THE BLACK CAT

CHARACTER

ANNOUNCER

IGNATURE GROPER (NARRATOR)

MRS. GROPER

LANDLORD

1ST POLICE OFFICER

2ND POLICE OFFICER

THREE PEOPLE IN CROWD

ANNOUNCER: Edgar Allan Poe showed, in his Tales of the Grotesque and Arabsesque, that he had a deep knowledge of the inner man, especially of the darker side of human nature. “The Black Cat,” one of the stories in that collection, and the one that we are about to hear, illustrates how the eevil forces within one man, Ignatius Groper, came to prevail completely over his conscience.

MUSIC-up and under

IGNATIUS GROPER: From my infancy I was noted for the docility and humanity of my disposition. My tenderness of heart was even so conspicuous as to make me the jest of my companions. I was especially fond of animals, and was indulged by my parents with a great variety of pets. With these I spent most of my time, and never was so happy as when feeding and caressing them. This peculiarity of character grew, and, in my manhood, I derived from it one of my principal sources of pleasure. To those who have cherished an affection for a faithful and sagacious dog, I need hardly be at the trouble of explaining the nature or the intensity of the gratification thus derivable.

I married early, and was happy to find in my wife a disposition not uncongenial with my own.

MRS. GROPER         : Dearest, come my love, I have a surprise for you.

MRS. GROPER         : Oh, you’re too good to me. What is it today?

MRS. GROPER         : Today...today darling, it’s a cat...a beatiful cat.

MRS. GROPER         : But sweetheart, we already have birds, a goldfish, a fine dog, rabbits, and a monkey.

MRS. GROPER         : But he’s so beautiful-and intelligent too.

MRS. GROPER         : Yes, he does have a fine coat of black fur and he’s so huge.

MRS. GROPER         : What shall we name him?

MRS. GROPER         : Hmmmm...how about Pluto?

MRS. GROPER         : Oh dear, that is a bit morbid. Wasn’t he the God of the dead?

MRS. GROPER         : Well, my dear, that is, after all, fitting. He is all black, representative of darkness or death.

MRS. GROPER         : Oh, all right. Since it is the first name come to mind. Pluto he shall be.

            Pluto was my favorite pet and playmate. I alone fed him, and he attended me wherever I went about the house. It was even with difficulty that I could prevent him from following me through the streets.

MRS. GROPER         : Pluto, stop cavorting after me. Go home.

PLUTO                       : Meow

MRS. GROPER         : Do you hear me? Turn around and go home.

PLUTO                       : Meow

MRS. GROPER         : All right then. Come along. What difference does it make? No one will notice you.

           
Our friendship lasted, in this manner, for severaal years, during which my general temperament and character-through the instrumentality of the Fiend Intemperance, alcohol,-had experienced a radical alteration for the worse. I grew, day by day, more irritable, more regardless of the feelings of others.

MRS. GROPER         : (growling) Where are my slippers? Where did you put my slippers, you wench?

MRS. GROPER         : Did you look under the bed?

MRS. GROPER         : What would they be doing under the bed? Why can’t they be where I left them. Come here you miserable, ugly, disgusting, beastly woman...take that. (he strikes her)

MRS. GROPER         : (crying out) Oh. Oh. Help, help, someone, hes’s going to kill me. (screaming) help!

MRS. GROPER         : Shut up, you bloody fiend. They’II hear you in the next town.

            My pets, of course, were made to feel the change in my disposition also. I not only neglected, but ill-used them. For Pluto, however, I still retained sufficient regard to restrain me from maltreating him, as I made no scruple of maltreating the rabbits, the monkey, or even the dog, when, by accident, or through affection, they came in my way. But my disease grew upon me-for what disease is like Alcohol!-and at length even Pluto, who was now becoming old, and consequently somewhat peevish-even Pluto began to experience the effects of my ill temper.

            One night, returning home, much intoxicated, from one of my haunts about town, I fancied that the cat avoided my presence. I seized him:

MRS. GROPER         : Come here you beast, I’II show you who’s boss. Take that you fiend. (cat screeches) You see this little penknife-small, but sharp, sharp enough to take out your bloody eye. Come closer beast. There! (cat screams) There you monster. You won’t be peering at me so much anymore.

            I blush, I burn, I shudder, when I think of that.When reason returned with the morning-when I had slept off the fumes of the night’s debauch-Iexperienced a sentiment half of horror, hal of remorse, for the crime of which I had been guilty; but it was, aat best, a feeble and equivocal feeling, and the soul remained untouched. I again plunged excess, and soon drowned in wine all memory of the deed.

            In the meantime the cat slowly recovered. The socket of the lost eye presented, it is true, a frightful appearance, but he no longer appeared to suffer any pain. He went about the house as usual, but, as might be expected, fled in extreme terror at my approach. One morning, in cold blood, I slipped a noose about its neck and hung it to the limb of a tree;-hung it with the tears streaming from my eyes, and with the bitterest remorse at my heart;-hung it because I knew that it had loved me, and because I felt it had given me no reason of offence;-hung it because I knew that in so doing I was committing a sin-a deadly sin that would so jeopardize my immortal soul as to place it-if such a thing were possible-even beyond the reach of the infinite mercy of the Most Merciful and Most Terrible God.

