The Nowhere Complex

The second of the two rediscovery pieces. This one is more existential in its ways. Enjoy.

The Nowhere Complex

by

Trystin S. Bailey

 

CHARACTERS

Zen

Durango

Dead Tom/Mr. Sting

Lady Vesuvius

Mr. Vulture

Ms. Web

Mr. Claw

Mr. Slither

Mr. Sap

 

SCENE I

 

No set. Only a gloomy open area that disappears to darkness upstage. ZEN walks in, searching for something.

 

Zen: Where am I? What is this place? Why am I here? Why can’t I be in some other place completely different from this one? Or slightly different, in the very least? These are the questions I require an answer to. I'm not the sort of person who can just end up in a strange place after searching all night for something entirely unlike the one I find myself inside. I need to know where I am and when I am and how I am because those queries are the only true gateway to figuring out why I am. I've been patient so far. More patient than most would be in this peculiar situation. (pause) Who am I talking to?

 

Durango: (enters, leaping and shouting, blasting popguns left and right) YEEEEEHAAAA!!! Blam! Blam! Blam! Take that, hombres! Woo wee! (points both of his guns at Zen's forehead) Who are you?

 

Zen: Who are any of us?

 

Durango: I mean your name, boy. What's your name?

 

Zen: I'm Zen.

 

Durango: Strange name, Zen. I'm Durango, the last cowboy, an endangered species on the verge of extinction. (pause) Where do you come from?

 

Zen: I was born in town. I spent my entire life in town. And then I felt like it was time to leave and here I am. You?

 

Durango: Don't remember.

 

Zen: How can a person not remember where they came from?

 

Durango: It's real easy. All a matter of living in the present. Nothing but now.

 

Zen: Then where are you headed?

 

Durango: Don't know. Don't care. Why worry about the future when it ain't never gonna come? Anywhere I go is where I'm meant to be, the way I figger it. I'm the last cowboy, a precious commodity. I'm needed now more than ever. Hungry?

 

Zen: A little.

 

Durango: (pulls a small bag out of his pocket) Jerky?

 

Zen: Sure. (takes it)

 

Durango: I made it myself. Good, ain't it? Only a real cowboy can make real jerky and I'm the only one qualified. Thirsty?

 

Zen: Mm hm.

 

Durango: (hands Zen a canteen) Take a swig of this.

 

Zen: (drinks and spits it out) Gah! What is this?

 

Durango: Whiskey. A real man's thirstquencher.

 

Zen: (gives canteen back) Thank you anyway.

 

Durango: Sure thing. (thinks) Okay. Well, I'm off.

 

Zen: Wait! Before you go...could you tell me where we are?

 

Durango: What kind of a question- We're here, boy. Where else could we be?

 

Zen: No, what I meant was does this place have a name?

 

Durango: You types and your always asking for a name.

 

Zen: My type.

 

Durango: Yea. The bulk of the whole danged human race! Always slapping names and numbers and equations and philosophies on everything instead of just taking it for what it is. This place here is what it is with or without a name. Just like you and me would be just who we are if I wasn't Durango and you weren't Zen.

 

Zen: Names and numbers and philosophies and God are necessary to understand the life's deeper meanings. We're lost without them. We're not complete and anyone who thinks otherwise is blind.

 

Durango: It really burns me up that your types are the types that rule the world. Take this place we are here and now. Probably all fog to you. Give it a name and a definition and dig up a hundred scholarly reports on the subject over the past centuries and its still fog. Learn the name of the place your in and your still lost. Learn the name of the place you came from and you're not going to recognize it any more or less than you did before.

 

Zen: But if you happen to find yourself in a strange place knowledge of where you've been are paramount to getting you back to where you want to be.

 

Durango: What I don't understand is why everybody's always trying to go backward instead of forward. Always looking for old names instead of new ones. Or any names at all. A place without a name is still a place. (directly to Zen) If you're nothing without a name, slapping one on ain't gonna change a damn thing. (tips his hat) Good evening to ya. (exits) Blam! Blam! YEEEEEHAAAA! Blam!

 

Zen: Where am I? What am I? Why am I? I am Zen. That's all I know and not very much more. Without my name would I be nothing? No. I am something. I'm here. I exist. I have arms and legs and hands and feet and a beating heart and breathing lungs and thoughts. I'm alive.

