CHARACTERS
TAMRA Leor’s daughter, about 20 years old
LEOR Tamra’s mother, about 60 years old
EDEN Yale’s mother, in her 50’s or 60’s
YALE Eden’s son, in his early 20’s
SETTING
Leor’s bedroom/Eden’s house
TIME
June 2013
SCENE 1
(It is early morning. LEOR is sitting up in bed reading a book and drinking tea. She hears TAMRA enter the house through the front door and climb the stairs. TAMRA enters the room, carrying a suitcase. LEOR puts the book down on the nightstand and opens her arms to her daughter. They embrace).
LEOR
Tam! I’m so glad you came home for the summer. I missed you so much. I eat more when you’re not here. A lot more. I find myself buying all the foods you like, grapefruits and Greek yogurt. Days go by, and of course no one eats them.
TAMRA
I’ve missed you too.
LEOR
And you know they have this thing called the Lower Price Project at the grocery store? Like it’s a long-term project not to rob me of my entire retirement fund every time I go there to buy a couple of rotting tomatoes and some soymilk. I said it’s an outrage. I said let me speak to the manager. And the manager came out and I said sir, it’s not a project. It’s not a project that I don’t come in here with a box of matches and some gasoline and set this place up in flames, just burn it right down, give the fire fighters something to do, besides look at child pornography all day. That’s not a project. I just don’t do it. Anyway, how are you?
TAMRA
…Scared.
LEOR
Of what?
TAMRA
You know, graduating. Joining society.
LEOR
Mmmh.
TAMRA
I mean, what if I don’t fit in anywhere? What if I have to live on the outskirts of town, as a hermit or an outlaw or a monk or something?
LEOR
Nonsense. Towns don’t have outskirts any more.
TAMRA
You know that’s not true.
LEOR
I know. Don’t worry. I think all young people are scared of getting older.
TAMRA
What about old people?
LEOR
(Chuckling)
We’re scared we won’t.
TAMRA
You’re not old, mom.
LEOR
Darling, would you get me another cup of tea?
TAMRA
Sure. New bag or old bag?
LEOR
What?
TAMRA
Would you like a new tea bag, or should I just add some more hot water?
LEOR
Oh. New bag. Get rid of the old bag.
TAMRA
Gotcha.
(TAMRA exits)
LEOR
(Addressing the audience)
I think people have children as an alternative to religion. At least I did. I think we all need something to live for. All right. I’m just going to tell you what’s up, since no one goes to the theater to sit around and wait for the exposition. I have stage four cancer. Which means nothing to me, except that I have children. There are people who think suicide should be legalized. I’m one of them. I mean, nobody chooses to get born. At least as far as I know. But once you have children, it’s different. It’s a kind of covenant. I can’t just stop treatment, much as I hate the radiation, the chemotherapy, the hair loss, the memory loss. The treatment affects your memory. Nobody told me that. I don’t know if suicide should be legal. It’s complicated. I don’t know what the law should do.
(TAMRA reenters with a mug of tea).
But I know what I should do.
TAMRA
What should you do?
LEOR
Get some sleep; that’s what I should do.
TAMRA
Now?
LEOR
In a little bit. What were we talking about just now?
TAMRA
Monks, hermits, outlaws.
LEOR
Ah. That’s right. Don’t be scared. Nothing to be scared of. You’ll do just fine.
TAMRA
Promise?
LEOR
Swear.
TAMRA
On your life?
LEOR
On my life.
TAMRA
On my life?
LEOR
Nope.
(Beat)
Can’t do that.
(TAMRA protests, but her voice is muffled by the sound of an electric guitar. The neighbors are at it again).
TAMRA
(Raising her voice over the chords)
What’s that noise?
LEOR
The neighbors! They’re at it again!
TAMRA
Which neighbors?
LEOR
New ones. We have new ones. The Isherwoods moved away.
TAMRA
Good riddance.
LEOR
Yes.
TAMRA
But this is bad, too. I mean, didn’t you want to go to sleep?
LEOR
Well…
TAMRA
No this is unacceptable. I’m going over there. I’m going to tell them to turn that shit off or I’m calling the police. They can’t do this. They don’t have a permit. You need a permit to make noise when other people are trying to sleep. And I bet they don’t have one.
LEOR
No don’t go over there. It’s fine. They have a permit.
TAMRA
No they don’t.
LEOR
They do.
TAMRA
Did you see it?
LEOR
The permit?
TAMRA
Yes.
LEOR
Yes.
TAMRA
(Raising one or both eyebrows)
What did it look like?
(Beat)
I’m going over there.
LEOR
I don’t think you should go there.
TAMRA
Well why not?
LEOR
I’ve heard things about the woman who bought that house.
TAMRA
Whatever you heard, it can’t be worse than this insufferable strumming activity.
LEOR
I’ve heard she’s a witch. Straight out Salem. I’ve heard she’s a certified witch, with a Ph.D. in homeopathy. And I’ve seen things. The shades are always down over there so you can’t see in through the windows. And there are never any lights on, even when their car is there so I know they’re home. Apparently the woman who lives there spends all day up in the attic making spells, or whatever it is witches do when the rest of us are working or playing or paying bills or drinking coffee or answering the phone or-
TAMRA
Mom. I’m going over there.
LEOR
Fine. I warned you.
TAMRA
I’m just going to ask her very politely to turn it the fuck down. And then I’ll come right home. Okay, Mom?
LEOR
Okay.
TAMRA
It’s just not fair that you can’t sleep.
LEOR
Okay.
(Beat)
I wish I could freeze the season. So I could have more time with you.
(Beat)
Before you go back to school.
TAMRA
Don’t worry Mom. I’ll be right back.
LEOR
I know.
SCENE 2
(Outside EDEN’s house. It is as LEOR said: there are no lights on in the house and all the shades are down. TAMRA raps at the door. The music is so overwhelmingly loud that she needs to bang on the door to be heard. After several moments, YALE answers the door, electric guitar in hand).
TAMRA
…You’re not a witch. I mean you’re not a woman. I…
(Beat)
…apologize. Hi. I’m Tamra. I’m your neighbor. My mother is trying to sleep, and… she’s… having some trouble with that.
YALE
Sorry to hear it.
TAMRA
It’s uh… it’s because of the music.
YALE
You could hear my music from way over there?
TAMRA
Yeah.
