Linger

                                       ...Linger

Act 1


CHORUS: Nothing old, nothing young, nothing left, nothing right, nothing up, nothing down. Plants, trees, forests, gardens, fields dissolved into nothing. No ocean blue. Fish, mammals, reptiles, insects, omnivores, carnivores extinct. Language a myth, sight not seen, Touch not felt, data not stored, pain not repressed, life never lived, death never coming, love it has no meaning. We were dreaming of a space, only space, no moon, no sun, no planet, no rock to be knocked. Light turned dark. Sound switched off. Lost is an idea. Discovery is a concept never to be. A soul...Look...LOOK! There! (Laughs) Did we? Are we?

A woman laying. Covered in a white sheet. Looking toward the audience. A man on the other side. Laying. Covered in a white sheet. Also, facing the audience. THEY open their eyes. Confused. Then clarity arrives within their expressions.

DAWN: It's the crescent moon, it fills my nights with beauty. It doesn't matter if you are here or not, it doesn't matter if I ever see you again. There was a time, a place, a calm presence that will never be replaced by the countryside silent treatment. There is a longing, but a leaping faith that is still sweeping through the air, and I inhaled deep into my lungs. (Turns to face WALT.)

WALT: It's the oceanic clouds at my feet, it fills me with heavenly hope. I walked for miles. I crawled over the peddled patch. The crowd pushed and shoved, and I fought my way up to get to you. The buildings taller than the eye can see, but I climbed with the pain in my legs, the heavy feeling in my chest. No heart big enough could conquer more than I am able to. (Turns to face DAWN.)

DAWN: But we are not meant to be.

WALT: Nothing felt more false.

DAWN: I wish it was true.

WALT: It is.

DAWN: Aren't you tired?

WALT: Exhausted.

DAWN: Then rest.

WALT: I can't.

DAWN: Why not?

WALT: Not until I have you.

DAWN: You will forever be tired.

WALT: I refuse to accept that.

DAWN: I am not in denial.

WALT: (Pause) Do you want me to leave?

DAWN: You know the answer to that.

WALT: But you can't say it.

DAWN: No...

WALT: And I don't want to hear it.

DAWN: Doesn't mean it isn't there to be heard.

WALT: I'm deaf with the sound of love.

DAWN: Don't say such sweet, heart breaking statements of love.

WALT: Don't allow me to experience such tragic departing.

DAWN: I won't.

WALT: It's already happened.

DAWN: Unfortunately it has.

WALT: We made it so far.

DAWN: As far as it will go.

WALT: (Sigh) Do you see the moon when you open your eyes to the sky?

DAWN: Nowhere to be seen. Do you see the clouds at your feet?

WALT: All is clear blue.

DAWN: Then the air is toxic black.

WALT: And the buildings collapsed.

DAWN: There is nothing between us.

WALT: No distance measured.

DAWN: We are as one.

WALT: A lingered memory.

DAWN: The final thought.

WALT: The trapped feeling.

DAWN: The eternal goodbye.

WALT: Forever concluding.

DAWN: Our bodies drift.

WALT: Our hearts stabilized.

DAWN: leave you at the night sky.

WALT: Return in the morning sunrise.

DAWN/WALT: Bye, my love.

CHORUS: Something saved. Something saved. Nothing claimed! Someone obtained. Someone in a maze, a hole, a cave, a box, a space between the gap that lies nowhere and all at once. We are saved! They are saved! Nothing changed! Everything remained! Dreams escaped, thoughts delayed, minds slaved away, keeping nothing away. Everything replayed! Nothing gave. A soul...It lingered in the space, the only space. The love it lingered, lingered in the corner of the...corner of her, in him, in all.
Do you see! Look...LOOK! It does not matter that everything is here or not. It is always looking at YOU!