

What the Critics Say

"Sunde's plays consider whether we have reason to hope. ... With a voice both poetic and theatrical hers is a distinctive, even unique, contemporary American drama, more akin to European than to other American plays. ... No matter how sweeping the setting and cast, she chooses personal canvases upon which to paint her funny, thrilling, searing, moving scenes.

"Sunde hopes for a better tomorrow even as she explores the roots of misery today. The prophetic HAITI: A DREAM dramatizes the flight to Florida of Haitian boat people by focusing on a man and his wife and the Old Woman empowered by Voodoo who tries to inspire them both to recognize their own strength to lead their people.

"In a similar spirit of fantasizing about a better way, HOW HIS BRIDE CAME TO ABRAHAM creates an extraordinary modern pacifist myth in which a wounded male Israeli soldier and a female Palestinian "terrorist" experience each other's passionate hunger for their home and rights...It indelibly etches itself upon audience' souls because of the human encounter..."

from CONTEMPORARY DRAMATISTS "Karen Sunde" entry: pp 643-645

### HOW HIS BRIDE CAME TO ABRAHAM - stage play

"One of the most powerful antiwar plays ever penned ... this life-altering script." PLAYS INTERNATIONAL London

"Sunde's timely, gripping, and richly magical play... is modern day Romeo and Juliet...an engrossing look at how war can prematurely turn children into adults... the emotional pull of her drama will haunt audiences well after the end of the play." AMERICAN THEATER WEB

"...crisp, biting edge... gripping drama... timely romantic drama ... volatile battle zone ... vivid portraits and action ... cinematic thrust summons the inspiration for a dandy film." VARIETY

"A masterpiece...no soft edges...goes straight to the heart of the conflict." BLOOMBERG RADIO

## RADIO PLAYS

VOODOO TO PARADISE (Haiti: A Dream)

THE SOUND OF SAND

HOW HIS BRIDE CAME TO ABRAHAM

by

Karen Sunde

Smashwords Edition

Copyright Karen Sunde

For rights to produce these plays, apply to:

130 Barrow #412 New York 10014

(212)366-1124

karensunde.com@gmail.com

www.karensunde.com

CONTENTS

WHAT THE CRITICS SAY

INTRODUCTION

VOODOO TO PARADISE (Haiti: A Dream)

VOODOO TO PARADISE Scene Two

THE SOUND OF SAND

HOW HIS BRIDE CAME TO ABRAHAM

APPENDIX: The Seed of Haiti, A Dream

OTHER PLAYS & SCREENPLAYS -Karen Sunde

INTRODUCTION

Radio opens a direct link to the audience' imagination. Sound alone telling you a story is instantly absorbed onto your mind's creative canvas, and the resulting composition will be personal and intimate to a higher degree than with any other medium. Audio drama takes place in the listener's mind.

How reading a radio play can work in the reader's imagination, I don't know. As you read, just keep in mind that the sounds described and the words being spoken tell the story however you envision it; then tell me if it "works" for you.

My first radio assignment was also the first play I ever wrote. Including it here is curious for me, but it was significant. Initiated and produced for the National Foundation For The Blind by the Iowa State University Radio Players, it won the Bob Hope Award, and won me a trip to New York to accept it. THE SOUND OF SAND presents a blind boy's mighty dangerous venture away from his sand-castle on the beach far out onto the sea on a raft.

The second time I wrote for radio was years later in New York when WNYC's Radio Stage's Marjorie Van Halteren commissioned me to adapt my stage play HAITI: A DREAM, and then produced and broadcast it on WNYC, WHYY and NPR. It's a simple story, rather lyrical, and so inspires music and dance artists. The same play was also adapted into a story-theatre choral piece called SIRI'S DREAM by Coatesville Community Center by Danny Fruchter, but I've always wanted to call it VOODOO TO PARADISE. The play was born when I read a tiny New York Times clipping: "wreckage of a wooden boat" that washed up in Florida, and I immediately began to imagine its lost passengers.

The founder of Full House Productions in New York, Phil Lee, prompted my audio adaptation of the play HOW HIS BRIDE CAME TO ABRAHAM, and then Phil directed and engineered a radio production featuring the play's New York cast, so that this battle field parable of Mid-East peace would be able to reach any audience. Set in South Lebanon, HOW HIS BRIDE CAME TO ABRAHAM is a soaring love story. When a fleeing refugee encounters a soldier wounded by a roadside bomb, irresistible Palestinian and Israeli characters clash, then ignite a passion that heals.

The stage plays two of these works are adapted from are published by Broadway Play Publishing:

 https://www.broadwayplaypub.com/the-plays/haiti-a-dream/ Haiti: A Dream, published in FACING FORWARD

 https://www.broadwayplaypub.com/the-plays/plays-by-karen-sunde/ How His Bride Came To Abraham is in PLAYS BY KAREN SUNDE

http://www.broadwayplaypubl.com/HOW%20HIS.htm is How His Bride Came To Abraham by itself - the single stage play

TAGS: Haitian history, Israeli Palestinian conflict, blind child drama, boat people, Haitian refugee, voodoo, anti-war play, radio drama

PRODUCTIONS HISTORY

VOODOO TO PARADISE (Haiti:: A Dream)

Theatre: Seven Stages, Atlanta, and Coatesville Community Center as SIRI'S DREAM

Radio: Commissioned by WNYC's Radio Stage, directed by Marjorie Van Halteren, broadcast on WNYC, New York, WHYY, Philadelphia, and nationwide on NPR.

 https://www.broadwayplaypub.com/the-plays/haiti-a-dream/

THE SOUND OF SAND

Radio: Written for and produced by Iowa State University's Radio Players. Won the Bob Hope Award fromr The National Foundation For The Blind,

HOW HIS BRIDE CAME TO ABRAHAM

Theatre

Playwrights Theatre of New Jersey by John Pietrowski, directed by Ken Marini, fight direction by Rick Sordelet,

Praxis Theatre Project, New York, producer Matt Bray, director Courtney Patrick Mitchell, fight direction Ian Marshall,

Unicorn Theatre, Kansas City, producing artistic director Cynthia Levin, premiere.

Youngstown University, director Dennis Henneman, with symposiums.

Catholic Associations benefit performance at Cathedral High School, NYC

Staged Readings

Israeli/Palestinian Working Group, United Nations; Stanford University, Palo Alto, Seminar on Terrorism, consecutive years, Princeton Middle East Society, Ansche Chesed Synagogue, NYC Cathedral of St John the Divine, NYC, Nebraska Repertory, Castillo, NYC.

Publications

HOW HIS BRIDE CAME TO ABRAHAM is published in PLAYS BY KAREN SUNDE, 2001, and as a single play, 2006, by Broadway Play Publishing, NYC

https://www.broadwayplaypub.com/the-plays/how-his-bride-came-to-abraham/

Film

www.AbrahamFilm.org \- The Abraham Film Project, Synopsis, Screenplay and Trailer directed by Yahel Herzog & Karen Sunde

 http://www.abrahamfilm.org/documentary/documentary.html Documentary trailer PLAYING PEACE, by Open Windows Productions, directed by Yahel Herzog and Yuval Sussler:

Radio

http://www.abrahamfilm.org/audio/audio.html Sample of Audio Drama, the play adapted for radio; produced and directed by Phil Lee, Full House Productions, New York. Full CD available from Karen Sunde.

VOODOO TO PARADISE

(Haiti: A Dream)

Two scenes and interlude

CHARACTERS:

RUBIN: teacher, Siri's husband

SIRI: young mother, Rubin's wife

SAILOR: rough Master of sailing boat

OLD WOMAN: mysterious passenger

PASSENGERS-CHORUS may be "live" or pre-recorded

MUSIC: DRAMATIC ORCHESTRA, SEGUES INTO STORM, FADES TO...

SOUND: DENSE NATURE IN TROPICAL NIGHT: CRICKETS, WATER, INSECTS, HOLDS UNDER

ANNOUNCER: The play is Haiti, A Dream, written for WNYC's The Radio Stage by Karen Sunde, and recorded in collaboration with The People's Light and Theatre Company and radio station WHYY in Philadelphia.

SOUND: TROPICAL NIGHT, LAPPING WATER, HOLD UNDER

RUBIN: (Hushed) What is it, Siri?

SOUND: HATCH BEING OPENED

SIRI: (Hushed) I'm going down. Stay with the trunk.

SOUND: STEPS ONTO HATCH LADDER

RUBIN: Careful, the baby. (Pause. Calling down) Siri?

SIRI: (From below) Wait. I can't see. (Pause) All right, come on. But I don't think there's room. Careful, the trunk.

SOUND: DRAGGING LARGE TRUNK OVER EDGE OF HOLD. RUBIN STEPS DOWN LADDER SUPPORTING TRUNK.

(RUBIN is grunting under a weight as he moves)

SOUND: NIGHT SOUNDS OUT. FADE IN UNARTICULATED HIM OF MANY PEOPLE PACKED INTO HOLD BELOW DECKS.

RUBIN: (As he reaches bottom) Where are you?

SIRI: (Closer now) Here. But we should go back up. Must be a hundred down here already. No room. Too many people.

SOUND: SMALL BABY SOUNDS

RUBIN: No, here we stay.

SOUND: SETTING TRUNK DOWN

RUBIN: Right here.

SIRI: We can't even lie down. Rubin, let's go back up. I'll feel better breathing the air.

RUBIN: Set down the child. It'll be best down here. Come the rocking, come the storm. Come the day-long sun.

SIRI: I know, but for now...

RUBIN: Best take the place we can get. They're filling up.

SIRI: (Sighing as she settles) Where'd they all come from? Scuttling out in the star night like lizards from under the rock.

RUBIN: Too many people, in a rotten shallow boat. Here, give him here.

SOUND: BABY BEING LAID TO SLEEP)

RUBIN: He'll sleep quiet here, sway softly here.

SIRI: Just let us onto the water, past the mosquito clouds. The tickets? Let me see the tickets to America.

RUBIN: Minute. A minute.

SIRI: You got three?

RUBIN: Here we are. One...two...three.

SIRI: (Excitement at holding tickets) God, god. I couldn't believe the boat was here. A big sail floating, like a ghost dream.

RUBIN: You didn't believe? You pushed me all the way! I was the one who wouldn't pay till we climbed on.

SIRI: That was bad, Rubin; they almost wouldn't have you.

RUBIN: Look Siri. These are movie tickets!

SIRI: Long as they tickets out of here, doesn't matter.

SOUND: PEOPLE AND BAGGAGE CONTINUE COMING DOWN LADDER. HOLD OPENS AND SHUTS. LOW MURMURING.

SIRI: People crazy! Still pushing on. We're filled to bust already.

RUBIN: They'll have to cut loose soon to keep under dark. Soon, or sunlight'll catch the sails before we're past the line of ocean-sky.

SIRI: Woe man, it smells already. Baby'll wake with the heat.

RUBIN: Be glad it's tight. Out on the water, we don't need leaking. (Pause) We don't have to go, Siri. Siri?

SIRI: (Distracted by a memory) The boat came ghostly. Sitting low, meshed in seaweed. A dark blot against the star map. My heart jumped feeling the breeze on my face, warm water lapping my thighs. (Suddenly she's back) I don't like this, Rubin. There's too many here.

RUBIN: (Keeping Siri's former mood) Shhh, listen... Listen, the quiet. Night birds on warm wind. Listen. We won't hear it again.

SIRI: We'll hear it, Rubin.

RUBIN: Listen.

SOUND: SILENCE. FADE IN LAND NIGHT SOUNDS. HOLD UNDER.

SIRI: Why don't they start? We were near last on. Why don't they start?

RUBIN: Shhhh.

SIRI: They aren't taking us! They take the money and leave us sit. We'll be found here in the morning. Nothing to stop it.

RUBIN: That would be bad business. If they leave us, others will hear. They'll get no money tomorrow.

SIRI: I know.

RUBIN: You found Fanon, you made sure it was him?

SIRI: Yes yes. Fanon's old and ugly, but he goes and he comes, many times on the sea. Good business.

RUBIN: Yes.

SIRI: Why don't we go!

RUBIN: Quiet, now. We paid. (Pause) Listen...the frogs.

SOUND: DISTANT FROG CROAKING, CRICKETS

RUBIN: They don't know we're going, won't hear them tomorrow.

SOUND: HATCH BANGS OPEN, SEA NOISE

SAILOR: (Calling down, hushed) Up fast. We're overloaded. Can't move like this. Get off now and go tomorrow. Same tickets. Sea's better tomorrow, better boat. Up fast!

SOUND: MOANS OF PROTEST – FIRST "CHORUS" SOUND BEGINS, SWELLS AS...STEPS OF SAILOR DESCEND. SAILOR SHOVING PASSENGERS. SHUFFLING FEET – SOME MOVE TO LADDER AND CLIMB IT

RUBIN: Let's get off, Siri, yes? It's too crowded now. Not safe. Be better tomorrow.

SIRI: There's nothing tomorrow. Is he going to give the money back? Oh no. You try to find a boat tomorrow, you find only mist. Oh no. We're packed in, or not in at all. That's the choice.

RUBIN: Siri...

SIRI: And I made mine.

SOUND: MUFFLED SPLASHES ABOVE. SAILOR STEPS CLOSE TO THEM

SAILOR: Up fast. That's it. People are getting off. Come on with the kid.

RUBIN: Siri, let's get off. You wailed "the baby, the air." This isn't good.

SIRI: Is it worse than what we're leaving?

SAILOR: (Counting off people that ascend) That's nineteen up, that's twenty...

SIRI: Let those up top get off! It's easy to push them off, an easy slide.

(SAILOR laughs harshly)

RUBIN: Siri, an overloaded boat, it's not lucky. Come.

SIRI: (Refusing to budge) Not lucky, for sure. We were born in an overloaded boat. And I stay.

SOUND: LAST CLIMBING, HATCH SLAMS. QUIET

SIRI: Better hope they don't ask tomorrow.

SOUND: MORE SPLASHES. MOANS - ABOVE AND BELOW.

(All listening in the darkness. Silence)

SOUND: FINALLY, WOOD CREAKING THAT INCREASES

RUBIN: There.

SIRI: What.

RUBIN: We're moving. That's it.

SIRI: We're moving.

SOUND: CREAKING OF OLD WOOD, RHYTHMIC, CONTINUES, HOLDS UNDER

(Sudden cry, close by - piercing, mournful)

SIRI: What's that!

RUBIN: My god.

SIRI: It's that bundle. Is it a woman?

RUBIN: Old woman, hush ... quiet! What is it?

SIRI: She must be crazy.

(OLD WOMAN is winding up to howl again, like an animal)

RUBIN: Don't! They can still hear us on land. It's dangerous.

(OLD WOMAN howls)

SOUND: HATCH SWINGS OPEN ABOVE

SAILOR: (From above, hushed) Shut it up. Somebody trying to get us all shot?

OLD WOMAN: (Long wail) My son!

SAILOR: You think the patrols are asleep?

SIRI: Stop her, Rubin.

SOUND: FAST STEPS DOWN LADDER

SAILOR: (Beside them) Shut it up now or I put my knife through it.

OLD WOMAN: Where is my son?

(As OLD WOMAN begins a howl, RUBIN gags her and her howl is muffled)

RUBIN: Quiet. No more noise.

SAILOR: She yours?

RUBIN: No. But I'll keep her quiet. She's asking for her son. Is there someone on deck who...?

SAILOR: (Abruptly) Her son got off to lighten the boat. He'll come on the next one.

SOUND: STEPS TOWARD THE LADDER

SAILOR: Keep her still.

SOUND: STEPS UP LADDER, HATCH OPEN AND SHUT

(Ominous silence till SAILOR is gone. RUBIN carefully releases OLD WOMAN)

RUBIN: There. There. Quiet now, and I'll let go. You heard? Your son got off. He comes next. Tomorrow.

(OLD WOMAN groans passively, as though dead)

RUBIN: You heard?

OLD WOMAN: (Low) Lie. He lie.

RUBIN: No, it's true. They asked people to get off. We almost...

OLD WOMAN: Lie. My son don't get off. Not leave me.

RUBIN: But if they...

OLD WOMAN: He has paper. My medicine. He takes me for medicine. Won't leave me. What did they do to him?

(She begins another howl, but RUBIN stifles her)

SOUND: BABY STARTS TO FUSS

(Siri rocks her baby, hums)

RUBIN: (Comforting OLD WOMAN) Quiet, quiet. Nothing to do now. Maybe he's up there, happy you're safe.

SIRI: (Low, to RUBIN) Or they just pushed him off. I've heard those things, Rubin.

(OLD WOMAN tries to howl, but—)

RUBIN: Shhh, shhh, bear it. (Rocking her, hum-like—) We're slipping now, quiet as a cat, quiet through night water, out away, away...

(SIRI is humming to baby)

RUBIN: Up on deck we could see, see our home become an island behind us. First we'd see only dark, then a rough shape, dim edge against the sky, crumpled edge of our mountain humps up the black sky. Then mountain growing smaller, island moving away. A thousand glittering waves stretch the way between.

MUSIC: SOMEONE'S TRANSISTOR SCRATCHES ON, PLAYS LOW, ISLAND MUSIC

RUBIN: Hear the island?

OLD WOMAN: I don't want to go to America. My son wants. He says I need medicine.

RUBIN: Listen...

OLD WOMAN: I don't want to go.

RUBIN: The island's moving away, but someone's caught. It's in the air. Hear it?

OLD WOMAN: New medicine. Auuuw... sons don't believe in the old medicine. Faith too weak.

RUBIN: Listen the music.

OLD WOMAN: (Fading into trance, then turns) Faith weak...and gone.

SIRI: What's she say, Rubin?

RUBIN: Nothing.

SIRI: She didn't want to come?

RUBIN: Yes. Just nothing.

SIRI: It will come right, Rubin.

RUBIN: Of course. Yes.

SIRI: We should feel a breeze.

RUBIN: Not down here.

SIRI: Yes. (Pause) Is she asleep?

RUBIN: No. Staring into nothing. Or asleep with eyes open.

SIRI: Maybe her sickness.

RUBIN: Her grip is like iron.

SIRI: What do you think happened to her son?

RUBIN: I don't know. Maybe she doesn't have one.

SIRI: That's not what you think. (Pause) Old woman. Grandmother, can I help you?

OLD WOMAN: No one helps. The power is going. Woods getting thin.

RUBIN: What's she saying?

SIRI: Nothing.

OLD WOMAN: Mango shrivels. Powers don't come.

SIRI: Is there something you need?

OLD WOMAN: (With an old laugh) Need.

SIRI: Yes. Can I do something for you?

OLD WOMAN: Need. (Beat) You have food?

SIRI: (Alarm) Shhhh ...why? You haven't any?

(Grunt vocalization from OLD WOMAN)

SIRI: Oooooh...your son.

OLD WOMAN: My son carries food.

SIRI: Yes, of course. Of course we have food.

OLD WOMAN: Shhhh...be still, with it. Many don't. They sold all they had to get money for their ticket. They think the sea is small, think one night is the whole journey, think they'll be soon fed, soon on land.

SIRI: We brought plenty.

OLD WOMAN: (Laugh) The people don't know, don't know we'll be sailing whole weeks, whole month.

SIRI: Our trunk has everything.

SOUND: SLIDING THEIR TRUNK, UNLOCKING, OPENING IT

SIRI: Food and linen. Law papers, treasures of family. My wedding dress. Are you... hungry?

OLD WOMAN: Are you not? Who comes to the night boat not hungry? But don't give to me. Save it. Worse will come. Many will die, many starve. On the boats, worse comes.

SIRI: Quiet. We can give you something. We have figs and yams. Rice too.

RUBIN: Wait. She'll tell us when she needs it. In the morning. Spare it. It may have to stretch. Like fishes and loaves.

SIRI: My god, Rubin.

RUBIN: And don't be telling midnight stories, Gramma.

OLD WOMAN: You don't hear the stories? Go you down to market, when traders are coming in, you'll hear. Stories for weeping in the bright noon.

SIRI: There are accidents, but most get through.

OLD WOMAN: Who say, who say they get through?

SIRI: We have letters. A friend sends money. The strong get through.

OLD WOMAN: For every one sends money, hundreds float head down, scraping their faces on the far shore.

SIRI: (Taking hold of her) Don't talk like that, Gramma!

OLD WOMAN: (Resists, pulling into herself) Let go! Nobody know what's good for them. Spoiled niggers. On slave ships it was good. It was good on those boats. Slaves are worth plenty. Going where there's work to do. Now what are you worth? Who pays to have you come to America? Nobody. You pays. To leave where you got nothing, can do nothing, going to where you be worth nothing again. And already you paid the man. What's he got to gain by taking you there?

SOUND: THUMPS ABOVE, AND SPLASHES, LOUD

SIRI: (Alarmed) What is it!

RUBIN: Something ... sliding in.

SIRI: Rubin!

(OLD WOMAN is humming herself into a trance)

SOUND: THUMPS AND SPLASHES ABOVE CONTINUE

RUBIN: We should have left the child.