YALE
Which house do you live in?
TAMRA
The one next door.
YALE
Oh. Sorry about that.
(Beat)
Did you at least like it? The song.
TAMRA
(Lying very well)
It’s great, man.
YALE
Thanks. You wanna come in?
(Seeing her hesitation)
Aw… come on. Come in. I just moved here. I don’t know anybody here except you. So you have a responsibility.
TAMRA
What responsibility?
YALE
To make me feel welcome.
TAMRA
In your own home?
YALE
Yeah.
(They step indoors)
TAMRA
Does it have a title?
YALE
Does what have a title?
TAMRA
The song.
YALE
Nope. No title. It used to have a title though. Also used to have lyrics.
TAMRA
What happened?
YALE
They were stolen.
TAMRA
Plagiarized?
YALE
No. Actually stolen.
TAMRA
How? Who pilfers lyrics and titles?
YALE
You’d be surprised. I was held up. At gunpoint. Guy comes along, gets me up against the wall, demands to see all the money I have. So I show him all the money I have, which is no money, so he has me empty my pockets ‘cause he doesn’t believe me. But all I’ve got on me is my notebook full of lyrics and some cigarettes. But the guy doesn’t smoke, he quit three months ago, but he’s already gone through all the trouble to hold me up, he’d be embarrassed to go home empty handed. So he takes the songbook. And he lets me go.
TAMRA
Okay I see.
YALE
Can I ask you something?
TAMRA
Okay.
YALE
Who were you expecting when you came to the door?
TAMRA
I don’t know. Someone female.
YALE
You said something about a witch.
TAMRA
Sorry, I don’t know where that came from. I was nervous.
YALE
Nervous.
TAMRA
Yeah, nervous. I get nervous, and I say things.
YALE
Things?
TAMRA
I just… never mind.
YALE
Because, you know, you’re right. My mom’s a witch. At least she thinks she is.
TAMRA
What do you mean?
YALE
I’ve got Leukemia. She’s working on a cure for it. Says she’s almost got it.
TAMRA
What? But… how?
YALE
Hell if I know. She’s apparently really good at medicine, or magic, or whatever the fuck it is. Top of her class. She’s got a room upstairs full of plants and herbs and colored candles.
TAMRA
Your mom thinks she can… cure cancer.
YALE
Yeah. Pretty much.
TAMRA
Do you believe it?
YALE
I believe she believes it. But whatever potion she comes up with, I’m not drinking it.
TAMRA
No?
YALE
No.
TAMRA
Why not?
YALE
Well, I don’t mind dying really. As long as I die like Hobbes.
TAMRA
How did Hobbes die?
YALE
Trying to square the circle.
(Beat)
You know, trying to make the area of a square equal that of a circle. Which you can’t do because of pi.
TAMRA
So if you can’t do it, and you know you can’t do it, why do you want to die trying to do it?
YALE
Because it’s impossible. So if I manage to do it I’ll be pleasantly surprised. Nothing worthwhile in achieving something that’s possible. You already know you can do it.
TAMRA
I think you’ve got it backwards. You know you can’t do the impossible thing-
YALE
(Exasperated)
Exactly. That’s the whole point.
TAMRA
You would love my mother.
YALE
Do you?
TAMRA
What?
YALE
Love your mother.
TAMRA
Yeah, of course.
YALE
Because you can tell me if you don’t. I mean it doesn’t matter.
TAMRA
I think it matters.
YALE
Really? If you make her feel loved, does it really matter if you really love her or not?
TAMRA
I love my mother.
YALE
Of course you do.
TAMRA
So how long has your mom been working on the cure?
YALE
As long as I’ve been sick.
(Beat)
Three years. I wish she’d give it up already. Take up a hobby. I don’t hope like she does. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’d like to live long enough to go to college, get a job, move out and shit, and I bet I’ve got at least another two years, since I’m young. How old are you?
TAMRA
I’m twenty.
YALE
Yeah, me too.
(Beat)
TAMRA
Hey, I think I’m gonna, um, head back now. I haven’t seen my mom in a few months and we were just catching up when…
YALE
Sorry about the music.
TAMRA
It’s no problem. Really. It was nice to meet you, man.
YALE
My name’s Yale.
TAMRA
It was nice to meet you.
YALE
Hey, will you come back tonight?
TAMRA
What for?
YALE
To help me square it.
(Beat)
The circle.
TAMRA
Oh. Yeah.
YALE
You will?
TAMRA
I mean…
YALE
Please?
TAMRA
I guess I can come back.
SCENE 3
(We are back in LEOR’s bedroom. LEOR is smoking a joint. Once again, she addresses the audience directly).
LEOR
Once Tam and I went on a vacation in Cape Cod… she was just a little girl. It was one of those nights where the sky refuses to go black and goes ocean blue instead. We walked along the boardwalk sharing a peanut butter ice cream. A breeze was streaming through the air like a soundtrack… like a bit of music in a filmstrip… so perfect, so fitting, you don’t notice it till the scene is over. The boardwalk was littered with lights, lights at every turn, trying to out flash each other. We passed the ice cream back and forth like some people pass bottles or blunts. Marijuana… stops the nausea but stops my thoughts too… everything slips out of focus it’s like I need glasses for the inside of my head. Anyway, the lights… these cheap electric rainbows… Tam’s always loved rainbows… she used to stand outside for hours on end whenever one would appear, no matter how small or how faint it was. She would stand there, arms outstretched, like a ballerina, arms in second position. We rode the ferris wheel together… I’ve never been one for rides, but the ferris wheel is different. You sit down in a little car, and the little car takes you up in a slow arc, and up, and up, till you’re all the way up, and then you’re at the top, hoisted above the boardwalk, on par with the wind, backlit by blue. Then you come down in the same slow arc… you’re following the same path as the people in the car in front of you… and you can see where they’ve just been, that’s where you’re going to be in just a second, and the people behind you…
(We hear TAMRA open the door and climb the stairs. LEOR looks down the joint in her hand like she’s deciding whether or not to hide it. TAMRA peaks her head in the door. Finding her mother awake, she enters).
LEOR
I don’t like the stuff. But it stops the nausea.
TAMRA
(Nodding)
Yeah.
(Beat)
Did you get any sleep?
LEOR
Yes, a little bit, as soon as the music stopped.
TAMRA
(Crosses to the bed and sits on it)
Have any dreams?
