CHARACTERS

Harris, late 20’s.

Mel, 30’s.

The Fisherman, 60’s.

Tobias, 50’s.

Anna, his daughter, mid-late 20’s.

Dottie, her sister, 17.

Lincoln, 30’s.

Randall, his brother, early 20’s.

Big George, 30-40.

TIME

One recent summer.

SETTING:

DownStageRight: The reservoir shore.  Simple.  Empty.  Spectral.  Otherworldly.

CenterStage Extended:  TOBIAS’ house.  Spare, non-naturalistic, no walls between rooms.  The only two permanent elements are the fish’s bathtub and the carved wood table to be used for the ritual meal.  Other elements as needed: Chairs, curtained window, ANNA’s bed, the makeshift fetish of an altar etc.***

DownStageLeft: Drilling company job site trailer.  A work table, chair, telephone, blueprints on walls.  Sign on top of trailer reads:

CONTINENTAL PIPE DRILLING SERVICE

Job Site Office

 We will restore pressure and flow

  to your municipal water system

 Service Available Nationwide

          Call 1-800-Clogged 

ACT I

Scene 1

(MEL and HARRIS, both wearing hip-wader boots, dig a hole with shovels in street DownStageCenter.  They dig slowly in the hot sun.)

HARRIS

I hate this.  I hate this hole. 

MEL

Hole’s a hole.

(They dig.)

HARRIS

I’d rather be diggin’ any hole but this one. 

MEL

Diggin’s diggin’.

(They dig.)

HARRIS

Remember that hole?…I forget the state…soon as we scooped a shovel’a mud out it’d fill right up again?  No way two men with shovels could dig a hole in that swamp.  Might as well try to dig a hole in water.  Senseless diggin’.  Senseless work.  I hate senseless work. 

MEL

It’s all senseless work, Harris.  We’re doin’ it for the money.

HARRIS

God didn’t create man in his image to labor on senseless holes.  Adam was formed outta dirt.

MEL

Don’t start.

HARRIS

Lost a boot in that swamp.  Sucked off my foot into the bowels of the Earth.  Spooky.

MEL

You know your problem, Harris?  You don’t act like a man on the clock.  To a man on the clock, a hole’s a hole and that’s that.

(They dig.)

HARRIS

You know your problem, Mel?  You don’t see nothin’ bigger’n you.  You’re like the little dog who ain’t seen the big dog yet.

(They dig.)

HARRIS (cont’d.)

This is, without doubt, the most hateful hole I ever dug.  If it was my own grave, I’d not find it more hateful.

MEL

Okay, I’ll bite.  Why? 

HARRIS

Rocks.  Bone-breakin’ rocks.  Cars parked close.  Feelin’ closed in.  Breakfast not agreein’ with me.  Breakfast not agreein’ with you.  That big German Shepherd with the skinny tie rope two houses down.  Nine weeks out, nine more ‘til I go home.  Time at a crawl.  Missin’ Linda bad.  Dread’a strikin’ utility wires.  Dread.

MEL

That it?

HARRIS

Big George hoggin’ the Cat which could dig this hole in a New York minute and Lincoln stickin’ us here when we could be hangin’ out with everybody.  Now why’d Lincoln do that?  You think he still likes us?

MEL

You know your problem, Harris?  You need people to like you.  Needin’ people to like ‘im is a pathetic trait in a man.

HARRIS

And what’s wrong with it?

MEL

Makes ‘im a weak link on the road: Worried ‘bout his place in the crew, missin’ his wife, distracted near heavy machinery.  You’re gonna get someone hurt.

(They dig.)

HARRIS

There’s another reason I ‘specially hate this hole.  Wanna hear it? 

MEL

Like I gotta choice in here.

HARRIS

Don’t do it now but in a little bit and real slow turn your head and take a look at that house.  See the man in the front window?

(Lights up on TOBIAS standing UpStageCenter, very still.)

MEL

Yeah?

HARRIS

Watchin’?  Just watchin’?

MEL

Yeah?

HARRIS

He’s been doin’ it since we got here.  And yesterday...

MEL

Just another shut-in lookin’ out.

HARRIS

Spooky.  Rockin’ back and forth.  And yesterday as that man walked by, I said ‘Hey’ but he looked right through me like I was made of glass.  Everythin’ must be a window to a window-watcher like him. Gave me a bone chill to be looked at like that.  Plucked a hair out my arm and ate it to keep the dark spirit off.

MEL

Know what, Harris?  You oughtta call your wife without delay before you hurt somebody.

HARRIS

Somethin’ about that house.  Spooky.  Let’s go find the guys. 

MEL

Right.  Let’s.  This hole’s dug.

(HARRIS and MEL walk left with shovels on their shoulders.  They cross paths with THE FISHERMAN, also in hip-waders, entering from left with fishing rod on his shoulder.  When HARRIS sees THE FISHERMAN, he slows down and stares at him going by so that MEL continues walking on, leaving HARRIS standing there alone.  Blackout.  End of Scene.)

Scene 2

(TOBIAS is standing still DownStageCenter, while THE FISHERMAN fishes at reservoir shore, a metal tub nearby.)

THE FISHERMAN

            (To Audience.)

A Question of Water:  A fable about a man and a fish.  First question:  How far in does a man have to go before he starts to come out the other side?

He wakes in the dark, as usual, out of an unremembered dream, and feels his wife beside him again.  Feels her arm along his arm, the warmth and weight of her sleep, hears her breathing. These things are written in the body.  A humming of the air...done.  He opens his eyes, looks over...the world becomes as nothing.   He dresses as a man in a dream dresses discovering his body.  Down the hall he walks past Dorothy’s room and then Anna’s room but Anna’s bed is empty, unslept in this morning, disturbing...Then it’s out the front door and up to the reservoir.  It’s 3 AM...Air warm...Trees thick with summer leaves...No wind.  Tobias is walking around the water, trying to rebuild himself in the world...

(TOBIAS walks slowly at first.)

TOBIAS

These are my legs, my arms.  This is the woods, the air.  I breathe the air.  There’s the moon.  Beyond the trees is the water.  Nice water.  Out there in the dark.  Still water.  Quiet in the dark.  On my side.  On my side.

(Suddenly panicking, TOBIAS crashes into and through the underbrush.  Finally, he reaches the reservoir shore, trips over the tub and tumbles down.  THE FISHERMAN helps the dazed TOBIAS sit up.)

THE FISHERMAN

You okay, Buddy?  Hey, you’re cut up.  Bleeding.  Gave your leg a good smack.  Anybody you want to call?  Mister?  I got a cellular in my pocket.  You better call somebody.  No?  Right.  Big deal this thing.  Big walky-talky deal.  Truth is I’m a sick guy not permitted to be out of reach anymore.  The real truth is I got a phone ringing in my pocket and a dead man’s heart beating in my chest.  Transplant.

(THE FISHERMAN gets first-aid kit and treats TOBIAS’s scratches and wounds.)

THE FISHERMAN (cont’d.)

