CHASE You’re scared to leave because Bex is out there.
JAZZ That’s not it. I’m here because I want to be. I can handle Bex. His pride is hurt but he’s basically lazy. I don’t matter that much to him. He spent all our time together trying to convince me I was worthless and making him look bad.
CHASE Sounds like my dad. Except I really was all he had. His only son.
JAZZ You’re not responsible for him. Bex wanted me to believe that I was stuck with him, but he wasn’t stuck with me, that I owed him a debt that kept mysteriously increasing.
CHASE Ouch. I need a shower. Want to come?
JAZZ Oh, no you don’t! We’re not finished yet! Why come after Corso? Why pick this college?
CHASE You really want me to roll in it, don’t you? Can’t you just be a good soulmate and fill in the blanks?
JAZZ Total honesty. Full disclosure. Tell each other everything, don’t you agree?
CHASE Maybe.
JAZZ So when Bex bothers me you want me keeping it secret?
CHASE Hell no! Point taken. (forcing himself to reminisce) I just couldn’t get it out of my mind that nothing bad happened to Corso. No jail time! No publicity. No fines even. They made him promise not to work with children, but he’d graduated to teenagers by that time anyway. I gradually realized the money was to control me, so I wouldn’t tell the police. Blood money. What a bad deal that was. He wasn’t controlled! Rewarded, if anything. I might as well have been protecting him. When I looked him up – there he is running “perceptual studies” at a prestigious college! That sound like “punishment” to you?
JAZZ That would be punishment for me, but I get what you mean.
CHASE So I decided to kill him. It’s the only way. I mean, Corso’s a monster, right? And he’s only getting worse. I grew up, I bulked up, I legally changed my name, I disguised myself every way I could think of. I mean, he hadn’t seen me since I was a squeaky-voiced platinum haired tot of thirteen.
JAZZ But let me guess. He recognized you right away.
CHASE He just assumed I couldn’t live without him. I was there to bring him souls!
JAZZ You confronted him?
CHASE He says the university knows all about his “spot of bother.” There’s no official record. To hear him tell it, we were co-victims!
JAZZ Co-victims!
CHASE Yeah. Of religion. Of repression. Of the fifties, of his parents – you name it. But he’s fine now. Happily married, to a nice older lady who just happens to be rich! He’s “freed” himself, see, from his horrible past and he just wants to liberate everybody else.
JAZZ What a bastard.
CHASE So either I get the goods on him or I kill him. There aren’t other options. If that makes me a monster, then, that’s what I’ll be.
JAZZ Hard luck on me, having a monster for a soulmate. What did I do to deserve this?
CHASE Clearly you attract monsters.
JAZZ You sell us both short. If you wanted to be a monster, you would be one already. You’ve been here four years!
CHASE I got distracted. College is interesting – wrestling, debate club, research, biofeedback… Suddenly I found myself in a much bigger world. But whatever avenue I went down… he was always there ahead of me. Like, he’s the creator of everything and I’m just his mutant, the cuckoo on his clock. I want a world without Corso, a universe to call my own, but… he’s polluted everything.
JAZZ So he still holds you hostage.
CHASE He’s inside me. He’s like, taken over the inside of me. Robbed me of my self. I always seem to know exactly what he’ll do, or say, so in some sick way it’s me doing it. There’s no “me” any more, as long as he’s alive. My only hope is to off him.
JAZZ That’s stinking thinking. If you kill him, he still wins. You’d be linked to him forever. I refuse to lose a perfectly good soulmate. You’re nothing like Corso. He’s soulless and that’s why he collects souls. You’re real. Without a self, how could you have a soulmate? Knowing him just makes him easier to trap. If we’ve learned anything, it is that he’s up to no good. He’s a predator- parasite. We’ve got to keep that straight. Trust?
CHASE If only I could believe in souls. I don’t feel indestructible. I’m staying alive by the force of my resistance.
JAZZ You woke me.
CHASE That’s what we have in common. You resisted Bex.
JAZZ I’ll say! He worked so hard to keep me down. We recognized each other. We’re the same. (passionately kiss)
CHASE It’s only our worlds that keep changing.
JAZZ It’s love.
CHASE And we keep falling into it. “Falling” seems more than a metaphor.
JAZZ If we’re in the middle of something extraordinary, we’ve got to stop looking with ordinary eyes.
CHASE But everything’s corpses. Corso threatens life itself.
JAZZ Murderers do tend to round up the refugees.
CHASE He’s poisoning us. The question is whether it’s terminal. I wish I knew what was in that stuff he gave us.
JAZZ Who cares what he gave us? He wants you to think he’s some scientific mastermind wielding a secret weapon. We’re the ones with the secret weapon.
CHASE Some amnesiac, like scopolamine or propanolol. Without memory, he assumes we lose identity. But stress-based experiences are processed like dreams – we keep having flashbacks.
JAZZ And flash-forwards. But we all formed new memories – some of them pretty crazy I admit – but others right on target. Look at Soliz falling through my window, Zane at the toxic dump, Koo with her body-bags. Something happened to us and he doesn’t want us to find out what. Bex wants me thinking he’s all powerful and everywhere so I’ll feel weak and helpless and give up, and Corso’s exactly the same. You must have gotten close –that’s why he fired you.
CHASE He didn’t reckon with us happening.
JAZZ We have a superpower!
CHASE I’m scared the universe is setting us up, just to knock us back down.
JAZZ But the universe loves creators, and lovers are the ultimate creators.
CHASE Creation takes so long and destruction lasts forever.
JAZZ Doesn’t the green growth keep coming up?
CHASE Death is inevitable. It’s life that’s the surprise. In wrestling your attacker takes himself down. We need to find Corso’s weak spot –
JAZZ He’s not immortal, is he?
CHASE God, I hope not.
JAZZ I mean, if he keeps swelling up with everybody else’s souls he’s going to explode. The universe will take care of Corso.
Here’s more fodder for my theory that reality is totally submerged – it’s never what you think you see.
JAZZ
Sounds deep.
(CHASE plays with his phone, paws through lists, makes a choice, phone to ear)
CHASE
Uh oh.
JAZZ
What gives?
CHASE
Howk’s work phone at the Health Center is disconnected.
(Paws through more lists, tries another number)
And her voicemail is full. I’m listening to it now.
JAZZ
You’re listening to her voicemail?
CHASE
Default pincode. Most employees never change it. Sounds like she didn’t show up Friday and they can’t get hold of her.
JAZZ
That’s not good. Any calls from Corso?
CHASE
Not one. And that’s not good either. Let’s try something else.
(Fingers phone)
She lives at Punch Drunk Apartments. Punch Brook’s it’s name but Punch Drunk’s more appropriate to the lowly adjuncts.
JAZZ
Poor Howk.
CHASE
Not answer there either.
(Stands up)
It’s a five minute walk.
(They walk to the edge of the stage. BEX darts out, snaps a picture of them)
JAZZ
Kiss me, quick.
(Throws herself into CHASE’s arms for a long smooch. BEX exits.)
SCENE VI – HOWK’s APARTMENT
CHASE
How’d you do that?
JAZZ
Giving Bex material for his revenge porn site.
CHASE
Not what I mean. How’d we get here so fast?
JAZZ
You said it was a short walk.
CHASE
Not that short. You kissed me.
JAZZ
You liked it.
CHASE
You triggered a flashback. Maybe we’re dreaming. Maybe we’ve fallen into some weird wormhole vortex thing.
JAZZ
Ugh. Just one more crime scene. What happened here?
(She pushes a door, it falls down)
Is this even true?
CHASE
Maybe it’s meta-truth. Super-truth.
(Furniture thrown around, plants and upholstery dismembered)
Somebody had fun.
JAZZ
Why’s the multiverse such a nasty place? And what’s all this pink stuff?
CHASE
Looks like insulation. Somebody searching for something.
JAZZ
Well, they must have found it. The bedroom’s untouched.
CHASE
I don’t believe it. There’s no body?
JAZZ
I didn’t see one.
CHASE
Did you look under the bed?
JAZZ
You look under the bed! I’m opening this closet!
(Disgusting corpse falls out, suspended mid-air)
Aaargh!
CHASE
That’s Howk all right. She looks – drowned. And her skin’s all eaten off with some kind of acid.
JAZZ
I’m getting out of here. Everywhere we go is death.
CHASE
Smells like Corso. That’s Corso’s M.O. Find out what’s alive and kill it. He stinks of sulfur. My guess is he was searching for whatever she held over him. Better get the drop on him before he comes after us.
JAZZ
Maybe that sex tape?
CHASE
But that’s over at his place.
