| SCENE ONE: HARVESTING |
| SOUND/BIZ: |
ALVA IS TRYING TO SETTLE HER DISTRESSED BABY. CONTINUES UNDER: |
| ALVA: |
Hush-sh-sh-sh! Hush-sh-sh-sh! |
| CLARICE: |
When are you leaving? |
| ALVA: |
As soon as John gets the papers in order. I didn't think fleeing to a free zone would need so much paperwork. Even rebels have their bureaucracy.. (BEAT) Hush-sh-sh-sh... I just want her to grow up and...I just want her to grow up. Is that too much to ask? |
| SOUND/BIZ: |
A KNOCK AT THE DOOR. |
| ALVA: |
(FEARFUL) Who's that?! |
| CLARICE: |
Relax. It's only Ian. I told him to come by 'round now. |
| ALVA: |
He's not doing the knock. Anyone who comes to see us knows the knock. You knocked the knock. Why isn't he doing it? |
| CLARICE: |
(OFF) I forgot to tell him about it. |
| SOUND/BIZ: |
CLARICE UNLOCKS THE DOOR. PAUL AND HIS PARTNER COME STORMING IN. CLARICE SHRIEKS AND SCREAMS. |
| ALVA: |
Who is it, Clarice? |
| PAUL: |
(UNDER) Bureau of Population Management. |
| SIMON: |
(APPROACHING) Over there. |
| ALVA: |
Don't touch her. Don't touch my baby!! |
| SOUND/BIZ: |
HORRIBLE SCREAMS FROM ALVA AND BABY ALIKE AS PAUL PRIES THE BABY OUT OF HER MOTHER'S ARMS. |
| ALVA: |
Give her back to me! Give her back!! |
| PAUL: |
You can register any complaints with the Bureau of Family Management. |
| CLARICE: |
She'll be dead by then! |
| ALVA: |
Give me back my baby! Give me back my baby! |
| SOUND/BIZ: |
MORE SCREAMS AS PAUL MAKES HIS WAY OUT OF THE APARTMENT WITH THE BABY. CROSS-FADES WITH: |
| NARRATOR: |
It's 2095. We're in the northeast capital of Canameribbea. |
SCENE TWO: DEIRDRE'S ROOM |
| SOUND: |
A YOUNG CHILD'S MUSIC BOX. CONTINUES UNDER: |
| SOUND/BIZ: |
A FATHER TICKLING HIS THREE-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER. THEY BOTH GIGGLE. |
| GIL: |
I see some toesies and I'm going to eat them! |
| SOUND/BIZ: |
MORE GIGGLING. |
| GIL: |
It's bedtime, captain. The sails are down and the water's calm. Do you hear me, captain? It's time for bed. |
| SOUND: |
DEIRDRE, THE LITTLE GIRL, CONTINUES TO GIGGLE. |
| GIL: |
No giggling, now. Those are the rules of the sea. No giggling until we reach land. |
| SOUND/BIZ: |
DEIRDRE BEGINS TO CALM DOWN AND DRIFT TO SLEEP. |
| GIL: |
We'll see you in the morning, captain. Now it's time to drift to sleep. |
| DEIRDRE: |
Goodnight, Daddy. |
| SOUND/BIZ: |
GIL BEGINS TO HUM ANOTHER LULLABY, WHICH HE ENDS WITH A KISS ON DEIRDRE'S FOREHEAD. |
| GIL: |
Sleep tight. Sleep well. Sleep until the sun comes up. |
| SOUND/BIZ: |
GIL PADS OUT OF DEIRDRE'S ROOM AND SOFTLY CLOSES THE DOOR BEHIND HIM. CROSS-FADES WITH: |
SCENE THREE: MARION AND GIL'S LIVING ROOM |
| SOUND/BIZ: |
MARION CLOSING FRONT DOOR BEHIND HER; THROWS KEYS DOWN ON TABLE. SHE MAKES HER WAY TO THE COUCH AND ALL BUT COLLAPSES INTO IT. |
| GIL: |
Hard day at the office? |
| MARION: |
If only I worked in an office. Where's Deirdre? |
| GIL: |
Falling asleep as we speak. (BEAT) The wrinklies have got you down, have they? |
| MARION: |
I wish you wouldn't call them that. |
| GIL: |
When I'm old and grey and wear polyester pants I won't mind being called a wrinkly. |
| MARION: |
Truth be told, I feel like a "wrinkly" before my time. |
| GIL: |
(OVER-THE-TOP GERMAN-SPEAKING PHYSICIAN) I have zee cure you need, Madam. |
| SOUND/BIZ: |
GIL GOES TO THE LIQUOR CABINET AND TAKES OUT A FEW BOTTLES. |
| GIL: |
Scotch? |
| MARION: |
No. |
| GIL: |
Gin? |
| MARION: |
No. |
| GIL: |
You're not well. |
| MARION: |
I'd love a drink, but I can't have one. (PAUSE) Not for another seven months or so. |
| | A LONG MOMENT OF SILENCE AS GIL ABSORBS THE NEWS. |
| GIL: |
(STUNNED) No. |
| MARION: |
Yes. |
| GIL: |
When? |
| MARION: |
I don't know exactly when. |
| GIL: |
When...When did you find out? |
| MARION: |
Today. I've suspected for a while. Didn't want to believe it, of course. It was getting to the point that I was denying my denials. I...I had to have a blood test. I was driving myself mad. And so I did. And so I got the results back today. (BEAT) And so we're pregnant. |
| | GIL IS STILL ABSORBING IT ALL. |
| MARION: |
Aren't you going to say anything? |
