EAGLE  –  There she is Isaac. Useless Island. There seems to be a bit of an auld fog comin’ down around her.

ISAAC  –   Yeah, its queer spooky lookin’, ain’t it?

EAGLE  –  Not at all.

(slight pause)

ISAAC  –    I don’t think me Ma is exactly over the moon about all of this Da, is she?

EAGLE  –  No, not exactly. Ah shes’s a bit nervous about it. Yeh see Isaac what she don’t understand is that you and me are in our element out here like yeh know. What she don’t seem to realise is that this is our what-do-you-call-it….Whats’s the word? Domain! But sure I suppose she’s listenin’ to the rest of them balckguardin’ me all the time. I’m not coddin yeh, for the past twelve months here you’d swear I was committin’ some sort of a crime here just comin’ out to work. I mean to say I’m only doin’ what I always done. Yeh know? I come out here and I cast me nets and I sit and wait. What’s wrong with that? Yeh know? No way am I in the wrong, I don’t care what anyone says…Yeh know sometimes when I’m out here on me own in the middle of the night i’ll stand up in the boat like this – sometimes in the middle of the day even – I’ll stand up and I look around me. There’s the the sky and the sea and nothin’ else and then I’ll let out a sort of a shout out of me. (he shrieks.) I’m not coddin’ yeh if anyone was watcin’ me they’d have me feckin certified so they would. But do yeh know why I do that? I do it to let this place know that I’m still here, that I’m still around. That’s very important yeh know! That way the man learns to respect tha place and the place ‘ll respect the man. Me Da taught me that….Take a look back at the town.

ISAAC  –   Oh yeah…All the lights! I wonder where our house is? I think I can see my pigeon loft, Da. (EAGLE smiles at him tenderly)

EAGLE  –  As long as you do your best Isaac, that’s all that matters yeh know. You must always do your best. Aand make the most of what yeh                        got….What’s that? A seagull flyin’ low be Jaysus!

ISAAC  –  What do you mean?

EAGLE  – Search me. (He chuckles and sits down again.)

(Pause)

ISAAC  – Do yeh know somethin’ Da, I dont think I ever saw you swimmin…Da?

EAGLE – What ?

ISAAC –  I say I never saw you swimmin’.

EAGLE – Why should I swim when I’ve got a boat?

(Pause. Lights down)

End of act one.

Billy Roche – Amphibians.