ACT THREE: RHYME AND REASON
XIX.
GEORGE and BILLY sit at the kitchen table. BILLY pokes at his breakfast cereal without appetite. GEORGE is mechanically eating the last third of a huge strudel. A radio sits in the middle of the table.
RADIO
Good morning to you, all you folk of Falls town.
That was Elvis, the King, with his hit song, “Way Down”.
This is day number three since the rhythm returned.
We hope you’re enjoying the tunes. They’re well earned.
Our leader, Mayor Clump, had a few words to say:
MAYOR
We’re all to be thanked for this dawning new day.
The folk of the Falls are a virulent sort.
By banding together, we’ve reaped what we’ve wrought.
Our borders are safe now. The bridge is all sealed.
I’m so proud of you all, of your resilience and zeal.
For now that the traitor’s been taken away,
every one of our days is a shining new day!
RADIO
You heard it here, folks, said with eloquent style.
For more on the Word, keep it fixed to this dial.
Up soon is some jazz to enjoy at your leisure.
But that’s it from me. Now here’s Bret, with the weather ---
GEORGE turns off the radio. Father and son sit in silence.
BILLY
You’ve been eating mum’s pie for a few days now, Dad.
Do you want me to make you some toast or… something… rad?
GEORGE Hmm? No. Thank you.
BILLY Want me to… warm that up?
GEORGE It tastes better cold. Blueberries. Full-bodied. Your mother… prefers it that way.
A silence. GEORGE spoons strudel mechanically. BILLY watches him.
BILLY Has she called today?
GEORGE Not today. (Beat) I imagine the town’s had long distance disabled. (Beat) Collect calls are quite expensive.
BILLY Not even an email?
GEORGE I don’t have a computer.
Another silence.
GEORGE (Goes to speak, doesn’t)
BILLY (Goes to speak, doesn’t)
Silence.
GEORGE Did she say anything to you, before she left? About me? For me?
Silence.
BILLY She just said you were a good man, Dad. And that she loved you very much.
GEORGE Really? That’s good of her.
Silence. BILLY stands up with his backpack and goes to leave.
GEORGE Where are you going?
BILLY School.
GEORGE They took you back then?
BILLY I asked them to.
GEORGE Do you? Yes, well. I’m very glad to hear it. Have you… lunch? What does your Mum usually do? A salad? Cold cuts?
BILLY I’m all right.
GEORGE There’s some radish and coleslaw left over. It’s a few days gone, but reasonable, otherwise, with vinaigrette…
BILLY I’m fine, Dad. I’ve got a sandwich.
GEORGE Of course. (Beat) Very resourceful. (Beat) Do you need a ride? I have a car.
BILLY I’ll catch the bus.
GEORGE A bus? Well… that’s tax dollars well spent.
A silence.
Would you like to talk about your mother? (Beat) It must be hard for you, I realize… How things… With what’s happened.
BILLY I’ll manage.
GEORGE Because I’m here, if you need me.
BILLY I’m not a little kid any more.
GEORGE No. No, of course you’re not. (Beat) Of course you’re not! Look at you! You’re positively grown! (Beat) When did that
happen? (Beat) And to think, I used to be so… scared. So scared of you…
BILLY Dad?
GEORGE When you were a baby. Absurd. From the moment your mother told me we were pregnant… the baby shower… the time
I took off work to care for her… the drive to the hospital… the waiting and the waiting… right up to the very first time the
nurse put you in my arms… I was always so scared of you. More than scared. Petrified. Utterly paralyzed with crippling,
incoherent terror.
What was this shriveled, mewling, dribbling pink thing wrapped in blankets in my hands? How could this be a brand new
human life, with its head too small even to fit in the flat of my palm? How could anything so helpless, so pathetically
dependent, ever grow to make a different to anything in the world?
All at once, my own existence up until now seemed a huge and unlikely fluke. I was no one remarkable. No scientist or
doctor. I just wrote things down that people liked to read, and the more they read, the more I wrote. Why should the
phenomenon of life happen to someone like me? What right did I have to hold it in my hands, to risk the chance to drop it
and destroy the endless possibilities contained inside its head? It was all a horrendous mistake.
You mother laughed at me. She said, since time in memoriam, fathers had paled and run for the bathroom at the acute
and vivid reality of newly found fatherhood. Like so many things in life, the first time was the hardest. It would pass with
practice. The second would be easier, and the third… well, easier still.
But we never returned to the hospital. The doctor advised against it and so we were happy with what we’d been given.
But the terror never passed. I never had a chance to rectify my mistake. I could only watch you from the doorway, while
your mother nursed you in the rocker, or listen from the other side of the bars as you slept in your crib… Keeping you at
arms length, safeguarded against me, should I make some grave and unforgivable error.
