random nothing / & one scene

& so again / nite falls
& i for get to fall with it

body bent / tired hands

eyes almost closed




think about

eternal possiblities & i'd rather be play ing solitaire

sleep / @ the back of my mind




to day we clean house / wash walls / toilets / laundry

now that 's some thing eternal / / for ever / all ways
piles of / clothes / & today i wash / i dry / i pile high on the kitchen table




& walk away / /

now it sits / wrinkles / cold / wait ing for me /





& i'm think ing / there must be some thing else
besides numb feet / dead limbs & for bidden thots
there must be some thing other than laundry





cell phone rings / some one looking for shirley
he doesn't believe she's not here / not ever
& he tells me my phone number & the kids are laugh ing
& talking in high pitched voices pretending to be shirley
& the guy is getting pissed / & i'm trying to convince him
he's a wrong number / & he's asking me / if i know any one
named shirley & i say i don't / & i say / hey your calling my cell
& this call is costing me money / which really is irrelevent / b/cause
i have the million mile call ing plan / + i don't pay the bills
but he's still not hearing me / & i say it again / hey your calling me
on my cell phone & this is costing me money for your wrong number
& finally he gets it

Scene Sixteen

(GRACE enters. She has a can of gasoline.)

GRACE:

That’s it. I can’t take this anymore. Waves of tired drive across my eyes. Crazy mind eyes. Brilliantly glazed miner’s eyes. I’m done. I’m going to burn this place down.

(GRACE pours gasoline all over the couch.)

(LEOPOLD enters. He carries the BOOK OF THE DEAD inside a clear plastic bag. He doesn’t notice what GRACE is doing.)

LEOPOLD:

Insanity makes a person crazy! Winter is here! December dark. Be grateful you don't live in the North West Territories! That's north you know. True north, strong and free. (He begins to sing.) Oh Canada – - What are you doing Grace?

GRACE:

I’m having a fire. Do you have a match?

LEOPOLD:

No. I don’t. Ever since I quit smoking I don’t carry matches.

GRACE:

Well I need a match.

(GRACE searches the room for a match. LEOPOLD notices what GRACE is doing.)

LEOPOLD:

Grace! You can’t burn down the house.

GRACE:

I can so. Watch me.

LEOPOLD:

Where are the children?

GRACE:

Their father has them. He took them away.

LEOPOLD:

So why are you burning the house?

GRACE:

He can’t have everything.

(GRACE picks up the gasoline container.)

(NIRVANA enters. She carries GRACE’S MANUSCRIPT which she tosses on GRACE’S desk.)

NIRVANA:

Well Grace, after reading that, I don’t know what to think. It comes across as - cravings and – well - some kind of longing.

GRACE:

There is only blood and numbness. I don’t care anymore.

NIRVANA:

The story makes no sense. At best, it’s a bad novel. You know, detective stories or a schmaltzy romance or even, Confessions from the Darkside.

GRACE:

I told you, I don’t care anymore. Just take it. That’s all I’ve got to give. I’m done with writing. I’m done with everything. Finished.

(NIRVANA sniffs the air.)

NIRVANA:

Good god! What is that smell? Gasoline? Grace! What are you doing?

GRACE:

I’m going to burn down the house.

NIRVANA: (Laughs.)

Well isn’t that a bit extreme? The book’s not that bad. But if you want my advice –

GRACE:

I don’t. Do you have a match?

NIRVANA:

You can’t be serious.

LEOPOLD:

I think she is.

GRACE:

I am. Do you have a match or not?

LEOPOLD and NIRVANA:

No!

(LEOPOLD grabs the gasoline container from GRACE.)

NIRVANA:

Grace listen to me for a second. Burning the house down is stupid.

GRACE:

So what? I’m a stupid woman.

NIRVANA:

No you’re not. It’s just that – well - perhaps you shouldn’t have written about your addictions.

GRACE:

My addictions? I didn’t write about addictions. I was writing about open heart syndrome. But nobody cares.

LEOPOLD:

I care Grace. You know I do.

NIRVANA:

Open heart syndrome? It sounds like some kind of disease. Or one of those horrible television surgery shows.

GRACE:

What else can I call it? Every time I unfold my heart it turns black. My husband left me. Gideon hates me and now my children are gone too. What’s left but to burn the house down?

NIRVANA:

Well Grace. I think that’s quite a story line. Something I can’t be party to. I think - I’m going to have to give up, pursue my career without you. (Pauses.) Are you sure you can’t come up with anything else?

GRACE:

No. There is nothing else. Are you done now? I have things to do.

(GRACE finds a pack of matches. She tries to light one but it goes out.)

NIRVANA:

Grace! Stop it. Be reasonable.

LEOPOLD:

Yes Grace. Be reasonable. This is not the way to get your children back.

GRACE:

I’m beyond reason. Can’t you see that?

(GRACE tries to light another match.)

