The Guy and his Uncertain Future are outdoors on a very windy day.
They’re flying beautiful kites, which float and dip and dance around above their heads.
The wind is a little strong.
UNCERTAIN FUTURE
Good day for kites.
THE GUY
I know.
UNCERTAIN FUTURE
The wind’s reliable today.
THE GUY
Yeah.
UNCERTAIN FUTURE
May I make an observation?
THE GUY
Sure.
UNCERTAIN FUTURE
The last few years I’ve known you, I’ve noticed something about the way we fly kites. Because it’s what we do, you and I. Fly kites.
THE GUY
Even when we’re doing something completely unrelated…
UNCERTAIN FUTURE
… we’ve got our kites up in the air, side by side, just like now. And I’ve noticed that they’re always over there –
He points in the direction of the kites.
UNCERTAIN FUTURE (cont.)
-- and nowhere else in the sky. Which surprises me, because it seems to me, in your life, the wind only ever blows in one direction.
THE GUY
You’re right. It does. I hadn’t noticed that.
They stand for a while, looking up at their kites.
The Guy considers this. The wind has only ever blown in one direction. And he thinks that maybe it’s because so much of his life so far has been lived in one direction – the safe one – that even the wind has lost the ability to explore other options.
The Guy isn’t happy about this.
And something in him shifts, something buried in him from years of thinking he wasn’t capable of anything other than this, something he hasn’t felt stir in him since he was a college kid watching an audience applaud at the end of the opening night of his first produced play, and the air around him changes, the atoms reconfigure, and something unusual happens.
His Uncertain Future looks up.
UNCERTAIN FUTURE
That’s funny. I think the wind’s about to change.
And above their heads, the kites start to move, across the stage space, and are now flying in the opposite direction.
The Guy smiles as the lights fade.
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3 comments:
wind....funny...you always expect that by licking your finger and holding it out...you can sometimes tell which way it is blowing....you know what? whoever taught me that sucks! because i can never tell. ever.
I've always pictured my life as water. I never think about wind. It's penetrating though. It goes right through you sometimes. Like you're a filter. Sometimes the wind is clean. That feels good.
A thing about your writing, though. I don't know if I like the italics. I mean, they're fine to read right now. But how would they work on stage, if this is going to be done during Festival, like you said?
I remember as a child flying kites with my brother...those were good times...I'd love to fly a kite...we are in control of our lives...our direction...I'd very much like to fly a kite with you!
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