Promise C. Scott Ananian May 5, 1997 Revised: January 22, 1998 [A bleak expanse. Caked salt. N and B sit on a rise, looking out. N is old. B is young.] N: Do you see the green? B: No. [A pause.] N: Over there. At the horizon. B: No. N: I see it. [Pause.] B: Are you hungry? N: I might be. B: I brought food. N: From where? B: Where I came from. There. N: What is it? B: Dried meat. N: No. None of that. B: You must eat something. N: My stomach isn't well. B: I've got... an apple? N: Ah. Yes. B: Why not the other? N: Six hundred years of habit. B: There wasn't? N: No. Only vegetables. B: Oh. [A pause.] B: How long... N: Until it rains. B: But why? N: I've told you. Be patient. [A pause.] B: I think I see the green. N: Where? B: Over there. [N peers hard into the distance.] N: No. Not there. B: Are you sure? N: Your eyes are playing tricks. B: But... N: No, not yet. B: What do you think will happen? N: Assurance. B: No, I mean how? N: That's not for me to decide. [A pause.] B: Have people changed? N: Some. B: I mean, are we better than we were before? N: Not so much. B: Then why did it happen? N: I'm not the one to ask. B: You've got ideas, though. Don't you? N: There are fewer of us. B: What does that mean? N: The darkness is more... spread out. B: Tell me how it was. N: No. B: Why not? N: My father died drowning. B: But we're just repeating, aren't we? It's not improving. N: It will. B: How can you say that? Look around you! There's nothing. Death. N: I see green. B: Even so! What are you waiting for? N: Hope. B: What kind of hope? Another promise that we won't perish? The reassurance that we'll be able to destroy and kill on a salt-parched desert for the rest of our days? N: An answer. B: To what? N: It's true. People haven't changed. Their groupings? They've changed. The black clusters are no longer so dark. They've been [A faint grin.] watered down. B: But what does that fix? We're going in circles, waiting for another destruction to cleanse. N: The circle's been broken. B: No it hasn't. The promise is only that it will be different next time. N: The circle was broken. There's another answer. B: What? N: Sit. Wait. B: Every year we do this. Over and over. Sitting until we can't. N: Waiting for renewal. One day, the answer. B: You seem so certain. N: Is that why you return? B: Yes. I can't help it. N: You believe it. B: Yes. Why? How can you be so certain things will change? N: I've been there. I watched the waters come. I watched man, boy, woman, child, try to save themselves. I floated above them. B: I've heard the story before. N: You can't save yourself. Not then, not now. The answer will come. B: Another rescue. N: Another vessel. [Pause. B scans the horizon.] B: Is that the green you saw? N: There? B: Yes. N: Yes. [Pause.] B: It gets bigger every year. The first day's not yet over. N: Your eyes are getting brighter. B: Yours seem to grow dim. How much longer? N: Whatever's given me. My grandfather lived to hear the promise. B: And you wish the same. N: Yes. B: Yes. [A pause.] B: Do you see the clouds? N: It will rain. B: Yes. It will. _________________________________________________________________ cananian@alumni.princeton.edu