LEOR
Yes, but they were all about doing chores. I was dreaming about everything I have to get done— about cleaning up, buying paper towels, calling the phone company, preparing my classes for the fall. I’d much rather have been awake and doing the things I was dreaming about. And then, I started to have one of those awful traffic dreams, where I dream I’m stuck in traffic for hours, and that’s it, that’s the whole dream. But as soon as the dream started I stopped it. I just refused to have the dream, and then I woke up.
TAMRA
You can do that?
LEOR
You have to, when you’re having traffic dreams. There’s just no other way.
TAMRA
Do you ever have dreams where you’re someone else? Like, you’re a character in the dream, only you don’t look like yourself… you’re in a different body?
LEOR
Not that I remember, no. Why, do you?
TAMRA
Yeah… once I dreamt I was a middle aged woman. Another time, I dreamt I was a bunch of cats.
LEOR
You were a bunch of cats?
TAMRA
Yeah… and then one time… I stole an apple and that night I dreamt I was a snake, and I was on trial.
LEOR
Adam and Eve.
TAMRA
You know I never understood the snake in that story. Why did he tempt Eve to eat the apple? I mean, what was in it for him?
LEOR
Maybe he wanted to eat it himself, but first he had to make sure it wasn’t poison.
(Beat)
You haven’t told me yet… what was it like over there? At Eden’s.
TAMRA
At whose?
LEOR
The neighbor’s… I think her name is Eden.
TAMRA
Oh, I never saw her.
LEOR
Then how did you get the music to stop?
TAMRA
I saw her son. Yale. He was the one playing the music.
LEOR
I didn’t know she had a son.
TAMRA
Yeah, she does. I think I made friends with him.
LEOR
But you aren’t sure?
TAMRA
I mean I’m pretty sure. He asked me to hang out tonight. We’re going to square the circle.
LEOR
That sounds like fun.
TAMRA
It’s impossible.
LEOR
Oh. How long do you imagine it will take you?
TAMRA
I really don’t know… I’ll try and be home before it’s too late.
(Beat)
He’s sick. Yale’s sick. He has Leukemia.
LEOR
How do you know that?
TAMRA
He told me. He just flat out told me.
LEOR
How old is he?
TAMRA
My age.
LEOR
Oh, that’s just terrible. Is he in treatment?
TAMRA
He didn’t tell me. I didn’t ask.
LEOR
It’s terrible.
TAMRA
It is.
LEOR
When you go, bring him some of this.
(Indicates the marijuana. She takes some and transfers it to a little plastic bag, which she hands off to TAMRA).
It’s really the only thing that helps.
TAMRA
Thanks, mom.
LEOR
Of course. Darling?
(TAMRA looks up at LEOR)
…Another cup of tea?
(LEOR picks up her mug from the night table. She holds it out to TAMRA).
New bag.
(TAMRA takes the mug from LEOR. Lights fade).
SCENE 4
(Evening. TAMRA and YALE are sitting on a couch, some distance apart. Each of them has a notebook and a pencil. They are trying to square the circle. TAMRA is furiously writing and erasing and writing and erasing. YALE, on the other hand, is having trouble concentrating. Every now and then, he sneaks a glance at TAMRA).
TAMRA
(Without looking up from her notebook)
Did you get it yet?
YALE
Get what?
(Beat)
Um… no. Did you?
TAMRA
Not yet. But I did some research, and apparently there’s hope because of the Lune of Hippocrates. It’s a curved shape, and you can calculate its exact area.
YALE
What? How?
TAMRA
It has a right angle for a diameter-
YALE
What do you mean a right angle for a diameter? A diameter is a line not an angle.
TAMRA
No, you take the diameter of the circle and you draw a right triangle, and the area of the triangle is going to equal the area of the lune.
YALE
I thought a loon was a bird.
TAMRA
Why don’t I draw it for you?
YALE
Look, I don’t know. Maybe we should do something else.
TAMRA
No, I think I’m getting closer. Just give me a few more minutes.
YALE
It doesn’t matter how close you think you’re getting. It can’t be done.
TAMRA
But isn’t that the point? Didn’t you say that was the point?
YALE
Yeah, I guess so.
TAMRA
Anyway, the reason it’s supposed to be impossible is that pi is a transcendental number, so-
YALE
Transcendental? What, it meditates? It reads Emerson?
TAMRA
You know, you suggested this. You invited me here to do this. This was your idea.
YALE
Yeah, you’re right. I did. It’s just-
TAMRA
What?
YALE
I wanted company, that’s all.
TAMRA
Well, you could have just said that. You didn’t have to make up some story about how you needed help squaring the circle when you don’t even think it can be done.
YALE
You’re right. I don’t think it can be done.
TAMRA
Well, I’m going to prove you wrong.
YALE
Okay.
TAMRA
(Returning to her notebook)
Can we turn on a light? It’s getting kind of dark.
YALE
Uh… no.
TAMRA
Why not?
YALE
I think there’s plenty of light.
TAMRA
Really? I can’t even see what I’m writing. It would be very helpful, um, if we could just turn on that lamp over there.
YALE
We can’t do that.
TAMRA
Why not?
YALE
Look, there’s plenty of light, okay? Just trust me. You can see fine.
(He moves in closer to her and they lock eyes. He kisses her).
TAMRA
(Pulling back abruptly)
Isn’t your mom home?
YALE
We don’t have to worry about her. She never comes out of the attic.
(He kisses her again. She gradually relaxes into it).
TAMRA
(Pulling back to look at YALE)
Oh. Before I forget. I brought you something.
YALE
Yeah?
TAMRA
Yeah.
(She reaches into her purse and pulls out the plastic bag containing the marijuana).
It’s, um…
YALE
Bud?
TAMRA
Uh-huh.
YALE
For me?
TAMRA
Uh-huh.
YALE
You smoke?
TAMRA
Me? No not really. I mean not often.
YALE
Smoke with me?
TAMRA
No it’s for you.
YALE
Thanks, yo. Where’d you get it, by the way? I can’t seem to find anyone around here who deals.
TAMRA
My… mom… gave it to me.
YALE
She must be pretty cool.
TAMRA
She is.
YALE
I’d like to meet her. The mom who shares weed with her daughter. That’s like, holy.
TAMRA
Mmmh.
YALE
Do you mind if I smoke?
TAMRA
No, not at all.