 

Dead Tom: (coughs from offstage. Stumbles on, drunk) Living and existing. Two different things, kid.

 

Zen: (a bit startled) Who are you?

 

Dead Tom: The name's Dead Tom. I don't know many things but I know I died a long time ago.

 

Zen: That's impossible. You're standing right here. You're talking to me and I can hear you perfectly.

 

Dead Tom: Stupid boy. (examines Zen for a long time) You remind me of someone I knew once upon a time. Wish you didn’t but you do. (exits)

 

Zen: This is a strange place. I would like very much to put it behind me. (There is an agonizing shriek heard form offstage) What on earth...? (MR. VULTURE, a well-dressed lean man, enters whistling loudly, holding a dead Dead Tom by the neck and dropping him on the ground in front of Zen) Oh! Oh my God!

 

Mr. Vulture: Oh no. You must have me mistaken for someone else. I am Monsieur Vautour. Mister Vulture. Pleased to meet you.

 

Zen: You-you killed him.

 

Mr. Vulture: I- What's that you say? I have never been so offended in my entire life. Me? A murderer. Indeed!

 

Zen: (gesturing toward Dead Tom) Then what do you call this?

 

Mr. Vulture: Oh? (laughs) Oh! I understand completely. Oftentimes those not fully fledged have great difficulty in deciphering the living from the dead.

 

Zen: He was alive! I spoke to him not one minute ago.

 

Mr. Vulture: Sorry to disappoint you, but there are no murders here. I am Mr. Vulture. I prey on the dead not the living and he reeked with the stench of the deceased. I merely feed upon those who have died long before I found them. He had no purpose, no meaning, no effect on the world whatsoever and no desire to become more than what he was, thus dead. My task is an unfortunate one , but entirely necessary for the prosperity of all that will be.

 

Zen: And what is he now?

 

Mr. Vulture: No different than he was a minute ago. Only now there is more space, more air for the living. (Mr. Vulture focuses intently on Zen) He died so that others might live. (pause) What is your name, child?

 

Zen: I'm Zen.

 

Mr. Vulture: Right. What are you doing out and about at this time of night?

 

Zen: I'm lost.

 

Mr. Vulture: Where is your destination?

 

Zen: I’m looking for…Paradise.

 

Mr. Vulture: (displeased) Paradise. Oh my.

 

Zen: I must know who I am.

 

Mr.Vulture: (examining Zen) Hm. I thought I sensed something. A lack of self. Meaning. Purpose. You're decaying. Dying before my eyes. Unless you reach Paradise and find the answers you seek you can be certain we will meet again. Except that time I will be forced fulfill my purpose and make certain you suffer the same fate as this worthless corpse before you. (lifts Dead Tom over his shoulder) I shall bid you, adieu. Feeding time approaches. Breakfast isn't too far away. (exits, whistling)

 

Zen: (sits and sighs) Where am I? Who am I? Why am I?

 

MR. SAP, MR. SLITHER, MR. CLAW, AND MS. WEB approach from the darkness upstage.

 

Mr. Sap: Who?

 

Mr. Slither: What?

 

Ms. Web: When?

 

Mr. Claw: Where?

 

Mr. Sap, Slither, Claw, and Ms. Web: Why?

 

Mr. Sap: Who are we? We are The Purpose. We drive souls to salvation.

 

Mr. Claw: Names.

 

Mr. Sap: Mr. Sap.

 

Mr. Slither: Mr. Slither.

 

Ms. Web: Ms. Web.

 

Mr. Claw: Mr. Claw. Now what.

 

Mr. Sap, Slither, Claw, and Ms. Web: What.

 

Mr. Slither: We are the people. Normal human people with normal human drives and motives and origins, given the free will to design our own destinies by our omnicient God. What we do is offer destinies to those in need of one. Our work is a generous business.

 

Mr. Claw: Now when.

 

Mr. Sap, Slither, Claw, and Ms. Web: When?

 

Ms. Web: We have performed our task since the beginning of time, since humanity was first in need of guidance we were there to offer it to them.

 

Mr. Claw: Now where.

 

Mr. Sap, Slither, Claw, and Ms. Web: Where?

 

Mr. Claw: This is Nowhere. It is a place all of humanity passes through at least one point in their lives. It is a land where choices will be made that effect the rest of one's entire life and the lives of all they touch. Take not Nowhere lightly. Here, in this dark nothingness, you will either find the answers you seek or yours is a much darker fate. (to Zen directly) So, Zen, we offer our guidance to you. Do you accept?