Alcohol?  Nah.  Do I look like an alcohol-in-an-open-cut guy?  It’s hydrogen peroxide rest assured.  Here turn this way if you don’t mind.  That’s it.  These aren’t bad.  Like nicks from shaving.  This one on your leg though I’d get it checked out.  This is a good spot, private.  You’re the first other person who’s managed to reach it.  Before you I never saw one footprint, beer can or used rubber on this bank.

TOBIAS

He’s talking to me about used rubbers?

THE FISHERMAN

Don’t get me wrong.  I’m a happily married man.  Oh I look.  Who doesn’t look?

TOBIAS

He’s talking to me about looking?

THE FISHERMAN

My wife is still beautiful to me.  She is every woman to me.  We met at a funeral you know.  Twice, death has saved my life.

TOBIAS

Why is he telling me these things?  You, please, I come here to be alone.

(A pause.  THE FISHERMAN resumes fishing.)

THE FISHERMAN

A bear is what I thought, big guy like you, a bear crashing through the woods.  No dog, no raccoon, no stoned out teenager could make such a  tumult.   Then I asked myself, what would a bear be doing in New Jersey?

TOBIAS

Trying to get out like everybody else.

THE FISHERMAN

Ha!  Ha!  Good one.  Trying to get out.   Ha!  I’m glad you’re funny.  Because the doctor you know what he told me to do after my operation?  Laugh, be sure to laugh a good twenty minutes a day.  Ha!

TOBIAS

            (Darkly. Mocking.)

Ha, ha.

THE FISHERMAN

Right, that was my reaction.  Ha, ha.   But the doctor said: Laugh at nothing.  Laugh to massage your insides.  Laugh at the rocks.

TOBIAS

Ha, ha, ha.

THE FISHERMAN

Right.  NO!  No.  I said goodbye to myself, goodbye to life before going under.  I was hooked to machines, my heart cut out, dead.  But my new heart was young and strong and dragged me back.  For the first month of recovery, I did nothing but weep.  Weeping was my argument with life not to have to live anymore.  So what’s wrong with you?  Come on.  Don’t be a stranger?

TOBIAS

We are strangers.

THE FISHERMAN

No, we belong to each other.

TOBIAS

You, you’re the funny one.

THE FISHERMAN

I come from death.

TOBIAS

You’re own death, that’s easy.

THE FISHERMAN

Your wife, yes?  Sorry, very sorry.  I know it’s tough.  Did I tell you my wife and I met at a funeral?   Uncle Marvin.  Ace Restaurant Supplies.  A fleet of four and twenty trucks to serve you.  Massive heart attack.

TOBIAS

Uncle Marvin.

THE FISHERMAN

He was her uncle.  A big shot in paper napkins and styrofoam cups.  Did business with my father.  You know what they say: There’s a bride at every funeral and a corpse at every wedding.  So are you still saying the Kaddish for her?

TOBIAS

Time for me to get going.

THE FISHERMAN

I always recognize another Jew.  A Jew is like one of the berries on this bush.  Sweet yet tart.  That’s a Jew. 

            (Picking and eating berries.)

O I love to stand here and eat berries.  Makes me feel like I belong on the Earth.  Have one, why don’t you?  Here, come on, take one. 

(TOBIAS holds his hand up to refuse the offered berry.)

THE FISHERMAN (cont’d.)

That’s a Jew.  Unwise in the ways of the world yet suspicious of the ways of the world.  Won’t...take...a...berry.  Here, come on, take one.  It’s good.

(Again TOBIAS refuses the berry.  A pause.)

THE FISHERMAN (cont’d.)

Won’t take a berry.  Won’t say the Kaddish.

TOBIAS

It doesn’t mean anything to me and I won’t pretend. 

THE FISHERMAN

What else is prayer but pretending?  Who could be so foolish as to think mere words could change reality?  But you married her didn’t you?  You made vows.  Words then deeds. 

TOBIAS

I don’t believe in God. 

THE FISHERMAN

God?  Ha!  What’s God got to do with it?  God?  That also is a good one.  Notice it’s you who brought God up, not me.  Notice it’s you who doesn’t believe in God using God as a reason not to do something.  Sometimes faith leads you to the prayer, other times the prayer leads you to faith.

TOBIAS

People who keep talking about faith, they’re the ones to watch out for.  They’re the ones with the problem. 

THE FISHERMAN

Exactly right.  Having faith is like having good digestion.  Whether you got it or not you still hafta eat, Bubbie.

TOBIAS

Look, I like talking to you.  I admit it.  There’s something familiar, very familiar.  We all know about it.  It’s the oldest thing in the world.  But don’t take it too far.  Don’t push.  Okay? 

THE FISHERMAN

Okay, okay.  But just between you, me and the rocks:  Not only have I been talking to God, I’ve been talking to fish.  The fish are moving in their dark element, like we do, knowing nothing of what goes on above the surface.  From fish and from men reality is equally hidden.  Look, my sick heart was cut from my body and a dead man’s heart put in its place so don’t you think I should talk to God and animals?

TOBIAS

Who are you?

THE FISHERMAN

They won’t reveal my heart donor’s name.  Some families prefer anonymity.  I can see that.  You touch a stranger’s life, wanting nothing but to be allowed to give.  A loss can be balanced that way.

            (Singing.)

And then one day a beast I hooked

Spoke did he with the voice of a man

But like a fish he looked…

            (Then sharply.)

I’m an old man.  I fish here.  Been doing it for years.  See, in the tub, the big guy I caught already? 

TOBIAS

What is that?

THE FISHERMAN

A carp.

TOBIAS

Alive?

THE FISHERMAN

Alive?  Sure he’s alive and he’ll be alive three more days.

TOBIAS

Why?

THE FISHERMAN

Because I need him fresh on Friday or he won’t taste good.  Turn sour on me.  Nothing worse than a turned carp.  So I’ll keep him alive until Friday afternoon when I’ll kill that wild creature and turn him into sweet, delicate Gefilte fish tasting of warm rooms, cotton dresses and land belonging to the one who works it.  So say hello to the fish, why don’t you?

TOBIAS

What?

THE FISHERMAN

Say hello to the fish.

TOBIAS

He wants me to talk to the fish?

THE FISHERMAN

I do I told you.  I talk to fish.

TOBIAS

What’s that like?

THE FISHERMAN

It’s just like talking to you, Mister.

(TOBIAS  laughs.)

THE FISHERMAN (cont’d.)

So have a nice berry why don’t you? 

(TOBIAS takes the berry.)

THE FISHERMAN (cont’d.)

Good eh?  Now you understand: We belong to each other.  We come from the same bush.  Now about your wife…

TOBIAS

It was a car accident last December.

THE FISHERMAN

And you met her where?

TOBIAS

In Spain. 

THE FISHERMAN

Spain, ah well, Spain.

TOBIAS

At a bullfight in Seville.  That first night we went down to the river she takes her clothes off and swims out.

THE FISHERMAN

Clothes off?  On the first night?

