Coda

(lights up on susan, sadie, and beckett in the now empty space. susan holds her grandmother’s shawl, sadie the hurdy-gurdy, beckett the pendulum

Beckett brings a table to center; susan spreads her shawl over it, and sadie places the hurdy-gurdy on top. beckett places the pendulum gently on the hurdy-gurdy

​sadie turns the crank; the drone fills the space as the trio sings.)

BECKETT
​last night

​ SADIE
​ last night

​ SUSAN
​ last night

BECKETT
​i had this dream

​ SADIE
​ i had this dream

​ SUSAN
​ i had this dream
BECKETT
​that the three of us were at a café

​ SADIE
​ that the three of us were at a café

​ SUSAN
​ that the three of us were at a café

ALL
​three strangers
​at one table

~

BECKETT
​one reading a book

SADIE
​one on their laptop

SUSAN
​one just staring at their coffee

~
SADIE
​it was late afternoon

ALL
​the sun coming hot through the windows

​it was banal
​and thriving
​and perfect

~

BECKETT
​my left hand was resting on the table

SADIE
​right next to my right hand

BECKETT
​when i became lost in a thought

​ SUSAN
​ when i became lost in a thought

​ SADIE
​ when i became lost in a thought
ALL
​staring off into space

​and as we daydreamed
​our pinkies
​brushed one another

~

BECKETT
​we were startled

SADIE
​startled by the touch

SUSAN
​but we didn’t retreat

SADIE
​we let them linger

SUSAN & BECKETT
​let them move closer

ALL
​slowly lightly playfully
​let them entwine

~

SUSAN
​then the third of us reached out their hands

BECKETT & SADIE
​and the other two reached out their other hands

ALL
​until we all joined
​interlocking our pinkies
​together

~

SUSAN
​it felt so good to feel

BECKETT
​the small rounded warmth of the fingertip

SADIE
​​of a stranger

ALL
​​though in that moment
​​you didn’t feel like a stranger

SADIE
​​you felt like family

BECKETT
​and i heard the echoes
​of all of our mothers
​all of our fathers
​grandmothers grandfathers
​all of our lines stretching back and back and back

​ SADIE
​ and i heard the echoes
​ of all of our mothers
​ all of our fathers
​ grandmothers grandfathers
​ all of our lines stretching back and back

​ SUSAN
​ and i heard the echoes
​ of all of our mothers
​ all of our fathers
​ grandmothers grandfathers
​ all of our lines stretching back

ALL
​until converging
​in a lazy triangle
​amidst the perfunctory din of a sunlit café

​the three of us smiled as one

~

​as we looked back at the houses we had come from
​and we looked back at the people we had been
​and then we looked forward
​toward whoever we were each
​about to become

— — —