07:

Constellations/ Polaris
by Joseph Frost

a play written for The 31 Plays in 31 Days Project

Draft August 07, 2013

Attic Scripts, 2013 4550 Normandy Dr Jackson, MS 39206 atticscripts@gmail.com

Two men and a woman. A cushioned chair. The woman seated. Carl looks up into the sky. Its there. Im certain it is. The North Star. Polaris. Yes. HAROLD CARL HAROLD CARL HAROLD

CARL Ive never been one for stars. I know. HAROLD

Constellations.

Harold turns to look at Blanche. Carl notices. CARL What... what do you think of her? (beat) Harold. I dont think of her. Oh? Shes yours, Carl. Ok. All right. Ok. Well then. HAROLD CARL HAROLD CARL HAROLD (beat) (beat)

2. CARL HAROLD CARL HAROLD CARL HAROLD CARL A moment. Im confused, Carl. HAROLD

Yes. Carl. Yes.

Well then.

I said shes yours. I heard you. Ive admitted it. Yes. Thanks.

CARL You shouldnt be. I know full well shes mine. think that was in doubt? I thought... You didnt. Come on. HAROLD CARL Really? HAROLD

Did you

Harold.

Then whyve I come?

CARL Im not sure why youve come, but I know why Ive called you here. Ok. HAROLD

CARL Ive called you here, Harold, my friend... (beat) I was just thinking. I was just thinking about our freshmen year. At uni. HAROLD

3. CARL Third floor. HAROLD

Yes.

In the Templeton.

The vine bet. Yes.

CARL Exactly right. The vine bet. (beat) Somehow I knew youd remember. Nearly broke my ankle. I did. HAROLD CARL

HAROLD Thats how I know I nearly broke my ankle. If Id have fallen like you, I would have broken my ankle. The men laugh. Four days in hospital. Six weeks. It was. CARL Crutches for weeks. HAROLD

CARL Youre correct. Six weeks. (beat) You remember who made the bet? Who it was bet whom? Whose idea. Yes. I havent a clue. No? HAROLD CARL HAROLD CARL

HAROLD Not the faintest. I dont think it made much difference to me one way or the other. CARL Then you dont remember who won.

4. HAROLD Wouldnt that be the man on crutches six weeks? A moment. CARL I bought a car recently. A car? Recently. HAROLD CARL

The bet?

HAROLD You didnt tell me you were looking for a car. I wasnt. It found me. CARL HAROLD CARL

Figuratively, I hope. Indeed.

HAROLD Why do you need a new car? I dont. CARL

HAROLD Is it green? I saw a green car parked out front when I came in. Gorgeous. Sleek. Just looking at it in the drive, it felt powerful. Can imagine taking the convertible top down and giving it a spin, ocean side. Open it up and let it take you where it wants to go. Can you. CARL

HAROLD Proven I already have, wouldnt you say? A moment. CARL I bought it from a man, a casual looking fellow down the way. He told me he was in a bad way, having a tough time. Said he needed my help. Did he. HAROLD

5. CARL He came to me. Like a man does. Man to man, he said, I... am a man in need. God knows Ive been that man in my time. Its true. HAROLD

CARL Thank heavens Im not that man today. Thats right. HAROLD

CARL And I do, Harold. I do. (beat) But I still remember what it is to have that need. have something. Something with which to bargain. Bargaining chip, yes. Exactly. Indeed yes. HAROLD CARL A chip. A moment. HAROLD So you bought his car to help him. Who? The man. What man? CARL HAROLD CARL

And to

HAROLD The man with the green car. Green car? CARL No, the green car in the front is

(beat) Oh, no. The green car. not my car. (beat) My car is black.

Harold moves toward the chair. Carl turns his back.

6. Blanche looks to Harold. BLANCHE Dont tell me about him. Talk to me of us. HAROLD Ive told you, its not easy for me. BLANCHE Ive left him a hundred times. Ill do it a hundred more. Dont tell me about difficulties. Blanche... HAROLD

BLANCHE Since it means nothing to you, Ill tell you about Olivia. Dont. HAROLD

BLANCHE She wakes up midnights each night. I know this because Ive caught her staring out her dormer window, looking for Orions belt. Honestly. Shes searching so hard and its nothing but three white dots in a field of other white dots that somehow she has the idea that if she can find that series, that collection of lights, that she will have her father home again. (beat) That poor little ignorant. (beat) You should be ashamed. I am. HAROLD

BLANCHE Telling her that story only made her believe. (beat) Tell me you understand. HAROLD I do not admit anything. BLANCHE She loves her father, Harold. Loves him. She doesnt even know him. How ridiculous is that? She loves that shining bastard like he was a knight in armor, jousting dragons to rescue her from the wicked tower window. This is because of your stories. HAROLD They were just bedtime stories.

