Melody Assignment

by J Waechter

A Forest. A Flood.
Some questions.

A – Woman
B – Man
Chris – Their little girl


A
How old are you

B
What kind of question is that

A
That’s what I said

B
Did you punch him

A
I didn’t answer

B
Did you punch him

A
I asked him to leave

B
But did you

A
It’s not that insulting
Then he said what he was there for

B
Well

A
Well it’s not
I think you’re more upset than me
It could have been worse

B
Well
He should have said why first

A
Well

B
He should have been doing his job
He has a job to do
He should have been helping

A
He was helping

B
But he wasn’t doing his job

A
When Chris came out the front

B
Chris was there

A
She wasn’t and then she was
She was inside, but when he showed up with the news

B
That’s why you didn’t punch him

A
He was a rescue worker
He was doing his job

B
Well

A
What

B
We have different definitions of job

A
You could have come outside
You could have
You didn’t have to keep watching TV
You knew something was going on

B
Well

A
Well nothing

Pause.

A (cont.)
Remember when we moved here
Remember You got that new job
We put the kids in the car and
Moved
And remember how proud we were of the house
Remember when Chris got out of the car
Is this all ours
And you said yes
Really All of this
Yes
This too This yard and that door and the grass and the windows
Are these are our flowers Is this our mailbox Is that our garage
And she ran around touching everything
And then she slipped in dog shit

B
What made you think of that

A
Remember that
She just
Slipped
She started crying and I felt bad
I couldn’t stop laughing
You were laughing so hard you had to go stand on the other side of the car
Shit smeared all down her back
I’ll miss that house

B
It’s not gone yet

A
But it will

B
But it’s not

A
It will
Under water
He said it will

B
He shouldn’t have said that
He should’ve done his job

A
He was doing his job

B
He was trying to be a therapist
Or a friend
He was hitting on you

A
He wasn’t hitting on me

B
He should have just given us directions

A
He told us to come up here on this mountain
He gave us water
He said there’d be food and that someone would come get us
He led us to safety
He was doing his job

B
Where’s Chris

A
Don’t change the subject

B
Chris
Chris

A
She’s off playing somewhere
She’s fine

B
But where is she

A
She’s playing

B
But

A
She’s fine

Pause.

B
Do you think we’ll see it from here

A
What kind of question is that

B
The house
When the dam breaks

A
But what kind of question is that

B
I want to see it

A
Our house

B
Yes

A
Why

B
So it’s real

A
That’s sick
I don’t want to see it

B
Chris Chris Come over here

A
Why would you

B
I don’t know
Closure
I loved that house
It was a good

A
You didn’t love that house

B
I did It was our first home
I hate the neighborhood but
I love the house
I love our things
I loved coming home to all our things
I loved the way it smelled
The way the house smelled and the way our things in the house smelled
I’ll miss that

A
Well

B
Well

A
Those will be gone
…
I wish we’d had more time
You know
I wish he’d said get your things
Or at least get 3 things
If we could have gotten three things

B
My laptop
My father’s clock
My jacket

A
You thought about this

B
You

A
No
I mean I guess it’d be
My wallet
My
My um
Maybe a photo or something

B
You don’t know

A
I’d need to think

B
But what if you had no time

A
I’d grab whatever was closest

B
Which would be

A
Whats next to the door

B
And

A
An umbrella
My grass stained sneakers
The welcome mat
That’s great We’ll be in an emergency shelter
But at least I’ll have the welcome mat and sneakers to mow the lawn

B
That’s kind of

A
What

B
I don’t know
Prophetic
Don’t you think
Is that a word

A
We should get Chris

B
Chris
Chris
Chris

A
CHRIS

Chris enters.

B
Where have you been young lady
We’ve been yelling our heads off trying to find you
You know you can’t run off like that
Mommy and Daddy are in a lot of trouble right now
You heard the man The house is going to go and

A
Honey

B
You can’t run off like that

A
Honey she doesn’t understand

B
What

A
Let me
Honey remember on the TV
When the water came and all those people had to get out of the way
Remember that movie with that cute boy you like

CHRIS
Yes

A
Well we’re going to have to move like they did

CHRIS
Are we going to hide in a cave

A
No No caves
But it’s going to be okay and soon we’ll have a new house
And you can make new friends

CHRIS
I don’t want new friends
I like the old house
I want my crayons Can I have my crayons now
And my new pink shoes I want my pink shoes too with the bows

A
Well

B
Those things are gone.

CHRIS
I want my pink shoes

A
You can’t have your pink shoes

B
Wait
There it

A
Is that

B
It’s

A
Oh my god

They watch.