SIRI: I know that's what you think. But we couldntt.

RUBIN: We could. Your sister would have...

SIRI: My sister, no. The child is my reason for coming.

RUBIN: Siri, that's nonsense.

SIRI: You should have stayed. I could have sooner left you.

RUBIN: Siri, stop.

SIRI: I told you. Soon as I knew there'd be a child, I told you. "Go with me or not; no gaping mouth of mine will add to the street-mob. I won't have a child that cries for food."

RUBIN: We could have managed. We aren't stupid. You know there are ways.

SIRI: You begged to "wait." "Wait till the child comes. A child breathing, adjusts, comes along, needs little, only the breast. But mother breathing for both, she's delicate, too delicate."

RUBIN: I was right. You think you're a bull. Strong like a bull because your will is so fierce.

OLD WOMAN: (Groan, snapping awake) Uhnnnh bull...? The snake...

SIRI: Yes, I'm fierce. I will get what there is to have. I know there's a life not hungry. And I will have it.

RUBIN: My woman is the poet of her life.

SOUNDS: MORE SPLASHES. CREAKING AS BOAT ROCKS. TRUNKS SLIDE ACROSS HULL FLOOR. HOLD UNDER

SIRI: Something's going overboard.

RUBIN: You hear her, Gramma A mighty poet.

OLD WOMAN: And you hear. We are overload.

SIRI: I'm no poet, I'm practical. He blames me that we came.

RUBIN: Leaving is a fool's chance. At home there's work to be done.

OLD WOMAN: You have job, you gave up job?

RUBIN: No. Work for the people, only for them.

SIRI: You see who's the fool? Aach, it's him. We had to come because of him. He should remember if he blames me. You know the election?

OLD WOMAN: Election? Yes, I know the election. Celebration!

SIRI: Big party, yes. Did you go?

OLD WOMAN: Election. Big bus, riding. Painted, colors many, music, food, great lot of food. Everyone was coming.

SIRI: You went to vote?

OLD WOMAN: I voted, yes. Everyone voted yes. I rode the bus, voted yes with everyone. Very happy. Stop the bus, vote yes. Ride again bus, vote again yes. All around the island voting yes, all around. Eight places I stopped, voted yes eight times. Happy party, Singing for President. You voted too? How many?

SIRI: Once. One was all. (Beat) Maybe you won't understand. I votes yes, of course, like everyone. Three government men watched me. I turned to go, and I heard this man here. He came behind me, he had my baby. And I heard them ask him what he wanted to vote, and I heard him say "no". He voted "no". Now, all the people were surprised because all day since morning people were voting, and this was the first time someone voted no. So they asked him: No what? What does no mean. He said "No president for life. No for this president." Three times they asked him. Three times he answered the same. I waited. Like the mountain since the volcano stopped, I stood dead. Didn't scream. Didn't grab my child. I only stood dead, waiting to hear him shot. All silent, all...

RUBIN: Then they laughed. All three government men.

SIRI: They were sure you were crazy. Because everyone knows to vote yes!

RUBIN: That's why I voted no. So everyone sees it can be done!

SIRI: You hide nine years in the mountains. Then show your face to say "no?" What sense is that?!

RUBIN: My father's gone. That's the sense.

SIRI: They poisoned him, Rubin. Your lawyer daddy was poisoned.

RUBIN: It's our country. Free near two hundred years. Free country.

SIRI: Free for what? You get us killed, one way or the other.

RUBIN: Are we safe now?!

SOUND: BEAT, THEN A THUMP ABOVE, LARGE SPLASHES, CREAKING OF WOOD

SIRI: (Clinging to him) Rubin!

RUBIN: Hold on!

SOUND: ALARM AMONG PASSENGERS, CHORUS VOICES TROUBLED. BABY CRIES.

SIRI: Again.

RUBIN: What can it be?

OLD WOMAN: (Hissed) The boat breaks now. The sea god is angry.

SIRI: Be still!

RUBIN: Maybe it's the coast guard. Americans. Maybe we're out that far.

OLD WOMAN: If they catch us, they'll throw us home again. (Joyful, begins chanting) Come catch us, come catch us, throw us home. (Repeats like a prayer)

SOUND: MURMURS OF OTHERS JOINING HER. ABRUPTLY, HATCH OPENS, SAILOR'S STEPS DESCEND LADDER

SAILOR: (Full loud voice for the first time) The noise up there, we call "lighten-ing the boat." Going to make us run fast. We're slogging along like a leaky bathtub. Can't skim past the coast guard. They look for us close to home now, easy, easy for everyone. So then, all bags go up, up and over. Up fast!

SOUND: CHORUS MURMURS TURN TO CRIES, SHOUTS. "OUR BAGS, NO! YOU CAN'T TAKE THEM! THEY'RE ALL WE HAVE! NO!"

SAILOR: (Shouts, throwing a case up) Huurrup! (Shouts again, with a throw) Huurrup!

SOUND: CASES AND BOXES BANG AS THEY LAND UP ON DECK

SIRI: What will we do, what can we do!

RUBIN: Hold the baby. Here, against the trunk. Sit on it. Maybe they'll think its theirs. Can the old woman sit on it? God, Siri, I don't know, I don't know!

SOUND: SAILOR RAMPAGING ABOUT. CRIES ALL AROUND, SCREAMS OF PROTEST: "NO! LET ME KEEP THIS! NO!!"

SAILOR: Give a hand then, boy. Think you're on a luxury jet?

SIRI: My trunk! No!

(Sailor's rough laugh as he grabs their trunk)

SOUND: SLIDE OF TRUNK AS RUBIN GRABS IT AND PULLS

RUBIN: Let go!

SAILOR: You planning to not cooperate?

SIRI: Hold on, Rubin!

SAILOR: (Kicking him) You need some boot in your face?

RUBIN: (Struggling to hold on) What are you doing! Why not kill us all now, throw the weight overboard!

SAILOR: You something special, maybe. You got a ticket for this load?

RUBIN: Who leaves home with nothing?

SAILOR: Who asked you aboard?!

RUBIN: Savage!

SAILOR: Who asked you to get off, go another day, make it easy. Get a moonlight cruise with extras.

RUBIN: You can't treat us like...

SAILOR: Niggers? Like niggers?

RUBIN: Your mother tell you you're not black as me?

SOUND: TRUNK DROPPED

SAILOR: (Grabs RUBIN) Arrrh!

SIRI: Ahhh!

SOUND: SLAM OF RUBIN THROWN DOWN.

(RUBIN is hurt, breathing hard)

SIRI: Rubin!

SAILOR: Listen me good, stuck-up bastard. You do this once. Take your chance. Me, everyday. My neck, my ship, my sweet balls on the spike. For what? A little little money. I'd be happy to sleep on shore. So don't ask! Don't come sweeping off the island like rats, squealing and retching, and swamping my ship. (Beat) Now this trunk goes!

(As SAILOR lifts trunk, SIRI grabs him, with a squeal and snarl)

SIRI: You can't, you can't take it!

RUBIN: Siri, don't.

SAILOR: (Swinging, trying to shake her off) Tell her to let go, or she's next. Over the side. She and the brat together!

(SIRI bites SAILOR)

SOUND: TRUNK DROPS

SAILOR: (Yell) She bites?! (Drawing knife) She needs a taste of the blade.

RUBIN: (Trying to get between them) He's got a knife, Siri. Let him take it!

SAILOR: (Reaching for SIRI) I'll take care of her, easy as snapping off a hen's head.

RUBIN: Siri!

(OLD WOMAN suddenly rises, emitting a strange sound. Stuggling stops. SAILOR yells as though he's been burned, and drops the knife)

SOUND: KNIFE CLATTERING DOWN

RUBIN: What did she do to him? She lifted her arm...

(ALL are stunned)

SAILOR: (Frightened) All right, old woman, calm down. The knife is gone. I'm taking the trunk.

SOUND: TRUNK SLIDING

RUBIN: My god. What did she do?

SIRI: (Intense whisper) The food. Rubin, the food...

RUBIN: Hii! Let us keep our food. Unless you plan that we starve as well.

SAILOR: (Stops with a grunt, then) Show me.

SOUND: SAILOR LETS THE TRUNK SLIDE.

(RUBIN opens it, gets a bundle out)

RUBIN: Here. Just this bundle. Weighs less every day. We'll share.

(SAILOR grunts, short laugh as he shoulders the trunk)

SOUND: STAGGERING STEPS OF SAILOR TO LADDER WITH WEIGHT

RUBIN: Grandmother?

SIRI: Leave her. She's just staring.

RUBIN: What was that she did?

SIRI: What?

RUBIN: She stopped him. She raised her arm, and he stopped. He was frightened.

SIRI: I didn't see.

RUBIN: You did. You were frightened too. (Pause) You were.

SIRI: The path on water.

RUBIN: What?

SIRI: Maybe...she found the water path.

END OF SCENE

### INTERLUDE

MUSIC: DRUM AND FLUTE

SOUND: WIND INCREASING; SEA ROLLING AGAINST BOAT, HOLD UNDER

CHORUS: Aaaaah...

(CHORUS voices first blend with wind, then echo OLD WOMAN's VOICE)

OLD WOMAN and CHORUS:

Day flows into weeks

on the open sea

a moment equals

eternity

Only man troubles

with time

his little time

Only man troubles

with time

SOUND: BUILDS TO SUDDEN STOP

MUSIC: OUT

SCENE TWO

(Sudden silence. Then, a groan of RUBIN waking, weeks later, in stagnant heat. When he speaks, it is clearly him, but near-starvation lends a wary-animal delirium to his monologue)

RUBIN: Aaaah, sun...burning...too bright. Should shut the hatch, someone. Shhh. Still. No rocking. Shhh. Careful, don't wake her. Careful. Shhh. What's that sound. Wave? No. Wind? No. Nothing. There was nothing. Your own brain sloshing. Shhh.

More of us won't wake. Just...not wake. Slip away, silent, into the sea. No whimper. Just... stop. Stomach stops, then voice, then eyes. Sailor finds them, carries them above, slips them quiet, into the sea.

Got to wake, look for... Nothing in the bag. Nothing left. Not even in the corner. Thought there was a yam. One yam left? Grain of rice? Anything? Look again. Be patient. Got to find something. Feel between planks, down the hull, beneath. Fingers reach down... Nothing, nothing. Don't panic. Pockets. Try pockets again.

(Pause, then loud) Iiiiiiah!

SIRI: (Stirring weakly where she lies) What?

RUBIN: A bean. A black bean. I found one. There's one left.

SIRI: (Dully) Are we moving?

RUBIN: No no no, of course not. Look at it, Siri. I give it to you.

SIRI: (Preoccupied with baby, cradled in her arm) No. You found it. Look, the baby, he's just...

RUBIN: But I love you, my darling one. I'll give it to you. I was dreaming... you, holding your skirt up, thighs parting the water, sleek gliding, gliding.

SIRI: You dreamed? I too. (Remembering dream) Oh god...

RUBIN: What, darling, my mermaid...what troubles? What did you dream?

SIRI: (Sharp change) Look at him! Is he breathing?

RUBIN: He sleeps, darling, don't be afraid, only sleeps.

SIRI: It was better when he cried. Even all night long. He was strong enough to cry.

RUBIN: He'll be strong again. Here. That's why you eat the bean. So you'll be strong to feed him. Don't cry...you've been so good, don't start. You need your tears for milk. Don't drop them. There, that's right.

SIRI: It's no good, it's over. Yesterday, the day before. He'd yank, angry. Then refuse and cry. Then pull, again, nub nipple sucked into the curl of his dry tongue. Oh god! To be aching full again, to be dripping sticky milk in my sleep again, aching for his greedy tongue.

RUBIN: Love, my love.

SIRI: So I must still not cry. Save this teaspoon of tears...for what? It's over.

RUBIN: Let me hold you...come... (Sings)

No greater sorrow, Papa God, no greater woe

No greater sorrow come down on me

No greater sorrow, Papa God, no greater woe

Than the Mama got who can't feed her child.

(Speaks) Tell, me your dream.

SIRI: I hope I'm forgetting. Dream pictures go away if you... No. He's still there.

RUBIN: Who is?

SIRI: The old white.

RUBIN: What old white?

SIRI: I don't know. Are we moving?

RUBIN: No.

SIRI: I felt it. We slid to the side.

SOUND: MUFFLED SPLASH

SIRI: What's that?

RUBIN: Another who didn't wake. The sailor found three more. He slides them silent into glassy sea, it won't shatter. What did you dream?

SIRI: Three gone? That's more room.

RUBIN: An old white. A man?

SIRI: Yes, a man.

RUBIN: What happened?

SIRI: I was swimming...

RUBIN: I saw you walking. In my dream.

SOUND: WATER FLOWING, ARMS PULLING, HOLDS UNDER

SIRI: No, swimming. For miles. Miles and miles, the day, the night. My limbs are heavy, slow, like stumps soon sinking. My lungs hurt. I gasp to stay afloat, but the sea is warm... Then, a piece of land. I can see it. I can reach it...

SOUND: BIRD TWITTERING

SIRI: I can smell the ripe earth. Fruits hang over the water. Wet pine, wild strawberry. But the water is still deep, even at the edge. I grab a flat rock, stretch my arm across to lift me. But I slide,the rock is slippery. I reach again, hear a laugh...

SOUND: LOW CHUCKLE

SIRI: An old white comes hobbling out onto the rock. He laughs, and, putting his foot on my head, pushes it under. Not far under, just enough. He laughs another laugh. Being very careful that his shiny shoe stays dry.

(Silence)

RUBIN: I'll save the bean. Just till he's awake. Then I'll chew it soft, and give it to him.

SIRI: When the sailor took the three who didn't wake, what did he say about the wind?

RUBIN: Nothing. I asked how is the sky But the sailor said nothing. He did not look well himself.

SIRI: It can't be far. We must be close. I could smell the ripe earth.

RUBIN: Every day is a day, my mermaid, but...

SIRI: But...Saturday is not Sunday?

OLD WOMAN: (Stirring from sleep) Ummmhmmm...

RUBIN: (Alert) She's waking...ahah, ahah. Listen. She'll start mumbling.

SIRI: Never mind. Let her be.

OLD WOMAN: (Inarticulate) Low now, riding the stream.

RUBIN: But how does she do it, what's she living on?

SIRI: Not our business.

RUBIN: She never took a bite from us. Not even a fistful of rice, not even at first.

SIRI: I don't know. It's her business.

RUBIN: But did you watch? She hasn't eaten. I swear. But I'm sure, I'm sure unless I'm crazy...she's getting stronger. First day she was a broken bird, almost dead. And now, after weeks, she breathes as full and sure as deep rolling surf.

SIRI: Where did you put the bean?

RUBIN: (Cheerfully) One bean, Granma. That's all that's left.

OLD WOMAN: Did any go during the night?

(RUBIN'S delirious cheer is sinking into panic)

RUBIN: Three we know of. Three from down here.

OLD WOMAN: Not so many then.

RUBIN: You're looking well.

OLD WOMAN: Yes yes.

RUBIN: The cruise agrees with you.

OLD WOMAN: (Chuckle) Hmmmh. We ride low, ride stream of life.

RUBIN: (Spits it out) We're riding nothing now. Still no wind.

OLD WOMAN: Don't be troubled. Water's path for the spirit. The baby?

SIRI: (Listless) Drowned.

RUBIN: No, he sleeps. The crying stopped.

OLD WOMAN: Good. Sleeping good.

RUBIN: (Beat) Yes. (Then, anger rising) It's a good joke on us, Gramma, think – this, us on this boat, we did ourselves, we fought for our place here. The last time our people were in a place like this, they were dragged on and chained to the hull.

OLD WOMAN: Chained, yes. But after weeks, they got food, plenty food, fatten the stock, the man-cattle, cattle are worth much. (Emphatically) The slave boats were better.

(Satisfied with her pronouncement, the OLD WOMAN gets to her feet)

SOUND: OLD WOMAN SLAPPING A SUPPORT POST

OLD WOMAN: Good post here. Fine post.

(She vocalizes a drumming sound, as...)

SOUND: SLAPS IN RHYTHM ON POST

(Her hum holds under, and grows into a chant as the scene continues)

RUBIN: (Exploding bitterly) We're not lost, Siri, it's not possible, not now. There's radar. They can find anything. Bits of metal in space, electrons in vapor, anything! They've tracked us from the beginning. They know exactly where we are. We can't be lost !

OLD WOMAN: (Muttering hum) Dadumm, dun dadadada dum...

SIRI: (Dully) No one said we're lost. There's just no wind.

RUBIN: There are helicoptors. There's radar. They know we're here...

SIRI: Rubin...

RUBIN: They've decided. They're waiting until we all die.

SIRI: Rubin, don't. Don't. It's no one's fault. Don't use your strength like that. Don't. Come my darling. Sit.

(SIRI is pleading, comforting. The OLD WOMAN mutters rhythmically, moving in a circle, closer, then farther. SIRI finally notices and gasps, terrified)

SIRI: What's she doing? Stop her! Don't do that!

RUBIN: What?

SIRI: (Getting up to grab the OLD WOMAN) Stop. Stop that. Stop.

RUBIN: Siri...

OLD WOMAN: Hands off, girl!

SIRI: You can't do that here.

RUBIN: What do you mean, Siri?

SIRI: She's opening the door. She can't.

RUBIN: What door? That's a post.

OLD WOMAN: What I do, girl?

SIRI: You know, old woman.

OLD WOMAN: And you also know?

SIRI: (Beat) I won't let you.

RUBIN: What's this about, Siri?

OLD WOMAN: Be still. All be still. Look after your child, girl.

RUBIN: Siri, what is it? Siri?

(SIRI does not respond)

OLD WOMAN: Food all gone now?

RUBIN: (Sighs, tension gone) Yes.

OLD WOMAN: You got nothing left?

RUBIN: (Weak) Something. (Getting into his pocket) In my handkerchief. These.

SOUND: CLINK OF HEAVY COINS UNWRAPPED

OLD WOMAN: (Picks up a coin, chuckles) Your woman right. You crazy. These coins worth nothing. Too old

RUBIN: Yes, they're old. From the mountain. I dug...many places. You can buy a pig with these. But in America...you can buy more than a pig.

OLD WOMAN: America so stupid?

RUBIN: They're old. They're treasure.

OLD WOMAN: They from slave times?

RUBIN: (Relaxed) No. From the time the black man took his freedom. Revolution time. Only second time in the world, man took freedom. And that man was black.

OLD WOMAN: (Examining a coin) This black man on the coin?

RUBIN: That's King Henry. Henry Christophe. He built a great castle, to fight Napoleon. You know that castle, on the mountain top?

OLD WOMAN: (Settling, pleased) Proud old time.

RUBIN: (Limp, weak) Still proud, still. And good, sweet people. People need to learn something, Gramma.

OLD WOMAN: (Clucking) Too much evil, evil world, honey-tongue boy.

RUBIN: They need to learn the world.

OLD WOMAN: (Suddenly alert) Your woman is from the country, yes?

RUBIN: (Painfully) Yes.

OLD WOMAN: But not you. You speak together French. You teach her?

RUBIN: (Ignoring the question) What do you do at the post, Gramma?

OLD WOMAN: Post, aah. Post is crossing place.

RUBIN: Crossing place?

OLD WOMAN: Crossing – world of us, world of spirits. Spirit travels through the post. Your woman's afraid. Huuhuh. She believes.

SIRI: (Apart) No, I don't.

RUBIN: Believes what?

OLD WOMAN: A child knows in its blood. Why don't you know?

RUBIN: (Pause) Voodoo? My father... my family didn't allow it.

OLD WOMAN: (Preoccupied) She's stubborn, your woman, but she's afraid. She made you come on the boat?

RUBIN: No. It was my fault, because of voting. I was angry. Angry I didn't fight. In hiding, I'm worthless to my people. I'm a coward but must do something. So I voted no. Once, I dare. One time I wasn't a coward. Now...we're here.

OLD WOMAN: No coward. Here, we're close to water. Only a little skin between. Spirits speak, easy. Easy come through water from creation.

SOUND: HEAVY MOVEMENT

OLD WOMAN: Sun blot, blot sun, who makes the shadow?

SAILOR: (Above, rough, but sodden, dull) Any still alive down there?

OLD WOMAN: (Eager) Ah. The carrier death, he comes.

(SAILOR moving down ladder into hold, grunting, rummaging, slapping people awake)

SOUND: ROLLING OVER BODIES. CHORUS, MUMBLING AND GROANS. CHORAL CHORDS, MOVING UPWARD

RUBIN: Sailor? You sure that man is dead?

SAILOR: Uugh. (Drags a body)

SOUND: DRAGGING BODY TO LADDER

OLD WOMAN: (Accosting SAILOR) How far have we come?

RUBIN: Gramma, let him take the corpse. Come back.

SAILOR: (Hoisting the body, exhausted) Aaaaagh.

OLD WOMAN: (Grabbing hold of SAILOR) How far?

SAILOR: (Pulling away) Let go!

OLD WOMAN: So climb, climb out! We skim fast now, uh? No weight left.