TOBIAS

She was wild.  I was a New York kid.  Complex, wordy.  Used to rooms and talk in rooms.  Not the wide open night.  Not gypsy guitars.  Not risking arrest.  Used to arguing the rules not breaking them.  She was beautiful.  I was trembling, white and shy in the moonlight.  Told her I was cold.

THE FISHERMAN

I like you.  You’re okay.  So where do you live now?

TOBIAS

Just down the hill.  On Belvedere Road.

THE FISHERMAN

The number.  I need the number of your house.

TOBIAS

Why?

THE FISHERMAN

Because I want to do something for you, something nice.  Understand? 

TOBIAS

No.

THE FISHERMAN

Good.  Because I’m giving you this fish to take home.

TOBIAS

I don’t want the fish.

THE FISHERMAN

He’s a gift.  Take him and keep him alive until Friday afternoon. 

TOBIAS

I don’t want the fish.

THE FISHERMAN

Remember: He can’t stay in this little tub.  He’ll need a bigger place to swim like a bathtub with water running in to replenish the oxygen.  Friday afternoon, I’ll come over and we’ll make a beautiful Sabbath meal with him as the appetizer:  Light the candles, say the blessings, sing.  Okay?  Do we have a deal?  Now, I need your address.

TOBIAS

I’m not having a Sabbath meal.

(THE FISHERMAN resumes fishing.)

THE FISHERMAN

Your address.

TOBIAS

No Sabbath meal, understand?  Not this Friday or any Friday.

THE FISHERMAN

The number.

TOBIAS

I’m not from your bush.  Crazy old man!

THE FISHERMAN

Tell me the number of your house.  Now!!!

TOBIAS

3602 Belvedere.  Second house from the corner.

THE FISHERMAN

See you in three days.  Keep him alive.  Lots of water.  Three days are all I ask.

(In his own world now, THE FISHERMAN fishes.  A pause.)

TOBIAS

You want me to take the fish?  You need to give me the fish?

(THE FISHERMAN fishes.  A pause.)

TOBIAS (cont’d.)

In the bathtub.  Grandma sometimes kept a carp like that, back in Brooklyn. Grandpa couldn’t take his bath.

(TOBIAS exits carrying metal tub.  Lights up on ANNA and LINCOLN in Job Site Office.)

LINCOLN

People need water, Anna.  Civilization is impossible without adequate delivery systems.  Where do you find the first large civilizations?  On the shores of great rivers: The Tigris, the Euphrates, the Nile.

ANNA

I like your forearms, the color, the muscles.

LINCOLN

Neighborhoods tend to get uncivilized if they don’t have their water.

ANNA

Forearms like these don’t just happen.

LINCOLN

It’s why Continental works fast.  Sometimes two shifts a day ‘til the job’s done.  If we’re really behind we’ll set up spotlights and work through the night.

ANNA

Forearms like these are the result of a certain kind of life.

(TOBIAS approaches house carrying with fish’s tub.  Lights up on bathtub in house.)

LINCOLN

Anna...Anna, there’s this strange guy goin’ into your house?

(TOBIAS begins filling bathtub with water for fish.)

ANNA

It’s my father back from his morning walk.

LINCOLN

Your father?  Walking?  At 3 AM?

ANNA

Like someone in a dream.

(LINCOLN starts getting himself together for work.)

LINCOLN

How could I let this happen?  Me, the foreman, breaking job site prohibitions: “There is to be no parkin’ in front of a house, no goin’ in a house and no consortin’ with the homeowner.”  

ANNA

We’re not staying out here.

LINCOLN

Dad always used to say, “The blood filling the human crotch comes directly from the human brain and that explains everything you need to know about the human race.”  The human body is an inadequate delivery system.

(ANNA  kisses LINCOLN, dazing him.)

ANNA

It’s not the first kiss that matters.  The first kiss comes from pure nerve or foolishness or hunger.

LINCOLN

            (Dazed by kiss.)

We’ll set a thousand foot of temporary pipe by the end of today.  We’ll connect that pipe to every residence by quitting time tomorrow and start the drillin’ operation on Friday afternoon. 

ANNA

It’s the second kiss that matters.  The second kiss proves you can do it again after learning just how foolish or dangerous it is.

(ANNA kisses him again.  TOBIAS dumps fish in tub, exits.)

LINCOLN

“There is to be no parkin’ in front of a house, no goin’ in a house, and no consortin’ with the homeowner.”

ANNA

Let’s go in.

LINCOLN

My crew finds out about me breakin’ job site prohibitions there will be trouble.  Trouble, lawless confusion, chaos always starts at the top.

ANNA

You’re not refusing me?

LINCOLN

I just don’t want us to be the topic of a 6 AM conversation among drillmen in overalls drinkin’ 7-11 coffee from styrofoam cups.  See what I mean?

ANNA

No.

LINCOLN

You don’t see what I mean?

ANNA

No.

LINCOLN

Right.  How could you?  But I’m burnt, exhausted.  Not good for much now.  Why don’t we just wait until the job’s done?

ANNA

Because I don’t want to.  Because I won’t take no for an answer.

(ANNA leads LINCOLN into house.)

LINCOLN

I can’t.  I won’t.  I don’t...Unless it’s on business, I never go in.

(LINCOLN and ANNA enter house.  Lights up on table where DOTTIE, in waitress uniform, makes coffee.  TOBIAS stands at curtained window, there but not there.)

ANNA

Lincoln, this is my sister Dorothy. 

DOTTIE

Dottie.

ANNA

Dottie?  Since when?

DOTTIE

Since now.  I just changed it.

ANNA

Okay Dottie, this is Lincoln.  He’s...

DOTTIE

I can smell you two on each other.  Coffee?

LINCOLN

Well...

DOTTIE

            (In LINCOLN’s face.)

What’re you, some sort’a spy?!  Spyin’ on this house!  Holdin’ up your blueprints, tracin’ your filthy fingers over them, over this house!  You guys are not messin’ with this house! 

ANNA

They’re drilling out our water pipes.

DOTTIE

He may be drillin’ out your pipes but he’s not gettin’ anywhere near mine.

ANNA

Grow up.

DOTTIE

He’s not takin’ life down any more rungs. 

LINCOLN

That’s where you neighborhood people get us wrong.  We’re here to fix...

DOTTIE

Fix?  Fix?  Don’t bullshit us, okay?  You’re in New Jersey.  We’ve had more crap pumped into us than anywhere.

ANNA

Aren’t you late for work?

DOTTIE

Coffee?  I’ll be pourin’ all morning so what’s one more stranger?

LINCOLN

Thanks.  I need it.  (He drinks.)  Man, this water’s hard.  Carrying all these minerals it’s no wonder your delivery pipes are encrusted.

DOTTIE

Encrusted?  You mean ‘clogged’ like it says on your sign?  I bet business is boomin’ because of that sign.

LINCOLN

Sticks in the mind.  Stuck in your mind.

DOTTIE

Right.  So who hired you, Mr. Lincoln?  To do the pipes?  Who hired you?

