Issue 3 • Fall 2002 • Featured Writer • Drama
Nicola Harwood
II
There Has Always Been a West
All characters onstage. We hear drums, rattles, and sighs. Lily above the stage. Lily aims a .22-caliber rifle at Alice Campbell who is on her knees, facing downstage, hands clasped around a wooden paddle, eyes downcast, praying. Lily speaks to Alice's back. Alice does not hear Lily.
LILY
Red Tide! Red Alert! Let's go fishin'! Come on, paddle! Paddle the damn boat! Over there! Put in over there -- on that beach -- yeah, that's right. Okay -- how about some clams for dinner? Sound good? Alright then. Come on, dig! Gonna rain tonight -- can you feel it? Use the stick, stupid. Dig! Deeper! Follow the bubbles. Those clams got one foot and no eyes -- you got two of everything! Red Tide. Moon's up. I'll get a fire goin' out back. We'll have ourselves a little potlatch, eh? Never mind the Coast Guard. Never mind the RCMP. I hitchhiked all the way out to Bella Coola special for this red tide. I don't care if you're Alexander McKenzie, I don't care if you're Christopher Columbus or Captain Syphilis Cook. We're gonna have ourselves a potlatch! A real Indian supper. Indian ceremony. You bet. The real thing. Clams, oysters. Enough for everyone. Come on now, dig. Dig!
Lily fires the gun. Alice simultaneously swats a mosquito on her neck. Sound out.
ALICE
There are two seasons in this country. The season of the ice and the season of the mosquito.
LILY
Dig!
Lily fires again. Alice slaps her neck again. Stands.
ALICE
Hardship?! Imagine for one minute the hardships of the Great Explorers! Months of struggling against the elements, the currents, the terrain! Never knowing what the next turn in the river might bring, never even knowing where one was half the time! But these strong and brave men never shrank from their duty to the Great Dominion of Canada. And neither shall we. Forward! Press on!
Alice throws her paddle over her shoulder.
LILY
I said dig!
Lily shoots again. Alice slaps herself again.
ALICE
Bloody gnats.
Alice strides off.
We hear the opening of "White Rabbit" by Jefferson Airplane.
Hanna and Martha.
MARTHA
To begin our journey we must keep in our mind's eye three maps. North America 12,000 BC. Where the Bering Straight is today -- a land bridge.
HANNA
Vancouver, 1970. East Hastings. Midnight. I'm stoned on a tab of white blotter acid. I trip over a man slumped on the sidewalk. His face is dark. Ruptured and bleeding. I stumble into a cafe and order a burger.
MARTHA
And where the mountains are today, where the forests and rivers are today: ice.
HANNA
The sheet of acid was printed in faint purple lines with the picture of a unicorn with wings. I don't have any money, the table has begun to swirl brown and muddy, like a river, and all I can think of is the periodic table, today in chemistry class and the fact that all matter that exists is made up of only 92 re-occurring elements and that the table is just an arrangement, an arrangement -- when the woman starts swearing at me in Chinese and I run out and trip again on the man. But this time I see his eyes, open and deep black like the last ice age. That old. That ancient. And he hands me a vodka bottle, empty, and I turn and I start to run.
MARTHA
And when the ice begins to melt: rivers.
HANNA
I run and I run and I run.
Frances.
FRANCES
The salmon run red and thick, coursin' through the river like blood. My father's tied himself with a rope to the Jack pine just behind me and he's standin' out on a rock, leanin' over the river holding his long-handled dip net and the river is brown and muddy and wild and it keeps throwin' itself at him like it wants him, like it wants to drag him under. He told me I gotta wait up on the cliff, but I'm not waitin', I'm climbin' down. Down toward the river.
MARTHA
Artifacts from the banks of the Fraser River, including a human skull, our most treasured possession -- have been carbon-dated to eleven thousand BC.
FRANCES
I gotta get right next to the water, feel it -- so I jump -- out on a big sandstone rock -- dry and still as the hills behind me but I'm surrounded by the water like a crazy fuckin' storm 'til my old man sees me and he starts yellin' at me to get back up away from the river and onto the cliff and then like a slow motion movie I watch him start to slip off the edge of the wet rock he's standin' on and I'm too far away, stuck there, standin' there -- "don't fall, don't you damn well fall, don't you goddamn die right in front of me!" -- and the rope catches him just then and he looks at me, his black eyes laughin' like of course he wasn't gonna die.