RUBIN: Gramma, still yourself!

SOUND: SAILOR CLIMBING UP AND THROUGH HATCH

OLD WOMAN: (Crows after the SAILOR) Less than thirty mile, you said yesterday. We're close now, less than thirty!

RUBIN: The boat can't move without wind. The sea is a dead pond. We sit rotting in the sun.

OLD WOMAN: No wind? We need wind.

RUBIN: (Pause) Are you a believer?

SIRI: No.

OLD WOMAN: Yes, believe now. You help. Take coins in cloth.

SIRI: Don't, Rubin.

RUBIN: Yes, I want to.

SOUND: THROWING COINS INTO THE CLOTH, ONE BY ONE

RUBIN: Remember when my father died?

SIRI: Poisoned. He was poisoned.

RUBIN: He spoke to me alone.

SIRI: They chased him.

RUBIN: He had something to tell me...

SIRI: All your family hate Voodoo, Rubin. It keeps us in the jungle. We're going to a new world, Rubin. Where miracles come from men.

RUBIN: Maybe we won't get there, Siri. What do I do with the coins, Gramma?

OLD WOMAN: Put them in cloth, loose. Shake it, make rattle.

(RUBIN shakes coins; OLD WOMAN begins intoning, rhythmically, and stamping a dance)

SOUND: DRUMMING BEGINS ON WOOD OF BOAT. CHORUS AMPLIFIES THE CHANT. THE DRUMMING SWELLS, ACCELERATES

SIRI: (Grabbing RUBIN) Don't do this. You don't believe...

RUBIN: That's the dance, Siri.

SIRI: Don't watch!

RUBIN: It's so wild. She's going to fall...

SIRI: (Leaping up, catching OLD WOMAN) Aaahah!

SOUND: DRUMMING, FASTER, NOW CHANGES RHYTHM. IT IS SYNCOPATED

RUBIN: (Surprised) You caught her.

SIRI: (Urging gently) There, now. Stand up, Gramma.

OLD WOMAN: (Huge sound) Aaahoooh!

RUBIN: What's happening?!

SIRI: Nothing. Don't look.

OLD WOMAN: (Deep voice) Quiet!

RUBIN: That voice. Listen.

OLD WOMAN: (As CHRISTOPHE) Silence! (Pause) Little man! Get me my telescope.

RUBIN: (Cowed) Telescope?

SIRI: It's not one of the gods. Telescope... It's Christophe. King Henry. Give him this stick. Bow when you do it.

RUBIN: Him?

OLD WOMAN: (As CHRISTOPHE) Give 'me my telescope! Clean the lens first.

RUBIN: Of course.

SIRI: Hand it to him. And bow.

OLD WOMAN: (As CHRISTOPHE) Thank you, little man. Now let's see... ("Looking") No clouds. No wind. A bad spot. Yes, children?

RUBIN: (Uncertainly) You are...King Henry?

OLD WOMAN: (As CHRISTOPHE) And you are...a slave?

RUBIN: I... (Beat) There are no slaves in King Henry's kingdom.

OLD WOMAN: (As CHRISTOPHE, hearty laugh, then— ) Some think there are.

RUBIN: Because...you are severe, King Henry. You work your people hard, you drive them.

OLD WOMAN: (As CHRISTOPHE) I drive them to their own honor, Monsieur. They think freedom means nothing but ease. I did not drive out the white man to rule a degenerate kingdom!

RUBIN: Yes, Monsieur, but...

OLD WOMAN: (As CHRISTOPHE) I will work them and drive them to greatness. Only then can they glare level-eyed at the white. The world is watching, little man. To see what the black man will do.

RUBIN: He will try to be white. He will murder his own. Scrape them to dust.

OLD WOMAN: (As CHRISTOPHE) No! That must end. Be wise, little man. The murders must end. Do not despair. Lead wisely. You know how. (Speech peaks, then, a dying fall) Aaaaaa. (OLD WOMAN lifts her arm high, then collapses)

RUBIN: (Jumping, startled) Be careful ...what? She fainted!

SOUND: WIND. BOAT BEGINNING TO MOVE, LURCHES, CREAKS

RUBIN: She lifted her arm, then fell. What happened?

SIRI: Ahhhh...we're moving.

RUBIN: Is she all right?

SIRI: He's gone. Christophe left.

RUBIN: (Relaxing) I had to do it, Siri. My father...

SIRI: He hated Voodoo, Rubin.

RUBIN: Before he died, he frightened me.

SIRI: (Realizing) We're moving. There must be wind!

RUBIN: My father told me, I must serve the spirits. As he did, in secret. He alone, protected my whole family. And now it's me. I have to...

SIRI: No! He hated Voodoo, he said...

RUBIN: When he died, he told me: Love, love deep, to serve is good.

SIRI: No! (Then, faintly) The boat sways...we're moving.

OLD WOMAN: (Weakly) It goes?

SIRI: She's back. (To OLD WOMAN) It goes. We're moving.

MUSIC: A TRANSISTOR PLAYS, ISLAND MUSIC, SOFT

RUBIN: What did it mean, Gramma? What did you do.

SIRI: She doesn't know.

RUBIN: Doesn't know?

SIRI: No. She won't remember.

RUBIN: But she did it.

SIRI: The spirit took her body. Leave it now.

RUBIN: You said it wasn't a god.

SIRI: No! It was one of the dead. Leave me alone!

OLD WOMAN: Who came?

RUBIN: Henry Christophe. What did it mean, Gramma?

OLD WOMAN: (Amused) You must think. Speak with your heart. Then you know.

RUBIN: But tell me...

OLD WOMAN: I know nothing. He came for you.

RUBIN: My poor father. He was so alone.

OLD WOMAN: With his secret, yes. He hurt with secret. But not alone. The lonely are those cut off. Your father served. He was connected to all life, all death, all good in the world...above, beneath. He knew the way, the way to seeing, to knowing, to peace.

RUBIN: The way to peace.

OLD WOMAN: Before, I was afraid. I was sick to death. My power weak, people poor, no young to take my place. But now, on the water... On water I feel spirits flow. I am closer creation. (Pause) What did Christophe say?

RUBIN: He said I know how to lead.

OLD WOMAN: Ahh.

RUBIN: Our people always know how to lead, have the idea to lead, many leaders, many strong.

SIRI: (Bitterly, from aside) Idea to lead, yes. And the idea to not be led. Together, they make blood, always blood. He leads. Then what? A strong man comes. Then, the best way is exile. If not exile, then for sure, you get more blood.

OLD WOMAN: They tie you back to back. Sail you out. Out on water. Bayonet your belly. Push you in. Sharks quick. Water warm.

RUBIN: Christophe gave the answer: no murder, no more.

SIRI: Christophe was a blood-soaked tyrant.

SOUND: WIND IS STRONGER

MUSIC: ISLAND MUSIC SWELLS

SOUND: CRACKLE OF STATIC

MUSIC: NEW MUSIC – IT IS ACID ROCK. IT IS A MIAMI STATION

OLD WOMAN: Too much wind. Danger.

SIRI: Listen!

OLD WOMAN: Too strong.

SIRI: Hear it? Listen! That's America coming. I know that's America. We're close now, for sure. Listen!

OLD WOMAN: Wind is too strong.

SIRI: We're going to get there, baby child. It's America, Rubin.

RUBIN: It could be.

SIRI: It is, it is. I know it. It's paradise.

RUBIN: Our island was paradise.

SIRI: No none. Our paradise was seventeen pieces of tin in places, cardboard and rag, the rest. The ditch between huts carries water, carries everything. The baby could die just breathing that sewer.

RUBIN: Siri, don't...

SIRI: I'll tell you paradise. We're on the way. We'll get there, you'll see.

RUBIN: It's cold there, in winter.

(Pulling herself up, SIRI's volume will build into a rousing hymn)

SIRI: Some places, yes. It's big as the world. But different. In America no one is poor. They all have houses, rooms and rooms. Rooms warm when it's cold, cool when it's hot. And rooms have windows. Windows and windows. So cities glitter, diamonds in sunlight. And they're all soooo rich. They have cars and clothes and whatever they want. Just to be happy. And they all have jobs. Aaaand there is so much food. Piles and piles. So much...when their president hears of one hungry, just one...he won't sit to eat, will not take a bite, until that hungry person is fed.

SOUND: VIOLENT JERK. BOXES SLIDE, CRASHES

RUBIN: What's that?

SIRI: What.

RUBIN: Something happened.

SOUND: ANOTHER JERK. MORE CRASHING. ROCKING (SLIDING) INCREASES

SIRI: What is it?

(The OLD WOMAN is muttering)

SIRI: Nothing can happen now. It can't.

RUBIN: I'm going up to see.

SIRI: On deck? I want to come.

RUBIN: No Stay here.

SIRI: Then look with my eyes.

OLD WOMAN: He's going up?

SIRI: Be careful.

SOUND: STEPS OF RUBIN ASCENDING LADDER

SIRI: It's coming, my baby. Wetre almost there.

SOUND: WIND, CRASHING ON DECK

OLD WOMAN: (Barely audible) What do they speak there?

SIRI: What?

OLD WOMAN: What are they speaking there? The French?

SIRI: In America? The English.

OLD WOMAN: English. (Beat) You speak that?

SIRI: No. Why do we rock again?

OLD WOMAN: Then how can you talk? What job can you do?

SIRI: I can learn. I learn anything. Rubin say my mind is faster than lizards up the wall.

OLD WOMAN: So fast...and so still?

SIRI: Yes. Still like lizard. But waiting. He knows. His daddy made the President angry. He hid in nountains, nine years. Rubin came to hide too. He taught sometimes at my village, my school. He saw my mind. Rubin, he knows the English. He taught me his favorite English. It sings paradise. (She speaks words strange to her) "Be not afeard; the isle is full, of noises...."

OLD WOMAN: You sing clear. The power is in you.

SIRI: No.

OLD WOMAN: Power isn't dead because you deny it.

SIRI: Go away from me.

OLD WOMAN: Why be afraid?

SIRI: I'm not afraid.

OLD WOMAN: You know much.

SIRI: I thank you for this, old woman. I thank you for bringing King Henry to my Rubin. You helped him see his strength.

OLD WOMAN: But where is your strength? You're clouded, girl.

SIRI: I am at peace.

OLD WOMAN: Maybe you served? You were chosen?

SIRI: No!

OLD WOMAN: What good is a lie? Your spirit will be angry.

SIRI: No!!

OLD WOMAN: (Commanding) Your spirit's name. Your spir-iiit....

(The OLD WOMAN draws out the word on a tone... SIRI finally cries out— )

SIRI: Siiiri, Siri, Sirene!

OLD WOMAN: (Quietly) Sirene... the mermaid.

SIRI: Don't speak it. Yes, I'm chosen. I... (A whisper) I have sight.

OLD WOMAN: Sight.

SIRI: Sometimes.

OLD WOMAN: You special child. Holy.

SIRI: No. I refuse. I don't want it. Don't want to see pain. Like Rubin. He sees in the streets pain, I, in the mind. People ask me the future. I see pain for them. No. No more.

SOUND: RUBIN COMING THROUGH THE HATCH, AND STEPS DOWN LADDER

(RUBIN is excited)

SIRI: Rubin! What did you see? Did you see America? I want to look.

RUBIN: Night is coming too early. The sky's strange.

SIRI: Did you see it?!

RUBIN: (Beat) The sailor's coming. The sails are down.

SIRI: Down!

SOUND: SAILOR STEPS FAST DOWN LADDER

(SAILOR is in bad shape, breathing hard)

SAILOR: We've struck sail. Coast guard is out with flood lights. Can't risk the sail, being seen.

SIRI: We're close! We've got to keep sailing.

SAILOR: If we get caught, you'll wish we were back in the middle of the sea.

SIRI: Why? What will they do?

SAILOR: Lock you in a chain-mail cage, fast as your eye blinks.

SIRI: A cage? A cage? For what? What reason?

SAILOR: Because you try to come in their country.

SIRI: Their foot... Are they white?

SAILOR: Not all.

SIRI: Shiny shoe.

SAILOR: No noise. Keep low.

SOUND: SAILOR STEPS UP THE LADDER

RUBIN: What about the storm? Don't we have to ride with the sails up?

SAILOR: (From ladder) Sail is my business. You got storm, and you got coast guard. One you count on, the other not. If I've got to choose, I choose the storm, cause I don't know yet what he do to me. Coast guard, I know what he do to me. With him I lose everything.

SOUND: SILENCE AS THE SAILOR STEPS UP AND OUT

OLD WOMAN: No sails.

SIRI: (Pause) You said the sky looked strange. How?

RUBIN: Red.

SIRI: Red. Like sunset?

RUBIN: No, all red.

SIRI: (Moved, but she barely whispers) Red.

OLD WOMAN: You see something.

SIRI: (Sharply) No!

RUBIN: Little Siri. She wants to see everything. The whole world disappears into her eyes. World above, world below. She's the one who dives to find tiny scarlet darting, brilliant blue and silver, languid golden green, crab under the bottom sand. She dives, then shoots up laughing.

OLD WOMAN: She swim, your Siri?

SIRI: "Be not afeard. The isle is full of noises..." Rubin...tell me the paradise.

RUBIN: The English?

SIRI: Yes, again please.

RUBIN: You tell it. Lazy Siri.

SIRI: "The clouds methought would open and show riches...ready to drop upon me...

RUBIN: (Gently) "...that when I waked...

SIRI: "I cried to dream again." To dream again. Hold me, Rubin.

SOUND: CRASH OF LIGHTNING STRIKES. SPLASHES. VIOLENT STORM.

(SAILOR descends partway down the ladder, clinging to it, shouts above the storm)

SAILOR: Men overboard! All men up to secure the mast. Up, up fast !!

SOUND: MEN PULLING UP THROUGH THE HATCH. GHOSTLY CHANTING BEGINS

SIRI: (Frightened) Rubin, no!

RUBIN: Be good, Siri. Siri isn't afraid.

SIRI: Rubin, I see!

RUBIN: You see a storm, dark night, close to America. You see a man not hiding.

SIRI: Please, Rubin. I see them all being swept into the water!

RUBIN: I have to go up, Siri. You know that...if you have sight. (Pause) Tell me you know.

SIRI: I know.

SOUND: CLOTH WITH COINS COMING OUT OF POCKET

RUBIN: Be wise. Remember, you are strong. You have the swift running mind. Take the coins.

SIRI: No.

RUBIN: Take them. Gramma. Take care of this one if I don't see you. You call me honey tongue, but she is the poet. Of plain tongue, and of the French. Soon English too. She will make our island proud.

SIRI: Rubin...

SOUND: A LONG CRY FROM ABOVE

RUBIN: And though she is sweet as a soft fig, her will is fierce.

SIRI: Rubin, I will follow you.

RUBIN: You will obey me. And stay. Unless I call you. Now. Take your child.

SOUND: CHANTING GROWS HIGHER

SIRI: Come, baby child. (Calling) Rubin!

SOUND: RUBIN CLIMBING LADDER

SIRI: Mambo. I fear now.

OLD WOMAN: Nothing more to fear. We know all the fears. No darkness that has not taken us. No scream in the fire. No squeal of bodies torn, pieces ripped, eyes, bowels, sex torn away from still living souls. We know it all, we have it all on the tongue, in the brain, all still live, still, alive.

SIRI: I denied my loa, my Sirene.

OLD WOMAN: She has no anger. All love.

SIRI: I brought him here. He could have led. He goes by my hand.

OLD WOMAN: What do you see in the red sky?

SIRI: Here. Take the child... And the coins.

SOUND: SHIFTING BABY AND COINS

OLD WOMAN: Why give me this...this baby?

SIRI: In America...baptize him, pass him over the fire, do it well. Call him Agwe, for god of the sea.

OLD WOMAN: Girl, I am old. It's for you to replace mea. I know nothing.

SIRI: You have strength now. Tell him about Christophe. You have as much milk as me.

OLD WOMAN: What do you see, girl?

SIRI: Call her, call! Sirene of the water. She takes me now. I dance the dance.

SOUND: THE CHANT BECOMES DRUMMING, WITH SOUNDS OF STORM

OLD WOMAN: Sway, child, now sway. Sirene is your loa. Sirene of the water. She will attend. Does the man dwell with water?

SOUND: VOICES AND PERCUSSION "CREATE" DANCE. MANY VOICES BACK UP SIRI'S SONG

SIRI: (Swaying) I see...

He dwells in water

turquoise clear water

floating so lightly

singing cool in the sun

OLD WOMAN: Dance, child, dance.

SIRI: He slices through water

turquoise clear water

embraces me laughing

tumbling as one

(SIRI's dance approaches frenzy)

SIRI: Our limbs twine in water

world under turquoise

bubbles veer lightward

from the bed we have won

SIRI: (Triumphant sound, rising, echoing) Aaaaaaaaaah!

OLD WOMAN: Up child, up the ladder, as though you fly! You join him, I know.

MUSIC: CHANTING GROWS INTO DEEP CHORD OF MUSIC RESOLVING UP AND UP

OLD WOMAN: Dance your dance freely, child

Enter the stream

Waken tomorrow

From your dark dream

SOUND: SURF LAPPING SHORE

MUSIC: RHYTHMIC ISLAND MUSIC AND CHANTING UP, THEN HOLD UNDER...

ANNOUNCER: Haiti: A Dream by Karen Sunde, directed by Marjorie Van Halteren in collaboration with The People's Light and Theatre Company

MUSIC: ORCHESTRA, DRAMATIC, RHYTHMIC UP, THEN HOLD UNDER CREDITS...

END OF PRODUCTION

THE SOUND OF SAND

Winner of Bob Hope Award

From National Foundation for the Blind

MUSIC: HARMONICA. IN SLOW. ESTABLISH. HOLD UNDER

ANNOUNCER: In cooperation with the American Foundation for the Blind, the Iowa State University Players present... The Sound of Sand.

MUSIC: UP. AS THEME ENDS, SEGUE SOUND

SOUND: BEACH NOISES. HOLD UNDER

PETIE: (Excitedly) Come on, Dad. Hurry! Let's find a good place.

BRUCE: Hold on there, boy. Mustn't move too fast for your mother. She's not so young anymore, you know.

IRENE: (Fading in) I heard that, you two characters. I guess I can keep up with the best of you. Well, where's it going to be?

PETIE: By the water. I want to get down near the water. Can we, Dad?

BRUCE: Sounds fine to me. (As though looking for a spot) Mmmm, okay. A sharp left, son. I think I see a spot.

PETIE: This way, Dad?

BRUCE: (Laughing) Yes, but don't pull. Don't pull. We'll get there.

SOUND: OFF "LAST ONE IN IS IT" FADE OFF. LIGHT SURF. "COME ON, DENNY." LAUGHTER

BRUCE: Here we are. How about this?

IRENE: Just fine, dear. It's not even very crowded.

SOUND: LIGHT SPLASHING AND LAUGHTER

PETIE: I hear splashing! How close are we?

IRENE: About as close as we can get without soaking the sandwiches.

BRUCE: I'd say...about twenty feet. Here Petie, put down your pail and help me spread the blanket.

PETIE: Sure Dad.

SOUND: FLAP OF BLANKET

BRUCE: That'll do it.

PETIE: Can I go in, Mom?

IRENE: Not just yet, Petie. We have to go back to the car to get our lunch.

BRUCE: Why don't you stay here with the blanket till your mother and I get back?

IRENE: Oh, Bruce. Do you think he should...I mean...we've never been here before. (Not too concerned)

PETIE: Aww, Mom. I'll be okay.

BRUCE: Of course he'll be okay.

IRENE: (Good-natured) The minority sex is over-ruled again. (Fading off) Behave yourself, young man. We'll be right back.

PETIE: O.K. (Calling) Don't forget the cookies.

SOUND: OUT.

MUSIC: HARMONICA SNEAKS IN, HOLD UNDER ALL "THINKING" PARTS

PETIE: (Thinking) Guess it'll take them quite a while. We walked a long way from where we parked the car. Guess I"ll just find out what it's like around here...mmm...blanket's already warm. Put my pail down...here it is...No reason I have to stay right on the blanket. It'll be okay if I just stay near it...(A little more adventurous) ...Boy, my sneakers must have about a ton of sand in 'em...take care of that in a hurry...

SOUND: POURS SAND FROM SHOES INTO PAIL

(Little giggle) Ooo, my feet sink in...it tickles 'tween my toes. Mmm, it's nice and warm...dig into it...(Laugh)...can't even get a handful – slips between my fingers like...like, like wheat, only flour, lots finer. Dad says the beach goes on for miles. I wonder how many sandboxes it would make. But so much better than a sandbox...I can dig deeper, and, and build more things. Dig deeper (Giggles)...like a dog digs. (Excited laughter, then pause for...)

SOUND: DIGGING SOUNDS

Jeepers, it's cooler under here...guess the sun can't reach...wait! It's wet! It's not just cool, it's wet, too. (Realizing) Oh, sure...It's the ocean, The ocean must come right in under the land. Boy, I bet if I dig deep enough...it's packed together down here...good for building castles. Geepers, I'd better be careful...if I should dig way down to the ocean...it might come up through the hole and Mom wouldn't like it if the blanket got all wet.

