Caridad Svich is a US Latina playwright whose works include Iphigenia…a rave fable, 12 Ophelias, The House of the Spirits (based on the novel by Isabel Allende) and Alchemy of Desire/Dead-Man’s Blues. She’s been produced at venues across the US and abroad including Denver Center Theatre, Mixed Blood Theatre, 7 Stages, Salvage Vanguard, ARTheater-Cologne, Teatro Mori (Chile) and Edinburgh Fringe Festival. She’s alumna playwright of New Dramatists, founder of NoPassport theatre alliance and press, contributing editor of TheatreForum and associate editor of Contemporary Theatre Review. She trained for four years with Maria Irene Fornes and also holds an MFA in Playwriting from UCSD. Visit her at www.caridadsvich.com

For performance rights please contact Elaine Devlin Literary Inc c/o Plus Media, 20 West 23rd Street, 3rd Flr, NY, NY 10010. E-mail: edevlinlit@aol.com

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Figures:
HENRY, sometime mercenary, adrift, late 20s

MELLY/MIRANDA/MONICA, his lover, at odds, edgy and strong; changed being, earth-bound spirit; and transformed self with the aspect of a serene assassin, late 20s

LUCA,* middle man in the chain of parallel world/underworld command, in charge of things in mind, somewhat elegant and charming, late 20s-early 30s

NERO, Luca’s impulsive, feral go-to man, wants more out of life, 16

DULCE**, local tattooed icon, torch song diva, survivor in the life game, late 20s-30s (live, and could also be on video)

Setting:
A tarnished city in the Americas during carnival: deep music, sex, dancing and flickering lights—a shadow world. And the violated country-side: rough, dry, and blood-stained in memory—an illusory refuge.

Notes:
This piece should be performed with an interval after Part One.

*Luca is pronounced Lou-kaa; the “e” in Nero is pronounced like the “e” in “tent.”
**Dulce is pronounced "Dool-she."
“//” in text indicates time and energy shift.
+ The additional non-speaking role of the Tattooed Figure mentioned in script may be played live or as a mediated figure.
Score to the original song “City of Dreams” (music by Gabriel Kahane, lyrics by Caridad Svich) is available from the author and/or the composer upon request. Complete lyrics are provided as an addendum to text. The melody to original song “On the banks of weeping lilies” (words & music by Caridad Svich) is available from the author.
Running time of this piece, without interval, is approximately 80 minutes.

Script History:
This script was developed at New Dramatists in New York City under Jean Randich’s direction, the University of Richmond and SPARC in Virginia under Dorothy Holland’s direction, and in a workshop production at the Hangar Theatre Summer Lab Festival (June 24-26-2010) under Sanaz Ghajarrahimi’s direction.

Special thanks to Raul Castillo, Juliana Francis Kelly, Jocelyn Kuritsky, Bryant Mason, Alfredo Narciso, and Stephen Squibb.

CONTINUED FROM LAST ISSUE

Part Two

3rd movement

14.

In the country, in a crappy trailer in the middle of endless land,
and seemingly endless quiet,
MELLY cleans her revolver while HENRY rests.
MELLY has transformed into MIRANDA.

MIRANDA: Hit you with everything, didn’t he?

HENRY: What time is it?

MIRANDA: You keep saying that.

HENRY: I need to get moving.

He tries to do so. He hurts all over.

MIRANDA: Take it easy. Come sun up you can do what you like.

HENRY: Melly…

MIRANDA: You keep calling me that. I told you, I’m not.

HENRY: Don’t lie to me.

MIRANDA: I don’t even know you.

HENRY: Melly…

MIRANDA: Look, I told you, sport. My name’s Miranda. All right?

HENRY: Melly….

MIRANDA: You sure got a case of it heavy in mind. Who’s this Melly, huh? She your girl?

HENRY: Was.

MIRANDA: Heartbreak. Waste of time.

HENRY: Listen. Listen to me. We’ll get out of this damned country and head somewhere else, somewhere… I don’t know… the outback or something like.

MIRANDA: Outback? What picture books have you been reading?