JAZZ
Maybe we’re going backwards and forwards in time. A U-turn in the multiverse.
CHASE
Maybe he killed Howk and hid her body. Remember Zane’s dream?
JAZZ
The abandoned warehouse? The toxic condemned site?
CHASE
Perfect place to stash a corpse. People are afraid to enter. Very Corso.
JAZZ
OK you solved this one. God, you’re competitive.
CHASE
History is moving us forward. It has to.
JAZZ
This just isn’t what the Tibetan monks promised me. The moment we considered love, death was everywhere.
CHASE
I prefer Dante. Dante’s my guide. He says you go through hell to get to heaven.
JAZZ
Dante! Weird subject for psych majors!
CHASE
There’s a lot about me you don’t know. You need a firm grip on purgatory to understand law.
JAZZ
I think I’m coming down with something.
CHASE
You’re coming down with me. Kiss me.
JAZZ
(Fending him off)
What if I’m infectious?
CHASE
If you’re my soulmate I’m hoping you’re infectious. Maybe I could get back my soul.
JAZZ
Where’d it go?
CHASE
Taken hostage.
JAZZ
By –
(Their kiss triggers police car lights & sirens)
You’re right, I feel better.
CHASE
Sirens when we kiss – that’s a first for me.
(They kiss more)
JAZZ
Are they after us or our crime scene?
CHASE
We’re after them. Look where we are.
JAZZ
This is my dorm! Are you thinking what I’m thinking?
CHASE
Let’s kiss forever.
SCENE VII – Outside Hadleigh, FRESHMAN DORM
(Enter SOLIZ, dressed like a security guard, stringing crime scene tape)
SOLIZ
Hey! Watch your step! Respect my perimeter! O, hi guys.
(They can’t step away – tape impedes)
JAZZ
What the hell happened here?
SOLIZ
Nobody knows. Keep moving.
JAZZ
But this is my dorm! I live here!
SOLIZ
They’re not letting anyone in. Do you know who lives in Room 824?
JAZZ
Actually, I live there.
SOLIZ
Oh, you do, do you? Well, some guy fell out your window.
(CORSO doesn’t like CHASE and JAZZ’s new alliance. They walk toward steps while lights go down on DREAM LAB. CORSO exits huffily)
Scene V – Cafe
JAZZ
You owe me a sandwich for backing up your lie, you lying liar.
CHASE
Liar? I was just being a gentleman. Don’t kiss and tell.
JAZZ
Somehow I doubt your motives.
CHASE
Never give monsters bones to make their soup.
(He shepherds JAZZ up the steps to SCENEV – CAFÉ set: table and chairs are set up beneath Tiffany lamp upstage another table with two hunched unidentifiable figures in close conversation at distant table)
Any truth you give Corso, he’ll use it against you.
(Calls offstage)
Two specials! Meat on the side! And plenty of Joe.
JAZZ
What’s the special?
CHASE
Whatever it is, it’s the only thing they didn’t make yesterday. That’s why we call it “Chem Lab”. I take it you’ve never been here before? Vegan? Gluten-intolerant? I’ll eat anything you don’t.
JAZZ
I’m on meal plan. I’m currently omnivorous but I aspire to someday be selective. How about your aspirations?
CHASE
Aspirations are good. I’m pro-aspiration. At the moment, Iaspire to anonymity.
JAZZ
You failed anonymity in dream lab.
CHASE
I had a job to do. I did it.
JAZZ
Getting yourself kicked out?
CHASE
That was inevitable. I made it through one round, and I found out what kinds of dreams everybody’s having. Now we put it together, like a psychotic jigsaw puzzle.
JAZZ
Are you ever going to tell me why are you so pissed at Corso?
CHASE
Because he took something from me and he won’t give it back.
JAZZ
Maybe. What’d he take?
CHASE
My future.
JAZZ
Can he prevent you from graduating?
CHASE
If he makes me a killer. Corso needs to be putdown like a rabid dog. It’s a dirty job but someone’s got to do it.
JAZZ
Please don’t even joke like that. Nobody can take away your future without your cooperation. Go be a lawyer. You’d make such a great lawyer. You argue with everybody.
CHASE
So help me get evidence against him and I’ll let the cops take him off my hands.
JAZZ
You’re obsessed.
CHASE
I call it goal-oriented. Russian-Irish is a volatile mixture.
JAZZ
It’s tunnel vision. There we were, standing right at the edge of the soulmate multiverse and where do you want to go? Corso’s apartment! What is it with men and threesomes?
CHASE
You went to a morgue. So what do you know about the multiverse?
JAZZ
You should have done the reading! Retrocausation. Many Worlds theory. If the universe is infinite then every possible outcome must happen somewhere.
CHASE
So I kill Corso in some other world?
JAZZ
Haven’t you heard that if you look too long at a monster you become the monster?
CHASE
Too late.
JAZZ
Are you telling me that my soulmate is a monster?
CHASE
I’m starting to see why we belong together. You should segue out of pre-fashion into pre-law.
JAZZ
I’m allergic to violence. Violence is flirtation with losing control. It gives you nowhere to go.
CHASE
You referring to that big bruiser who’s stalking you?
JAZZ
Maybe. He represents my official knowledge of crazy. But now it’s over and I don’t have to talk about it.
CHASE
“Those who make a peaceful revolution impossible make violence inevitable.”
JAZZ
Oh, please. Your evidence hunt makes sense at least. Let’s do that instead. You get to find out about Corso and I get to find out about you. Where would you go first?
CHASE
Well, I want to go to his office but I’m afraid he’s in there. That nympho-slut Nurse Howk is probably his weak link.
JAZZ
Don’t slut-shame. She’s probably one of his victims.
CHASE
Naah. She’s a fully consenting sub-monster. Didn’t she try to ooze all over you?
JAZZ
She’s just living up to the archetype. It’s one of the signs of a victim.
CHASE
Meaning what?
JAZZ
Don’t you know what an archetype is?
CHASE
I’m a psychology major, I hope I know what an archetype is. I’m asking if you know what it is, and since I’m not getting any answers, I’m going to go see what’s keeping our food.
(Stands up, exits. Big, ugly, longhaired BEX looms up from darkness and pounds his hands on JAZZ’s table)
BEX
Is that the guy? That’s the weasel you’re dumping me for?
JAZZ
Bex! I told you to get gone.
BEX
I’m just trying to talk to you since you won’t talk to me.
JAZZ
(Tries to stand up but he’s pushing the table into her)
Bex it’s over! How many ways can I say it? Don’t you have a job to get back to?
BEX
And that player doesn’t? So now I’m not good enough for you? Is that it?
JAZZ
I don’t get what you’re making a big deal about – you’re the one that said we’d never be exclusive! Go find someone else to torture!
BEX
(Leaning in threateningly)
You’re not the boss of me.
(CHASEreturns with tray)
CHASE
This dude harassing you?
JAZZ
Just go, Bex. Go home.
BEX
Who’s gonna make me?
(Two figures stand up at the distant table and advance – it’sZANE and KOO)
ZANE
Having trouble here?
(BEX knows when he’s outnumbered and retreats)
BEX
(Shouting over his shoulder)
Better get ready! This means war!
(ZANEandCHASEhigh-five,ZANEreturns to his table –KOOputs ahand onJAZZ’s shoulder)
KOO
We’ve all been there.
(ExitKOOandZANE)
CHASE
(Comforting JAZZ whose head is in her hands)
Nice guy. I think I understand what you saw in him.
JAZZ
(Writhing with mortification, sits down, head on table)
I’m so sorry. What can I say? He’s a jerk, but pickings were slim.
CHASE
(Serving sandwiches and coffee)
Hey, everyone’s entitled to at least one monster. The good news is, today’s special is meatloaf.
(JAZZ inspects inside her sandwich)
JAZZ
I think I lost my appetite.
CHASE
More for me.
JAZZ
The coffee’s good. Say, Zane and Koo! Huh?
CHASE
I know, right? Think something’s – going on there? Traumatic bonding?
JAZZ
They didn’t say anything.
CHASE
We didn’t say anything.
JAZZ
It’s hard to say anything when you don’t know what’s going on,
CHASE
More fodder for my theory that reality is totally submerged – it’s never what you think you see.
I was walking down a concrete tunnel with metal ribs. It seemed to be shifting like it was alive. It was hard to keep my feet. I felt like maybe it was on a giant truck where they shift the room around to make you fall – like at Great Adventure. There was water on the floor that looked diseased so I tried to keep out of it but it kept splashing on me. I know I’m going to get sick just like my dad warned me. When I got to the end of the tunnel I was in an abandoned dump at the end of the world – signs everywhere saying things like, TOXIC WASTE and EXTREMELY HAZAROUS. The filled with gushing water and I couldn’t get back.
