31 Plays in 31 Days, #1 - "Full of Scar"

[breakinglight11]

Well, here we are again, chained to the Promethean rock that is 31 Plays in 31 Days. At least this time around I have projects I actually need to accomplish drafting for, so maybe this will marshal me to get my work done.

However, I’m beginning with a scene I imagined for a project I’m not currently working on, the next direct sequel in the Mrs. Hawking series. Because of Covid-19 making it so we can’t rehearse or put on a show in person, we’re going on a detour into the lighter, funnier idea we had for a Justin Hawking adventure this year. Still, I had done some thinking about where the main gang would be going after our Jack the Ripper adventure, including bringing back the character of Violet Strallan, the nurse that was their ally in that story. Since part 7 will deal a lot with Mrs. Hawking’s physical recovery from that adventure and the impact of advancing age, Violet could articulate a lot of those effects and force our hero to confront them.

LET THE EATING OF THE LIVER COMMENCE!


Photo by Daniel Fox

Day #1 - Full of Scar
From Mrs. Hawking 7
By Phoebe Roberts
~~~

Mrs. VICTORIA HAWKING, lady’s society avenger, early 50’s
Nurse VIOLET STRALLAN, former client, now consultant, late 30’s

London, England, 1890
~~~

(MRS. HAWKING sits in her corset as VIOLET STRALLAN examines her shoulders.)

VIOLET: And turn in. And out again. And that’ll do.

MRS. HAWKING: Well?

VIOLET: I’d say the tear is mended. At long last.

MRS. HAWKING: Then why do they still grind so?

VIOLET: There’s nothing wounded anymore; they’re just filled with scar. Nothing to be done about that.

MRS. HAWKING: (Sighs)

VIOLET: At this point you ought to thank your lucky stars that you’re still in one piece after all of it.

MRS. HAWKING: Yes, thank heaven for small favors.

VIOLET: Here, now. I’ve seen the inside of yours guts, madam. I know just how close you got.

MRS. HAWKING: I have work to do. It can’t wait for me to heal.

VIOLET: After thirty years battering your bones, you can’t wonder that it’s taken a toll.

MRS. HAWKING: Then what’s to be done?

(VIOLET hands her a vial.)

MRS. HAWKING: Laudanum?

VIOLET: If you can’t bear it.

MRS. HAWKING: It isn’t that.

VIOLET: I don’t fault you. We’ve all got our hurts. And we’ve all got to find some way to bear them.

MRS. HAWKING: I knew a woman who turned to laudanum. When… her work took its toll. Before long she couldn’t do without it.

VIOLET: That’s the danger of it. What became of her?

MRS. HAWKING: I don’t know. But I doubt she lasted much longer. It was ruining her faster than the work did.

VIOLET: We all break down one way or another. Why suffer if you don’t have to?

MRS. HAWKING: I’m not finished, Miss Strallan. Not yet.

VIOLET: All respect, madam… you’re fifty years old. How much longer do you mean to keep this up?