Story, and dialogue by: Najm aldin Samman
“Najem Samman”
TRANCELIT DERAR REZK
A Play
Theatre stage: A hall with a multiple of doors and windows. On the right side: the houses door and a window beside it, a book case in between. In the background of the theatre: a blank screen, on its sides are 2 other parts of book cases, and two little windows. On the left wall, a small window as well and a part of the library (book case). In the middle of the theatre, a dusty couch (loveseat). In the side, a rocking chair. Walls seem old, with punctures of bullets and mortar. On the left of the stage, a little balcony with two flower pots, a wooden chair behind of it is the balcony door/ entrance. The doors, windows and bookshelves can be substituted with rows of birch/ woody color.
Characters:
The sniper: a young man in the thirties.
The girl: in her middle twenties. Plays: Ishtar, the mother, and the sister.
The third person: impersonates multiple characters: The Leader on screen, The male nurse, Abil, The new ‘other’ sniper.
Scene I
The sound of music from ancient times; on the screen, scenes from cities destroyed in wars: Dresden, Nagasaki, Hiroshima, Guernica during the Spanish civil war; Beirut during the Lebanese civil war, Kabul, Mogadishu, Baghdad, Aleppo, Homs, Der-Ezzor.. among other war-torn cities. Suddenly, a young man enters the hall with an automatic sniper rifle, looking at them cautiously, ready for any unexpected act; then, he climbs to the theatre stage cautiously, delves into the studio; looks around and through the windows, looks ignorantly to the books in the book case. Then, he deliberately fails one of the books with the butt of his rifle, plays with it with his foot until the book stands straight. He then rolls over on the floor and aims his rifle at the book, and fires: the sound of one shot clearly rings throughout, the screen pauses to play images; he then rolls over the floor toward the audience, laughing while holding his rifle tight, as if hugging a woman caressing her body with lust
Sniper: finally, you are in my arms my lovely! You have a waist more beautiful than that of Brigitte Bardot!
The face of some leader appears on screen, wearing some mask; the leader coughs, the sniper turns and lays sight on him. The sniper then stands up to salute him, much like the salute of Nazis
The Leader: ‘Have you received my gift?’
Sniper: I haven’t dreamt of something of its likeness
The leader: with it, you will go on a hunt of our enemies; we’ve chosen you a house that oversees them
The sniper: and, whom or enemies happen to be, chief?
The leader: everyone who is not alike us; not from our race, our ethnicity, our religion, doctrine or sect; whom do not have our beliefs, ideas or way of life
The sniper, amazed: I have a lot of work to do, then, Master!
The Leader, laughing loudly: I’ve given them all, to you! Kill of them as much as you like!
The Sniper: even if, they happen to be civilians?
The Leader: It does not matter; when more of them fail as victims, they would grow angry, & furious, they will get armed, just like us
The sniper, looking to his rifle: just like us?
The leader: the game is going to be boring, with a weaker party
The sniper: although I do not comprehend all of what you are saying, chief, but I rather not go hunt fearful rabbits
The leader: very soon, one of the rabbits would aim at you! You take caution
The sniper: I will take care
The leader: Now, go and start work!
The sniper salutes him, while the leader image gets fixated on screen. The music comes back to play, the sniper starts cleaning his rifle, shining its scope while murmuring with the music. The sniper raises his rifle, turns sight through its scope, laying sight on audience, directly & through the scope, alternatingly, turning slowly from left to right, then slowly up, he stops at someone, looks directly at him and talks to him:
hey you! Could you please lower your head, you are blocking my view to my prey! Calm down, its not your turn yet!
Then laughs while taking seat on the rocking chair.
Scene 2
The girl, appears at the door holding a book in her hand, standing in the right site, and stretches her hand to turn the door knob. The sniper hears the sound and hides behind the sofa. The girl enters, goes to the book case to return the book to its place. As she searches for another book to borrow, she founds the book the sniper shot at; she bends over and picks it up, flips its pages and it appears punctured with a bullet, as the book title appears before the audience
The girl: flowers of evil; Charles Boudler
The girl flips through the pages, the sniper gets up from behind the couch:
hey, what are you doing here?
