Afterimage (4 page)

Winston:
True enough. Come here.

She doesn’t move. He moves to her, takes her hand, holds it.

Lise:
Winston, please, can we not—

Winston:
You said you saw everything. When you touched me that first time.

Lise:
Yes…

Winston:
And ever since, just by looking.

The same with the kids.

She smiles and avoids his gaze, shakes her head.

You can’t see him. You can’t see anything about him. Can you?

Leo.

Beat.

Can you?

Lise:
You’re worse than the kids. Please, I’m exhausted.

* * *

Chorus (Leonard):
Time turning inside out. Darkness and light reversed.

Chorus (Connie):
And darkness. Sometimes only darkness.

The middle child.

LISE is looking for LEO.

Lise:
Leo?

Chorus (Connie):
Like standing in front of light. Shadow and shape and no definition.

Lise:
(to THERESA)
Where’s your brother?

Theresa:
I don’t know.

Lise:
Time for bed, Leo, okay? Come on out.

Chorus (Winston):
She said she’d seen everything with that first touch. The same with the kids.

Chorus (Jerome):
Fire against the dark.

Chorus (Theresa):
Bright spots moving, dancing.

Lise:
Everyone else is in bed, honey.

Chorus (Connie):
Leo was an eclipse. Questions and blackness.

Lise:
I know you’re in here.

Chorus (Connie):
He spent as much time alone in the house as he could.

Lise:
Leo?

LISE opens doors throughout the house, searching in vain for LEO.

Jerome:
Close the door, it’s too bright.

Chorus (Connie):
Crawling into cupboards.

Jerome:
I don’t want to go to bed.

Chorus (Connie):
Cubbyhole in the basement.

Lise:
Brush your teeth, please, no arguments.

Chorus (Connie):
He sat in complete silence.

Jerome:
I want Dad to tell me a story.

Chorus (Connie):
Comforted by the darkness.

Lise:
Well go ask him. But he’s tired be warned.

Chorus (Connie):
Sometimes they didn’t notice him missing for hours.

Lise:
Theresa, no reading past ten I said, that’s final.

Theresa:
Momma.

Lise:
And no sulking.

Chorus (Winston):
It was killing Lise, to try to love without insight.

Lise:
Theresa, bed, now. Did you hear me?

Chorus (Connie):
Leo knew if he tried hard enough he could someday disappear all together.

Lise:
I’m turning out the light.

Chorus (Connie):
The middle child. The blind spot.

Lise:
Good night, Leo.

Silence.

She takes one final look around and extinguishes the light.

A moment of darkness, and then CONNIE illuminates a light and finds LEO hiding.

Chorus (Connie):
A game Leo never wanted to win, but always did. His father upstairs in bed, wide-eyed in the darkness, thinking of ways to pull his boy back into the light.

* * *

LEONARD at the door, LISE answers it.

Leonard:
Winston Evans?

LISE is stunned by seeing the man again. He doesn’t recognize her just yet, it’s been years.

I’m looking for a Winston Evans.

Lise:
Yes. My husband.

Leonard:
I hope I’m expected. Your husband—

Lise:
Yes. The photographer.

Leonard:
Butler. Leonard Butler.

Lise:
Yes. I’m sorry. Come in, please.

Leonard:
If this is a bad time, we can reschedule.

Lise:
No. No, it’s fine. My husband wanted these taken, be a shame to disappoint him.

Beat.

Leonard:
Yes, well, I have several packages and offers available. But this, this you may have heard of. Colour photography. Every colour of the rainbow, just as you’d see it. I have a brochure here which details and lists—

Lise:
I’m sorry. We’re of limited means.

Leonard:
I’m sure, but don’t dismiss it outright. I haven’t told you the damage yet. Lovely house by the way.

Lise:
Thank you.

Leonard:
Been here long?

Lise:
Fifteen years. Moved in just after our wedding.

Leonard:
We had a bugger of a time finding a place when we moved back last summer. Hot market right now.

Lise:
Yes, I hear that.

Leonard:
If you’re ever looking to sell, my brother’s in the business, could fetch you double, triple what you paid.

Lise:
We’re happy here.

Leonard:
No, of course. I’m just saying, should you change your mind.

Lise:
(calling out)
Winston.

Leonard:
Have I ever taken your photo, Mrs. Evans?

Lise:
No.

Leonard:
Are you sure? I feel like we have met.

Lise:
I don’t believe so. Winston!

Leonard:
And two children, is it?

Lise:
Three. Three children. Winston must have told you that.

Leonard:
Three kids.

Lise:
Yes, he told you that.

Leonard:
Yes, so he did.

Awkward silence.

Lise:
Winston!

Leonard:
Are you sure I’ve never taken your picture?

Lise:
Quite sure.

Leonard:
Not even before? Not as young as I look, you know. Used to moonlight here before me and the wife hit St. John’s.

Lise:
Never had my picture taken proper, I can swear.

Leonard:
It’s gonna drive me crazy, that.