MUSIC: OUT

SOUND: LIGHT SURF. LAUGHTER OF BATHERS. HOLD UNDER

PETIE: (Satisfied grunts) Big hole now...high banks...if the ocean wants to come in now...

MUSIC: HARMONICA SNEAKS UNDER

...it'll make a nice little lake. (Pause) Yup. That's ocean I hear over there. The Pacific Ocean. (Remembering lesson) "The Spanish explorer Balboa discovered it and he named it Pacific because it was so calm and peaceful."

SOUND: SURF

(As he listens) Sure sounds peaceful...maybe that's 'cause of the break-water...out about a 100 feet, Dad said. And the breeze...the breeze smells...well, clean. Hope Mom n' Dad get back soon so I can go in. Wonder how big the castle should be...guess I'll make it real big...the biggest sandcastle ever, maybe...have to get a lot packed together for a good foundation...

MUSIC: HARMONICA OUT

SOUND: LAUGHTER, EXPLOSIVE, MUFFLED TALKING – HOLD UNDER

PETIE Lots of people here...guess everybody likes to come to the beach. Wonder what they're like...

(GUY and GIRL's laughter, muffled voice become distinct)

GIRL: Come on, let me bury you.

GUY: (Dramatically) You may bury my body, but my spirit will rise to haunt you. You will always remember. You...

GIRL: All right, Ozymandias, we'll write it all in sandstone for posterity. Now lie down like a good king.

GUY: Okay, okay, but you must promise not to cut my long locks while I'm helpless, for therein lies all my strength.

GIRL: I'll promise anything. Now let's see, I wonder if there's enough sand on this beach...

SOUND: SLAP

GIRL: Ouch! Hey, lie still, you...

GUY: Hey, cut it out!

GIRL: (Chuckling delighted) What's the matter, Ozymandias, don't you want your feet tickled?

GUY: (Not meaning it) Go pick on somebody else. I'm trying to take a nap.

GIRL: Are you now? (Teasing) Maybe I will go look for another little boy to play with. One that isn't all covered with sand.

GUY: You do and I'll, I'll...throw you in the drink!

GIRL: Pooh, my big strong hero. I've cut your hair. You wouldn't dare,

GUY: Oh, wouldn't I? (Laughing loudly. Fade begins)

GIRL: (Shriek) Dave, put me down! (Half-laugh half-scream Fading off) David Edward Benson, put me down...!

SOUND: MUFFLED SHRIEK CUT SHORT BY DISTANT SPLASH. FADE OUT

PETIE: (Laughing) Boy, did he show her...

MUSIC: HARMONICA SNEAK UNDER, HOLD

PETIE: ...boy, did she get it! Silly girls, anyway. (Working on his castle as he talks) Always botherin' a guy when he's doing some important thing. They're so silly. Even Mom, when I'm out in the apple tree or something. A guy is better off staying away from girls. Guys have lots more fun with other guys anyway...Maybe I could dig some sand out around the whole thing and make a moat...yeah, like this. Then even if the ocean doesn't come in, I could get water in a pail to fill it...kind of quiet without those big kid...could be everybody else is sleeping...

MUSIC: HARMONICA OUT

SOUND: JINGLING BELL IN DISTANCE. GIRLS MUFFLED TALK BECOMING DISTINCT AS THEY COME AND SETTLE DOWN NEAR PETIE

CAROL: What color dreamsickle did you get?

LYNDA: Oh, doggone, it's orange. I wanted lime.

CAROL: Cripes, look at that, Lynda. I'm burned!

LYNDA: Y'aren't either. Just a little pink.

CAROL: I'll look like a lobster. A perfect lobster! Cripes! Why didn't you tell me I was getting burnt.

LYNDA: Well, I just thought it would add to your charm, Dahling

CAROL: Like mud, you did.

LYNDA: Here. Put some lotion on it.

MUSIC: HARMONICA. SNEAK UNDER.

PETIE: (Still building his castle) Thought those girls were friends. Don't sound like it...mmm, I can use what I dug out of the moat to build up the walls...oops, some keeps slipping down...wonder if I'm burnt...I'll ask Mom...she'll know.

MUSIC: HARMONICA OUT

CAROL: Hand me that lotion, again, will you.

LYNDA: Mmm, Carol?

CAROL: Hmm?

LYNDA: You know if Tom's coming to the beach?

CAROL: He might if he gets out of the shop early. He's gotta help his dad. After that he usually comes out here. Least he has every day but one this week.

LYNDA: Oh.

CAROL: I always watch over there and I can see him right away. Sometimes he wears white trunks, but mostly aqua knits.

LYNDA: Uhuh, I know.

CAROL: How do you know.

LYNDA: I've just seen him here before, that's all.

CAROL: Well, what about Ben. Is he coming?

LYNDA: Oh, I don't know. He kind of bores me lately.

CAROL: Well, just be careful who you start after.

LYNDA: What do you mean? It's a free country, isn't it?

CAROL: Long as you leave other people's property alone.

LYNDA: Now he's your property, is he? How do you think he's going to take to that idea.

CAROL: You just keep your claws to yourself, you little flirt!

LYNDA: You just watch me, little girl. Maybe you'll learn a thing or... (Change of tone) Oh hello, Tom. I didn't see you coming.

CAROL: Hi, Tom. Imagine seeing you here. I thought you worked sometimes.

TOM: Hi girls. Seen Ben or George around?

LYNDA: No, don't think I have. (Rushing) Wouldn't you like to...

TOM: Thanks. Bye now.

MUSIC: HARMONICA SNEAK UNDER. HOLD

PETIE: Boy, I sure wouldn't call that friends...girls are stupid...wonder why they came out here together...wonder if they pound on each other like guys. Naw, I bet they just pull hair or scratch or something sissy. No wonder Tom didn't stay around...boy, I'd hate to get in a mess like that. This ledge is kind of messy...too crumbly...if I get some more wet...there, that's it. Now, if the people in my castle get in a war, they can put guns and cannons along this wall. That'll keep the enemy away...and they can put sharks in the moat, too...they used to do that...those girls, Lynda and Carol, didn't seem very happy...wonder if I could make a tower right here on top...yeah, think I'll put a tower up here. Maybe I should build it up from the bottom...first the castle needs some windows...carve one out here...and here...and a tiny one here.

MUSIC: HARMONICA OUT

SOUND: MUFFLED DOG BARK, THEN PUFFING

OLD MAN: Ah, so you've decided to come back to me, have you Prince? What's that you've brought, fella; here let's see it. (Laughs) Why it's just a piece a'timber ye've found, me lad, an old and rotting piece a'timber. (Pause) Oh, now, don't look so disappointed. Don't hang your head, boy. Why, Prince, it's not as though you came back with just any old worthless stick of wood. Why, no Sirree. This is a worthy timber, if ever I laid eyes on one.

SOUND: LITTLE BARKS

For sure, Prince...I'll wager this timber was part of a stout royal vessel that set sail with the Queen's own navy. How about that, now. Eh? You like that better, do you? Can't you just picture her with proud flag flying high? Sure, sure, and it's a good strip of wood. That I know. But maybe, maybe it wasn't a Queen's ship at all. Maybe it was an adventurous Spanish galleon, bright against the...(OLD MAN's voice becomes muffled)

MUSIC: HARMONIA SNEAK UNDER. HOLD

PETIE: Prince, he calls the dog...Prince...boy, I miss Clipper...way back at home...always talk to him just like the old man's talking to Prince...bet Prince isn't as big as Clipper...they're nearer to the water than I am...but pretty close to me. Both of them are talking quietly...Clipper and I make up stories and games, too...not as good as the old man's...wish I could think up stories that good...

MUSIC: HARMONICA OUT

SOUND: MUFFLED VOICES, DOG SOUNDS

OLD MAN: (Voice becomes distinct again) Come now, Prince. Don't be so anxious to leave me again, fella.

SOUND: DOG BARK

Rest a bit with me. Come on...come on...that's it, that's a good fella. The old man's bones just aren't what they used to be. (Groaning as he sits down) Oh, long ago is the day, my Prince, when I would dash through those waves with a light foot and a soaring heart. Ah, what's that you say? You don't remember? Of course now, girl – why your great great grandmother was yet a pup. Ahhh, then I was all fire, in such a hurry to bite off a chunk of life that I didn't take time to chew it properly, and now, now I can't move quite so fast. I have to make my way slowly...but it does give me a chance to think a bit more, to just stop and soak in the world that's about. And you know, Prince, sometimes I wonder if it isn't better this way. (His voice becoming muffled)

MUSIC: HARMONICA SNEAK UNDER. HOLD

PETIE: I guess he's a pretty old man. Poor old man, all stiff and everything...and here I am getting bigger and stronger every day. (Stretching) He's right about soaking in the world. It's fun...a guy can learn a lot when he's just being quiet...here, some of this wet stuff should help the tower...there, and I can mold this how I want it – roof and ridge and everything.

MUSIC: HARMONICA OUT

SOUND: DOG NOISES

OLD MAN: (His voice becomes distinct) Each person lives in his own little world, Prince. But you know that very well, don't you, now? Ah, I wonder how life seems to you...just what you stop to take real notice of...oh, I can watch you sure enough...but what really goes on behind those dark eyes, how you really picture thiPngs...that I can't imagine.

SOUND: DOG AND SURF

What I do know is the more you take your time, the more you see and know about what goes on...and I've found, in all my years of watching, I've found there's a lot of sorrow in living, an awful lot, boy. So much sometimes that a man wonders if it's all worth it. And it's so, it's surely so, Prince, that a man's got to be very strong sometimes – but if he is, if he's a man who stands up to life and takes all the bitterness it's got to offer him...then boy, then he'll be human enough to find its beauty too. And I think, I think, that once he sees the beauty and the goodness in the world, he knows that the long road of sorrows was worth its end, and he can be happy just soaking in the world about him. (His voice becomes muffled)

MUSIC: HARMONICA SNEAK UNDER. HOLD

PETIE: I know...I know what it is...my castle doesn't have a gate. There's no door in my castle...that old man must've had a pretty hard life, talking so much about sorrow and everything...poor old man...funny him saying that the world is sad...maybe I'm just a lucky kid. Maybe things are tougher when you're grown up...but golly, Dad seems happy. He's right about things being beautiful though...life is beautiful...it's fun...wonder how I could build a drawbridge...hmmm.

MUSIC: HARMONICA OUT

(Lightly surprised) Oh! (Uncertain) Hello?

SANDRA: (Giggle) Hullo.

PETIE: I'm Petie. What's your name?

SANDRA: (Reciting) Sandra. My name's Sandra Lynn Shane. Wanna play with me?

PETIE: Sure...

SANDRA: What are you looking at?

PETIE: (Matter of fact) I'm looking at you.

SANDRA: Well, why are you looking at me so "funny?"

PETIE: Am I looking at you funny?

SANDRA: Yes – like you don't really see me.

PETIE: I guess I don't really see you – like you see me. I'm blind.

SANDRA: Blind. You mean you can't see anything?

PETIE: Right. Not with my eyes, anyway.

SANDRA: (A little whiny) Well, you already said you'd play. You'll play with me anyway, won't you?

PETIE: (Male exasperation, bravado) Sure. You wanna help build my castle?

SANDRA: Nooo, that's no fun. C'mon. Let's go in the water.

PETIE: I don't think I'd better. I oughta stay here and watch the blanket till my mom and dad get here.

SANDRA: Oh, come on...please? I'll even let you play with this.

PETIE: What is it?

SANDRA: (Half-giggle, remembering he's blind) Oh, I forgot – here.

SOUND: SMALL SQUEAK OF HANDS ON INFLATED RUBBER

SANDRA: It's a raft. A rubber raft; it's blown up. You can lay on it.

PETIE: Jeepers, really? It's smooth and, and bouncy...like a beach ball.

SANDRA: Yup. And it's all blue on one side, and on the other side it's got blue flowers... (Running right on) I think that's kinda silly 'cause I never saw any blue flowers yet...

PETIE: (As if trying out the word) Blue. Blue?

SANDRA: Sure, you know – blue. Like the sky or the water or...well, you know. It's just the color blue.

PETIE: (Vaguely) Oh, color. Blue is a color.

SANDRA: (Relieved) That's right. Well, are you gonna go in? Don't you wanna play with the raft?

PETIE: I'd sure like to, but I don't know...

SANDRA: Aw, come on, Petie... (Her voice fading) Here I go. Are you coming?

PETIE: Wait... (Calling) Wait for me, Sandra.

SOUND: SLASHING WATER

SANDRA: (Off, laughter) Hurry up, Petie. Come and get on the raft.

PETIE: I can follow her, if I just go this way... (Nearly running, calls) I'm coming, Sandra! (To himself) Nobody's in front of me. Least I hope they aren't...

SOUND: SURF, HOLD UNDER

PETIE: Ohoo...I'm not sinking in anymore...and the sand is cold...ohoo, water! It's right here. It's the water! ...but, but it's gone. Not here anymore...where did it go? ...Oh, there it is...must be the waves, waves coming in and out. Sure is cold...

SANDRA: (Off) Come on, Scaredy. You gotta get more than your feet wet.

SOUND: SPASHING AT HIM.

PETIE: Don't worry. Here I come. (To himself) She's right ahead of me...

SOUND: LITTLE RIPPLING OF WATER

It's cold...creep up my legs...she should be close.

SANDRA: (Close giggle) Here, grab the raft.

SOUND: SHOVING RAFT THROUGH WATER

PETIE: I...I've got it. What do I do now? How do I get on?

SOUND: TRYING TO GET ON RAFT

SANDRA: Just hold onto it with both hands and climb on. That's right...oops!

SOUND: SQUEAK OF RUBBER, SPLASHING

PETIE: Oh...oh! It's gone. I lost it!

SANDRA: (Laughing) You've got to hold on tight, silly. Here, I've got it.

PETIE: Thanks. There...there. If I push it down while I climb on...

SANDRA: Here, I'll hold on, too. Now...

SOUND: SQUEAK , SPLASH OF KICKING HIMSELF ON

PETIE: There, I'm on! I'm on. Look at me, Sandra. I'm on the raft! (Gaily) Sailing, sailing...

(PETIE and SANDRA laughing)

SANDRA: Come on, now, Petie...push! Put your feet on the bottom and push!

SOUND: SPLASHING

PETIE: (Laughing) Hey, quit splashing me!

SOUND: LOUD HOLLOW PLUNKS OF HIS KICKING SPLASHES

SANDRA: (Shriek) Oh!

PETIE: Gottcha, huh? Wet, isn't it.

SANDRA: I'll fix you.

PETIE: Hey...leggo, Sandra! Let go of the raft!

SOUND: OF RAFT BEING ROCKED

Stop tipping the raft...oh!

SOUND: LOUD SPLASH

(SANDRA'S laughing; PETE sputtering)

SANDRA: Guess I fixed you, Smarty.

PETIE: You sure did. I'm all wet now. Even my hair... (Realizing) Sandra, I had my head under!

SANDRA: Sure you did. Didn't you ever do that before?

PETIE: 'Course, but...

SANDRA: C'mon! Let's dunk our heads.

PETIE: Okay... What for?

SANDRA: Just to see how long you can do it. Come on, now. Take a deep breath...(Taking breath)...and you can hold your nose if you want...but I can stay under longer than you.

PETIE: Bet you can't. Let's go. Just...bend over...ooo, it's cold...tickles my nose...

SANDRA: Here we go. One, two, three...go!

SOUND: SPLASH OF ONE HEAD DUNKING

PETIE: All at once...(Draws deep breath). Now!

SOUND: PLUNK OF ONE HEAD DUNKING. PAUSE WITH SNEAK IN SURF IN DISTANCE. SPEECH ECHOING AS IF UNDERWATER—

PETIE: Mmmm...all around me...like another world...waves sound so very far away...funny, it's like a guy is all by himself, away from the whole world. Wonder if this is how a fish's world seems to him. Bet he just sits still like this sometimes, and...and listens. Maybe he can hear his friends swim by, or...or the bigger fish he has to watch out for. But a fish swims, too. He just moves his fins and goes. Bet I could swim under here...funny, how my head won't stay down, keeps bobbing up like the raft. Guess I can't hold my breath much longer...have to go up...need air...

SOUND: POP INTO WORLD OF SOUND – SURF, BATHERS, SPLASHING

SANDRA: There you are, finally!

PETIE: That's fun! Did you feel how different it was under there, how quiet?

SANDRA: (Uncertain) Huh? Sure, I guess.

PETIE: Hey, Sandra. Let's play like we're fish. Like we have to stay underwater all the time, and we just swim around, and...

SANDRA: (Brightening) Okay, good. And we can dive for food, too.

PETIE: (Puzzled) What do you mean?

SANDRA: Oh, you know. We find a rock or something, and toss it. Then we dive down to see if we can find it again. We play like the rock is food.

PETIE: Okay. Let's find one.

SANDRA: Up along the shore. Come on.

PETIE: I'm coming.

SOUND: SPLASHING OUT OF THE WATER

SANDRA: (Off mike) Over here...where the raft came back in. Come on over by me. There's lots along the shore.

SOUND: SCROUNGING THROUGH SMALL ROCKS

SANDRA: Here. Here's one that's just right.

PETIE: Let me feel it.

SANDRA: There. How's that.

PETIE: Just right.

SANDRA: Come on...beat ya back in.

PETIE: No, you won't.

SOUND: RUNNING WITH LAUGHTER, SPLASHING IN

PETIE: Now what, are we fish?

SANDRA: Sure, we're fish. I'll be Goldie fish.

PETIE: (Laugh) Okay...and I'll be Tuna fish.

SANDRA: (Laugh) All right, Tuna fish. Now this rock is food and we both want it, okay?

PETIE: Okay, you want to throw it?

SANDRA: Here goes. I'll throw it straight out ahead of you.

SOUND: PLUNK OF ROCK IN DISTANCE

SANDRA: Now!

SOUND: SPLASHING, AS THE TWO GO AFTER THE ROCK

MUSIC: HARMONICA SNEAKS IN, BUILDS TO A LIVELY TUNE, FADES UNDER, AND HOLDS

PETIE: (To himself) It went straight ahead, except a little to the right. (Chuckle) Only about twelve feet out, a little to the right...Sandra'll never come close...bet she doesn't listen careful enough, but I know...I heard exactly where it went in. Burrummm...(Like a motor) Here goes Tuna fish, yum yum yum, burrummm...

SOUND: BLOWING AIR INTO WATER

(Giggles) Guess fishes don't make noise.

SOUND: SPLASHING IN WAIST-HIGH WATER

It landed near here, now...dive!

SOUND: ALL REALISTIC SOUND OUT. ECHO UNDERWATER

PETIE: Let's see...along the bottom...the rock should be, ah...here, here it is...same one, too, the very same one.

SOUND: SPLASH UP. REAL SOUNDS RETURN

MUSIC: OUT

PETIE: (Shouts) Sandra, I've found it. Here it is! Sandra!

SANDRA: (Splashing toward him, amazed) Golly, you did. You really did!

FEMALE VOICE: (Off mike, calling) Sandra...Sandra...

SANDRA: Aw, gee. That's my mother...

SOUND: TWO SPLASHING IN TO SHORE...FADE IN BATHERS AND SURF

SANDRA: See you later, maybe.

PETIE: Sandra, aren't you going to take your... (To himself) Guess she's gone... but I don't think she picked up her raft.

SOUND: SPLASHING AROUND

PETIE: Hey! Bet she wouldn't care if I play with it. Sure. And it's right along the edge of the...(As he moves along shore) Yes! Here it is...now...(Playing with raft, to himself) "Shove off, mate". "Aye, aye, Captain. Where are we bound?"

SOUND: SCRAPING OF RAFT AGAINST SANDY BOTTOM

PETIE: "We're bound for the South Seas, mate."

"Very good, Captain...a little island, maybe?"

"Yes, matie. A little island with lots of sunshine and lots of fruit, and nobody to tell us what to do."

"No other people at all, Captain?"

"Well, maybe just a few." ...Gee, the sand is all rippled under the water. Doggone. The waves keep pushing me back to shore.

SOUND: SCRAPING OF BOTTOM OF RAFT ON SHORE, INTERMITTANT WITH SURF. HOLD UNDER

PETIE: Never make it to the South Seas this way...mmm, it's warm...guess the sun dried me out...

SOUND: LAPPING OF WATER AGAINST RAFT. DISTANT GULL SOUNDS. BEACH SOUNDS BEGIN TO FADE OUT

MUSIC: HARMONICA SNEAK UNDER, HOLD

SOUND: SLIGHT SPLASHING

PETIE: (Sleepily) Water...cool water...tugs at my hand...down, down...waves all over the whole ocean...where did you come from, waves? Wonder if the waves make the ripples in the sand...mmm, so warm...bet this is what the South Seas are like...warm...my head seems all full of water...(Giggle) Water-logged...water...sun...sand...rippled, all...(Sigh)

MUSIC: HARMONICA OUT

SOUND: SILENCE. THEN, IN DISTANCE – SHARP DOG BARK. WHISTLE OVERLAPS. QUICK SPLASH OF RUNNING IN AND OUT OF WATER

PETIE: (Suddenly aroused) Oh. Oh, Geepers!

