One Thousand Lives
A dramatic play by Thorin
Tatge
CHARACTERS:
BRIANA: An eight-year old girl with an ominous calling.
COREY: A normal brother.
MOTHER
FATHER
CORY enters, clasps his hands awkwardly in front of him,
and faces the audience.
COREY: Hi. My name’s
Corey. I’m nine years old. I live in a state called Michigan, in a house
made of bricks. I live with my mother,
who has black hair and who does…(unsure of the word) paralegal…work, my
father, who has brown hair and works for a publishing company, and my dog,
Charlie. I’ve got an older brother, but
he left when he was eighteen, to go to college…and he never came back. That’s all right, though, since he’s got a
job somewhere. I’ve got a younger
sister, too, but she left home when she was only eight. (Pause) I remember when she moved out… I was
scared. I didn’t understand why she
wanted to go.
Flashback. Enter
MOTHER, FATHER, BRIANA. COREY sits on
the floor and plays with blocks.
MOTHER: Oh, Briana!
How’re you, sweetiepuff? (Goes
and gives her a nice hug.) It’s
lonely when you’re not here.
BRIANA (giggling): No it’s not.
MOTHER: Oh, sure it is.
(Looks to FATHER) Isn’t
it, dear?
FATHER: Oh, absolutely.
We were just thinking about how much we’d love it if you walked right
through that door… (Boips BRIANA
playfully on the nose.) How was
school today, Briana?
BRIANA (smiling): Okay.
FATHER: It was okay, huh?
MOTHER: Is that all?
BRIANA (quieter): Well, it was kind of weird, actually.
MOTHER: Oh? I’m sorry
to hear that. What made you feel weird,
hon?
BRIANA: Well, it wasn’t anything the teacher said. It was during the reading period. I found a book about a country called
Japan. Have you heard of it?
COREY: I’ve heard of it!
That’s where they make Tamagotchis!
MOTHER: That’s right, Corey…but they make quite a few other
things as well.
COREY: Oh.
FATHER: It’s a famous country with a very distinctive
history. What did the book say about it,
Briana?
BRIANA (shyly): It had pictures of people called samurai,
who were dressed funny…and told about how they protected the land of their
rulers, or fought each other to try and give the country to the right people…
it said they were very honorable, Daddy.
I think that means they would never break a promise, if they made it.
FATHER: Well, as I recall, the samurai broke quite a few
promises. I think their honor was more
along the lines of serving their masters or their families faithfully…to the
death, if necessary.
MOTHER: Fred, don’t say that to her!
FATHER: Well, she wants to know what samurai honor was,
doesn’t she? The way of the warrior?
BRIANA (nodding): I do.
Well, it’s just I have this feeling I made a promise…and I forgot to do
what I promised I would.
MOTHER: Hm? Do you
know who you made it to? Was it to one
of your friends at school?
BRIANA: I don’t know…I guess.
FATHER: Well, there are other ways of being honorable than
the way the samurai did it. Maybe you
should ask your friends if they remember if you promised them something. Maybe whoever you made the promise to will
remember.
BRIANA: No—I don’t think you understand. Just never mind.
MOTHER: I hope nothing’s wrong, Briana?
BRIANA: I don’t know, Mommy.
I feel a little weird. I mean,
it’s May now, right?
MOTHER: Yes, that’s right.
BRIANA: Well, school ends in June. I’ll be all done with second grade. I don’t know what I’m going to do then.
FATHER: We could put you in that park recreation group
again, like you enjoyed so much last summer.
MOTHER: Or you can just play with your brother and your
friends. And we’ll read you books, and
take you to shows, like last summer. And
then in September, you’ll go back to school for third grade.
BRIANA: But—no, it’s not the same.
MOTHER: I don’t understand, sweetie. What’s not the same about this year?
BRIANA: I’m going to be done with school, Mom. I think second grade is my last year in
school.
FATHER: I hope not!
You’ve got to get a good education…so you can be a success when you grow
up.
COREY: If Briana gets to stop going to school, I get to stop
too!
MOTHER: Neither of you is dropping school. You have to keep going. It’s the way things work in our society, and
it’s for the best. But I think I
understand how you feel, Briana. You’re
worried about change at the end of the year, aren’t you?
BRIANA looks uncomfortable. Then she shakes her head repeatedly and
leaves stage.
FATHER: I think she’ll be all right. There’s probably just something she’s not
telling us.
MOTHER: I hope so.
I’m going to go talk with her after she’s cooled down, though.
Exit MOTHER and FATHER.
COREY stands up.
COREY: Briana talked to some of her friends from school, and
she heard about something called a séance.
That’s when you get around a table, and turn out the lights, and you
hold hands, and you think about dead people, and if you’re really good at it
the wind starts blowing, and a light appears, and you get to talk with someone
who’s dead. So Briana wanted to do one
of those with her friends. She had a
party planned and everything. But then,
someone told her that they don’t really work…at least not without a grown-up
who knows how to do it. So she called
off the party. I guess she really did
want to talk to dead spirits though, because…
Enter BRIANA, MOTHER.