 

Durango: (offstage) Blam! Blam! Blam! Blam! (at each of the “blams” one of the Mr.'s lowers their head and falls dormant. Once all four are this way they exit, backing away into the shadows. Durango emerges) And stay out, ya good fer nothin' varmints! Hm!

 

Zen: What did you do that for?!

 

Durango: What did I- ?! Boy, I just saved your life!

 

Zen: I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself and for your information my life was not threatened by those people. They were offering me a way out.

 

Durango: Someone else’s way ain't never the right one, boy. Take it from me. (sit. He pulls a small carving knife out of his pocket and a piece of wood out of another and starts carving) Hungry?

 

Zen: No, thank you. Where are you from?

 

Durango: Right here. Anywhere. It’s all the same.

 

Zen: And you’re content?

 

Durango: Entirely. BLAM! BLAM!

 

Zen: But this is Nowhere! There’s nothing!

 

Durango: Only if nothin’ is all you’re capable of seein’. And, believe you me, clearin’ the fog oughta be your first priority right now.

 

Zen: Why clear the fog when you can just walk away from it?

 

Durango: Can’t walk away when you’re creatin’ it yourself.

 

Zen: I don’t follow.

 

Durango: Well, stop trying so hard to figure it out and you’ll get it.

 

Zen: Do you believe in God?

 

Durango: God?

 

Zen: He created us all in His image and likeness and, if we live according to His Law, we will know Paradise.

 

Durango: I ain’t never met this God of yours, but I had plenty of run-in’s with Life. Taught me a lot of things, Life did. Owe it my life in fact. Taught me that cowboyin’s the only way to be. The open range. Fendin’ fer yerself. Just me n’ the great outdoors. Prettiest sunsets you’ll ever know. Now that’s Life. And I reckon I try to live in its image n’ likeness.

 

Zen: I don’t think you understand-

 

Durango: Sh. (pointing out over the audience) Look. Now ain’t that the prettiest durn sunset you ever seen? Lookit all them colors up there. Reds n’ purples n’ oranges n’ blues dancin’ in the sky in perfect harmony. Like lookin’ at a song.

 

Zen: (trying hard to see) I don’t see anything, but fog. Endless fog.

 

Durango: Oh. I see… (melancholic) Well, I like you kid, I do, but I gotta get going. Have to, um…talk to a man about a horse. (exit)

 

Zen: (gets down on his knees. He is under a spotlight, all else is black) God, it’s me, Zen. (as he speaks Mr. Vulture lurks behind him in the shadows, crossing the stage and exiting on the other side). I need you now more than I ever have before. I’m lost more than I’ve ever been before. The town I’m from seems so far away. And there’s no going back. I must push onward, but I fear I cannot without Your guidance. Show me the way, my Lord. My Father. My salvation. Give me the keys to Paradise.

 

Lights go out. Whimpering is heard which grows loud crying. Lights go up revealing Lady Vesuvius, a woman in tattered and dirty clothing that was once a fairy tale princess costume.

 

Zen: (shocked at Vesuvus’ sudden appearance) Where did you come from?

 

Vesuvius: (dreamily) I come from Paradise.

 

Zen: (excited) What’s that?

 

Vesuvius: That’s right, child. I’ve seen it. Tasted its honeyed air; tread upon its soft, soothing ground.

 

Zen: What is it like?

 

Vesuvius: More wonderful than you could possibly imagine. The sky is always clear. Birds sing the most beautiful songs you’ll ever know. You’re never hungry or thirsty or tired or ill. There is only peace and beauty and hope and… (wavering) love.

 

Zen: It’s everything I imagined it to be. At last, I’ve found someone who can help me. (to the heavens) Thank you. (to Vesuvius) Can you take me there?

 

Vesuvius: Oh no.

 

Zen: What? (annoyed) Why not?

 

Vesuvius: Because it is not my place to do such things. And even if it were I could not, for I have been thrust from its proverbial golden gates and found myself in this strange land. I can practically taste my own death in the air.

 

Zen: (whispers) Vulture.

