LUDWIG: It’s not good. The picture’s not altogether clear but through the snow and other interference what I see is problematic.
CLARISSA: You say what you see but wasn’t Nestor with you? Did he not see the same as you?
LUDWIG: How sure can we ever be of what another has seen or experienced but I believe he saw the same.
CLARISSA: I see.
LUDWIG: I’m sorry. It’s with a heavy heart that I…
CLARISSA: Stop! I want for motivation, not apologies.
LUDWIG: But you’re right to lack motivation, you shouldn’t go.
CLARISSA: Not my motivation, Ludwig, yours.
LUDWIG: Oh. Just… the thought of being alone… eternally… not joining with the opposable sex… Nestor made some good points…
CLARISSA: Ah.
LUDWIG: … about the advisability of romantic love and such.
CLARISSA: Say no more, preferably ever.
On subsequent thought tell me, what is unrequited love like? I’ve never experienced it, at least not from the end you’re in. Oh and sorry I couldn’t requite.
LUDWIG: No you don’t understand.
CLARISSA: I just admitted as much. I simply can’t conceive of demonstrating love towards someone to no effect. Although I must say that your demonstrations lacked the appropriate vigor, not that any amount of vigor could have overcome the nullity that is my inclinations towards you. Silly boy…
LUDWIG: That’s just it.
CLARISSA: … all you needed was a one word explanation: jealousy. I can scarcely think of a more valid human emotion.
LUDWIG: Jealous yes but not the way you think. Not jealous of you but of him.
CLARISSA: Precisely.
LUDWIG: Wait how does that work? Who are you jealous of when you wish…
CLARISSA: Listen I’d love to stay here and work this out with you Mr. Full-of-Surprises but time matters here and I have to get going. Yes, I’m still going. As for your conscience you can let it rest in peace as it’s nothing you said impels me. The next person to embark on a successful manipulation of me will be on a maiden voyage.
LUDWIG: You knew? Then why…
(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 TWOThe 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.