31 Plays in 31 Days, #15 - "Still So Much to Do"

[breakinglight11]

I probably shouldn't post this. It's a spoiler. But hopefully divorced from context the big important ideas of it won't be clear, which are more spoilery than the simple fact of this scene's existence. So I don't think I'll say anymore. Except this may be a fairly decent example of me successfully embedding meaning non-literally.



Day #15 - "Still So Much to Do"
From Mrs. Hawking VI

London, England, 1888

VICTORIA HAWKING, the lady's champion of London, late forties
MALAIKA SHAH, a specter of the past, apparently early twenties
~~~

(Enter the specter of MALAIKA SHAH as she was in her youth, carrying her basket of sewing. She sits beside MRS. HAWKING.)

MALAIKA:

It’s time, missibaba.

MRS. HAWKING:

Malaika. Let’s explore the cellar. Or go to the pond and catch frogs.

MALAIKA:

It’s getting dark out. And there is still so much to do.

MRS. HAWKING:

I can’t go on the roof anymore. That’s ruined.

MALAIKA:

We are not the girls we used to be. To much has happened for us to ever go back.

MRS. HAWKING:

I can’t bear it. Not again.

MALAIKA:

It’s too late for that.

MRS. HAWKING:

I should have done better. I should have known.

MALAIKA:

Now you have work to do.

MRS. HAWKING:

What can I do?

MALAIKA:

Whatever you can. Whatever you have to. The way we always do.

MRS. HAWKING:

This wasn’t what I wanted. I never needed this! I never meant for this to happen!

MALAIKA:

And yet it has.

MRS. HAWKING:

I don’t think that I can bear it.

MALAIKA:

Perhaps it’s too late for you. But it is not too late for everyone.

MRS. HAWKING:

Please. Don’t go.

MALAIKA:

Victoria. I’ve been gone for a very long time.

(Exit MALAIKA. MRS. HAWKING lapses back into unconsciousness.)