HENRY: I thought you said…

MIRANDA: I never said anything of the kind. Look, I don’t know what happened to you, sport. And I don’t want to know, understand? I picked you up. That’s all.

HENRY: Thank you.

MIRANDA: I just did what I thought was right. Can’t leave someone on the road like that. Others might. Others have done. I’ve seen them. Yeah. Leave all kinds on the road.

HENRY: Massacre…

MIRANDA: Got that right. And there’ve been some, been plenty round here. Enough to chill your veins straight through.

HENRY: I know.

MIRANDA: You’ve seen, eh?

HENRY: Heard.

MIRANDA: Not the same as seeing with your own eyes.

HENRY: Your family?

MIRANDA: I’ve no one.

HENRY: …Cold.

MIRANDA: I’ll get you a blanket.

She searches for one.

HENRY: Couldn’t feel my hands anymore.

MIRANDA: He wrapped you tight. Bound to go numb. After a while.

HENRY: I’ll kill him. I swear to God…

MIRANDA: Do what you like. Just not here. I’ll have no part of it. And I don’t want to know either. Understand? None of it. (covering him with blanket) That better?

HENRY: Yeah. Thanks.

MIRANDA: …What is it?

HENRY: Huh?

MIRANDA: They hurt? Your hands? … Rose oil. That’s what you need.

HENRY: Yeah?

MIRANDA: It soothes. Friend showed me once.

She gently rubs his wrists with rose oil.

HENRY: I thought you said you had no one.

MIRANDA: I don’t.

HENRY: Who was the friend, then?

MIRANDA: Funny hands.

HENRY: Yeah?

MIRANDA: Calloused. …Nothing to be ashamed of. I got some too. See?

HENRY: You work the land?

MIRANDA: I do all sorts of things.

HENRY: Shouldn’t have to.

MIRANDA: You’re gonna tell me how to live my life?

HENRY: No, but…

MIRANDA: Relax now. Rose oil won’t do you any good if you’re all tensed up.

HENRY: I just wish I could…change things.

MIRANDA: …Night’s getting on, you’ll need to rest up.

HENRY: Would you give me a glass?

MIRANDA: What?

HENRY: Water.

MIRANDA: It’s brown.

HENRY: I don’t care. I need something.

She offers him mug of water.

(looking at mug) Bears.

MIRANDA: What’s that?

HENRY: Polar bears. Coca-Cola.

MIRANDA: Crappy mug is all I know. You like it? You’re funny.

HENRY: Cute.

MIRANDA: Huh?

HENRY: You’d say…

MIRANDA: What?

HENRY: Melly…

MIRANDA: I told you. The name’s Miranda.

HENRY: Sorry. Sorry.

He cries.

MIRANDA: What are you doing? Huh? What are you doing?

HENRY: I’m sorry.

MIRANDA: I’m not having tears in my place.

HENRY: I’m sorry.

MIRANDA: Stop saying that. Stop apologizing all the time. We’ve no history. Understand? Now, drink your water; rest up.

HENRY: Miranda…

MIRANDA: That’s right.

He drinks.

15.

A little while later.
Moon shines in through trailer’s dirty window.
HENRY is sleeping.
MIRANDA stands, revolver in hand.
She approaches HENRY who remains fast asleep.
She puts gun to his forehead. He stirs ever so slightly.
A moment.

MIRANDA: Shh. Go to sleep. Go to sleep.

She puts gun away.
The flutter of bird’s wings in the distance.

16.

Morning. HENRY wakes.
Pause.

HENRY: Miranda? You here?
Miranda?

He walks out of the trailer.

17.

In a shed in the country further up the road,
NERO is shackled to chains bolted crudely to the wall of the shed.
LUCA hits him with a steel pipe.
It is clear this has been going on for a while.
 

LUCA: What’d I say, huh? What’d I say?

NERO: I know.

LUCA: What?

NERO: I know, but

LUCA hits him.

LUCA: You know shit. You wanna mess things up for Jimmy? After he sets this all up?

NERO: No, but

LUCA hits him.

LUCA: Who gave you the right, huh?

NERO: Okay.

LUCA: What?

NERO: Okay, all right? Okay.

