The Bee & the Butterfly: Scene 6 & Ending**

Scene 6: Paradise, Evening, Near the Pedestal & Book of Life �"

Enter Abel, Stage Right; Enter Simon, Stage Left; Both Are Dressed

In Glittery Costumes; Simon Is Wearing an Over-Sized Golden Miter.

 

ABEL: (Acknowledging Simon)

 

I’m thinking maybe the reader didn’t get what just happened.

 

SIMON: (Acknowledging Abel)

 

Or maybe he got what happened,

But doesn’t know why it did.

 

ABEL:

 

Not everyone’s good with stuff like this.

 

(The players converge & embrace)

 

SIMON:

 

Truth is, even the guy who wrote this charming book

Is no Einstein; he just thinks about crazy things

In fact, when he was a kid, he tested out

A little below your basic average dude.

 

They even made him take a special class one summer,

And he still didn’t always get the gist of things in a story �"

Even when he was the guy who thought it up and wrote it!

 

Surprised? Well, sometimes the Gardener

Gets involved in the creative process �"

 

ABEL: (Paging through the Book of Life)

 

And there’s never been anyone who understands Her.

 

 

SIMON: (Gazing Approvingly at the Audience)

 

So, don’t get offended if we explain some things,

Even though you didn’t ask or anything.

 

But if you figure you’ve already got a handle on this,

You can skip ahead. We won’t take it personally.

We’re just doing what we were asked to do.

 

But I’m thinking that you should hear us out

Because we recently learned that we’re immortal,

And that should carry weight in a narrative like this.

 

Anyway, you might wonder why the poet

Didn’t have Myrina arrive in time to save Andre.

I mean, the poet passed up a golden opportunity

To close his play with a grand wedding and maybe

Some lines about the couple living out their love

Against a backdrop of beautiful floral images.

 

The trouble is, Paris wanted a happy ending,

And there really aren’t a lot of believable endings

Like that in an eat-or-be-eaten place like the Garden.

 

ABEL: (Admiring Simon’s Gold Hat)

 

Just too many flukes and fabricants de vers,

Not to mention a ton of other problems

Where love is concerned.

 

SIMON: (Nodding)

 

It’s all connected to what Andre said

About love being “our great faith” or whatnot,

Especially when you consider how similar love and faith are.

I mean, in life you get a little proof of love and a little proof of faith,

But not enough proof to make either of them satisfying to anyone.

 

Sadly, you get just enough proof to confuse you,

Maybe even make you feel stupid in some ways.

I mean, it’s difficult as hell to love and believe

When you’re in a place where those things

Are pretty much reserved for fairy tales

And randomly thoughtful cartoons.

In fact, I would have to say that

The conditions of the Garden

Work against those things.

 

Still, like the Gardener said, when those things do happen,

They “glorify” even her garden, which is astounding �"

 

ABEL:

 

Given that her garden is paradise

And probably doesn’t need a lot

Of additional glorifications.

 

SIMON:

 

Love is meant to endure the ravages of Earth,

But it cannot prosper in it because love is spirit.

 

It might help you understand things better

If I tell you another story from my days as a performer.

When we put on an important show, there was nothing

Better or more beautiful to us in the world: The planning,

The crazy costumes we’d wear, all the scenery making,

Rehearsals, and great interaction among the players,

Had only one gorgeous purpose in mind:

 

To please the audience.

 

Sure, to them, it was only a show,

Performed by a bunch of misfit fireflies,

But to us, it was everything that mattered.

 

I mean, even if we didn’t know it at the time,

The audience that we were trying to please

Was one already seated inside our heads.

 

And it was through the honest approval of that audience

That our show had meaning �" And our show had meaning

 

Because we were loved.

 

In fact, Abel used to say that the best time to call it quits

Would be after a show that really wowed an audience.

At the time, I didn’t get that. Now I do.

 

When the show is over, all the cheesy Garden stuff

Comes back into your mind, like you never did the show at all.

 

But in those sublime, preceding moments of reciprocal applause,

You know that wonderfully elevated sense of being in a place 

Where audience and player are the same beautiful thing.

 

ABEL:

 

Some call that being one with the universe!

 

SIMON:

 

All I know is, delivering a great performance

Gave me the best feeling I ever had.

 

That’s what a showman does -.

 

He puts on the show of his life; the audience loves him,

And the curtains close with the Gardener clapping her brains out!

 

(The Scene Fades as the Players Rise

And Glow Above the Ruins)

 

Scene 7: Near the Lake, a Sunny Day

The Daffodils Are Ensconced in Lounge Chairs,

Wearing Swimsuits, Sunglasses, & Large Summer Hats.

Petal’s Diary & Soft Drink Sit on a Cooler Between Them.

 

PETAL:

 

We’ve been so stoked lately

That we really don’t know

What to do with ourselves.

 

CHLOE:

 

Love stories like this can be profoundly moving,

And you just want to share them with others.

 

PETAL:

 

So, maybe you’d like to know what the upshot

Has been for the characters involved

In this fascinating melodrama.

We have forever to tell you

Because a daffodil’s life

 

Is less complicated after April.