YALE
(Pulling a bong and a lighter out of his pocket)
I’ve been craving this all day. You’re pretty psychic.
TAMRA
Am I?
YALE
Yeah. I bet you could make a lot of money working in one of those psychic booths, reading tarot cards and palms and futures and fortunes.
(He lights up and takes a hit).
TAMRA
I’ve always wondered about psychics… like, how many of them are really psychics, how many of them really think they’re psychics-
YALE
And how many of them know they’re faking.
TAMRA
Yes!
YALE
Yeah, I’ve thought about that too. Here, wanna hit?
TAMRA
All right.
(She takes the bong from YALE and brings it to her lips. YALE lights it and TAMRA inhales sharply. She holds her breath for a few seconds and then exhales, coughing. She hands the bong back to YALE).
YALE
(Playfully)
Hey! You got lipstick all over my bong!
TAMRA
(Coughing or laughing or both)
Sorry!
YALE
That’s okay. Hey, you’re so far away. I can’t believe you can even hear me from way over there.
TAMRA
I’m right here. I’m right next to you.
YALE
Yeah but that’s far.
TAMRA
I could… come closer if that would make it easier… for you to hear me.
YALE
What?
TAMRA
I could come closer.
YALE
Huh?
(TAMRA moves in closer to YALE. He puts his arms around her).
TAMRA
I SAID I CAN COME CLOSER.
YALE
Yeah, okay, if you want.
(They erupt with laughter. Cackling mightily, TAMRA falls off of the couch and onto the floor. In the process, she knocks over the table in front of the couch. The contents of the table also fall to the floor; some of them fall onto TAMRA).
TAMRA
Ow! Yo! Dude! We have to turn on a light!
YALE
Why do you keep saying that?
TAMRA
Because I can’t see anything.
YALE
You don’t have to see anything. Stop obsessing. I’ll clean up the mess in the morning.
TAMRA
No, I’m serious. We really need some light in here. I don’t want to keep banging into shit.
YALE
Just relax. Stop being so paranoid.
TAMRA
I’m not paranoid. I just-
YALE
You’re what? Afraid of the dark?
TAMRA
I want to be able to see so I don’t-
YALE
You want to see, fine. But there are other ways of seeing.
TAMRA
What are you talking about?
YALE
Vision isn’t seeing. It’s not the same thing. Vision is what your eyes take in; it’s always other; it’s always outside you. The only way you can ever see yourself is in a mirror, and even then, you’re looking at somebody else. The other senses aren’t like that. Sometimes you’re in a room with someone and you hear a sound like someone breathing, and you’re not sure who’s just exhaled, you, or them, or both of you together. You see? Sight is like speech. It prevents you from really listening.
TAMRA
Okay, but it also prevents you from knocking into furniture in other people’s homes, especially when don’t know where anything is because you’ve only been there once before, and not for very long, and the conversation was so weird you didn’t pay any attention to what the room looked like.
YALE
Is that really all you care about? How the interior of my house looks? Or doesn’t look? Or whatever the fuck?
TAMRA
No!
YALE
Liar. You’re lying.
TAMRA
What? Really?.
YALE
You’re lying. You’re lying in my living room.
TAMRA
I’m not. I swear.
YALE
Whatever. Forget it. I’m tired. Do you wanna… um…
TAMRA
Do I want to what?
YALE
…Go?
TAMRA
Oh. You mean like… leave?
YALE
Yeah, uh… yeah.
TAMRA
Yeah, you know what, I do. I do want to leave because even though you asked me here, practically begged me to come here on your knees, I’m not having fun. And I bet you’ll miss me, too, because I’m the only friend you have here and I bet you won’t make any more ‘cause you’re nuts.
YALE
I’m nuts? I’m nut nots. You’re nuts. You’re bonkers. You’re a wacko pseudo-intellectual hipster poser girl and you’re crazy. I wish I never invited you over.
(TAMRA starts to leave).
Next time I play my music too loud don’t come over ‘cause I won’t turn it down.
(Blackout).
SCENE 5
(Nighttime, maybe an hour or two after the end of scene 4. YALE has fallen asleep on the living room couch. He sprawled out in a fetal position. EDEN, in a tattered nightgown, emerges at the top of the stairs. She holds a candle in one hand and a little vial in the other. She descends the stairs with excruciating slowness, as quietly as she can, so as not to wake her son. She crosses to the couch and leans over her son, stroking his hair. Then, with deliberation, almost in slow motion, she raises the vial above her son’s ear and tips it upside down. At the first touch of the liquid, YALE jolts awake and recoils. EDEN quickly flips the vial upright, so as not to lose its contents).
YALE
Mom? Mom?
EDEN
Yes. It’s me.
YALE
What’s going on?
EDEN
You fell asleep on the living room couch.
(Beat)
I think you had a friend over before.
YALE
Yeah, Tamra. She’s my age; she lives next door.
EDEN
Nice girl?
YALE
Yeah, nice girl.
EDEN
Is she Jewish?
YALE
Ma, I don’t know. Does everyone I talk to have to be Jewish?
EDEN
No, no, of course not.
YALE
So what’s up? I haven’t seen you in, like, weeks. How… how are you?
EDEN
I’ve never been better. I’ve done it. Son, I’ve done it.
YALE
(Fearing the answer)
Done what?
EDEN
I’ve come up with the cure. Now you’ll be able to stop that awful treatment and focus on applying to schools. And next year you can go off and study music at some quaint liberal arts college or conservatory off in the mountains, or in some glittering city with used bookstores and street-side boutiques. Doesn’t that sound nice?
YALE
Mom, why don’t you get some rest?
(Beat)
I mean congratulations.
EDEN
I don’t think you understand what this means for us.
YALE
What do you want me to say, mom?
EDEN
I don’t want you to say anything. I just want you to drink it.
YALE
I told you mom, I’m not interested in home-made medicine. I’m ready to stop treatment, maybe, but I’m not ready to start drinking rabbit blood.
EDEN
Who said anything about rabbit blood? It’s just plants and a little enchantment.
YALE
Thanks anyway, mom.
(Beat)
Is that why you came down here? To get me to drink whatever’s in that vial?
EDEN
Actually, I was going to pour it into your ear.
YALE
What? Why?
EDEN
I know you aren’t going to drink it, that’s why.
YALE
But mom, you can’t just— what am I, King Hamlet?