MARTHA
We have reason to believe further excavation of sites along the Fraser River will be equally productive. Our team will spend 12 weeks this summer preparing a field survey of the area and attempting a preliminary dig.
FRANCES
Not yet. Not then.
MARTHA
And of course all mapping and survey work will be on file for future teams.
HANNA
Map of the Vancouver streets, torn and dark as the sky above me; rain about to fall.
FRANCES
Map of the Chilcotin plateau, the Fraser river cutting through it like a knife.
HANNA
Map of the Coast Mountains disappearing into sky, drowning in cloud.
FRANCES
Map of the river buried deep in the heart of the salmon fighting their way home year after year.
HANNA
Map of that man's face.
FRANCES
Map of my father's face the night he disappeared.
HANNA
A journey across ice.
FRANCES
Map of the skull of a dead man. The ridges and hairline cracks that divide the skull into plates.
HANNA
Continents like bodies.
MARTHA
And of course, all artifacts, including human remains will become the property of the University where they can be properly preserved.
Alice enters, paddling.
ALICE
There is but one thing on this planet longer than the equator and that is the arm of British Justice, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police are the men who enforce it.
RCMP officer enters and strikes a proud and happy pose.
ALICE
The little band of red-coated riders, scarcely a thousand in number, spurring singly across the plains, they turn up on lone riverway or lakeside just when most needed.
Alice paddles off. RCMP writing up shift notes.
RCMP
June 18th, 1970. Ten PM. Hastings and Main. Two prostitutes in altercation. Eleven forty nine PM. Wedding reception party at Fraser at nineteenth: noise complaint. One forty three AM. First and Cambie. Domestic dispute. 5:19 AM
We hear Big Brother and the Holding Company, "Sweet Mary." Hanna is up in a tree -- her arms extended as though she is about to try flying. It has been raining. She is soaked through. Sirens. Flashing blue and red lights.
HANNA
Hydrogen compounds --
RCMP sees Hanna. Approaches her carefully.
RCMP
Now come down out of there --
HANNA
-- such as H2O --
RCMP
You are not a bird.
HANNA
-- are present in all biological matter!
RCMP
You are not a bird.
HANNA
And God said -- "Let there be Hydrogen!"
RCMP
Hydrogen?
Hanna drops -- RCMP catches her.
HANNA
Hey!
They struggle, spin, and he hands her to Martha.
RCMP
We found her in Stanley Park. Up in a tree.
Lily hollers. RCMP turns to her. Frances haunts the edge of the stage.
LILY
Yee-haw! Okay let's head north! Map a' Dog Creek road to Williams Lake Stampede! Pile in the truck and head to town: the Maple Leaf Hotel just as she's closin' down. Climb up top the roof of the bar. Have a few beers -- watch the sunset! Sunrise -- whatever!
RCMP
Lily, come down offa there right now! I'll haul you in for disturbing the peace!
LILY
Ya-hoo!
RCMP
I'm warning you!
LILY
Fuck you, Douglas.
RCMP
I'm not Douglas, I'm MacIntyre.
LILY
Have a drink!
She wings a bottle at him. Frances exits.
RCMP
That's it, I'm coming up.
LILY
Whoa! McIntyre! Someone's stealin' your car!
Flashing blue and red lights.
RCMP
Hey! Hey!
RCMP runs off after his car. Lily peers off the edge of her platform.
LILY
Thing is -- getting' up here's one thing -- gettin' down's another.
Martha and Hanna.
MARTHA
I thought you were dead.
HANNA
Maybe I am.
MARTHA
Don't say that.
HANNA
How do you know what's real?
MARTHA
You stink like...
HANNA
I stepped in dog shit.
MARTHA
Where were you?
HANNA
At the park.
MARTHA
You said you were going to Kim's... I called Kim's.
HANNA
I tried to call you.
MARTHA
You weren't at Kim's.
HANNA
But I lost my money.
MARTHA
You can't just disappear...
HANNA
I got lost.
MARTHA
You're fourteen years old.
HANNA
When's Dad coming home?
MARTHA
He has nothing to do with this.
HANNA
You said a few weeks.
MARTHA
I was wrong. I'm sorry but that's the way it is. I can't make it any different and the sooner you accept that fact --
HANNA
What if I turn out like him?
MARTHA
You won't turn out like him.
HANNA
That's what he said. That I'm just like him.
MARTHA
You can't believe what he says.
HANNA
And what you said. You always used to say it: You're just like your father.
