88: Not to do prohibited labor on the seventh day

The Book of Seasons
Laws of the Sabbath
Not to do prohibited labor on the seventh day (Ex. 20:10)

            ANN-MARIE waiting for a bus

            LADY WITH DARK SHADES enters

            silence

ANN-MARIE
the bus is late
if you were
waiting for the
well it’s
it’s late
            silence
actually it’s
it’s over an hour late and
the buses are supposed to come every hour so
we’re now two buses behind
            silence
i mean to say we’re at least two buses behind
i’ve only been waiting here just over an hour so
possibly we’re more than a few buses behind
            silence
maybe there’s no more buses

LADY WITH DARK SHADES
everything that must be will come to be eventually

            silence

ANN-MARIE
yeah totally
            silence
there’s another bus you can take
down the road and one block over
it’s a slower route but if you wanted an alternative

LADY WITH DARK SHADES
and you?

ANN-MARIE
i
uhhh
have committed to this post

LADY WITH DARK SHADES
one should eschew all posts in life
one should live postless
or better yet
unposted

ANN-MARIE
okay
            silence
the sun is going down
isn’t it difficult to see?

LADY WITH DARK SHADES
why?

ANN-MARIE
your sunglasses

LADY WITH DARK SHADES
yes
i do have sunglasses

            silence

ANN-MARIE
and isn’t it difficult to see with them on?

LADY WITH DARK SHADES
a woman only has so many recourses to privacy these days

ANN-MARIE
i didn’t ask for your name and address
i just wondered if your sunglasses made it difficult to see

LADY WITH DARK SHADES
if i remove my sunglasses you might as well know my name and address

ANN-MARIE
are they tattooed on your eyeballs?

LADY WITH DARK SHADES
possibly

ANN-MARIE
excuse me?

LADY WITH DARK SHADES
possibly they are
possibly my name and address are tattooed on my eyeballs
stitched into my retina
wouldn’t be the worst way to keep one’s information orderly these days

            silence

ANN-MARIE
right but
then you’d probably pierce your eyeballs
they’d bleed out
and you’d go blind

LADY WITH DARK SHADES
i suppose one would need a very fine needle

            silence

ANN MARIE
you don’t really have your name and address tattooed on your eyeballs right?
            silence
            the sun sets
okay now there’s no way you can see

LADY WITH DARK SHADES
i see enough
for example
your attractive hands
i see those very plainly
also your lips
i see those as well

            silence

ANN-MARIE
who are you?

LADY WITH DARK SHADES
a woman waiting for a bus

ANN-MARIE
so am i

LADY WITH DARK SHADES
possibly we’re the same woman then
maybe there’s only one of us here

ANN-MARIE
which would mean you’re hitting on yourself

LADY WITH DARK SHADES
luckily i find myself very attractive
don’t you?

ANN-MARIE
find myself very attractive?

LADY WITH DARK SHADES
find me very attractive?
even if i’m blind i know what i look like

ANN-MARIE
are you blind?

LADY WITH DARK SHADES
are you?

ANN-MARIE
trying not to be

LADY WITH DARK SHADES
so do you find me attractive?

            silence

ANN-MARIE
it’s Friday night

LADY WITH DARK SHADES
i lost track

ANN-MARIE
it’s Friday night and the sun is down

LADY WITH DARK SHADES
and?

ANN-MARIE
and
it’s Shabbat

LADY WITH DARK SHADES
Shabbat?

ANN-MARIE
the Jewish Sabbath
            silence
i don’t believe there’s anything on your eyes
i think you’re just melodramatic

LADY WITH DARK SHADES
i have to keep my address somewhere

ANN-MARIE
buy a notepad

LADY WITH DARK SHADES
i keep my address tattooed on my eyes
my birthdate is stitched into my left shoulder blade
in permanent marker i have recorded my medical history on the soles of my feet
i keep my married name under my left breast
and my maiden name under my right breast
carved into my lower back is my hometown
there’s a scar behind my ears bearing my parents’ names
and on the underside of my tongue is my name
my body is stained with records

ANN-MARIE
why?