| GIL: |
What do you want me to say? |
| SOUND: |
THREE MUSICAL NOTES PIPED IN THROUGH THE GOVERNMENT-ISSUED SPEAKER FOUND IN EVERY HOME. THE THREE NOTES ALWAYS PRECEDE A GOVERNMENT MESSAGE. |
| P.A. MESSAGE: |
(FILTERED ) New recruits are needed for border patrol at Freezone Posts 9, 11 and 17. Remember: To Defend our Borders is To Defend Our Future. All interested individuals are asked to report to Bartholomew Hall tonight at 7:OO. |
| MARION: |
(PAUSE) These are meant to be happy occasions. Having a baby. |
| GIL: |
It was. With Deirdre. But we already have one. Two is... |
| MARION: |
Two is too many. |
| GIL: |
Two is illegal. The law says we - |
| MARION: |
I know the law! (BEAT) I'm sorry. |
| GIL: |
Have a drink. |
| MARION: |
I can't drink. |
| GIL: |
Of course you can. Look, I know all about alcohol and fetuses and...It's not like you're going to carry it for the next seven months. |
| | MARION DOESN'T REPLY. |
| | Marion? |
| MARION: |
(PAUSE) I'm not going to a KinderKlinic. |
| GIL: |
You're feeling hormonal. I understand. |
| MARION: |
Don't talk to me that way. |
| GIL: |
I'm sorry. You're not feeling hormonal. I am. |
| MARION: |
Have a drink. |
| GIL: |
I will. |
| SOUND/BIZ: |
GIL POURS HIMSELF A DRINK. |
| GIL: |
I wouldn't let you go to the KinderKlinic alone. |
| MARION: |
Because of all the Christian Crusaders? You're worried I might get bashed by one of their placards, is that it? Impaled by a self-righteous picket? |
| GIL: |
What I meant is that I'll be there with you. For you. |
| MARION: |
Holding my hand. Wiping my brow. |
| GIL: |
Yes. Doing whatever else I have to do. To help ease the, the... |
| MARION: |
Abortion. That's what it's called. |
| GIL: |
Not officially. |
| MARION: |
Oh, sorry. A PCP. "Population Control Procedure." Happy now? |
| GIL: |
What's the alternative? Rotting in a jail cell because we were caught with a second child? |
| MARION: |
Who says we'll get caught? |
| GIL: |
Marion, sweetheart. Please. You're not being reasonab - |
| MARION: |
We don't have to go into hiding. (BEAT) We can apply to be relocated. |
| GIL: |
What exactly do you think relocation means? Raising our two children on a farm in the country by a babbling brook? |
| MARION: |
I know what relocation means. |
| GIL: |
Obviously you don't, because I am not about to sign up for a slow death on a few acres of land that doesn't yield so much as a weed. |
| MARION: |
Oh, what the hell.. |
| GIL: |
What the hell do we know about subsistence farming, about surviving like some grub-eating peasant? No thank you. No. You're...You're not thinking clearly. |
| MARION: |
I want to keep it. |
| GIL: |
In a perfect world, so would I. But the world we live in is far from perfect. We...We have a civic duty. |
| MARION: |
For God's sake, Gil. You sound like a government ad. "One Child, One World." |
| GIL: |
What are you going to tell the Surplus Supervisors? "I'm so sorry, sir. I didn't realize I was with child." |
| MARION: |
The Surplus Supervisors don't have to know. |
| GIL: |
Of course they'll know! If they don't catch you first some neighbourhood watchdog will. Do you know what they're paying people who turn in second-childers? |
| MARION: |
I don't particularly care to know the price of betrayal. |
| GIL: |
It's a few months' salary. Not a bad fee for snitching on a neighbour. |
| MARION: |
Fine, then. Why don't you snitch on a second-childer — me — and take some time off? |
| GIL: |
Don't get nasty. |
| MARION: |
I tell you I'm pregnant, you tell me to run off to the nearest KinderKlinic to go get rid of it, and I'm the nasty one? |
| GIL: |
I'm not trying to be cruel, Marion. Only practical. |
| MARION: |
That's just it, isn't it? You're like everyone else. In your rush to be practical you trample over emotion. (BEAT) Don't you feel love for Deirdre? |
| GIL: |
Of course I do. |
| MARION: |
Couldn't you feel that love for another child? |
| GIL: |
Of course I could. That's not the point. |
| MARION: |
The point is, we...we don't have to decide. Not this minute. |
| GIL: |
We can't wait too long.
|
