Our Walk Through The World by Ross Howard

Author:Ross Howard
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2015-06-02T00:00:00+00:00

Relinquish

CHARACTERS

YOUNG WOMAN

MOTHER

SON

RELINQUISH

(Lights up on YOUNG WOMAN who takes a notebook from her apron. She approaches SON and MOTHER. SON and MOTHER each wear a brown paper bag on their head, with holes cut out for their eyes and mouth.)

YOUNG WOMAN. Can I get you guys anything?

(No response. YOUNG WOMAN shrugs and exits.)

SON. I hope you don’t feel stupid.

MOTHER. Not at all. Why would I feel stupid?

SON. You have a brown paper bag on your head.

MOTHER. You do too. Do you feel stupid?

SON. A little. But you understand, right?

MOTHER. I think so.

SON. I just want it to be total communication. Not be distracted by faces. No smiling, or crying. Just talking.

MOTHER. Right.

SON. And it was easy to spot you in the crowd.

MOTHER. Likewise. I knew it was you as soon as you walked in.

SON. I hope you didn’t get offended that I didn’t shake your hand or anything.

MOTHER. No.

SON. And I think a hug would have been a little much.

MOTHER. You’re the boss.

SON. Is there anything you want to ask me?

MOTHER. What did you have for breakfast today?

SON. Breakfast?

MOTHER. Yes. I want to know what you eat.

SON. I skipped breakfast. I haven’t been able to eat properly since we arranged to meet.

MOTHER. Me neither. Are you glad you’re here?

SON. I don’t know how I feel. Not really.

MOTHER. I’m interested to know why—

SON. It’s been a tough year.

MOTHER. I’m sorry.

SON. My wife left me. I loved her.

MOTHER. It’s her loss, I’m sure.

SON. No, it’s mine. She’s very happy. He’s a trampolinist.

MOTHER. Is that a career with prospects?

SON. That’s what I asked my wife.

MOTHER. What did she say?

SON. She said that it had its highs and its lows. The joke being that a trampolinist jumps up and down.

MOTHER. Yes.

SON. I would have laughed had I not felt I was dying at the time.

(Silence)

MOTHER. And what is it you do?

SON. I’m a cartographer. Maps.

MOTHER. Right.

(Silence)

MOTHER. I’m a teacher.

SON. I know. That’s how I found out you still live here. I was flicking through a programme at a school carnival and saw your name. I knew it was you.

MOTHER. At the school carnival? I was judging the egg and spoon. Were you there?

SON. No. My wife wanted to watch the trampolining.

MOTHER. I heard we won’t be doing that event next year.

(Pause)

Do you have future plans?

SON. I’m thinking of going to Vietnam.

MOTHER. My husband’s American and was in Vietnam in the early seventies. He didn’t like it.

SON. A lot of the country is still unmapped. It’s the Tomb of Tutankhamen in cartographical circles. If I like

what I see I may settle there.

MOTHER. What was your family like?

SON. My mother was a wonderful woman.

MOTHER. Good. Was?

SON. She’s been dead a while. She took a child that wasn’t hers and she loved me as if I was her own.

(Pause)

Chalk and cheese.

(Silence)

MOTHER. Do you hate me?

SON. Did you have any more children?

MOTHER. I have two.

SON. You let them stay with you, then?

MOTHER. It was a different time. I was better prepared.

SON. Tell me about them.

MOTHER. Well they’re disappointments.

SON. What do they do?

MOTHER.

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