The family begins to enter. LEONARD is shocked by the sight of them, Winston’s burns, the general oddness and sullenness of the rest. He does his best to hide it.

Lise:
Here we are.

Leonard:
Yes. Yessiree.

Lise:
Mr. Butler, my husband, Winston.

Leonard:
Leonard, please.

Winston:
Good day to you.

Lise:
And this is Theresa, Jerome, and Leo. Smile, children.

They don’t.

Leonard:
Well. Well well well, what a handsome family you’ve got, Mrs. Evans.

LISE smiles and nods.

A handsome family indeed. Makes my job easy, eh?

He laughs nervously. They simply watch him.

Silence.

Perhaps we could do somewhere with a bit more light? Bit more colourful, say. Something outside, the backyard?

Lise:
Backyard is a state. Set to gardening and lost the will. Bit of a dog’s breakfast.

Winston:
Lise and I were thinking something simple, here in the living room.

Leonard:
Are you positive? What with your lovely red hair, Mrs. Evans, and that of the kids. I’m sure I can find an angle out back that would—

He stops, looks at her. Silence.

Winston:
Is there something wrong, Mr. Butler?

Leonard:
Red hair.

Lise:
Mr. Butler is convinced that we met before.

Leonard:
Lise.

Lise:
I don’t have memory of it, got to say.

Leonard:
Lise Evans.

Winston:
Lacoeur, before she met me.

The name strikes LEONARD. He stares at her, knows that LISE herself remembers.

Lise:
Mr. Butler was thinking colour photography. They can do such things now.

Winston:
What’s the cost on that?

LEONARD stares at her.

Mr. Butler?

Leonard:
Minimal.

I’ll tell you what. I’m a family man myself. Wife, two kids. I will take some in colour, and if you don’t like the results, so be it. I’ll take the hit.

Lise:
That’s very generous of you.

Leonard:
What can I say. I’m a good person.

Lise:
Come on, children, Leo. Here on the couch.

LEO doesn’t move. LEONARD steps towards him.

Leonard:
That’s a nice set of eyes on you, son. Gonna break hearts some day.

He touches LEO on the shoulder and gets a zap.

Friggin’ carpet.

Lise:
Come, Leo. Sit by your mother.

Through the following is tableau after tableau of LEONARD pulling LEO back and forth across his family, different poses for a photograph no one seems to want.

Chorus (Connie):
His mother. It was all her fault, he was sure of it.

Even his father had scars that set him apart. Leo had no evidence beyond intuition, but he was convinced that his father’s appearance was somehow connected to his mother as well.

Brother, sister. Father and mother.

And Leo. A piece of jigsaw that simply didn’t fit.

Finally settles on LEO sitting at a distance from his family, and looking none too happy about it.

Leonard:
You wanna take that hat off, son?

LEO obliges. LISE quickly puts it back on his head.

Lise:
That’s okay, Leo loves his hat.

Leonard:
Sure. Okay, everybody smile.

Chorus (Connie):
Leo could find nothing to smile about.

Everyone else does.

Leonard:
Smile and open your eyes.

Winston & Lise:
Jerome.

JEROME opens his eyes.

Leonard:
And hold it.

The flash goes off.

Lise:
Oh my.

Jerome:
I can see stars. Momma, I can see stars.

Leonard:
That’ll pass, son.

Jerome:
Stars when I close my eyes, Momma.

Leonard:
And one more for luck.

Another flash of the camera that repeats, fractures, turns into lightning. Silence and then thunder.

Another clap of thunder and lightning and all lights go out.

* * *

In the darkness.

Theresa:
Momma.

Lise:
It’s okay, honey. We’re here.

Jerome:
Blackout! Blackout!

Theresa:
Mom.

Lise:
Take Jerome’s hand, sweetie.

Jerome:
I got her, Momma. Watch the corner, Theresa.

Winston:
Where is Leo?

Lise:
Leo?

Winston:
Jerome, go find your brother.

Lise:
Leo?

Leo:
I’m here.

Theresa:
I told you it was a bad one.

Lise:
Nothing to be afraid of, darling.

Theresa:
My head hurts.

Lise:
It will pass, you know it will.

Winston:
Leo?

Leo:
I’m here, I said.

Jerome:
I got him, Dad.

Leo:
Let go my hand.

Winston:
Let Jerome help you, Leo.

Leo:
I’m okay.

Lise:
That came on fast.

Theresa:
I told you it was a bad one.

Lise:
I know you did, sweetie.

LISE lights a candle.

I was hoping you’d all sleep through it. That’s why I sent you to bed so early.

Winston:
Must have taken out the transformer down the coast. Whole town is out.

Jerome:
I couldn’t sleep anyway. I’m wide awake.

Lise:
Well, you are now.

Winston:
Come sit, Jerome, away from that window.

Jerome:
Why?

Winston:
’Cause I said so.

Lise:
Listen to your father.

Thunder shakes the house. THERESA jumps.

It’s all right. Nothing to be afraid of.