RAD
Abandon hope those who enter here.
(CORSOgives him a squelching look)
ZANE
Something horrible was stalking the dump. Every now and then it darted past. I think I saw fur? I’m scared of fur. It was BIG. I could hear breathing. Maybe a bear – but when it stepped near the light I saw it had scales that glittered. It was coming right after me, kind of loping, with its back legs higher than its front. In that second I realized I had created it – like it was the most terrible thing I could think of come to life. I just took off running. I knew I couldn’t outrun it – it had too many legs. I saw a chain-link fence, but I couldn’t get over that, so I went inside this shack to hide and maybe make a barricade. Most of all I was scared of anybody seeing what a coward I was – just another big talker who’s unable to cope. It was dark in there – and the floor was all torn up – I wanted to go back but – the thing was forcingme inside. It was peering in the windows so I ducked down, I stepped on a rotten board and pitched into the water. Toxic, disgusting water – smelled like sulfur – I could feel it poisoning me, rotting me, boiling me from the inside out. My skin was falling right off my bones. Then somebody said, “Wake up” and I woke up.
(CORSO looks bored and politely incredulous)
CORSO
Charming. Our research project becomes a video game.
ZANE
(Rubbing the inside of his leg)
I was never so glad to wake up. Man, I was really running. It felt like running in flip-flops. My adductors are killing me and my paraformus feels like a rubber band.
CORSO
(Dismissive)
Anything to be learned from this puerile meandering? Could it be that the concept of “flight” itself createsa concept of falling and the context of humiliation and pursuit? I certainly wish you were all more imaginative. I see I need YEARS of work with you children to exorcise these primitive fears. Nobody has time for that. Oh, well. Too late now. It is only in the course of the research that we discover how it should have been conducted.
CHASE
Flight creates pursuit? That’s a good one!
ZANE
But I had the strangest feeling like…like I was watching myself. Like I was both inside and outside me. Like maybe I was the animal too.
SOLIZ
And I was the crowd. I felt that too.
KOO
Me, too. I definitely did.
CORSO
(Silky-voiced)
Ah, lucid dreaming. At long last, something informative. Do share.
CHASE
You said I could go next.
CORSO
Research makes no promises, Mr. Quinn. Miss Loflin?
KOO
It was…so terrible. I need to get rid of it so I can forget.
` I was working in some kind of, mortuary. These body bags were coming at me down a conveyor belt and I had to unzip them and take out the body pieces. I was unzipping, unbuttoning, zipping and unzipping, but the bodies were so smashed I couldn’t even look at them. So disgusting — you couldn’t tell they ever had been people. I thought there was people and garbage and animal parts all smashed together to trick me. To make fun of me. Someone was laughing at my expense. And some of those bags contained the remains of multiple people – a mess nobody could reassemble – a mass of legs and arms and guts. I thought this was a horrible job and I remember thinking, “Nothing is worth this. I should leave college plead bankruptcy and go work at my dad’s dealership.” I wanted to throw up the whole time.
(Gagging)
But I also felt guilty for not helping them. The heads were alive and they looked at me so pleadingly. Then in one bag I found my boyfriend Bo. He was looked accusing – I couldn’t convince him he was DEAD and I was helpless. and I just KNEW he was going to tell everyone I was responsible. Just it was all my fault! I just zipped him back up. Zipped him right back up.
(Gulping water, half crying)
Then the next one was ME. I unzipped myself. I looking at my own body. I was dead and I was mangled, and I just hadn’t realized it.
(KOO’s gasping and sobbing)
I just – lost it. Take me – take me –
TAKE ME OUT OF HERE.
(SOLIZtries to comfort sobbingKOO.)
SOLIZ
So maybe Bo IS your soulmate and in your next dream you take him out of the bag –
KOO
I’m not going back there! No, no, no, no, no!
CORSO
Please, Miss D’Accosta, no sophomoric interpretations. Good guinea pigs stay out of each other’s heads.
JAZZ
Wouldn’t soulmates be in each other’s heads?
CHASE
Me, me, me! Is it my turn now?
CORSO
By all means, Mr. Quinn, since you’re so eager to share.
CHASE
(Very smug and bad-ass)
I flew all right. Right through the air. No pursuit, no humiliation, no falling – don’t I get an A? It was like being in a wind tunnel. I went to your apartment; Doc. Didn’t bother with the locks – sailed right in through the front door.
CORSO
If this was a true out-of-body or remote viewing experience you’ll have to tell us something you could only have seen today, something that wasn’t there when you helped me move in.
CHASE
(Making a show of deep thought)
Well, there were a lot of papers about a bankruptcy filing and restraining orders. Is that the sort of thing you mean? Shouldn’t we run right over and look? Oh, and there was a sex tape featuring you and Nurse Howk on your bed. Your bed had black sheets. She’s one smoky tomato, that girl. She has a piercing on her hoo-ha. Shouldn’t we call her in and investigate?
CORSO
Mr. Quinn, you are fired again! I knew you were a mistake! Off to the locker rooms with you. This minute. And don’t come back!
CHASE
(rises slowly, protesting)
Awwww... And I thought we were gonna be like so free.
CORSO
Every chance you are given, you destroy. I’m sure one of the alternates will be thrilled to assume your position.
CHASE
(Chucks him under the chin)
You can always find somebody to “assume the position” but you’ll never find anyone like me.
CORSO
(Swats his hand away)
Let’s hope not. Get out, now.
CHASE
Can’t I listen to the others? I swilled your damn koolaid.
CORSO
No. You are incorrigible and disruptive. You are leaving or I call security and this class is OVER.
CHASE
But I want to hear the others!
CORSO
(Upends recliner, dumping CHASE on the floor. Speaks into his earbud)
You should have thought of that sooner. Security!
CHASE
Oh all right. Jazz, I’ll be waiting for you to tell me what I missed.
(He exits slowly, hangs out behind the door.)
CORSO
I do apologize for that. That is one troubled youth. He is a thief, an impostor and a poseur. No good deed goes unpunished there, I assure you. His alternate will be more cooperative. Miss Suzino? Mr. Bliven? Chop-chop! No more stalling.
RAD
(Looking panicked.)
It’s Borden. And – I don’t remember anything.
(CORSOinspects him closely to see if he is lying)
CORSO
Hmmm. Come, come, Mr. whatever. The others have been brave. Your clothing is strangely disarranged.
SOLIZ
Aren’t your pants on backwards?
RAD
(Gulps, blushes painfully)
I know you’ll fire me and I don’t really want to leave but I just don’t remember. It’s just a blank.
CORSO
Fire you for amnesia? Hardly! I am much more likely to administer truth serum or attempt a little private hypnosis. Overcoming resistance is my raison d’être.
(Looks at his watch.)
We just don’t have the time. How about if I give you one more chance, next week?
RAD
Th – thanks.
(Is he relieved? Traumatized? Hard to tell.CORSOstretches out on CHASE’s abandoned futon, very relaxed, crosses his hands behind his head.)
CORSO
You are hardly a “still water”, Mr. Bli – er, Borden. Perhaps that is why I am more relieved than otherwise to find you run so deep. Miss Suzino? We are waiting.
(JAZZ’s face show she is desperately trying to think up a story. Coming up empty)
JAZZ
I was blind. At first I couldn’t see.
CORSO
(Sighs luxuriously)
Oh, Miss Suzino. Blindfold games! Who among us hasn’t played them? You always interest me so extremely! Pay attention, Mr. Bruden! This is how it’s done!
RAD
Borden.
CORSO
Simmer down, class. Let Miss Suzino speak. Poor little Jazz. When she enrolled in this experiment she’s all, “I can’t dream”
(mimics her voice unflatteringly)
Now it’s “I can’t see!” Whatever next? We’ll just have to do what we can to open your eyes.
JAZZ
I felt people rushing past me. I stumbled down steps into a basement. It smelled like dirt and death. Someone kicked me – I fell over a body. A dead body.
CORSO
More falling. This is a tragic class.
ZANE
Anything chasing you?
CORSO
Please, class, I’ll ask the questions.
JAZZ
There was blood.
SOLIZ
But the blood was yours. Sorry. Just saying.
CORSO
(Slams his notebook shut – rises)
Checks in your mailboxes the first of the week! See you all next Saturday! Remember – no talking about what goes on in dream lab!
(Perceptual Studies Student Lab at College . Enter CORSO in Burberry, cap and scarf)
CORSO
Sorry I’m late. I’ll make it up. Time’s our bitch, but that’s what we’re here for – get on top of it. I see you’ve met my teaching assistant, Mr. Quinn.