I realized that somewhere between your birth and fifth birthday that I had made a bargain in my mind: that I was willing
to give you up at a moment’s notice. Better to let you go, unharmed and untouched by my presence, than to damage
you with the unruly and deadly love a parent feels for their child.
No one should suffer that responsibility. No one should have to know the terror of being a parent.
I love you, Billy. But being your father has been the most frightening experience of my life.
A silence. GEORGE picks up his spoon and resumes eating strudel. BILLY leaves. There is a heavy thud on the roof, followed by another, and then another. BILLY reenters the kitchen, carrying an orange in each hand.
GEORGE Well, will you look at that. Those were your mother’s favorite.
XX.
Oranges still fall from the sky, thundering on to the roof like dropped bombs. MAYOR CLUMP is hiding beneath his office desk, while TRENT frantically fiddles with a ham radio. Both are wearing 1940s infantry helmets.
MAYOR
Thundering Heracles! What is it now?
This is more noise than I care to allow!
I thought we were through with our run of dissent?
Oh what did I do to deserve this treatment?
Never before has a Mayor had to weather
the shit that I’ve weathered to keep shit together!
Trent!
TRENT
Almost done. I’m just tuning the dial…
MAYOR
Well don’t make me rush you. I’ll just cower awhile.
TRENT
Got it!
MAYOR
About time! Quick, give that thing here.
I urgently need it to cover my rear.
(Speaking into the microphone)
Folk of Falls town! This is me, your good Mayor!
You’re no doubt aware of what’s happening out there.
I’m declaring a state of emergency,
until this bombardment ceases to be.
Try not to panic, and stay behind doors.
(That way you’ll avoid the grapefruits and paw-paws.)
Know that I’m doing my utmost to halt
this bleak situation. It’s nobody’s fault.
No doubt it’s a storm or a freak wind insurgence,
like that time when, last Christmas, it rained us with sturgeons.
My point is we mustn’t let things out of hand.
We must show our resolve, and stand tall where we stand.
Await my instructions, you’ve no need to doubt.
This is Mayor to the Falls – over and out.
A particularly huge shower of citrus lands thunderously on the roof.
TRENT
You really thing this is a turn in the weather?
MAYOR
How the hell should I know, Trent? Do I look all together?
This should have been over, the troubles and strife…
I’ve never jumped so many hoops in my life!
TRENT
I’ve boarded the windows. No fruit can get through.
At least for the moment. What else can I do?
MAYOR
Pour me a scotch – I need to be numb-er.
Christ almighty I wish that we still had that bunker…
There’s an electronic ringing sound.
MAYOR
Trent, what is that? What the hell is that sound?
I thought all our telegraph lines were all downed?
TRENT
They are, but it sounds of a different stripe.
Someone appears to be calling on Skype…
TRENT turns the Mayor’s computer on. The AMBASSADOR OF TANGELLO appears on the screen.
MAYOR
What? Who are you? Who the hell is this calling?
We’ve got our hands full. I’ve no time for stalling!
TANGELLO
Greetings, Mayor Clump of Falls Town.
I’m sorry to hear that you’re down.
It’s not my intent
To cause further resent
And give you more reasons to frown.
The MAYOR and TRENT exchange a glance.
MAYOR Who are you?
TANGELLO
I’m a rep on behalf of Tangello
A people who mostly are mellow
But with recent events
We have circumvent
Some things that make us fine fellows.
MAYOR
A rep from Tangello?
TRENT
I suppose it’s the truth.
His clothing looks funny, and his speech is uncouth.
MAYOR
What do you mean, with these “recent events?”
I’m confused by the lilt of your foreign accent.
TANGELLO
Border Falls is a town we admire
With values whom all can aspire
But your conduct of late
Seems fuelled with much hate
And caused current events to transpire.
TRENT The raining fruit?
MAYOR Now hang on just a bloody minute there ---
TANGELLO
We’ve regrettably read some reports
And articles that claim to tort
Of flagrant price-fixing
And anti race-mixing.
Allegations we do not support.
TRENT George wrote about that in the Tattler. Mayor, you don’t think ---
MAYOR Shut up, Trent!
Rep of Tangello, I’m sorry to say
I haven’t a clue why you’d feel this way.
We love all our neighbors, the fruity and dry.
I can’t even guess at what thing you’d imply…
TANGELLO
We’d stomach such lies that were viler,
Or if all of this slander was milder.
But what we won’t stand
And we shall reprimand
is the treatment of Martha T. Wilder.
MAYOR Martha? This is about Martha?
TRENT She is a Tangello national, sir… And we did banish her…
MAYOR Shut up!