LADY WITH DARK SHADES
with the way memory slips these days
i had no other way to keep myself intact

ANN-MARIE
i don’t believe you

LADY WITH DARK SHADES
remove my sunglasses then

            a moment where ANN-MARIE considers

            she chooses not to do anything

ANN-MARIE
on Shabbat
on Friday evening
i lit the candles
every Friday night
for years now

LADY WITH DARK SHADES
even during the war?
            silence
even during the war?
you lit the candles every night?

            silence

ANN-MARIE
there was no war

LADY WITH DARK SHADES
yes there was
you know there was

ANN-MARIE
there was no war
that’s what we say now
there was no war

LADY WITH DARK SHADES
it’s Friday night
light your candles

ANN-MARIE
how do you know about the war?

LADY WITH DARK SHADES
everybody does

ANN-MARIE
no they don’t

LADY WITH DARK SHADES
light your candles

ANN-MARIE
i don’t have any

            silence

            LADY WITH DARK SHADES grabs two sticks off the ground

            and pulls out a lighter

LADY WITH DARK SHADES
we’ll call these candlesticks

ANN-MARIE
but they aren’t

LADY WITH DARK SHADES
who says?
my body is now a record book
they say instead of a war there was no war
who says these sticks aren’t now candles?
go on

            silence

            ANN-MARIE lights the sticks

ANN-MARIE
baruch atah Adonai
eloheinu melech haolam
asher kid'shanu b'mitzvotav
v'tzivanu l'hadlik ner
shel Shabbat

            they watch the sticks burn

LADY WITH DARK SHADES
have you heard the news?
new law passed
they’re dividing up the days of the week by color
Mondays through Thursdays are blue
Fridays and Saturdays are orange
Sundays are green
certain topics go with certain colors
for example the weather is a blue topic
corruption is a green topic
tax reform an orange topic
you can only discuss the topics whose color correlates with the color of the day
if it’s an orange day no blue topics

ANN-MARIE
what can we talk about today?

LADY WITH DARK SHADES
we can talk about your hands and where I’d like them

            silence

            ANN-MARIE touches LADY WITH DARK SHADES’ thigh

ANN-MARIE
like this?

LADY WITH DARK SHADES
yes
            silence
my husband doesn’t know i know
but at night i see him with the bodies
he loads them into his truck and drives them out
where he brings them i don’t know
whether they’re alive i don’t know
but i see them
i shouldn’t discuss the bodies
they don’t have a color
they don’t have a day

ANN-MARIE
everything we fought for
everything is just gone

LADY WITH DARK SHADES
tell me what it was like back then?
remind me i can barely remember

ANN-MARIE
i
don’t
umm…
it’s all
…
i can’t
…
bits of the mind are sloughing off

LADY WITH DARK SHADES
i know

ANN-MARIE
i can’t…

            silence

LADY WITH DARK SHADES
Ann-Marie?

ANN-MARIE
you know my name?

LADY WITH DARK SHADES
there are many of us
who remember the war
it’s not just you
it’s not just me

ANN-MARIE
what are you talking about?

            LADY WITH DARK SHADES takes off her coat and drops it

            she is wearing a sleeveless top

            we can see writing scrawled over her arms

LADY WITH DARK SHADES
start taking notes somewhere they can’t get you
start taking them now
right now

            LADY WITH DARK SHADES hands ANN-MARIE a permanent marker

ANN-MARIE
i can’t
it’s
it’s
…
i’m not allowed to work
until Shabbat is over

LADY WITH DARK SHADES
then begin assembling it in your mind
and tomorrow commence with writing it down
use your rest wisely
your bus is here

            LADY WITH DARK SHADES grabs her coat and exits

            ANN-MARIE’s bus arrives

            ANN-MARIE lets the door open

            doesn’t board

            the bus drives away

            ANN-MARIE sits

            END OF PLAY