BRIANA: Hey, Mom!
MOTHER: Yes, honey?
BRIANA: Do we have a Ouija board?
MOTHER: One of those old things? Well, I think your father has one stowed in
the attic somewhere…but why do you want it?
Are you trying to make up for not having a séance?
BRIANA: I guess. I
just really need it. Can you find it for
me? Please, Mom?
MOTHER: I’ll ask your father to see if he can find it after
lunch, dear. Would you like a sandwich?
BRIANA: I—I guess.
Could I have two? I’m pretty
hungry.
MOTHER: If you finish one, you can have another.
BRIANA: Okay, Mom.
COREY: One thing my sister Briana did that I couldn’t figure
out was to take more sandwiches than she needed. She used to wrap the extra ones in plastic
wrap and hide them in her closet. So
sometimes I’d sneak in at night and eat them.
And she’d get mad at me, but she never told on me. So at last, I just stopped. Who cares if she had all those
sandwiches? She could get fat if she
wanted to.
Enter FATHER.
FATHER: I found that Ouija board you wanted, Briana. It looks like it’s still in working order.
BRIANA: Great!
Thanks, Daddy. (Takes it from
him and starts to examine it.)
FATHER (to MOTHER): I remember buying that board for
Kyle. He and his friends were so cute
with it…trying to contact Benjamin Franklin, or ask it about which girls liked
them…I remember he told me a joke once when he was in high school. He said he asked the board the liar’s
paradox, and it kept switching between Yes and No, over and over…he said he was
going to hook it up to an electromagnetic generator and call it a science project. (Both chuckle) Oh hey, I also found some old pictures I
never got around to putting in photo albums.
There’s some stuff in there from Mexico… and some of your cousins…
MOTHER: Really? Let
me take a look! It’s not too late to
file them…
FATHER and MOTHER leave.
BRIANA: Hey, Corey?
COREY: Yeah?
BRIANA: Would you help me with this? You need at least two people to use a Ouija
board.
COREY: Okay. What’re
you going to do.
BRIANA: I’m going to try and talk to a samurai. ‘Cause Corey?
COREY: Yeah?
BRIANA (whispering): I think that’s who I made a promise
to. And I forgot all about it.
COREY comes over and they both sit down.
COREY: How could you make a promise to a samurai? You don’t know any samurai.
BRIANA: I know, but…I don’t know. I feel bad about it, so I must have made a
promise. Sit still, now. Put your fingers on the magic indicator.
COREY (doing it): Like this?
BRIANA (doing it): Yes, like that. Now concentrate, and don’t think about
anything. I’ll be thinking of the
samurai… it’ll take a while.
COREY: What’s going to happen?
BRIANA: The indicator’ll start to move. We see what it says.
COREY: Okay.
BRIANA and COREY sit still for a long time. Then the indicator slowly moves…and BRIANA
spells out the letters as they arrive.
BRIANA: Y…O…U…you…H…A…V…E…you have…4…5…3…M…O…R…E…you have
453 more…L…I…V…E…S… (Pause)
COREY (quiet): I’m scared.
BRIANA (quiet): Quiet, Corey. Keep still.
T…O…G…I…V…E. You have 453 more
lives to give.
BRIANA and COREY stare at the board, and then pull
away. They sit in silence for a few
moments.
COREY: What did it mean?
BRIANA: I don’t know, Corey…I don’t know…
Exit BRIANA. COREY
stands and faces audience.
COREY: Briana had a dream that night, and another the next
night. I know because she told me…but
she never told Mom and Dad. She said it
wasn’t like a real dream…she said she’d found the samurai she wanted to talk
to. And he was dead…he’d lived in the
1300s. She wouldn’t tell me any more
than that. But one day…Briana was
gone. She’d written a note…her
handwriting wasn’t as good as mine was, but Mom and Dad could read it.
Enter MOTHER and FATHER. puzzled and grievous.
FATHER (reading from note, crying): …he told me that a long
time ago, there was a man named Ashikaga Takauji…who had stolen the throne of
the Emperor of Japan…and given it to his own family without the divine
sanction…and it was me…me! who had been serving another man, a samurai who
ranked above me, and to whom I was loyal…(Looking up) I can’t believe she could write this
well… (Back to note) And in order to gain power for his family
again, I promised I would serve him fully and well…that if it was in my power,
I would give a thousand…lives…in his service.
Well, I realize now that I made that promise to him, and so that’s why
I’m going to Japan. I’ve taken all the
sandwiches I kept hidden to eat…and I’ll get there any way I can. You see, this man is alive now…in a different
body, but alive. And he runs an
electronics company now, but he’s still trying to get his power back. And so, I have to serve him. I’ve only given 547 lives to him… I have 453
left to give.
Exit FATHER and MOTHER.
COREY: Bushido is the word for the way of the warrior. Someone once wrote that the way of the
warrior is to find a way to die. They
said, if a choice is given between life and death, the samurai must choose
death. There is no more meaning beyond
this. Make up your mind and follow the
predetermined course.
COREY looks down and remains silent for a while. Then he looks up again.
COREY: I miss my sister.