(IndicatesCHASE)
CHASE
I thought you fired me.
CORSO
But you’re so charming as my warm-up act. Who could resist you? Consider yourself re-hired.
ZANE
(Pointing at CHASE)
Ringer! Ringer!
CORSO
(Opens a door)
Welcome to Paradise. After you.
(Lights up on DREAM RESEARCH LAB ; six recliners arranged in a circle – lockers to either side– students study their environment. Glittering disco ball lowers from ceiling shedding fractals. Padded floor; students step gingerly. At center of recliners a black chalice on a tripod emits dry ice smoke)
CORSO
(Slams door aggressively)
Now you’re committed.
RAD
My folks always said I’d end up committed.
ZANE
And in a padded cell.
CORSO
God forbid you should fall down in your dream-throes and sue the institute that birthed your intellect.
CHASE
Where are the sensors?
CORSO
Everything’s wireless these days, poor Mr. Quinn! What are you worried about? Nobody would dare to censor you.
KOO
(Gestures at the disco ball)
Is that a camera?
CORSO
The Eye of History.
(Claps hands)
Chop, chop, little ones – Enough rubbernecking. Time’s a-wasting. Male locker room there, females that-away. Discard outerwear and belongings. Let’s get going.
(As CHASE passes him, CORSO says dryly)
The old razzle dazzle? REALLY?
(Banging of locker doors)
CHASE
We’ll see.
CORSO
We certainly will. Now, if you children would arrange yourselves male, female – thusly.
RAD
Like some antique dinner party?
CORSO
Sacred geometry. We need all the energy we can harness. We are immersing ourselves in the flip side of reality- the Unseen.
(JAZZandCHASEare side by side. CORSO distributes mugs)
CORSO
Tea time!
CHASE
What is this stuff?
CORSO
Sorry, Mr. Quinn, research is not a democracy. All that’s guaranteed is, you sleep on cue without allergic overdrive.
ZANE
I’m not allergic to Nurse Howk, either. Yowza!
RAD
(Shaking his hand as if from a burn)
I know, right?
CORSO
Drink up and settle down. I am collecting mugs so I will know who’s been naughty and who’s been nice.
JAZZ
Yuck! This stuff tastes like bark.
(RADbarks like a dog)
CORSO
Shotgun it, Miss Suzino. Knock it back. Isn’t that the college way?
. (CORSOcollects mugs, turning them upside down to be sure they’re empty)
Musical selection? Classical or non-classical?
ZANE
Anything so long as it’s not classical.
CHASE
Anything – so long as it’s classical.
(They glare at each other. CORSO laughs)
CORSO
The bulls do clash! Ocean sounds it is!
(He conducts the music)
Everyone hold hands and close eyes please. Let the bonding begin!
CHASE
(Muttering)
Bondage, more like.
CORSO
Mr. Quinn! Must I gag you? That can be arranged!
(CHASE finally closes his eyes, rocking back and forth to get comfortable. Lights go down to twilight level on DREAM LAB. CORSO ascends on TOWER LIFT, wearing earphones and holding a conductor’s baton)
CORSO
Welcome to cosmic dreaming. You will dream at such a depth your mind will burst the bonds of selfhood and explode free and untrammeled into the universe. Free from the chains of time, from identity itself, we uncover the truth the quotidian obscures; we are one. Think on it. Think what it would means to be freed from debt, obligation, relationship, guilt, regret or loss. There are no mistakes. Without identity you are released from suffering. Everything you have ever wanted we can achieve together, effortlessly, and in abundance. Desires and longing are the fuel that rocket us to the stratosphere of rarest air. Once we merge in the great Oneness, we will dream uniquely and together.
(CORSOturns a page on his music stand)
Learning to harness our dream, we will control it, uniting our powers generously to become a potent force of reckoning. Prepare yourselves for the ultimate luxury – surrender – lost in the imaginative union that has always been your birthright. Time to claim and master your entitlement. In our relaxation mass consciousness will seize control…But you must be quick!The garden door is closing and you’ll be left behind… See, the stars are out. The world inside and the world without await your signal – longing to merge. Only the clatter in your head prevents the natural fruition of your indissoluble longing.
Doesn’t it feel good leaving the world behind? The universe itself is lost beneath you now. Now flesh itself melts away as invisible imperfections open themselves to perfection. Accept the freedom you are offered. When you open your eyes, you will be gazing down at the husk of your unwelcome, banished self.
(CORSO’Sspot is extinguished, spot rises onJAZZwho stands up eyes closed, feeling out in front of her like sleepwalker. She feels her way to the edge of the stage. No other students stir. CORSO’s voice orates as if from space.)
CORSO
Now the room itself vanishes, your earthly fears becoming someone else’s problem. Release those worries. Look how tiny they seem, as they disappear over the horizon.
(JAZZshakes head impatiently and crabwalks down the steps toward audience.
JAZZ
Where is this place? It smells like death. The end of everything.
Cutter Farrell – older male – Chase’s mean, scary cold-eyed dad
Bex – male youth – Jazz’s scary biker ex
SCENE I –WAITING ROOM (i.e. circle of chairs) outside DREAM RESEARCH LAB. Visible DOOR to one side. Students – edgy, impressionable JAZZ , angry suspicious, punked out wrestler CHASE, King-of-the-World jock business major ZANE, RAD (Black, light-sprung guy with ornate dreads and gay overtones) SOLIZ (pretty, smoky, hot, ethnic, resentful) KOO (tiny blond cheerleader, very anxious alternately sprawl and rock on uncomfortable “waiting room” chairs)
JAZZ
(Fanning)
God, it’s hot in here. I’mmelting.
CHASE
(Offering a hand)
And I’m Chase.
JAZZ
(Blushing – takes his hand)
I mean, I’m Jazz. Hi.
SOLIZ
(A tad hostile)
Who’s named Jazz?
JAZZ
(shrugs)
Short for Jasmyn. Mothers – Disney – what can you do?
RAD
You got that right. My parents call me Grady. Grady Borden! Get a brother killed on the street. I go by Rad. Or G-Rad.
(He and Zane trade complicated fist bumps & bicep grabs)
SOLIZ
Shouldn’t it be“Raid”?
CHASE
Let people have the nickname they want. And you are?
SOLIZ
Soliz. I should be a third year but I transferred so I’m only a sophomore. That’s all the credits they would give me – and I graduated junior college.
RAD
Hey, I’m a transfer too! They turned me down straight outta high school. I mean, is this place a snob factory or what?
CHASE
I just assumed we’d all be psych majors but I don’t recognize anyone.
(Points)
ZANE
Zane. Business major.
(He waves)
KOO
I’m Koo. Like koo–kool. I was a communications major but they gave me such a bad internship I really couldn’t hack it. Now I’m uncommitted. I don’t know what to do. Everything available you hear bad things about.
RAD
(Points toKOO)
I know I’ve seen you. Top of the pyramid, right?
KOO
(Shrugs – happy at the perks of fame)
I’m the flier. My feet never touch ground.
RAD
You’re the one goes with that quarterback? Am I correct?
KOO
Bo Boyd. Yes.
RAD
Woo-hoo! Humptious!
(Fanning)
Hells YES it’s hot in here!
(Takes off his bomber jacket stunned byKOO’s hotness)
CHASE
It would be just like Dr. Corso turning up the heat to make us squirm.
(Waves up at presumably unseen camera)
Hi, doc!
ZANE
That’s a sprinkler, dog.
CHASE
You better believe there’s a camera in here someplace. He needs to collect his little trophies. Bargaining chips. His little icons.
RAD
So he turns up the heat till we boil? Like frogs in the experiment?
KOO
What frogs?
RAD
The frogs that were too stupid to get out of the hot water. ‘Cause it happened so slowly.
SOLIZ
Those frogs were in search of a paycheck.
ZANE
They never boiled any frogs! That’s for sure an urban legend!
CHASE
Listen to the marketing major! Always first with the non-facts.
ZANE
Well at least we know we’re not going to get boiled.
CHASE
Did you read what you signed? He can do any goddam thing he wants to us.
KOO
Well he can boil me if he pays me. You should see my VISA bill.
RAD
(Sycophantically trying – and failing – to be ZANE’s best buddy)
Like there’s a difference between psychology and marketing. Am I right? Everyone’s trying to sell you something.
JAZZ
Am I the only freshman?
CHASE
You’re a freshman?
JAZZ
I’m an old freshman. Took me awhile to get here.
KOO
If you’re a freshman you must live in Hadleigh!
JAZZ
Is that bad?