EDEN
No, but you are my son and-
YALE
And what? You can’t just do what you just did. It’s illegal and immoral and I could get you in a lot of trouble for that if I wanted to. You can’t just pour poison into someone else ear, even if they’re your son.
EDEN
It’s not poison. It’s medicine.
YALE
Yeah, well, I’m not so sure you know the difference.
EDEN
You have so little faith in me.
YALE
Ma, forget about me. What about you? What about all the things you could be doing instead of whatever you’re doing up in that attic. You could go back to being a doctor! And you could plant a garden! A real garden, one outside, and other people could come by and visit. You could pay the electric bill, so I can have a friend over without feeling embarrassed when she wants to turn on a light!
EDEN
I’m sorry.
YALE
I’m sorry. For saying that. I lo-
EDEN
I know you do. And I love you too. That’s why-
YALE
Mom, I know, I know, I never doubted it.
SCENE 6
(Lights up in LEOR’s bedroom).
LEOR
I want you to forgive me. I want you to understand I would never have brought a child into a world I intended to leave. I had her after the sickness went away, while it was on vacation. The doctors told me it might come back, that one of the side effects of cancer treatment is cancer. Cancer! But I wanted to believe it was gone, I had to, or else how could I go on? It came back for the first time when Tam was six or seven, too young to understand. I fought for my life. For her. For myself, too. I wanted to live to see her dance recital that June, where she played a water lily. She wore this turquoise costume, a leotard and a skirt that looked like Monet himself had painted it. I couldn’t miss that. I promised her I’d be there. And I was there. I was there with roses. Red, orange, and yellow roses. Half the rainbow. I held half the rainbow in my arms as I watched my girl dance. You should have seen the way she smiled when I gave her those roses. When we got home, we put them in a vase on her desk by her bed, and she smiled for weeks.
I got sick again three years ago. Tam was 17. Since then, I’ve been on chemotherapy, radiation, steroids, antidepressants, you name it, I’ve been on it. I think maybe the steroids are the worst. The chemo took my hair, nails, eyebrows, and eyelashes, but the steroids took my mind. Not just my brain but my mind. They made it harder to remember things. They made it harder to think. But they also changed how I think. And act. And speak. One night in November Tam came home too late, and she wasn’t wearing a coat. She walked through the door and I lunged at her. I called her a filthy bitch, and a whore, and I said I wish she’d never been born. I said those things. I didn’t mean them, of course, but I said them. My self-control just… evaporated over night. Like rain on a sidewalk. If I don’t have my body, or my consciousness, what’s left of me? It’s not fair. It’s not fair the way we’re born into a body and born into a mind, and we don’t even get to choose which body or which mind. Of course, how can you decide which mind you want, if you don’t have a mind to begin with? Nevertheless! It isn’t fair. And there’s no one to blame. I don’t blame God. Even if I believed in God I wouldn’t blame God. God gave me a beautiful daughter, that moment on the boardwalk.
(Sound of TAMRA opening the front door).
Oh.
(Sound of TAMRA climbing the stairs. LEOR crawls into the bed
and pretends to be asleep. Beat. TAMRA enters).
TAMRA
(Whispering)
Are you asleep?
LEOR
(Sitting up and stretching)
Just waking up. How was your night?
TAMRA
I don’t want to talk about it. He wouldn’t let me turn on the light and then when I asked why, he accused me of being a snob, and then when I defended myself he accused me of lying in his living room—which I totally wasn’t—and then he basically kicked me out, and I… I told him he’s nuts and then he called me a pseudo-intellectual hipster poser girl.
LEOR
But… I thought you were going to do math with this boy.
TAMRA
So did I. And we were doing math. But it was late and it was dark and I couldn’t see, but he didn’t seem to think that was a problem at all. He started waxing philosophical about how you don’t need sight, sight is a deficit, but it totally isn’t, especially when you’re trying to geometry, and especially when the geometry you’re trying to do is impossible.
LEOR
That’s weird. I’m sorry it didn’t go so well.
TAMRA
I mean it was going fine until that happened. I don’t really understand what happened.
LEOR
Well, maybe you should ask him.
TAMRA
It’s really quite simple: either I’m bad at Social Interactions or he is. Or we both are.
(Beat)
I don’t get it, mom. Even this weirdo thinks I’m a weirdo.
LEOR
It sounds to me like there was just some miscommunication. Like your signals just got crossed.
TAMRA
He insulted me.
LEOR
You insulted him first.
TAMRA
Don’t take his side!
LEOR
Sorry.
TAMRA
It’s okay.
LEOR
I think you’ll feel better if you talk to this kid. Figure out what went wrong and right it.
TAMRA
What, I should go over there? I should go back over there after he threw me out of his house?
LEOR
Yes. You should go over there.
TAMRA
And…?
LEOR
And look him square in the eye, and ask him what happened.
TAMRA
I don’t know.
LEOR
I think you’ll feel better.
TAMRA
…Maybe.
LEOR
I think he’ll feel better too. He could probably use a friend right now.
TAMRA
Yeah. I guess you’re right.
LEOR
Yes, I am, in this particular instance.
TAMRA
Okay. Fine. I’ll go.
LEOR
Good.
TAMRA
(Starts toward the door, then turns around and crosses back to LEOR)
But… what if he’s a jerk again?
LEOR
Then it’s not your fault. And you’ll know you did what you could to patch things up. Right?
TAMRA
Right.
(Kisses LEOR on the cheek and then exits. We hear the sound of TAMRA
running down the stairs and exiting through the front door).
LEOR
(Adjusts herself to face the audience)
I’m going to wait until she goes back to school. I’m going to make sure it looks like it was the sickness that took me. That’s what the doctors will tell her. And that’s what she’ll believe. I wish there were another way. I do. But I don’t feel like a person anymore, just the sum total of the drugs. And I don’t trust the drugs. I’m afraid of what I might become because of them. I want my daughter to remember me as I am now, before I get worse.
SCENE 7
(Outside EDEN/YALE’s house. TAMRA knocks tentatively at the door. After some moments, EDEN answers the door).
EDEN
Oh. You must be Tamra, that nice Jewish girl who lives next door. Funny, I was just thinking about you.
(Beat)
I’m Eden. Yale’s mom. Did you come to see Yale?
TAMRA
Yes… I did.
