OPENING

 

Lights up slowly on full cast, standing on stage, facing front.  The following is delivered as choral speech, with sentences, phrases, words spoken by one or two people, or by the whole cast.  The tone is conversational.

 

One of the places we are now is September, with a sky so blue it aches your heart, with the air the crisp of a tart apple, with the light bright from a sun just now beginning to slant.  It’s the end of summer, and there’s a fall tang in the air. 

 

By the way, this day, when it happens, when it happens now, isn’t always in September.  There were days like this last March, one even in the middle of January.  They are days that, when you wake, your first impulse is to smile.  And then you stop smiling.  Because . .

 

They tore hope out of the day.  In two fiery blasts, they leached out the potential for anything other than fear.  Oh, especially in New York, we can be brave.  We can be brave as a Briton in the Blitz, braver.  We can be loving to each other and snarky to each other.  And when we cry, we do it to ourselves, mostly.  But those days – the crisp, the blue, when the wind snaps a little but the sun is bright and hot – those days are now tinged with horror.  They wear a fringe of fear.

 

You wake up in the morning, and then life is totally different before your coffee break.  There were such heroes.  There were such miracles.  And there were 2,752 deaths at the World Trade Center; 271 at the Pentagon and in the Pennsylvania field.  Three thousand and twenty-three men and women, each life touching others, touching others, touching others.  Especially here in New York, everyone knew someone, or knew someone who knew someone.

 

We lived through the Army cordoning off 14th Street, yellow tape, machine guns at the ready.  We lived with the smell.  For months and months.  We felt brave getting on an airplane to go to a meeting.  We felt braver coming home, when we heard there was now anthrax abroad.

 

Now, many Orange Alerts later, two anti-war protests later, one Republican Convention later, it’s again a different world.  Now we live under people who have hijacked our terror, who have turned our fear of others into a fear of ourselves.

 

But still, there is no denying that a blue sky, on a crisp day, with a warm sun and a light breeze, no denying that such a day brings a shiver.  And if a plane should cross the sky, we hold our breath.  Hold our breath, until we turn away and go on with what is now, our daily life.

 

BLACKOUT

 

 

SECURITY DEPOSIT - PART ONE

 

MAN on telephone, waiting, holds a credit card bill in his hand.

 

MAN

Hey, thanks for picking up, that wasn’t so bad, seven minutes, nowhere near a record. … Hi, Stanley, my name’s George, George Forrester.  Stanley, huh?  You don’t sound much like a Stanley.  How’s things over there in Bombay?   . . . Mumbai, huh?  Is that what you call it now?  Is that right?  Yeah, well, you know, here in America we don’t seem to change the names of our cities all that much. . . . Uh huh, uh huh . . .Right, right. . . .

 

Anyway, uh, Stanley, the reason for my call is that I was wondering what happened to my last payment, and was wondering if you could check it out for me.  Sure.  Sure.  . . .

 

Oh, okay, you got all that just from my phone number, huh?  Interesting.  All that.  Yeah, that’s right.  Uh huh.  Yeah.  . . . Oh, you did?  Oh, hey, that’s great.  I thought maybe something was wrong with the check, thought I might have to start dealing with the bank.  So, you’ve got the money and I can send my wife back to the store, right?  That’s why I called.  Little woman, she’s quite a shoppers.  She was over there today, at the mall, trying out her J.C. Penney’s card.  Again.  Anyway, she thought she’d give it a whirl since we paid it off, and then she came home, all in tears, well, not exactly tears, more like ready to tear me a new one for not paying the bill the way we’d agreed.  I told her I had, said I’d put that check in the mail.  She said, “Yeah.  Sure.” like she does.  Yeah.  Women, right?  Anyway, she’s upstairs now, but I guess I don’t need to have her come to the phone, have you talk with her, cause you’ve got the check and everything’s all right.  Right?

 

Well, yeah, it IS a large amount.  Somehow this was the one that had gotten away from us.  New garage door, new opener, new tractor mower – just all this stuff comes with a move to a new place, you know.  And there we were, over $6,000.  So, we just wanted to pay it off.  Yeah, [$6,733.79] six thousand seven hundred thirty three dollars and seventy nine cents.  Yeah, Stanley, it is – biggest payment we’ve ever made. Had to dip into . . . well, that’s not the point.  Anyway, paid the thing off.  So what’s the problem?

 

 

Really.  Really.  Really.  Stanley, could I speak with your supervisor, please?  No, no, you’re providing really fine service here, nothing like that.  No, I’m not criticizing you.  No, um, Stanley, your English is fine.  Really.  No, I just need to speak with a supervisor.  Thanks, Stanley.  No offense.  Hey, you have a good day, too.  Evening, is it?  Moon and everything.  Hey, that’s great.  No, I’ll wait.  No, thanks,  I don’t want anyone to call me back, I’d like to speak with someone now.  Uh huh.  Thanks.

 

[While holding.]  Grace.  Grace?    You still up there?  Grace, this is the goddamn-dest thing.  This guy, all the way over in India somewhere, he’s telling me there’s a hold on the account, on this Jay Cee Goddam Penney’s thing – and no, dammit, I know what you said before, but I’m not gonna close the account just because of . . .

 

What?  Yes, I’m holding for a supervisor.  Yes, I’ll hold some more.

 

. . . I said, I’m not closing the account just because someone says they have to put a hold on our account because the goddam payment’s too goddam . . .

 

Hello.  Oh, hello, yes, thank you.  Now, Miss, uh, I . . .  Yes.  Yes.  I see.  Yes.  But, I . . . Yes, but . . . Yes, but . . . Just a minute, Miss, Miss, uh, Ms., uh,  . . . What?  We’re what?  But why would that be?  We’ve, I’ve, never been arrested.  I’m just, I work at . . . Well, I guess I’m not surprised you know that.  But what I mean to say is, all I want, all we want to do is shop.  Like the President said right after 9/11.  Keep this economy going, strongest nation on the face of the earth.  We’re just trying to do our part here.  Just want to, you know, shop.

 

Well, of course we’ll come in.  I’ll come in.  You just tell me when and where.  I’ll be there.  You bet.  Uh huh.  Okay.  Are you . . .?  No, I guess not, half way round the world, doesn’t really make any sense.  But someone . . . Yes, like I said, I’ll be there.  Oh yeah, ID.  Of course I’ll bring some ID.

 

[Hangs up phone.  Sits.]  

BLACKOUT

 

 Part Two continues as George Forrester takes his ID and his J. C. Penney's credit card to the local Homeland Security office to straighten out the problem.