STERLING
About
82 hours, if - .
ANNEAL
We've
been here a week. I'm glad we came. it' s much more primitive and naturalistic
than the last islands
we've seen.
STERLING
-
if the wind is changing. Northeast, heavier too. The seats coming a little
rough. Beyond the
horizon it should be okay, if - .
(A
white bird falls out of the sky.)
That's
the third one! It's ridiculous. What's wrong with these birds?
ANNEAL
I hope it's not catching.
STERLING
Don't
worry. Humans rarely get bird diseases.
(He
tosses the carcass overborad.)
ANNEAL
It's
floating. I didn't realize its eyes were still open. But it's dead, isn't
it?
STERLING
Dead
as a pin cushion.
ANNEAL
Its
eyes are so interested and innocent. Without that beak, that strange oval
head,
long neck, and peculiarly haired body and of course those limp bobbing
wings
and hard yellow feet, it could almost be human, someone you could meet.
It's
looking at me.
STERLING
Don't
watch too long, Anneal, or you might see a shark swallow your new admirer.
ANNEAL
Look,
on the other side of the barrier reef it's calm. The water is smooth
as
stainless steel. Look, Sterling, a perfect picture postcard.
STERLING
(Looking around.)
You
can see the store - Reemer' s - from here.
ANNEAL
0h
. . . too bad.
STERLING
It's
in a perfectly white space surrounded by jungle. God, it's
beautiful.
The
green shines with so much life as if it were the skin of a baby.
ANNEAL
(Facing the audience.)
I'll
fix us something cold to drink.
Scene
11
The banana grove beside RIKLON' s hut.
His
MOTHER stirs out of sleep, watches him,
elbows
on the mat, chin in her palms.
Her
very round calves idle
in
the air.
MOTHER
Lomona
has you in her eyes, Riklon. And I know you love her because you have
known
each other since children. You used to play together naked under the
bananas
and eat the syrupy dust together. You went to the same schools, but
You
did not finish. You are a man now. Marry her before Tibrik does.
He has
a
store. She is beautiful and cannot wait for you forever. She wants children
too.
Marry her, finish school, because now we know it has become important.
In
the old days to be a man and good with the nets and have a heart that did
not
harden
with the little disappointments that death quickly laughs at were enough.
Now
a man needs school . . .
(She
says this trying to sound convincing,
but
puzzled, tentative.)
RIKLON
(Defiantly, almost pouting. Wide innocent
eyes grow more innocent however.)
Why?
MOTHER
So you
will not become a stray dog, a good-for-nothing.
RIKLON
My
friend Cigarette has gone to high school and I saw him yesterday standing
in the road. He was looking at his hands.
(Laughs.)
What
did high school do for Cigarette?
MOTHER
Cigarette
is lazy. Go on, go out now and use your head in the shade of the bananas.
I
am sleepy. It is too hot and the lagoon smells dusty. Go
now.
(He
steps into the grove.)
RIKLON
The
foreigners say this is "Paradise". This is my home.
My
eyes see what they saw when I was born.
Mother,
has the island changed?
MOTHER
(A faint shrug.)
Now
there is a road.
There
is the store.
The
soap costs more.
RIKLON
What
else?
MOTHER
Nothing.
RIKLON
Were
there foreigners when you were a girl? Did they come and look
without
seeing us as they do now?
MOTHER
(shrugs.)
I
was young.
I
saw them. Why do you ask these questions of no meaning?
Do
the foreigners wash your clothes?
Do
they trust you?
Can
you laugh with them?
(She
looks up toward the surf.)
Bring
Lomona' s family some fresh fish. It is a good time for it.
The
Ujitik are big and tasty now.
RIKLON
It
is better when the sun touches the water.
The
Ujitik play like the many bubbles made by the hands of an awkward swimmer.
I
will wait.
MOTHER
Do
not wait too long.
RIKLON
Mother,
are the foreigners good or bad?
MOTHER
(Impatient.)
Why
are you now so interested in foreigners?!
(She
closes her eyes.)
No
sense.
(Sleeps.)
RIKLON
I
am going to find Cigarette. Maybe he can answer my questions because he has
been
out of the island to look for work in other places where the lagoon
is not
like
this and the sky is not like this and the sunsong that goes from leaf to leaf
of
each tree so that the island is wonderful to see is not like Kasunae,
this
island whose sand and rain and sun are everything that I have known.
But
Cigarette is back! I know where to find him. On the beach where we played
when
we were boys.
(With
irrepressible mirth he erupts in a native song, walking very slowly.
The
motion freezes.)
Continue
to Scene 12
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