LEOPOLD:

Grace, to burn the house would be insanity. I don’t understand why.

GRACE:

Because – (GRACE struggles to light another match.) All I can think about is – god damn - shitty matches - the dream.

NIRVANA:

The dream?

GRACE:

It takes me to the desert. Always, I’m back on the desert. Wind blows hot sand. Orange dust coats my skin. Magenta shadows fall from the mountains.

LEOPOLD:

That’s beautiful Grace.

(NIRVANA grabs the matches from GRACE.)

GRACE:

I stand there with Gideon chest to chest. I’m afraid. He clutches me, kisses my hair, runs his hands across my back.

NIRVANA:

You should have been writing romances Grace.

GRACE:

And suddenly I look down. My rib cage splits open, chest to stomach. There is nothing inside me. I’m empty. Vacuously void. There isn’t even blood.

NIRVANA:

Oh why can’t she get away from the gore?

GRACE:

Gideon begins to crawl inside me. Feet first. The sky goes red. It starts to fall in on me. The mountains explode with brimstone.

LEOPOLD:

It sounds like the last coming.

GRACE:

No, no. It's beyond the last coming. It's not even original. But there I am. Only now I'm him. I’ve become Gideon.

NIRVANA:

Now that’s a great twist in the story. I like that.

GRACE:

All I can hear is his voice coming from my mouth. So brilliant. So black. I love to love you. I love to love you. I say it over and over. I love to love you. I love to love you.

It becomes meaningless. It's like, somehow in that moment, I finally know the truth. - There is nothing here for me. (Pause.) And then, I wake up. Alone.

LEOPOLD:

I’m glad you wake up. There really is nothing worse than a bad dream.

(GRACE goes to the window.)

GRACE:

I’m silenced by the sound of falling snow.

LEOPOLD:

It does cover all indiscriminately.

NIRVANA:

I have no patience for this sort of thing.

LEOPOLD:

How will my bones ever dry out in all this wet and cold?

GRACE:

Wait for summer. It’s hot enough in the summer to dry bones white.

NIRVANA:

If the animals don’t get to them first.

GRACE:

Wrap me in cloth. I want you to wrap me in cloth. Buried. Close to the earth.

NIRVANA:

Grace, you’re so morbid. I’m worried about you.

GRACE:

That’s a first. You’ve never worried before.

NIRVANA:

You weren’t trying to burn the house before.

GRACE:

I have a fear of my body turning to dust in a box or perhaps, not turning to anything at all. My skin drying tight to my bones.

LEOPOLD:

Yes. It’s hard to know what to do with remains.

GRACE:

Well, I won’t have to worry about that anymore. I’m going to just burn with the house. I’ll light the fire and sit here. Wait for the flames to consume me.

(GRACE finds another package of matches.)

NIRVANA:

Oh god! We are not going to let you burn down the house Grace. And certainly not with you in it.

GRACE:

Don’t you understand? I want to die. There is nothing left here for me.

LEOPOLD:

Count the days of frozen light Grace. The uncharitable cold. Spring will arrive eventually.

NIRVANA:

Yes Grace, go to bed for the winter. Wake up as an April bloom. A warm spring night. Scent of yellow.

GRACE:

I don’t have the strength to do that. I want to die.

LEOPOLD:

The children Grace. Think about the children. They need a mother. They need a home to come to. This home. It’s not as bad as you think. Don’t you worry. We’ll get the children home Grace.

GRACE:

The children won’t miss me. They won’t even know I’m gone.

LEOPOLD:

But they will. Oh yes, they will know. Come on Grace, give me the matches.

(LEOPOLD takes the matches from GRACE. NIRVANA grabs the gasoline container and sneaks it out of the room.)

GRACE:

Oh Leopold. I’m so tired. So tired. I can’t take this anymore.

LEOPOLD:

I know Grace, I know. It’s been hard on you, but this isn’t the way to handle the situation. Come on Gracie. Sit down for a bit. Take a load off. I’ll get you a couple of sleeping pills. And later, we’ll get that bad couch out of here. I hate the smell of gasoline – ever since the time we were - (Pauses.) Oh well – never mind.

(LEOPOLD searches for GRACE’S pills and finds them in NIRVANA’S bag.

LEOPOLD:

Of course they’d be in here. Hey Grace. I found your pills.

(LEOPOLD gives GRACE the pills.)

LEOPOLD:

You’ll be good in no time Grace. A good night’s sleep will do wonders for you.

GRACE:

Yeah, a good nights sleep.

(GRACE goes to the window.)

GRACE:

Look Leo. Rain is starting to fall. And listen to the thunder boom and echo off the mountain. I see lightening flashes.

LEOPOLD:

Grace, there is no rain.

GRACE:

No. I guess not. I only wish there was rain. Summer rain. Warm kiss my wet face rain. Jump into the lake in June rain. No, there is no rain. Only words for pain.

END SCENE