Till the Lie Ignites
protagonist (n.) from protos "first" + agonistes "actor, competitor," from agon "struggle" (from Proto-Indo-European root *ag- "to drive, strive, reach, draw out or forth, move"). Greek theater term.
A boy and his father enter from stage right into a grassy field. They sit down in the grass and begin to point out the constellations.
Boy: Daddy, Ms. Silver taught to us about the constellations today. Do you know where the Belt of Orion is?
Father (pauses for a moment, and then points up and to the left): Right over there, son. Do you see it? It’s the one that looks like an unwound coil of rope...See it?
Boy: ...Oh...yeah...it’s sooo pretty..(giggles) But I don't really know who Orion is...Can we just call it the Bat belt? Like-Like the one he wears in the show?
Father: Son, you can call it whatever you want.
They are silent for a while, and then the boy rests his head on his father’s shoulder.
Boy: Daddy, when I grow up, I wanna be Batman.”
Father (sighs and looks up at the stars): “So did I once, son. So did I…”
Strophe
This is the suit of a common hero:
Sauce-stained khakis and a flour-dusted t-shirt.
And this is how we lie:
We tell ourselves that the reason
We’re stuck working fast food is that
We're simply living
The prologues of our own dramas,
And soon a man will be coming in, wet from the
Starlight, and he will beckon us to come with him
Upon a grand adventure.
You either hang from a noose in a fast-food joint
Or you hang from the constellations.
You get to chose. That is all.
Antistrophe
How many times have I told myself:
Soon will you start to live.
Soon, will you do something great.
But the liminal moments,
Standing in line, or working fast food,
We forget that these moments too
Count as living.
As the two sit watching the stars, clouds begin to crowd the sky, concealing the stars.
Boy (alarmed, huddles closer to his father): Daddy...where are all the stars going?
Father: They’re not going anywhere, son. They’re just taunting us. That’s all...
Suddenly, it begins to rain lightly on the two. Quickly, they run under a tree at stage left and observe from there.
Boy: Daddy, what are raindrops?
The father thinks for a moment before answering.
Father: Well...You see, raindrops are souls.
Strophe
The ground is wet where the corpses land.
We spend our allotted eighty years
Falling
Further
And further
From all that we desire to be,
Till we hit the earth and can fall no more.
Beneath the tree the two stand watching the rain.
All of a sudden the father keels over and collapses to the ground.
Boy: Daddy...wh-what’s wrong?
The father is clearly in serious pain. He clutches his heart.
Father:...Get…..mom…
Boy (on the verge of tears): No...Daddy…I’ll-I’ll save you Daddy...I-I’ll-I can be Batman-There! See? I can-I can pull down the Bat-utility belt from the sky and-and I’m sure...I’ll save you Daddy...just tell me what’s wrong...
Father:..Run...get...mom…no...it’s too late......I love you, son...and...forget all I said: Dreams will kill you, son...
Suddenly, he falls silent and still.
The boy falls to the ground, sobbing.
The lights fade on the scene of the boy sobbing next to his dead father.
---
Some time has passed between the previous scene and now. The boy is now a man in his late thirties, tossing and turning in a bed beside his wife. He's clearly dreaming:
Boy: Daddy, is it true that raindrops can sing?
Father: Yes, son, but only in the dark...Hear that?
Boy: ...No...No, I don’t hear anything…
Father: No, listen! Can’t you hear them now? They-I swear...
His voice trails off.
Father: Forget all I said: Dreams will kill you, son...
The man wakes up, panting and covered in sweat. He looks at the clock. It reads 6 AM. He takes a moment to compose himself and then taps his wife on the shoulder.
Man: Honey...I have to go to work...Okay?
Woman: ...Have a good day...I love you...Wh-what time do you think you’ll be getting home?
Man: Well, Steve-you know how the man is...He’s got me working till close tonight...I’ll be home by...midnight, I guess.
The woman nods, but she is silent.
Man: ...Don’t give me that...what’s wrong?
Woman:...Why-Tim….Why don’t you stop working fast food? We could...we could go off somewhere...start over...maybe raise animals...I don’t know...We could be something great.
The man gazes as if looking straight through her, intent on something far in the distance. Then he turns his head to the starry night outside the window. Orion glows brightly.
Man: I used to think so once...I used to think we could be great… But this...this is it...This is living. And I think...I think this is the way life is...
Outside, it has begun to rain. The raindrops make clicking noises as they land on the air conditioning unit that sits in the window.
Man: Raindrops are brief, but they sing...even in their demise, they sing.
The woman looks at him, confused, and without another word, the man puts on his uniform and cap and exits stage right. The clicking of his footsteps is heard as he walks off set, falling perfectly in sync with the clicking of the raindrops on the air conditioner.
The woman sits up in her bed and gazes longingly at Orion, which shines brighter than ever through the window and the rain clouds. The light brightens to a blinding degree, consuming the stage in a sheet of white light. When the light disappears, the woman is gone, and the bedroom sits empty.
Antistrophe
This is being human.
Some will accept it,
But we’ll keep hoping,
Till the dreams we’ve been chewing
Swallow us whole,
Till the lie ignites
And we evaporate,
Wholly given to the dream.