The girl steps back toward the door, holds the book close to her chest
‘Well, who are you? What are you doing here?’
The sniper laughs out loudly:’ well, this place is mine!’
‘No, its not yours; it’s our neighbors’!’
‘your neighbors?’
‘the were forcibly deported; they aren’t of our sect, or religion’
‘&, have they left it for you to take care of it? Do you have an official agency?’
‘I borrow books from their book case, I read it and return to its same place’
‘I’ve seen that, others might have stolen it’
The girl, sarcastically: ‘they stole then valuables, left the books, an old couch, and this chair’
‘you are right; who would care about books in the time of war?’
‘You haven’t told, who gave you permission to enter the house?’
Pointing to the leader on screen: ‘the commander!’
‘it’s YOUR commander; & this does not give him the right to confiscate peoples’ ownerships’
Laughing out loudly & raising his rifle high: ‘the commander has exclusive rights, compared to others!’
Sarcastically: ‘this, including peoples’ lives?’
‘This, includes our enemies’ lives and souls’
The girl raises Boudler’s book, chattered by a bullet: ‘ &, he told you, to hunt this book ?’
‘I was trying my new gun, & the book was in its rage!’ laughing loudly
‘Your answer is so surprising!’
‘You are surprising too, you read in times of war?’
‘I read, to strengthen my immunity to this war’
‘Bravo, Bravo, while clapping on the butt of his rifle’
‘&, for my disgust of its leaders and their soldiers to increase’ while looking directly at him,
The sniper stops clapping, while looking back at her.
..’ &, against boredom as well’, the girl continues ‘listen to this one’, while searching through poems.
‘among all cheetahs, scorpions, monkeys, jackals, hawks, serpents & dogs; & all beasts hawling – bypasses a word flown by the bullet- & crawls into our base souls, there is one, the ugliest, meanest & most unholy, is ready to turn it whole in rubble: the boredom’
‘I do not comprehend poetry, I do not care much about it, I am just a hunter from a long forgotten village’
‘then, they promoted you to a sniper, to kill people;
‘to kill, our enemies; you should thank me as I protect you from them’
‘Wish you protect yourself, from your very own self!’
The sniper snatches the book from her hand: ‘ who is this poet: Charles Boulder?’
‘What does it matter, if you do not know him!’
‘He hasn’t left an animal with no mention: cheetahs, scorpions, monkeys, jacals.. ha ha ha! Is this an ad for the grand opening of a zoo?’
‘The animal kills, only when he is hungry, or to defend itself’
The sniper, feeling insulted: ‘ I am not an animal’
‘if you are hungry, I can bring you food’
The girl departs, before the sniper replies with any word. The book falls between his feet, the sniper, bows on the theatre floor, placing his head between his hands, & the book is thrown in front of him; a moment of silence passes, then he stretches his hand & takes the book, flips through its pages, starts reading, as if he has not read for a long time:
“the foe
Oh pain, time decays life,
& the mysterious foe, feeds on our hearts,
Grows & strengthens, on our shed blood’
‘what is that foe?’ the sniper murmurs with a sigh, while throwing the book to the corner, near the balcony door.
Gets up carrying his rifle, aims at someone through every window, while the sound of shots breaks silence; he goes to the balcony, the lighting dims, spotlight centers on the sniper who shots more than once, then sets on a chair in the balcony & unwinds, & starts missing with the clay flower pot with dry flowers with the front of his sporty shoes; he then kicks the pot, the lighting changes blues, & with it starts music from deep past times.
Scene 3
The girl enters, carrying a straw basket with a loaf of bread & a clay pot full to its top with liqueur in it, the basket looked of vintage past.
The sniper gets up, aims his rifle at her, rhythmic music plays. The girl keeps going forward carelessly, the sniper lowers his rifle down. The girl puts the food on the floor in front of him, & then turns, looking for a book in the book case. The sniper kneels before the food, checking it while laying the rifle on the floor next to him. The girl pulls out a book, flips through its pages.
‘&, what is that book now?’