KOO
It’s pathetic is what it is! Hadleigh has sick building syndrome. And the girls are at the top where the bad air collects and it’s like the worst.
CHASE
All the poor little freshmen jumping out their windows!
JAZZ
Those windows don’t even open!
ZANE
They don’t open now because of all the suicides.
KOO
Because of the sick building syndrome!
(BEX – big, mean, long haired, motorcycle jacket & boots, appears on the opposite side of the door and starts hammering)
BEX
Jazz! Jazz! Jazz!
(Embarrassed JAZZ slides out the door and closes it carefullyafter her. BEX grabs her immediately)
JAZZ
Omigod, Bex, what are you doing here? You have to go!
BEX
Don’t answer my texts, don’t answer my emails – You’re forcing me to stalk you. Your choice, babe. MY LIFE.
(JAZZtries to detach)
JAZZ
You’ve GOT a life. You need to get back to it. We broke up, remember?
BEX
So that’s it? Kicking me to the curb?
JAZZ
You knew I wanted to go to college. I was lucky to get this scholarship.
BEX
So now you’re too good for me, is that it? Now you’re hanging out with that old guy who looks like your granddad!
JAZZ
(Pushing him away)
He’s my advisor. So stop with the paparazzi scheme, Bex, stop spying on me and posting the pictures. Scram. Go home.
(Manages to get behind the door – slams it in his face – barricadesit shut.BEXmarches offstage with a look of determination – like – he’s not quitting)
RAD
(Clueless)
Thought you were making a break for it.
CHASE
Need help with that?
JAZZ
Nah. No.
(She sits down but nervous glance at door)
RAD
It’s crunch time, am I right? Better get out now! More for us!
ZANE
Did you hear we all have alternates?
RAD
No. No way!
ZANE
Way. These are juicy gigs. Paid research jobs – I mean, it neverhappens.
CHASE
Makes you wonder what he’s up to.
ZANE
Just making sure we show, is all.
CHASE
And here we are. Why did you show up?
(points atJAZZ)
JAZZ
I’m sort of hoping it’s true. The soulmate thing.
RAD
The wha-?
JAZZ
Skydancers. Dakinis, they call them. Dreampower.
KOO
Didn’t you read the book? You were supposed to read the book. Soulmates can soultravel. Like, everywhere.
RAD
There’s an urban legend right there for sure.
ZANE
It’s the remote viewing thing that I want. Weapon of the future. Business of a lifetime. Defense contractors throw mad money at that stuff.
RAD
Mad money!
(High fives withZANE.)
SOLIZ
Astral projection? Out of body experiences? Impossible. I hopeit doesn’t work because I need the sleep. I’ve got like, two other jobs.
ZANE
Sleep’s a luxury. Too luxurious for us bottom feeders – this is hustle time.
KOO
Think everyone’s got a soulmate? Each one of us? Out there somewhere?
RAD
What’s Bo Boyd say to THAT?
KOO
Maybe it’s him.
(Not like she believes it)
CHASE
What is the likelihood we’ll find soulmates AMONG EACH OTHER? Six strangers? Seriously!
JAZZ
Maybe soulmates create each other.
CHASE
This here is exactly why Dr. Corso chose non-psych majors! Soulmates! Out-of-body experiences! It’s the old razzle-dazzle! Cover story. Dr. Corso’s the king of bullshit. That’s not what he’s interested in at all! They never tell you what they’re really testing.
RAD
Well, then, what do you think he’s testing?
CHASE
Beats me. But I sure would love to know.
JAZZ
He’s testing our dreams. I never dreamed before I came here. And ever since I moved in I’ve been having these fantastic dreams.
KOO
It’s that sick building. I’m telling you.
ZANE
It’s the drug the nurse gave us. You know, at the Health Center? The tolerance test? Whatever that stuff was. My dreams were crazy, too!
RAD
Who can forget Tolerance Test with Nurse Humptious! God knows what she did to me while I was out of it. Probably me-tooed this poor homeboy.
ZANE
Yeah, she got you in trouble and now she’ll have to marry you.
(Lights up on – Graveyard with sign, DEAD LAKE CEMETERY. WHITNEY approaches to read a stone aloud)
WHITNEY “John Doe – a friendless stranger. The Lord will recognize His own”.
(Enter a grave-tending woman, MRS DAVISH with basket of gardening tools and wheeled cart of plants.)
MRS. DAVISH Did you know that poor lost soul?
WHITNEY Looks like nobody knew him.
MRS. DAVISH (Pulls an ear trumpet off her cart and holds it to her head) What’s that you say? Speak up.
WHITNEY A trumpet!
MRS. DAVISH Just funning with you! My hearing’s perfect.
(Tosses the trumpet back on the cart.)
You wouldn’t believe the things people leave on graves around here. And the signs say, Plants Only. Trust me, Great Grampster hears fine in heaven. Care to purchase a remembrance for this grave? It would be very thoughtful of you.
WHITNEY I’m not sure he’s the right one. Is he the only John Doe you’ve got?
MRS. DAVISH He’s the only one. Usually people no one can identify go straight to paupers’ field. But the Hidden Glade developers paid for this poor gentleman.
WHITNEY Why would they?
MRS. DAVISH Maybe ‘cause they’re the ones that disturbed his peace by digging him up. But they didn’t bother to buy the perpetual care — that is rarer than hen’s teeth… They do say nothing is perpetual but my fond fancy… Look, I could just give you some flowers if you’re not too particular.
(Rummages in her cart)
WHITNEY Nothing for me, thank you. Doesn’t he ever get … remembrances?
MRS. DAVISH Never. Poor lost soul. Anything that’s ever been on that grave, I’ve put there myself.
WHITNEY Well, that’s peculiar, don’t you think?
MRS. DAVISH Not in the least. It’s the rule, really. You’d be surprised. No one speaks for the dead.
WHITNEY But when you want to speak up for them, it seems like they object.
MRS. DAVISH (Smiles at her)
Some of them can get a little noisy.
WHITNEY So how long have you been working here?
MRS. DAVISH Oh! Thirty years. Thirty-five years, off and on. My grandmother brought me every Sunday. You could call it a ritual. You’re welcome to try breaking out of long-established rituals – but it can’t be done.
WHITNEY Glad I found you. Seems lately I owe everything to people living in the past. So this man was buried by the Dead Lake developers, eh?
MRS. DAVISH Sssh. They don’t like the connection to anything “dead”. Hidden Glade, it’s called these days. Yup, a backhoe tossed this man up and out like a ragdoll!
WHITNEY But where’d they find him?
MRS. DAVISH Heavens, I don’t know! You never saw such a frenzy of obfuscation! One of those houses around the lake they bulldozed is all I know. There’s no fact-getting at this late date.
(WHITNEY looks depressed – MRS DAVISH leans to stage whisper)
But they did have to call the cops!
(Sage nodding. WHITNEY perks up)
WHITNEY And why’s that?
MRS. DAVISH (Leans forward to whisper)
He was as full of lead as a shad full of roe! They took some out and left the other ones inside!
(Pats tombstone lovingly)
Died of “heavy metal” poisoning, poor old thing.
WHITNEY Wow! Not a popular guy.
MRS. DAVISH Either that, or he was far too popular to suit somebody.
(They laugh)
WHITNEY But couldn’t they tell what house he came from?
MRS. DAVISH I’m telling you they didn’t want to know! Tenants had been pushed out and disappeared long before.
(Pulls down an eyelid)
There’s none so blind as those who will not see.
WHITNEY I guess ancient corpses full of bullets are pretty blind, too.
MRS. DAVISH True, true. Who wants to buy a property that had a murder on it? Who signs up for a haunting? Said they owed it to the shareholders to hush things up. But truth is the daughter of time, not of authority, says the poet.
WHITNEY Surely somebody checked for missing people!
MRS. DAVISH Oh naturally. Naturally. But nobody was missing! Everyone accounted for. He was some poor stranger.
WHITNEY So maybe it was a “good riddance” situation.
MRS. DAVISH Most likely.
WHITNEY (Jubilant) Under the circumstances, then, I’d like to buy some flowers.
MRS. DAVISH The pinks are magnificent this time of year. Or acacia. Means “Secret love” in the language of flowers, not that anyone tries speaking that no more. But for those of us in the know, it lends a little added pleasure. Got some beautiful violets just coming into bloom.
WHITNEY The language of flowers, eh? So what do violets mean?
MRS. DAVISH Faithful love.
(Quoting)
“The faithful shall be rewarded,” that’s what the violets say.