LINCOLN

The city.

DOTTIE

The city doesn’t exist.

ANNA

Fine, now that’s settled we’re going up.

DOTTIE

What’s gotten into you?  Bringin’ some dirt boss in here?

ANNA

What’s gotten into you?  Dottie?

DOTTIE

Identity is an illusion forced on someone for purposes of manipulation.  Character is a false construct.  I’m radicalizing myself.

ANNA

Let’s go, Lincoln.

DOTTIE

Mom knew about reinventing  yourself.  But you don’t and neither does Tobias.  I can be anyone I want.  Mom knew that the influences that make a person who she is can hold her back from being the artist she’s destined to become.  Holding me back and I need to radicalize myself out from under them and that means you.  You’re not her.  So stop.  Just stop it!!!

(DOTTIE is overcome with emotion.  ANNA comforts her.  LINCOLN turns away.) 

ANNA

Take it easy.  Just take it easy, Dorothy.

DOTTIE

Icy roads.  Icy roads.  Fuckin’ idiots in their cars.  Fuckin’ idiots everywhere.

LINCOLN

I better get started on the workday.

DOTTIE

See you around.

ANNA

No, you’re not going.  He’s not going.  It’s been nine months.  We can’t hide anymore.  I want the world back.  We need other people in here.

LINCOLN

And water.  I better get that in here too.  I’ll see you later today, okay?

DOTTIE

Bye.

ANNA

Don’t move.  Stay where you are!

DOTTIE

She’s doin’ this out of desperation.  And you, you’re bein’ used.

LINCOLN

Maybe this isn’t the best time for a visit. 

DOTTIE

That’s right.  It’s not.

ANNA

You’re coming upstairs with me!

LINCOLN

I am?

ANNA

Yes, you are!

DOTTIE

I guess you are. 

LINCOLN

I guess I am.

DOTTIE

Anna, before you get drilled, you better check on Tobias.  I think he brought some kind’a animal into the house. 

ANNA

Animal?  What now?   

DOTTIE

Yeah, an animal.  I smell another animal in here.  All kinds of animals in here this morning.  You better check on him.

ANNA

Wait here, Lincoln.  Don’t go anywhere.  I’ll be right back. 

(ANNA exits.  An awkward silence.  LINCOLN looks out.)

LINCOLN

What a great old time neighborhood.  Houses quiet up and down the block, windows dark, families sleepin’...something nice and peaceful about it...nice place to grow up, I bet...porch lights on...

DOTTIE

Porch furniture stolen.  Anything not chained down ripped off.  Break-ins in the middle of the day.   Property values in free fall.  A great old time neighborhood.  Like where have you been?

LINCOLN

Out on the road.  We work all over the country. 

DOTTIE

The country doesn’t exist. 

LINCOLN

Because?

DOTTIE

What’s wrong with you?  Don’t you listen to fuckin’ talk radio? 

LINCOLN

No.

DOTTIE

What about alternative music?  You listen to alternative stations?  My band sent out some tapes.  Maybe you heard us:  “Tomatoes in Trouble”.

LINCOLN

I don’t listen to the radio at all.  I just drive and look out the window.

DOTTIE

At what?  The subdivisions?  The feeder roads?  The strip malls?  What’re you some kind’a romantic?

LINCOLN

I work with underground pipes.  Life doesn’t get less romantic outside certain branches of medicine. 

DOTTIE

Not funny.  How many times have you told that lame joke? 

LINCOLN

A few.

DOTTIE

Why tell it again?   

LINCOLN

I deal with the public.  A joke can sometimes take the edge off and put people at ease with each other.

DOTTIE

I don’t wanna be at ease with you.  I want it awkward between you and me.

LINCOLN

That’s fine.  As long as we agree to be awkward we can get comfortable with each other.

DOTTIE

That’s not funny either.

LINCOLN

It wasn’t meant to be. 

DOTTIE

It wasn’t funny whether it was meant to be funny or not.

LINCOLN

Look, I’m tired and I have to start work soon so why don’t we just lighten up and be nice to each other? 

(ANNA’s scream shatters the air.  She has discovered the fish.  LINCOLN and DOTTIE rush to find her.  TOBIAS rips curtains and smashes window glass.  He lets out an ecstatic yell then exits.  End of Scene.)

Scene 3

(MEL and HARRIS, at Job Site Trailer, drink coffee from styrofoam cups.)

HARRIS

Lincoln’s in that house, right?

MEL

He’s in that house.

HARRIS

Inside?

MEL

Inside is generally where a man is, when he’s in a house.

HARRIS

But it’s weird is what I’m sayin’: Lincoln in there against job site prohibitions.  Ain’t it weird?

MEL

It’s a definite change. 

HARRIS

I don’t like it.  Do you like it?

MEL

It’s early, Harris.  Coffee ain’t kicked in yet.  Will ya’ stop with the questions?

HARRIS

So how’d’ya know he’s in there?  Really?

MEL

‘Cause I saw him go in.  With the librarian.

HARRIS

Lincoln consortin’ with the librarian?  I didn’t know she was a librarian.  How’d’ya know she’s one?  All them books?

MEL

Nope.

HARRIS

The straw hat?

MEL

Nope.

HARRIS

The smart look is what, ain’t it?  And living at home?

MEL

Stop askin’ so goddamn many questions. 

HARRIS

Well, stop bein’ so godd.... (He crosses himself.) mysterious, Mel. 

MEL

You know your problem, Harris?  Everything you do makes a demand on people.  You ask questions, people hafta answer.  You tell your stupid jokes, people hafta laugh.  You get lonely for your wife, we hafta drink with you.  You drink too much, we hafta cover for you.  You’re just full of demands.  Like a goddamn cryin’ infant. 

HARRIS

Mel, dear, how’s it you’re so sure she’s a librarian?

MEL

Because she screamed like one.  Loud.  Piercin’.  Shatterin’ the quiet.  Like she ain’t gotten any in years.  Like you.

HARRIS

You know your problem, Mel?  You’re jealous.  I’m true to my wife, no matter how long I’m away, and you’re jealous ‘cause you can’t tell a woman from the holes we dig in the ground.

(DOTTIE, looking hot in waitress outfit and black lipstick, walks past HARRIS and MEL, stops, turns, walks back to them.)

DOTTIE

You guys say one word about me after I leave, I’ll put a curse on both your dicks.

(DOTTIE exits.  HARRIS is spooked.) 

HARRIS

What state’re we in?....I forget....Gotta dent in my van mattress.  Big dent I sleep in every night.  No way around that dent.  Mattress like a coffin.  I hate my mattress....Been tryin’ to get pregnant, Linda and me.  But it’s hit and miss, you know, with me on the road and all....I don’t like changes.  I don’t like changes of any kind....You know how your leg goes to sleep sometimes, so numb you can’t walk on it?  Late at night, my whole body feels like that, alive, too alive, but disconnected....I best call home.

