(Enter JAKES, dishevelled. He sits himself at his typewriter. He looks as if he's been up all night.)

JAKES: (Pounding away.) The bastards, the tricky bastards! What kind of a brain do you have to have to think like this? God give me the right words!

MAMARITI: (Offstage.) Hey, Jakes, it's five o'clock in the morning. Hey, tula wena! I want to sleep. Tik-tik! Are you mad, man? Hey, you must find somewhere else to live if you want to work at five o'clock in the morning!

(Enter LULU, wearing a nightdress.)

LULU: What's going on?

MAMARITI: Hey Lulu, tell that madman from Drum to stop die geraas.

LULU: Jakes, it's five o'clock in the morning.

JAKES: You tell your mother I pay good rent. This is my bedroom. You see the chalkline on the floor?

LULU: So?

JAKES: Well, I work in my bedroom, so leave me alone!

MAMARITI: (Offstage.) Luister! You bloody keep quiet - or out!

JAKES: Jesus, Ma, you're like the Boere. You want me on the streets. I'm working, I pay rent, this is my space, pitiful as it is, and history is being made right now - and you want silence!

(There is a knocking on the door.)

JAKES: Jesus Christ! What now? Surely not today?

(Enter FAHFEE, carrying a suitcase.)

FAHFEE: They got me. They knocked down my shack before my eyes.

MINGUS: (Offstage.) Come on, come on - move these boxes! Charlie, you useless! You must move, man.

(Enter MINGUS and CHARLIE. They are in a panic. They're carrying piles of boxes. There is an immediate uproar.)

MINGUS: Make space! Make space! We got work to do.

(Enter RUTH in a nightdress.)

RUTH: What's going on?

LULU: What's all these boxes?

JAKES: What's the story, Mingus?

MINGUS: Come help! Don't just stand there - move your arse! Get these boxes in - com'on. Hey, hoendervleis, kom help.

(Exit MINGUS, LULU, RUTH and CHARLIE to carry more boxes. Enter MAMARITI.)

MAMARITI: What's happening? It's five o'clock in the morning.

JAKES: Toby Street removals, Ma. Three days early.

MAMARITI: Jesus!

(Exit MAMARITI, enter MINGUS.)

MINGUS: Don't just stand there, Jakes, come and help.

JAKES: What's the story Mingus?

MINGUS: There's no story. Work for your living for a change! Have you ever done a stroke of honest work? No! Just sit down and tik-tik-tik all day. Kom, help.