TANGELLO
We demand an apology’s given
And Martha’s racism forgiven
We’ll embargo your town
And bombard you down
Unless you renege your decision.
MAYOR
Now look, I won’t stand by and swallow this slander.
Especially from someone who demands I pander
to political interests I don’t need to share.
Don’t like what you’re hearing? Then go grow a pair!
TRENT
Sir, if I may…
MAYOR
You may not!
TRENT
Please, one word.
I urge you to not disregard what we’ve heard.
It might not be best to so tersely converse,
you could make this bad situation far worse.
MAYOR
I knew we were right in preserving our town!
We’re surrounded by villains on all sides, all around!
I will not be swayed by a fructose-fuelled frenzy.
So take your threats and assertions and shove them up your arse.
TANGELLO
You have until dawn to retract
The fruits of your ignorant acts
If you don’t do what’s best
We’ll join force with the West
Who you’ve also had cause to attack.
MAYOR What! Those mineral huffing heathens?!
TANGELLO
To condemn what we truly deplore
And right slights that we cannot ignore
I’m afraid I must say
That in less than a day
We’ve no choice but to declare… war.
Good day, gentlemen.
The call ends. A silence, but for the patter of grapes falling on the roof. TRENT looks anxious.
TRENT
Mayor, you’ve gone quiet. Your face is quite white.
What do we do? Are you… feeling all right?
MAYOR
Empty the safes, and the files, and the draws.
TRENT Sir…?
MAYOR
Get my stash of pink slips from their nook in the floor.
Take the accounts and the ledgers and lists.
My checkbooks and bonds, my medallion and… this.
The MAYOR strips off his sash of office and flings it at TRENT. He pulls out his desk draws, upending the papers inside.
MAYOR
We’ve no time to waste if we’re saving my skin.
But before you do that – Trent, get me my gin…
XXI.
GEORGE is in his office, sitting in front of his typewriter. A blank sheet is waiting to be written on. GEORGE pushes aside the obscuring stack of copy paper and picks up the picture of MARTHA and BILLY. Outside, watermelon’s fall with the high whistling sound of a mortar, followed by a wet smack as they hit the ground.
GEORGE
I know I’ve done things I did not mean to do.
The last thing I want is to hurt or harm you.
When I look in your eyes, the world’s chaos relents.
When I come home to you, my life makes such sense.
What will I now find when I walk through that door?
How can things be like they used to before?
How can I fix all the things that I’ve broken,
when all of the things that were true went unspoken?
And what chance would you give me, if I were permitted,
to say those lost words. Would I be acquitted
of all of the stupid, absurd things thing I’ve done?
Can I still change? Or is my race run?
Have I wasted your time and the lost energy
you spent trying to show me the man I could be?
Why did I waste all the words that I had,
filling page after page with the hate in my head?
I’ve squandered the gifts you tried so hard to nurture.
I’ve dropped all our dreams, abandoned our future.
And what pains me the most is a can’t quite recall
if we’d dreamed of a future together at all.
What kept us together? A fond memory?
Or was it just habit…? Pathetic ennui…?
Why can’t I remember the times that we had,
when I was more than a husband… reporter… a dad?
Why am I sitting here, talking to air?
Do you hear what I’m saying ? Do you even care?
How did we think we could just speak the truth,
when the silence between us is simply… the truth?
GEORGE sits in silence for a long time, then slowly starts to type.
XXII.
TRENT is in the Mayor’s office, shredding a huge pile of documents. There is shredded paper everywhere.
TRENT
Just look at this Trent, what a joke, what a mess!
What are you doing? You don’t need this stress!
Just follow your orders. What else can you do?
Political pander’s not suited to you.
You’re only a lackey, an errand boy, whipped.
For complex conspiring you just aren’t equipped.
All you’ve done is spin facts and sway public consensus.
If only you’d wised up and just been a dentist…
SUE enters. She has a bicycle helmet on her head, and is carrying a basket of mixed fruit.
SUE
Trent, what’s all this? What on earth are you doing?
TRENT
Sue! When did you… This is not public viewing!
SUE
Where is the Mayor? I thought he’d be ---
TRENT
Out!
Surveying the damage. His actions need clout
in this dark, troubled time. So… hop on your bike.
Peddle off home and get out of my life.
SUE
The damage from mangos outside is severe,
but it’s nothing compared to the state of in here…
TRENT
Sue, I’ve no time for your lame brainless prattle,
I’m too busy to see you ---
SUE
Trent, I don’t want to battle.
I came here to see if I could lend some aid,
but it looks like the chaos in here is homemade…
TRENT
What would you know about grit and hard work?
SUE
It beats having digs as a drab office clerk.
TRENT
Oh sure, you’ve a bike, and a helmet to boot.