(HARRIS takes out phone. RANDALL enters, dazed from where DOTTIE exited.  RANDALL has DOTTIE’s black lipstick all over his mouth.)

HARRIS

Don’t like it.  Don’t like that house.

RANDALL

Mornin’ Mel, Harris.  Nice mornin’.  Misty.  Nice, misty mornin’.  Where’s my brother?  Somethin’ the matter?

MEL

You got spider juice all over your mouth.

RANDALL

Huh?

MEL

Lipstick. 

RANDALL

Oh.  Sorry.  I must not be awake.  That’s it.  That’s the explanation.  That I dreamt it.  Tastes of blackberries.  A funny sort’a dream.

MEL

Since you’re dreamin’, how ‘bout frontin’ me fifty bucks ‘til payday? 

RANDALL

Sure, Mel.

MEL

Tell.

RANDALL

What?

MEL

What just happened with you and Spider Woman over there?

RANDALL

I was walkin’ to the job trailer as usual, to begin the workday, as usual.  Routine.  Like I been at it fifty years.  Birds singin’, as usual.  Air heavy.  Grass wet.  Earthworms committin’ suicide on the pavement.  Everythin’ as usual.  Unusual waitress on the sidewalk.  Houses dark.  Lampposts off.  Windshields fogged in the driveways.  Beautiful waitress comin’ through the mist.  Black legs.  Black eyes.  Black lips.  Through the mist.  Street steamin’.  Alarms soundin’.  Bathroom lights snappin’ on.  Hot waitress slicin’ up the air.  Comin’ toward me.  Shreddin’ the mist.  Tall and tough.  A goddess on the Earth.  Beautiful, hot waitress.  The kind of girl I’d never talk to in a million years.  About to pass.  But I look in her eyes.  Don’t look down as usual.  Incredible waitress.  Slowin’ down.  We’re both slowin’ down.  We stop.  A foot away from each other.  Silent waitress.  Silent me.  Her body.  My body.  Just breathin’.  Just swayin’.  In the porchlight.  In the mist.  On the Earth. 

HARRIS

Beautiful words, Randall, just beautiful. 

RANDALL

Thanks, Harris.  It felt good to say ‘em.

MEL

Nice, very nice, but what happened?

HARRIS

I never knew you to talk like that.

RANDALL

Me neither.  My mouth feels funny too.

MEL

I’ll bet.  So what happened?  The outcome?  The climax?

RANDALL

She took my face in her hands and kissed me on my mouth.

HARRIS

Just like that?!  A total like stranger to ya’?!

RANDALL

Kissed me long and soft and slow.  She tasted of blackberries.  Her tongue in my mouth tastin’ me.

HARRIS

Just like that?!  Without sayin’ a word?!

RANDALL

She maintained a space between our bodies.

HARRIS

Without a word?!

RANDALL

I closed my eyes.  I know she closed hers too.  We took up the whole sky.

HARRIS

Not one word.

RANDALL

She did say somethin’.  When it was over, as if a kiss like that could ever be over.  “Water”.   “Water,” she said and walked away.  Down the pavement.  Into the mist.  Outta my life.  Shoulda said somethin’, yeah should’a, but I never  know what to say to a girl.

HARRIS

Water?  She said,  “Water”?

RANDALL

“Water.”

HARRIS

Just water?  Nothin’ but water?

RANDALL

“Water.”  The word water.

MEL

Now why’d’ya think she said that, Randall?

RANDALL

I don’t know.  But she did.  Water.  It’s somethin’ I wanna think about.  After work, that’s what I’m gonna do.  Think about it.  Way into the night.

HARRIS

It could be she said it ‘cause she’s a waitress and people are always buggin’ her for water.  Or because the drillin’ work’s gonna cut off her water.  Or maybe she was thirsty.

RANDALL

Water.  Water.  Rhymes with daughter.

MEL

Rhymes with slaughter.  Little lamb.

HARRIS

But the question is how’d she say it exactly.  Was it like “Miss, water please”  like you were in a restaurant?  Or was it “Water” like the utility, you know, electricity, gas, water?  Or “Water, water” like she was thirsty? 

MEL

Don’t listen to him, Kid.  Here’s what it is.  Her life ‘round here is like a desert and that kiss of yours was like water to her.  You’re water in the desert of that waitress’ life.  You’re a waitress oasis.

RANDALL

Water.  The source of life.  Lifeblood of the planet.  Water.  The milk of clouds.  Bodies of water.  Oceans, lakes, rivers and creeks.  Bodies of water.  Our bodies are made of water...

(BIG GEORGE enters carrying a bucket full of water.)

RANDALL (cont’d.)

Arms of water.  Hands.  Fingers.  Fingertips.  Tips of water.  Lips of water.  Hips of water.  Brains of water.   

(BIG GEORGE fills HARRIS’s cup and throws water in RANDALL’s face.)

BIG GEORGE

That’s enough of that nonsense.  Now let’s get to work.  I wanna work early, work hard, knock off early, eat Mexican and get to Yankee Stadium for battin’ practice.  Any questions?  Any problem with that?  Good.

(BIG GEORGE kneels to bucket, throws water on his face then dunks his head in.  He comes up, shakes water out of his hair, growls like a starving bear.  He stands, pulls towel out of his backpocket and wipes his face.)   

BIG GEORGE (cont’d.)

Lincoln wants 400 foot’a pipe set before breakfast so let’s get movin’.  The Tigers’re in town and I don’t wanna miss ‘em.  Might catch all three games, if you girls can keep up with me.  For breakfast we’re goin’ to the IHOP same as yesterday, with the nice bathrooms and that big-armed waitress, sit in her section same as yesterday.  She likes big men I can tell.  Big men, big appetites.  Wanna be starvin’ when I get there.  Eat four stacks’a pancakes.  That’s four stacks and 400 foot’a pipe.  A stack per hundred foot.  Ha!  Any questions?  Any problem with that?  Good.  Now where the hell’s Lincoln?

MEL

In there.

BIG GEORGE

In the house!  Inside a house?  On a workday mornin’?!

MEL

Not only inside, George.  Inside consortin’ with the homeowner.         

BIG GEORGE

HA!  HA!  HA!  HA!

(BIG GEORGE picks up his bucket, starts to exit.)

MEL

Where you goin’, George? 

BIG GEORGE

Back to bed.  Boss don’t work, I don’t work.  Boss breaks job site prohibitions, I break job site prohibitions.  We might be dealin’ with a chain’a command breakdown here.  Captain actin’ outta character, unpredictable.  Nuts!  Might need a new chain’a command.

(BIG GEORGE exits.)

BIG GEORGE OFFSTAGE

Inside a house!  HA!  HA!  HA!

MEL

Remember them twins I talked to yesterday: Halter tops; midriffs showin’; bracelets clangin’.  Used to call twins like them twinkies; soft, creamy centers, two to a pack.  And one of them twinkies told me where they live.

HARRIS

But they can’t be more’n fifteen years old!!!

