He Won't Go

The other Marilyn sees her blue rubber ring disappearing.

It is being pulled on a string towards the green slapping water in the tunnel to nowhere.

She gets up, outraged.

Are you COMING? she says to Arthur.

What? Where? asks Arthur, still thinking about his forthcoming disguise, which will be useful.

Someone's stealing my blue rubber ring, says the other Marilyn. Help me!

Arthur does not feel obliged to help her. It's her ring. And it's not moving fast.

He watches her wade into the gurgling water.

Someone sits down beside him.

Sikong Shu.

He is holding a string in one hand.

Arthur! says Sikong Shu. You see how much I need you.

Not exactly, says Arthur. What are you doing?

A young woman sits on the sand next to Arthur, (says Sikong Shu)
She wears a white garment, her hair gleams
in the shafts of gold sunlight escaping the encrusted piles,
she is impervious to my desire
to replace her beside Arthur; I despair,
until I perceive the chink in her armour,
a blue rubber ring.

I lasso it
with a string that I always keep handy.
I draw the string to the first submerged pile.
I wade around it.
I creep up the sand unobserved and sit down behind them
I pull on the string. The rubber ring is drawn to the water.
She is startled! She leaps up! She calls Arthur to help her.
BUT I KNOW MY ARTHUR.
HE won't go.

Arthur is not impressed in the least by this poem.