Короткие пьесы - [55]
SARA: Just because you’re my “Father” doesn’t make you God! It’s my life!
(Pause)
DADDY(softer, serious): I love you… I want to be with you as long as I can..…
(He sits resigned)
Sit down. I have to tell you something right now! Sit.
SARA (sits): You are just going to twist things!
DADDY: I’ve told you that your mother and I met each other at Northeastern. I was 19, she was 19 too.
SARA: I know… I’ve heard many times.
DADDY(deep breath)… She got pregnant! We had no skills, no job, no money and we we were both in debt. We couldn’t possibly have a child… there was just one thing to do… Abortion.
We got married in our senior year. We got jobs. Saved money…
After the abortion your mom couldn’t get pregnant. You are adopted!
SARA: Wh…WHAT?
DADDY: Your mother and I adopted you when you were six months old!
SARA (aghast): You’re not my real father!…You’ve lied to me!
DADDY: It was not a lie…
SARA (taking and looking at her mothers picture): Mom was not my real mother? Why didn’t she say…sooner?
DADDY: Ever since we adopted you, your Mother and I have been thinking about how to tell you. All the time… I felt guilty; I said that about your looks. You are very pretty, like she was…
(Pause)
I still remember carrying you home that first day. You were so precious to us. So small… You started to cry. I held you close to me and you stopped crying, and you smiled at me.
SARA (shakily): You didn’t you tell me sooner?
DADDY: I tried a couple of times. I’m sorry… Now I feel better that you know at last…
SARA: Where‘s my mother?
DADDY: I don’t know where she is now…
SARA: Who is she?
DADDY: She was only 15 like you… She came from out of town to study here. She lived with her Aunt and Uncle. She alone decided to give you up…
SARA: Her parents?
DADDY: They know nothing about you… She never told them. They lived in another state…
SARA: I want to meet my mother… who is she?… Are we alike? She must be something like me. I will never know unless I meet her… (Pause) Who is my father?
DADDY: I don’t know. His name is not on your birth certificate…
SARA: What’s my name?
DADDY: Your mother gave you her last name… O’Brian… But we gave you ours… Thompson…
SARA (musingly): O’Brian!… Sara… I’m Sara O’Brian…
DADDY(kindly): No!… You are still Sara Thompson!
(Daddy hugs Sara)
THE END
BUSINESS TRIP TO PARIS
OLGA: 65. Michael’s daughter.
MICHAEL: 85 Olga’s blind father.
A hospital room. MICHAEL lies on a bed with an intravenous tree drip and oxygen tubes in his nose. He is barefoot.
OLGA walks in. She hugs and kisses MICHAEL, as best she can around his tubes.
OLGA. Papa! Oh, papa! I’m so relieved to see you!
MICHAEL (speaking carefully and slowly). Where am I?
OLGA. Memorial hospital…
MICHAEL. Why?
OLGA. You passed out. You fell, hit your head hard… We called the ambulance…How do you feel now, PAPA?
MICHAEL. You’ll not to believe me… I can see! I can see again!
OLGA. What do you see?
MICHAEL. Colors!
OLGA. Papa, you are in shock…
MICHAEL. I can see perfectly! No more white stick!
OLGA. The doctor told me that you have some problems with your mind and your heart
MICHAEL. Now I will be able to walk faster. I am normal! (pause) You don’t believe me?
OLGA. Papa, what you can see?
MICHAEL. I can read the Leningrad sign. It’s on the station platform. The trains are waiting… On the wall is the portrait of Brezhnev. My colleagues from the institute are all over there… They’re here to see me off… I’m going to Paris…
OLGA. To Paris?
MICHAEL. I’m presenting my paper on drawbridge construction…
OLGA. Papa, you’re, hallucinating!
MICHAEL. No! I am not… It’s real The French invited me to talk. I’ve told you how famous our bridges are… What is strange is that the Party Committee let me go… But I have to have a “Chaperone”… Dima… He is a Party Member
OLGA. Do you see me Papa?
MICHAEL. Well, how can I see you if you are standing in back me? (Suddenly,he raises up and extends his right hand) Hello… hello! Vasiley Ivanovich, I’m so pleased… Have you seen Dmitry my fellow traveler?
OLGA. Papa, the nurse told me, you shouldn’t sit up, even if you felt like it.. Just try to snooze a little…
MICHAEL (excitedly). I can’t sleep… I’m preparing for a business trip… (He rocks back to sit up. He looks around the room) Why isn’t she here? She said she’d come to say goodbye… We agreed…
OLGA. Who?
MICHAEL. Galya…
OLGA. Galya, who?
MICHAEL. Galya…You talked with her for a long time at our laboratory reception last spring…
OLGA. Oh, I remember her… She was so enthusiastic her work… Papa, the doctor said you haven’t slept since you arrived here… You must lay back and sleep…
MICHAEL. I’ll rest when I find Galya… It’s really important, I have to talk. With her…
OLGA. And then you will rest?
MICHAEL. When she comes I’ll rest… This is my final dissuasion…
OLGA. Do you promise me to rest then?
MICHAEL. Yes, I do…
OLGA. OK…
(Long Pause. OLGA starts gently talking as if she were Galya. She change her voice deeper and sexier)
Michail Mironovich! Hello, hello!It’s me… Galya. At last I found you! They changed your train track at the last minute. How are you?