MEL

I’m gonna go back’a that house, see if I can find a window with stuffed animals on the sill.  Throw pebbles at it.   See if they’re interested in a man of the world.   You comin’?  Harris?  All right, suit yourself.

(MEL exits.)

HARRIS

Don’t like it.  Don’t like that house.  Randall, you better go in there and get your brother before all hell break’s loose out here!

RANDALL

Sure.  Okay. 

(RANDALL walks toward house.  HARRIS takes out cell phone.)

HARRIS

I best call home and Linda better be there this time.  Just better.  Not home?  Answerin’ machine again?  What’s she doin’ out so early and so much?  Honey, it’s jus’ me callin’ again ‘cause I miss ya’, miss ya’ bad.  Anythin’ cookin’ in our oven yet?  WHERE YOU BEEN?  WHY DON’T’CHA CALL ME?   JUST CALL ME WILL YA?  WILL YA JUST CALL?

(HARRIS hangs up phone.)

HARRIS (cont’d.)

HEY, MEL, WAIT UP FOR ME!

(HARRIS exits.  RANDALL at house.  TOBIAS at table.  RANDALL knocks.)

 TOBIAS

Come in, come in.

(RANDALL enters.)

RANDALL

Excuse me, Sir.  I’m with the crew outside? 

TOBIAS

Three days are all I ask!

RANDALL

I’m lookin’ for my brother?

TOBIAS

Three poor days. 

RANDALL

Is Lincoln in here?

TOBIAS

What could three days mean to you?  You’d waste them.  Be honest about it.

RANDALL

Long stretch’a temporary pipe to set and connect by Friday.

TOBIAS

It’s what’s wonderful about being young.  You have time to waste.  You can waste time.  Best thing to do with time, waste it.  Just sit back and watch while everyone else is running around like crazy.   See what I mean?

RANDALL

Is this about the water, Sir?

TOBIAS

Yes it’s about the water.  You’re with the drilling company aren’t you? 

RANDALL

Yes, Sir.  But Lincoln’s the boss.  You best speak to him about the water. 

TOBIAS

Three days of water for the fish.  So you’ll just have to forget about those water availability hours on this flyer you sent around.

RANDALL

Fish, you say?  Lincoln never messes with his schedule once it’s sent around.

TOBIAS

How long do you think it would take mankind to invent a fish? 

RANDALL

Invent a fish, Sir?

TOBIAS

Not to construct a fish, mind you.  Just to invent the idea of a fish.  The sleek design, powerful, propelling body, skin of fitted scales, the rituals of love?  Quite a creature a fish.  And that’s why  I’m asking you for three days of water for the magnificent fish in the bathtub.  Now do we have a deal?  Can I count on you?

RANDALL

I s’pose, if it’s in line with company policy. 

TOBIAS

Excellent, excellent.  Sit down.  Let’s talk.  Suddenly I’m in the mood to talk again.  How about a nice glass of water?  I assume you can stay awhile.

RANDALL

I’m really lookin’ for my brother.

TOBIAS

We’re all brothers in death.  And if in death why not in life?  We all decay in death, fertilize the soil and yet what do we do in life?  Fight over land!  That self same soil!  Now where’s the sense in that?

RANDALL

But why’d’ya need the water?

TOBIAS

Because the fish will deplete the bathtub water of oxygen, smother to death and turn sour on me before the Sabbath ritual.

RANDALL

Ritual?  I don’t know company policy on rituals.  You best speak to Lincoln about it.  It’s his schedule.  Is he in this house?

TOBIAS

Yes, he is.  Tell me: Has Lincoln always looked so sleepless and driven? 

RANDALL

To keep the company afloat.  Plastic pipes’s killin’ us.  PVC.  Let the company go under I say.  Let it die in the mud like the dinosaur it is.  But he won’t.

(LINCOLN drags in, goes to sink, tries water.)

LINCOLN

How come this water’s off?  George knew it was supposed to be on at six.

RANDALL

Excuse me, Sir.

(RANDALL takes LINCOLN aside.)

RANDALL (cont’d.)

What’s goin’ on, Lincoln?  What’re you doin’ in a house?

LINCOLN

Why’s this water off?

RANDALL

Because Big George went back to bed.  Said if you were breakin’ job site prohibitions we should too.  All hell’s gonna break loose out there soon.

LINCOLN

Then there’ll be hell to pay.  Soon as I get myself together. 

RANDALL

What’s the matter with you?  You look terrible.  What’re you doin’ sleepin’ inside a house?

LINCOLN

You really want to know, little brother?  I’m tired, bone tired and I don’t understand my life.  At night, I can’t sleep for the poundin’ of my heart like it’s about to explode up into my brain.  We’re scheduled for five days work in three days.  And what’s more, I just got into bed with a fantastic woman and fell right asleep.  I sat down on her mattress, keeled right over and slept like the dead.  Satisfied?  You want to know more?

RANDALL

Is there more?

LINCOLN

Yes there’s more.  There’s her father at the table and there’s a fish the size of a four year old boy in the bathtub.

RANDALL

This I gotta see.

(RANDALL goes to bathtub.)

LINCOLN

What’s with that fish?

TOBIAS

I just want fresh water until Friday night.

(RANDALL reenters.)

RANDALL

Wow.  A monster of the deep.  Like this.  I think he looked at me.

TOBIAS

You men wouldn’t happen to be Jewish would you?

LINCOLN

No.

TOBIAS

No problem.  I don’t know why I even asked.  Don’t worry about it.

LINCOLN

We won’t.

TOBIAS

And you were raised how?  Protestant?  Catholic?

LINCOLN

None of the above.

TOBIAS

You mean you have no experience at rituals of any kind?

LINCOLN

That’s right.   

RANDALL

Not true, Lincoln.  Remember with Mom?  A basement service that got real rowdy?  I must’ve been five.  You were there.  I loved that.  Singin’ and yellin’ and carryin’ on and throwin’ things like in the school cafeteria.  Used to come out wet.  I think there were snakes involved too.  Yeah, snakes.

TOBIAS

Excellent.  Because I need help.  Better make a list.  Candles, wine...it’s been so long...bread, of course.  And water?  Can I count on you about the water?

LINCOLN

The neighborhood’s had two weeks notice.  That water stays off according to the schedule on our flyer.  Let’s go Randall. 

RANDALL

It’s a huge fish, Lincoln. 

TOBIAS

That requires a great deal of oxygen.

RANDALL

To breathe his water.  We can do it.  Rig pipes off our temporary lines. 

TOBIAS

Three days are all I ask.

LINCOLN

That water has to be off to maintain the vacuum in our pipes.  Unless we want to flood the access holes, ruin our equipment and drown the crew.

RANDALL

Oh right.  Too bad.

TOBIAS

Water for three days.  And on the third day we may rest.

LINCOLN

Funny.  But I’ve got a contract with the city, a deadline to meet and a crew of cooped-up, pent-up, backed-up nomads to control.   Let’s get to work.

RANDALL

He’s the boss.  Sorry, Sir. 

(DOTTIE enters, sees RANDALL and immediately kisses him.)