LUCA: Crying. Like a little boy who lost his toys. You lost your toys, Nero? You lost your way?

NERO: I’m sorry. Okay?

LUCA hits him.

Stop!

LUCA: You say that to me? Who are you to say that to me?

NERO: I know where he is. I’ll fix things right.

LUCA: Seems to me you already tried to fix things. Your own way. Gave no thought to me or anybody else, not even your beloved Jimmy.

He hits him again.

Bleed from the inside. Slow, miserable death. Those are the orders I got.
So, what are you gonna give me, Nero? What do you got to trade with? Besides your pretty little body?

NERO: I got…

LUCA: You got…you got… Make me sick.

NERO: Luca, I swear I…

LUCA: You swear you wanna fuck me over that’s what you swear.
But hey, I’m in a giving mood.
So, I tell you what… Quit (crying)!
Now what you got from now on—
Are you listening to me? —What you got is to be a good dog.
You want to be a dog? I’m asking you, Nero.

NERO: But Jimmy…

LUCA: No. This is between us. Just us. As far as Jimmy’s concerned, you’ll be dead. Nice and buried out here in this stinking land along with the rest of your family.

NERO: Pendejo

LUCA goes to hit him.

Stop. Please.

LUCA: What?

NERO: Yes. Yes. Okay? Yes. I’ll be a dog.

LUCA: You could say it with a little more feeling, a little more gratitude.

NERO: I’ll. Be. Your. Dog.

LUCA: Right. So, I cut you loose, you sit. Right there. In the corner.

LUCA draws close to NERO to cut him loose.

What’s that smell? You piss yourself?
Don’t lie to me, bitch.

NERO: Yes.

LUCA hits him across the face.

LUCA: First lesson, you piss when I tell you. Only when I tell you. Now, go sit.

LUCA cuts him loose. NERO is still.

Move, bitch.

NERO slowly makes his way to corner of the shed and sits.

LUCA puts NERO’s body into position.

Like a dog. Sit like a dog.

NERO sits on his haunches.

You come upon me again, Nero… Are you listening to me?
You come upon me again, against all orders, and try to take over what’s been started, and I swear to you, I swear to you…there won’t be a second chance. Now, come on. Up!

NERO rises.

And let’s go find our dear Enrique.

They walk away.

18.

In an alley in the city, DULCE is a little high. She’s on the mobile.

DULCE: What? Jimmy…Hey. Hey. I can’t hear you…. What?...No, no haven’t seen him….it’s so hot. Aren’t you hot?... Yeah, sure...I can do that. I can keep an eye out for him. Both of them.  …That’s sweet of you, Jimmy…Sure, I’ll take it… Hey, you like my singing?... Jimmy?…

End call.

19.

HENRY is on the road towards the city.

HENRY: Nana said if you speak to the saints, if you speak to the dead,
they’ll answer you, in their own way, but they’ll answer you.
I don’t think I believed her then but now…
I’m listening to them, Nana. I hear them now.
Their voices go inside me.
…
How far to the city, Nana?
How far to my share of owning this land outright?

HENRY keeps walking.
The sounds of the city and the last of carnival engulf him.

 

20.

In the dry country, where HENRY had been left,
LUCA and NERO see only a handkerchief on the ground.

NERO: He was right here. I left him right here.
I don’t understand. I mean, where the hell did he go?
I wrapped him tight, man. I did him good.
There was no way he could’ve wriggled out of anything.
It’s gotta be like magic, right?

LUCA: Magic?

NERO: Well, yeah, I mean, like, what else? There’s no one here.
There’s been no one round these parts for some time now.
And it’s not like he could’ve called out to anyone, cause I gagged him with this,
(indicates handkerchief) See? It still smells of him even.

LUCA: I gave you that handkerchief.

NERO: What?

LUCA: Gift, remember? From that job the last time.

NERO: Oh, yeah. Yeah. It’s a nice handkerchief.

LUCA: Silly bitch.

NERO: Hey man, look, I’m sorry, man, you know. I wasn’t thinking right. My mind was all…

LUCA: Yes. Well…He’s not here.

NERO: Must be magic, man.

