to this expectation that doesn’t even exist and surely you see how problematic that is.
( Pause during which it appears Adam is considering Clarissa’s statement but in reality is just the kind of silence that often emerges when two people who’ve been part of a group suddenly find themselves alone with little basis for speech.)
ADAM: So… where you from?
CLARISSA: How would I know?
( silence )
ADAM: I’m from… ( can’t remember )
CLARISSA: Never been.
( silence )
ADAM: You’re right after all.
CLARISSA: Told you.
ADAM: All of you, right as rain. The where in where are we truly doesn’t matter it’s the how that counts. That’s why we ask how are you on first encounter, the where is mere backdrop. I sometimes feel like a base animal where the only thing that matters is the immediate state of my senses. Hungry, full. Empty, sated.
CLARISSA: Deluded, alert.
ADAM: Pain, pleasure.
CLARISSA: So, Adam, are you pained or pleased?
ADAM: That’s just it, as usual fully neither.
CLARISSA: And yet time doesn’t wait for you to decide.
ADAM: No.
CLARISSA: It flows with merciless acceleration.
ADAM: But maybe let it is what I’m saying. I’m not in pain, physical or otherwise. Truth is this place is quite comfortable.
( Adam looks around in satisfaction as Clarissa shakes her head no until his eyes land on Charles and he quickly averts them. )
CLARISSA: Humans adapt, and that’s not a compliment. Unlike my older siblings I was born into beauty. An elegantly constructed home in the shade of one of those trees that seems to argue for the existence of God. As a child I was prone to behaving childlike and would earnestly say things like I will never live anywhere else .
But the tree grew sick and began to die, slowly. A century of prosperous life would have to ebb to an end in our presence. First one limb removed then another and now the house is too much in the sun to be warm and we notice that its owners don’t smile in each other’s presence and everyone’s secluded in their own being, shedding limbs to protect the core.
That was the root of it, I remain sure of it to this day. Because the tree, like all that lives and grows, did die, and nothing grew thereafter. In the end you grind up the stump and move away. A compartment shaded only by power lines. The girlish words have been emptied and you realize you’ll live wherever the world damn well places you. That’s where I’m from.
ADAM: That’s not this, my circumstances before weren’t any better.
CLARISSA: Through repetition loss begins to feel like a transient curve.
ADAM: Maybe Nestor and Ludwig will discover something.
CLARISSA: That may be, maybe, but what if they only discover there’s nothing to discover?
ADAM: Still be better than this… uncertainty. No?
CLARISSA: I’m not certain. Stop worrying will you? I promised you I’d get you out of here…
ADAM: When was that?
CLARISSA: And I will.
ADAM: Wait a second, I’m the man here.
CLARISSA: If you say so.
ADAM: I should be the one promising everything’s going to be okay.
CLARISSA: Go ahead.
ADAM: Everything’s going to be okay. ( Clarissa cups her hand to her ear in expectation until Adam gets the message. ) I promise.
CLARISSA: Don’t believe you. ( Adam deflates ) Understand, I’m not impugning your integrity I just don’t believe everything’s going to be okay and you happen to be the one declaring the contrary.
ADAM: Just trying to stay positive.
CLARISSA: Positive?
ADAM: Yes, trying.
CLARISSA: No I mean you positive that’s what you were doing?
ADAM: Of course. If there’s one thing I remain certain of…
CLARISSA: Let me stop you right there because if there’s one thing I’m certain of it’s that human beings don’t often know what truly motivates their actions.
( Pause during which it appears Adam is considering Clarissa’s statement but in reality is just the kind of silence that often emerges when two people who’ve been part of a group suddenly find themselves alone with little basis for speech.)
ADAM: So… where you from?
CLARISSA: How would I know?
( silence )
ADAM: I’m from… ( can’t remember )
CLARISSA: Never been.
( silence )
ADAM: You’re right after all.
CLARISSA: Told you.
ADAM: All of you, right as rain. The where in where are we truly doesn’t matter it’s the how that counts. That’s why we ask how are you on first encounter, the where is mere backdrop. I sometimes feel like a base animal where the only thing that matters is the immediate state of my senses. Hungry, full. Empty, sated.
CLARISSA: Deluded, alert.
ADAM: Pain, pleasure.
CLARISSA: So, Adam, are you pained or pleased?
ADAM: That’s just it, as usual fully neither.
CLARISSA: And yet time doesn’t wait for you to decide.
ADAM: No.
CLARISSA: It flows with merciless acceleration.
ADAM: But maybe let it is what I’m saying. I’m not in pain, physical or otherwise. Truth is this place is quite comfortable.
( Adam looks around in satisfaction as Clarissa shakes her head no until his eyes land on Charles and he quickly averts them. )
CLARISSA: Humans adapt, and that’s not a compliment. Unlike my older siblings I was born into beauty. An elegantly constructed home in the shade of one of those trees that seems to argue for the existence of God. As a child I was prone to behaving childlike and would earnestly say things like I will never live anywhere else .
But the tree grew sick and began to die, slowly. A century of prosperous life would have to ebb to an end in our presence. First one limb removed then another and now the house is too much in the sun to be warm and we notice that its owners don’t smile in each other’s presence and everyone’s secluded in their own being, shedding limbs to protect the core.
That was the root of it, I remain sure of it to this day. Because the tree, like all that lives and grows, did die, and nothing grew thereafter. In the end you grind up the stump and move away. A compartment shaded only by power lines. The girlish words have been emptied and you realize you’ll live wherever the world damn well places you. That’s where I’m from.
ADAM: That’s not this, my circumstances before weren’t any better.
CLARISSA: Through repetition loss begins to feel like a transient curve.
ADAM: Maybe Nestor and Ludwig will discover something.
CLARISSA: That may be, maybe, but what if they only discover there’s nothing to discover?
ADAM: Still be better than this… uncertainty. No?
CLARISSA: I’m not certain. Stop worrying will you? I promised you I’d get you out of here…
ADAM: When was that?
CLARISSA: And I will.
ADAM: Wait a second, I’m the man here.
CLARISSA: If you say so.
ADAM: I should be the one promising everything’s going to be okay.
CLARISSA: Go ahead.
ADAM: Everything’s going to be okay. ( Clarissa cups her hand to her ear in expectation until Adam gets the message. ) I promise.
CLARISSA: Don’t believe you. ( Adam deflates ) Understand, I’m not impugning your integrity I just don’t believe everything’s going to be okay and you happen to be the one declaring the contrary.
ADAM: Just trying to stay positive.
CLARISSA: Positive?
ADAM: Yes, trying.
CLARISSA: No I mean you positive that’s what you were doing?
ADAM: Of course. If there’s one thing I remain certain of…
CLARISSA: Let me stop you right there because if there’s one thing I’m certain of it’s that human beings don’t often know what truly motivates their actions.
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