 

Vesuvius: (withering) It is truly a wonder how one’s life can soar to the farthest extremities of joy and suddenly, with no warning at all, drop into the darkest depths of the soul’s abyss. Paradise is more than you could ever imagine, my child. Your wildest dreams all pale in comparison. But, heed my warning, boy. As quick as Paradise unveils itself to you it can be taken away. Look at me! I had everything a person could ask for. I was loved…So loved. And then… And then…gone. Just…like…that. I’ve never endured such unimaginable woe…

 

Zen: (whistling can be heard from offstage) No. Lady- Lady Vesuvius. We have to go.

 

Vesuvius: What’s the point? There’s no place to go. Nothing better than where I’ve been.

 

Zen: (the whistling grows louder) If you stay here any longer you’ll die!

 

Vesuvius: Oh, my dear sweet innocent child. Don’t you see? I’m already dead. (Mr. Vulture appears placing his hand on Lady Vesuvius’ head). The songs the birds sang in Paradise. It was like listening to the sunset. (She falls gracefully dead. Vulture drags her away, his eyes fixed on Zen, whistling as he exits)

 

Zen: What sort of maddening place is this? Why is nothing like I imagined it would be? When will I see Paradise? Where does it lie? Who will come to my rescue?

 

Mr. Sap, Mr. Slither, Ms. Web, and Mr. Claw emerge from the shadows once again. There is more fire, more conviction in their tones than before

 

Mr. Slither: What?

 

Mr. Sap: Why?

 

Ms. Web: When?

 

Mr. Claw: Where?

 

Mr. Slither, Mr. Sap, Ms. Web, Mr. Claw: Who?

 

Mr. Claw: First what. Mr. Slither.

 

Mr. Slither: What sort of maddening place is this? Answer: The sort of maddening place that can consume you if you travel its path alone.

 

Mr. Claw: Why. Mr. Sap.

 

Mr. Sap: Why is nothing like I imagined it would be? Answer: Because nothing ever is, you fool. You spineless, floundering, weak, festering-

 

Mr. Claw: Mr. Sap!

 

Mr. Sap: The human imagination is a worthless tool utilized by those unfortunate enough to be imprisoned in the hypocrisy of their own subconscious. Relying on it in any way, shape, or form will result in your undoing. You’re lucky we arrived when we did, boy.

 

Mr. Claw: Where. (pause) Where does it lie? Answer: Within our ancient minds, young Zen, exist all the answers you seek.

 

Mr. Sap, Mr. Slither, Ms. Web, and Mr. Claw: And who? Who will come to my rescue? Answer: The Purpose. We are your salvation. We are your god.

 

Zen: My…God?

 

Mr. Sap, Mr. Slither, Ms. Web, and Mr. Claw: Your prayers have been answered.

 

Zen: My…God.

 

Mr. Claw: Mr. Sap.

 

Mr. Sap: Yes. (he approaches Zen and punches him in the stomach) Idiot. Vile pungent fool. (punches him again) Worthless urchin. (punches him again, this time knocking him to the ground) You thought you could live without us? (kicks him) No one can. (kicks him again) We are…

 

Mr. Sap, Mr. Slither, Ms. Web, and Mr. Claw: …The Purpose. We are your one true guide. There are none besides us.

 

Zen: Please…stop…

 

Mr. Claw: Mr. Slither.

 

Mr. Slither: Yes. (he approaches Zen, kneeling beside him, holding him tightly in his arms. Mr. Slither’s voice is comforting) Zen, child. Calm yourself. Everything will be fine once you surrender yourself to us. Paradise is so close now. Can you taste it in the air?

 

Zen: Please…

 

Mr. Slither: So sweet…

 

Zen: Paradise…

 

Mr. Slither: Do you want it?

 

Zen: Yes…

 

Mr. Slither: Do you crave it?

 

Zen: Paradise…

 

Mr. Slither: Can you live without it?

 

Zen: Can’t live without it…

 

Mr. Slither: Good.

 

Mr. Claw: Ms. Web.

 

Ms. Web: Yes. (approaches Zen, still in Slither’s arms. She reaches her hands out to him) Take my hands. (Zen tries to reach) Come on. You can do it. (He tries harder, reaching slightly farther) That’s it. A little further now. (Zen, obviously straining himself, reaches closer) Have faith. (Zen grasps hands with Ms. Web, leaping from Slither’s arms to his feet) Gotcha.

 

Mr. Claw: Yes.

