliver). Know what I mean?
OLIVER: You talk very like a Christian.
DODGER: So you get my meaning?
OLIVER: What meaning?
DODGER: Oh you are green.
OLIVER: No, my name is Oliver, Oliver Twist.
DODGER: My Christian name is Jack, if I was a Christian! But the merry Old gentleman wot I talked about: he's given me a devil of a name: the Artful Dodger. (Bows and holds out his hat to OLIVER. OLIVER finds the penny in his pocket and is delighted. He offers the penny to DODGER.)
OLIVER: My penny's back!
DODGER: You keep it.
OLIVER: Oh thank you, Mister Dodger. Pleased to meet you, Mister Dodger.
DODGER: Come on, lad, London's waiting.
OLIVER: Is London beautiful?
DODGER: Oh yeah, it's like heaven but smoky.
notes:
Stone the crows !, ou Saints alive !: ça alors !
|