(On the beach. Door in the house opens and CHARMAYNE, wearing only a filmy cover-up over her bikini, steps out exultantly to spread her arms to the moon)
CHARMAYNE Moon, Mother-Sister-Goddess, whose tears fertilize the world, I seek permission to penetrate your veil.
WHITNEY (Awkwardly standing) Er – Char –
CHARMAYNE Oh, my God, Whitney! You scared the life out of me. What are you doing here?
WHITNEY Sorry, I didn’t mean to frighten you.
CHARMAYNE (Insulted)
I’m surprised, that’s all. You’re never here this late. Should I be flattered? What have you got there?
(WHITNEY proffers the bottle.)
WHITNEY I was trying to get up the nerve to speak to you.
CHARMAYNE Tequila?
(Laughs.)
WHITNEY It’s my drink. Want some?
CHARMAYNE Why couldn’t you just come to the door?
WHITNEY You were…with someone.
CHARMAYNE (Burbling laughter)
Ramon’s gone, you must have heard the television! Don’t be jealous of the television. You’re adorable! Give me some of that.
(Seats herself comfortably and takes the bottle)
WHITNEY Sorry I don’t have any cups.
CHARMAYNE Oh. Whitney, I’m the Queen of Cups, didn’t you know?
(Laughs and drinks)
Queen of bottles, too. So what did you want to talk to me about?
WHITNEY I wanted to ask your advice on something.
(Making it up on the spur of the moment)
I’ve got a problem at college, and you know all about men. My advisor is…handsy.
CHARMAYNE Handsy! There’s an expression I haven’t heard for awhile.
WHITNEY (Inspired) He’s a real – Casper the Grasper. He always pretends it’s a joke or a mistake. I don’t know what to do. He’s the head of the department. If I complain –
CHARMAYNE Never complain, Whit. Never settle. We’re better than that. You need to get even. Trust me, that’s where all the real satisfaction is.
(Takes another swig – offers it to WHITNEY who pretends to drink)
This is so much fun! I was yearning for a Girls Night Out!
(Puts her arm through WHITNEY’S)
This may amaze you, but I get lonely too. It’s a well-kept secret life can be lonely at the top. Finding my equal just gets harder and harder.
WHITNEY There’s Ramon –
CHARMAYNE Oh, please! Ramon’s just an employee and he knows it. Men! Even well-trained men are…a limited indulgence. And there’s one thing they can’t ever get right.
(Smacks WHITNEY’S thigh as she cuddles up to her)
This part.
(EIGHT looks over the boulder. WHITNEY seems emboldened by his presence)
WHITNEY So have you ever done it? Gotten even?
CHARMAYNE (Bragging)
I always get even. Nobody messes with me twice.
(Swig. She’s not even sharing the bottle anymore)
WHITNEY (Settling down for a story)
Tell me about it.
CHARMAYNE You’ll have to take off your clothes first.
(Uncomfortable moment. WHITNEY pulls away.)
Did you think offering me a drink would be enough to get me to unburden?
WHITNEY What are you talking about?
CHARMAYNE I need to know you’re not recording me, silly girl. I’ve been blackmailed by pros. What happens on Girls Night Out stays on Girls Night Out. Hos before bros. Come on. Hurry it up. Look at me, I’m not wearing anything.
WHITNEY (Peels down to her underwear)
Believe me, I’m not “recording” anything.
CHARMAYNE That’s what they all say. Knowledge backfires in the hands of the novice. Turn around. Let me look. Phone turned off?
(She runs her hand thru bra & panties)
You know what? I believe you. You couldn’t lie to save your soul. And you’re the most awful blusher, has anybody ever told you that? You blush with your whole body!
WHITNEY (Blushing)
I’m aware.
CHARMAYNE Lucky for you. People automatically trust blushers because blushing’s involuntary.
WHITNEY People trust me because they know I care about the truth.
CHARMAYNE Oh, bullshit! The truth! The Sacred Truth! There’s no such thing! There’s what happened and there’s what we think happened – who can tell the difference? OK, sit down. Take a load off. Have a drink to loosen you up.
(WHITNEY pretends to drink)
You’ve got a good body, you know that? Nice and hard. Lovely tone. You’re lacking a waist, that’s all. You inherited your father’s physique as well as his brains. It’s all about pluses and minuses. You have to work against the minuses. Men are prejudiced against waistless girls because their hard wiring makes them suckers for a certain waist to hip proportion. Did you know that? But we don’t care about them, do we? Who needs them? Prisoners of their reflexes! Born to mate! Man proposes, the goddess disposes!
WHITNEY Charmayne, you turn every conversation into a Whitney – critiqueathon. Why’s that?
CHARMAYNE Because you interest me, little Whit. You interest me extremely. You’re smart. The way your father was … at first.
WHITNEY (Refusing to be drawn. Grits her teeth to get through this.)
Please don’t talk about him. And don’t tell me to make myself gorgeous for Casper the Grasper.
CHARMAYNE Listen, if you were gorgeous he wouldn’t have the nerve to touch you.
WHITNEY I think the beautiful get harassed, too.
CHARMAYNE But they have more options. They can –
WHITNEY I want to hear about you. Tell me about that time that you got even.
CHARMAYNE (Very expansive)
There are so many! But let’s start at the beginning. Here’s something you didn’t know about me. I had a stepfather. You may complain about me, but the problem with you, Whit, is that you always take your good luck for granted. I never take anything for granted. I’m a day at the beach compared to that guy. Talk about “handsy”!
WHITNEY (Pretending to drink, then surrendering the bottle)
So what was he like?
CHARMAYNE What was he like? He was a monster, that’s what he was like. He was Death, the Hanged Man, the Tower. He thought he was the God of Wrath, that asshole. He was only a king of Destruction.
(Swigs from the bottle)
Destruction is easy. It’s creation that’s hard. It’s creating that takes it out of you. Every time I look in the mirror and recreate myself, I am spitting on his grave. He acted so convinced that I’d end up nothing, just like him. All he ever gave me was a spiral fracture of the arm.
WHITNEY (Shocked and appalled)
Why’d your Mom marry him?
CHARMAYNE She couldn’t believe he wanted to marry her! She’d never been married – God knows who my real father was. She thought if any vaguely presentable guy – even some unemployed wastrel on disability – proposes to you, you HAVE to say yes. She met him at the diner where she cooked. Oh, yeah, my Mom worked. And worked and worked. Two shifts a day. My step-dad was supposed to take care of me. She thought she’d hit the lottery to win some guy with a disability check and nothing but time on his hands to look after me for free. He used every second ratcheting up my misery. I couldn’t stay at school every minute, but you better believe I wanted to. I knew I had to go home to him eventually. But the joke was on him. He thought he was so smart but he sure underestimated me.
(She’s lost, now, talking to the audience)
What a scrawny, worthless loser! He knew the entire universe despised him so he thought he’d get himself a slave. Someone he could push around. I was eleven when he told me it was his duty to teach me about sex. He said that was what stepfathers were for.
WHITNEY But your Mom –
CHARMAYNE (Angrily)
Oh, my Mom knew perfectly well what was going on! It meant she didn’t have to cope with him!
(Returns attention to courting the audience, cultivating her reverie. WHITNEY muffles up to ease the flow)
Mom’s cooperation (I should say her silence, because she was way too fat to “cooperate”) could be bought with a carton of snack cakes.
My step-dad pretended I was ugly; that he could barely bring himself to touch me. He expected me to worship him. But he must have known that the moment I grew up I’d try to get away. Maybe he thought he could keep me forever, like a hostage. Once, when my girlfriends and I streaked our hair for a sleepover, he acted as if I had set the house on fire. Luckily it was the kind that washes out; otherwise I think he really would have shaved my head.
I remember exactly how scared I felt the first time I decided to ignore my stepfather’s dictates about how I should look and dress. My first day of high school I knew I couldn’t go in there looking like some Amish refugee. I had to step up my game. It was terror, rank terror, the kind that makes you wet yourself; but you know what enemies forget? That fear is the rocket fuel of rebellion. Remember that, Whitney. You’ll never experience an emotion like that; you’ve been too sheltered. My stepfather’s own possessive rage became the engine of his death.
I try not to think about him too often because my energy is the only thing that gives him life, but you know, I’m glad to share this with you. Open it up, get it out of my head. The memories are still there, perfect and crystal clear. Nothing that happened in all those years since packs that kind of punch. I was just beginning to realize that my stepfather couldn’t actually read my mind, had no eyes in the back of his head, could not see through walls, did not have spies everywhere, was not connected to the Mafia or the CIA. It was him or me. How could I destroy him?
