Afterimage (3 page)

* * *

The flash of photography.

THERESA (fourteen) and JEROME (twelve) stand still and silent centre, JEROME with his eyes closed. They share their mother’s red hair, her freckles.

Darkness, another flash. We see LISE and WINSTON have joined the children, a nice family tableau.

Chorus (Leonard):
A fine picture indeed.

The tableau breaks. WINSTON is upset.

Winston:
Jerome?

Chorus (Maggie):
Mr. and Mrs. Winston Evans.

Winston:
I’m speaking to you.

Chorus (Maggie):
Cursed. Just like his wife.

Winston:
What did they say?

Jerome:
Nothing.

Chorus (Maggie):
A cruelty it was, to pass it on.

Winston:
They said nothing? That true, Theresa?

Theresa:
Nothing new.

Chorus (Maggie):
The children at school were like the rest of us. Looking at the Evans kids was looking at Lise and Winston.

Winston:
Theresa, look at me.

Chorus (Maggie):
Like looking at a dead animal.

Winston:
You don’t let people talk to you that way.

Lise:
Winston.

Winston:
No, they don’t, Lise.

Lise:
Just kids being kids.

Jerome:
They were big, Dad, but not as big as you.

Winston:
I’m going to talk to the principal.

Lise:
Kids, Winston. All kids get teased, why should our own be any different?

Jerome:
It was funny.

Winston:
Well, I don’t think it’s funny.

Chorus (Maggie):
Winston understood the cruelty of some children. He had been like it himself before the tables had turned.

Winston:
Tell me what happened.

Theresa:
Dad.

Winston:
You can tell me, or the principal can.

Beat. The children stare at the floor. JEROME takes a breath and goes to speak, but THERESA gives him a jab and he stops.

I’m waiting.

Jerome:
And so were we, that’s all.

THERESA sighs.

Winston:
You were told to come straight home.

Theresa:
I know.

Jerome:
And told to come home together.

Theresa:
We were in the playground.

They start to tell the story. THERESA looks out.

Jerome:
What is it?

Theresa:
A storm.

Jerome:
Sun splitting the rocks.

Theresa:
For now. But the wind is changing.

JEROME, eyes closed, looks up, smiles.

Jerome:
Looking through eyes closed. I can see you. One, two, three, four… seven birds on a wire.

Theresa:
One for sorrow, two for joy. Three for a girl, four for a boy.

Jerome:
And then a voice from behind us.

Theresa:
Familiar.

Jerome:
Mean.

Winston:
Those boys.

Theresa:
You know what my mother says about when you make a face like that and the wind changes?

Jerome:
Supposed to stay like it forever.

Theresa:
Too late. These two were always ugly.

Winston:
They said that to you?

Jerome:
(looking back up)
Seven birds on a wire.

Lise:
Winston.

Winston:
Why on earth are kids so cruel?

Theresa:
(looks up where JEROME looks)
Seven for a secret that can never be told.

Jerome:
All of us then, Theresa and me…

Theresa:
And two boys big as bears.

Jerome:
Looking up to seven birds on a wire.

Theresa:
He’s right, they said.

Jerome:
And I was too.

Theresa:
Seven. How does he do that?

Jerome:
Squinting through his eyes, b’y.

Theresa:
There’s no magic here in these two.

Jerome:
I wasn’t squinting. But they wouldn’t believe that.

Theresa:
My mother says Lise Evans can tell you when you’re gonna die.

Jerome:
She doesn’t tell people the bad stuff.

Theresa:
She says people with red hair, left-handed, they’re all descendants of the devil.

Jerome:
I don’t have no horns.

Lise:
Same as everything else, children. Fear turns you ugly.

Theresa:
Nothing to be scared of here, I said.

Lise:
Good for you.

Theresa:
Bang a rock and we’d still feel it.

Jerome:
So they did.

Winston:
They threw rocks?

Jerome:
Just one.

Theresa:
Good aim though.

She is hit.

Jerome:
Theresa!

Chorus (Maggie):
Those children. Like all children.

Jerome:
Careful.

Chorus (Maggie):
Like everyone in town.

Jerome:
Careful not to touch ’em, they said.

Theresa:
It’s okay. The rock didn’t hurt.

Chorus (Maggie):
If a hand should brush an arm. Or even graze clothing.

Theresa:
Strong I am. Like my father.

Jerome:
My dad could take your dad.

Theresa:
That’s what they said.

Jerome:
If the sight of your dad didn’t make him sick.

Lise:
Jerome, enough.

Jerome:
Winston Evans, the hamburger man.

Lise:
Enough I said.

Winston:
What else?

Lise:
Winston.

Winston:
What else?

Beat.

Theresa?

Theresa:
Evans family freak show.

Have people over for dinner, they charge admission.

There is a silence.

Winston:
This has an end. I’d like to hear it.

Theresa:
It was my fault. I was stupid.

Lise:
Don’t say that, please.

Jerome:
You weren’t stupid.

Theresa:
I should have known better.

Jerome:
You just saw something.

She does. She moves to LISE.

Chorus (Maggie):
All the kids. Everyone. Always.

THERESA gently touches her mother’s cheek.

Careful not to come into contact.

Silence as she looks at her finger. She shows them.

Theresa:
A lash. Make a wish.

Jerome:
Just like that, it was.

Winston:
Then?

Jerome:
Then.

Theresa:
Then a whisper snaking through.

Jerome:
You got the Evans touch.

Theresa:
You got the Evans touch.

Winston:
What?

Theresa:
Silent.

Jerome:
And invisible.

Winston:
What?

Theresa:
The Evans touch.

