(TONY is sitting on the edge of the stage, dejected. ISHTAR appears in the background.)
ISHTAR: So, you went sailing...
TONY: Yes...
ISHTAR: You went sailing...
TONY: I told you that I would...
ISHTAR: Yes, you told me... You told me that you would go sailing...
TONY: You seemed to like the idea.
ISHTAR: Maybe I did. At the time, I probably did...
TONY: I mean, you had no objection...
ISHTAR: In fact, it was even my idea... I told you to go sailing...
TONY: I don't remember...
ISHTAR: It was a week-end, after all... The weather was divine... What else could you do...?
TONY: Ishtar, please, no more!
ISHTAR: Wasn't it a little bit too much of a... solitary pleasure? Didn't it bother you a little bit?
TONY: It was a horror!
ISHTAR: No, it wasn't! You were all by yourself, on your own boat... your own, new boat... your own new life... and I was with mine...
TONY: You wanted it that way.
ISHTAR: I was happy, too...
TONY: And I resented it...
ISHTAR: I could not have been that happy if you had been around...
TONY: I know that...
ISHTAR: I needed the happiness... If I ever needed anything in my life, it was this happiness...
TONY: I didn't oppose it, did I? I drove you to Milford...
ISHTAR: Resenting me all the way...
TONY: But why do you need to be without me in order to be happy?
ISHTAR: Ask yourself...
TONY: I was not happy, dammit, Ishtar, I was miserable, it was a horror...
ISHTAR: Poor Tony!
TONY: I decided right then and there to sell the boat. I will not be able to stand it any longer. I can't stand the sight of it...
ISHTAR: You know why?
TONY: Of course I know why...
ISHTAR: Maybe, because you were happy...
TONY: I don't know, Ishtar...
ISHTAR: Don't sell your boat, Tony! It's no use anymore...
TONY: Oh, yes, I will! The sheer thought of it... It cuts my breath... It turns my stomach...
ISHTAR: It will pass, Tony... You'll like it again...
TONY: How could I, if it hurts you?
ISHTAR: My going to Milford hurt you, too! But I will go back there...
TONY: Listen, Ishtar, Ishtar, there's one favor I want from you... Let's never mention the boat again... don't ask me about it, ever... Let me sell it... Let it be my own business... absolutely, totally...
ISHTAR: I will say nothing, darling!
TONY: Will you tell me about Milford?
ISHTAR: I can't! Not really... I don't remember... I remember being happy...
TONY: Ishtar... Ishtar... Suddenly, we can hurt each other horribly... We could never hurt each other this way before...
ISHTAR: Oh, yes, we did!
TONY: If we did, I don't know... I don't remember... Or maybe I was not hurt, but I hurt you... I am awfully sorry if I did... But it seems to me, we could never hurt each other this way before...
ISHTAR: Are you blaming the cancer for this? For this big, new way to hurt?
TONY: You see what I mean?
ISHTAR: The cancer, it's me... This big thing between us, that hurts, it's me... You didn't change, Tony... Nothing happened to you... You're still the same old Tony... This new, big change between us, I brought it about...
TONY: Oh, Ishtar, my love, how can you believe that I am trying to blame you...
ISHTAR: I know that you're not blaming me, Tony... I feel no guilt at all... But simply, I can't help it, you see... It's here... It's going to hurt... Because it's here... It will hurt us... We will hurt each other... Let's have no illusions about it... We need to leave illusions behind us, Tony... C'est la vie...