SOUNDS: DISTORTED NOISE OF BATHERS, DISTANT SPLASHING, WAVES

MUSIC: HARMONICA SEEMS DISTANT, YET FLUCTUATES ABNORMALLY IN VOLUME AND PITCH THROUGHOUT...BECOMES PANICKY

PETIE: (Note of fear he doesn't want to admit) Was I asleep? Sun's so warm...golly, maybe Mom and Dad are at the blanket...better get back.

SOUND: BATHERS DISTANT, STILL DISTORTED

PETIE: (Uncertain) Oh, but...which way...could have gotten turned around. Oh, of course (Brave attempt)...I'll tell the way back by the way the bottom slopes...easy now...push back with my hands.

SOUND: SPLASH OF ARMS INTO WATER

PETIE: (Surprise) Oh...can't quite reach. Better use my leg.

SOUND: SQUEAK OF LEG SLIDING OVER RAFT...SPLASH

PETIE: (Frightened now) Oh...oh...I can't touch bottom.

SOUND: SPLASH OF LEG BACK ONTO RAFT

MUSIC: HARMONICA GETS MORE ENERGETIC

PETIE: But, oh...how far am I? (Nearly a wail) Where... No! Now stop it, Peter...I can tell by the voices...if I listen...(Breathing rapid, shallow) Yes, listen, Petie.

SOUND: WILD FLUCTUATION OF SOUNDS ENDING AT HIGH VOLUME AND PITCH WITH SHARP GULL CRIES

PETIE: (Thoroughly frightened) I can't tell, I can't tell...It's so loud...It's not right...I can't hear...oh, deep...deep water...How will I get back...can't tell which way...waves everywhere...(Panic rising) Who will see me,..who will know...maybe nobody...just drifted out...see you later maybe...see...you...later.

MUSIC: QUIET EXCEPT FOR WAIL OF HARMONICA...OUT

PETIE: (Sobbing) Oh, Mommy...Mommy...

SOUND: WAVES LAPPING, GULL CRIES

PETIE: (Little huffs) Come on, Scaredy...that's not going to help...you can figure this out...you're all right...now, take a breath, quiet down...really...listen...

SOUND: WAVES AND GULLS FADE, AND DISTANT VOICE SOUNDS BECOME AUDIBLE

PETIE: That's people...people playing. That's the direction to go. Heave to, lubbers,..pull!

SOUND: SPLASH OF ARMS BEGINNING TO PADDLE

PETIE: People sound ahead...is it louder...

SOUND: PADDLING SOUND AND DISTANT VOICES, SAME LEVEL

PETIE: Not louder...and...not ahead...more to my side...but I'm moving...maybe turn a little...this way...

SOUND: LOUDER PADDLING, VOICES SLIGHTLY CLOSER

PETIE: (Huffing) Oh, Mommy...I hope ...

SOUND: SPLASHING FADES IN. THEN LAUGHTER

SANDRA: (Calling from off) Come back here, Petie? Did you think you were going to get away with my raft?

SOUND: SPLASHING CLOSER, SQUEAK OF SANDRA GRABBING RAFT

PETIE: (Swalling lump in his throat) Yup. On my way to the South Seas. Don't bother me, little girl.

SANDRA: (Giggle) You're not going anywhere.

SOUND: LITTLE SPLASHING

PETIE: Hey...hey don't pull!

SANDRA: Hafta take the raft. We're going home now.

SOUND: PULLING RAFT THROUGH SURF AND HITTING SAND

PETIE: There it is – the sound of sand. Lucky.

SOUND: SPLASHES AND SQUEAK OF CLIMBING OFF RAFT

SANDRA: What do you mean, lucky?

PETIE: (Lightly) Sandra...was I very far out?

SANDRA: A little far. Up to my nose, maybe. You were riding out a little, and in with the waves.

SOUND: DRAGGING RAFT ONTO SHORE AND ALONG SAND

SANDRA: If you wanna know, your blanket's right ahead of you. I hafta go now.

PETIE: Thanks, Sandra. Bye.

SANDRA: (Fading, gaily) Bye, Petie.

PETIE: (Disgusted with himself) I could have walked in...if I'd just calmed down! Oh...there it is. Better stay off the blanket...not get it wet...Oh! (Stumbling on his castle) Doggone...there you go, Petie...knocked the tower off my castle...see if I can fix it...

BRUCE: (Fading in) Hey there, fella...How we doing?

PETIE: Hi Dad...Mom.

IRENE: (Fading in) Sorry we took so long, dear, but some ladies had a flat tire, and... Petie! You're all wet!

PETIE: Yeah, I know, Mom. See, this girl came along, and she didn't have anybody to play with, and, well...

BRUCE: (Laughing) A female, yet. Here, here's a towel, mister.

PETIE: Well, jeepers, Dad. You should see the rubber raft she let me try. It had blue flowers on it, and...

BRUCE: Blue flowers?

PETIE: Yes, and it felt like a beach ball, and it could float when you...

IRENE: Hey, isn't anybody hungry?

PETIE: Boy, I am. Let's eat!

IRENE: Here, young man. You certainly should have an appetite. Try this chicken salad.

PETIE: Thanks, Mom. Worth the wait...

MUSIC: HARMONICA SNEAK IN SLOWLY...HOLD UNDER

PETIE: Boy, I'm glad Dad doesn't know was a scaredy I was...Mom's an even worse scaredy course she's a girl...wonder if Sandra'll be around tomorrow.

MUSIC: HARMONICA THEME UP GENTLY. LAP OVER WITH SOUND OF GULLS

SOUND: LIGHT BEACH NOISES IN BACKGROUND (BACK TO NORMAL), HOLD UNDER

ANNOUNCER: The Sound of Sand...

SOUND: BEACH SOUNDS UP SLIGHTLY...SEGUE WATER LAPPING...HOLD UNDER BACKGROUND

ANNOUNCER: Written by Karen Sunde

SOUND: GULLS OVER BEACH NOISES...HOLD UNDER BACKGROUND

ANNOUNCER: Produced and directed by Patricia Burt

SOUND: LAUGHTER OF BEACH WITH BACKGROUND NOISES

ANNOUNCER: Petie was played by ___________, etc

MUSIC: HARMONICA THEME UP FULL...THEN FADE UNDER FOR—

ANNOUNCER: In cooperation with the American Foundation For The Blind...

MUSIC: THE RADIO PLAYERS THEME...BREAK IN AND HOLD UNDER B.G.

ANNOUNCER: The Iowa State University Radio Players have presented an original drama...THE SOUND OF SAND. Our guests have been_______etc.

MUSIC: THEME UP FULL...THEN UNDER...HOLD B.G.

ANNOUNCER: Iowa State University has presented a workshop production by student members. Special harmonica music was composed and played by__________ CREW CREDITS, ETC.

### END OF PRODUCTION

HOW HIS BRIDE CAME TO ABRAHAM

An Israeli-Palestinian story

CHARACTERS:

ABE, Young soldier, by nature tender, bright, coarsened by grueling duty.

SABRA, Young woman, ferocious, fine. Child's heart, locked in horrors.

GRAMMA, ABE's GRAMMA (in his mind). Salty, warm as sunset, wise as time.

DOGSTAR, ABE's platoon-mate – rough, officious, human.

BEN, ABE's best friend, platoon-mate – exuberant, careless.

### HOW HIS BRIDE CAME TO ABRAHAM

MUSIC: OPENING THEME. SEGUES TO–

ANNOUNCER: Welcome to a Full House production with Abraham Film Project of How His Bride Came To Abraham. (Pause) Our story begins a few years ago on a sunny afternoon in South Lebanon, near the Israeli border...

SOUND: SUMMER AFTERNOON – INSECTS, OCCASIONAL BIRD CALL

SOUND: OFF MIKE SMALL SQUAD OF SOLDIERS MOVE ON DIRT ROAD

SOUND: AS THEY NEAR, THEIR VOICES BECOME CLEAR...

BEN: Look, I see one.

ABE: Keep moving, Benny.

BEN: It's a yellow bill! I win!

ABE: You don't see a yellow bill.

BEN: Just look, right there!

ABE: All right, but we shouldn't be...

BEN: (Bumped off balance) Auuh.

ABE: Watch out...

SOUND: EXPLOSION

ABE: (Terrified) Benny!

DOGSTAR: God. oh, God!

ABE: (Scream) Help him!

DOGSTAR: Stop the blood.

SOUND: SCUFFLE OF FIRST AID, MOVE OF BEN ONTO STRETCHER

BEN: (Scream being moved) Aaahhh!

ABE: Ready on stretcher? Move him out!!

DOG-STAR: Abe's hit too.

ABE: I'm all right.

DOGSTAR: Look at your foot!. It's all torn up!

ABE: Get Benny out of here! Leave me. Go!

DOGSTAR: Go! Go. Go. Go!

SOUND: SQUAD TAKES OFF ON RUN

ABE: (As shock takes him) Take it easy with Benny. Move! (Heavy breathing)

SOUND: SQUAD RECEDES INTO DISTANCE. AFTERNOON SOUNDS RETURN – INSECTS, BIRD CALL BECOMES HUM THAT IS GRAMMA-SOUND

ABE: (Pain, fear) God...why? Why here...? (Chant) The Lord is my shepherd...the Lord is...oh God...

GRAMMA: (Voice in ABE's head corrects him, quick) The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures, He leadeth me beside the still waters, He restoreth my soul.

ABE: (Near delirium) Yeah that's it; Gramma, thanks for the thought, but give it to Benny.

GRAMMA: Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death...

ABE: No. Why'd you have to stop here, Benny?

MUSIC: GRAMMA SOFTLY HUMS AN ISRAELI FOLK SONG

(Abe breathing hard from pain, and to keep from crying, drifts to sleep)

SOUND: SHARP CRACKLE FROM FIELD RADIO, STATIC ACCOMPANIES RADIO VOICE

(Abe snaps awake. It could be the only "real" moments are those when Abe hears the radio, and all else is the dream into which he escapes)

RADIO: Dogstar to Apex. Dogstar to Apex.

ABE: (Dizzily) ...what.

RADIO: Radio check.

ABE: (Jerking awake) Yeah. yeah. you hear me?

RADIO: You're coming in clear.

ABE: (Not wanting to know) How's...Benny?

RADIO: He passed out. just lost consciousness.

ABE: Get him the hell out of here!

RADIO: We'll send a squad for you.

ABE: Hell with me.

RADIO: You've gotta be in shock, Apex!

ABE: (Dizzily) First rest I've had since basic.

RADIO: Don't fall asleep.

ABE: On this lovely hillside?

RADIO: Don't move! There's a sharp drop-off.

ABE: (Sees cliff edge) Ooo – I"ll say.

RADIO: Apex, our procedures for this area don't allow...

ABE: Just get Benny out safe! I'm the leader. And fuck radio checks. I need a nap.

RADIO: Apex...!

SOUND: CLICK OFF RADIO. GRAMMA SOUND

ABE: (Pain, trying to move) Fucking hell.

GRAMMA: (Intimate) Thou preparest a table before me, in the presence of mine enemies.

ABE: (Falling asleep) That's nice, Gramma. But how 'bout you send me a Shabbat angel.

MUSIC: GRAMMA'S HUM BLENDING INTO MUSIC

SOUND: TIME OR DIMENSION SHIFT - MUSIC, NATURE SOUNDS CHANGE TO SUNSET

SOUND: SUDDEN CRACKING THROUGH BRUSH

ABE: (Wakes, startled, winces) Ah.

SOUND: READYING RIFLE

ABE: (To himself) Who's there?

SOUND: CLICK OF RIFLE READIED. MORE STEPS, CRACKLING

SABRA: (Out of breath, huffing) Mmm.

SOUND: RUSTLING, SOUND OF OPENING CANTEEN

ABE: (Under breath) Oh my god...

SOUND: THIRSTY DRINKING

ABE: Halt.

SOUND: DRINKING STOPS

ABE: Raise hands or I shoot.

SOUND: RUSTLING, CRASH OF DIVE, BUMP

(Grunts and yelps of struggle)

SABRA: (Angry yell) Aaahh!

ABE: You son of a bitch!

SOUND: GRAPPLE FIERCELY, ROLL

(Yelps. Crushing with his weight, Abe controls)

ABE: You can't fight with your head hidden in this stupid kaffiyeh.

SOUND: TEARS CLOTH KAFFIYEH OFF

(Both gasp)

ABE: You're a girl?

(SABRA kicks him; ABE howls, scrambling away)

ABE: Aah, my foot! (Beat) Stop, or I shoot!

SOUND: CLICK OF RIFLE READIED TO SHOOT

SABRA: Do it. Shoot me.

ABE: Come here.

(Both panting, pause)

ABE: Come here!

SOUND: SHE STEPS TO HIM

ABE: Give me your pack. (Beat) Give it! Slowly...

SOUND: KNAPSACK DROPS

(SABRA grunts as ABE grabs her, she screams as he twists her arm)

SOUND: DROP TO KNEES

ABE: Now sit.

(SABRA yelps pushed onto her face)

SOUND: THUD ONTO GROUND

ABE: Get down!

SOUND: RUSTLE, SEARCH PACK

ABE: Where's your weapons?

(No response. He jabs. She yelps)

ABE: Where are they?

SABRA: You're the killer.

SOUND: FRISKING HER

SABRA: (Gasp) Trespasser.

ABE: Yeah? And you're a fucking infiltrator.

SABRA: Sure.

ABE: What's this knife?

SABRA: For food, thief!

(He grabs her, shaking with his weak condition and frightened rage)

ABE: Benny's blood is all over your booby-trapped road. and you're fucking well going to pay!

(She spits at him)

ABE: (Grabbing her throat) What are you doing here?

SABRA: (Choking) Get off my land!

ABE: Almost made it, didn't you? Only one more mile to the border. Where're your pals?

SABRA: Surrounding you.

ABE: I'll take care of that.

(ABE pulls her close to him, like a shield)\

SOUND: SCRAPING OF THE MOVE

SABRA: Think I protect you? They'll shoot right through me.

(He twists her arm higher)

SABRA: Aaaah, my arm!

ABE: Shut up!

(Silence. Both are panting heavily, on guard, expecting an attack)

ABE: Maybe you are alone.

(She doesn't respond)

ABE: Where are your weapons?

SABRA: What? My Kalashnikov? Grenade launcher? Pack of C-4? You think I've got nowhere to go? You think I'm a stinking Palestinian?

ABE: Who else.

SABRA: Ass among asses.

SOUND: SCRAPING SLIDE OF HER PULLING HIM WITH HER

ABE: Hold still – that's a cliff

SABRA: And I'm going off it Better let go of me, or you'll fall.

SOUND: SLIDE OF PULLING BACK

ABE: Hold still! What are you doing here?

SOUND: PULLING AGAIN

SABRA: Tending my land! It's a long way down. Afraid of heights?

ABE: You're trying to cross the border (Pulling her back) to murder Jews!

SABRA: How. With my fists? Here I go!

(Pain yelp from ABE as SABRA flips him–)

SOUND: THUD OF FLIP, THEN STEPS AS SHE GETS TO HER FEET

MUSIC: WEIRD FIGHTING FOR CONSCIOUSNESS SOUND

ABE: Don't jump!

MUSIC/SOUND: AS SHE JUMPS, HE SLIDES, DOWN THE CLIFF, WITH BOTH YELLING; SOUND RISES LIKE SIREN – INTO THUMP! THUMP! – BOTH LAND AT CLIFF'S BOTTOM

(Both winded, amazed— )

SABRA: Hurt yourself? Looked funny falling with that butchered foot.

ABE: (About to pass out) Run. go on!

SABRA: So you can shoot me?

ABE: (Dizzy) Why don't you run?

SABRA: Why should I? I'm home.

SOUND: STEPS AWAY; RUSTLE OF UNDERBRUSH PULLED ASIDE

ABE: (Startled) What's that?

SABRA: What do you think. A door.

ABE: A door in the hill? Come here!

SABRA: Scared?

SOUND: STEPS TOWARD HIM

(Grunts, yelp as he grabs her, twists)

SOUND: STUMBLE, THUMP OF FALL TOGETHER

(ABE'S pain yelp, both sprawl, panting)

ABE: Who's in there? (Jerks her) What is this? Where are we!

(Grunts of struggle until he's exhausted)

SOUND: IN THEIR SILENCE, NATURE SOUNDS RETURN

SABRA: Want the key?

ABE: Key...?

SABRA: Or you'd rather blast it open? Purify it? (Pause) Go ahead. Make it "pure." Kill everything in there. Then you're safe. (Pause) Not sure? 'Course if there's ammunition behind this door, you fire, it explodes, and you've lost it.

ABE: (Exhausted with pain, snaps— ) Go.

SABRA: Go?

ABE: Slowly. To the door.

SOUND: STEPS AWAY, CLICK OF RIFLE

SABRA: Now what.

ABE: Open it. Slowly. If you make a fast move...

SABRA: ...you'll fire. I know the game.

SOUND: UNHOOKING OF DOOR

SABRA: Ready?

ABE: (Breathing hard, then—) Open it.

SOUND: DOOR CREAKS OPEN. NOTHING HAPPENS

ABE: (Pause) Move in front of it.

SOUND: STEP IN FRONT

SABRA: Well?

ABE: (Frustrated) Come back here.

SOUND: STEPS TOWARD HIM

(Grunt of his grab, twisting her, swinging himself over her back)

SOUND: HE LANDS ON HER, STAGGERS

SABRA: (Gasp from his weight on her) Oof!

ABE: Well, move! Go into the hill.

SABRA: With you on my back?

ABE: Move!

SOUND: SCRAPE AND DRAG OF HER MOVING WEIGHED DOWN WITH HIM SEGUES INTO–

MUSIC: SOUND OF 'MAGICAL PLACE' MUSIC AND GRAMMA SOUND

GRAMMA: (Warm whisper) Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over.

ABE: I don't believe it. Where are we?

SOUND: DRAG AND THUMP OF SLIDING HIM OFF HER

ABE: What is this place?

SABRA: Home.

ABE: What?

SOUND: STAND-OFF, THEN SHE MOVES AWAY

ABE: Wait... what are you...?

SOUND: WATER PUMPED INTO PAN OR BOWL/ STEPS TOWARD HIM

ABE: Don't touch my foot...aaaaah!

SABRA: It's filthy.

SOUND: WATER DIPPED, POURED OVER FOOT INTO BOWL; RAG WRUNG OUT

ABE: (Little grunts, trying not to yelp) Uhn.

SABRA: Step on a land mine?

ABE: (Grunting) Damned terrorists.

SABRA: Wasn't theirs.

ABE: What do you know about it?

SABRA: You stepped on your own mine.

ABE: Fuck I did.

SABRA: (Cleans deep in wound) You Israelis drop mines around like cow cakes.

ABE: (Sudden pain) Ahhh!

SABRA: (Examines spot) Not pretty.

ABE: Why were you crossing the security zone?

SABRA: (Incredulous) Security?

ABE: You know what it's called.

SABRA: Security, yes - for Jews. on my land.

ABE: That's right!

(Pause: stand off)

ABE: Why were you crossing it?

(She goes back to working on his foot)

SABRA: Came for the apples.

ABE: Apples...?

SABRA: You've left me no brothers to do it.

ABE: But, how did you...

SABRA: Get so far? Past your patrols, your snipers, your mines? This is Lebanon! You've no right to keep me out.

ABE: You must have...

SABRA: ...sneaked through? How else?

ABE: Why should I believe you?

SABRA: Because I felt safe, so you caught me.

ABE: I should believe you because I caught you?

SOUND: STEPS AWAY

SABRA: You never would have, not in a million years, if I hadn't felt safe.

SOUND: SCRAPE OF CRATE DRAGGED TO HIM

SABRA: (Lifting his foot) I'm at home.

ABE: (Pain of sudden movement) Aaahh!

SOUND: STEP AWAY, VOICE AWAY

SABRA: Keep your foot up there. Unless you want it the size of your head.

SOUND: WATER POURING INTO TIN CUP. STEP TOWARD HIM

ABE: For me?

SABRA: Drink.

ABE: (Beat) First you.

(Pause while she drinks, then he: satisfied gasps from both)

ABE: Did my Gramma maybe send you?

SABRA: Who?

ABE: My Gramma. I asked her to send me a Shabbat angel.

SABRA: (Little ironic "huh") Hmh.

SOUND: STEP AWAY

ABE: Wait. Where are you...?

SOUND: DRAG SACK, THUMP OF POTATOES

ABE: Is that...potatoes? (Pause) This isn't your home.

SABRA: No.

SOUND: THUMP, DISCARDED POTATO

ABE: No? No one lives here?

SABRA: You let no one.

ABE: This is just a field hut, a cave dug out of a hill. Where are you from?