That year Saturn and Mars were equally fiery, it was dry and there was a comet. Perfect for revolution. He was weakening and I was strengthening. Your father taught you that in chess queens rule: my step-dad was too stupid to know it. So our battles escalated. I was getting as tall as he was; he must have figured his fists and penis were no longer sufficient to control me. One day he produced a gun. His idea was that we would have a threesome, little me, paralyzed with fear, and Superman with his two dicks. My idea was different.
He knew I was afraid of the cellar. He used to lock me down there for punishment when I was little. As a child, I thought it was the mouth of hell; a dirt hole stinking like a sewer clawed out beneath the bowels of the house. When he pushed me down there I never even passed the top step but just clung to the doorknob, eye pressed to the light crack, wailing for release.
(A slug of fast-vanishing booze. Turns her attention back to WHITNEY)
Will is a muscle, Whit; you can train it just the way you train the body. I had transcended so many fears already; why couldn’t I outgrow this one? What is the fear of confrontation, really, but the fear of change? What is the fear of being caught but the fear of ultimate failure, of not being powerful enough? Poisoning him didn’t work – I tried that – hoping to make his death look accidental; so, what if he simply disappeared? Nobody except his bar buddies would even notice he was gone. And they were way too fuzzyheaded to stage any meaningful hunt. Mom could just keep cashing his checks. Who would know? And she owed me. He’d overstayed his welcome on this planet; neither of us needed a babysitter any more. If weapons are engines of confrontation, Whitney, both of us could use them.
That was when I fell in love with power, Whitney. I had to, and you can too, or you’ll never get anywhere. Let me be your teacher.
(Strokes WHITNEY’s hair, uses finger for a gun)
Pop, pop, pop, and “pop” is gone. I knew how to cock the pistol; I knew how to release the safety because I’d seen him do it countless times. If the cellar was dirty and stinky, and no one ever went down there, why couldn’t I bury him where nobody would ever look?
So, while he was out buying smokes I fired up my nerve and took a flashlight down to check it out. That wooden staircase rocked like it was going to collapse, but I told myself it had only to hold me two more times. There were bugs, just as I feared; centipedes and worms, but now I saw them as my friends. Let them eat the bastard up; if only they’d chew his bones as well. The walls were caving in; hunks of unhewn stone overpowered by tree roots. Then I saw my blessing. A wooden well cover. I knew the time was now.
I recalled the furor when the county forced us on to public water. My step-dad raged that fluoridation was a commie plot. And all that time the old well was down there. Water in the bottom reflected my flashlight as I leaned over. It was even set flush with the floor; what could be easier? I practiced moving the wooden cover; no problemo. The only difficulty now was to get him down here with the gun.
So I told him I heard rats; I knew he longed for targets; especially in front of me. When I said they were scratching at the door, he was ready to go.
But he liked being a man of surprises, fancying he was in control. He made me go down first, carrying the flashlight and a garbage bag. That meant I couldn’t tackle him from behind the way I’d planned. It cut down on my time for action, because as I think I said before, the place was just a tiny hole. He would see I was a liar.
But if he had surprises, I had ideas. The garbage bag gave me a good one. I had a friend who earnestly believed violence engenders hauntings, but she didn’t see her own death coming. But if what she said is true, that cellar’s haunted forever by me in a red sweater, red kilt and plaid tights; and my step-dad wearing a garbage bag over his head while we struggled for the gun. I had to drop the flashlight; it shot a crazy, useless stream of light across the floor; we were in darkness.
He was wiry and desperate and amazingly strong, but I had the gun two-handed and I would not have let it go if the world around me exploded into flames. I discovered in that moment the secret of power, Whit, if you want something with your whole being, if you have not one cell of doubt, you are invincible. I had to kick his crotch to loosen up his grip, but the gun came to me pre-cocked. What an idiot! I shot him right through the bag. That gun kicked like a rattlesnake. I shot him again and again and again, and one of the bullets somehow came back to graze me in the face. Doesn’t bother me. This chip along my cheekbone – see? I wear it as a badge of honor.
(Demonstrates to WHITNEY)
I still have that gun. I can show you if you want to see it.
(She’s slurring her words now. Shakes the empty bottle.)
There’s another one that fell before The Queen of Swords! Think we should put a message in this thing? What would we say?
(Pulls arm back to throw bottle into the audience, sits down hard)
WHITNEY So you’re telling me to shoot my way out?
(CHARMAYNE laughs. shakes & holds her head)
CHARMAYNE Oh, Whitney, you’re always so literal! Your father hoped you’d be a lawyer. Wow, am I drunk. Guess I should have eaten dinner, but who wants to eat alone? Don’t be so silly, Whit. You can’t dip your hand in the same river twice. Your guy’s got weaknesses is all I’m saying. Search – searching –
(Seems like she’s losing track of her thoughts)
You’ve got to search them out. I can’t do everything for you. Learn to defend yourself. No one helps anyone else and the sooner you find that out, the better off you’ll be.
(Throws herself on her back)
Look at those stars, Whit. So many stars. Every star’s a lost soul, struggling for a piece of sun. Did you know I can’t sleep, Whit? I haven’t slept in days. But, I think I can sleep now. There’s something so safe, so reassuring about you.
(Loud snoring. EIGHT and WHITNEY stand over her looking down)
WHITNEY Should we move her?
EIGHT Don’t disturb her. Jeez, when she goes down, she goes down hard.
(CHARMAYNE reaches up scrabbling at the air.)
CHARMAYNE I hear you! What did you say?
(Burps)
This has been so fun. Look out, there’s two of you!
(Rolls over, cuddles up in WHITNEY’s clothes. WHITNEY tries to cover herself – EIGHT lends her his Hawaiian shirt)
WHITNEY I don’t – thanks.
EIGHT Hey, it’s a beautiful night.
WHITNEY Well, they say confession is good for the soul. But you have to have a soul.
EIGHT I’m sure she’s got something left way down deep in there. But it’s probably a poor, stubby, underfed little thing. You take off, I’ll watch over her.
(The Hamptons. Lights up on WHITNEY, sitting against the boulder, staring out at the ocean, drinking from a bottle of tequila. EIGHT approaches and sits beside her silently.)
EIGHT What? No door hammering? Your fists must be sore.
WHITNEY I’m waiting for her to come out and swim. She usually does – when the moon is full. Then I’m going to brain her with this bottle. Which will be empty at that point.
(EIGHT takes the bottle away)
EIGHT Save the tequila for her. You catch more flies with the tequila than by trying to smash them drunkenly with a bottle.
WHITNEY Hey, but at least I’d feel better.
EIGHT Let’s play a game. Role-play with me. What were you planning to say to her?
WHITNEY (Screwing up her face with struggle)
I guess… nothing. She scares me so badly I can’t think. You should hear the way she talks to me! I can’t break through this “I’m a great lady and you’re a poor little supplicant” routine. I was planning on getting drunk and then maybe having enough courage to wing it.
EIGHT This sounds like HER game plan. Deer in the headlights.
WHITNEY Well, it’s working.
(She tries to wrestle the bottle away – he keeps tight control)
Hey! It’s MY bottle!
EIGHT Wait for it to hit you before you pack on more. You probably need every bit of this for her – she strikes me as a hard drinker. Take my word for it, booze and ocean are a dangerous combination.
WHITNEY Is that so?
EIGHT I know from personal experience.
WHITNEY Is that how you died?
EIGHT (Points to his chest)
Me? Last time I checked I was a conscious, breathing human being.
WHITNEY I’ve been seeing too many ghosts lately. I guess some of them aren’t even dead yet.
EIGHT (Sits down beside her)
Lay off of that stuff if you want to know what’s real.
(Long lingering kiss)
That real enough for you?
WHITNEY (She stares at him a long time)
I’m not sure. I think I need another one.
(He obliges.)
EIGHT Ready to tell me what happened?
WHITNEY And here I was figuring you were all knowing!
EIGHT It’s easy to be all knowing about someone else’s business. It’s my own that has me stumped. Share what you discovered.
WHITNEY Well, you sent me spinning off to confront her and get my fortune read. She told me some people don’t have souls.
EIGHT She’s lying. I’m all-knowing enough about that.
WHITNEY She says people lose their souls.
EIGHT She’s messing with you. Don’t believe a word she says.
WHITNEY So after we find out she’s an identity thief whose prey has mysteriously disappeared you send me dancing off to see who else she’s murdered. Guess what! Turns out here WAS a guy, she probably did it but we’ll never prove it.
EIGHT What makes you so sure?
WHITNEY The police destroyed the evidence! On purpose!
(She leans toward him and whispers conspiratorially)
“GRASSY KNOLL”
. EIGHT You can still win this. Even with incompetent police, bedfellow prosecutors and bribable jailers you can win this.
