Sergio De La Pava - Personae

( Clarissa leaves abruptly towards the exit and after a moment Ludwig follows urgently. There they find Charles in the process of hobbling out. )

ADAM: Clarissa quick!

NESTOR: He insisted, insistently.

CLARISSA: What’s this now?

CHARLES: I’m going. I need to be the one who goes and there’s no time for debate.

CLARISSA: There’s always time to listen to reason right Charles?

CHARLES: You want reason? I have all the reason I need. The reason I’m going is that, unlike you all, I do not have the luxury of time to wait and see how it all works out in the end. My end nears and I need to work against it.

CLARISSA: Just listen Charles because we have strong reason to believe that what you’ll find out there will not be great.

CHARLES: So who do you say should go?

CLARISSA: I’ll go like we decided. ( Charles and Nestor exchange a quick glance ) If everything’s fine I’ll come back for the rest. If not you’ll be safe here.

CHARLES: I’m not safe here, I’m not getting better.

CLARISSA: Maybe not but you’re also not getting appreciably worse. I’ll come back if everything’s fine.

CHARLES: No you won’t, why would you? Linda said she would return and the only thing that replaced her was desolation. She said we would never part.

CLARISSA: She was using metaphor Charles.

LUDWIG: A perfectly legitimate way to speak.

CLARISSA: You know that.

CHARLES: I’m going, I have the most to lose.

( He resumes hobbling. )

LUDWIG: Wait!

( Ludwig removes his hat and beautiful long hair unfurls. He removes his jacket to reveal that he is a woman, a striking one! Adam and Clarissa look at each other, Nestor doesn’t react. Charles moves closer to get a better look. )

CHARLES: Heaven!

LINDA: See, it’s me. It’s Linda. I told you I’d return and I did. We’re together again, don’t leave.

CHARLES: Linda?

LINDA: Yes, Linda. Stay.

CHARLES: Say my name. Say my name Linda.

LINDA: What?

CHARLES: Say my name. The first time I heard you say it the sound fluttered my heart and though the effect did dim over time it remained perceptible to the end.

LINDA: There was no end, it’s me.

CHARLES: Say it!

LINDA: There was no end Charles.

CHARLES: ( upset ) Oh. No. Say it. Say it please.

LINDA: I just did Charles.

CHARLES: Oh. ( looks away then up ) What did we call soft displays of affection?

LINDA: What?

CHARLES: What did we name them, it’s a simple question.

LINDA: I don’t… know.

CHARLES: A photograph. A remarkable photographic likeness but displayed in Hell not Heaven. Tell me, if left in the sun will you fade and desaturate?

( He hobbles off. )

LINDA: This is a confusing place, give me a moment.

CHARLES: I don’t have one to give. Chubby, we called it chubby.

( He leaves. )

LINDA: Wait! You’re right! Charles!

( The four stand dumbfounded. Charles is gone. Suddenly Adam draws a sword heretofore unseen and points it at Linda’s neck .)

ADAM: Who are you? Speak!

CLARISSA: Where the hell did he get that?

LINDA: I’m outspoken. I’ve said all I will. If you want more verbiage you’ll have to provide it yourself.

ADAM: I’m not playing! ( pushing sword closer )

NESTOR: Easy Adam, ( taking the sword and throwing it offstage ) silence is always a woman’s prerogative. Right Lud old boy?

CLARISSA: Wait! Do you guys hear that?

( Soft and vague human sounds are heard. )

Those are muted squeals of delight. Charles is in a better place!

ADAM: No, I think they’re cries for help.

( more sounds )

CLARISSA: No I tell you. Can’t you divine the meaning of those sounds? We’re in a safe place, protected by a benevolent deity, partaking of splendid riches of florabundant variety and an enriching power that offers powerful enrichment.

( As Clarissa speaks a ball rolls in from where Charles left. Clarissa stops as Linda approaches it to investigate. She moves closer and closer until making the wretched discovery that it is Charles’s head! What was his head. She unloads a grievous scream and recoils in abject horror. Adam and Clarissa are so stunned their horrified grief is displayed as if underwater. )

CLARISSA: Oh my…

ADAM: God.

Nestor calmly removes his jacket, wraps it around his elbow, and goes over to the case where he smashes the glass with it and removes the gun.

ACT TWO The same room, but different. In fact nothing in it is the same as before. At a small round table sit Adam and Linda in a seeming portrait of placid domesticity. The beds are gone and in their place, near the exit, a stack of sandbags.

ADAM: Wait, what are you saying exactly? No equivocation please.

LINDA: I’m saying behave like an adult. Change fuels the world and powers the globe’s rotation. Leaves lose their grip on the tree that provided them sanctuary to then brown and curl on the ground. But their decomposition feeds the soil that greater splendor might grow thereon.

ADAM: That’s your version of unequivocal?

LINDA: I’m sorry, did I promise you a lifetime?

ADAM: Yes! Precisely that!

LINDA: I may not have realized at the time how precious a commodity that is.

ADAM: I’d respect you so much more if you’d just come out and say it.

LINDA: Well Adam, if that’s your real name, I’m afraid this may seem premature but I don’t think this is working out.

ADAM: Premature? We’ve been together decades!

LINDA: Does seem that way at times doesn’t it? I’m sure you understand.

ADAM: I most definitely do not! Is it another man?

LINDA: No.

ADAM: Then?

LINDA: Another woman.

ADAM: What ?

LINDA: I was another woman when I declared that lifetime thing. Such another in fact that I’m only taking your word for said declaration.

ADAM: That’s outrageous.

LINDA: Understand. What we call a person is just a product of their particular genetic stew as basted and braised by the particular experiences found in its kitchen. Do I not get to produce different flavors as those experiences change? You would bind me through the words of my priors but I state honestly that you might as well seek to use the disembodied words of a radio announcer for all the connection I feel to them. Is it solace then to say that I have not fallen out of love with you but rather that this I never loved you at all?

ADAM: No, it’s not. Not even close.

LINDA: I say with confidence that what is needed for this type of thing to work is a derogation of sorts and one that I suspect I’m not really capable of.

ADAM: No, not true. It’s an enhancement what we did. A doubling of skills and assets.

LINDA: Tears and tirades.

ADAM: You’re purposely taking a myopic view.

LINDA: No, on this I’m 20/20.

ADAM: So that’s it then?

LINDA: You don’t have to say it like that.

ADAM: How do you want me to say it?

LINDA: ( cheery ) So that’s it then!

ADAM: I think you’re mentally ill.

LINDA: Thought’s crossed my mind. But maybe true insanity resides in thinking that an artificial social construct is going to fill a void that’s not societal in nature.

ADAM: Love is not a construct.

LINDA: Love Adam? At this late a stage?

ADAM: Yes, Love. You have something better?

LINDA: Yes, our daily bread. Because I can see it. It weighs down my hand and fills my stomach.

ADAM: But then the emptiness returns.

LINDA: Which is why I need a constant supply.

ADAM: It can’t fill that void.

LINDA: Maybe not but I’m wise and don’t expect it to so there’s none of that unbearable disappointment.