MARTHA
You need to go to bed. We both need to go to bed. What's wrong with your eyes? Your pupils? Why are they so black? And what the hell were you doing up in a tree?
Alice enters with two large duffel bags. She drops the bags, one on either side of Hanna and Martha.
ALICE
And now we begin the rapids. Ninety miles of which we are about to run!
Alice exits. Martha picks up her duffel bags.
HANNA
You can't make me go!
MARTHA
It's twelve weeks not the rest of your life.
HANNA
What about Dad? Who'll visit him?
MARTHA
It'll do you good to get away.
HANNA
From what?!
MARTHA
You want to be like him is that it? Is that what this behavior is about? Seeing if you can grow up and be just like him?
HANNA
It's better than being like you.
MARTHA
GET IN THE CAR!
Martha drops the bags and abruptly pushes Hanna to a sitting position. Martha sits next to her as though driving.
HANNA
Mother: angry scientist. Father: mad scientist. Me: (she sighs).
Ten hours driving in my mom's Pontiac station wagon. I load up on carsick pills -- its almost like being stoned only I sleep a lot. Eyes open, staring. Staring into sky. Dry as ashes. Beat. Dust.
She reaches out and feels the air.
HANNA
Everywhere. Dust.
Martha and Hanna arrive. Martha gets out of the car. Looks around. Frances appears. Martha doesn't see her. But Hanna does. Hanna and Frances stare at each other. Electric.
MARTHA
Hello?
Martha exits searching. Hanna watches Frances.
FRANCES (speaking to Lily)
There's some white people here.
LILY
Indian Agent?
FRANCES
No.
LILY
New social worker?
FRANCES
...no.
Martha enters.
MARTHA
I can't find anyone -- abandoned or something. Jesus. Ten hours driving and now this.
HANNA
I saw someone...
Lily appears.
LILY
Hey.
Martha jumps, startled.
MARTHA
Oh! Hello! I'm from Simon Fraser University. We're going to be surveying the area...
LILY
You're gonna survey the reservation?
MARTHA
Not exactly.
LILY
Why not -- lots to see...
MARTHA
Do you have a telephone?
LILY
Poverty. Alcoholism.
HANNA
Dogs.
LILY
A lotta broke cars.
MARTHA
Is there someone I can talk to?
LILY
You're talkin' to me.
MARTHA
Someone in charge...a...government. Representative. Perhaps if there were someone...
LILY
White?
MARTHA
With directions. Appropriate directions. I am meeting the rest of -- I'm trying to find my survey team -- the turn off -- down to the river...but there are no signs, no indications, no distinguishing features...
HANNA
Sky. Blue with a thin veil of cloud. Hills, brown with stains of purple and black. Iron oxides. And sand. Empty beer bottles. Scattered pine and fir. Dark green. A church spire. White. Shacks. And... dogs.
MARTHA
Oh my goodness...
HANNA
Fucking.
MARTHA
I really just need to find my team.
LILY
You got a cigarette?
MARTHA
I don't smoke.
Frances moves around the stage, avoiding Martha's gaze. Climbs into the "car" with Hanna.
LILY
What else you got in there?
MARTHA
Scientific equipment. Map-making equipment. Nothing that would interest you.
LILY
Don't be so sure.
HANNA
Mom.
LILY
I been thinkin' I wouldn't mind makin' a few measurements. Maybe consult the ancestors about the precise boundaries of our last treaty. Maybe draw up a few maps of our own, eh?
MARTHA
I don't know anything about treaties. I am a scientist. Who you really need to talk to is...I don't know who you need to talk to. The government. Maybe. Department of Indian Affairs...I am a scientist from Simon Fraser University. Part of an archeological team.
LILY
I'm Shuswap from Soda Creek. Part Chilcotin but no one in the family wants to talk about that.
MARTHA
Directions --
LILY
Don't suppose you saw any ghosts on your way here, eh?
MARTHA
Ghosts?
LILY
There's one in particular I'm tryin' to locate. A man. Black hair, going gray...
MARTHA
I am a scientist --
LILY
-- my husband.
MARTHA
Your --
HANNA
Mom --
MARTHA
Hanna --
Martha turns and sees Frances in the driver's seat.
MARTHA
Who is that in my car?!
FRANCES
You need directions?
HANNA
She's gonna show us the way. I guess.
Frances grins at Hanna and Martha.
FRANCES
This thing a' automatic or what?
Black.
Next Page: Continents Like Bodies
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