 

Mr. Sap, Mr. Slither, Ms. Web line up. Mr. Claw removes a clawed glove from his jacket pocket and puts it on. He raises his clawed hand over Zen’s head. Mr. Vulture enters preceded by whistling, standing at a distance from the others. The lights go down. Silence.

 

SCENE II

 

The setting is a very simplistic but stylistically beautiful interpretation of the open West during dusk. There are two tall cacti and a rock upon which Durango sits, roasting meat on a fire before him. The fire does not have to be real, but it must give off light.

 

Durango: (to the audience) This is the Life, huh? The great outdoors stretchin’ out in all directions. Not a worry in the world. This is my Paradise. T’ain’t much to look at at first glance, I know, but it’s all I need. Me n’ the ol’ West. Freedom ain’t never been so pure. So right. Blam! Blam! Wooee! (calms himself) Dinner’s almost done. Smells like heaven. I’ll eat it up, savorin’ every bite. Won’t waste a bit, no sir. It’s all mine. (coyote howls in the distance) All mine, I said! Ain’t a’ gonna be a scrap left for you! Mangy mutts. Not a scrap. (sits in silence, cooking his meal) The old West. Nothin’ like it in the world. Freedom ain’t never been so pure. So right. Just me n’ my Paradise. (pause) Now ain’t that the prettiest durn sunset you ever seen? Lookit all them colors up there. Reds n’ purples n’ oranges n’ blues dancin’ in the sky in perfect harmony. (teary-eyed) Like lookin’ at a song. (the lights start to go down, as if closing him in from all sides) What in the-? What the devil’s goin’ on here? What’s happenin’ to my sunset? S’getting’ all dark n’ cold n’- (to the heavens, laughing darkly) Think you can just roll in here n’ snatch what I claimed as my own from right under me, do ya? Do ya?! Well, believe you me, I ain’t gonna make it easy fer ya. I’m Durango, the last cowboy, damnit! An endangered species! You need me! This whole world needs me! (the lights are down everywhere except from the fire) BLAM! BLAM! BLAM! You can’t do this to me! It’s not fair! None o’ this is fair! (lights out)

 

SCENE III

 

The same gloomy area from before, but even darker, with rumbling thunder and blinding lightning raging in the background. Zen emerges from the darkness upstage, confused as to his whereabouts)

 

Zen: Where am I? What is this place? Why am I here? Why not some other place completely different from this one? Or slightly different? These are the questions I require an answer to. (Dead Tom and Lady Vesuvius emerge on either side of Zen) Dead Tom. Lady Vesuvius.

 

Dead Tom: Hey there.

 

Vesuvius: Greetings, my child.

 

Zen: I don’t understand. I watched the both of you die.

 

Vesuvius: And failed to save us.

 

Dead Tom: Way to go, kid.

 

Zen: How could I save you when I cannot save myself?

 

Dead Tom: Questions like that don’t account for much no more, kid. Not for people like us.

 

Zen: People like… (realizes) Am I dead?

 

Dead Tom: Afraid so. Happens to the best of us.

 

Zen: But I barely had the chance to live.

 

Dead Tom: Happens.

 

Zen: (angry) It’s not fair. I wasn’t even given enough time to try.

 

Dead Tom: No one’s fault but your own.

 

Lady Vesuvius: I’m so very alone…

 

Dead Tom: You’re one of us now. For eternity.

 

Zen: No. No I am nothing like you. You’re an old man who wasted so much of your life feeling sorry for yourself that you never gave yourself to opportunity to feel much else. (to Vesuvius) And you. You wrapped yourself so tightly to someone else that you lost who you were. The both of you are the products of suicide. I was murdered.

 

Vesuvius: So alone…

 

Dead Tom: Mr. Vulture’s never murdered a man in his life.

 

Zen: Bullshit! I was murdered before my time! I demand life!

 

Dead Tom: No one can hear you…

 

Zen: Silence, old man!

 

Vesuvius: Like the sunset…

 

Zen: Both of you, shut up! (to the heavens. Dead Tom and Vesuvius look up as well) God, it’s me, Zen, and I demand you release me from this Hell this instant! (the thunder roars ever louder) Do you hear me?! This instant! After all the years I’ve served you, trying with all my might to avoid sin and temptation and corruption and… I deserve to be saved! You owe me, God! For all I’ve done for you! You owe me, goddamnit! (the storm gets worse than before. The wind picks up)

 

Dead Tom: Nobody can hear the dead, kid.