LUCA hits him, as one would a dog who has misbehaved.

NERO: What the fuck?

LUCA: You need to be taught. Lesson two: My dogs don’t lose anyone. You follow?

NERO: Are you gonna, like, hit me all the time?

LUCA: You follow?

NERO: Yeah. Yeah. I follow.

An indistinct sound in the near distance.

LUCA: What was that?

NERO: What?

LUCA: Sound.
Indistinct sound again.

Hear that?

NERO: Sounds far.

LUCA: Not that far. (refers to handkerchief) Use it.

NERO: Huh?

LUCA: Use it, dog, to find him.

They go in direction of the sound.

21.

In the dry country,
MIRANDA is still, in the rough terrain of wild dry grass,
revolver in hand.
LUCA and NERO are in her field of vision.

MIRANDA: Now. Shoot them now. Do them in. //

Think nothing ‘cept what they’ve done, what they do and keep on doing.
Think nothing ‘cept what’s possible, right here, in this very moment. //
Green-faced,
sunlit,
stuck like a pig in my glare. //

Closer. Come closer. That’s right. Don’t be afraid.
This won’t take long. Just a moment. Just a pop… //

And down and down and down you’ll go
In an instant butchered.
And you won’t even know how,
And you won’t even know where,
Because I’ve come from no-where. //

That’s right. Closer, and closer now.
All will be righted
All will be well
Cause this time I’ll show you my eyes.

She aims the gun at her targets.

4th movement

22.

Away from the mad swirl of carnival,
DULCE sits at the bar, smoking up a dream.
Through beaded curtains that have seen better days, HENRY appears.

DULCE: Well, if it isn’t, ace. Aren’t you gonna give me a kiss?

HENRY: Fast and wet.

DULCE: Slow and easy, ace. That’s my style.

HENRY: It’s crazy out there.

DULCE: Last day. And then the party goes to sleep for a long time.

HENRY: Could use a rest now.

DULCE: Thought you liked carnival.

HENRY: Hate the crowds.

DULCE: You must’ve found yourself a soul out in the country.

HENRY: How you know where I’ve been?

DULCE: Smell of it.

HENRY: Country was what it was.

DULCE: Good ol’ family time.

HENRY: Blood earth.

DULCE: And then some. Seen the sites?

HENRY: Massacre-kind.

DULCE: Wrecks a soul, doesn’t it?

HENRY: It’ll be over in time.

DULCE: Still looking to change things, eh?

HENRY: If I can.

DULCE: What gave you the right?

HENRY: Claiming it.

DULCE: Long live the conquest.

HENRY: You’re gonna stop me?

DULCE: What can I do? I’m just Dulce. Little Dulce.

HENRY: Sweet poison.

DULCE: I haven’t heard that line in a while. You pickin’ up the ancients?

HENRY: Honing my reading skills.

DULCE: Take my advice. Don’t read. It doesn’t suit you.

HENRY: You like me stupid?

DULCE: Ignorance is appealing.

HENRY: All right.

DULCE: That all you’re gonna say?

HENRY: I’m sorry.

DULCE: Such feeling.

HENRY: I’m sorry, Dulce, my sweet.

DULCE: I think I like you crude.

HENRY: Like before?

DULCE: Like before before.

HENRY: Before we even met?

DULCE: Yes.

HENRY: Don’t think we can go to that before.

DULCE: You don’t wanna take me to another country?

HENRY: Who says I’m leavin’?

DULCE: Don’t gotta say.

HENRY: Dulce knows all.

DULCE: Dulce knows some things.

HENRY: And will she tell me?

DULCE: How long you and Jimmy go back?

HENRY: Schooldays.

DULCE: Playground bitches.

HENRY: You could say.

DULCE: A matter of life?

HENRY: Yes.

DULCE: His life?

HENRY: Yes.

DULCE: That’s some debt.

HENRY: Still haven’t told me what…

DULCE: What’s to tell?

HENRY: Am I fucked?!

DULCE: …This is a clean deal, ace. Ain’t no one fucking you doesn’t want to get fucked.

HENRY: I don’t know what to believe.

DULCE: Believe what you want.

