Lupiniary

Curtains up, lights up.

Setting: The inside of a bookstore. Three cashiers are lined up behind a which is placed diagonally, on the right hand side of the stage. The cashiers are as follows (from upstage to downstage):
BREE, a petite redheaded girl, constantly shifting back and forth uncomfortably;
ANYA, a hyper blonde girl, slim, TV-star-pretty;
ROMAN, a tall, broad-shouldered guy with a raucous laugh.
Bookshelves line the back of the stage. The lights are low and yellowish, but harsh, fluorescent. Customers are milling around. The general sound of the activeness in the store is low and subdued, but raises up every time CUSTOMER #1 is standing at a bookshelf located right next to a sign that says in large letters: "Buy 2, Get 1 Free!" He turns to the first cashier BREE, and holds two books up.

CUSTOMER #1
If I buy one of these, can I get half off the other?

BREE
(Looks at sign)
That sign says "Buy 2, Get 1 Free." Did you get them off that shelf?

(There is a long, painful pause. CUSTOMER #1 looks extremely lost. Finally:)

CUSTOMER #1
(very unsure)
...Yes?...

BREE
Then, no. You can’t.

CUSTOMER #1
I can’t?

BREE
No.

(CUSTOMER #1 looks annoyed. He drops the books on the floor deliberately. A low growl comes from Bree’s direction.
Audience closes their eyes.
He startles and walks off. Sounds become subdued for a moment. CUSTOMER #2 comes up to the next cashier, ANYA, holding an ancient-looking book.)

CUSTOMER #2
I’d like to return this.

(ANYA takes the book from her, and nearly all the pages fall out of the spine. She looks at it, surprised, and hides a smile.)

ANYA
Er, ma’am, normally I’d ask for your receipt, but there’s no way I can return this.

CUSTOMER #2
(angrily)
Why not??

ANYA
Because…

(She turns the empty book spine over, and it crumbles in her hand. She snorts, trying not to laugh. She fails.)

ANYA
(laughing hard)
Because this thing is… not… re, re-sell… not re-sellable… Oh God!

(She dissolves into giggles, pounds her fists on the counter in hysterics. CUSTOMER #2 snatches up some of the scattered pages and walks out. Sounds become subdued for another moment.
CUSTOMER #3 approaches the third cashier, ROMAN, with some books.)

ROMAN
Hello, sir.

CUSTOMER #3
(pissy)
What??

ROMAN
I said hello, sir.

CUSTOMER #3
Oh. Okay then.

(ROMAN rings up the books.)

ROMAN
That comes to twenty-eight dollars and twelve cents.

CUSTOMER #3
Excuse me?

ROMAN
It’s twenty-eight twelve.

CUSTOMER #3
(getting increasingly frustrated)
What do you say?

ROMAN
Um... I said twe –

CUSTOMER #3
(cuts him off, furious)
NO! You say PLEASE! You people have no manners!!

(He storms out.

Sounds become subdued again, and the cashiers regard each other for the first time. As they speak, sounds remain subdued instead of rising up again.)

BREE
Enough?

ROMAN
Definitely enough.

ANYA
(still chuckling)
Enough.

(She reaches over to the wall and pulls a large industrial-like switch. Three new cashiers come in next to her, and she, BREE, and ROMAN leave.

Lights go down.)

Lights up. The break room of the bookstore. There are lockers, a table, some chairs, and a long closet pole that stretches along one wall with some clothes hanging on it, mostly coats. The time clock is hung on the wall, large and ugly. BREE, ROMAN, and ANYA enter. ROMAN and ANYA sit at the far end of the table and make small talk quietly. We cannot hear what there are saying.

PHILLIP, the manager, enters. He is in his early 40’s, balding, gay, and is eternally cranky. He walks up to BREE, his arms folded challengingly.

PHILLIP
Bree, a word.

BREE
I was just leaving --

PHILLIP
(interrupting)
This’ll only take a moment.
(pointedly)
Look, we’re sick of you refusing to take evening shifts all the time. You need a valid reason to be taking every evening off. I don’t know what’s going on in your personal life, and I don’t really want to know, but I doubt it’s important enough to lose your job over.

(Pause. BREE looks stricken.)

BREE
I - I don’t - Um...

(She trails off, unsure of what to say.)

PHILLIP
(relishing her reaction)
You need to come up with something good the next time you’re asked to work an evening shift... Or you’re not going to be working any shifts, honey.

(With this, he turns around with a flourish and walks out. BREE looks near tears. She puts her head in her hands for a moment, and then looks out at us.)

