Lights rise on the MINISTER OF JUSTICE who is sitting on the floor, weeping and moaning, and on the YOUNG MAN who is sitting on one of the boxes some distance away. He is disinterestedly looking at the MINISTER OF JUSTICE. The other honourable members are grotesque shadows in the Shadows. A still sleepy MINISTER OF HEALTH emerges from the Shadows and joins the YOUNG MAN. At first she does not see the MINISTER OF JUSTICE, who has stopped sniffling for a while.

HEALTH: You didn't sleep?

YOUNG MAN: I never sleep at all, ma'am. Since my eyes saw things they were not supposed to see, I never sleep.

HEALTH: You need to sleep sometimes, if only to escape from the sordidness of our waking moments.

YOUNG MAN: There is no escape, ma'am. What with dreams that are more harrowing than anything we encounter in our waking moments haunting me! But it is for other reasons that I don't sleep. I am dead scared, ma'am. I am afraid that one night I'll sleep and wake up blind. I know that's bound to happen sooner or later. It happens like that, you know, when you've seen things you're not supposed to see. You sleep, in the morning you open your eyes, and you can't see a damn thing. It's like the eyelids have been glued together.

HEALTH: So you will never sleep … forever…?

YOUNG MAN: … and ever, world without end, Amen. But blindness will get tired of waiting for me to sleep, and will find a way of attacking me while I'm wide awake. I told you last night that my eyes itch, and sometimes cry for no reason at all. Anyway, as long as I can see I don't want to sleep at all. I cannot waste a single precious moment sleeping. I need to see as much of what is happening around me as possible. Then I can go blind in peace and not miss the dubious pleasures of sight.

The MINISTER OF JUSTICE starts sniffling, and then weeping and moaning again.

HEALTH: What was that?

YOUNG MAN: It's him [pointing to the MINISTER OF JUSTICE]. They brought him back in the middle of the night … or maybe it was more towards dawn.