Open Skies ZERO:
Prelude to a New Life
Scene 10
[Stage same as end of Scene 8 except it is early morning, trees stage right, barn center stage with front facing stage left, wall facing audience is invisible (i.e. not there), birds singing. Inside barn, Sarah, Randall, Cage, and Moose are doing various things, revolved around getting breakfast together. Eagle generally doesn't move much. Silent lipped conversations amongst everyone in barn. Outside barn, Angel asleep with head on Red. After a few moments, Cage exits front door of barn, and comes around toward Red and Angel, not immediately noticing them.]
Cage: [now noticing Red and Angel] Hey! … [moves closer and leans in over their heads, louder now] HEY!
[Angel and Red both awaken slowly as Cage waddles backward.]
Angel: [rubs her eyes, then groggy:] Hey…
Cage: Hey! Who’re you?
Angel: Angel… Who’re you?
Cage: I’m Cage. This here’s where me and my friends stay at.
Angel: Oh… We… Me and Red, we were just headed back toward the city..
Cage: Oh yeah? From where?
Angel: Uhhh… I dunno really… through those woods somewhere.
Cage: Oh… … [slightly confused, but not caring for any more answers] Well I was just coming out to find some fresh tea leaves, but my friends are in there getting breakfast together. You guys hungry?
Red: Heck yeah I am!
Angel: Yeah, me too.
Cage: Well, go on in, there should be plenty for everyone!
Angel: Okay then… thank you.
Red: Yeah, thanks.
Cage: Of course, of course. I’ll see you guys in a few minutes. …
[Red and Angel head into barn.]
Cage: [looking around] Ah, here we go. [picks some tea leaves and heads back]
[Red and Angel head to front of barn and knock on the door. Cage comes immediately up behind them]
Cage: [opening the door] Come in, come in! … Hey everyone, this is Red, and Angel, just ran into them outside, thought they might be hungry.
[generic greetings gestures as each person introduces himself. Everyone is arranged so that Eagle is blocked from Red and Angel's line of sight.]
Sarah: Hey guys, I’m Sarah.
Randall: Randall, hi.
Moose: Moose.
[Those blocking Red and Angel's view of Eagle step aside.]
Eagle: So we meet again.
Red: Heeeyy…
Angel: Eagle! You’re okay! I was worried someone had come and taken you away!
Eagle: Here I am. … How’d you guys end up way out here anyway?
Red: Well, we ran in with some boys who were gathering up a small army to man a rowboat of sorts, tryin’ to get to some “Island of Light”. … Said all this was gonna be gone soon. …
Eagle: Is that right?…
Red: Well, they were feeding us and that’s all that mattered to me, ’cause we were starving, literally.
Sarah: Starving? Well sit down, you two! There’s plenty here for everyone.
[Everyone sits down and continues talking over breakfast.]
Randall: A row boat you say?
Red: Yeah, that’s right, they were tryin’ for about a hundred men I think.
Eagle: A hundred men?! What do they think this is?
Red: What do you mean?
Eagle: The problem of crossing those waters isn’t so simple as having more people, or more power… They’re in for one heck of a letdown…
Moose: I’ve been waiting for this to come up! How do we get across?!
Eagle: There’s a trick to these waters, and if it wasn’t for you guys pouring your hopes and wishes over me, I’d be a dead duck right now. So I guess I owe all of you my life… … You know, those boys are right, only one more day now, and all this will be gone.
Angel: All of it?
Eagle: All of it.
Angel: That’s not very long…
[Everyone reflects for a minute, everyone sad.]
Eagle: But you know, death in one place is birth in another…
Randall: So how do we cross? We’ve tried so many times.
Eagle: Well, there’s only one thing that will get you across these waters: …
[Everyone looking anxiously at Eagle as he breathes in slowly delaying his answer, watching them be anxious. In a short exhale:]
Eagle: Grace.
Randall, Cage, Moose, Sarah: [improvised comments expressing confusion, i.e. "What?", "What does that mean?", "Huh?", etc.]
Eagle: Pretty simple really. The speed of the opposing currents is directly proportional to the amount of disruption on the surface of the water… and the speed of the wind is the same thing, proportional to the disruption in the air.