DOTTIE

            (In RANDALL’s ear.)

Water.

(RANDALL is dazed and covered with lipstick again.)

DOTTIE (cont’d.)

Looks like an angel but kisses like an outlaw.  Kissin’ him is an illegal act.

RANDALL

Water. 

DOTTIE

I know him by taste, by smell, by danger.  I know him by the hot wire inside me.  We’re wired to each other now.  At white heat.

RANDALL

Water.

LINCOLN

We need vacuum in the pipes.  Whole job depends on it.  Let’s go Randall.

DOTTIE

Randall.  Randall.  Kissin’ Randall’s like kissin’ a man who’s about to be hung.  His kiss says, “Here, take my life with you wherever you go, carry my life like my child in your mind.”  Kissin’ Randall’s like kissin’ death.

LINCOLN

Randall wouldn’t hurt a fly.

RANDALL

Water. 

DOTTIE

We’ll separate, live a thousand miles apart.  Our mouths will ache until we can’t stand it then we’ll find each other by chance at a truck stop in Ohio and kiss with raw hunger; bloody kisses under the buzzin’ highway lights.  I’ll know his mouth by how it aches against my mouth’s achin’.  I won’t let him touch my body.  I know Randall’s too shy to do it on his own, that it’ll be up to me to put his hands in the right places.  For a year, I’ll deny him and myself.  Our kisses will become more and more exquisite, more and more excruciatin’.  My body will fill with music and light and genius.  I’ll write ten songs a day.  He’ll see me live on MTV, find the studio and break in while I’m cuttin’ my first CD.  When we finally make love we won’t know the difference between pleasure and pain and we will devour each other alive.  They’ll get it on tape and it will be the greatest rock video ever made.

RANDALL

Water.

(DOTTIE kisses RANDALL again.)

DOTTIE

Water.

(DOTTIE exits.)

RANDALL

Water....Water.....Who is she, Sir?

TOBIAS

That’s my daughter Dorothy.

RANDALL

Daughter, water.  I can help you, Sir.   On my own time.  I’d consider it an honor if you’d let me help you with the fish for the Sabbath meal. 

TOBIAS

Thank you. 

LINCOLN

Don’t thank him because he’s not doin’ it.  Randall, you just go out there and get Big George up and everybody else back to work.

RANDALL

It’s only three days.  Let me help the man.

LINCOLN

Go on out there.  Go on.

RANDALL

I said I’d do it on my own free time. 

LINCOLN

You don’t have free time.  We’re putting in sixteen hour days from now ‘til Friday.  Now get out there. 

RANDALL

No.  Not this time.  I’m not doin’ it.  You’re actin’ crazy like Dad, a madman about the job.  So I’m not doin’ it.  For your own good.  Because you’re drivin’ yourself so hard you’re gonna keel over just like Dad.  Dead face down in the brown mud.  Just like him.  I’m savin’ you from yourself.

LINCOLN

GET THE FUCK OUT THERE!!  And that’s an order!

RANDALL

Order.  Order.  Rhymes with daughter.  Rhymes with water.  I’m gonna help her father out.  That’s what.   And you just try and stop me.

LINCOLN

I’ll stop you, Little Brother.  Stop you cold.  Right now.  Come on.  You wanna piece of me?  Come on.

(LINCOLN and RANDALL square off and start to fight.  End of Scene.)

Scene 4

(MEL and HARRIS enter StageLeft.)

MEL

Damn you, Harris.  If there’s one thing I can’t stand it’s a man who bails at the last second.

HARRIS

But I didn’t wanna be unfaithful.  I don’ believe in adultery.  Just flew off the handle on account’a Linda not bein’ home at six in the mornin’. 

MEL

Didn’t take much now did it?

HARRIS

Truth is she ain’t called in three days.  Said her mother’s back’s actin’ up again.  She was at her mother’s and too busy to call.  O Lord.

MEL

Can’t even admit he was horny. 

HARRIS

Nine weeks out, nine more ‘til I get home, hangin’ around a devil like you, I had a moment of weakness and when Linda phoned...

MEL

You bail and blow it for the both of us!

HARRIS

God bless this cell phone!

MEL

Oh no...

HARRIS

God bless this cell phone!  For ringin’ in time.  For callin’ me back into the truth of the Lord.

MEL

You know your problem, Harris?  You’re an idiot.

HARRIS

God bless this cell phone.  For savin’ me from weakness....You think them girls have parents?

MEL

They’re children who’re never loved like children so now they need to be loved like women, fast. 

HARRIS

Somethin’ bad’s gonna come down.  All these years nothin’ bad’s happened ‘cause Linda’s my protector on the road.  My soul protector.

MEL

Spare me the whinin’ please.  It’s pitiful.

HARRIS

I had all this protection built up like money saved for a house.  And I was ready to throw it all down the drain.

MEL

You didn’t this time but it’s in you and next time you will.

HARRIS

I should’a loved her like a little girl.  I should’a taken her out for ice cream.  Asked her questions about herself.  I should’a bought her a real shirt. 

MEL

Say what you like.  It’s the doin’ tells who you are.

HARRIS

I won’t do anythin’ like that again.  I came close but at the last God saved me from the devil.  You know what they say, A dog that gets hit by a car and lives, never gets hit by a car again. 

MEL

Spare me the homespun wisdom.   My balls’re so blue my head hurts.

HARRIS

I’m a sinner, Mel.  A sinner!!!

(HARRIS starts digging with his hands.)

MEL

What the hell’re you doin’?  That hole’s dug.

HARRIS

I belong in the dirt, with the dirt.  Only dirt can clean me now.

(HARRIS digs furiously.  BIG GEORGE in Job Site Office.)

BIG GEORGE

No, I can’t hold.  I want pizzas.  Large as they come.  Extra large then.  Like me, darlin’.  Okay, deep too.  I want extra large, extra deep pies with everything on ‘em.  You can jump on there too, sweetheart.  Yes, anchovies.  Yes, onions.  And hot chili peppers, if you got ‘em.  Feta cheese?  What the hell’s feta cheese?  Goats?  No kiddin’.  Sure, throw it on.  And don’t forget to scorch the crusts.  I want those pies to burn my mouth, scrape my throat and wreak general havoc on my whole digestive system.  Because it makes me feel alive.  Because I’m celebratin’ the abdication of the king and my rise to power.  I’ll take three pies and two six packs of bad beer to wash ‘em down.  Address?  I don’t have an address.  The whole country’s my address.  You’re in that skinny strip mall right?  Well, you go up the road from there.  No, I don’t know the name of it.  I’m not from around here I said.  It’s a hill.  You know what a hill is?  They always build ‘em on slopes.  Up the hill ‘til you see pipes with water gushin’ out.  Follow the stream to the jobsite trailer.  I’m in there.  George Driscoll, new chief of operations.  Ha, ha, ha!

 (End of Scene.)

Scene 5

(ANNA asleep in bed, DOTTIE standing over her, wearing guitar.)