7. BLANCHE Saying just doesnt minimize anything. Just bedtime stories. Just wartime atrocities. Just genocide. Just giving a little girl the hope that her father is even a portion of a man. (beat) They were. Bedtime stories. (beat) Youve spilled the milk, Harold. Dont cry. Put an end to it. HAROLD I cant unpour the milk. You will. BLANCHE

(beat) The how is yours. Blanche rises from the chair, and crosses behind it. Harold crosses away. Carl sits in the chair. CARL And it was more than forty minutes waiting before he returned. Forty minutes. Can you believe it? I can, actually. before. BLANCHE Ive waited forty-five minutes there

CARL Appalling. Customer care is a number one priority in good business. Its bedrock. The customer must be cared for. Find out what the customer needs and care for that need in all haste. Capitalism depends on it. Blanche plays with Carls hair. BLANCHE Im sure they will improve, Carl. Improve? How? Its not worth fussing.

CARL How do you know they will improve? BLANCHE Theyve gone from forty-five minute wait CARL

They already have. to forty.

Im serious, Blanche.

8. BLANCHE So it says on your business cards. (beat) Im trying to cheer you, dear. CARL Find out what the customer needs. BLANCHE (snide) Capitalism depends on it. A moment. Carl stands. BLANCHE (CONTD) Thats not what I-- hold on... It isnt what you-CARL

Carl Ellington, Serious.

BLANCHE Wait a minute, please wait. (half beat) Its happening. Carl stops. After the Fall. It isnt. Turns.

BLANCHE (CONTD) CARL She nods. stomach. Puts her hand on her

I never meant to-You didnt.

BLANCHE CARL

BLANCHE Awfully inconvenient for me, if you think about it. Is it? CARL

BLANCHE I was getting a foothold. A moment.

9. CARL BLANCHE That Ive planned.

We agreed. I know.

(beat) This isnt something Im doing to you. I... we both tried not to. CARL I wasnt accusing you of-You were. Its ok. BLANCHE Even if you werent. (beat) I was too. CARL

You shouldnt.

BLANCHE Ive been accusing myself of many things in the past few days. Blanche... CARL

BLANCHE Oh, the things Ive been thinking... Dont. Too late. CARL BLANCHE A moment. CARL You couldnt have waited. For what, Carl? BLANCHE

CARL I could have at least help you pack your things. You knew. BLANCHE

CARL You took the painting in the hall.

10. BLANCHE

The Millicent.

(beat) You hate that painting. But it was gone. going to stay. No. CARL Youd never have taken it down if you were BLANCHE A moment. Blanche turns, and immediately is behind Harold. She leans in and embraces him from behind. HAROLD He said hed never take you back? Never was said. Its not true. It is. You cant believe that. I can. Blanche... BLANCHE HAROLD BLANCHE HAROLD BLANCHE HAROLD

I would never.

BLANCHE You didnt see his face, Harold. Not like that. No. He was furious. Wouldnt you be? (beat) Tell me. HAROLD BLANCHE HAROLD

Youve never seen his face.

11. BLANCHE

Furious... no.

HAROLD You never loved him as he did you. I never did. Of course... Whats that? He was so... broken. As one would be. Its funny. BLANCHE (beat) HAROLD BLANCHE HAROLD BLANCHE

(beat) I never thought much of it, I never expected to have the same feeling he had for me. I thought it was simply me - that those feelings were off the table for me. Not in my stars. And somehow. Somehow I must have known. I must have always assumed he would be broken, furious, in just that way. And it was that image - the image I had assumed until today it was realized - that image of the look in his eyes... which kept me from loving him. She pulls back from Harold, hands still on his back. She stares at her hands on his back. And now? HAROLD She moves her hands to her stomach. Now? BLANCHE

(beat) Now, Id like to learn love. She drops her hands as Harold turns to her. Blanche. Harold. HAROLD BLANCHE

12. She holds her hands up to hold his face. He steps toward her. Slight hesitation. Before he steps past her and toward Carl in the chair. CARL She was telling me the greatest story this morning. Blanche? Indeed. Oh? HAROLD CARL HAROLD Blanche turns. He exaggerates. No, it was. BLANCHE

CARL Tell Harold. He would appreciate it. HAROLD Lets say that. CARL BLANCHE

I would try, at least. Tell it, please. Its nothing. Modesty.