            On the night of the day on which this most cruel deed was done, I was aroused from sleep by the cry of fire.

(Sound effect-blazing fire)

MRS. GROPER         : Ignatius, oh Ignatius, look the curtains are on fire.

MRS. GROPER         : The curtains. You dumb woman, it’s not just the curtains. The entire house is on fire. We’ve got to get out of here, follow me. Hurry, down these steps. Come on, come on. A little farther, a little more. There now, we’re out...safe.

MRS. GROPER         : (crying) Oh the house. Look-there won’t be anything left. How horrible; we’ve lost all our worldly possessions. What will we do?

MRS. GROPER         : Our entire wealth swallowed up.

            Soon after that conflagration, I resigned myself to a lifetime of despair.

            One  the day succeeding the fire, I visited the ruins. The walls, with one exception, had fallen in. This exception was found in a compartment wall, not very thick, which stood about the middle of the house, and against which had rested the head of my bed. The plastering had here, in great measure, resisted the action of the fire-a fact which I attributed to its having been recently spread. About this wall a dense crowd were collected:

VOICE NO.   1          : Look at that, isn’t it strange.

VOICE NO.   2          : Singular

VOICE NO.   3          : How unusual.

            Many persons seemed to be examining a particular portion of it with very minute and eager attention. I approached and saw, as if graven in basrelief upon the white surface, the figure of a gigantic cat. The impression was given with an accuracy truly marvelous. There was a rope about the animal’s neck. When I first beheld this apparition-for I could scarcely regard it as less-my wonder and my terror were extreme.

`           We quickly found shelter in a small, humble apartment, not too far from where our house had stood. For months I could not rid myself of the phantasm of the cat; and during this period, there came back into my spirit a halfsentiment that seemed, but was not, remorse. I went so far as to regret the loss of the animal, and to look about me, among the vile haunts which I now habitually frequented, for another pet of the same species, and of somewhat similar appearance, with which to supply its place.

            One night as I sat, half stupefied, in a den of more than infamy, my attention was suddenly drawn to some black object, reposing upon the head of one of the immense hogsheads of gin, or of rum, which constituted the chief furniture of the apartment. I had been looking steadily at the top of this hogshead for some minutes, and what now caused me surprise was the fact that I had not sooner perceived the object thereupon. I approached it, and touched it with my hand.

MRS. GROPER         : Do my eyes deceive me? But the resemblance is uncanny. You must be Pluto. But how can you be? Come closer. (meow sound) Oh but  there is a difference. Pluto was completely black. You, you monster, your entire breast is white. Here, allow me to pet you. (strong purring sound) Why you seem to be quite fond of me? How would you like to come home with me? Oh, there’s the landlord. Do you belong to him? I shall ask. Excuse me, but does this animal belong to you?

LANDLORD             : No, I’ve never seen the beast before in my life.

MRS. GROPER         : I was going to offer to purchase him, but if you have no claim to him, I shall just taje hin home.

LANDLORD             : Suit yourself.

            When I prepared to go home, the animal evinced a disposition to accompany me. I permitted it to do so; occasionally stooping and patting it as I proceeded. When it reached the house it domesticated itself at once, and became immediately a great favorite with my wife.

MRS. GROPER         : Oh, where did you find him? He’s absolutely lovely. (purring sound) (launghing) How wonderful, he likes me too!

            I discovered on the morning after I brought it home, that, like Pluto, it also had been deprived of one of its eyes. This circumstance, however, only endeared it to my wife, who, as I have already said, possessed, in a high degree, that humanity of feeling which had once been my distinguishing trait, and the source of many of my simplest and purest pleasures.

            With my aversion to this cat, however, its partiality for myself seemed to increase. It followed my footsteps everywhere. Whenever I sat, it would crouch beneath my chair, or spring upon my knees, covering me with its loathsome caresses. If I arose to walk it would get between my feet and thus nearly throw me down, or, fastening its long and sharp claws in my dress, clamber, in this manner, to my breast. At such times, although I longed to destroy it with a blow, I was yet withheld from so doing, partly by a memory of my former crime, but chiefly-let me confess it at once-by absolutte dread of the beast.

MRS. GROPER         : It really is amazing. The only difference between this charming cat and Pluto is his shock of white hair. Otherwise, they are absolutely identical in every way.

MRS. GROPER         : Yes, isn’t it interesting indeed? You know, the white outline seems to be taking shape. It is starting to look like something.

            I shudder to name what it was beginning to resemble. It was now the representation of, the image of a hideous, ghastly thing-of the Gallows! Alas! Neither by day nor by night knew I the blessing of rest any more. During the former the creature left me no moment alone, and in the latter I started hourly from dreams of unutterable fear to find the hot breath of the thing upon my face, and its vast weight-an incarnate nightmare that I had no power to shake off-incumbent eternally upon my heart.

