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 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 !

Oliver Twist / Dumb Waiter / Romeo and Juliet