BREE
What am I gonna do? Doctor’s appointments, sick grandmothers... None of these excuses are going to do me any good anymore...
(shakes her head in frustration)
How am I supposed to do this? What am I supposed to do... Tell them the truth? Oh yeah, that’s a good one. Oh god...
(A beat. This takes a great deal out of her.)
I can’t... I can’t let them see me... I can’t show up... looking... Oh god... Have to stay in... Can’t let them see me. I can’t...
(she shudders violently, closer to tears and in obvious physical discomfort as well.
Audience closes their eyes. )
No one would understand. No one would... They’d all call me a freak. They’d... They’d send me away somewhere... Mom and Daddy always told me I couldn’t tell anyone, that we weren’t natural. My family was... We were all... all monsters. Mom said we weren’t always like that. A long time ago, we were all regular. Humans, like everyone else. And then we started... mutating...
(She takes a breath, tries to compose herself.)
No one can know. They’d... They’d put me away somewhere... But that’s... I won’t let that happen. It, it’ll never come to that. I’ll just tell them... Something. That I just can’t. And they’ll deal. They have to.
(She closes her eyes for a moment, takes a deep breath, and opens her eyes. She looks at us with deadly conviction.)
They’ll have to.

(Black out.)

Lights up. BREE is leaning against the wall of the back (“employee-only”) entrance of the bookstore. She is smoking, and holds herself awkwardly, as if she doesn’t feel comfortable with her body, but looks much calmer than before.
ROMAN comes on stage. He smiles widely upon seeing BREE, and lumbers over to her purposefully.

ROMAN
Hey there!

BREE
(smiling back)
Hi, Roman. Did you just punch out?

ROMAN
That I did.
(noticing her awkward stance)
Did you hurt yourself or something? You look… uncomfortable.

BREE
No, I’m okay.

ROMAN
Are you... Are you cold? Want to borrow my jacket?

BREE
(obviously flattered, and a little embarrassed
) No thanks. Really, I’m fine.

ROMAN
You don’t seem… Well, like yourself. I mean, you look good! But, ah...
(nervously)
You don’t… Never mind. You’re still ...really cute.

(BREE turns quite red.)

BREE
Thank you!...
(She hesitates, then goes for it)
You’re pretty cute, too.

(ROMAN beams with pleasure.)

ROMAN
Yeeeeah!

(He hugs her suddenly. She is astonished, but pleased. He moves away quickly.)

ROMAN
Er, that is, thanks! …I’m sorry if I, uh, over… You know, overstepped my…

BREE
(reassuringly)
It’s okay, Roman. Don’t worry about it. I… I like getting hugs from you.

ROMAN
(now grinning excitedly)
Cool! ‘Cause I like hugging you!

(They both laugh. Pause.)

ROMAN
Ok, I don’t think I can make much more of a fool of myself… I hope! …So, uh… Do you want to, maybe, catch a movie some time? Or, or something?

(BREE becomes upset again.
Audience closes their eyes. )

BREE
I can’t... Um. Go out. I, I’m sorry.

ROMAN
(confused)
At all? Or you just, uh, you can’t go out tonight, because I didn’t mean tonight. If, If you’re busy?… That’s not a problem…

BREE
No, not tonight. Well, not… not at all.

(They fall silent.)

ROMAN
I just thought we… that is, you…

BREE
I do like you. I’m sorry.

(She looks up at the sky, concerned.)

ROMAN
(looks upward too)
Hey, the moon’s out already. Isn’t it –

BREE
(cutting him off)
I have to go. I’m sorry.

(She leaves abruptly, leaving ROMAN looking confused.)

ROMAN
(to the empty stage)
Okay…
(Helpless. To the empty stage:)
Bye…
(He walks off.)

A screen fills the stage. What is seen behind it is dark and distorted. We cannot make out faces. The dim light that is up is faintly yellowish. The following movements are almost graceful, slow, very modern dance-like, but filled with agony.

A figure rolls on, somersaulting onto the stage. It lands on its stomach, stretches agonizingly. Arches its back. Rolls around, twisting, stretching its arms out, falling down; and all the while moving across the stage slowly, inch by inch. This continues for a couple minutes.

Audience closes their eyes.

Then as the figure falls onto its stomach again, they pull their torso up and stretch their arms to the sky, head thrown back. A mournful HOWL is heard. The figure start to tip backward.

BLACK OUT.

Lights up on the right side of the stage. The left side is kept completely dark until noted. This is BREE’s apartment. Small and cramped, but somehow still welcoming. BREE enters slowly and sits down in a chair, tired, catching her breath. For a moment she just sits there, her head in her hands, calming down. She then stands up, crosses the room, opens a drawer of a table, and pulls out a green journal. She sits again, thinks for a moment, and then writes, speaking aloud what she is writing.

