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Firedance
(The light has become gray and shadowed. STEPHEN is sitting on the edge of the kitchen table. ARLENE is standing at the doorway. She takes off her hat, glares at him, waits for a moment.)
ARLENE: And?
STEPHEN: And what?
ARLENE: And I expect an answer.
STEPHEN: I'm a bad boy.
ARLENE: Don't be cute, don't be cute. It's no time to be cute. I ask a question, I
expect an answer.
STEPHEN: Don't be Mama to me.
ARLENE: What? How dare you, how dare you say that.
(She moves to him and hits him with her hat)
You evil, hurting person...
STEPHEN: (He pushes her off with his hand, and begins to walk away) I just didn't want
to go to a funeral today. I didn't feel like crying.
(ARLENE grabs him by the arm, spins him around, and slaps him hard across the face. He snares her
band and squeezes it hard. She begins to cry.)
STEPHEN: I can't remember the last time you ever did that, but I know it'll never happen
again.
(He stands, holding her hand up high)
ARLENE: Are you such a stranger? Don't you feel anything?
STEPHEN: (drops her hand) Lenie... I feel, I feel for you, and...
ARLENE: What about Mama?
STEPHEN: Mama's dead!
ARLENE: You are a stranger... nobody knows you anymore. Nobody knows anybody...
(ANITA rushes in followed by SAM)
ANITA: There you are!
SAM: (In a low voice) What happened to you?
STEPHEN: I couldn't make it.
SAM: Why? What happened to you?
STEPHEN: I didn't want to be there, all right?
(SAM moves to slap him, ARLENE catches his arm)
ARLENE: I did that already. It doesn't make any difference.
STEPHEN: Why don't you try spitting!
SAM: All you had to do was show up. All you had to do was show your respect, some token of
what she meant to you. Or, didn't she mean anything to you? Huh? Huh? You wiped her off your list, you did that a long time ago. Nothing she could do for you anymore, right? Couldn't get anything out of the family anymore,
right? Just let it go, pass it right by. You're shit, kiddo...
ARLENE: Sam!
SAM: I'm gonna tell you something. You cut her down, and the old man, all of us, Just as
sure as if you took a bomb and blew it up in our faces. She said that to me once...you'll all forget about me. But she meant you... she knew about you,
(he pounds the table)
What the hell happened to you. Why couldn't you do it right for once, huh? You owed it, she deserved
it, It would have hurt you? It would have interrupted your schedule? What the hell did you show up for any way?
ANITA: He's right, Stevie, you know it.
SAM: He knows, he knows.
ARLENE: Nobody knows anything, nobody knows anybody...
STEPHEN: Are you both finished? Are you through?
SAM: Don't start in with your goddamn dramatics!
STEPHEN: This is why.
ANITA: This is why... what?
STEPHEN: (angrily) This is why I didn't go today... because I couldn't stand to see
you... with the lousy guilt pouring out of your eyes... crawling all over each other in self-pity.
ANITA: Sure, sure.
STEPHEN: So self righteous! You'd have loved to have me there. Someone to pass it on to:
"I'm good... he made her suffer!".
SAM: Will you listen to the bullshit? He's great with the bullshit.
ANITA: (with a hard smile) What's the matter, Stevie, you have a weak stomach, or a weak
conscience?
SAM: You never went to see her once, not once! No letters, no cards, nothing! We never heard
from you. That's okay. Who needs you! But Mama...
ARLENE: (still talking to herself) What's the difference? She couldn't read, she
didn't recognize anybody.
ANITA: It's the gesture that counts. A simple gesture!
STEPHEN: For whom? You or her? Who gets the gesture?
(He starts to walk away, SAM makes a move toward him, ANITA in between)
ANITA: Calm down, Sam.
ARLENE: Calm down, Sam.
ANITA: There wasn't anything special to do, Stephen, Just some concern, some interest. Just
show how you...