Moose: Hmm… So to move forward, we’d need some way of propelling ourselves without disrupting the air or the water…
Eagle: Exactly… grace.
[Everyone thinking.]
Moose: [lightbulb moment] So that explains how Randall made it so far compared to the rest of us! At least until he got excited and flapped his wings… It all makes sense now.
Cage: Wait a second… so I can cross right now if I just keep my cool?!
Eagle: Sure you could.
Cage: I guess I’ll see you guys on the other side! [heads toward the front door]
Eagle: [laughing] Hold up, not so fast!
[Cage stops and turns around]
Cage: What?
Eagle: You might have made it across that river alone, but you wouldn’t have made it very far on the other side if you left your friends behind.. They’ll need your help so they can all cross, and one day you’ll need their help too.
Cage: [looking at floor, shuffling his feet] Yeah, I guess you’re right… [comes back and sits down]
[Red stands up, hand on chin, thinking and walks stage right inside barn and paces up and down that wall (the back wall of the barn, right side of stage). Hand on chin, thinking. Everyone looks at him as he walks over there and Angel comments:]
Angel: He’ll figure something out… He’s really smart, and he’s really good at math, I dunno if that will help or not.
Moose: So what’s your story, Angel? I like the ski suit, why do you wear it?
Angel: [head down, shy, embarrassed, ashamed, and sad] I wanna be a skier…
Sarah: Oh, that sounds like it would be fun!
Angel: Yeah… but I’ll never be anything at all… …
Sarah: What? Why would you say that?
Angel: My shoulders are fused… [cries] … Those boys are right, I’m useless! [cries more]
[Eagle steps up to her and puts his wing around her.]
Eagle: Oh, Angel, look at what those boys have done to you… [gently lifts at her chin with his wing] Chin up… They don’t know what they’re doing. See, they think that by brute force and ingenuity alone they can accomplish anything. They’ve gotten so caught up in the pursuit of some goal that they forgot about common decency and goodness… Everything’s turned into just another obstacle to overcome, even people. But what do they think they’ll do if they achieve their goal yet to do so they’ve sacrificed the love and friendship that is available to them here and now?
Angel: [sobbing, but perking up a little bit] I guess it’d be a lonely victory…
Eagle: A lonely victory indeed… But you already know all this, without anyone having to tell you…
Angel: [managing a sad smile] I do?
Eagle: Sure you do! [pulling out a candle from under his wing] Here, take this candle. [hands the candle to Angel] With it, you can light however many candles time will allow. Believe in yourself and it will never go out. Even when things get tough, as they always do, and when you think all hope is gone – even then it still burns, and you’ll find it again to light your way through the dark.
Angel: But I can’t even do anything…
Eagle: We can get those shoulders fixed! It’ll just require breaking them first.
Angel: Breaking them?…
Eagle: If you’re willing to endure the pain, then we can get them fixed, but of course that will be completely up to you.
Angel: Yes! … Yes! Of course I’ll do it!
Eagle: And you’ll be the best skier this world has ever seen.
[Red has a lightbulb moment, stops pacing and faces everyone.]
Red: A DUCK! A BIG duck! We’ve got to build a BIG duck!
Randall: Brilliant!
Sarah: Let’s do it!
Red: I think I could work out the plans so that anyone who wants to be a part of it can, however many or few that is, that way no one is left behind and no one is forced on.
Angel: I knew he would come up with something!
Red: But first, there are a couple things I left in the city that I need to get… Can anyone help me get there and back pretty quick?
Cage: Yeah, I can take you there pretty quick.
Red: We’ll have to work fast once we get back, but there’s enough time.
Angel: We can break my arms when I get back, right?
[Red looks confused (he was busy thinking and pacing during that conversation)]
Eagle: Yeah, we’ll do it tonight.
Red: Huh?
Angel: [with a big grin] They’re going to fix my arms!
[Red smiles and hugs Angel. Cage heads for the front door.]
Cage: I’m ready whenever you are.
Red: Alright, let’s go.
[Red, Angel, and Cage exit stage left.]