LISE stands, unnoticed by the family, lost in her own memory, encounters with the town. Memories of her own spark of the Evans touch gets passed.

Folding a sheet with MAGGIE at the hospital. They touch hands. Spark.

Chorus (Maggie):
No way to rid yourself.

Jerome:
Got to pass it on.

Winston:
What’s that?

Theresa:
Pass it on, they said.

Winston:
What is that?

Snatching LEONARD’s handkerchief from his pocket. He recoils. Spark.

Chorus (Leonard):
Like a germ.

Jerome:
Spreads. Moving through the schoolyard.

Theresa:
Hand to hand.

Jerome:
It’s special. You got to be an Evans to carry it.

Touching CONNIE’s belly in the town square. She is shocked. Spark.

Chorus (Connie):
A living thing itself.

Chorus (Maggie):
Indiscriminate.

Chorus (Leonard):
A will of its own.

Lise:
Enough!

Enough.

Please.

WINSTON looks at her.

Winston:
(looking at LISE)
Are you hearing this? You got to be an Evans to carry it.

Jerome:
Yeah.

Theresa:
Any Evans at all.

Jerome:
Except for Leo.

LEO has entered the room, standing with his red cap in his hand, looking at the family. LISE reaches out to him, touches his shoulder, and does not get a spark.

Winston:
I’m hearing the story here.

LEO shrugs.

Your brother and sister were waiting for you.

Theresa:
Dad.

Winston:
Waiting for you and getting hit by rocks.

Theresa:
I didn’t say that, Leo.

Chorus (Connie):
The middle child.

Winston:
Leo?

Chorus (Connie):
Quiet.

Winston:
Leo, I’m talking to you.

Leo:
Sorry.

Chorus (Connie):
Withdrawn.

Leo:
I’m sorry.

Chorus (Connie):
Living on the fringe of the family, like a leper outside a city in the Bible.

Lise:
Supper’s getting cold. Back to the table, please.

Winston:
Where were you?

Theresa:
Leo came then, and they backed off. Like the gulls when the wind picks up.

He didn’t even hear what they said.

Leo:
Yes I did.

Lise:
Please. Like a family. Come now.

Jerome:
Why don’t Leo carry it? The Evans touch.

Lise:
Jerome, enough.

Jerome:
I’m just saying.

Leo:
I don’t know.

Theresa:
Because of your brown hair.

Leo:
Shut up.

Theresa:
Poor Leo, they said.

Jerome:
The boys big as bears.

Theresa:
Poor Leo, having to sit to supper with the likes of that.

Leo:
Shut up!

Theresa:
Well, that’s what they said.

Lise:
Enough, please. Sit and eat. Winston.

Winston:
Listen to your mother.

The family begin to silently sit.

Silence. LEO watches his siblings across the table. Picks up his fork.

Lise:
Dig in Theresa, Jerome. It won’t chew itself.

Chorus (Connie):
Brother and sister, they had their mother’s red hair, freckles. Left-handed.

LEO spills food on himself.

Lise:
Leo, eat properly, please.

LEO switches his fork back to his right hand.

I have a person coming after supper. I trust I can leave the dishes?

THERESA nods.

Jerome:
Leo can’t. He’s playing ball.

Leo:
I can do the dishes.

Jerome:
He’s playing ball with those boys.

Leo:
Jerome, you weren’t listening again. I can do the dishes.

Winston:
You know those kids?

LEO shrugs.

Theresa:
They just asked him to play.

Leo:
I’m not going. I never have.

Theresa:
It’s because your hair is brown. That’s all.

Lise:
Hat off at the dinner table, please.

LEO doesn’t take it off.

Winston:
Leo, your mother asked you to take off your hat.

He removes his red hat.

Lise:
Theresa, you didn’t eat all of your supper.

Theresa:
I’m not hungry.

Winston:
You were made a meal, you should eat.

Theresa:
I had a big lunch, and late.

Lise:
You didn’t eat lunch.

Winston:
You should know better than to lie to your mother.

Lise:
You gave the lunch I made for you to the birds.

Winston:
You see.

Theresa:
I wasn’t feeling well. Change in the wind.

Lise:
Eat.

Jerome:
I had lunch, Mom.

Lise:
I know, dear.

Jerome:
I had a sandwich and an apple.

Lise:
And a chocolate bar bought with a quarter found in the couch.

Jerome:
You know everything.

Winston:
Handy, that.

Jerome:
What about Leo? What did he eat today?

LISE smiles, looks at LEO. He stares at his plate. She turns back to the table.

Lise:
Enough for now. You’ll wear me out.

Jerome:
Mom—

Winston:
Enough, your mother said.

Silence. They eat.

LEO awkwardly handles his fork in his left hand.

Lise:
Leo, please. Eat properly.

Jerome:
You’re not left-handed.

LEO throws down his fork, exits.

Winston:
Theresa, Jerome, go to your rooms.

Theresa:
The dishes.

Winston:
Go, I said.

They exit.

Long silence.

Lise:
I should get ready. My seven o’clock will be here the once. Don’t like to be kept waiting. Help me clear?

Winston:
Sour as milk in the oven.

Lise:
Stop your fretting. Nothing too useful in that.

Winston:
The last six months he’s been worse.

Lise:
You remember fourteen. A rage at the world for giving breath.

Winston:
Theresa was nothing like it.

Lise:
What do you want me to say, he’s a boy.

Silence.

Headache now to stun a horse.

Winston:
That so?

Lise:
What is it, what’s wrong?

Winston:
Nothing.

Lise:
Should know better than to lie to me. Said so yourself.