10: Not to test the prophet unduly
The Book of Knowledge
Fundamentals of Torah
Not to test the prophet unduly (Deu 6:16)
1
a group of people in a bunker
they are all huddled at the door
do you have any/ water?
do you know what day/ it is?
what is it like outside? is it like/ really really sad or is it like not the worst?
i remember an orchard on 8th Street/ is it still there?
do you even know what an orchard/ is?
of course he/ would know-
but/ what if he’s really young maybe he wouldn’t remember
silence
for a moment they listen at the door to the person on the other side
we can hear someone speaking through the door
but it’s impossible to make out what they’re saying
are there still plums/ i remember plums
are there still people out there/ anyone besides you?
Veronika do you know a Veronika she used to live around/ here i’ve wondered-
do you know/ my mother?
have you come to save us?
who would come/ to save us?
do you have any ballet slippers? i/ was a dancer
enough with that you weren’t a professional or anything
i had auditions
is winter back? i miss winter
do you remember winter? do you remember plums?
how many dead/ children did you walk past?
are the dogs/ and the hyenas still fighting?
are the dogs still eating the eyeballs of the children?
are there still soldiers? do you remember/ soldiers?
could the soldiers get us plums?
they listen at the door
again the visitor’s words are muffled
do you have any candy? do you have any CDs?
do you know/ what year it is?
/do you know when we can go home?
are you wicked? you’ll have to tell us/ if you’re wicked legally you have to say-
how many eyes do you have? how/ many limbs? one mouth or two?
could i fuck you? no one here/ will let me fuck them in here
your dick is weird
your dick is weird
if you have two mouths you could talk with one and fuck/ with the other
could you tell me if i’m pretty?/ there are no mirrors and no one will say
can you play video games with me?/ do you have video games with you?
can you hold me? my mother used/ to hold me?
can you wash my hair? Veronika used/ to wash my hair
do you think you could love us? we could love you if you’d let us i think
they listen again
another muffled response
do you know if we’re dead? i’m worried we are i wake up every morning and think this isn’t what waking up used to feel like waking up used to feel like small pin pricks all over and going to sleep used to feel like sinking into a warm bath now my eyes open and close open and close and i can’t tell the difference between asleep and awake that’s dead right isn’t that dead? has the whole world died or just us? are you dead? if you’re alive can you tell me about it tell me about alive tell me about it so i can remember tell me about it so maybe i can feel like i’m alive again? did anyone i love live? i don’t know if it’s better they did did the trees burn down i hope the trees burned down did all the cities flood i hope they did did all the crops fail did all the mothers starve did all gold get melted down and fed to the poor did the poor rise up who won the battle do you know whose side we’re on do you know if we’re winning do you know what happens if the whole world burns do we burn with it or being already dead does that not matter are there any ghosts out there is it just the ghosts of those who died horrifically or is the whole world littered with spirits billions and billions from the beginning of humankind and not just us but the hyenas and the spiders and ferns and the fleas and the amoeba and the giraffes are there so many ghosts of so many creatures that lived that they’ve crowded out the living do you have any plums?
the listen at the door
no response
2
the other side of the door
a NAKED MAN is knocking as best he can
he knocks and knocks albeit weakly
he is exhausted and filthy
we can hear the muffled cacophony of the group on the other side
the NAKED MAN periodically interjects with the following
NAKED MAN
help
do you have
i need
could you
i’ll never
i’d give
can you
if you’re able
maybe you
i have
please
any water?
he listens at the door
can’t make out the muffled sounds
nobody opens the door
he collapses to the floor
END OF PLAY