CAST OF CHARACTERS
The First
The Second
The military voice ( offstage )
TIME
Present day
SETTING
The crossroads . The stage is empty except for the two characters .
ACT ONE
The Second : I am utterly fed up .
The First : There is no place for boredom …death besieges us .
The Second : What can we do ? Run ?
The First : It does not leave us . It does not leave us at all.
The Second : You said that you were running ?
The First : How can I run when the space is too small to escape ?
The Second : Well,it chased you wherever you go . Death does not leave anybody .
The First : I love to be here with everything . with all people , including my enemies or even those who hate me .
The Second : Then why were you running ?
The First : I was a few meters away from the car that exploded, and I did not feel anything . only that my feet were trying to follow the light before it was obscured by the smoke .
The Second : To where ?
The First : When I went away from the explosion , the explosion and the smoke continued to follow me .
The Second : These were long moments .
The First : Yes was truly this , moments were years full of fear and disappointments .
The Second : The years were long indeed ,and I remember them . They are still long .
The First : The details are numerous and dense , heavy and bitter .They passed with all the heaviness at that moment .
The Second : The main thing is that they have passed .
The First : I did not know if I was escaping from the fire or whether I was following it as it faded in front of me .
The Second : How so ?
The First : Did I want to catch something in front of me before I lost it ? were these years motivating me to escape ? I felt the sun brighten suddenly , then concentrate its rays on my face and pull me toward it .
The Second : So , you were saved .
The First : Was I saved ? I do not know, I was breathing with difficulty . When I was far away , I looked back . Fire was a red dome covering everything, and suddenly…
The Second : What happened ?
The First : Someone emerged out of the fire and smoke .
The Second : Who ?
The First : A little girl
The Second : Did you see her ?
The First : Yes she emerged from the depth of fire and smoke .
Her face was colored with horror and ash, and her braids, without their ribbons, were loose .Her gaze penetrated me.
( The sound of army cars , sirens , and chaos . The First and the Second are motionless throughout this . ) The military voice offstage :
Please , all stop for inspection . please stop for inspection . open the windows of the cars , open the boot , turn on the internal light , come out of the car , show proof of your identity . show respect to be respected .
The First : Were you far away from her ?
The Second : Yes , I was far away and she was in the heart of an ash storm .
The First : Is it true ? How did the little girl come out alive from that explosion ? Did you know her ?
The Second : No , but she ….
The First : What ?
The Second : Don't you think that she was beautiful even in that state- that her eyes radiated with waves of tenderness ?
The First : You returned to her , didn't you ?
The Second : Yes, I returned to her . She seemed alone and I wanted to save her . I wanted to carry her far away . I returned to her and ran toward the fire, but the closer I came , the farther she went .
The First : Then ?
The Second : As if it were a nightmare in a long night that does not want to end , I ran in every direction where corpses fell like emaciated birds . and the eyes of those saved were like balls of timbers , red .
The First : Red from the pain ?
The Second : What?
The First : Red from the horror ?
The Second : Red from the pain , from the fear and from the horror . And I was trembling . Every cell in my body trembling .I was cold .
The First ; How so ? When the fire was raging around you ?
The Second : Why was I trembling and blood was gushing out of my mouth as if it were silence ?Why did I not control my body as it trembled excessively ?
The First : Maybe because you were searching for her .
The Second : Who ?
The First : The little girl , man . The little girl ,did you find her ?
The Second : The little girl …
The First : Did you find her ?
The Second : No, something strong and sharp hit my head , I do not know, I was screaming-I held my head and then ….
The First : Then what ? speak!
The Second : The edge of the bedside table left a mark on my fore-head while I was still in bed, turning and screaming in pain .
The First : O man , you have terrified me . I thought you were talking about something real .
The Second : But it seemed so real . Believe me .
The First : How could the nightmare , the dream , be a real thing?
The Second : When I woke up , I opened the window in the room . I saw people sweeping away the debris from an explosion from the night before with brushes and water hoses ; I saw the burned cars being taken away . Some had already bandaged their hands or feet or heads , and were walking steadily to their work . And the girl ….the little girl …….
The First : The little girl ? You saw her ?
The Second : The beautiful little girl with her colored braids carrying her schoolbag on her back . She stopped and looked up .
The First : Really ?
The Second : Yes, she looked at me as if she knew me . Minutes passed while she was looking at me . She glanced at me tenderly and then continued on her way toward the newly cleaned sidewalk .
The military voice : The inspection has come to an end . You can now pass . We apologize for the disturbance .
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text originally published in Invisible Beauty, For the Iraq Pavilion at the 56th Biennale di Venezia by Mousse Publishing, of Ruya Foundation for Contemporary culture in Iraq , 2015 .
