Photo by Pixabay from Pexels
We find that we live on an insignificant planet of a humdrum star lost in a galaxy tucked away in some forgotten corner of a universe in which there are far more galaxies than people.
– Carl Sagan
TIME and PLACE
Now.
A large, sturdy table with room enough for 10 chairs.
CHARACTERS
JUSTIN, 40’s. Scene 1.
MOLLY, 40’s, Justin’s wife. Scene 1.
MORGAN, late 60’s, Justin’s father. Scene 1.
PROFESSOR EISENHOWER, 50’s, female, an expert on radiometric age-dating of rocks, moons, and planets. Scenes 1 and 10.
SCENE 1
BLUE STONE
A blue stone, measuring approximately a foot and a half, by a foot, by nine inches is resting in the center of the table on a small cow hide.
JUSTIN, MOLLY, and MORGAN are seated at the table, eating and drinking.
MOLLY
When is she coming?
JUSTIN
When she gets here, Molly.
How many times do I have to say it?
MOLLY
But, Justin, what time did she tell you she’d be getting here?
JUSTIN
After her three o’clock lecture.
MOLLY
And you’re sure she can find us?
JUSTIN
She said she could
MOLLY
We’re not on GPS out here, you know.
JUSTIN
She’s a University professor, for Saint Christopher’s sake.
MOLLY
That doesn’t make her a pathfinder.
MORGAN
For the love of God, will you two hang it up?
She’ll get here when she gets here, or she won’t.
And nothing you can do will change that.
Your talking about it isn’t speeding the plow for her one minute.
MOLLY
Yes, Papa.
JUSTIN
[beat] What I’m going to tell her, Pa,
I’ve sort of been rehearsing,
is just the plain truth.
Because we don’t know anything more than that, do we?
Just that it came down four weeks ago in a crash we heard.
Molly and me.
Plumb out of the sky, at night,
and knocked down two of our trees.
Buried itself a couple of meters or so in the ground without a flash.
Without a speck of light at all.
Right?
MORGAN
I wasn’t here.
And why would you lie about a thing like that?
Except, you’ve lied about a barrel of things, haven’t you, Son?
Now and then.
JUSTIN
No, Pa, I haven’t.
Not when it gets me nothing I don’t.
I sure don’t.
MOLLY
[to MORGAN] Don’t look at me, Papa. I don’t lie.
MORGAN
And what’s it matter anyway?
It’s just a stone. A blue stone.