That just means you save heaps on your morning commute.
SUE
My role as Enforcer of Public Relation
is a valued and coveted official station.
TRENT
Your position is pointless, a total vox pop,
an empty example of dumb agitprop.
SUE
Trent! This is stupid! It’s not worth the bother.
We should be banding together, not fighting each other.
Just because you feel slighted I won this post fair
is no reason to hurt the good people out there
who need help and assurance that’s clear and overt.
This fruit is delicious, but gosh, does it hurt.
Instead, you’re in here… the Mayor’s called it a day…
Just what the heck are these papers you’ve shred, anyway?
SUE picks up the nearest file.
TRENT Hey!
SUE
These are all records of funds and amounts…
The Falls’ annual budget… The Mayor’s cheque account…
TRENT Stop that ---
SUE
(And another) And what are these, duties? Import manifests?
Goods that we’ve bought from the East and the West?
Tangellian Ale and twelve carat gold…
All bought at prices far less than they’re sold…?
TRENT
Give me that!
SUE
Trent, are these numbers all true?
The mark-ups… price fixing… It’s the Mayor’s doing? (Beat) You knew?
A silence.
Trent… what’s going on?
TRENT It’s all our fault, all right? We jacked a few prices, and inflamed an international incident, and now we’re going to war. There!
That’s what’s going on, spin-free and plain. The truth. And that’s what I’m shredding: the thing we’ve all been up in arms
about trying to preserve. So are you happy now, Sue? Got what you came here for? Have you rubbed my nose in it enough,
or should I peel a melon and let you have at me?
SUE Trent… how could you let this happen?
TRENT I didn’t know! I’m just a sidekick, Sue. I do what I’m told, even when what I’m told isn’t what I want to hear! Politics is the art
of moving forward without looking back. The bureaucratic machine runs so long as someone’s at the wheel. Every cog
knows its place and turns the wheel its assigned, and all I ever wanted, Sue, was to be one of those cogs, a cog turning the
wheel that makes the smallest bit of different, that moves the machine that extra inch to where it needs to be and, maybe,
one day wears a sash so that everybody knows just how good a job I’d done and how unfair we all were, to put down his
dreams of one day owning a Schwinn three-eighty, with flags, and a yellow jersey reading ---
SUE Trent, get a hold of yourself! (Slaps him)
Beat.
TRENT Everything’s gone down the shitter, Sue… and it’s all my fault. (He bursts into tears)
SUE
Trent, your best fault is for being too good
at spinning the truth half as good as you could.
Hearing what’s right is the hardest to hear
when you’ve got so much stuffing packed in your own ear.
But put that aside, we’ve more problems in store –
what do you mean by, “we’re going to war”?
TRENT
The town’s copped the heat for the shoddy treatment
of poor Missus Wilder and her banishment.
Tangelo’s response is this hailstorm of fruit,
declaring our complicity somewhat moot.
Unless we respond with oeuvres of repentance,
they’ll join with the West and extract fruity vengeance.
SUE
Why hasn’t Mayor Clump defused this fragile state?
He just has to say sorry. It’s still not too late.
TRENT
Exactly the reason I’m filling these bins:
Would you admit guilt if you’re guilty as sin?
SUE
Then we’ll have to take stock and resolve it, we two.
TRENT
But what can we do? I’m just me and you’re you.
SUE
Well, I’m the Enforcer of Pubic Relation,
and since you seem recently stripped of your station,
I hereby proclaim you my deputy.
I’ll show you how useful our two heads can be.
TRENT
So you have a plan then?
SUE
Not even a jot.
But… do you have some glue?
TRENT
... I suppose.
SUE
Get the lot.
XXIII.
NARRATOR
Out of all in the Falls, we must spare a pause,
for the fellow named George, and the man that he was.
George Wilder had started the week as a man
convinced of his mind, with a solid life plan.
He knew who he was, who he wasn’t, and why.
He’d never expected that that man could die.
That the rug could be shifted to swiftly beneath
his feet on the world that contained his beliefs.
As the daylight bombardment came to a swift end,
George drove through the streets in his Mercedes Benz.
He steered without pausing, or thinking a word,
through the streets of the town where the bad word was heard.
Each sidewalk he passed, and from every roof awning,
hung garlands of kiwis and grapefruit, adoring
every shop window, each lamp and bin lid.
The town looked for all like a great big fruit salad.
Though he’d lived here each moment that he’d been alive,
George drove through a town he did not recognize.
It occurred to him then, as a man of strong views,
that never before had he so much to lose.
And though he’d tried to preserve it, at God knew what cost…
there was no use preserving the things he had lost.
XXIV.