Jerome:
God, you’re embarrassing.

Winston:
Jerome.

Lise:
It’s all right. She just got a surprise, that’s all.

Jerome:
How can you be surprised and afraid of something when you know it’s on its way?

Winston:
Jerome.

Jerome:
I’m just saying.

Lise:
Sometimes knowing things makes it even scarier.

Thunder.

Theresa:
There’s not even enough light to read by.

Lise:
Won’t kill us for one night.

Jerome:
Tell us a story.

Winston:
Yeah?

Jerome:
Like you used to before you started at the mill. A ghost story.

Winston:
A scary story, eh?

Lise:
No, please. No ghost stories. The last time, Jerome, you were up half the night.

Jerome:
I wasn’t afraid.

Leo:
No, it was the bed shaking, not you.

Jerome:
Shut up.

Lise:
Your brother is just teasing, Jerome.

Leo:
(a teasing mimic)
God, you’re embarrassing.

Winston:
Listen to you, brave man.

He tickles LEO, who giggles and smiles widely. A nice family moment except for JEROME, who sulks.

When I was little, your age or younger, growing up in Eastport. In a house with my mom and dad and grandmother. One fall night there was a thunderstorm, just like this one, rolled in off the sea. It was dark back then. At night. Not like now. There were no electric lights to read by, ever. So when clouds that heavy dropped on ya, well sir, it was pure black.

He blows out the candle. The children giggle. A crack of thunder and they start.

Lise:
Winston.

Winston:
That storm there shaking the town. Our house, each room lit up, a constant flash of lightning. All of us frozen around the wood stove, too scared to move anywhere else. Kerosene lamp on the table, the flame in it itself shaken by the thunder. It was that bad. Well, Nan, she got up to add a junk of wood to the fire. Moving across the room like in slow motion. The sputter of light. And when she opened the stove door, well, the lightning. Blue fire. It came right through the chimney. Right into the house. Ball of blue fire, right into the room with us.

It does. WINSTON becomes lost in the memory of it, disturbed by it.

Circling the room. Like an animal stalking its prey. Hungry. Angry. Spitting at the walls.

Theresa:
What happened?

Winston:
The rumble overhead.

Theresa:
Daddy?

Winston:
The silence in the room.

Theresa:
Daddy, what happened?

Winston:
The silence, except for that hum, that dry hum. Sizzle. Burn. Burning.

Lise:
Winston?

Beat.

Winston.

Winston:
My grandmother, she…

A figure can be seen in the darkness, a broom in hand.

Jerome:
What, Daddy, what?

Winston:
She just…

The figure moves towards the ball of light and with the broom sweeps it away into fire and sparks. Darkness.

Jerome:
Daddy?

LISE relights a candle. WINSTON is surround by his family, listening intently. WINSTON is distant, still disturbed by the memory.

She what, Daddy?

Lise:
Enough scary stories for one night, please.

Jerome:
I’m not scared.

Winston:
She swept it outside.

Jerome:
She swept it outside? The lightning?

Winston:
Yes. That she did.

Jerome:
With a regular old broom?

Theresa:
Were you scared?

Lise:
Of course he was, it’s a powerful thing. That’s why you’re to stay away from the windows when told.

Thunder, THERESA starts.

LEO stares at the candle. Moves closer to it.

Don’t stare, Leo. You’ll hurt your eyes.

Leo:
Wouldn’t the broom just burn?

Lise:
Leo, get away from that candle!

The family look at her.

You’ll hurt your eyes, honey.

Winston:
It’s okay, Leo. Give it to me.

Beat.

Jerome:
It must have been bright. The ball of lightning.

Winston:
That it was, bright. The afterimage of it, for a good fifteen minutes after.

Jerome:
What’s an after…?

Winston:
Afterimage.

Jerome:
Yeah.

Winston:
It’s when your eyes, when you look at something… well here, try it, this candle.

WINSTON hands JEROME the candle.

Lise:
Winston.

Winston:
Stare at the candle here, and don’t blink. Yeah?

Lise:
I just asked Leo not to.

Winston:
Just for a second.

Jerome:
I don’t see anything.

Winston:
Keep staring. Okay.

And now look away and close your eyes.

They do.

Well?

Jerome:
I can see it, I can see it.

Winston:
Theresa?

Theresa:
A black spot? Moving, dancing.

Winston:
That’s it. Leo?

He goes to give the candle to LEO. LISE gets up and takes it.

Lise:
Winston, I said no.

Leo:
I want to see it.

Lise:
Well I asked you not to.

Winston:
Just let him look.

Lise:
Time enough now anyway. Should be in bed.

Winston:
Lise—

Lise:
I said no.

Beat.

Come on, back to bed, everyone.

The children groan.

No sulking now, I mean it.

The children begrudgingly start to get up. LEO gets up, wanders into the darkness.

Leo?

Leo, come give your mother a hug.

LEO slowly moves towards her, stops short, stares at her.

Leo?

He bends forward and angrily blows out the candle.