SOUND: WATER POURED, SCRUBBING POTATOES IN IT

ABE: You said something about brothers. We'd left you no brothers?

MUSIC: OF BENNY, IMPENDING EXPLOSION

ABE: Why won't you answ...? (Murmurs) Benny...

SOUND: REMEMBERING EXPLOSION. BAD DREAM

ABE: Oh God...Benny...(Snaps awake)

SOUND: FUMBLE GETTING RADIO. SWITCH IT ON. STATIC BUZZ

SABRA: (Startled gasp) Ah...

ABE: What's wrong? (Beat) It's just my, my radio. (Pause) I won't hurt you. Don't be... I'm sorry about the...searching you. I know that in your culture... well, we have orders not to even touch you. I mean, if you're a girl. (Beat) Not that I wouldn't like to... I mean, it seems years since I've even seen a girl, so... But I wouldn't have been so rough, if...

SOUND: SMALL EXPLOSION

MUSIC: THEME OF REMEMBERING

ABE: (Gasps, suddenly back in the explosion) I saw the mine exploding, and Benny on top of it, and... God, his leg was...

SOUND: CRIES OF BENNY, THEN IT SHUTS OFF ABRUPTLY

ABE: (Pulling out of memory) So I'm not quite...normal. And I...nothing seems real, you know? I mean, I'm still here, but who are you? Sitting beside me. And what are you doing? (Little laugh) Preparing the meal for Shabbat?

SOUND: RADIO CRACKLES

SABRA: (Jumps) Aah. someone's coming for you?

RADIO: Command to all channels. Headquarters under attack from unidentified Hezbollah positions North. We're receiving heavy incoming mortar and RPG fire. Returning patrol squads proceed only under advisement. Repeat. Proceed to base only under advisement.

ABE: (Sudden extreme feat) God! did you get Benny through?

SABRA: (Warily) Someone's coming for you?

ABE: (Calming himself) Probably. (Casually) 'Course they're coming. (Trying to tease) Think they'd leave me alone out here? With a stream of Jew-hating infiltrators?

SOUND: SUDDEN RUN FOR DOOR

ABE: (Startled) Wait! Don't run. Don't...

SOUND: CLANK AS HE GRABS RIFLE, CRATE FALLS

ABE: (Foot on floor pain) Aaaah! (Dizzy) You can't...

SOUND: THUMP, FALLS TO FLOOR

ABE: Uuh...Shit!

SOUND: CREAK, DOOR SHUTTING. TWILIGHT BIRDS

MUSIC: OF THE MAGIC WOODS

SABRA: (Under breath) Can't go? I'm gone...

SOUND: STEPS RUN, THEN CLIMBING

SABRA: (Huffing as she climbs) If I get up the cliff, I'm away.

MUSIC: STRANGE WIND, GRAMMA MUSIC

SABRA: He can call for help.

GRAMMA: (Humming in wind) Mmmm...

SABRA: What... (Awed, but fearless) who's there?

MUSIC: SWELLS AND HOLDS.

SOUND: BRANCH CRACKS, AS THOUGH STRUCK BY LIGHTNING

MUSIC: CLASH

SABRA: Aah! what's that stuck in the tree.

SOUND: CLIMB TO REACH BRANCH

SABRA: His boot? The one that blew off...blown apart and sticky with...

GRAMMA: (Humming close) Hmmm. Hmmm

SABRA: We'll need a fire.

SOUND: SLIDE DOWN TREE; GATHERING STICKS

SOUND: DISTANT RADIO CRACKLE BECOMING CLOSER AS STEPS APPROACH...

RADIO: (Distant) Command to all channels: Combat ready units, report immediately.

SOUND: DOOR CREAKS OPEN, RIFLE CLICKS TO READY

ABE: Welcome home. (Embarrassed) Gun in your face, sorry. What was I supposed to... what's the wood for? You want me to believe you only went for...what's that... (Shocked, but bounces) My boot. my bloody boot. Wherever I step, you'll make blood soup. won't you.

SOUND: SABRA'S STEPS AWAY, DROPPING WOOD

ABE: That's a joke. Like my Gramma would say. Not funny?

SABRA: Who?

ABE: You heard me.

SOUND: STEPS TO HIM, LIFTS

ABE: (Pain of lift) Ahh! What are you...

SOUND: DRAGGING HIM

SABRA: (Grunt) Get you off the ground.

ABE: (Gasping, as they move) Aw...you're just pissed you can't get two good boots. right? You'd trade for a Seiko diver's watch. Or a couple ounces of hash.

SOUND: PLOPPING HIM ONTO SEAT

ABE: (Winded) What are you up to? (Pause) You like the boot? It's exploded, what do you want – in the lining there, that's...funny looking, huh.

SOUND: CLINK OF DOG TAGS

ABE: That's extra dog tags. in case you blow my head off. In case you want to know who my feet used to belong to.

SOUND: STEP TO HIM, CLINK OF DOG TAGS DUMPED, STEP AWAY

ABE: Not even curious? (He reads tag) "Abraham Arik Mannheim. 2nd lieutenant. 9665379, type O."

SOUND: SCRAPE OF STACKING WOOD FOR FIRE

ABE: Never know when it'll come in handy. (Beat) You don't think so? You don't want my dog tags? You could trade 'em for a dozen prisoners. We're crazy like that. We care about our people. (He's getting angry) This is everyday business out here. Blood and corpses. You shouldn't be running loose!

SOUND: SCRAPE OF WOOD

ABE: Listen. You don't want to be found out. You don't want to meet my buddies, right? You've been lucky so far. But I should have shot you on sight.

SABRA: (Sudden, sharp) is that my fault?

ABE: (Angry) I'm talking reality, not rights. It's not my fault either, but I could have shot you. And that's just my orders. To protect me!

SOUND: ROCK SCRAPES OR FLINT

ABE: Trying to light a fire? Sure you know how to do that?

SOUND: SCRAPE STOPS, THEN RESUMES, WITH BLOWING PUFFS

ABE: I mean, my sister wouldn't have the least idea how to... Oh.

SOUND: FIRE CATCHES, CRACKLING

ABE: Yes, I have a sister. (Pause) Did you hear what I said?

SOUND: HER STEP TOWARD HIM

ABE: What?

SABRA: (Beat) My knife.

ABE: (Puzzled, then–) Oh. Sure. Sure. (Grunts, pain of reaching into his pocket) Here, you want it? (Pulls it away) Uh-uh-uh... Your eyes talk. At home mama told me, "if you want something, use your mouth." but your eyes are talking. If I could just...translate. Here, take it. (Beat) They look a hundred years deep. (Softly, with wonder) What happened to you?

SOUND: BEAT, SWIFT STEP AWAY, WATER POURS

ABE: When you did talk, you lied.

SOUND: SLICING POTATOES, PLUNK INTO WATER

ABE: About what you're doing here. Doesn't figure. Too much risk. Your life for a few apples? (Beat) Got you, huh?

SABRA: Maybe it's...a gesture.

ABE: Sneaking in here?

SABRA: So the land won't forget me. (Beat) Just touching it. As though, if I don't visit, it'll be lost.

ABE: (Soft) God, you're beautiful now...so bare. You're a child.

SABRA: (Caught, but...) Makes no difference.

ABE: But old enough to have a husband.

SABRA: A girl can choose. Whether to...

ABE: I thought it was "arranged" for her.

SABRA: In civilization it is. We live in disaster.

ABE: People still live.

SOUND: BEAT, RADIO CRACKLES, THEN STATIC

(Both startled — little gasp)

RADIO: Dogstar to Apex. Dogstar to Apex.

SOUND: SHE SCURRIES AWAY

ABE: Don't be afraid of it.

(But ABE's afraid – reality of Benny in danger sweeps back)

SOUND: CLICKING RADIO

ABE: (Tense) Abe here. How's Benny?

SOUND: STATIC

RADIO: (Evasive) We just got through. The shelling's awful here.

ABE: I've got interference...what?

RADIO: I said the shelling...

ABE: How's Benny!

RADIO: We...got him into emergency. He bled a lot, Apex, he...

ABE: What did the medics say!

RADIO: They're gonna see if they can sew him up.

ABE: (Not believing it) Sure.

RADIO: How are you doing?

ABE: (Near tears) Great. Great.

RADIO: You know we're under attack here.

ABE: I heard.

RADIO: Soon as it eases up, we'll find an APC and be out after you.

ABE: I'll be here. Out.

SOUND: RADIO CLICKS OFF

(Drained, ABE breathes heavily)

SABRA: They'll be coming.

ABE: They're under fire.

SABRA: But they'll be coming.

ABE: They're not coming yet.

SABRA: Then I'll go.

ABE: Go? You can't go.

SABRA: Yes. You'll let me.

ABE: (Light, trying to tease) Let you go? When I've got such a nurse-maid?

SABRA: Let me go.

ABE: You're free. You went for wood. You could run.

SABRA: You could shoot.

ABE: Yeah.

SABRA: Then I'll just...get my pack, and...say...

SOUND: SHE STEPS AWAY, PICKS UP PACK, STEPS AWAY, CREAK OF DOOR OPENING... CLICK OF RIFLE READIED, CLICK OFF SAFETY

SABRA: (Stopped) You said I was free.

ABE: (Beat) But I'm not.

SABRA: So you'll shoot?

ABE: Can't tell.

SABRA: Put your gun down.

ABE: Can't. (Beat) Are your potatoes boiling? (Pause) You won't move? Why did you do all this?

SABRA: What.

ABE: Take care of me.

SABRA: (Beat) Arab hospitality.

ABE: For a Jew?

SABRA: Anyone.

ABE: An invader?

SABRA: All right. I was lulling you. Till you fall asleep.

ABE: To see that, you'll have to stay.

SABRA: (Anger, frustration) Uuuh!

SOUND: SHE FLINGS DOWN PACK, STEPS TO FIRE

ABE: Good choice.

SOUND: SHE STIRS POT, FIRE CRACKLES. RIFLE CLICKS OFF AGAIN

ABE: (Cheerful) Hi, I'm Abe. You have a name? (Beat) You don't?

SABRA: You've taken it.

ABE: Your name?

SABRA: Who I am. Everything.

ABE: (Lightly) So you are my nameless Captive? Or I'm yours. I mean, you could kill me...(Snaps his fingers) ...like that. Being female and clever and all. (Pause) But maybe you don't want to make a mess.

SABRA: I want you gone.

ABE: Not simple.

SABRA: Just let me go back.

ABE: Back where?

SABRA: The way I came.

ABE: You're not that stupid! It's possible, just possible, if you're very careful where you step, to make it through these woods...in daylight. But at dark, they start to move. That's right. And now it's dark. And now...a deadly stream comes slipping, probing, pouring through – all terrorists. You know that, don't you. All ripe with blood lust. They don't care who they kill. Just so it's Jews. But we Jews are out here too. Every single night, in a new place, a new nest, we wait for them to come, we pick them off, they don't get through alive. (Beat) So. You want to go out and take up sides? (Beat) Do you? (Winding into rage) We have machines that find you if you move. Or even if you don't. In daylight, I ask myself questions, a whole rule-book full, before I shoot you, But not at night. At night whatever moves is killed. (Beat) And it's getting worse. They're coming younger, they're coming loaded with explosives, they're coming on purpose to die. Kamakazi's. Human bombs. You'd like to scoot out there and smack into one of them? Kids, with glassy eyes, looking to get to heaven?

SABRA: It's not heaven they want. You took their land.

ABE: You ready to join them? (Beat) Are you!? (Pause) If you think you're safe out there, you must have friends I haven't met. (Beat) And what if the only reason your friends don't attack...is that I'm holding you?

SABRA: (Derisive) Tsaa.

ABE: Wrong?

SABRA: You'd be dead.

ABE: They'd sacrifice you to get at me?

SABRA: I'm alone!

ABE: Not...anymore. (Light) I'm hungry.

SABRA: (Frustrated, swears) Halala!

SOUND: CLANKS PAN ONTO STONE

ABE: What are you afraid of?

SABRA: Nothing.

ABE: The other soldiers? Me?

SABRA: Nothing. (Icy) Nothing you can do...would make me afraid.

ABE: (Pause) Why did you bathe my foot? (Beat) Why?

SABRA: It looked stupid.

ABE: Stupid? Hmh. Guess so.

SOUND: CRACKLE OF LIGHTING STICK END

ABE: A stick on fire? What are you...

SOUND: OPENING LANTERN, SIZZLE OF LIGHTING LANTERN WITH BURNING STICK

ABE: Ahh, candles at sundown. Nice. (Pause) Want some flavoring...for your potato stew?

SABRA: What?

ABE: There's bully beef. in my bag. That's it, think about it; you're hungry. (Beat) It won't bite. It's de-horned.

SOUND: SHE STEPS TO IT, PICKS UP BAG, RUMMAGES

ABE: (Changes to quiet pleading) My silent Arab angel... We're only here because of the Palestinians. To keep them away from the border. The infiltrators. They're violating your country too. (Beat) You've got it. Bring it here.

SOUND: SHE STEPS TOWARD HIM

(ABE grunts, reaching into his pocket for can opener)

SOUND: OPENING TIN

ABE: (Sniffs) Mmmmh. Smell this.

SABRA: Just let me go.

ABE: You're afraid to face the soldiers.

SABRA: Don't you know what they'll do?

ABE: We'll have a great time.

SABRA: (Shocked) What?

ABE: If you're who you say you are.

SABRA: They'll put me in prison. They'll destroy this place. They'll...

ABE: You think we're barbaric?

SABRA: I don't give it a name. I see what you do.

ABE: (Beat, fury) How much could you get for me? Live. From Hezbollah?

SABRA: (Reacts with a hiss) Ssss.

SOUND: SHE STEPS AWAY. COOKING SOUNDS: BANG, STIRS, ANGRY SILENCE

ABE: (Shifts, pain-yelps) Uh. (Pause) Uhh! (Pause) I think it's drying too much. I...

SABRA: Have you got an undershirt?

ABE: What?

SABRA: An undershirt.

ABE: Yes.

SABRA: Take it off.

SOUND: DISHING OF BOWLS FULL

ABE: (Unsure) All right.

SOUND: STEPS TOWARD HIM

ABE: (Unbuttons, takes off shirt) Shirt's off. Undershirt?

SABRA: Off.

ABE: (Grunts, pulling it off) Well?

SABRA: Give it here.

SOUND: SHE RIPS UNDERSHIRT INTO STRIPS, WITH QUICK JERKS

SOUND: RUMMAGING IN PACK

ABE: What do you want in my pack? Yes, that's ointment for... (Foot lifts) Ahh...! Ok, that's...that's ok, you... (Gasps, but with less pain) you're good at this. This wrapping is...(Breathing deep) You're very...effective.

SABRA: (Light) I've had practice.

ABE: You've done this before?

SABRA: More times than you dream.

ABE: (Quiet, earnest) Tell me.

SABRA: (Open) I...

SOUND: RADIO CRACKLES

SABRA: (Little gasp) Aahh!

ABE: Wait. See, I'll stop it. I'll make it wait. See? (Beat) Are you sure...we're enemies?

SOUND: RADIO STATIC

RADIO: Dogstar to Apex. Dogstar to Apex.

SOUND: SHE STEPS AWAY. HE PICKS UP RADIO

ABE: Apex here. (Breathes deep before asking) How's Benny.

RADIO: (Beat, evading question) Can you verify your coordinates, Apex?

ABE: How's Benny?

RADIO: We have you at 33.16 north, 35.32.5 east. That's roughly 11 kilometers from Beaufort Castle.

ABE: (Holding in his panic) How's Benny?

RADIO: We're, uh, responding to incoming fire. We haven't been able to...

ABE: Answer me about Benny!

RADIO: He's out of surgery, Apex. But nobody can see him. It...doesn't look good.

ABE: Oh, God. Oh, God.

RADIO: Damn, Apex. Don't make me sorry I told you.

ABE: I'd have killed you if you didn't.

RADIO: Verify, Apex. Are those your coordinates? We've located an APC. We're going to crash on through.

ABE: (Head hanging, groan) Uhh...

RADIO: Apex? Do you read me? We're coming after you.

ABE: I...

RADIO: Copy again? Apex?

ABE: There's...no need to come.

RADIO: What?

ABE: Don't risk it. Not at night. I...found shelter.

RADIO: What shelter? Apex. are you all right?

ABE: Just...start out in the morning.

RADIO: What about your foot?

ABE: (Pause) I washed it. (Beat) Ok?

RADIO: Apex...I don't think...

ABE: I just need to keep it elevated! Out.

SOUND: CLICKS OFF RADIO

ABE: (Needing escape) Did you poison it? The stew? Thank you. (Smelling his bowl) Uumm, yes. Delectable poison. (Pause) Come. Sit by me. Eat. (Pause) Among Jews the women may now sit at table. Though not at prayer. Will you come?

SABRA: You didn't tell them.

ABE: Tell them what?

SABRA About me. About this dangerous infiltrator.

ABE: They might not sleep well, knowing.

SABRA: And you will?

ABE: Is that a warning? Ah, a smile! I don't believe it. And she sits beside me? My luck has changed. (Murmurs a grace)

SABRA: (Also murmurs grace)...Name of the father, the son...

ABE: What's that?

SABRA: What.

ABE: You're not Muslim.

SABRA: Why do you ask?

ABE: You're Christian.

SABRA: What difference?

ABE: You crossed yourself.

SABRA: I'm Arab.

SOUND: SOUND OF SPOON, BOWL, EATING

SABRA: (Winded from fast eating) He's your friend?

ABE: Who?

SABRA: (Beat) Benny.

ABE: (Beat, tight) Will it make a difference?

SABRA: A difference?

ABE: In whether you hope he dies?

SABRA: (Beat) Have you seen anyone die?

ABE: (Beat, then spills— ) He's my best friend. We joined up together. He and my sister are... (Breaks, choked up)

SABRA: (Soft, noncommital) Death is easy.

MUSIC: BENNY "PRE-EXPLOSION" THEME

ABE: He was teasing me, you know? We were on opposite sides of the road, plodding behind the bedouin, the tracker, focused on the ditch, for anything – wires, barrels, trash – anything signifying "bomb here." But Benny stops...telling me he's spotted a yellow-bill. He's such a goof. He won't believe in danger. And we have this standing bet – whoever spots a yellow... He must've been standing on the thing already, right on it. And I got close, knocked into him deflected him just a bit, and... It was so loud. then just a ringing sound, like my ear drum had snapped, before I remember him slipping down next to me, his guts a mess, and his leg...gone. Oh God...

SABRA: (Beat) It might've been worse.

ABE: What?

SABRA: If you hadn't taken...part of the force of it.

ABE: You know what a blast does to flesh? The way it flings everything, bursts, just like a...(Realizes) You do know. You know everything, don't you? (Takes her hand) No, don't...move. It's just your hand. Don't be afraid. Let me hold it. What can I do? I can't run after you. That's it, just...quiet, together. What harm does it do? Does this compromise you? Are you defiled if I hold your hand? What's going to happen here. Ok? You want me to let you go? Tell me who you are. (Pause) It's easy. "Abe, my name is Nadia. I come from..." wrong? Is your name not Nadia?

SABRA: (Pause) Sabra.

ABE: Sabra? That's not a name. Is it? Sabra? All right, all right, it's a start. You're Sabra. And you can't live here now, but you live...where? Beirut? (Pause) That's it? You've come all the way from Beirut? Why won't you tell me?

SABRA: (Beat) I don't exist.

ABE: You don't exist?. You're some spirit of the woods? I'm imagining you?

SABRA: Maybe you are.

ABE: Well, something brought you here. There's some reason you're "visiting" me.

SABRA: No...

ABE: No?

SABRA: Why are you here?

ABE: Me? Dumb luck.

SABRA: Luck?

ABE: Sooner or later, it runs out. That's what they tell you.

SABRA: Runs out.

ABE: And that's when you step on a mine. Whammo.

MUSIC: CLASH – EXPLOSION MUSIC

ABE: (Cries out) Ahhh! (Ends gasping) It's because Benny was 'short' – only four days till he'd go home – that's when you let down, when you dream you're out of it, next step to being free – and he pulled me along into his dreaming, just like... God. This whole thing is fatal. I can believe you don't exist. And you conjured this place, just to trip my reflex–"Let go. You're safe home."

I'm out here forty days at a time, and every minute of every hour of those forty, I keep a vision of my death, moving with me, clear. I have to. Because I'll never see my waiting death...before it comes. And I have to stay alive. So my eyes are dry, on constant alert, sweeping, with my head on my taut neck. "Don't blink. don't let down, catch anything that moves."

Could you do that? On a warm summer night...it's impossible. Spread out for ambush, lying in the grass, impossible. It gets so clear, so soft. The star fires so close overhead. How can I keep death alive inside me? (Silence) What big eyes you have. (Beat) What do your parents say about you?

SABRA: (Averting) My parents.

ABE: Yes. is this - what you're up to – proper behavior for a fine young Arab of good.family... What is it?

SABRA: I don't have any.

ABE: No parents?