GEORGE is standing on the bridge out of town. In one hand is an orange, in the other a sealed white envelope. He drops the orange into the river below and watches it float away, leaving only the envelope.
SUE (Over the emergency PA) Like this?
TRENT Hold it down.
SUE Right… um…
Folk of the Falls! This is me, your friend Sue!
This is a friendly reminder to you
that we’re doing the best of the best that we can
to sort out this mess. We have a good plan
to get the town back to a citrus-free route.
So… thanks for your time. This is Sue. Signing out.
GEORGE looks at the water. BILLY enters with his skateboard.
BILLY Dad?
GEORGE William. How was school?
BILLY Cancelled.
GEORGE That’s a shame.
BILLY I went in anyway. Just hung around. Watched grapes fill up the gutters in the locker breezeway. They overflowed. Flooded
the computer labs. Mister Lannister the janitor was furious. We had to sweep them out with brooms.
GEORGE Good of you to help.
Silence.
BILLY It felt weird being back there, with nobody there. It didn’t seem so loud.
GEROGE Really?
BILLY Yeah. At first.
GEORGE But you soldiered through?
BILLY Mum helped.
GEORGE Good man. (Beat) Woman. (Beat) What are you doing all the way out here?
BILLY I come out here sometimes. When I need some space to think. Or talk. (Beat) What are you doing out here?
GEORGE Something similar, I think. (Beat) I think I was hoping that if I stood here long enough, I might be able to sort out why I’ve
been so awful to you and your mother. And if that happened, I thought maybe you both might find me here, and forgive me.
(Beat) Seems I’m halfway there. (Beat) I haven’t been drinking, if that’s what you think.
At least it’s stopped raining. I have a bruise the exact shape of a dragon fruit.
BILLY You can see the Tangello trebuchets from here, on the north bank.
GEORGE So you can. I think they’re unloading troops. I believe I saw a tank. (Beat) It seems things have got a little out of control,
haven’t they?
I proposed to your mother here. Did you know that?
BILLY Yeah.
GEORGE I was a typesetter at the paper. No pay but experience. Lowest rung on the ladder to… where I am now, I suppose. She was
---
BILLY Studying contemporary jazz, at the conservatorium across the water. Clarinet.
GEORGE Quite right. Jazz, of all things. Can you believe it? And to think, she settled for me. (Beat) We’ve told you this before?
BILLY (Nods)
GEORGE Ah. It’s moments like that you need the Kodak… Proof of memories you’re too busy to mark yourself.
She sold that clarinet. I can’t remember why.
Look at that. They’ve turned on the lights.
A string of lights appear across the water, hung from the invading army like Christmas lights.
BILLY I’m so sorry, Dad. I shouldn’t have said it. I know it was wrong. But I had to say something. A thousand different people were
screaming inside me, and when I opened my mouth… that’s all that came out. I knew it was wrong, and I knew I shouldn’t
say it, but that’s why it felt so good. I needed to say something awful and mean, because that’s how they felt, all those
voices inside, they felt awful and mean, and I don’t know why, but I just…
I just needed someone to hear me.
What’s happened to the town… to Mum… If I hadn’t said it – if I’d kept my mouth shut…
GEORGE It’s not your fault, Billy. Your mother and I… we love each other very much.
BILLY I know.
GEORGE But we love each other only half as much as we love you. Sometimes so much, we can’t even speak.
BILLY I know that, too.
GEORGE Knowing and hearing are two separate things. There are some things you shouldn’t have to take on faith. If you need to
shout, then go ahead and shout. Shout whatever you need to say. No matter how awful or mean, or wild and ecstatic, or
joyful or sad. We’ll hear you.
BILLY You mean that?
GEORGE I need that.
BILLY and GEORGE turn and face the water.
BILLY ORANGE!
GEORGE ORANGE!
BOTH ORANGE!
“Orange” echoes across the water, skittering down laneways and bouncing off the rooftops.
XXV.
NARRATOR
The town, Border Falls, between East and the West,
had been put to a very unusual test.
For the town had been pulled quite apart at the seams,
with circumstance beyond its wildest dreams.
The town that’s so lovely, so full of good cheer,
hardly resembles the town we see here.
For its street and its lanes, in the light of sunrise,
appeared as if draped in a puréed disguise.
The Border Falls folk all awoke to the sound
of the bells of the hall summoning them to town.
They staggered from beds, bleary eyed and in socks,
to the steps of the hall, where they found, to their shock,
a battalion of troops bearing Tangelo crests,
flanked by two reps of the East and West.
They’d come to sit judgment on Border Falls’ fate,
where a word to their credit may come one word too late…
XXVI.