HENRY: My life’s in your hands.

23.

In the dry country, NERO is on the ground.
MIRANDA is standing, gun in hand.

MIRANDA: Come on. Get up.

NERO: I can’t.

MIRANDA: Up.

She kicks him.

NERO: Christ. What is it with everybody….?

MIRANDA: Maybe you should ask what is it with you.

NERO: Look, look, what do you say we…

MIRANDA: Go on. Keep walking.

NERO: I don’t know what you…but I’m nothing. Just a dog. See?

MIRANDA: Just a shit man doing a shit job.

NERO: That’s right. 

MIRANDA: Or else you don’t eat, eh?

He coughs and coughs.

MIRANDA: You sick now? Playing the pity card, asshole?

NERO: I don’t feel good, man. Not good at all.

MIRANDA: Go on. Keep walking.

NERO: Why don’t you just finish me off, huh? End me right here? Why you gotta…?

She kicks him.

MIRANDA: Move.

NERO: Hatred in your eyes, girl.

MIRANDA: I’m past hatred.

NERO: I don’t want this bleeding to death shit, man. This is fucked….

MIRANDA: How fucked is it what you do, eh?

NERO: I don’t know what you mean.

MIRANDA: (takes out a collar and leash) Remember this, asshole?

NERO: My memory’s fucked.

MIRANDA: Look at me. Look at me. …Remember now?

NERO: …Where the fuck you come from?

MIRANDA: Dog, eh? You’re a dog? So that makes—what? —everyone else one too?

NERO: I just do what I do, you know. Rules are set up, ways of doing things.… I implement, that’s all.

MIRANDA: How many you implement? Answer me.
Ten? Twenty? A hundred? Off into the fields…into the river…onto some side street?

NERO: I don’t know.

MIRANDA: What makes you so different from those men with those machines that killed your family?

NERO: How do you—?

MIRANDA: I know everything. I’m from this land, asshole. I’m from this land now.

NERO: You’re a liar. You’re a goddamn liar. Where you come from, eh? I don’t know you. I don’t know anybody.

MIRANDA: Nothing but strangers.

She collars him.

NERO: You do this to me? You do this? You’re a fuckin’ bitch.

MIRANDA: I’m just doing what I do. Like you.

She yanks the leash.

NERO: Hell. Who do you work for?

MIRANDA: No one.

NERO: Was it Jimmy? He put you up to this? He’s a fuckin’ asshole. You can tell him that from me. Makes coin out in Shanghai, Syria, whatever…we never see half of it.  …Why didn’t you take Luca down, eh? He’s the one you should’ve taken down. … I won’t make it to the city. I’ll die on you right here on the road.

MIRANDA: Let’s go.

She yanks the leash.

 

NERO: You pull on me like that, I can’t breathe.

MIRANDA: Keep walking.

She leads him down the road toward the city.

 

24.

Shift to the bar.
LUCA is disheveled, a bit of a mess. He looks weary and spent.
He may be a bit drunk as well.

LUCA: Where the hell?

DULCE: I was setting my makeup, ace. What’s the hurry?

LUCA: Where’s Enrique?

DULCE: I don’t know.

LUCA: You haven’t seen him?

DULCE: I’m not on the lookout, ace.

LUCA: How much you want?

DULCE: Nothing.

LUCA: Answer me.

DULCE: Let go

LUCA; How much?

DULCE: Get me a house? A real house, not this shit.

LUCA: A house. That all you want, sweet? After tonight, I can give you a mansion.

DULCE: Don’t be so sure.

LUCA: What’s that?

DULCE: It’s not that easy.

LUCA: You got all sorts of secrets, don’t you? All sorts of songs in your head.

DULCE: I don’t.

LUCA: …If I don’t find him, I’m gonna come back here, and I swear, it’ll be the end of you, sweet. The absolute end.

He kisses her violently and walks away.

25.

In the city, NERO limps/crawls toward the faded gate of an industrial ruin.
He is dying. He prays.