 

CHLOE:

 

We’re still here on Ruins Hill, kind of,

But all the fantastic demonstrations of yellow

Are over until next spring. (Turning to Petal)

 

PETAL:

 

Almost all of us write diaries and try to keep up

On the stuff that’s happening in the off-season.

 

 

But mostly we just goof around,

Thinking about the miracle of cloning

And planning for the next pageant.

 

CHLOE:

 

It’s partly downtime and partly the rush

Of imagining things getting even better.

 

PETAL (Tapping on the Diary)

 

You want to know what happened to those lowlifes

Who kidnapped Myrina when she was a baby?

They didn’t just get put in jail you know.

 

They got sent to hell

 

Because they wouldn’t say, “Sorry,”

And the Gardener finally got fed up

With their totally bullshit attitude.

 

CHLOE:

 

Some creatures say the Gardener

Should be nice to everyone all the time.

 

PETAL:

 

But a good Gardener needs to be

A lot more than hugs and kisses.

 

Anyway, those thugs are doing hard-time

Before they get a second chance at nothingness.

 In fact, I found out through this mole friend of mine

That they’re working graveyard-shift for Beelzebub

As personal (and I guess willing) restroom attendants.

 

 

CHOLE: (Giggling)

 

You’ve got to believe that job really stinks!

 

PETAL:

 

But one of those guys, Bobby “Bingo” Casanova,

Said he was “definitely getting something positive”

Out of his time in hell, hobnobbing with the “big Guy”

Because he’s working with “super-righteous dudes”

Who seem to totally understand a bug like him.

 

CHLOE: (Looks Out Toward the Lake)

 

Bobby sounds like …

 

Well, maybe he’s just tripping.

 

PETAL:

 

At least on an existential level!

 

Anyway, the friend who told me this stuff

Is an internationally known whistleblower,

Part-time rabbi, and agent-provocateur,

And he’s going to demand the release

Of these special legal documents

Involving Bobby’s situation.

 

So, there’s a pretty good chance

We’ll be getting more information

About Mr. Casanova before too long.

 

Maybe you’re as interested in seeing those papers as I am,

Because centipedes that get condemned to eternal torment

Is an unusual occurrence, even in Paris Hlad’s crazy universe.

 

 

Do you remember Simon’s brother, Abel?

 

(Chloe Nods, As She Steals a Sip of Petal’s Soft Drink)

 

He retired from show business a while ago

And makes a living selling springtime memorabilia �"

 

He even teaches other insects how to do those cool tricks

He used to do with Simon when they were child acrobats.

 

He says he couldn’t be happier just telling his stories

About all the great performances they gave.

 

CHOLE:

 

Maybe he used to, but I’m pretty sure

He’s dead now and into other things.

 

PETAL: (She Gazes Quizzically at Chloe.)

 

Simon got some interesting news this summer!

Apparently, he was canonized by the poet

As St. Simon of the Ruins Hill Parish.

 

The Gardener placed a small statue of him

Near the entrance to the Garden^[1]

 

And told everybody that Simon

Should be respected for his knowledge

Of The Lightning in affairs of the heart.

 

 

Simon says, “It’s no big deal,” but he’s been wearing

A gigantic gold hat lately and walks around all the time

With his shiny hands piously folded in front of him.

 

CHOLE:

 

That makes everyone laugh like crazy.

 

PETAL:

 

Especially the Gardener.

She calls him “The Glow Saint,”

And that makes Simon laugh, too.

 

(Rising from Her Chair & Beginning to Put Up a Canopy)

 

Andre and Myrina have been

Making these awesome wreaths

And placing them all over the Garden.

 

CHLOE: (Rising, She Helps Petal with the Canopy.)

 

Some are red; some are yellow and red,

And some are white and yellow.

 

All of them smell unbelievably good,

And the roses that they’re made of

Are smiling and joking all the time.

 

PETAL:

 

Simon told us that every so often,

The Gardener tosses one of those wreaths

In the air like a spinning Frisbee, just to watch 

The roses fall where she figured they would.

 

 

 

Oddly, the roses seem really into this experience,

Which is pretty amazing, when you think about it!

But I guess it’s a major turn-on for the Gardener.

 

Sometimes these very jazzed confetti bees

Join in and buzz around the roses

 

As if they were �"

Well, roses with wings,

Forming their own wreaths,

So, they can be scattered, too.

 

CHLOE:

 

When that happens,

Everyone takes notice

 

And wants to see

The confetti bees

 

Get even more jazzed about things.

 

We’d love to see that sometime,

 

Wouldn’t you?

 

-----

 

As the Curtains Close,

The Daffodils Are Mesmerized

By the Sight of a Mockingbird,

Devouring an Earthworm

 

But Gaining Their Composure,

They Smile Affably & the Play Ends.

---

[1] Before Simon’s elevation, only Rose Immaculate and Paris’s mother enjoyed something like the status of a saint in the poet’s mind. Simon was active in Paris’s inner-world for several months and is remembered for having been prominent in the poet’s Garden adventures in Newburgh, as well as for a cameo appearance in one of the poet’s most disturbing dreams.