The entire town is gathered in front of the town hall. The AMBASSADOR OF TANGELO, in yellow military uniform, and the AMBASSADOR OF THE WEST, in glittery ceremonial robes, stand either side of a lectern.
SUE is the last to arrive, carrying a scroll of rolled paper. She comes to stand next to GEORGE and BILLY.
SUE
(Breathless) Sorry I’m late, have I missed it?
GEORGE
Not yet.
They’re waiting for Clump to arrive here, I bet.
SUE
No chance of that.
BILLY
Huh? What do you mean?
SUE
The Mayor as we know him is nowhere to be seen.
But don’t speak too loud, I don’t want the word out!
Not with things like they are…
GEORGE
(Loudly) What is this about?
The AMBASSADOR OF TANGELO bangs a gavel on the lectern, and the crowd falls silent.
TANGELO
Falls Folk, I bid you good morning.
We’re sorry to rouse you from snoring.
But this matter can’t wait
We must de-conflagrate
The conflict to which we’re conforming.
A confused silence. The AMBASSADORS confer in whispers.
WEST
Language is a gift
But it’s not universal
Let us speak one tongue.
TANGELO Where is Mayor Clump?
Silence from the crowd. SUE steps forward.
SUE Good morning. I’m Sue, the Enforcer of Public Relations. Can I help?
WEST
Words are home to all
Meaning must have many forms
You must be as one
TANGELO What we mean is, can you speak for everyone here?
SUE Well, I’m not sure… I don’t often know what I’m speaking myself, let alone for everyone… I suppose the answer’s no, no I
can’t. But we’re a strong people. I’m sure we can speak for ourselves.
TANGELO Citizens of Border Falls. You have insulted the character of our two sovereign nations, and accused us, without basis or
proof, of subverting your cherished beliefs. You have injured the pride of our people, and hurt the feelings of my own
fellow national, a citizen of Grand Old Tangelo. How do you speak for your crimes?
The crowd rumble a hubbub of conflicting thoughts: outrage, shock, sincerity, confusion.
SUE I think what we mean to say is, we really didn’t have any idea what we were doing, and really, we still don’t. I think I can
reasonably speak for everyone in saying we intended no offence?
TANGELO Regardless, you must accept responsibility for your actions, no matter the intentions of your own ignorance. According to
the conventions of linguistic armistice, we convene a court of moral decency. You will be judged on your actions.
WEST
We alone shall not
Judgment must pass as equals
Martha will decide.
MARTHA stands, dressed in green fatigues, and takes her place behind the lectern, to everyone’s astonishment.
TANGELO Let me make this clear:
Border Falls town, you will now be subjected
to the scrutiny of the one soul you rejected.
She will weigh up the facts and determine your guilt,
in the hope that a peace can again be rebuilt.
None of you here are completely sin free.
The extent of your crimes will be measured by she.
And if she should find that your truth is all prattle,
we are forced, by her ruling, to engage you in battle.
The crowd at once explodes again into confused protest.
SUE Ambassadors, please, there’s been a huge misunderstanding. There’s no need to take the town to task ---
MARTHA
Sue, if I may, have a moment or two,
I would like to speak plainly to all of you.
I’m sorry to put it to you in this manner –
a militant action is no place for banter –
but beside the excuses and eloquent talking,
the town’s conduct to others has just been appalling.
My own home is a place I do not recognize.
When did we lose the words to empathize?
We’ve been monstrous, and vile, and totally void
of the goodness we used to take pride we employed.
SUE
No one’s denying the bad things we’ve done,
out of cowardice, fear, confusion or fun.
But in order to find how our senses departed,
perhaps we should look then at how this all started?
SUE unrolls her paper scroll, which is ten feet long and composed of shredded documents, all stuck back together with glue and sticky-tape.
These papers and notes were all in the Mayor’s files –
they’re duties and imports of all different styles.
They clearly list all of the prices we paid
for goods that your nation so kindly purveys.
Compare, if you will, the wholesale discount
with the price paid in store…
TANGELO
Hmm… that’s quite an amount.
SUE
The same goes for gold that’s supplied by the West.
Mayor Clump marked them up, and embezzled the rest.
That’s why he placed blame where it didn’t belong,
when something in town went so tragically wrong.
TANGELO
This seems like a terribly devious con,
but what says Mayor Clump? Where is he?
SUE
He’s long gone.
He’s legged it, absconded, he’s skipped out of town.
His wife is distraught. Trent’s still hunting him down.
The crowd is shocked by this news. The AMBASSADORS confer. They defer to MARTHA, who nods.
TANGELO This is indeed compelling evidence. But without the body to which it’s attached, we can’t allow it. Words cannot be
incarcerated. Their guilt is insubstantial, and only guilt at the hands of those who misuse them. Next order of business ---
There is a commotion from the back of the crowd. TRENT appears, dragging MAYOR CLUMP by his hands, which are tied with an extension cord. CLUMP is blindfolded with his own necktie. He clutches a bulging and hastily-packed suitcase in one hand.
