[Production Note: This is an unnatural drama. The play’s characters, while they have personalities, are locked in a dream that might be reality or a reality that might be a dream. They are locked in a protracted present. As a rule, their actions and words occur at a slower rate than those of a naturalistic drama.]
(2 prisoners inside the prison. PRISONER 2 has ear against the glass wall.)
PRISONER 1
In effect, yes. In effect or for effect. A turn in the events. A change. (Beat.) Did you
hear me?
PRISONER 2
I was listening — yes.
PRISONER 1
What did I say?
PRISONER 2
Verbatim or gist?
PRISONER 1
You weren’t listening! Whenever you have your ear pressed against that wall, you don’t
listen.
PRISONER 2
… butterflies.
PRISONER 1
Come again?
PRISONER 2
Butterflies. I am close to them.
PRISONER 1
Not that again —
PRISONER 2
No. Yes. I can’t say.
PRISONER 1
Or won’t?
PRISONER 2
I won’t.
PRISONER 1
I have my own dreams too, you know.
PRISONER 2
Butterflies of all possible integers.
PRISONER 1
Fantasy.
PRISONER 2
No. Not there.
(PRISONER 2 points.)
He’s still watching — Warden.
PRISONER 1
That’s his job. He watches. Oversees. He is an over-seer.
(PRISONER 1 breaks into a hacking laugh.)
PRISONER 2
One watch. Two watches. Eight watches in a day. Eight wardens in a year.
(PRISONER 2 makes the sound of a ringing phone and picks up an imaginary phone.)
Yes, this is.
(PRISONER 2 holds it out to PRISONER 1.)
It’s for you.
PRISONER 1
No, it’s not!
(PRISONER 2 puts the phone to ear again.)
PRISONER 2
Who is it that you wanted? (Beat.) All right. One moment, please. (PRISONER 2
extends the phone to PRISONER 1.) It’s for you.
PRISONER 1
Well who is it?
PRISONER 2
(Into phone.) Who is it? (Beat.) Oh, right. Sorry.
(PRISONER 2 extends the phone to PRISONER 1.)
PRISONER 1
Who is it?
PRISONER 2
Warden.
PRISONER 1
Eight watches in a day. Eight wardens in a year. Shock of defeat. Sentence of time.
(PRISONER 1 takes the phone.)
Yes? (Beat.) Yes, sir. (Beat.) Of course not, sir. (Beat.) Gruel will be fine, sir.
(PRISONER 1 hangs up the phone.)
PRISONER 2
What did he want?
PRISONER 1
He wanted to know what we’d like for dinner.
PRISONER 2
And?
PRISONER 1
I told him gruel.
PRISONER 2
We always have gruel.
PRISONER 1
He didn’t give us a choice.
PRISONER 2
Then why ask?
PRISONER 1
I suppose he wanted to be polite.
PRISONER 2
In effect or for effect. A turn of events.
PRISONER 1
At the periphery, an annular building. At the center, a tower.
PRISONER 2
My tooth hurts.
PRISONER 1
Cry, then.
PRISONER 2
Can’t they give me something?
PRISONER 1
An injection.
PRISONER 2
If it would relieve me.
PRISONER 1
It would relieve you.
PRISONER 2
Then?
PRISONER 1
I’m not standing in your way.
(PRISONER 1 looks at his wrist. A number is tattooed there.)
6243.
PRISONER 2
6 plus 2 equals 8. 4 times 2 equals 8. Half of 6 is 3. 3 plus 2 is 5. 2,3,4,5.
PRISONER 1
But no 1, no 7.
PRISONER 2
4 plus 3 equals 7! And 6 plus 3 equals 9!
PRISONER 1
Yes, yes! And 4 minus 3 equals 1!
PRISONER 2
All are accounted for: the accounting complete.
PRISONER 1
Eight watches in a day. Eight wardens in a year.
PRISONER 2
Criminals identical but for their pin-code-like numbers.
PRISONER 1
Likewise a hand ...
PRISONER 2
Clutches ...
PRISONER 1
From these rafters ...
PRISONER 2
Bearing this foreign moniker.
(They look up.)
PRISONER 1
What’s he doing?
PRISONER 2
Watching.
PRISONER 1
Us?
PRISONER 2
Yes, us—the event participants.
PRISONER 1
But we’re doing nothing. There’s nothing to do here.
PRISONER 2
We watch back.
PRISONER 1
So he’s watching us watching him?
PRISONER 2
In so many words.
PRISONER 1
Actors.
PRISONER 2
Agents.
PRISONER 1
Perpetrators.
PRISONER 2
Recidivists.
PRISONER 1
Confess! O, rural police look toward the sky!
PRISONER 2
The satellites beam down their refulgent images!
PRISONER 1
That inhabit our minds!
PRISONER 2
This cage.
PRISONER 1
This mind.
PRISONER 2
Like so many small theaters.
PRISONER 1
Each actor — alone.
PRISONER 2
Constantly visible. O Moon, my thousand-faced pinup!
(They look for the moon.)
PRISONER 1
What do you see?
PRISONER 2
A rabbit, a landau, a sheriff with a bandolier. An Afghan with a stone. A …
PRISONER 1
Do you see the witch? The elegant lady?
PRISONER 2
Mere surfaces reflect. Beliefs unsubstantiated.
PRISONER 1
Personality — bah! Vaudeville!
PRISONER 2
Death and transfiguration.
PRISONER 1
The visible constantly before his eyes, the tall outline of the central tower.
PRISONER 2
Words.
PRISONER 1
Magic spells ...
PRISONER 2
Inoculate hill stations.
PRISONER 1
Recidivists — scourges.
PRISONER 2
The body holds its pathogens in periods of dormancy.
PRISONER 1
Neither symptom nor cure.
PRISONER 2
In effect, yes. A change.
PRISONER 1
To change. Of or in itself.
PRISONER 2
Faces — manipulated — cosmetic unguents.
PRISONER 1
Visibility is a trap.
PRISONER 2
Visibility—a trap.
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