WHITNEY Why’s that?
EIGHT Karma. Also known as, what comes around goes around.
WHITNEY We WISH.
EIGHT All you need’s more time. Cons simply can’t get away with it forever. Call it “hanging in there”. You have to let destiny know that you won’t let go.
WHITNEY Did you say “Destiny?” That was her stripper name!
EIGHT See? It started already! Be as wily as a serpent and as gentle as a dove.
WHITNEY I think I aced the “gentle” part.
EIGHT So all you need is wily. Ever asked yourself why she wastes time with you? Hasn’t she got everything she wants? What’s she hanging around here for?
WHITNEY She enjoys torturing people, and the better she knows them the more fun it is.
EIGHT Maybe. I think she needs something from you and you need to figure out what that is.
WHITNEY She did say I reminded her of herself. I was so horrified I almost upchucked.
EIGHT There you go! She’s looking for an heir! A protégée!
WHITNEY She actually used that word!
EIGHT See? You’re on your way!
WHITNEY But why me?
EIGHT
Maybe she’s lonely.
WHITNEY Why not somebody more malleable? Who LIKES her and is impressed by her?
EIGHT Maybe you represent a challenge. She’s probably in awe of you. Maybe she’s a little bit in love with you.
WHITNEY As if! She’s always talking about how terrible my body is and how I need to get it fixed.
EIGHT Talks about your body, does she? I think we’re onto something.
WHITNEY She doesn’t “fall in love”, she tries to seduce people. It isn’t the same thing.
EIGHT Maybe she thinks it is. Here, Whit. I’ve got something for you. I’ve got something for you.
(Reaches in his pocket and hands her small object.)
WHITNEY What’s this? A bullet?
EIGHT I’m a treasure hunter, right? There I was minding my own business sweeping this particular patch of beach and your stepmother came out of her house and took a shot at me. So I waited to find the bullet and then I dug it out.
WHITNEY She shot at you?
EIGHT More than once, using some very unladylike language.
(Puts her hand on his heart)
Yes, my heart’s still pumping, no thanks to your stepmother. She damn near killed me.
WHITNEY And here I was wondering if she conjured you up out of her medieval imagination!
EIGHT Not hardly.
WHITNEY So what are you proposing I do with this thing?
EIGHT Humans are pattern makers, Whit. Pattern makers and pattern finders. If her pattern gets big enough everyone’s gonna see it.
WHITNEY (Studying the bullet)
Patterns, eh?
EIGHT Right. Sometimes when we see them they aren’t even there. That’s why waiting for the come around to go around is so important.
WHITNEY I don’t like waiting. Tell me what you’ve figured out about my stepmother so far.
EIGHT Look at this place.
(Waves a hand expansively)
I think she’s a trophy-collector.
WHITNEY That’s for sure. Every day she puts on a necklace belonging to the woman who disappeared. Imagine what she’s thinking!
EIGHT Maybe other people aren’t even real to her. She goes shooting up and down this beach, like she’s the only person in the universe. That blindness makes her lonely I’m guessing. And sloppy for sure.
WHITNEY So the gun itself could be a trophy?
EIGHT Why not? And even if she destroyed that gun, she’d never find all those bullets.
WHITNEY You’re thinking she shot somebody?
EIGHT I’d call that most probable.
WHITNEY But how am I going to find out who’s got her bullet in them?
EIGHT Ask her.
WHITNEY Ask her! Are you out of your mind? I can’t do it!
EIGHT Sure you can. You don’t know your own strength. Bet she loves to brag.
WHITNEY You know, she does.
EIGHT She’s probably irritated that the world hasn’t yet caught on to how clever she’s been, how superior she is. She’s fooled everyone and they don’t even know it. You don’t need me. You can catalogue all your stepmother’s weaknesses for yourself by now.
WHITNEY Well, I know she loves hanging all over me pushing her disgusting “advice”.
EIGHT Maybe her prime weakness is you.
WHITNEY Me? Never! According to her there’s nothing “right” about me.
EIGHT I’d say that lady protests too much. Look at it. You’re the only person she hasn’t been able to fool. She needs to win you over.
WHITNEY I think her weakness is Time. It’s running out on her and she’s got to know it.
EIGHT I think you underestimate your powers of attraction. But let’s say I agree with you. Explain your last statement.
WHITNEY I think the only things she really covets are power, youth and beauty. In fact, she staked her life on them.
EIGHT Then she’s looking at trouble, isn’t she? Makes her whole future is a disaster area.
WHITNEY (Realizing it fully)
Sure looks like it.
EIGHT So maybe you should tell her fortune, for once.
WHITNEY That wouldn’t work! She’d never believe me.
EIGHT But Time, Power, Youth & Beauty – they’re are all on your side. Cave! Here she comes.
WHITNEY What makes you think so? I don’t see her. Time to admit it; you’re otherworldly.
EIGHT I’ve got a highly developed sense of smell for sulfur. Don’t you worry. I’m gonna be right here.
(Behind WHITNEY’S back appears an old man dressed for fishing. He carries a tackle box and two fishing rods.)
WHITNEY (Shouting after EIGHT) Some “master of the elements” you are. Scared of a little chill!
DR. QUANTREAU Whitney? Ready to go fishing? The bluefish are running.
WHITNEY (Overcome)
Dad! Dad! Oh, my God! Dad!
DR. QUANTREAU Don’t touch me. I’m covered with hooks.
(He casts a line)
WHITNEY (Confused)
Dad, you can’t catch bluefish from here!
DR. QUANTREAU Whitney, you’re forgetting that I’m dead. I can do anything I want.
WHITNEY (Collapsing emotionally)
Dad, you’ve left everything in a mess!
DR. QUANTREAU I don’t think so. You seem fine to me.
WHITNEY Dad, Charmayne is some kind of monster! She kills people who get in her way! She probably killed you!
DR. QUANTREAU What does that matter now? It was my time to go.
(Casting, moving up the beach.)
WHITNEY This is NOT the way I imagined it.
DR. QUANTREAU Nothing ever is.
WHITNEY Let me put it this way, Dad. You married a lying, greedy, murderous stripper!
DR. QUANTREAU Not bad for a deteriorating old geezer, huh?
(WHITNEY is gob smacked. Watches him silently for a while.)
WHITNEY (Mustering all her energy)
Well, I’m not letting her get away with it.
DR. QUANTREAU Forget it, Whitney. Allow an old man to have his fun. I made plenty of money for everybody. Let it go.
WHITNEY Dad! She made you beg for water! I saw it!
DR. QUANTREAU Adults play games, Whitney. Conflict makes life interesting; keeps the fish fresh. I guess you wouldn’t understand. You were always so serious.
WHITNEY You made me serious! You wanted me serious! You said life was serious.
DR QUANTREAU (Reflects)
Besides, I probably deserved it. Ever heard that expression “what goes around comes around?” I made your mother beg for money. We all did it. I regret it now.
(Shrugs)
You should have seen the faces on the other guys when I brought Charmayne to the club!
(Cackles gleefully)
Were they jealous! Didn’t know I had it in me!
(Wandering away into the “water” – into the audience)
WHITNEY (Calling after him despondently)
Dad, don’t go! Let’s talk about…things. We never talked about real things. We only talked about…history. Why Alexander the Great didn’t need armies as big as the people he attacked.
DR. QUANTREAU Honey, I don’t have to worry about “things” any more. Or Alexander the Great. You could come fishing with me. I love fishing. I get to fish all the time.
WHITNEY (With a passion)
I see now I’ve always hated fishing. It’s the most boring activity on the planet.
DR. QUANTREAU I like it. It relaxes me. It’s just a game, Whit. Our games define us. Elevate your game, Whit.
WHITNEY You against some nine pound fish! Like that’s fair!
DR. QUANTREAU Honey, no one cares about fairness. Fairness is impossible. Expertise, that’s the thing. Self-improvement. Mastering whatever it is you set out to do.
(Casts)
WHITNEY But you keep leaving me, again and again, over and over! Don’t you still love me?
DR. QUANTREAU Of course I love you, Whitney. And Darby and McKenzie and Charmayne and your mother – what was her name? Doris. I loved Doris and before her I loved Edna. But the fish are running! See them go? If the fish are running, I’ve got to follow! Goodbye, Whitney! Be a good girl.
(Exit.)
WHITNEY (Shouting after him)
You’re just a figment of my adolescent imagination!
(Bursts into tears sobbing her heart out.)
I refuse to take advice from ghosts.
(Dries her tears, sighs, takes out her phone)
Unsolved murders in Branson, Missouri…what was it? Fourteen years ago?
Alysse Aallyn 