DOTTIE

Anna, Anna, remember Mom sayin’ the first time she kissed Dad she knew he was the one?

ANNA

Huh?  What?  Who’s there?

DOTTIE

Me.  Remember how Mom used to say when she first kissed Dad she knew he was the one?

ANNA

I’m trying to sleep.  I haven’t slept.

DOTTIE

            (Singing.)

Is it in his arms

O no that’s not the way

Is it in his charms

Listen when I say

If you wanna know

If he loves you so

It’s in his kiss...

I wonder what it was:  His taste? 

ANNA

            (Dreamily.)

Mmmmmm, his taste...

DOTTIE

The way he kissed her back? 

ANNA

He’s a good kisser.

DOTTIE

The way he trembled to be touched? 

ANNA

Like he hadn’t been kissed in a long time. 

DOTTIE

A kiss to last a lifetime. 

ANNA

            (Sitting up.)

Mom, Dad, you, me, fate and the future meeting at their mouths. 

DOTTIE

Wow.  

ANNA

Wow.  Start in Spain end up in New Jersey.  

DOTTIE

We’ll start in New Jersey and end up in Spain.  Spain where they dance with death!

(DOTTIE plays flamenco chords.)

ANNA

What are you doing here?  What time is it?  Why aren’t you at work?

DOTTIE

Quit.   I’m a full time artist now.  Let’s check her out.  See if she’s been drilled.  Test the pressure.  Measure the flow.  Nope.  Still clogged.

ANNA

Still Dottie.  Still radicalized.  You tire me out.

DOTTIE

Bein’ radical means bein’ tirin’.  I tire myself out.  It’s exhaustin’ bein’ me.  I’m on the verge of collapse from the effort right now.

(DOTTIE collapses dramatically into bed.  The sisters huddle close.)

ANNA

I like this.

DOTTIE

Me too.

ANNA

I miss it. 

DOTTIE

Me too.

(A pause.  ANNA strokes DOTTIE’s hair.)

ANNA

Why did you stop coming in?  You just stopped.

DOTTIE

You’re my sister, Anna.

ANNA

And?

DOTTIE

Of all the people in the world you’re the only one who knows what I mean when I say Mom.

ANNA

And?

DOTTIE

Together we like brought her back but then I’d have to lose her all over again.  Like the first time.  The pain was so strong I wanted to stop remembering.  Is that terrible?  You think if Mom knew about it, she’d cry? 

ANNA

This isn’t good.  It’s just going on and on.  I can’t stand it anymore.

DOTTIE

So you bring a dirt boss in here?

ANNA

Lincoln’s all wrought up about the job but he relaxed with me.  Fell right asleep, moved close, his body warm against mine.

DOTTIE

Yeah?

ANNA

That was it.

DOTTIE

That’s weak.  Me and my true love, we’ll stay up all night and beyond, way beyond.  That night will last forever.  The sun won’t rise until we let it. 

ANNA

That’s all I wanted.  To sleep next to him.

DOTTIE

Liar.

ANNA

What matters is the quiet between you.  Not his words, what he doesn’t have words for yet.

DOTTIE

His lips, Anna.  His lips.  That’s how you know.  Yeah, things are definitely looking up around here.  I think it’s the fish.

ANNA

Don’t tell me that thing’s still in the bathtub.

DOTTIE

The fish has a purpose. 

ANNA

The dog Dad brought home that made sense; if you’re in mourning to identify with a stray animal and take it in.  Could be a healthy thing.  A dog, a cat, a turtle even.  You can pick up a turtle, hold it in your hands.  But not a fish.  You don’t bring home a fish.

DOTTIE

We’re gonna eat him, Anna.  A fisherman’s coming over in a few days to fix him for our ritual meal.

ANNA

What ritual meal? 

DOTTIE

Sundown.  Friday night.  Like a ritual Sabbath meal.

ANNA

We don’t know anything about making the Sabbath meal. 

DOTTIE

Yeah that’s what makes it ours.  That way we get to improvise.  And I’ve got a new friend who said he’d help with the ceremony.  Like a ritual sacrifice.  I’ll be playin’ guitar licks in the background.

(DOTTIE plays a few licks.)

DOTTIE (cont’d.)

It’s gonna be art, Anna.  Scary, live art. 

ANNA

It’s a sacred tradition. Thousands of years old.  You can’t just make it up.

DOTTIE

You should see Tobias.  He’s his old self, talkin’ like he used to, like when he was teachin’, talkin’ up the ritual .

ANNA

He’s still in trouble, flying off like this.  You saw the window and curtains?   

DOTTIE

Yeah.  So.

ANNA

I remember the first time:  His department secretary called and said, ‘Your father’s standing unnaturally still in the middle of his office and won’t move or answer me.  What should I do?’ Remember how excited he was to teach again.  Flying off.  Goes still in his office.  Can’t teach anymore.  Takes walks in the middle of the night.  Gives his car away.

DOTTIE

We got it back.

ANNA

Breaks windows.  Tears curtains.  Wait a minute.  Jews in mourning tear clothes and cover mirrors.  Clothes, curtains, mirrors, windows.  Brings home a fish.  He’s going back in this sad way to how he was raised.

DOTTIE

Get off.  We’re creatin’ a new ritual, just on the same night.

ANNA

He’s a Jew.   It’s in him and coming out somehow with this fish. 

DOTTIE

Why would it?  After all this time.

ANNA

I don’t know.

DOTTIE

That was done with when they got married and you know it.

ANNA

No, not really, not totally.  Right after you were born, Dad started to teach me things, stories from the Bible, Hanukah, Passover.  Even took me to a Seder once behind her back.  Mom was furious when she found out. 

DOTTIE

Can you blame her?  You blame her?  Anna?  They had an agreement.  And if he did that he broke it.

ANNA

It was something between Dad and me.  Something beautiful, deep.  How many things are there like that?  But he stopped telling the stories.  He stopped singing to me.  Mom won.

DOTTIE

You’re twisted.  Blaming her for that.

ANNA

What difference did it make to her?  A few stories.  A few stupid songs. 

(ANNA hums a Jewish melody or lullaby.)

ANNA (cont’d.)

Only time I ever heard him sing.  What was she so afraid of anyway?  God?  

DOTTIE

They had an agreement.  No religion in the house.

ANNA

She was more afraid of God than people who believe in God.

DOTTIE

She’s dead, Anna.  Leave her alone. 

ANNA

She wanted to be everything to him, everything.  And now look at him.

DOTTIE

You’re sick.  I can’t believe you’re saying this about our Mother.

(DOTTIE storms out.)

ANNA

I’m sorry!  I’m sorry...

            (To her dead Mother.)

I’m sorry.  I have these feelings.  I wish I didn’t.  You’re dead, Dad’s a wreck...Bury your feelings, Anna.  Well, I can’t.  I won’t anymore more. Look at him.  He needs something and it’s not there.  You’re dead and he doesn’t know how to go on.  He doesn’t have anywhere to go.  Let him go.

(Fade to black.  End of Scene.  End of Act.)