            Beneath the pressure of torments such as these the feeble remnant of the good within me succumbed. Evil thought became my sole intimates-the darkest and most evil of thoughts. The moodiness of my usual temper increased to hatred of all things and of all mankind; while from the sudden, frequent, and ungovernable outbursts of a fury to which I now blindly abandoned myself, my uncomplaining wife, alas, was the most usual and the most patient of sufferers.

            One day she accompanied me, upon some household errand, into the cellar of the old building which our poverty compelled us to inhsbit. The cat followed me down the steep stairs, and nerly throwing me headlong, exasperated me to madness.

MRS. GROPER         : Get out my way, you fiend. Let me get this axe right over here. Let me at that fiend.

MRS. GROPER         : No, don’t you dare. Give me that axe. Don’t you dare hurt him.

MRS. GROPER         : Get out of my way woman, or, or, I’II let you have it too.

MRS. GROPER         : Give me that axe. Give me (he strikes her on the head) give...give...(she slumps down the stairs to her death)

            The hideous murder accomplished, I set myself forthwith, and with entire deliberation, to the task of concealing the body. I knew that I could not remove it from the house, either by day or by night, without the risk of being observed by the neighbors. Many projects entered my mind. At one period I thought of cutting the corpse into minute fragments, and destroying them by fire. At another, I resolved to dig a grave for it in the floor of the cellar. Again, I deliberated about casting it in the well in the yard-packing it in a box, as if merchandise, with the usual arrangements, and so getting a porter to take it from the house. Finally I hit upon what I considered a far better expedient than either of these. I determined to wall it up in the cellar, as the monks of the Middle Ages are recorded to have walled up their victims.

            For a purpose such as this the cellar was well adapted. It walls were loosely constructed, and had lately been plastered throughout with a rough plaster, which the dampness of the atmosphere had prevented from  hardening. Moreover, in one of the walls was a projection, caused by a false chimney, or fireplace, that had been filled up and made to resemble the rest of the cellar. I had no doubt that I could readily displace the bricks at this point, insert the corpse, and wall the whole up as before, so that no eye could detect any thing suspicious.

            And in this calculation I was not deceived. By means of a crowbar I easily dislodged the bricks, and having carefully deposited the body against the inner wall, I propped it in that position, while with little trouble I relaid the whole structure as it originally stood. Having procured mortar, sand, and hair, with every possible precaution, I prepared a plaster whch could not be distinguished from the old, and with this I very carefully went over the new brick-work. When I had finished, I felt satisfied that all was right. The wall did not present the slightest appearance of having been disturbed. The rubbish on the floor was picked up with the minutest care. I looked around triumphantly. Here at least, then, my labor has not been in vain. I, then, looked around for the beast which had been the cause of so much wretchedness, but I could not find him anywhere. I was relieved not to find him and that night I slept very soundly even with the burden of murder upon my soul. Three days passed and once again I breathed as a free man. Upon the fourth day of the assassination, a party of the police came, very unexpectedly, into the house, and proceeded again to make  rigorous investigation of the premises.

POLICE OFFICER    : Mr. Groper, would you mind assisting us in our search? After all, you know the house so well.

MRS. GROPER         : No trouble at all officer. But I have been searching and I am almost resigned to the fact that I shall never see my beloved dearest again. She just disappeared, it seems, into thin air.

2ND POLICE OFFICER       : Let’s go down into the cellar, if you will permit us.

MRS. GROPER         : Of course. This way-follow me. (sound effects-footsteps descending cellar steps).

POLICE OFFICER    : (knocking on walls) Well, it isn’t very big down here. Certainly doesn’t look as though there’s anything supsicious.

MRS. GROPER         : Gentlemen, I delight to have allayed your suspicions. I wish you all good health.

POLICE OFFICER    : Mr. Groper, if you don’t mind my inquiring, of what material is this house constructed? It appears  to be very solid.

MRS. GROPER         : Officer, you are correct indeed. This is a very well-constructed house, I may say an excellently well-constructed house. These walls are solidly put together. (raps on walls with a cane)

MRS. GROPER VOICE        : (faintly) Help, help, (this leads to sobbing, and then, shrieking)

           

            Of my own thoughts it is folly to speak, Swooning, I staggered to the opposite wall. For one instant the party on the stairs remained motionless, through extermity of terror and awe. In the next a dozen stout arms were toiling at the wall. It fell bodily. The corpse, already greatly decayed and clotted with gore, stood erect before the eyes of the spectators. Upon its head, with red extended mouth and solitary eye of fire, sat the hideous beast whose craft had seduced me into murder, and whose informing voice had consigned me to the hangman. I had walled the monster up within the tomb.

            For the most wild yet most homely narrative which I just told you, I neither expect nor solicit belief. Mad indeed would I be to expect it, in a case where my very senses reject their own evidence. Yet, mad am I not-and very surely do I not dream. But tomorrow I  die, and today I unburdened my soul.