65. My Mother’s Eyes

From Wikimedia Commons

When we see the Earth from space, we see ourselves as a whole. We see the unity, and not the divisions. It is such a simple image with a compelling message: one planet, one human race.
– Stephen Hawking, Brief Answers to the Big Question, 2018.

Dream on.
– Aerosmith, 1973.

TIME AND PLACE

Present. A snug cabin in a yacht, barely rocking in the waters of San Francisco Bay.

CHARACTERS

MARK, early 30s.
BELLA, 20s, with her hair up.
ELLA, 20s. Ella and Bella are dressed identically.

SCENE

In the cabin are a bed, a wood stove, two chairs, and a table (on which rests a rotating dowel rod in a stand, to which are affixed a pair of theatre masks, back-to-back, like faces of Janus). If possible, a bear rug lies on the floor, in the mouth of which is concealed a roll of duct tape. Otherwise the duct tape is found on set in a place determined by the Director. Occasional moans of a buoy may be heard.

The door opens, and MARK and BELLA enter, wearing light coats.

MARK

Christmas in July!

BELLA

Unbelievable, isn’t it, Mark? For summertime.

MARK

Mark Twain weather in the Bay…. I’ll get a fire going.

MARK goes to the stove to start a fire while BELLA puts her handbag down on a chair and looks around the cabin.

MARK

Bella?

BELLA

Yes …?

MARK

Do you often think of your mother?

BELLA

Every day. Several times a day usually.

MARK

Actually?

BELLA

Each time I go to the bathroom. Remembering how she potty trained me.

MARK

Hell! I wasn’t thinking that.

BELLA

She used a potty with a blue plastic seat…. Why? What were you thinking?

MARK

About my mother. I always think about her like now….
[correcting himself]  Making a fire.

BELLA

Why?

MARK

Because of her eyes.

BELLA

Her eyes?

MARK

When she’d build a fire in the fireplace at home, I’d watch my mother’s eyes.
They were brown, with specks of gold which sparkled like tiger’s eyes in the flames.
I’ve never seen a woman’s eyes more beautiful than hers.
I think over and over about those eyes, and how they’d watch me.

BELLA

That’s sweet.

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