 

Vesuvius: The storm is so alive…I remember being alive…

 

Zen: This is ridiculous. If I can’t rely on anybody for help I’ll just have to find it myself! (the storm dies down) Alone. (A bright light shines from above) Because only I am capable of finding my Paradise. (Zen raises his arms to the sky as Dead Tom and Vesuvius shiver in their imaginary storm) I can see it. The sunrise. Like a song.

 

Dead Tom: You’re talking crazy. There’s nothin’ but stormy skies as far as the eye can see.

 

Vesuvius: So alive…

 

Zen: I can see it. Paradise.

 

Dead Tom: There’s nothing there.

 

Zen: Of course there is. It’s everywhere.

 

Vesuvius: Paradise. How do we achieve it…?

 

Zen: I…(Mr. Sap, Mr. Slither, Ms. Web, and Mr. Claw enter from one side) I… (Mr. Vulture appears from the other) It’s not my place to say. (Mr. Sap, Mr. Slither, Ms. Web, Mr. Claw, and Mr. Vulture exit)

 

Dead Tom: (furious) Then off with you, ya worthless bum! Get out o’ here! Filthy runt!

 

Zen: (starts to exit) May you find Paradise, too. (exits. Lights go down)

 

SCENE IV

 

 

The same scene as the first. Endless gloom and shadow.

 

Durango: (enters, exhausted and worn) Blam. Blam. Yee ha. It couldn’t last forever. I should’ve known it couldn’t last forever. Blam. (whistling can be heard offstage) Oh no. No. No. No. Not now. (he cringes in fear. Mr. Vulture enters)

 

Mr. Vulture: It was but a matter of time until we would meet.

 

Durango: No…

 

Mr. Vulture: When one embraces nothing, nothing shall be their reward.

 

Durango: Don’t…

 

Mr. Vulture: How quickly you humans can trick even yourselves into believing in a Paradise that cannot be.

 

Durango: But the sunset…

 

Mr. Vulture: Oh, naïve human. The sun never sets in Paradise. I have savored this moment for some time.

 

Durango: Zen…

 

Mr. Vulture: The boy is free. The dead breathe life to the living. The Laws remain unchanged.

 

Durango: I reckon I played my part then…

 

Mr. Vulture: The boy will go on to do great things.

 

Durango: And me?

 

Mr. Vulture: I am afraid that an existence such as yours comes at a price that only you are-

 

Vesuvius: (emerges like a shade from the darkness, whispering) Durango…

 

Durango: Vesuvius… What’re you doin’ in a place like this?

 

Vesuvius: Searching for you, my dearest. I’ve missed you so. I love you so much and you left so swiftly that I never had the chance to say goodbye. But we’re together now, my love. Paradise can be ours once again.

 

Durango: Vesuvius… (he stops himself) How’s our boy?

 

Vesuvius: Oh, he’s wonderful, but the weather was oh so very unbearable today. A storm of anguish and suffering plagued our very home. A child his age should never have to endure such things…so I put him to bed a little early this night. He tried to fight it you see- that his father in him, I suppose –but mother always knows best. (giggles eerily) He’s in Paradise now.

 

Durango: (steps back) Who are you? What have you done? When did you do it? Where is he? Why is this happening?

 

Mr. Sap, Mr. Slither, Ms. Web, Mr. Claw, and Mr. Sting emerge from the darkness just enough for the audience to see their silhouettes and no more. Mr. Vulture

 

Mr. Sap, Mr. Slither, Ms. Web, Mr. Claw, and Mr. Sting: Who. Mr. Sap.

 

Mr. Sap: (steps forward so that he is standing between Durango and Vesuvius) Who are you?

 

Vesuvius: (to Durango) I am your beloved Lady Vesuvius, dear. Surely you remember me and the most wonderful moments we’ve shared over the years.

 

Mr. Sap, Mr. Slither, Ms. Web, Mr. Claw, and Mr. Sting: What. Mr. Slither.

 

Mr. Slither: (takes Mr. Sap’s place) What have you done?

 

Vesuvius: Nothing any good mother wouldn’t do for her child. We were so lost without you. No one deserves to live in such endless grief. I’ve always put my loved ones before myself...

 

Durango: You sick son of a…

 

Mr. Sap, Mr. Slither, Ms. Web, Mr. Claw, and Mr. Sting: When. Ms. Web.