CARL Her greatest virtue. HAROLD CARL

One of many, Im told. Who said that?

HAROLD Why, you did, of course.

13. CARL Sounds like me. (beat) Blanche, please tell him. Id rather not beg, but I will. Be my guest. She doesnt need to-Sugar on top. BLANCHE HAROLD CARL

BLANCHE All right. But please remember that while I am telling this story, and indeed I previously lived it, if you find it dull, it was Carl made me repeat it. So stipulated. CARL

HAROLD Youll take the blame for dull? I do every time. Certainly. Madam? CARL HAROLD (beat) A moment. BLANCHE I was able to leave work this morning at half ten. Gerry Talbot got sick in the main hall and the cleaning crews were called in to clean. As they do. CARL

BLANCHE Am I telling this or you? CARL I wanted you to tell the other part. The kid in the cart. BLANCHE Yes, but to understand the reason I was at the market, he needs to know I was off work at half ten on a Tuesday. I dont just leave work to go to market at half ten every Tuesday.

14. CARL But thats not the part thats wonderful. BLANCHE Am I telling this story? CARL I wish you were, my dear. BLANCHE (to Harold) So since I had some time this morning, and I was near the market downtown, I decided to do some shopping. Save myself some time later in the week. For what, Im not sure, but to have the time later for something unexpected is... well, its better to not have to lose a chance, lets say. A chance? For? HAROLD

BLANCHE One rarely knows, Harold. CARL Tell him about the sample tray. BLANCHE At the end of the first aisle, there was a sample tray. Biscuits. CARL Not the biscuits... the... (rises from chair) Forget it. (to Harold) Just forget it. Shes doing this on purpose to torture me. BLANCHE Im just telling the story, Carl. CARL Youre not. Just. Telling the story. Blanche. (to Harold) There was a kid in the store. Sitting up in the seat of the cart. All alone in the seat of the cart. No mother, no father, no one in that aisle, the next one, the previous. All alone. A kid in a cart seat, with a basket of box cereal. Just sitting and waving little light-up shoes back and forth and back and forth. The cart moving ever so slightly with each kick. Can you believe it? All alone with a basket of box cereal kicking away. (beat) And Blanche looks at the kid, and the kid says... (MORE)

15. (beat) The kid says... CARL (CONT'D)

BLANCHE I dont like this cereal. But I like the prizes. Big smile from Carl. Blanche and Harold just look at Carl. CARL I dont like this cereal. (beat) But I like the prizes. A moment. Carls smile fades. Blanche sits in the chair. HAROLD Ive come to be honest with you. Indeed? CARL Well, thank you. HAROLD

I think I owe you that.

CARL Nonsense, Harold. Please. Dont think you owe me anything. I couldnt bear thinking you thought that. Honestly. (beat) Lie to me. (beat) Thats what you owe me. A moment. Im leaving. Youre leaving. Yes. Now? Soon. HAROLD CARL HAROLD CARL HAROLD

16. CARL Youre leaving soon, and youre just telling me now. Yes. HAROLD

CARL And when were you going to tell me about this? Now. HAROLD

CARL I see. This is the appointed time. and now was the time-Im going away. Ah. HAROLD For good.

You thought this through

For good, you say?

CARL For whose good? HAROLD

Mine?

Carl.

(beat) You asked me to lie to you. I certainly did. CARL

HAROLD Can I be honest for a moment? No. Its for Olivia. Olivia? My Olivia? CARL HAROLD CARL A moment. Yes. Funny you mention her. Midnight. HAROLD CARL She woke me last night. HAROLD

It was late.

17. CARL A

Yes.

(beat) Seems she wanted to show me something in the sky. constellation. Or part of it anyway. Orions belt. The Dipper. Little? Or Big? HAROLD CARL HAROLD

Both, in fact.

CARL Seven stars in each.

HAROLD You know... you know that theyre also called Big and Little Bear. Mother and child, yes. CARL A moment. Harold turns and takes a step away. CARL (CONTD) Olivia... she pointed out that the Little one, the dipper, the bear, the child. Its the little one that contains Polaris. (beat) The North Star. (beat) That was something... that was something I didnt know. Harold goes further away. They hold for a long moment. Lights dim to three spots, illuminating Carl, Harold and Blanche. The lights then go out. End.