EDEN
He’s out right now. Guitar lesson. But he should be back soon. You’re welcome to come in and wait for him.
TAMRA
Oh, that’s okay. I’ll come back later.
EDEN
No, honey, please come in. You must be thirsty on such a hot day.
TAMRA
I’m all right. But thank you.
EDEN
You might change your mind with a tall glass of orange juice in front of you. Do you like orange juice?
TAMRA
Um…
EDEN
(Insisting)
Come on in.
(TAMRA, somewhat hesitantly, follows EDEN in to the house).
I had a feeling you were coming, so I poured you a glass of orange juice.
(They walk into the living room and sit down on the couch. Sure enough, there is a glass of orange juice on the table).
Don’t try to tell me you aren’t thirsty, because I know you are.
TAMRA
(Picks up the glass and takes a large gulp)
Thank you.
(Beat)
Did you say…
EDEN
Yes?
TAMRA
That… you knew I was coming?
EDEN
I was hoping you were.
TAMRA
Oh. May I ask… why?
EDEN
Of course. Yale told me about you. I’m delighted that he’s made a new friend. He hasn’t been very… outgoing in a while. He used to have lots of friends in New Jersey, where we’re from. They used to come over with bags full of clothes, and their toothbrushes, and they’d sleep in my house for weeks. I was the mother of the gang. And I loved it. But then he got sick and it was like he was no longer interested in being around people. When we moved here, just a little while ago, he said he didn’t really feel like he was leaving anyone behind.
(Beat)
Then you came along and all of a sudden I heard him laughing and playing and breaking things for the first time in… three years. There was a glass vase on this table…
(Indicates some shards of glass on the floor)
it belonged to my mother.
(A look of horror flickers across TAMRA’s face)
Don’t worry! I’m glad you broke it! I’m glad you kids had fun. What good is an empty vase anyway? That vase hasn’t held flowers for years. You don’t know how happy it made me, to hear you two kids making so much noise, having so much fun, smashing things, it was music to my ears.
TAMRA
I am so sorry.
EDEN
Don’t be sorry! Please don’t be sorry. I am very grateful to you, my child, for breathing life back into my son. Thank you.
(Beat)
I want to ask you for one more favor.
(TAMRA nods)
I don’t know if Yale’s told you what I’ve been working on…
TAMRA
He has.
EDEN
Has he told you I’ve succeeded?
TAMRA
No.
EDEN
Of course not. The boy doesn’t believe me. But that’s where you can help.
TAMRA
What, exactly, are you asking me to do?
EDEN
I want you to convince him to take it. To take the cure I’ve made.
TAMRA
What makes you think I can do that?
EDEN
He likes you. He doesn’t think you’re crazy.
TAMRA
Actually—
EDEN
Also, you’re not his mom. I think he might listen to you.
TAMRA
But how do I know it’s really the cure?
EDEN
Listen, I was the best in my class in medical school. I worked for ten years at one of the top hospitals in the country. What happened was, I started to experiment with new remedies, with exotic plants, with herbs and spices, with ancient chants and enchantments. Not because I believed in magic. Because it worked. I’d seen other doctors do it. In back alleys. Doctors performed miracles and called it medicine. I saw terminal illnesses erased, like pencil sketches. And so when I was faced with a patient I couldn’t cure by traditional, acceptable methods… he was HIV positive… I… I turned to these doctors and I asked them to teach me what they knew. And they did. And I cured my patient, but I did it against his will. He sued me, and I was dismissed.
TAMRA
What do you mean, you cured him against his will?
EDEN
I didn’t tell him what I was doing. What I was injecting into him. But he woke up the next morning and he was cured. The virus had just filtered out of his body. I thought he would be overjoyed. I thought anybody would be.
TAMRA
He wasn’t?
EDEN
No. He considered it a gross violation. Of the law, and of his sovereignty over his body. I had thought… if your case is hopeless, if you’re going to die anyway, wouldn’t you try anything, even if the odds of it working are so small, they’re negligible? Because what’s the worst that could happen?
TAMRA
I get that.
EDEN
What I never found out is why he was angry. Was it because the injection could have killed him, or was it because it actually cured him?
(Beat)
I’ll never know.
TAMRA
What I find… somewhat difficult… to accept is, if you really cured HIV, why doesn’t anybody know about it? Wouldn’t the media have eaten that story up?
(Beat)
And why are people still dying from AIDS if there’s a cure?
EDEN
I’ve never been able to reproduce what I made for that patient. It’s as simple as that.
TAMRA
I don’t know. This story doesn’t really add up.
EDEN
If you want I can show you the attic. I can show you every ingredient, and explain to you what it does.
TAMRA
Why don’t you just show Yale?
EDEN
He doesn’t want to see.
TAMRA
Then I can’t help you.
EDEN
But you’ve got to.
TAMRA
No, I don’t.
EDEN
Listen to me, my son is—
(We hear the sound of YALE opening the door. The conversation screeches to a halt. YALE enters).
YALE
Tamra?
EDEN
She came by to see you. I invited her in for a glass of orange juice.
YALE
Oh. Cool.
EDEN
Well, I’ll leave you kids to your noise making and vase breaking and whatnot. I’ll be upstairs if you need me.
(Eyes TAMRA sharply, then retreats to the attic)
TAMRA
Hey.
YALE
Hey.
TAMRA
I guess I’m just a little confused about last night…
YALE
Yeah. Look. I didn’t mean those mean things I said.
TAMRA
Yeah me neither.
YALE
I think you’re cool and smart and not at all pseudo. For the record.
TAMRA
Thanks, man. You’re kind of cool yourself.
YALE
Also, I’ve been thinking about the lunes.
(Beat)
Ya know. Of Hippocrates.
TAMRA
What about them?
YALE
Well, theoretically… if you can make the area of a lune equal to the area of a right triangle…
TAMRA
Yes?
YALE
Then, all you need to do is divide a circle into lunes and you can square it.
TAMRA
Okay. I’m following you. But it would have to be a very specific number of lunes, like, two or… eight or… eighteen.
YALE
Twice any perfect square.
TAMRA
Yes! And the lunes would all have to have the same area.
YALE
Yeah.
TAMRA
But can we actually do that?
YALE
I don’t know. Let’s try it.
(He opens a notebook on the table, picks up a pencil, draws a circle, and begins to divide it into lunes).