SABRA: (Beat) It was a bomb. In a car.

ABE: And that's why you don't exist?

SABRA: No. I never existed.

ABE: Sabra. Your brothers. You said...

SABRA: They weren't really my brothers. They're Um Ali's sons.

ABE: Um Ali – the mother of Ali. she raised you? (Satisfied to have an answer) Well. That's something.

SABRA: How many Arabs have you killed?

ABE: None. None! Sabra, listen. I asked for this. I transferred here, out of Israel, so I wouldn't wind up killing children! I don't like this. You think I want to kill someone? I don't hate Arabs. I only want to live in peace. But they keep on coming to kill us.

And I'll tell you, it's not like you think. They've got no chance here. No chance to win. To even fight. I've seen it work. One night on ambush, I crawled back to the APC, the tank, and inside, they're watching with a night-scope, on a screen, like a video cartoon! And there come the stick creatures. They show up on the screen because they're alive out there, they're warm, they're moving – not even close, a whole kilometer away! And because it's night, we don't ask – we just fire. We fire, several rounds, and every shell seeks warmth, and bursts itself in flesh. We watch. In silence...the creatures falter on the screen. No shrieks, nothing. The stick shapes just begin to fade, getting dimmer as their warmth is lost, until they blank out, blending with the screen, completely cold. (Pause) No. I've never seen anyone die.

SABRA: (Darkly) Lucky.

ABE: (Shouts) I'm protecting the border, farmers two kilometers from here! Am I allowed to defend my home?!

SABRA: (Beat, then soft) Home. Yes. (Beat) What's it like.

ABE: I... what?

SABRA: Your home.

ABE: My home.

SABRA: Yes. You have one?

ABE: Of course!

SABRA: What's it like.

ABE: It's... What do you mean?

SABRA: A house. A farm?

ABE: Just a house. A...

SABRA: On a hill?

ABE: Well... Yes, a hill.

SABRA: Is there a tree?

ABE: What are you after?

SABRA: It's old, isn't it.

ABE: (Amused) I don't understand.

MUSIC: SNEAK IN UNDER SPEECH

SABRA: (Asking him to imagine himself there) You're at home. You see your mother. Your father. A rug by the door. A picture of your sister and you - but younger.

ABE: (Seeing his home) Yes...

SABRA: Are you afraid?

ABE: At home? No.

SABRA: No one is?

ABE: My Gramma.

SABRA: She's afraid?

ABE: My mother was born in a camp...in Germany.

SABRA: A camp? With no sewer?

ABE: No, I think... I think they had a sewer.

SABRA: She was afraid?

ABE: Yes.

SABRA: So then, in the camp with her baby – your Gramma had no home?

ABE: No, then she didn't. And later...

SABRA: Did someone take it? Did she fight?

ABE: It wasn't exactly...

SABRA: You have to fight. It's your home.

ABE: Yes.

SABRA: If they come in the night. Where it's safe. Where your mother holds you. Where you go to sleep.

ABE: (Alarmed) Sabra. What is it? What happened. (Pause) How old were you?

SABRA: How old?

ABE: When your parents were killed.

SABRA: Old. Plenty old.

ABE: How many years?

SABRA: (Without emotion) Eight.

ABE: (Wants to cry, but trying to make her smile) And here you are...apple hunting – a spirit in the woods, who's snatched me, this unsuspecting soldier, a spirit...who doesn't even exist. (Pause) Does Um Ali tell stories?

SABRA: Stories?

ABE: Yes. Good stories.

SABRA: Not now.

ABE: But before.

SABRA: Sometimes. About a bird.

ABE: Tell me. (Beat) Don't go.

SABRA: I'm not.

ABE: Yes, you did. You raised your wings.

SABRA: No.

ABE: You left. You tried. (Beat) But you're my captive here. You have to stay in my good graces. I want to see this hand. (Takes her hand) Aha. You know what I see here? In this line here. (Tracing it) This life line...

SABRA: I don't have any.

ABE: Ah ah ah, let me look. What I see is a good hand, a strong one. It dreams. It feels...many things. It needs to build a strong life. I have hold of it here, you see? It does exist.

(Sabra gasps, then suddenly weeps, full out, heartbroken)

ABE: (Startled, putting his arm round her) Don't. Here... Don't cry, don't, Sabra. It's all right.

(SABRA sobs, clings to him. ABE kisses her hair, then her cheek...)

ABE: (Murmuring) Don't...don't...

SABRA: (Becoming aware that he's kissing her, she catches her breath) What...?

ABE: I'm sorry. I shouldn't, I...

(He stops speaking; She suddenly leans forward—)

SABRA: Here, then... (She kisses him, soft and quick like a child)

ABE: Uh...thank you. That...little kiss. I'm sure that did happen.

(She leans forward again, and kisses him a bit longer)

ABE: (Reacting) And again, you... Yes, on my face. Your hand is so...soft.

(He takes her hand from his face, kisses it)

ABE: Such a gentle hand...

(Soft murmur of holding and kissing each other)

ABE: Don't hurt, don't hurt, please don't hurt so much.

(SABRA pulls away, catching a breath)

SABRA: I'm your enemy.

ABE: Yes. Yes, you are. (Kissing her again)

SABRA: Why did you come here?

ABE: To be with you.

(They kiss again, but SABRA suddenly puts her hand over his mouth)

SABRA: Shhhh. Hear that?

SOUND: NIGHT SOUND – NATURAL OR MUSIC

SOUND: SABRA RUNS TO DOOR

SABRA: It may be nothing. If it's your soldiers...

ABE: They'd warn me first. How about yours? More, uh, apple farmers?

SABRA: Shhh...

ABE: (Heedless, giddy) I mean, for all I know, we're sitting on the main road to the Promised Land.

SABRA: What would happen to you if...?

ABE: If what?

SABRA: What would your Captain say? About me?

ABE: If he found me with you? Dumb luck. (Beat) I'm teasing, Sabra. Come here.

SABRA: It's dark.

ABE: Yes. It's dark now. No one can find us. Come here. (Pause) Yes. You're right. I'd be in giant trouble. Even for talking, let alone...touching. (Pause) So, my Shabbat angel, tell me your story. Don't look away. This is not fair, you know. I don't even know your name. (Beat) Sabra isn't your name.

SABRA: Abraham.

ABE: That's mine.

SABRA: Abraham.

ABE: How about your "brother" Ali?

SABRA: Yes.

ABE: Um Ali's first born. What happened to him?

SABRA: He went to the fighting. She wanted him to be a priest. But he went to the fight.

ABE: What fight? (Beat) against Israelis? He's with one of the factions?

SABRA: No more. Shot through the throat. (Pause) She says she gives them. It's all she can do. She gives sons.

ABE: And the other?

SABRA: Hamid.

ABE: Hamid?

SABRA: He'd curl my hair round his finger.

ABE: Hamid is... What? Tell me.

SABRA: Hamid studied to doctor. He didn't believe in the fighting.

ABE: Then what.

SABRA: (Simply, without emotion) Your soldiers took him anyway. They must have thought he knew...would tell...about his brother. so they tried to make him. They beat him every day, they beat him on the head until...his eye was crushed, and then, so no more marks would show, they hanged him naked by his wrists. They piped in screeching, screams of others, and wouldn't let him sleep. They made him crawl and bark.

ABE: No...please...

SABRA: They cut his feet. They...

ABE: Stop...

SABRA: ...did things to his sex, it was...

ABE: That's enough.

SABRA: (Pause) He didn't ever sign their paper. but when they let him out, before he died he told Um Ali they were so strong, they must be right, he wished he were a Jew.

ABE: (Angry) I can't believe this, Sabra. When was this?

SABRA: (Dry) He came home blind. Then he died. That I saw.

ABE: (Calmed, determined) Before. when you were only eight...did you have real brothers or sisters?

SOUND: SHE GETS UP SWIFTLY, BUT HE HOLDS HER THERE

ABE: Sabra, stay. (Pause) I'll stop asking. Just...sit with me. (Beat) Please don't be afraid of me.

SABRA: (Softly, a vow) Your name shall be Abraham...for a father of many nations have I made thee.

ABE: Yes. That's what they say. (Little laugh) And I try to understand it.

SABRA: (Gaining strength) And the Angel of The Lord called unto him out of heaven, saying "Abraham. Abraham." and he said "Here I am." (Bright) Where do you come from, Abraham?

ABE: Jerusalem.

SABRA: (Startled joy) No...!

ABE: I do. Have you seen it?

SABRA: No.

ABE: But everyone knows...

SABRA: Yes. Everyone knows Jerusalem.

ABE: You have to come. You have to see it. The great mosque is brilliant, so...breathtaking, cut out of the blue sky.

SABRA: (Shyly) And the air rings?

ABE: (Laughs) It does! It's so clear.

SABRA: (A-glow) Everyone comes from Jerusalem.

ABE: Yes. When you're there, you know. All of Abraham's children. (Heart-felt) Come sit by me, Sabra.

SABRA: (Excited) Wait, Abraham. This night is like no other.

ABE: (Laugh) That's for sure.

SABRA: You don't understand, but you will. And I...

ABE: You can tell me. (Beat) Then come. Tell me the bird story.

SABRA: What story?

ABE: About the bird.

SABRA: That Um Ali tells?

ABE: Yes.

SABRA: It just learns to fly.

ABE: (Smiling) That's all?

SABRA: (Child-like) The bird is born in a terrible desert, ugly and full of screams. But the bird has a dream of an olive tree, and awakes thinking she's lost, because the dream - an old stone wall with eggplants growing, and strawberries along its foot, and at its end, a silver, rustling, olive tree – is filling her mind, until she believes that this is real, and the ugly iron desert full of terrible cries is the dream.

So she tells herself "if you could only fly, you could lift out of this dream and find the sweet, warm, real world." And she begins to try. First she just runs. And runs, and runs, along the sharp edge, flapping her flimsy wings, until she feels a bit of strength seeping across her back and out to the pinions. Then one day when she runs and flaps till she's dizzy, she forgets to stop – and keeps on flapping out past the edge and into fhe sky.

ABE: (Pause) Does she find it?

SABRA: What?

ABE: The dream.

SABRA: Which dream?

ABE: The one with the olive tree.

SABRA: No, it's real.

ABE: Does she find it?

SABRA: I don't know.

ABE: You don't?

SABRA: I always fall asleep in the clouds.

ABE: Ah. (Astonished) Oooh, what a smile.

SABRA: Are you married, Abraham?

ABE: Me?

SABRA: Are you married?

ABE: (Laughing) No.

SABRA: Good.

ABE: Yes. That's lucky.

SABRA: But you are...a man.

ABE: What? Am I a man? (Realizing she means sexually) Well, yes. Yes.

SABRA: Good. (Beat) Because I'm going to love you.

ABE: What.

SOUND: SHE STEPS AWAY, STEPS BACK, LAYS OUT A QUILT ON GROUND

ABE: Sabra... What's that quilt for.

SABRA: Come, I'll help you down.

ABE: I don't...

SABRA: You don't what?

ABE: I don't know what...

SABRA: But will you be happy?

ABE: When?

SABRA: When I love you?

ABE: Yes! But Sabra...

SABRA: (Near, to support him) Then come. I'll help you lie down.

(Grunts of ABE as he's lowered down onto the quilt)

ABE: You're teasing me. You aren't serious.

SABRA: Oh yes. Very serious. This night is important to me, Abraham. I don't expect you to understand.

ABE: (Ironic) Oh, I understand how important this is. That's why...

SABRA: Don't you want me, Abraham?

ABE: Yes! Yes, I do.

SABRA: Good.

ABE: But have you...?

SABRA: Have I what?

ABE: Have you...loved someone before?

SABRA: (Warm, as though taking a vow) No, Abraham.

ABE: Well then, we can't!

SABRA: No? (SABRA's shy intake of breath)

ABE: (Whispers) No. Don't unbutton your...(Shouts) Sabra, stop it!

SABRA: Don't be afraid, Abraham. (Reassuring) You came to me from Jerusalem.

ABE: But your father, your brother... You have uncles?

SABRA: Shhh.... (SABRA kisses ABE, and proceeds...)

SOUND: SLIGHT RUSTLE OF CLOTHES

ABE: Sabra, you know better. They'll kill you.

SABRA: Shhhh. This won't hurt your foot.

(And they kiss, irregular breathing, gasps, "Oh's")

ABE: Sabra, we can't. A woman who shames her family can be killed.

SABRA: It's no shame. No shame.

ABE: Listen to me.

SABRA: You lie, Abraham. You're ready. You want to come into me.

ABE: Oh my God.

SABRA: If I promise you. I promise you no one will know. You want me. Help me. Show me how. It's just once.

ABE: (But then he stops abruptly) What makes you think I know how?

SABRA: (Startled, she pulls back) Abraham!

ABE: (Ready to be defensive) What.

SABRA: You don't? You've never loved someone?

ABE: No. I haven't. But that's not what matters here.

SABRA: Yes, yes, it does. (Delight) It's perfect!

ABE: Please, Sabra, we have to stop.

SABRA: It can't hurt me, Abraham. It's life. Just once, I want life.

\--------------------------

MUSIC: SWELLS. BLENDING WITH–

SOUNDS: NIGHT WOODS, BLENDING WITH

MUSIC: ISRAELI FOLK THEME, GRAMMA SOUND

GRAMMA: (Humming) HummmMmmmm

ABE: (Awaked, groggy) Gramma? Are you here?

GRAMMA: (Intimate, teasing, wise) Never mind, Abraham, I know what you want to tell me.

ABE: About this girl? Am I dreaming, Gramma? Where are you?

SOUND: HOLLOW RATTLE OF TRAIN CARS RUNNING ALONG TRACKS

GRAMMA: (At ease, picking up as though in the midst of a chat, marveling) A boxcar slamming shut. That's what I remember – that sound.

SOUND: SLIDE, THEN SLAMMING SHUT BOXCAR DOOR

GRAMMA: The dark. I'll never forget. With your grandfather still outside. And your mother kicking me from inside...oh, Abraham. The bottomless hell that was coming I didn't imagine, but I knew...that slam was the end of life. (Beat) But you know, Abraham, after all...it wasn't.

ABE: Right.

GRAMMA: So sleep well, my Abraham. (Gramma hums...)

ABE: (Sighs, back to sleep) Uuuuuh...

\------------------------------

MUSIC: FADES AS –

SOUND: SEGUE TO DAWN BIRDS. WORLD STIRRING AWAKE

SABRA: (Little groan, waking) Ummm.

ABE: (Still asleep, groans) Stay right where you are.

SABRA: It's nothing. I have to go behind a bush.. Sleep, my Abraham.

(ABE groans, seems asleep)

SOUND: SABRA STEPS AWAY, BASKET OR CRATE OPENING. RUSTLE OF ITEMS BEING LIFTED OUT OF IT.

ABE: (Groan, turning over) Auuuh.

SOUND: SABRA STOPS, WAITS, THEN, STEPS AWAY, CREAK OF DOOR OPENING

SOUND: DAWN SOUNDS, BIRDS

SABRA: (Tense huffs of breath, whispers to herself) Got rifle, got pistol. Oh God, thank you for the beautiful night; now help me through this day.

SOUND: CLANK OF GUNS SET DOWN, RUSTLE OF CLOTHES

SABRA: Bird runs till she can fly...be brave now... (Dressing) Shirt...off, and...belt on.

SOUND: CLINK, RATTLE, OF EXPLOSIVES BELT

SABRA: Careful, shh...wires all hooked, ignition pack in place...no, don't shake, breathe, quiet...shirt over, jacket on, pistol...

SOUND: PISTOL BEING LOADED

SABRA: Now go. No, not yet, just one more look, he's asleep. One look...

SOUND: CREAK OF DOOR. STEPS BACK IN

ABE: (Sleep breathing) Mmm...

SABRA: (Under her breath) So beautiful.

SOUND: HER STEPS TO LEAVE, RUSTLE OF HIS MOVE TO GRAB HER ANKLE. PISTOL FLIES, HITS SOMETHING; HER SLIDE AND FALL TO GROUND

SABRA: Ahhhh!

ABE: Delilah!

SABRA: (Struggling against being caught) No!

ABE: (Howls) Delilah!

SABRA: Let go of my foot! You'll get hurt!

ABE: I'll get hurt. You thieving bitch! You sneaking, poisonous bitch! Why should I let you go? So you can reach your gun?

SOUND: THUD OF HIM PINNING HER WITH HIS WEIGHT

SABRA: Ahaaah!

ABE: You're a terrorist.

SABRA: No...

ABE: Shut up! You are! And I'm a first class mark. What a joke. Hilarious.

SABRA: Abraham...

ABE: Don't talk to me. Don't you dare use my name.

SABRA: I have to go.

ABE: Sure you do.

SABRA: I have to go before your soldiers come.

ABE: Why didn't you slice my gut open? Why didn't you cut out my heart?

SABRA: Yes! Why didn't I?

ABE: (Stopped, realizes) Because you've got a bigger plan. Not just to butcher me. You've planted a bomb. I saw you with it, witch!

(ABE yelps, getting onto his feet)

ABE: Where?

SABRA: Don't stand; you'll pass out. (Her arm yanked upward) Ahaa!

ABE: You wish I would. Where is it? You figured you'd get us all at once. Where did you put it, bitch!

SABRA: Aaaah!

ABE: You think I won't break your arm?

SABRA: (Gasping) You think I'll tell?

ABE: Of course not. Come on.

(His groans; her screams)

SOUND: ABE DRAGGING HIMSELF WITH SABRA IN TOW, TO THE DOOR

SABRA: Abraham, I told you...

ABE: ...lies! Lots of lies. (Beat) Here. By the door? So when it shuts we get it in the face? Kaboom! Oh, baby, you should have blown me away when you had the chance. Because you've got another load set to rip my buddy's guts out, and nothing, nothing is a bloody enough way to settle with you!

SOUND: ABE JERKING HER AROUND

(SABRA's gasping breath)

ABE: Stick with me, cause if it finds us before you give me the word, you're going with me...all the way, baby. (Beat) Why the hell did you have to hit on me! What kind of sickness was that? Answer me!! (Yanks her arm)

SABRA: Ahhahhh!

SOUND: COLLAPSE ONTO GROUND

(Exhausted, painful breathing of both)

ABE: You did it, didn't you. You planted the shit that hit Benny. (Beat) Didn't you!

SABRA: (Beat) You won't believe me. So believe what you want.

ABE: You bitch...

SABRA: I told you...

ABE: You told me lies!

SABRA: I told you everything I could. You'll understand after...

ABE: After what?!

SABRA: There's nothing to find. You have to let me go.

(SABRA's pulling away)

ABE: I saw you with the stuff! (Lunge to grab her back) What's this...?

SOUND: THUNK AS SHE KICKS HIS FOOT, AND HE FALLS BACK

ABE: (Howl) Aaaah!

SOUND: SCRAMBLE; CLICK OF GUN AND RIFLE

SABRA: You made me kick your foot. Now stay there. Or I will shoot.

ABE: It's on you. I felt it.

SABRA: (Breathing hard) Come back inside, Abraham.

ABE: The stuff is on you. You're the bomb.

SABRA: Come in. Sit down.

ABE: Why. (Pause. Not moving) Why?

SABRA: I don't want to hurt you.

ABE: Hah! (Beat) What are you doing, Sabra?

SABRA: Nothing that concerns you.

ABE: No?

SABRA: No.

ABE: You're just going to blow yourself up.

SABRA: Maybe.

ABE: Maybe? When do you decide?

SABRA: I don't.

ABE: You don't! You just hop on down to the border and wait for somebody to shoot you? Or watch for a school bus to ram yourself into? Or what!

SABRA: You'd better go in now. Standing out here isn't good for you.

ABE: Sure. Sure.

SOUND: DRAG, AND STEPS INSIDE

ABE: So what are you going to do with your jackass? Or should I say, your stud.

SOUND: CHECKING PISTOL

ABE: You lied to me.

SABRA: Some.

ABE: You're Palestinian.

SABRA: I come from Jerusalem.

ABE: My God. Palestinian.

SABRA: (Quietly) I'm going home.

ABE: Dressed like that? (Pause) That's what was wrong with your story of Hamid. I should have picked it up.

SABRA: (Swift, animal attack) It makes sense now? What you did to him? Now that you know he was Palestinian?

ABE: (Icy) When were you ever in Jerusalem? (Pause) When?!

SABRA: (Hoarse) Never.

ABE: (Triumphant) Never.

SABRA: (Close to him, intimate) Never.

ABE: (Understanding what it means, sorry) Sabr...

RADIO: Dogstar to Apex.

SABRA: (Startled by radio, gasps) I know there were oranges there. On the hill. In the might Jew soldiers came, firing shots, shouting loud "get out!" My father was six. His eyes opened wide – the first time he ever saw soldiers. "Get out, or we'll kill you!"

RADIO: Dogstar to Apex.

SABRA: (Cannot stop; intimate, like a secret she's telling) My grandfather had no gun. "I can't leave my garden, my trees!" My father held his little dove under his shirt.

