Line In The Sand
Cast:
Cosee
Queenie
Setting: A bare stage, except there must be sand into which a line can be drawn, preferably a lot of it, spread evenly on the stage.
(Cosee and Queenie face each other center stage, Cosee looks angry, Queenie looks bemused, Cosee bends down and draws a straight line in the sand between them.)
Cosee: You cannot cross this line!
Queenie: Oh Cosee, you don't mean that.
C: I'm so sick of you hurting me, Queenie! All the time! But... not anymore! I'm ending it. This is the line!
Q: Yes, I see that, Cosee.
C: Over this line, you may never cross!
Q: You're really not being reasonable, Cosee.
C: Don't try to tell me who's being reasonable or not! You're the unreasonable one! You're the one who talks behind my back!
Q: Only when you turn away from me, Cosee.
C: You're the one who tells everyone the secrets I have told you in complete confidence!
Q: Only when I'm saving you from a larger problem, Cosee.
C: You're the one who stole my boyfriend!
Q: Only to get him away from you, Cosee.
C: See?! Exactly! You admit it!
Q: Yes, Cosee, I stole him, just so I could get rid of him before he destroyed you.
C: You don't know that.
Q: He was using your credit card to buy expensive gifts for other women, Cosee.
C: They were for his Mother... she's dying.
Q: She's dead, has been for five years.
C: Why... didn't he tell me then?!
Q: He was a liar, Cosee. He was a liar, and you have money and nice breasts.
C: I do not!
Q: You do have money, Cosee, and you do have nice breasts.
C: Welll... fine. But you don't cross that line. I'm so sick of you. (not said convincingly)
Q: (sitting down on her side of the line) So what do we do then, Cosee?
C: Why do you have to use my name in every sentence?! I know who you're talking to.
Q: Because it's a beautiful name...
C: So?
Q: And you're a beautiful friend... Cosee.
C: Stop it.
Q: Okay.
C: (sitting down on her side of the line) Why do you feel like you have to save me all the time?
Q: Because, you often do things that require being saved.
C: That's so... so... uhhh...
Q: Patronizing?
C: Yes, that's it... you did it again!
Q: I'm sorry, Cosee.
C: Just let me make mistakes! And STOP using my name all the time!
Q: I do let you make mistakes, Co...
C: No, no you don't... I don't always need saving either!
Q: I know that.
C: You're just going to have to live with it, then. I get to make my own choices, and I get to live with the results.
Q: I know.
C: If I don't like a choice I made; I'll change it.
Q: You're so stubborn, Cosee; usually you don't change the decision even if you know it's wrong.
C: Maybe because I'm expecting you to save me.
Q: So, by saving you from pain; I'm hurting you?
C: You're not letting me learn, Queenie.
Q: Oh. (pause) I never thought of it like that, Cosee.
C: You can't save me from every decision I make.
Q: I shouldn't save you, Cosee?
C: Right. I need to learn to live with my bad decisions.
Q: I am not your savior. Okay...
C: No, you're not.
Q: (pause) So, what about this line?
C: My decision; you cannot cross it. I'm really mad at you. I mean it.
Q: Oh.
(long pause, they stare at audience, sky, around them, after a while a freak breeze picks up and spreads the sand around, line blows away, Queenie looks down after the breeze has gone)
Q: Neat.
(Queenie reaches for Cosee, puts a comforting arm around her shoulder, Cosee immediately melts against Queenie's side and slides closer to her, lights start fading)
C: (with a relieved sigh) Thank you.
(they sit with their heads leaning together, both smiling calmly as the lights fade out)
(end)
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