The Cave Take 34

The Splinter

Sophia: You must have been very homesick while you were sleeping.
Charley:  I must have been.
S: Don't you remember?
C: Nothing.

S:  Really?   I was so sure that you would.  

	I used to stand by your bed as you slept.  When Mother and Father stepped out to speak to the nurse, I stayed back to watch while you slept. 
Every time I saw you, I imagined you had become part of some world; you looked dead– but then you would move.  I could feel your heart flutter, a sudden wrinkle in your eyelids. 
A breath that only I saw.  And the softest word. 

A smile, a stretch, a gasp and the softest word...   

You must remember what we said, what we did.  
It was important. 
C: No.  I don't remember a thing.
Charley gets a splinter.

C:  Oh.  Oh dear.
S:  Charley! Your first splinter!
C:  It’s so tiny. See the way it burrows through the upper layers of my skin. 

Oh. But this is painful.

S:Mother! Father!
Mother/Father:(offstage) Oh, Charley, what have you done?
C:  What have I done? (Enter Mother and Father)
Mother:  Oh Dear.  Let me see.  
(One of them pulls out a pair of tweezers. They hold him down and try to get the splinter out.)
C:  Will it come out?
Father:  Hold still Charley.
S: It’s alright Charley.
C:  It’s painful.
S:  Mother and Father will get it out.
M/F:  The tweezers will get it out.
S: It’s too tiny to grasp.
M/F: Hold 
M: still 
F: Char- 
M: -ley.
C: Is there something wrong?  Oh,  Oh! Oh no?
S: It’s in there pretty far.
M/F:  Don’t worry.
S:  I hope you learned you’re lesson.
C:  This is uncomfortable.
M/F:  You’ll make it through. 
(beat)
Sophia: (gasp)  Oh no!
C: What!?
M/F: It was pushed in.
C:  I'm going to die.
M: We’ll find a solution.
C:  It’s lodged in my finger!?
M/F:  Stay calm.
M: Well.
F:  There's nothing for it.
M/F:  We'll have to cut it out. 
(One of them pulls out an impressively sized knife.)
C:  You’re cutting off my finger? 
F: No.
M: No, no.
M/F: Just a bit.
M/F/S:  Stop squirming.
S:  You'll only make it worse.
C:  No!
S:  This has happened to me plenty of times!  Look at my fingers.
C:  No!
M/F:  Would you rather it stay in there forever.  
S: And lay eggs!?!?
C:  Is this really necessary?
M/F/S:  /Yes/
C:  Auh!
(They hold Charley down and cut the splinter out of his finger.)
M/F:  There.  All done. (They exit leaving Charley’s finger bleeding freely.)

S:  There.  No more splinter.  You’ll be fine now.  Splinters are disgusting things.  They can sink into your skin and get lost in your blood stream, and make all kinds of mess.  Puncture holes in your veins till you’re saturated in yourself, like in the bath but on the inside.  

Oh Dear.  You’re bleeding.  Quite a lot.  Here.  (she bends forward and gingerly kisses his finger.) To make it all better.  (After a moment, full eye-contact, she slowly puts his finger in her mouth.)
	(Beat)
	(Quick blackout.)

The Splinter

The Elevator

The  frequency suddenly dives. An explosive resonant attack. 

Driving rhythm in the toms. The saxophone, schizophrenic jumps between extreme registers. The Man appears. He is panicked and scared shitless.)
M:  Charley!

Get in the lift! Get in lift
Now!
We've been called in to--
Now!
(suddenly distracted)The be to of and a 
The be to of and a
The I it for not on with
(Back on track)Get in! 

Get in the elevator Charley.
(Suddenly quiet, pleading, in his face)
get in the ele-ele-ele-ele 
elected to 
clectro-cu
go up the tube 
to go up and see the men up top
get in the ela-ela-ela-a-a-a-a-
el-lel-a-ela-ela-e-e-e-e-e-a-a-a-a-
get in the elevator now. 

(Blasting)
 I SAID NOW!

Oh god, we've been called.
We've been called.

(Sudden quiet, they get in the elevator. 
The ding of the elevator  bell as they enter. The decay of the ding distorts and elongates finally turning into a quiet rising Sheppard tone.

Ah! The bells 
The meaningous bells.

That one means-- It means we've arrived at the 31st floor
And that bell is singing the singular meaning implied:
We are there, we've arrived at the
54th floor, at the 69th floor

And this bell refers to the – 
			Oh god! Oh god!
Refers to the
206, 209, 223 962 0422 6398 8999 9999
three hundred two thousand and five and the
0000111!!!!
01 01 01 01!!!      
Oh wonderful bells!!

oh woooooooooooooonderous
meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaningous bells

( The phone in the elevator rings. The man, shaking picks up the elevator's telephone. A garbled  electronic voice)
 
Yes, sir...
(a garbled  electronic response)
Soon, sir...
(electronic response)

The be to of and a
The be to of and a 
The be to of and a 
The be to of and a in that
The be to be to be to of and a

No,
I'm not forgetting--
(electronic response)
We're on our way sir-- (a burst of the electronic voice)Yes, sir.

Yes, sir 
The be to of and a in a in
(a garbled response)
Soon, sir.
I it for not
I it for not
I it for not 
I it for not
He is with me now.
(The Response)
Be to of and 
Be to of and
A in a in I I I
No! No!
The be to of and
No Sir!

The be to of and 
a in a in a in a 
The be to of
The be to of and a in a
The be to of 
The be to of a in a
The I it for not
I it for not
I it for not
It it I it I it I it 
I-I-I be to of
The boy is quiet now.

Yes sir I can hold.

I can
(quiet, high falssetto)
Hoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooold

The Man is put on hold. The glissandi start recycling higher up.

The vision fades around Charley.


Alexander Vassos