asks again and Bam says yes. Bim then calls Bom to come with him and they both exit. The same scene is now replayed only it is summer. The Voice of Bam tells us that time has passed but no effort is made to visually convey this fact; it is simply stated. Bim reappears and is questioned. Bam wants to know if he said "it" but the voice is again unhappy and makes them start again. This time Bim is asked if he managed to find out "where" from Bom which he had not as he had not been asked to. In the end Bem appears and is told to find out "where" from Bim. Bem and Bim both exit like before. We are again informed that time has passed. It is now autumn and Bem returns to report he has been unable to extract "where" from Bim. The voice no longer needs to hear the complete interchange and jumps to Bam accusing Bim of lying and threatening him with "the works". Since there is no one left to carry out his orders Bam escorts Bem away himself. The voice tells us that winter has now arrived. Bam appears from the west and waits with his head bowed. There is no one left to ask if he got the information or to accuse him of lying if he has proven as unsuccessful as the others. The voice tells us that he is alone now, "[i]n the present as were I still." There are no more journeys to make and nothing to do apart from let time pass. He leaves the audience to try to make sense of things on their own and switches the light off. Sources of Inspiration Bim and Bom Just as Beckett has a fondness for characters whose names begin with M, there are also a host of characters whose names end with an M. From the time of his collection of stories More Pricks Than Kicks Bim and Bom appear periodically in Beckett's work. These were Russian clowns of the 1920s and '30s, who for a while were granted permission by the Soviet authorities to satirize the shortcomings of the state. There is a Wikipedia article on Bim Bom which treats the Russian clowns as if they were an individual. as does the issue dated 30 April 1956. The Faber Companion to Samuel Beckett has an