The Husband and Wife. Kafka, to the side, with his typewriter.
KAFKA
“As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect…”
THE HUSBAND
This morning, I woke up…
THE WIFE
Terrifying…
THE HUSBAND
I turn to my wife lying in bed beside me…
THE WIFE
Utterly terrifying…
THE HUSBAND
And I wrap an arm around her and pull in close, you know, like to kiss her on the back of the neck…
THE WIFE
Like something from a horror movie…
THE HUSBAND
Well, she turns to face me, opens her eyes, and lets out this scream…
THE WIFE
I screamed, what else could I do?
THE HUSBAND
This bloodcurdling scream and bolts right out of the room.
THE WIFE
There was a gigantic insect. In my bed. Wearing my husband’s pajamas.
KAFKA
Metamorphosis. Dictionary definition. “A profound change in form from one stage to the next in the life history of an organism.”
THE HUSBAND
The scary thing was…
KAFKA
Metamorphosis isn’t just change.
THE HUSBAND
The scary thing was not that she ran screaming from me.
KAFKA
It’s change forward. Into something new.
THE HUSBAND
The scary thing was that for the second our eyes met, she didn’t recognize me at all.
KAFKA
Shed the old. Inhabit the new. That is metamorphosis.
THE WIFE
To see a gigantic insect in your bed wearing your husband’s pajamas unsettles you.
What frightened me most was not that I was being held by a gigantic insect.
It was that it had my husband’s eyes.
KAFKA
I thought about making him a spider.
THE WIFE
Well, the thing had like a thousand eyes, but I could see my husband reflected.
KAFKA
Or a praying mantis…
THE WIFE
I haven’t gone back into the bedroom to check if it’s still there.
THE HUSBAND
She’s been locked in the bathroom all morning.
THE WIFE
I wonder if it’s eating the linens.
THE HUSBAND
I wonder what she’s thinking.
THE WIFE
Or the curtains…
THE HUSBAND
I looked in the mirror. I don’t know what frightened her. I look exactly like myself.
There’s a moment of stillness between the three of them.
KAFKA
I settled on insect. I don’t know why. I liked the sound of it, I guess.
The lights go out.
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1 comment:
the man sees himself as a giant insect? thats so sad. but i dont think i understand
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