Guess: I loved chasing the geese around the park. That was my favorite thing about youth.
Now I would simply be kicked and shoed away.
Squeezer: Well, could be the fault of the fleas or maybe the stench.
Lomov walks into the barn carrying two dishes of gruel. He plops one down in front of
Guess and the other in front of Squeezer. Squeezer, ever acting the part of a noble, perks
his own head up and sniffs the gruel. It’s a revolting smell but covers the tummy ridden
with malnutrition quite adequately. The struggle will last another day.
Lomov walks over to Guess and scratches behind his ears.
Lomov: Eat up, old man. You’ll need your strength. Father says we may go hunting
tomorrow and I thought you might like to tagalong.
Guess’s ears perk up at the words “tagalong”.
Squeezer: don’t get too excited. Maybe it’s just time to put you out of your misery.
Guess: Not now, you old geezer. Can’t you see that our family really does care? Even in
our fading years they still wish to share moments of their own life with us. That is loyalty.
Squeezer laps up the remnants of his dish as NATALYA STEPANOVNA enters the
barn.