NERO: crack of daylight
skims eyes
wanna stay
Do right
Do good
done nothing
Since I was...
All life
Bit of coin
Fancy shoes
Cool hat
What’s that now?
If you’re listening
Hey
If you’re… (up there).
I want to do over
Like in school
Erase, start again

26.

In simultaneous frames,
DULCE sings chorus to “City of Dreams”
as she moves through the street in a waking dream of her own making.
In the central plaza, LUCA is standing on a corner, smoking.
In the crowd, HENRY stands, gun concealed, but at the ready.

DULCE (sings): Be stilled, my city
Be stilled.

LUCA: He’s here.
I feel it.

DULCE (sings): Be stilled, am I.

HENRY: He’s here.
Right In the plaza.

DULCE (sings): So long, sad city

HENRY: He looks this way.

DULCE (sings): Too long, sad city,

LUCA: Gun in hand
Ready to…

DULCE (sings): Sad city of dreams… //

LUCA: He’s here.
I feel it.

DULCE (sings): Be stilled, my city
Be stilled.

HENRY: Gun in hand
Ready to...

DULCE (sings): Be stilled, am I...

LUCA: He’s here. Right in the plaza.

DULCE (sings): So long, sad city.

HENRY: All these people.

DULCE (sings): Too long, sad city.

HENRY: Drunk on all. High on…

LUCA: Where is he? Where is he?

HENRY: Ready to...

DULCE (sings): Sad city of dreams. //

Suspension.

LUCA: And he comes through the plaza.
He waves.

HENRY: His hand a fist of shame.

LUCA: Keep waving, good-for-shit.
This is the end of your….

MIRANDA (appears): And he comes through the plaza
His forehead burns.

HENRY: Miranda?

LUCA: Look at him. Just look at him.

MIRANDA: What pig’s this that’s come wreck my day?
Come on. Show your real face.

LUCA: What’s he looking at? What’s he—?
 
MIRANDA: What you doin’, sport, what you doin’ after I laid my hands on you?

LUCA: This ain’t the time, bitch. This ain’t the…

MIRANDA: What kind of hellfire is it you wanna rain?

HENRY: Miranda?

MIRANDA: Give me your hand. Let’s get ourselves outta this…

HENRY: Have to…

MIRANDA: What you have to ain’t already been done, sport, world over?

LUCA: He’s walking by. Taking his stroll.

HENRY: Fuck the moment I was born.

MIRANDA: Fuck yeah, and no time to rest.

LUCA: Watch the guards. Watch them.

HENRY: And for a moment
I feel sorry for everyone on this bloody earth.

LUCA: Staring. With shark teeth.

HENRY: As she smiles.

LUCA: Now.

HENRY: Like a piece of heaven.

MIRANDA vanishes through the crowd.
HENRY follows her.
In real time:
Shot. The crowd exclaims, as the president (unseen) falls.
DULCE slips gun into her bag and disappears,
and all we hear is her voice echoing in song:

DULCE (VO):  So long, sad city...
so long, so long....
Darkness.

27.

Morning. The flutter of birds.
DULCE is at a café sipping coffee.
LUCA is sitting to one side, reading the local rag.

LUCA: I hate this country.

DULCE: You love this country.

LUCA: I didn’t even… I mean, where did it…?

DULCE: Who knows? Nobody saw anything.

LUCA: Jimmy’s a shit. Screwed us all over.

DULCE: He did what he promised.

LUCA: Oh yeah? What’d he promise? Did we make anything out of this scheme? Cause if we did I haven’t heard about it. False promises. Like all the rest of them. Says keep Enrique on track, puts me on the job, puts Nero on the job, gets us all invested…and in the end what? Enrique pulls a disappearing act in the middle of all the shit like a fucking school-kid, and we… we got nothing to do with any of it. Jimmy set up his own scheme.

DULCE: Maybe he didn’t.

LUCA: What’d you mean?

DULCE: Maybe he just… lucked out.