‘the Gilgamesh odyssey, dates back to 5,000 years’
Ishtar music: Dima Orsho:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJIEcNSSpEA
A cloud of blue spreads to fill the theatre; the girl opens the book & starts reading:
The Istrian woman talks to Enkidu: ‘eat’
The snipper asks: ‘what is this?’
The girl, Ishtar: ‘this is bread, for you to live’,
The sniper takes the bread loaf, & eats it insatiably
‘& that?’
‘this is liquor’, to reach vanity’
The sniper sips of liquor
‘&, Enkidu asks her’
The sniper, interrupts her while standing with liquor in his hand: ‘did the leader sent you to seduce me?’
The girl, stops reading of the odyssey, lowers the book with her finger on the last page as a bookmark, and says: Ishtar sent me, to domesticate you
The sniper, drinking while walking around here in a circle: and, who Ishtar happens to be?
‘Ishtar, the goddess of love and beauty; I am of her dynasty/ lineage; &, whom you happen to be?’
‘ I am who lived in the wild, I sprint, faster than a deer, I jump, & beat tigers, I attack like a lion, I crawl like a serpent, I howl like a wolf, I drink water, fresh from the springs, all the animals in the forest fear me, the waterfalls bend like arches for me, to cross them; my fleece is the rainbow, my arrow I shoot flies like an eagle to where I want it to go; and up until now, no one stronger, faster, and fitter than me has come yet.
‘have you heard of Gilgamesh?’
Laughing loudly while almost drunk, says arrogantly: ‘&, who is he to acquire my attention?’
‘ He is, the king of Ore; half man, & half God, the people bow for him when he passes, he holds the fates of the people, he forces taxes: three quarters of every caravan, harvest or hunt, and of every tree; he takes the bride from its groom, he assume her virginity before her husband; people’s moaning, prayers and complaint of his agony has reached high in the skies, reaching the court of the gods…’
‘I will call him for a fencing match’.. the sniper says, while swaying of drunkenness…
The girl:’ he assembles your leader!’
While drinking what is left of liquor, swaying of drunkenness: My leader?’
The sniper started to laugh, almost fell down, falls into the couch, the bottle of liquor falls free on the couch. the song of ‘Abed Azariah, Enkidu ‘ starts, can be shown as a video ‘the link has a translation of the song in French’:
the https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBneKJcWfh8
the girl lowers her book, & returns it back to the book case. She steps out, and the light dims
Scene 4
The male nurse passes through the audience to the theater stand, a light spot follows him through the darkness, until he ascends to the theatre stand. With his right hand, he drags a serum stand with a hose, ending with milk squeezers, in his left hand, he holds a first aid bag, when he ascends to the stage, the leader appears on screen with a dim yellow light background:
‘While he is drunken and asleep, sedatize him, & pull his sperm
‘You bet, leader’, while opening his first aid bag
Leader, laughing:’ oh! The amateur kid! He falls asleep after only 3 cups of liquor..’
The nurse sticks the syringe in the arm of the sniper, the sniper feels the pain, opens his eyes a bit, then falls back to sleep. The nurse lays him on the couch, bending over him to continue the operation -with the audience not seeing- while the leader peeping to lay sight on the details.
‘He seems will hung, like a stud!’
‘He seems an amateur, he keeps hold of all of his sperm!’ the male nurse says
‘Well well! We have a big harvest then!’
The sound of the milk squeezers starts, and the sniper sways while screaming loudly out of seduction, the nurse then raises the bag, full of sperm;
‘Wow! Mistresses will scream out of joy!’
‘Would this be enough, commander?’
‘it would be enough for a whole brigade of snipers!’ says the leader
The nurse closes his bag, gathers his gear leaving the theatre through the audience following the same path he entered through. The leader itches his hands jointly, full of satisfaction, while his image fades.
Music, the sniper bends of pain, & sees nightmares, holds his head between his palms as if seeking protection of someone’s assault, and screams with a loud voice: ‘do not beat me, I am not you son, you are not my father, you are just my step dad’
The sniper attempts to raise from the couch, slips onto the floor, weak and deprived of his strengths, while the nightmare follows:’ & you, mother, I will save you the effort of defending me, you won’t see me again!’