BREE
Tonight may have gotten off on the wrong foot, but it ended up as... pretty much a success. I left work feeling bad about Roman. He’s so sweet, and so well-meaning... I wish I could have some kind of a normal relationship with him. But...
(she sighs)
Anyway. I went to the park. I wandered around so much, I nearly got lost. While I was looking for something to eat, I caught a familiar whiff of something. It smelled like grass and cigarettes, and a little bit musty, like the attic in my uncle’s house. I don’t know where it was coming from. I didn’t see anyone close by, really, so it must have been left over from someone that had been there before. It reminded me of my cousin. My uncle’s son, Colin. I remembered how much fun I used to have with him. Staying up all night and watching scary movies, laughing over out deformities. Freaks with friends, who would have thought? ...And in the middle of my reminiscing, there was this scream. Like a horror movie starlette scream, too terrified to just be someone just playing around. I ran over to where it was coming from, and there was a big crazy man, leaning over a woman, with a knife in his hand. The woman was frozen in fear, she just sat on the bench, her eyes huge, her book still held up.

(Audience closes their eyes.)

BREE
I rushed at the man, and he screamed, even louder than the woman had. I threw him down and bit him, knocked the knife away. I looked at the woman and yelled at her to leave, get away... She smiled at me, suddenly calm, as if everything was fine. Her eyes were yellow, just like Colin’s. She left, and --

(The phone rings. Bree lifts up the receiver and hangs it up again. She goes back to writing.)

BREE
The man just lay there, gasping. I attacked him. I just attacked him, like it was nothing. I’ve never...
(exhales)
I’ve never felt so good before. It tasted incredible. I’m never going to be able to eat a pigeon or a squirrel again.
(disgustedly)
Or, Christ, a rat. Not after that ecstacy. And the weird thing is? I don’t feel bad. At all.

(The phone rings again. She sighs, and picks it up, resigned.)

BREE
(into phone)
Hello? ...Hi! ...I, um, nothing, really. Just relaxing, writing in my journal. ...No, I don’t drink coffee... No, not really a tea drinker, either. I like hot chocolate, though. ...Oh. I told you before, though... Oh! Yeah. I, I could do that. Lunch? ...Brunch, whatever. How about 11? ...Okay, 11:30... Ok... I’ll see you then. Great! ...Bye, Roman.

(She hangs up and stretches in her chair, smiling happily. She puts her knuckles to her mouth and we see that her hands are slightly bloody. As she smiles, the lights go down on her side of the stage [but not completely black]. The lights on the left side go up, somewhat dimly.)

Setting: Roman’s apartment. Sparse and somewhat dark. Roman hangs up his phone & lies down on the couch, relaxing. He gives a loud sigh, then suddenly sits up and grabs his head in pain.

ROMAN
Oww!...

He bends over in pain, clutching his hair and groaning. When he looks up at us again, his eyes have gone completely black.

BLACK OUT.

When the lights come up again, they are dim once more, and we see that once again there is a screen filling the entire front of the stage (as in Scene 4). Behind it, many distorted figures are moving around, stretching, rolling, walking on both hands and feet, crawling, etc. Many animal noises are heard: A wolf, hyena, a snake, a bear, tigers, lions, monkeys, etc.

A spotlight is focused at the very center of the screen, and it is the only place on stage where we can see anyone clearly (if they come into the spotlight). Whenever a figure approaches the spotlight, they continue to act like an animal. The instant the spotlight hits them, they revert to “normal” form.

The first figure is BREE.

BREE
(in her “work” element)
No sir, I can’t give you change if you don’t buy something.

(She startles at something unseen & unheard to us, to her left. She growls, loses herself for a moment, then straightens again.)

BREE
No, you can’t.
(suddenly screaming)
NO!!

(She backs out of the spotlight, frustrated and stretching uncom- fortably. After a moment, another figure approaches. This is ROMAN.)

ROMAN
I’ve... heard it’s good... I haven’t read it, though, and I don’t know anything else about it.

(He slumps over a bit, rubs his arm across his face, tiredly and lazily. Shakes his head. Straightens again.)

ROMAN
That’s all I know. (angry, almost screaming.)
What do you expect of me??

(He backs out of the spotlight too. After a moment, another figure approaches. This is ANYA.)

ANYA
We don’t sell video games. We’re a bookstore.

(She starts snickering crazily, her shoulders shaking. Straightens, calms for a moment.)

ANYA
Well, that store doesn’t exist anymore...

(She laughs again, harder, convulsively, and as she leaves the spotlight, she drops to the ground and rolls away. A moment passes, and PHILLIP comes under the spotlight.)

PHILLIP
You ordered that book over a month ago... And now you want it??

(He bends his head, hisses, his body contorting unnaturally. Straightens, back to normal.)

