STONE an old play from the archive

SCENE 1

JACK
I see myself standing at the foot of a bridge, Dawn is on the other end. Do I turn back or do I go to her. Does she turn back or does she come to me.

As I said, we are at a bridge and all bridges have their guardians, from Bifrost to the Triboro. They have the watchers of the path. Their trolls, their ghosts, the sentinels. Trust me, was all she said. I'll wait. I always could for the other shoe to drop. Eternally patient. Betrayal is never hurried, never runs, like time was an obedient dog at it's side. Betrayal I though I would lead it and not be lead by it. Control was her eminence's fixation. The idea of order burned onto my skull. I am a man in love with the measurable. Ain't no drama if their ain't no death. Death used to be the greatest threat. What part was I going to wrestle back from him? I still have the paladin complex. I misjudged my sentimentality. I just realized sometimes you got to pull the arrow through. Clever, a little brutal, but still .... still is what I am, frozen and hideous, scaring off the demons in my gargoyle splendor.

Tommy and I were a team, when I was young, drunk and high and feeling alive. It was cool as early December. Flawless is form and deed. One night we were coming back from Rocky Horror it was so late and we're in this guy Patrick's car, a real piece of shit. So we're going at a really good clip when, KA THUMP, KA THUMP, KA THUMP, Flat tire. I knew I was going to die. I was in high school I didn't disobey. So we went into the trunk to get the spare. And there wasn't one. So after much deliberation we went into the local neighborhood late at night to steal a tire. We found the tire we needed and started tasking it off. Just as we got the last lug off, we heard the resounding click of a loading shotgun. So we ran. They of course threw the tire to me. The guy never caught us. We get back to the car. Throw the tire on and get under way. I was only an hour or so late. It's explainable then as I felt at ease. The car slowed down. Patrick never told us the gas meter didn't work. We pushed this car down Sunrise Highway, about a mile or so when a cop pulls up. We all were scared shitless, until he offered to help us and we got to the gas station. I got home as the sun was coming up on Saturday morning, knowing full well I was a dead man when I got home. I opened the door, sneaked to my room, only to face my father who said, you’re up early, you want to go fishing. I slept. I had this bridge way out in the woods over a stream, where people would camp, abandon cars, fuck, shoot bottles. Deep in the woods only the train went out over the bridge. We went out that Saturday night to the bridge. I made a pact, read too much Cummings, Plath, Ginsburg, Kerouac and Buckowski. That night I made a promise in front of Orion that we would always snatch life from the jaws of death. I would always risk and live until the earth swallowed me up or until I consummated myself with my own fires. I don't know who I am right now. A shell. Missing a hand from being slow snatching that bit of existence. Attacked by the demons of my dreams.
Tommy laughed at me.
( JACK runs to where he sees TOMMY and tries to catch him . ) Trust me he said, once upon a time, then he threw himself off the bridge.
( A man appears, the two men start fighting hard hand to hand, JACK is a boxer and fighting a shadowy adversary. The ORION fights like a martial artist. He defeats JACK and clasps his hands around JACK’S throat. )


ORION
You owe me Jack. For a promise made long ago.

JACK
What promise was that.?

ORION
Watch and learn. I am the son of Neptune, I run on the waves and tread the waters and I walk your depths. I took Merope and was blinded by her father. And I followed the cyclops hammer’s sounds till sun restored my sight. I hunted with Diana until she shot me by mistake cause of her brothers jealousy. She made me of stars. And once in a rare while I can come back again. When called.

JACK
I never …
ORION
Never to compromise, that was your promise. Your friend was the sacrifice that was needed. But I see you wear failure on you like a shroud. I’ll explain a thing or two for you. A man is nothing without his word. Now I’m going to force you to snatch life from my jaws. And if you don’t you’re life is mine. I am a burning in your skull. I’ve always been with you since that night. Watching the train wreck over and over. The macabre looses it’s taste after a while and so I need to talk to you. You have 3 months, one for each star in my belt, when I return to your sight you best figure out the means to kill me. You must find love. One word and one kiss is all. If not, I’ll take you all. You, my Gargoyle , for you are my sword, and my old love Medusa my club , my Dog Sirius and the Lioness sewn my lions skin as well. Heed me. The hunt has been long in coming.



SCENE 2
(JACK and DAWN, and ORION re-appears to JACK. )

JACK
Last night I heard someone on the roof, so I wait. I'm vigilant. I dream of the day I will feel rapture through these numb fingers. I dream of the day I will experience joy from these crude digits. I dream of the day I can touch again. Hatred is a petty passion, so is vengeance and in the great dream, they play but bit parts to the great diva pain. Hatred is a side effect to pain, which I can no longer feel through these callous hands.

I love the rooftops. Alone is a thing, a beastly companion, remarkable only in his ability to remind you of the truth. There is no one. I love to look out on the city lights, pretty lights, deceptive. Who are you kidding? I watch the world below as the sound rises like the scent of sweat in a closed room. Alone at night and very quiet I hear a man playing with the lock, sloppy, almost virginal. I go swoop down and face the source of the footstep. A man tries to break into my building to get high and is surprised when I beat him. He tries to steal my security by breaking my lock, and being apologetic is supposed to curb my rage. No, unacceptable.
I am a guardian. I have electric eyes and am motion sensitive. I have a yell that can rock the walls of Jericho.