TAMRA
(Peering over his shoulder)
But the thing is, we can’t account for the whole circle with lunes. No matter how many lunes we draw, we’ll always have space left over.
YALE
I bet we can get really close though.
TAMRA
But lots of people have gotten really close. The point is to get so close you’re there, you’ve done it, you’ve solved it. And I don’t think it can be done.
YALE
Well I’m going to prove you wrong.
TAMRA
Okay.
(YALE turns to a new page in his notebook and draws a big circle. He tries to divide it into two lunes).
YALE
Nah, can’t divide it into two lunes. You end up with one lune and one shape that sorta looks like a lemon.
(He rips out the sheet of paper, crumples it up and throws it into the audience).
Let’s try eight.
TAMRA
I’m telling you—
YALE
Let’s try it. We have to try it. We can’t just trust the people who tell us it can’t be done. Because how do they know? Just because they can’t do it doesn’t mean nobody can. Like, who has the right to say something’s impossible for all of humankind?
TAMRA
Some very skilled mathematicians.
YALE
Still. We can’t just take it on faith. Everybody told Galileo that Jupiter couldn’t possibly have any moons. But he looked for the moons, and he found them.
TAMRA
Nobody thought there were moons because they couldn’t see them. Because they weren’t looking through telescopes like Galileo.
YALE
Appearances deceive, I guess. Things aren’t what they seem. Or, they are what they seem, but they’re also other things, too. Like, light is like that.
TAMRA
(Nodding)
You have to put it through a prism to see the colors.
YALE
It’s white but it’s also red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. And more.
TAMRA
More?
YALE
Yeah, but we can’t see it. Some animals can see it, what comes before the red and after the violet, and the most subtle shades in between. Like, butterflies can see it. So can sparrows.
TAMRA
So, what does a butterfly see when he looks at another butterfly?
YALE
Ha. I don’t know. But I like to imagine it.
TAMRA
Mmm…
YALE
You know… the lune is a beautiful shape.
(Beat)
It looks like the moon in profile.
TAMRA
It does. You could give it a face, and it would be like the moons in cartoons. You know, the ones on the TV screen that are always smiling, and presiding over these teeny tiny stars, like a mother duck over her ducklings. Of course really the stars are way bigger than the moon. But the TV somehow makes us believe it’s the other way around.
YALE
Yeah.
(Draws her close to him)
TAMRA
It’s also funny how we worship the moon, and it’s a satellite of ours.
YALE
(Looking her square in the eye)
I really want to go back to school, Tamra. I miss this. Exchanging ideas. Being around people.
TAMRA
Then you should do it!
YALE
I know. But I don’t want things to pick up again before they fall down. Like, if I go out and have the greatest four years of my life in college and then die the next year… what was the point? A waste of time and money.
(Beat)
Like, I’ll go out and acquire all this knowledge, and I’ll never get to use it.
TAMRA
The thing is you don’t know how much time you have. You can’t know.
YALE
Yeah, but there’s a high probability…
TAMRA
Maybe.
YALE
So that’s why… I’m thinking of drinking that potion my mom made.
(Beat)
Like, why not? If it works I win everything and if it doesn’t I lose nothing.
TAMRA
When you put it like that… I guess it makes sense.
YALE
Yeah. How ‘bout you? What are your plans?
TAMRA
For life?
YALE
For life.
TAMRA
After school… I want to do something in public action.
YALE
Like, helping people?
TAMRA
Mmm. It’s just… the problem is…
YALE
What?
TAMRA
Well, I’m not very good with people. I’m really shy.
YALE
(Teasing)
Oh yeah?
TAMRA
I like people. I do. It’s just they make me into a nervous wreck.
YALE
You know what I think?
TAMRA
What?
YALE
I think you’re only shy in the beginning. Then, you get to know someone, and you start to feel comfortable around them, and then you’re all these other things; you’re cool and relaxed and friendly and kinda sassy. It’s not that you weren’t those things before, it’s just… ya know… like light without a prism.
SCENE 8
(Nighttime. LEOR sits up in bed in a silk nightgown).
LEOR
People are always so concerned about what their last words are going to be. Some people plan it ahead of time, the last thing they’ll ever say. I’m more interested in the last thing I’ll hear, the last thing I’ll see. Ideally, I’ll be back in Cape Cod. I’ll be standing barefoot at the foot of the ocean, on a patch of iridescent sand. Gulls will sweep the air above the sea, and the sea will sweep the sand beneath my feet. Or else, I’ll be on the boardwalk, in the dark, locking eyes with a crescent moon. These are just fantasies, of course.
(TAMRA, in her pajamas, tiptoes down the hall and stands in the doorway, hidden from LEOR, but visible to the audience).
No one wants to see an old woman drop dead on the shore, or on the boardwalk. Imagine, it’s early September, and you’re trying to enjoy the last few days of your summer vacation, and some strange lady on the beach in a bathing suit drinks a bottle full of pills and lays herself down and dies right in front of your eyes. That would ruin the vacation. So I’ll probably just be at home, in my bed. Or at the hospital, if I can find someone to help me. My only regret is I’ll never get to see what happens to Tam. I’ll never know the woman she’ll grow into. But then, what kind of mother could I be to her, in my condition? My brain has melted like a candle into a pool of wax. Yes, melted wax is still wax. But it can’t hold a wick or a flame.
(TAMRA tiptoes back down the hall. We hear her run down the stairs and out the door. LEOR hears it, too).
Tam must be going out for a midnight walk. She does that sometimes. Maybe she’s going out to see that boy, the witch neighbor’s son. I wonder if she thinks she’s sneaking out, if she thinks I’m fast asleep and can’t hear her leaving.
SCENE 9
(Moments later. Outside Eden/Yale’s house. TAMRA, still in pajamas, knocks at the door. No response. She knocks again. Finally, YALE comes to the door, also in pj’s).
YALE
(Rubbing his eyes)
Hey, T.
TAMRA
Hey.
YALE
Everything okay?
TAMRA
Uh huh.
(Beat)
I actually came, um, to see your mom.
YALE
Oh. Okay. At four in the morning?
TAMRA
It’s important.
YALE
She’s upstairs. She might be awake. You can go up and check, I guess.
TAMRA
Thanks.
YALE
No problem. Good night.
TAMRA
Night.
(She waits for him to exit. Then she begins to climb the stairs).
EDEN
(Off-stage, from way up in the attic)
Yale? Is that you?
