Turning your body into a compass

Abstract

turning your body into a compass Catherine Filloux (bio) Cast of Characters Jean Hatch Sophie Goldman Christina Rivas Mateo Rivas, a young boy Susan Female Senator Long Island Woman / Fay/Mother of Boy, all played by same actress Videotaped: Man, young, white / Girl / Mother of Girl Voiceover: Chairman Dodger / Video Operator [in video projection] MAN I would not have let them rip the baby from my arms. [fades to black] MATEO [trying to figure out the cardinal directions] East, West, North, South. Tey're coming from the North. And the others are being sent South. [fades to black] GIRL [hears pounding on the door; speaking to herself] I hide. In a corner. Behind my mom's bed. Coconut. Soap. MOTHER [enters, speaking to Girl] Goodbye, be good. GIRL You be good. MOTHER You be good. GIRL You be better. MOTHER I am serious. Work hard. GIRL See you soon. MOTHER See you soon. GIRL Be careful. [End Page 47] MOTHER Shhh. Don't forget your books. GIRL Kiss me again. You smell good. MOTHER Have to go. [exits] GIRL [speaking to audience] She is gone. Gave me my sandwich. [to herself] Can't go outside. They are out there checking. Stop going to school. Read the books at home. My cousin Flora, she works in the beauty place. She says, "You better go back to school. You'll make it worse if you're missing. Gigi said she knocked on the door to go with you." [interrupted by pounding on the door] I hide. In a corner. Behind my mom's bed. MOTHER [entering, speaking to audience] I didn't have time to make my bed that day. One more kiss. GIRL [to audience] She makes it when she has time. MOTHER [to audience] Always rushing. GIRL [to audience] When I have bad dreams she takes me in there. I come to the side of the bed. [to Mother] I had a bad dream. MOTHER It will pass. GIRL No. MOTHER What happened? GIRL I can't remember. MOTHER See. So, not so bad. See, it's gone. GIRL I'm afraid. MOTHER Come in, you crazy girl. GIRL Not crazy. MOTHER I'm so tired. GIRL Go to sleep. I'll watch over the house. MOTHER Big girls sleep in their own bed. GIRL [to audience] When she holds me, I dream good. Flora, my cousin, has purple hair, because she can do it free at the beauty place. "Different look," she says. "You look like an alien," I say. Then she says something happened at the factory. A raid. "What's a raid?" [interrupted by pounding on the door] The word "raid" is in the word "afraid." [fades to black] SUSAN [holding ear buds, speaking to audience] It was everywhere. Or maybe it's the type of thing that you suddenly happen to start hearing about everywhere. Like a new word you learn that then keeps on showing up. She tweeted it night and day "Listen to it." She's crazy. Who would want to listen to it? Seven minutes and forty-seven seconds. Anyway, it's the kind of thing you avoid at all costs. You don't press the play button on the audio because you know you won't be able to stop listening. Big trigger. The key is to avoid it at all costs. [End Page 48] [fades to black] JEAN @JeanHatch. [interrupted from sending a tweet, she speaks to audience] My phone rang. It was the same day I heard about Elena. I picked up the phone, she said it was Dr. Goldman. She read my articles in the paper, my reports. Dating back to the election . . . She watched my new video about deportation—"very cool." I was in the middle of a report that was due yesterday, trying to tweet about Elena, fielding phone calls from papers, which is why I picked up in the first place. "Could we meet?" She says, "The U.S. turned away a boat carrying 900 Jewish people escaping from Nazi Germany. Anne Frank was denied entry." I said I'd have to call her back. SOPHIE Most people don't hang up on you when you...