TRENT
Wait! Hold it there! Is this what you need?
MAYOR
Trent, let me go! I demand that I’m freed!
TRENT
This is your fault, and we’re here to prove it.
It’s time you grew balls and faced up to the music!
TRENT pulls off MAYOR CLUMP’S blindfold. The MAYOR is gob smacked at what he sees.
MAYOR Huh? Gah? Mah?
What’s all this, what the hell? Did I miss the memo?
Who are these reps of the West and Tangelo?
TRENT
Don’t play the fool, you know well what this is!
It’s the price we’ve all paid for the crimes that you did!
And if that’s not enough to indite you quick flash,
just look in your suitcase – it’s stuffed full of cash!
TRENT opens the MAYOR’S suitcase: full of money.
MAYOR I… Well! How did that… Well I never…
MARTHA
Mayor Clump, you’re accused with substantial finesse,
with inspiring hate out of gross selfishness.
You whipped up a storm that effectively hid
all the crimes you conspired to enact and did.
You intentionally rallied to cause great offence.
What do you have to say in your defense?
MAYOR I… I…
Balderdash hellfire! How dare you accuse me
of deeds far beneath who you know me to be?
All I have done is to protect this town!
To stop us from erring and being brought down
by things that are ugly, obnoxious and crude,
bike SBS Movies, and Indian food!
American cable, and trashy TV!
Reality shows, and pornography!
So what if I’ve skimmed off some cream on the side?
I’ve still made this the best place we all can reside.
And you all know it!
A murmur of consent from the crowd.
MARTHA
Mayor Clump, there’s no motive a man can relate,
more noble than keeping ones’ very home safe.
While family values are beyond suggestion,
it’s the methods you’ve used that I call into question.
For what you have done, and the means that you used,
I suggest that your title of Mayor be removed.
While you channeled our fears to be most democratic,
the Falls needs a leader who’s much less dramatic.
MAYOR
Preposterous! Bah! I’m a Falls citizen!
They want me deposed? Let me hear it from them!
The crowd is silent.
WEST
A wise man knows this
When to fight, and when not to
He exits stage right.
MAYOR CLUMP promptly grabs up an armful of cash and runs.
TANGELO I suppose he knows he’s on an island?
GEORGE steps forward.
GEORGE
Martha?
MARTHA
Yes, George?
GEORGE
If the Mayor is to blame
for setting the fires of hatred aflame,
then I must be blamed for my role its spread.
I fanned it with all of my words that were read.
In fact, I’m much worse than the Mayor and his greed.
It’s through my own thoughts that his hatred was freed.
TANGELO
This court must be proffered with real evidence.
You need more than neat words to prove your innocence.
GEORGE approaches the lectern and hands MARTHA a sealed envelope. She opens it and reads.
GEORGE
Quite the contrary, I am no innocent.
I’m guilty of every last charge I present.
I’m the absolute worst kind of man you can find,
one who lives out his whole petty life in his mind.
I’m a man who discards all he loves on a whim,
who neglects to see the good things around him.
If one must be blamed for the worst you can see,
you need not look harder or further than me.
BILLY
No! That’s a lie! My Dad’s a good man.
He’s always tried hardest to do what he can
for me and my mum. His love is implicit,
though he says it far less than he’d care to admit it.
GEORGE
Billy ---
BILLY
No, Dad. This is not your crime.
You can’t take the blame for the faults that are mine.
I said the word, the one we forbade.
I said it. That’s it. I wish I could trade
anything I could alter to change what’s now done,
but I can’t – and I won’t – cos I’m not sorry.
GEORGE
Son…
BILLY
Since our township was founded – the beginning of time –
we’ve indulged in a morbid compulsion to rhyme.
To express to ourselves, to our friends and to others
the words that we’ve heard from our fathers and mothers.
We feel that our thoughts and our feelings were freed
by conversing and versing in phrases that lead
us to no solid end, no conclusion, no aim
other than beauty, which words alone tame.
Where is the meaning? What the heck do we say,
when we say what we say when we speak in this way?
Is it really just beauty? Ephemeral truth?
A pearl of real thought, like an extracted tooth?
Do we find it in keeping emotional silence?
Or do we rip it clean out, with linguistical violence?
Why do we speak when there’s nothing to say?
Why do we speak?
Why do we?
Why?
A silence. MARTHA steps down from the lectern and hugs BILLY.
GEORGE Martha… I’ve made a mess of things.
MARTHA I know, George.