STEPHEN: A show! That's all! So you can look yourself in the mirror and say: "It's
okay, we did the right thing, we're good kids." So I could help you convince yourself that your heart is in the right place, that you really care. Mother above country, no regrets, no hard feelings, rest in peace!
ANITA: Is it too much to ask?
STEPHEN: You don't hear a word I say!
SAM: I hear you, schmuck... what did you call him... all-American -beach-bum. I hear you loud
and clear.
STEPHEN: Roger, Chief!
ARLENE: Shhhh, don't fight.
SAM: I heard you loud and clear when you bummed the old man for I50 bucks.
STEPHEN: Never let go, do you?
ANITA: Some things are hard to forget!
SAM: All you do...
STEPHEN: You should talk!
SAM: I AM TALKING TO YOU!
STEPHEN: WELL I'M NOT LISTENING TO YOU!
SAM: YOU BETTER LISTEN TO ME OR I'LL SHOVE THE WORDS DOWN YOUR THROAT!
ARLENE: (suddenly screaming) WILL YOU STOP IT... stop it!
(She begins to tremble, her voice again in a monotone)
I can't hear myself think, I can't hear myself.
(STEPHEN moves around the table, pats ARLENE on the shoulder. There is a tense pause. ANNA begins to
move toward the kitchen.).
STEPHEN: When are you going to get the message, big brother, that I don't sit on the other end
of your telephone anymore? I came here because... I wanted to come. And I'll leave because I want to leave. And I didn't go this afternoon to that breast-beating ritual because I think they're disgusting... you know what
I mean?
SAM: Anything that makes you feel for someone else is disgusting to you.
STEPHEN: (laughing) Round and round and round... it's like some fucking scooter-car
race.
ANITA: I'm really disappointed in you.
STEPHEN: Well I don't give a shit.
ANITA: What the hell kind of language is that?
STEPHEN: What's the matter, you got a weak stomach?
ARLENE: Shhhh, Shhhh.
ANITA: Very funny.
SAM: Do you see him... Mr. all-American... last year's brother, last year's son?
ANNA: I see him.
SAM: Did you hear him? Did you hear what he has to say?
ANNA: (quietly) Yes.
(STEPHEN turns to ANNA. She shakes her head.)
ANITA: Those are funny words for him... brother, son.
SAM: It's not funny, nothing's funny.
STEPHEN: (sharply) You're funny, brother Sam, you are funny! You think we're still
kids...running around the back yard throwing snowballs at each other. You think we still have to account to somebody in there: be nice to your brother, don't treat your sister that way.
SAM: What are you talking about?
STEPHEN: I'm saying...
(Throws his hands up in the air)
I don't know what the hell I'm saying.
ANNA: (reaching for STEPHEN) Come on, let's go for a walk.
SAM: (pushes her out of the way) Wait a minute. So... what's your point? Spit it
out?
STEPHEN: You're still back there Sammy. You're living 25 years ago. We all grew up, and we
were dumped... right out of childhood, right into this.
ANITA: You're getting dramatic again, Stevie-boy.
ARLENE: Shhhh, no fighting.
SAM: I'm waiting to hear it.
STEPHEN: (faces him squarely) DON'T YOU KNOW? DON'T YOU SEE IT? You want to go back
and crawl into Mama's lap again. But you can't, Sammy, BECAUSE HER LAP IS SIX FEET UNDER!
(SAM lunges across the table at STEPHEN and grabs him by the throat, ANITA screams. ARLENE
starts moaning and rocking in her chair. STEPHEN knocks SAM to the floor, jumps on top of him and raises his fist to hit him. ANNA lunges , grabs his fist, holds it, then presses it to her cheek,. They stay for a moment in a
tense, eerie tableau.)
(ARLENE stops rocking, looks at them.)
ARLENE: (softly) Why don't we have something to eat!
(The lights fade out.)
©2005 Arthur Meiselman
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