He could not stand up; he crawls toward the door, and falls in deep sleep a meter away from the way out. Music, the lighting changes from night to day slowly.
Scene 5
The girl enters & sees the sniper lying near the door, and tries to wake him up:
‘hey! Hey you’
The sniper, moves her hands away while still succumb in a nightmare that has not ended:
‘… leave me, mother; I will leave& you’ll not see me again”
The girl, impersonating the character of the mother, speaking in a different tone:
‘where to, my son?’
‘to the near forests, I do not want to see a human being, again’
‘the tiger would prey on you, wolves will hunt your flesh, & vultures will snatch you…’
‘I’ve stolen your husband’s rifle, I wont let any creature to near me…’
‘.. would you leave me all alone, by myself, then?’
‘..you would pay the price, of trading my dad for another man…’
‘oh, how hard and cruel of a son you are! I did that, for you to live’
‘you did this, to add misery over misery’
‘I did not know, that he is dumb, misery and evil’
The sniper, while holding her hands: ‘please, mother, I’d kill him if I stay…’
‘do not do this, son’
The sniper, gets up and screams at his mother: ‘ ;eave me alone, you bitch!…’
The girl, now standing before him, says sarcastically while speaking in her own voice tone: ‘ a bitch! The first, and most emergent accusation any man would direct at any woman!’
The sniper, touching his eyes while packing off: ‘ its you, again?!’
‘Yes, its me’
The sniper laughing: ‘with the excuse to borrow another book! Have you started to love me?’
‘well, I started to fell empathy, for you…’
‘I am not in need of anyone’s empathy, I do not need forgiveness, I do not need you, especially’
‘I am not your mother! For you to shout at me like that’
‘do not you ever, demean my mother’
‘a little while ago, you called her a bitch!’
‘Me? When? It is not possible!’
‘you were, hallucinating while being in one of your nightmares…’
The sniper, decrepit on the floor, with light at him:
‘half of my life is nightmares…’
The girl, sets next to him: ‘ for how long have you lived all alone in the woods?’
‘half of my life, as well!’
The girl: sometimes, I wish to leave everything behind me, to live in the woods!’
‘you too?’
The girl: ‘and, when I could not, I replaced it with a forest of books’
‘for how long hav you been reading?’
‘for half of my life, too’
‘and, the other half? How did you live it?’
‘…succumb in dreams’
The sniper: ‘dreams? What dreams?’
The girl: ‘of a Utopia. ‘
Shaking his head ironically:’ beasts in the wood are even more virtuous!’
The girl, suddenly stands upright, the light changes to dark grren
‘when would you halt hunting?’
The sniper, while holding her hands:
‘help me, please; I used to hunt when I was hungry, then I became I vegetarian!’
‘a bold decision’
The sniper’ I aimed at that swan, she was still loving her wings when I got hold of her; I held it still, & got my dagger to slaughter her, she looked at me with a gaze that I will never forget’
‘&, that so, your victims will have the same look at you’
‘…but, but I was trying to heal her. I got the bullet out of her chest, banded her with wild grass; never the less, she kept looking at me with that look. She was dying slowly, day after another, while I could not do her anything…’
The girl: ‘oh! Poor white swan’
; I made here a wooden plate, placed it atop of hay straws; I floated her casket in the lake,, and before it is drawn by the waters, I lit it to fire’
The girl:’ these are, the rituals of tribes we have exterminated, or displaced from its living places, or turned its sons and grandsons to new slaves of us; to harvest banana, cocoa, spices, yellow corn; to bring us fur, silk, tusks of ivory after hunting the elephants.
Th sniper:’ killing, killing! I will kill my self to rest!’
The girl, while leaving him:’ Heal yourself, with reading’
Scene 6
The sniper, contemplating book titles in the book case, takes out one if it: ‘Organon’, aristo tales.
Tries to read, shakes his head: ‘so hard! I have not understood a single phrase!’
The sniper returns the book, and pulls another: ‘ Law of Hamorabi’2100 B.C.