PHILLIP
As if it would still be here... You... You idi --

(A hiss rises from his throat and his neck bends, his head pointing the way as he leaves the spotlight.
Audience closes their eyes.
Now figures come through the spotlight more quickly, one goes out (and back to animal form), another comes in (in human form), quickly, almost like an assembly line. The following is all done in the course of less than a minute, speeding up as they go.)

PERSON #1
(comes under)
Would you like milk with that?
(goes out)

PERSON #2
(comes under)
Would you be interested in hearing about long distance?
(goes out)

PERSON #3
(comes under)
Leaded or unleaded?
(goes out)

PERSON #4
(comes under)
Do you want matches with that?
(goes out)

PERSON #5
(comes under)
If you act now, you get the first 30 days free!
(goes out)

PERSON #6
(comes under)
Do you feel irritable, unhappy, even depressed?

A VOICE
(not seen, inhuman-sounding)
Yeeeees!!

PERSON #6
Try Paxil, the best leading -- Yaaaauugggh!!

(He screams and falls to his knees, writhing. He crawls out of the spotlight. Figures stay away from the spotlight now, almost fearfully, and slowly make their way off the stage. The lights fade to black.)

Lights up on BREE and ROMAN, sitting in an outdoor cafe, having lunch. The mood is relaxed, pleasant, and the two of them are more at ease with each other than usual. They are joking around.

BREE
(laughing)
What about when Anya told that guy to shove the book up his ass??

ROMAN
(also laughing)
Oh, that was so great... The look on his face!

BREE
She was so lucky Phillip wasn’t in, he would have killed her!... But damn...

ROMAN
Yeah.

(They smile at each other. A moment of silence passes, but not an awkward one, rather, simply a moment of BREE and ROMAN regarding each other.Then:)

ROMAN
I was worried about you the other day. You seemed... I’m not sure... Sometimes you seem so happy and sweet, and other times you seem so frustrated and upset. But what... what is it that upsets you so much?

BREE
Oh, I really don’t want to talk about it. C’mon, I’m in a good mood! I don’t want to ruin it.

ROMAN
I don’t want to ruin it either. But I would like to know what’s been bothering you. You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to, but... know that I’m here if you ever want to talk, ok?

BREE
Okay. (she sighs)
It’s just... I’m always changing... I never know what’s going to happen.

ROMAN
(grinning)
An unpredictable girl, I like that.

BREE
(smiling in spite of herself)
Well, that’s not what I meant... Not that kind of changing. Bigger, really. In a way. Oh, forget it... It’s silly, really...

ROMAN
Oh, you mean getting stressed when you morph?

BREE
No, I --
(she stops, realized what he just said)
What?? What... Morph? Er, I, I don’t know what you’re talking about...

ROMAN
Don’t be so embarassed, Bree. It’s perfectly natural. It’s tough to go through those changes. I know. I deal with it about three days out of the week, I get all --

BREE
(laughing nervously)
No, you... You can’t be serious. I’m not...
(smaller voice)
I thought I was the only one.

(Now it’s Roman’s turn to be shocked.)

ROMAN
What?? The only one? Why in the world would you think that?

BREE
My... My parents told me it was genetic. Most people in my family had something similar... But not everyone. My mother had it, but not my father. They told me I couldn’t let anybody know, because we’d be hunted down, and.... and...

(she stops, now close to tears)

ROMAN
Hey, hey...

(He moves his chair so he’s sitting right next to her, and puts an arm around her consolingly.)

ROMAN
Hey, it’s okay. Where... Why would they tell you something like that? I mean... Bree... Almost everyone has a, a second form. We all have to go through those changes, it’s not fun, but we all have to deal with it. You don’t have to hide it from anyone. It’s okay, really. ...Let it out. Tell me about your family, huh?

BREE
But...
(she looks up at him)
So you -- Then what are you?

ROMAN
(rather proudly)
Me? I’m a bear. North American.

(Bree laughs at this, amazed. Tears are still running down her face, but she is greatly relieved beyond all measure.)

BREE
So... I’m not a freak?

ROMAN
Of course not.

(He brushes the hair out of her face, and then gently kisses her. It lasts a moment, sweet and reassuring. Bree pulls away after a moment and smiles shyly at him.)

ROMAN
Now, will you tell me how this happened?

BREE
I... Hmm... Well, I was raised in Nevada. Maybe that says something by itself... I didn’t have any brothers or sisters. My mom always told me I was “special”... At least that was how she put it...

(As she is saying these last lines, the lights fade down, and her voice does as well.

BLACK OUT.)

THE END

Copyright © 2002, Lulu Rubin -- Annandale-on-Hudson, NY