TAMRA
It’s… me. It’s Tamra.
(She reaches the top of the stairs, and looks around for EDEN. Then she notices a second staircase, leading up to a large rectangular hole in the ceiling. She realizes this is the attic, and EDEN is up there).
EDEN
(Peeking out of the hole in the ceiling)
Oh, hello dear.
(She climbs down the stairs to meet TAMRA).
How are you? You look… troubled.
TAMRA
I haven’t been able to sleep all night.
EDEN
Why’s that?
TAMRA
I keep thinking about… how you asked me to help you… convince him…
EDEN
…Yes?
TAMRA
And how I refused because… he didn’t seem to want…
EDEN
Oh, honey.
TAMRA
But I think I’ve changed my mind. I want to help you.
EDEN
You do?
(TAMRA nods)
How come?
TAMRA
Today he told me how much he wants to go to college. But he doesn’t want to go if he’s just going to die at the end of it. Because then his education will have gone to waste. I just think it’s so unfair that I can live my life without that fear, that most people can, but he can’t.
EDEN
Yes. I agree.
TAMRA
And then I had this dream tonight that I was him. I was Yale. And I was playing in this… huge pile of autumn leaves… it was almost like a sea. I was swimming in it. Then it got windy, and these golden waves of leaves… rose up and rolled towards me. One of them broke right over my head and pulled me under and held me down. I couldn’t breathe. I kept trying to swim up the surface, but the surface kept receding. Eventually my limbs got tired and I stopped moving. My face went blue and my mind went black, and I drowned.
(Beat)
I want Yale to make it. I want him to be able to grow up, like me. I don’t know if I can persuade him, but…
EDEN
But?
TAMRA
But if you let me have the cure, I can take it home and pour it into a batch of brownies or a pitcher of iced tea or something… and bring it over this afternoon. I won’t… I won’t tell him what’s in it.
EDEN
(Long pause)
Hmmm… that’s actually… not a bad idea. I hadn’t thought of doing that.
TAMRA
I don’t think he would suspect me.
EDEN
And you would… be willing to do it?
TAMRA
I think I would.
EDEN
(Embracing TAMRA)
Oh, honey.
TAMRA
I’ll do it on one condition.
EDEN
Yes?
TAMRA
That you show me the ingredients first. I want to know everything that’s in this elixir before I give it to Yale. Deal?
EDEN
Come on up.
(She disappears into the attic. TAMRA follows. As soon as TAMRA climbs through the hole in the ceiling, the smell of burning incense fills her lungs, and she coughs. The aroma should permeate the audience as well).
Excuse the mess.
TAMRA
I can’t really see anything at all.
EDEN
Let’s light some candles, then, shall we?
TAMRA
Okay.
EDEN
(Strikes a match and lights several Shabbat candles, which form a ring on the floor around them. The mess is now evident. Books and dirt and herbs and broken flowerpots litter the floor).
That’s better. Now, for the cure.
(She rummages through the piles on the floor, while muttering to herself. This goes on for a long and uncomfortable moment. Finally, she emerges from the mess with the vial).
Got it.
TAMRA
So, what’s in it?
EDEN
(Peering into the vial at the purplish liquid inside)
Let’s see… there’s soursop, which comes from an exotic evergreen tree… there’s hemp oil, and rosemary, and parsley… and dill and mint and thyme… and thirty-six drops of rabbit blood…
TAMRA
Rabbit blood?
EDEN
Yes. Thirty-six drops.
(Beat)
A drop for every month Yale’s been sick.
TAMRA
(Does a quick calculation in her head)
Go on.
EDEN
A beam of light from a quarter moon… rose hips… and cinnamon… the cinnamon is just for flavor… and morning dew… and dandelion spores… and wine… the wine is just for color… and some tea leaves and that’s it. Then I boiled it, poured it into this vial, and let it sit for 24 hours.
TAMRA
So… it’s… completely safe and, like, nontoxic and everything?
EDEN
Of course.
TAMRA
And can it cure any kind of cancer?
EDEN
Yes it can. It’s miraculous.
(Beat)
I think this is what God would have made on the seventh day, if he hadn’t fallen asleep.
TAMRA
But he didn’t make it. You did. God just made the problem; you made the solution.
EDEN
(Holds out the vial to TAMRA. TAMRA takes it)
And now it’s in your hands.
TAMRA
I’ll… I’ll be back later this afternoon with the brownies.
EDEN
Thank you, my child.
SCENE 10
(The next morning. LEOR’s bedroom. LEOR sits up in bed, reading a book. TAMRA enters with a mug of tea).
TAMRA
(Setting the mug on LEOR’s night table)
Here, mama.
LEOR
Oh, you’re an angel.
(She picks up the mug and takes a sip)
This isn’t my twig tea.
(Beat)
But it’s good. Fruity.
TAMRA
Yes, it’s… I bought it at the grocery store. It’s pomegranate apple tea.
LEOR
(Taking another sip)
Mmm… it gets sweeter with every sip. Have you tried it?
TAMRA
No.
LEOR
Well, you should make yourself a cup.
(Beat)
Anyway, how was your night?
TAMRA
My night? …Why?
LEOR
You think I don’t know… that I didn’t hear you go out the front door at four AM, and run over there to the neighbors’… to see that boy, whatshisname, Yale, who has Leukemia.
TAMRA
Oh… yeah.
LEOR
I don’t mind. It’s no sin. I s’pose I don’t even need to ask you how your night was, because I heard the whole thing.
TAMRA
You heard… what?
LEOR
I heard the sound of someone strumming chords on a guitar. Two kids sipping cider straight from the bottle. Nervous laughter. Two sets of lips opening and closing but not producing words. I heard my daughter happy… at peace.
TAMRA
Uh huh.
(Beat)
Listen, mom. I have a feeling… you’re going to get better. I really do. So I need you to keep trying. Mom, do you hear me?
LEOR
(Groggy)
Uh huh.
TAMRA
I need you to be there… for my graduation next May. Okay?
(LEOR nods)
You promise me you’ll be there?
LEOR
Yes.
TAMRA
You swear?
LEOR
Yes.
TAMRA
On your—
LEOR
On my life.
TAMRA
Okay. Good. Hey, don’t forget about your tea. It’ll get cold.
(LEOR picks up the mug and drinks. Blackout).
END OF PLAY
1 