The sniper opens the book, and reads:
1: whomever murders a master, shall be killed by the same means’
14: whomever abducts a master’s son, and sells him, shall be executed’
195: if a man beats his father, his hand shall be amputated’
196: If a man pulls out another’s eye, he shall lose one of his eyes same wise’
Flipping through the pages, reaches 129:’if a man’s lady is caught laying with another master, both shall be hand tought and thrown into the body of water (river, lake or sea).
The sniper, puts the book back in its place “ in water?just like that? What a punishment!’
He pulls another book: Divine comedy, by Dante allegro, thoughts to himself: beautiful title! Even Gods laugh sometimes!’
Puts the book back in its place.
‘where is that book?’
He looks for Boudler’s book of poems, picks it from ground, heads to the rocking chair, sets, flips through its pages, and starts reading:
The ghost
Like evil eyed angels
I will return to your bed
& sneak towards you, silently, with the darkness of the night
And will give you, my brunette
Kisses, cold as the moon
& fondling of a serpent around its nest
&, when the gloomy dawn comes back
You will find my place vacant, and shall stay cold until the evening
&, like some seek love, to control your life and youth
I want to control, by fear…
As soon as he finished reading the paragraph, the Leader shows on screen again:
‘are you reading?’
The sniper shuts the book, and stands up.
‘what are you reading?’
The sniper points to the book at the chair: ‘the flowers of evil, poetry’
The leader: ‘it is beautiful, that Evil has flowers’
The sniper:’ As much I liked this poetry, as much I despised its author’
The master: ‘and, what about your work?’
‘my work?’
‘Everyone in this world has work, reading, taking strolls and collecting empty matchboxes are hobbies’
‘that is right, master’
‘have not heard sounds of your fire shots for a while!’
…’but sir…’
The master, interrupts him with a louder tone:’ Come on, take your rifle, a hundred shots would not make up for your short coming’
The sniper: but, I have only 50 shots
‘Use them today, up until we send you more ammunition’
‘Oh master, pardon the civilians, please, I would kill the armed who attack us’
The master: ‘All, means all!’
The master, leaves screen then back again: ‘the sniper in the neighboring building, is more active than you, remember the punishment of underperformance, or.. failure to conform’
‘ready to serve your orders, master’
The master leaves the screen, the sniper carries his rifle slowly, raises it slowly, puts it on the edge of a window, fills it with ammunition, looks through its scope, scans the streets, aims at a moving object, halts suddenly, lefts his eye to the audience:
“An old man! Barely moving, and carrying bread, I’d just scare him’
&, as he was turning to the window, a far away shot is heard; he looks again through the scope, pulls back:
‘dam it, the other sniper has just shot him!’ crumbles to set on the floor with light spot on him: ‘ he looked like my father’
Weeping while holding his head by both of his hands. The girl enters, and sees him, she nears, caresses the hair on his head, gently and motherly…
The sniper, continues to talk to himself: ‘when my father passed away, I was 10 years old’
The girl: ‘we are all going to pass away, it’s the mean that only differs’
The sniper, raises sight to her: ‘come to my help, I do not want to cause the death of any one’
The girl: ‘make a decision yourself’
The sniper kicks away his rifle: ‘do you know, what is the human being?’
The girl: ‘Its, where the thing and its very paradox combine, in the same body’
The sniper:’ you mean, the angel and the demon, together?’
The girl: ‘Good and evil, mercy and cruelty, mind and instincts, love and hate, mercy and kill,all in one’
The sniper: ‘and all, inside of us? How miserable!’
The girl: ‘we are the lineage of Cain’
The sniper: ‘ as if, I heard that name from my grandmother’
The light changes to blue, the third enters in the role of Abil
Scene 7
The girl, or sister: ‘your sibling, Abil, has come’
The sniper/ Cain: ‘what do you want?’
Abil: ‘our parents have passed away, only the three of us are left on earth’
The sniper: ‘I know that, what do you want?’
Abil: ‘our human race will go extinct, in case neither of us marries the only girl here’ pointing at his sister, who backs off shocked by surprise.
The sniper: ‘it wont go instinct, we are the masters of this earth, what do you want?’