LUCA: Lucked out? What are we, in school? Luck has no part of this.
A damn kid got killed. That’s all.
Our crazy kid, Nero, bled to death chained to some gate.
And our good-for-shit is deposed with a random bullet
we don’t even know where it’s from..  You call that luck?
I call that I’m out of ten thousand dollars and a house, that’s what I call it.
I call it I got a pack of smokes to my name and nothing else.
And I gotta bury a lousy kid on top of it. Cry over his grave.
Screw allegiance. Screw patriotism.
I work every bloody day for my country and in the end, I’m cut out of it.
And that’s what they want. That’s what Jimmy and all them movers and traders and marauders want: to cut you and me out of it all,
and leave us as we are: on an island of scraps
tinged with some vague promise of down-the-line possibility, but deep down, deep down, we’ll never be part of it, even though it’s ours, our land.
Is that fucked or what?

DULCE: Good coffee, though.

LUCA: I’m not drinking that swill.

DULCE: Espresso man.

LUCA: That’s right.

28.

On an airplane, HENRY is seated in the window seat.
He has an eye mask over his eyes to fight the glare and get some sleep.
MIRANDA appears transformed as MONICA.
If anything seemed rough or coarse
about her appearance before, it’s gone.
She wears a tasteful, expensive outfit and has a quality of serenity about her.

MONICA: You’re in my seat. … Hello? Excuse me. You’re in my seat.

HENRY: (takes off eye mask) Am I?

MONICA: 6G.

HENRY: Oh. I’m sorry. I mis-read the…

MONICA: Yes.

HENRY: I’m right here.

HENRY moves to aisle seat; MONICA takes the window seat.

Been here long?

MONICA: What?

HENRY: In the country.

MONICA: Just a few days.

HENRY: My family was from here.

MONICA: Really?

HENRY: From the countryside. Farmers, I think. Worked the land a long time before it got taken away from them.

MONICA: Well, I need to sleep. If you don’t mind.

HENRY: I’m sorry. I’ve just been…a little blurry, as they say.

MONICA: Uh-huh.

HENRY: …You know, you seem…

MONICA: What?

HENRY: Your name’s not Miranda, is it?

MONICA: Monica.

HENRY: Forgive me. Like I said, a little blurry.

MONICA: Fuzzy.

HENRY: Huh?

MONICA: The expression is fuzzy.

HENRY: …I hate planes.

MONICA: Really?

HENRY: Long hours of waiting.

MONICA: You can always sleep.

HENRY: Yes. But I’ve been sleeping… my whole life….

MONICA: What’d you mean?

HENRY: Sleepwalking.  That’s how it feels.

MONICA: Time to wake up, soldier.

HENRY: Yeah. You know I thought coming here, to my country
well, not my country, but my family’s country
well, in a way my country
funny how we think of countries as ours…I mean, they’re not…
they’re just countries and we happen to be from one or the other
designated by some aspect of history or some aspect of empire
or tribal consciousness or religion or flags… conquest, you know…
one flag and then another and then one flag superimposed upon the other…
and really you can have one country belonging to some other country
way over there that has nothing to do with it but it’s in camouflage somehow…you can’t see it…and then there it is…for a moment…
plain as day…like a shot…and it’s like you feel this person you thought was dead come back to life and take your place in the world
and do what you’ve always wanted…something vaguely heroic
or misguided or stupid or just plain anything…
but the thing is, the thing is, this person has no allegiance to anything except, well, maybe themselves, or a sense of self given to them by somebody…
and you think what the hell, right? Where I’ve been in all this?
What have I been doing?

MONICA: Sleepwalking.

HENRY: Yeah. Yeah.

Discreet “ding” is heard indicating seatbelts must be put on,
and that plane is readying for departure.

Guess we’re off soon. Back home or wherever that means…

MONICA: Maybe there is no home. Maybe there’s just people. You know?
Coming together, coming apart, finding their way, doing things for each other…
Things they’d never thought they’d dream…but out of love, vengeance, or who knows what…maybe just a need to taste life…they do things…impossible things…to come together again… or maybe just…to be…maybe that’s all there is…

MONICA’s mobile phone goes off,
 the ringtone is La Bouche’s “Be my lover –Intro.” It plays.

Oh. Shit. My phone.

HENRY: That yours?

MONICA: I should’ve turned it off.

She does so.

There. I hate when people leave their phone on.
…What? What is it?

The plane takes off.

End of Play