I see the school, the mosque, and the bridge. I see the concrete bunkers and the gated storefronts. I see old encumbered shadows on the walls. I see newspapers used as curtains and cardboard boxes used as fortresses. I see shopping carts become caravans and paper cups become piggy banks. I hear the lovers, dreamers-deluders and the inevitable and unenviable seekers who came to 10 million equally confused humans in search of an answer. I need love. I had is once, it evaporated. One day after three years of loving, someone took it when I was distracted. I wait for the thief to return and take what's left. They can watch me crumble when I saw her, I became stone, hard, solid, unfeeling, cold, the same old hard rock that holds 10 million dreamers from falling in on themselves.

(The two begin to speak to and at each other. Their words overlapping.)

DAWN
I watch him.

JACK
I watch her.

DAWN
A maze of silent gazes.


JACK
And backward glances.

DAWN
I reside in the corner in his eye. He doesn't feel privileged enough to give his eyes full dominion.

JACK
I watch her.

DAWN
I watch him. I despise his restraint. Why doesn't he do anything? Instead he is above looking down.

JACK
I despise her recognition. She knows I'm here.

DAWN
Do something.

JACK
I must see her.

DAWN
What are you waiting for?

JACK
Touch her.

DAWN
With a moments hesitation

JACK
Taste her.

DAWN
Fate answers someone else’s prayer.

JACK
Smell her.

DAWN
I can’t come to you.

JACK
I feel nothing.


DAWN
That’s not the way it’s done.

JACK
I am nothing.

DAWN
You must come to me.

JACK
Solid, immovable.

DAWN
Pass the test.

JACK
Sure as the earth.

DAWN
For the heartache to stop.

JACK
No longer the animal.

DAWN
Who are you?

JACK
No longer flesh.

DAWN
You statue.

JACK
I am stone.

DAWN
You mannequin.

JACK
I am.

DAWN
Where is your life?

JACK
I
DAWN
All I ask.

JACK
ALL I ASK.

DAWN
Is that if you are the one?

JACK
Is that if you are the one?

DAWN
I need to have you.

JACK
I need to have you.

DAWN
Close.

JACK
Close?

DAWN
Close your eyes.

JACK
WHAT?

DAWN
Your eyes ... are they closed?

(Then JACK reluctantly does as he's told.)

My hands are tight, all my joints are. And I see you have come a long way to see me and must be weary from you're adventure.

(LONG PAUSE)

What are you waiting for? Take me. I'm yours. Mind and body and we needn't worry about the soul, it's been foreclosed. I just want to see you're eyes first. Look at me, just one look. Not enough to get a clear description, not enough to see you're eyes shine. One second, a tiny second is all I'm asking.

(JACK shakes his head "NO")

Well nothing gets you nothing. You should know that. Say something.

(JACK remains silent.)

QUIET! QUIET! Speak you fool. I see hypocrisy hear. Let me teach you a tiny bit about seduction. Can I touch your hair? Seduction, don't always assume nude. You men focus on two areas. There is so much more. It's the fingertip on the cheek, the caress of the hand, the invisible breath. Are you searching for something to say, something clever, yet threaded with melodrama like blue jeans? Too many absolute axioms all convoluted, indistinct.

Just beware my fangs and if you look close enough you'll see my denim scales writhe. The
concerto began and ended with a little girl, young and tiny, easy because beauty is unattainable. She had a strong taste in the same breath as the words love. She loved horses. She cried often, and I assured you her tears were real, every last one. They were like pebbles falling from her eyes. The actor, after much rehearsal, left her under the highway her sorrow had left. But he wasn't done with her yet. Her lovely face was taken away. Then ever after, her suitors had permanent smiles. You all court me the same for the same reasons. But they all froze at the last minute will you.

(Then JACK shakes his head no.)

Then one last request, a kiss. Please?

JACK
I need rules. I don't trust anymore, you're just waiting for the next betrayal.

DAWN
Then you'll never be disappointed. Any comfort in that?

JACK
What do I do then?

DAWN
Then sir, you must commit.

(The two fight for all they’re worth. It is real and aesthetic, beautiful and violent.)

DAWN
Don't explain. You of all people are forgetting the simplest rule of the seduction.

JACK
And that is.

DAWN
Honor me. Trust me.

JACK
Trust me. Honor me.

DAWN
Surrender.

(JACK searches for words. DAWN disarms him. He bows to her. He then takes her sword, kneels and places it to his bared throat. ORION cringes at the word “Surrender” as if struck)

JACK
My life is yours.

(DAWN pauses for a moment, puts the blade aside and kisses him. She smiles turns and leaves.)

( ORION appears and bows deeply. He goes into stance, the two fight and JACK defeats him. Lights Fade. )