Abil: ‘I.. I love her’
The sniper: ‘Great, and, do you love him?’
The girl:’ I love him, a brotherly love’
The sniper, laughing loudly: ‘& me?’
‘you are also my brother’
The sniper to Abil: ‘see? She does not love you”
Abil: ‘she did not say that’
‘indeed, she did’
The girl: ‘do not quarrel over me, we are all siblings’
Cain: ‘do you see that mountain?’
Abil: ‘the mount of Qasyion!’
The sniper: ‘whomever reaches its peak first, wins the girl’
Abil: ‘It is on’
The girl: ‘’I am not for betting between both of you; you are my brothers. I dream of a man who looks like my father, a man did not come yet’
Abil: ‘&, I dreamt of a woman who reassembles my mother, 7 no one does except you’
The sniper: you dream, while I spend my day hunting birds for you to eat?’
Abil: ‘its her right to dream, and its my right as well’
The sniper: ‘how kind hearted you are, brother! How lovely your dreams are, sister!’
The girl: ‘cut your sarcasm, you’ve chosen to hunt, he has chosen to plant, & I cook for you’
The sniper: ‘ok, then; let the race start’
The stand by the wooden edge, their backs to the audience. The girl whistles to mark the start. On the screen, video scenes of mountains shot from a plane; while they run to the summit in slow motion -by cut-light to look like they are climbing the summit- after some time, we hear the sound of their gasping.
The girl, as if a narrator in an old temple, & can wear a mask; as she stands under a spotlight facing the audience:’ once, Cain ahead by one step; and another, Abil is ahead by one step they have the same vigor, but their treats are not similar.
The sniper, while running:’ ok, give up Abil, I will give you all of this country’
Abil: ’I do not care about land, love is my only country’.
Cain: ‘give it a thought, brother! Who owns the middle east/ Cham, owns the gates of the world’
Abil: ‘I do not care about thrones’
The sniper, Cain: ‘I will give you my horse, my sword, my spear & my arch and arrow’
Abil: ‘I just want her heart’
They keep running, until reach the peak both of them gasping.
Abil setting on the couch, while Cain rests on its edge with his back to Abil.
The girl:’ they reached the peak, together! No one has won, and no one has fell’
Abil, pointing to the valley: ‘do you see God’s heaven, with its seven rivers’
The sniper, Cain: ‘I see Kalamoon, here God has left his pen and boards, so it become mountains, & here my heart would turn a rock’
The girl, ‘and suddenly, Cain lefts a rock and hit his brother’s on the head’
Abil, while getting the hit from the butt of the rifle: ‘ Ouch! Oh, brother! My only brother, no one has come before, and no one after’
The girl: ‘Cain did not hear the cry of his brother, and beat him until he died. The instinct of greed, the well to have all of land, women, water and fire, wheat and apple cedar to his own.
Cain, weeping in front of his brother’s corpse: ‘vultures will pick his flesh, & the jackals will howl, to tell them I killed him, I do not want them to know, I will hide his corpse in the woods’
He lefts Abil on his back, gets him down the theatre, a light spot on his back and Abil’s face, crosses through the audience on the way out of the hall… the girl goes on reading:
‘… and when Cain arrived, seen a craw digging a resting place for another craw, then puts sand on its dead body; Cain does same wise’
Music, the girl sets decrepit on the chair
The sniper, gets back to the theatre, through the audience; broken, stands in the hall, facing her balcony
The sniper: ‘I love you, girl’
The girl stands up: ‘Love! The thing we dream of but never seize’
The sniper: ‘after our very first dialogue, I loved you’
The girl: ‘Do you know what is the most beautiful of love? Like crystals’
The sniper: ‘I doubted I’d find love, until having met you’
The girl: ‘the most beautiful of love, is the impossible love’
She runs out of the house, the sniper gets up the theatre, the leader faces him on screen, The sniper gets mesmerized, his back to the audience.
The master: ‘ it seems, you need a reprogramming of your mind’
The sniper, raising his hand: ‘but…’
The master, shouting at him: ‘do not interrupt me!’ the sniper lowers his head, no one interrupts the leader while talking, listen!