 

Ms. Web: (takes Mr. Slither’s place) When did you do it?

 

Vesuvius: Not very long ago, my one and only. It hasn’t been three hours in fact. (darkly) On the two month anniversary of your abandonment.

 

Mr. Sap, Mr. Slither, Ms. Web, Mr. Claw, and Mr. Sting: Where. Mr. Claw.

 

Mr. Claw: (takes Ms. Web’s place) Where is he?

 

Vesuvius: Lying peacefully in bed, of course.

 

Mr. Sap, Mr. Slither, Ms. Web, Mr. Claw, and Mr. Sting: Why. Mr. Sting.

 

Mr. Sting takes Mr. Claw’s place

 

Durango: (to Mr. Sting) Haven’t I seen you somewhere before?

 

Mr. Sting: ‘Fraid not. (pause) Why is this happening?

 

Vesuvius: Why, Durango? Why? (with growing fury) It’s all because of you. You. (as she says her “yous” Durango collapses slowly to the ground) You. You. You. You! You! You! YOU!

 

Durango: Stop…please…

 

Vesuvius: Why did you leave?

 

Mr. Sap, Mr. Slither, Ms. Web, Mr. Claw, and Mr. Sting: Why!

 

Durango: I just…I needed…It wasn’t…Please…stop…

 

Mr. Sap, Mr. Slither, Ms. Web, Mr. Claw, and Mr. Sting: Why. Why. Why! WHY!

 

Zen runs into the center of everything and everyone freezes.

 

Zen: (to Mr. Sap, Mr. Slither, Ms. Web, Mr. Claw, Mr. Sting, and Mr. Vulture) Go! Get away from here, all of you! Get out! Go! (he shoos them all away. Mr. Sting is the last to go) (to Durango) What’s going on here?

 

Durango: Ain’t none of your concern now, boy. Get out while ya can. You found Paradise now hold on to it. Never let go.

 

Zen: It’s never too late.

 

Durango: All this was fer you, Zen. Don’t go n’ let it all be in vain.

 

Zen: (reaching to Durango) You’re coming with me. (Grabs him by the hand)

 

Vesuvius: I won’t lose you again. (she grabs his other hand and she and Zen play tug of war with Durango. Mr. Vulture joins Vesuvius. Mr. Sap, Mr. Slither, Mrs. Web, Mr. Claw, and Mr. Sting join Mr. Vulture. Zen holds his own against the seven of them)

 

Zen: Release him! He deserves freedom. All men do! (he pulls Durango to himself and the rest fall on the ground around them)

 

Durango: (pulls away from Zen) Freedom? Ain’t no such thing. I reckon a while back, b’fore any of us was ever the gleam in creation’s eye, a man first figured he’d be free. From what? It don’t matter. Point is, he gave freedom a go only to find out that to escape one set of Laws you always gotta bind yerself to another. And here we are, millions o’ years later, thinkin’ we can find somethin’ that just plain don’t exist. To be Man is to be a slave; a slave to God or Man or their own criss-crossed emotions. The more we go on searchin’ fer freedom the faster you’ll find death at your heels. Death of dreams n’ death of self. ‘Stead o’ wastin’ our lives cravin’ the imaginary we oughta be findin’ a set o’ Laws we ain’t driven away from. Our own personal purpose- not one thrust upon us. Our own private Paradise where we don’t live a life oppressed by our beliefs, but one where we’re strengthened by ‘em. (to Zen) You found it. And I will, too. (lifts Vesuvius to her feet) And you.

 

Mr. Sting: (jumps to his feet) Do you feel that? (Mr. Sap, Mr. Slither, Ms. Web, Mr. Claw, and Mr. Vulture jump to their feet)

 

Mr. Vulture: The alluring stench of the newly dying.

 

Mr. Claw: The hunt begins anew…

 

Mr. Sap, Mr. Slither, Ms. Web, Mr. Claw, Mr. Sting, and Mr. Vulture: It is neverending… (they exit)

 

Vesuvius: (bursts into tears, draping herself on Durango’s chest) What have I done?

 

Durango: Be still, my love. You have done nothing more than billions have been driven to do before by the malicious hand of Life. It puts us all in shackles…

 

Zen: …and bestows upon us the keys of liberation.

 

Vesuvius: What shall we do now?

 

Durango: The only thing we can…

 

Durango and Zen: We live.