GEORGE I don’t want you to forgive me, but I need to know ---
MARTHA That too, George.
TANGELO Missus Wilder. Our tanks are standing by, and the tangerines are overripe as it is. What have you ruled?
Beat.
MARTHA
We cannot move forward unless we agree
that the things in the past are what shouldn’t be.
Blame matters little if nothing is learned.
The right to the truth is not spoken, but earned.
And the truth seems to be, that one man to another,
may well be his mother, his sister, his brother.
If only we thought, as my son rightly said,
more about what we felt in our heart, not our head.
And if we must rhyme, we must do it with care,
and make certain we share what we feel inside there.
BILLY I’m sorry Mum. Dad. Sue. I’m sorry everyone.
MARTHA Ambassadors, does that answer your question?
TANGELO Right, marm. We’ll order down the troops and get started on the clean up.
WEST
Wisdom comes in time
Bread broken with neighbors makes
The best fruit salad
TANGELO (Into his radio) Move out men, the war’s off.
The AMBASSADORS leave. The crowd applauds.
SUE
Well that resolves that, but we’re still in a fix.
The town’s a hot mess and our Mayor’s hit the bricks.
MARTHA
It’s true we’ll need guidance to put all things right.
We need someone who’s kind, and pragmatic, and bright,
courageous and clever and full of hot fizz,
to lead us to where our best future is hid.
We need someone enthused about all that’s to do.
That’s why I would like you to nominate Sue.
SUE
Who? You want me? But I’m no real Mayor!
BILLY
Out of everyone here, you’re the best one who cares
about every small thing in this big old dumb place.
MARTHA
More to the point, you respect creed and race.
You’ve always believed, without missing a beat,
that this town, in its heart, can stand tall on its feet.
GEORGE I think Sue is a terrific candidate. (He raises his hand)
The townsfolk do likewise, with a chorus of “Agreed”. SUE looks fit to bursting.
SUE
Martha, I’m couldn’t! Well, maybe I could…
But only so long as my Mayor-ing is good.
I haven’t much practice, and might be too brash…
I should keep my bike… Do I get a new sash?
But – I really don’t think I could fulfill that station…
unless Trent’s my Enforcer of Public Relations.
TRENT Me?
SUE I know he hasn’t been the most truthful civil servant, but Trent was the one who told me what the Mayor had been doing.
He stayed up all night with me, sticking the receipts back together.
TRENT I really just found the glue…
SUE
Folk of the Falls, if you do trust my stance,
will you help me to give Trent here a small second chance?
Sounds of acquiescence. SUE takes of her sash and drapes it over TRENT.
SUE
There you go, Trent. It’s a bit worse for wear,
but a sash just tarts up the best parts under there.
GEORGE
Martha?
MARTHA
Yes, George?
GEORGE
Could we please go home now?
My brain’s taken all of the strain it allows.
And after some tea, could we maybe talk…?
MARTHA (The letter) Did you mean this?
GEORGE Every word.
MARTHA Then yes, George, we probably can.
GEORGE I don’t expect things to be easy…
MARTHA I’d be concerned if they were.
SUE
All right then folks, we’ve a heap left to do
to make this place perfect for me and for you!
Trent!
TRENT
Yes Sue? I mean, you called for me, Mayor?
SUE
I want all this fruit sorted, each kiwi and pear.
We should celebrate and turn over a leaf.
(Peeling an orange) We needn’t fear words that are tasty to eat.
From now on we’ve no need for Word Ex-term’nators,
our problems are something to which we can cater.
And if we have problems, we won’t be afraid.
Why, with so many lemons, we’ll just make lemonade!
SUE and TRENT begin to clean up the town.
BILLY Where is the Word Exterminator, anyway? I never met him. Was he good?
GEORGE Not really. Hopefully he’s concussed with all that fruit falling about…
MARTHA George!
GEORGE
Truthfully, Martha, that’s just how I feel!
You can’t judge too harshly if what I feel’s real.
MARTHA
Still, there’s no likening him to a felon…
BILLY
I don’t know, Mum… Did you see the size of those watermelons?
They exit.
XXVII.
The WORD EXTERMINATOR is on the bridge out of town, strumming his banjo as he walks.
EXTERMINATOR
(Singing)
Since the world was set to turnin’
There’s a fire that’s been burnin’
Deep down inside this humble heart o’ ours.
It’s the need to speak and listen
To the words we think we’re missin’
From the mouths we use to fill up all our hours.
Like a beacon
Out in the dark
We must find the sounds that speak for us
And cling on to their spark.
How can we fight
Through those dark days
Unless we find the words that help us on our way?
Yes those dark days
Are here to stay
Unless we find the words that help us on our way…
He disappears into the distance.
THE END