First round of reprogramming: you burn all of these books- talking in a fatherly manner- next winter, you can use it for warmth..
Second round of reprogramming: ‘you kill the girl’ here, the sniper steps back..
Third round of reprogramming: I’d hear a 100 bullets shot out of your rifle’ the sniper steps back another step.
‘I love its music! I cannot get asleep without it’
The leader’s image freezes on screen, a pale lighting while the sniper advances through picking Boudler’s book, goes towards the house’s door, goes out to a light spot in the right corner of the theatre, turns to a hypothetical door nearby, knocks on it with the book’s butt.
The sniper, whispering: ‘girl, oh.. girl!’
The girl appears, as if just awoke from sleep: ‘what do you want?’
The sniper, pointing for her not to raise her voice: ‘ quickly back a pack bag, and go to the nearby wood;
The girl, whispering back: ‘I did not understand!’
The sniper: ‘they are going to kill us, you and me’
The girl:’ and, who ordered this’
The sniper, pointing at the screen: ‘him’
The girl: ‘the leader?’
The sniper: ‘yes, he ordered me to kill you’
The girl: ‘but, I am of his tribe’
The sniper: ‘& this si your composed fault! Come one, you have no time’
The sniper returns back to the house, the girl disappears in the back of the theatre with the light spot off, the sniper flips through Boudler’s book, and reads:
‘&, at last, the happy dead man!
In a fertile land, full of snails, I want to dig a deep hole myself, I can put my old bones in, and lay in oblivion, I despise wells and hate graves, I like to invite craws the more, to pick of all limbs of my dirty figure, of seeking a tear from people. Oh worms! Dark comrades that do not hear or see, here goes a free and happy dead coming to you, oh you wise indulged in the extravagancies of life!, daughters of filth, come on! Wander through my decrepit body with no regret. & tell me if forms of torture have not happened yet to this old figure.. empty of soul, dead between all the dead?
The sniper picks his rifle, sets on the chair, puts the gun on his forehead, stretches his hand and places on the trigger, music, lighting dims, then turns all off, the audience predict hearing a shot, & in the darkness, a point of laser appears on the sniper’s forehead, a shot rings! And then follows a period of silence, a spotlight from within the audience, sheds light on the face of a third actor in the custom of a professional sniper! Carrying his rifle, climbing the stairs up to the theatre, the screen lights with the face of the leader:
The third actor, the other sniper: ‘its done, master!’
The leader: ‘do not forget the girl’
The other sniper: ‘you bet!’
The leader: ‘and the books’
The other sniper:’ for sure’
The leader: ‘I wil reward you, now, continue doing your job;
The other sniper: ‘Thank you, master!’
The leader disappears from screen. The other sniper sheds his light on the corpse of the first sniper, he hits it with his khaki shoes, picks his rifle on his shoulder, and notices Boudler’s bok of poems, and reads:
‘there is one, the ugliest, meanest, and most filthy, ready to turn the whole earth into rubble’
The other sniper laughs, & dim lighting goes back to theatre, and he heads to one of the windows, mounts his rifle on the edge of one of the windows, the sound of successive shots in a mundane and regularly pattern. The girl appears in the far corner of the house, carrying a back bag. As soon as she appears, a laser dot points at he forehead. The girl bends as if trying to avoid it, while getting down the theatre and through the audience, between the rows.
The leader appears on the screen again: ‘you let her run! You’ll see! I am going to punish you’
The leader points over with his hand, ordering: ‘set the house on fire! Keep looking for the girl, alive, or preferably, dead’ then, points to the audience: ‘whoever comes to her aid, will receive punishment’, then lights a match, and raises it, the screen fills with images of huge fires while all lights in the hall go off, sounds of bullets, sirens, shelling and bombing, the girl appears from between the audience, carrying a candle, and gets back on the theatre:’ the show has come to an end, but wars have not, yet!’
She holds the hand of the sniper, they go the other sniper and go all to the front of the theatre, they wave to the audience, behind then the leader appears on the screen clapping as well.
Bizansone, 2018 B.C. FREEDOM