RADIO: Apex, come in.

SABRA: A soldier took his mother by the hair and dragged her.

RADIO: Are you there? Apex?

SABRA: (As the soldier) "Keep moving."

SOUND: RADIO PICKED UP; CLICK OF RIFLE'S SAFETY

ABE: Apex here. you're up early. Is...Benny...

SABRA: "Keep moving..."

RADIO: Benny hung on. He may make it.

ABE: (Yell) Benny's alive!

SABRA: Guns jabbed my family into the road, where hundreds of families were running, as though from fire.

RADIO: Good news for a change?

SABRA: Please, let us go back for the stove, for the trunk, for some bread!" There were old who barely could walk, babies clinging to sleeves."

RADIO: Apex?

SABRA: The third day his mother stumbled and didn't get up. They dug a hole by the road. The dove was lost before that.

RADIO: Apex? You all right?

ABE: Great shape. About to hop in there.

RADIO: Stay where you are. We're on the way.

SABRA: Give me the radio. (She takes the radio)

SOUND: SWITCH OFF RADIO

ABE: That's just a story, Sabra.

SABRA: Mine.

ABE: A war story.

SABRA: What war? My family was just living!

ABE: I've got stories, too. Want to hear them? Stories like this are passed down and down...

SABRA: This one you should understand...

ABE: ...And changed.

SABRA: ...If your grandmother lost her...

ABE: Don't you dare! My grandmother has nothing to do with you.

SABRA: (Quietly) "Wait just till the fighting stops." his father said. But when it did, and they started home...the border was shut. With machine guns.

ABE: Just get out of here, why don't you? They're on the way.

SABRA: They took his father for "questioning." the family waited. he didn't return. (Beat) I was born in Sabra.

ABE: (Startled, uneasy) The camp?

SABRA: The camp. (Pause) But my father couldn't forget his father's oranges. He went to fight his way back. When I was eight, Israelis came to Sabra. They surrounded the camp with their tanks. They sent in soldiers...

ABE: (Sharp) Not Israeli soldiers!

SABRA: No.

ABE: Not Jews! Arabs.

SABRA: You don't want to hear this story?

ABE: Why don't you kill me? You've come to kill people.

SABRA: Jews.

ABE: People with children.

SABRA: And oranges. People with homes. But who? The Jews who stole my grandfather's orchard, the ones who made Hamid blind, the ones who stood outside the fence while my mother was...

ABE: I'm a Jew. And they aren't me!

SABRA: But you're the only one I know.

ABE: So kill me! (Pause) You can't.

SABRA: Yes I can. I kept thinking of ways.

ABE: Does your god enjoy killing?!

SABRA: Does yours?

ABE: (Almost laughing) Oh, you'll be welcome in Jerusalem. Center of the world, city of God the first God ever to say "you must not kill." Where everyone says they come to worship, but what they do there is hate. The city stinks of blood. (Pause) They'll tell you there's another Jerusalem. A pure one, hanging above the first one in the sky. It's a lie. There's only one. And it is brilliant, breathtaking. So why can't its golden light burn off its poison! (Pause) Jews aren't as sure as you think, Sabra. With all you Arabs wanting us dead, we worry we wandered too many years. We fear it's only you who belong. So tell me! (Beat) About Sabra.

SABRA: (Choked) You don't want to know.

ABE: That's right! But I have no choice.

SABRA: (Soft, swift) It wasn't Israelis. You're right. They kept their hands clean. They only opened the gates.

ABE: (Hoarse, tight) It was Christians, Sabra. It was Christians who went into Sabra.

SABRA: (Draws into herself, simple, no emotion) I'd gone to the edge of the camp for bread. The babies were crying, hungry again. Angry Timur, just three, and Somaya, who'd sucked mama dry. I saw Israeli tanks lined up by the fence. The firing didn't scare me much. There was always shooting. I scuttled from shadow to shadow, past sundown now, curfew already, but I got through. I was skinny as a shadow.

On our alley, soldiers were banging at Aruri's, shouting "open up," and that frightened me. I could hear muffled screams down the alley. A man ran past. A shot flashed beside me. He fell, but I wasn't surprised, only wanting to get home fast. Darting, I came to our door, put my hand in the light flowing out. I was glad it cracked open, but about to scold mama for not barring it tight, when I heard her moan – a deep terrible sound - then I saw. I saw past the soldier's legs to where little Timur was spread on the floor, opened, like a messy fountain, bubbling bright red.

ABE: No, Sabra, no...

SABRA: My mouth opened, but nothing came out. A hatchet hung from the soldier's fist. Mama was pressed to the wall clutching somaya, I heard her "I swear, this one's a girl." But he tore the baby from mama, and grunting, hurled her against the wall. "Girls become mothers. Mothers breed sons." Then he brought down his iron-spiked boot, hard on Somaya's face. I shrieked "mama!" and jumped for his boot in the air, but he whacked me off with his hatchet, and thumped again with his spike, and again, and again, mashing her tiny face. Then he must have been tired, for he twisted back, and swung his hatchet only once more, slicing my mama's belly straight through. She bent her head forward without a sound. I crawled to her lap. It was warm a long time.

ABE: (Silence, hoarse–) The Lord is my shepherd...

SABRA: (Soft) ...I shall not want.

ABE: When I asked how Gramma survived, she said that, but... (Trails off, and– ) Um Ali?

SABRA: Um Ali found me in mama's lap. I let her wash me. but I didn't speak...for seven years.

ABE: (Pause) But life...didn't end.

SABRA: (Beat, released–) Ali and Hamid were good to me, while they stayed. But now, Um Ali only rocks on her stoop and talks about olives. She doesn't remember this dead life. She only dreams of home.

ABE: Sabra...stay with me.

SABRA: (Beat) A lost home is a kind of disease, you know. It drains your soul.

ABE: I know.

SABRA: Some people leave their homes. Or deny them. But they're never lost.

ABE: No.

SABRA: (Beginning to feel life) So I promised her I'd go, I'd find it. And if I get to Jerusalem, the others can come.

ABE: You'll die, Sabra. How far can you get?

SABRA: (Clear, happy) I can't tell. The land will know me. When I touch it...I'll be alive. And the joy...!

ABE: You're going to kill people.

SABRA: I won't if they let me pass. I'll warn them.

ABE: If you warn them, they'll shoot you. You'll explode alone.

SABRA: But they'll know it's my home. Why else would I die just to get there?

ABE: You're insane.

SABRA: Am I? Think. If you were me? What would you do.

SOUND: SHE STEPS AWAY TO DOOR

ABE: If you take my rifle...

SABRA: If I leave it, you'll shoot me. (Sorry for saying it) You'd have to shoot me. Do you want the choice?

ABE: (Beat) I'll be naked out here. Your "brothers" will be happy to find me.

SABRA: I'll leave it a hundred yards out, against a tree. You can make it that far.

ABE: But if you take my radio, and they call me again...

SABRA: You'll tell them.

ABE: No, you'll be safer if I...

SABRA: You'll call and tell them.

ABE: If they can't reach me, they'll know something's wrong.

SABRA: They'll come just as fast either way.

ABE: But they'll bring more men.

SABRA: Shut up! You can't stop me!

ABE: That's right!

SOUND: QUICK STEPS AWAY. ABE THROWS HIMSELF AFTER HER

ABE: Oh Sabra, my love... (His foot folds under him) Ahh! ...My little one, wait. just wait. I'll think of something. Please...

SABRA: Abraham...

ABE: (Suddenly clear) I'll take you to Jerusalem.

SABRA: (Stopped cold, but) Don't say that!

(Then SABRA sobs, uncontrollably)

ABE: (Pulling her close) Yes, yes, please listen my love. (Embracing her) Don't cry, it's over now. That's what we'll do. I'll take you there. We'll go together.

SABRA: (Clear, quiet) You can't.

ABE: Why not?

SABRA: You know you can't.

ABE: What can't I do? If I love you, I can do anything.

SABRA: (Calm) You're speaking like a child.

ABE: Maybe. Maybe it needs a child. Then that's what I'll be. Let me take you. We'll find the tree together, the old wall, the eggplants.

SABRA: (Gutteral, pained) Abraham...

ABE: That's how it should be. I know the way.

SABRA: Please...

ABE: The air is so light there. It chimes. On the hillside, we could sing, we could make a child...

SABRA: You're talking magic. Don't! It's not fair!

ABE: Magic does happen. Do you believe I love you?

SABRA: (Carefully) In this moment...yes.

ABE: Then, in this moment, I can do whatever it takes.

SABRA: What can you do?

ABE: I don't know. We have to think, we have to plan. Oh my love. the first thing is... We have to... (Little laugh) ...unhook you. I can't hold onto a fully-armed bomb.

SABRA: (Pulling away) The connection isn't live. I didn't hook it yet.

ABE: Let me see at least, Sabra. Lift your shirt.

ABE: (Tense, seeing explosives belt) Let's take it off, please.

SABRA: Not yet.

ABE: You don't believe me.

SABRA: I don't know if you can do what you say.

ABE: But you want me to.

SABRA: It's a dream.

ABE: You're awake, Sabra. We both are.

SABRA: How could we go there?

ABE: First, it has to seem natural. We'll say you're Lebanese, and I met you before I...

SABRA: No! They can't see me! I won't. They'll lock me up.

ABE: Why? Did you do something else?

SABRA: No, Abraham. I don't have to "do something" to get locked up. Hamid didn't "do something."

ABE: But we can tell them...

SABRA: No! It's impossible. They'll never let me in.

SOUND: RADIO CRACKLES

SABRA: (Gasps) Ah.

RADIO: Dogstar to Apex. Dogstar to Apex.

SOUND: RUN FOR DOOR

ABE: (Calling after her) I'm going to marry you, Sabra.

SABRA: (Stopped, perplexed) What.

ABE: Have to answer the radio.

SOUND: SABRA STEPS TO HIM; CLICK OF RADIO ON

ABE: Apex here. (To her, urgent) No, don't...hook your belt, please, Sabr...

RADIO: Apex?

ABE: Uuh, what's for breakfast?

RADIO: We're five clicks and counting. gear up.

ABE: Roger.

SOUND: CLICKS OFF RADIO

ABE: Now the radio's off. You can kill me, and they'll never know what happened.

SOUND: SABRA'S RUN TO HIM, THEIR EMBRACE

SABRA: Abraham.

ABE: (Sigh of embrace) Careful. Careful with you. I'm not going to let you go, not going to let anyone hurt you. Do you understand me?

SABRA: Yes.

ABE: If you won't face them, then you'll have to hide here. We'll have to meet later.

SABRA: You can't come here alone. And even if you could, then what? There's no way to "take" me there.

ABE: Can you get to Tyre?

SABRA: I can get anywhere.

ABE: I don't like it. There's too much chance to lose you.

SABRA: I know.

ABE: I'll get you papers. A passport.

SABRA: (Gasps, overjoyed) A passport?! A real pas...

ABE: You know it... (Hesitates)

SABRA: ...couldn't say Palestinian.

ABE: It would have to say...

SABRA: (Interrupting) It's no good, Abraham. You'd ruin your life.

ABE: My life?

SABRA: You'd be a traitor. Someone would know. And any Israeli would do anything to stop you, anything. Terrible things would happen, against your will. And they'd never let me live.

ABE: (Amused) Israelis aren't as bad as you believe.

SABRA: It can't work. As soon as I do something, anything you don't like, you'll turn on me. You'd never trust me.

ABE: Stop insulting me!

SABRA: There's no time, Abraham. They're getting close. Just let me hide. I've come this far.

ABE: (Frustrated, bursts) I can't leave you loose here!

SABRA: That's it. I might betray you. Well, maybe you'll have to shoot me.

(Stand-off, both breathing heavily)

SABRA: If I give you your rifle, my revolver – here, take them.

SOUND: CLINK OF HANDING OVER GUNS

SABRA: Will you still be afraid I'll hurt someone?

ABE: Besides you, you mean?

SABRA: So it's your duty to shoot me. (Beat) Go ahead, do it. (Beat) You're afraid you'd explode with me? (Pause) You better not tell them anything about us. They'll think you went mad.

SOUND: HER STEPS TO DOOR, HIS LUNGE TO GRAB HER

ABE: Stop it!

SABRA: Be careful, I'm live!

ABE: Stop wasting the time! I'm not letting you go. I'm going to take you to Jerusalem, even if we have to cross the border under machine guns! So stop this; you've got to trust me!

SABRA: (Anguished) There is no way, Abraham.

ABE: (In a rush) All you've known is a nightmare. But I'm strong. I have my home. My only nightmare is fighting your fear. My strength is enough for us both. You have to believe in me, now, believe we have hope. (Pause) I'm going to find out where they are.

SOUND: CLICKS ON RADIO

ABE: Apex to Dogstar.

RADIO: Dogstar to Apex. Afraid we'll sneak up on you?

ABE: Where are you?

RADIO: Just passing Beaufort Castle. You'll hear us any minute. All clear?

ABE: Everything's quiet. Thanks.

SOUND: CLICKS OFF RADIO

ABE: (Swift, low, intimate) Get me a sealed message. Bring it to IDF central in Tyre. Give it to my friend, Eli. He's at the gate every day from 8 to 4. Can you do that?

SABRA: Yes.

ABE: (A new idea) My boot! Extra dog-tags.

SABRA: What?

SOUND: CLINK OF DOG TAGS

ABE: Here's who you want to find. But I'm keeping half of it.

SOUND: SNAP OF BREAKING DOG TAG

ABE: Half stays with the body... Take this piece: half goes...with you.

SABRA: (Holds him tight) Oh, Abraham.

ABE: In the message, just tell me where you'll be next Saturday, all day. I'll get leave and a ride there, anywhere you say. Do you believe me?

SABRA: Yes.

ABE: Unhook your explosives. (Beat) Please. I won't ask you to take it off. Only...to take care of my love.

SOUND: UNCLASPING BELT

ABE: Now answer me something.

SABRA: (Smiling) What can I answer you?

ABE: If you hadn't planned to die today...would you have made love to me last night?

SABRA: (Sober, sharp) Of course not!

ABE: (Laughs) I don't even know how to feel about that. Sabra...Sabra...

SABRA: How will you take me to Jerusalem, Abraham?

ABE: As my wife. Don't you see? You can be anyone.

SABRA: Even an Israeli wife.

ABE: Even that.

SABRA: But not Palestinian.

ABE: Sabra, Sabra...no one can make you anyone but who you are.

SABRA: But if I pretend, I can be happy. (As she imagines it) What about Um Ali. (Calm) It's no good, is it. If I don't touch the land on my own, I haven't done anything. I've abandoned them all.

ABE: No you haven't. Not if you're happy.

SABRA: That's your love speaking.

ABE: Yes!

SABRA: You're so strong. My invincible enemy. And I can rest, you'll always protect me...because you love me.

ABE: Yes.

SABRA: (Gently pulling away) Then you'll understand.

SOUND: NOISES OFF-MIKE, OF SOLDIERS MOVING

ABE: (A reflex) Don't go...

SABRA: I have to, Abraham. Please forgive me.

SOUND: SABRA'S STEPS OUT, LEAVING – NATURE SOUND.

ABE: Wait. You have to stay here.

SOUND: SABRA MOVING, THEN CLIMBING CLIFF

SABRA: Um Ali needs her joy back. Listen my love: If I live and get there, she'll know she exists.

ABE: It's too late to go!

SABRA: (Calling back) I'll be all right. I'll go quickly. I'll make it, don't worry.

ABE: You can't!

SABRA: (Farthest distance) I won't forget you, Abraham. I married you here.

SOUND: SABRA TAKES OFF RUNNING

ABE: Wait. You can't go. You can't go! It's too late to go. Come back, Sabra. Come back!

SOUND: SOLDIERS MOVING FROM ANOTHER DIRECTION

DOGSTAR: (Off mike, calling from distance) Abe, are you down here?

ABE: I'll keep you safe. I'll take you to Jerusalem!

DOGSTAR: (Off) Advise, Abe?! What's going on?

ABE: Don't leave me here!!

DOGSTAR: (Alarmed, off) Abe, where are you? Who's that running. Halt!

ABE: No!

DOGSTAR: (Off) Halt, or I'll shoot!

ABE: (Screams) Don't shoot, don't shoot!!

SOUND: SHOTS OFF. THEN, EXPLOSION FROM THE DIRECTION SABRA RAN

ABE: (Horrific cry that echoes) Sabra!!

MUSIC: FLUTE SWELLS, THEN HOLDS QUIETLY UNDER

GRAMMA: (Intimate, low) Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the House of the Lord forever.

SOUND: GRAMMA'S VOICE IS OVER-LAID WITH THE SAME LINE IN HEBREW AND ARABIC, BLENDING IN MUSIC

ANNOUNCER: This is Phil Lee, founder of Full House Productions in New York City, and director of this production of HOW HIS BRIDE CAME TO ABRAHAM, written by Karen Sunde.

ABE was played by Amir Babayoff, SABRA by Maya Serhan, DOGSTAR and BENNY by Richard LevIne, and GRAMMA by Jane Titus. Our program was engineered and edited by Phil Lee and Andrew Kirk. The Composer was Darryl Gregory.

We hope you have enjoyed our play. To learn more about ABRAHAM or to help us film the story, go to www.AbrahamFilm.org or call 212.366.1124.

END OF PRODUCTION

APPENDIX

The Seed of Haiti: A Dream

(The interview below recounts the play's origin, and began WNYC, WHYY, and NPR's broadcast of HAITI: A DREAM (here titled: VOODOO TO PARADISE.)

MUSIC: DRAMATIC ORCHESTRA, HOLDS UNDER, SEGUES INTO STORM

"I'm Karen Sunde, the writer of Haiti: A Dream. The seed for this play happened in a writer-ly way that I didn't believe actually happened to writers \- I just always heard that things happened this way:

That is, that I happened to see a tiny clip in the New York Times that told of a wreckage of a boat, a wooden boat washed up on the shore of Florida that had been en route from Haiti to Florida, no doubt illegally; no doubt it was destroyed in a storm.

So, from that little seed my imagination began to wonder who those people were and what happened to them, and what that yearning was like for them, and what it meant to them, and so then I began to study...Haiti, and that opened another world, an incredible world for me – moving poignant, beautiful, exciting and so so tragic.

Doing it for radio was like having the play opened up and given back to me - amplified. The things that I had imagined had grown and were coming back, well, like waves, in a way that was more than I could have imagined.

I wanted to know what it was like in this dark hold of a ship - very cramped, small, people very desperate, people without...means, without an idea, really, of where they were going, or what they would need, or how long or how harrowing the journey might be – people who were going to run out of food. And I wanted to get a sense of the whole ambiance of this island...paradise... essentially, that they were leaving.

SOUND: DENSE CRICKETS, WATER SOUND, INSECTS IN TROPICAL NIGHT, HOLDS UNDER

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Karen Sunde, a playwright and screenwriter, lives in New York

ASTERISKS in Play List below indicate published plays available for purchase at: http://www.broadwayplaypub.com * http://www.dramaticpublishing.com **

PLUS MARK (+) indicates plays available in free ebooks online and at www.karensunde.com

For descriptions of all works, see http://www.karensunde.com. Some screenplays are at http://www.howardshulman.com

PLAYS BY KAREN SUNDE

LIBERTY +

BALLOON *

DARK LADY **

TO MOSCOW **

SWEET LAND OF FIRE +

HAITI: A DREAM (in Facing Forward) *

NATIVE LAND +

OH WILD WEST WIND (in Rowing to America) **

ANTON, HIMSELF +

MASHA, TOO +

ANTON, HIMSELF: First & Last +

PLEASE GOD, NO WEDDING OR SHOOTING AT THE END +

IN A KINGDOM BY THE SEA (in Plays by Karen Sunde) *

HOW HIS BRIDE CAME TO ABRAHAM *

TRUTH TAKES A HOLIDAY (in Plays by Karen Sunde) *

GENTLEMAN JOHNNY

ME & JOAN (of Arc) +

WHEN REAL LIFE BEGINS +

TRACKING BLOOD WHITE +

DEBORAH: THE ADVENTURES OF A SOLDIER

2020 SEXCARE

THE FASTEST WOMAN ALIVE **

KABUKI OTHELLO **

KABUKI MACBETH +

KABUKI KING RICHARD +

ACHILLES +

KABUKI LADY MACBETH **

QUASIMODO (a musical)

SPA (an opera)

THE SOUND OF SAND +

SCREENPLAYS BY KAREN SUNDE

UNDERCOVER PATRIOT

COUNTDOWN

OVER THE RAINBOW

BOULE DE SUIF

THE SECRET SHIP

HOW HIS BRIDE CAME TO ABRAHAM

IN A KINGDOM BY THE SEA

THE LINE

PARALLEL LOVES

DREAM HOUSE

FINAL QUEST: THE MOUNTAIN OF THE GODS

TRIPPING TAMMY

THE FASTEST WOMAN ALIVE

LOVE HITS EARTH (& Other Disasters)

NEXT!

CHICKS GOTTA SWIM

~~~~~~~~~~~

