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BEE By Stephen Bittrich
5701 W Slaughter Lane
Suite A130-204
Austin, TX 78749
Tel: (646) 245-4507
E-mail: SBittrich@aol.com
Copyright © 2005,
by Stephen Bittrich
(Draft: June, 2006)
"BEE" BY STEPHEN BITTRICH SETTING: A room cloaked in shadow. AT RISE: LEE72 sits on a metal chair center stage in a razor sharp circular pool of light. He wears a nondescript blue jump suit. After a moment, a bee starts BUZZING around his head. He tries to ignore the bee at first, then swats at it, and finally the bee stings him on the neck. LEE72 Ow! Oh my God! (LEE72 swats at the bee, but misses it, and the bee continues flying. LEE72 tries to follow the bee in his seat, following it's path, perhaps to kill it. He soon becomes aware of himself, stops and looks around, as if having been caught touching himself by a parent. He gets up and walks around the penumbra, peering into the dark beyond. Is there a figure sitting in the dark, just barely beyond his view?) LEE72 Hello? Is someone in the corner there? Hello? (Suddenly...the SOUND of a massive steel door opening. Sounds from a large crowded area outside can be heard. The massive steal door SLAMS shut. MING02 enters the pool of light. She wears a sleek, cruel blue uniform.) MING02 Good Day. LEE72 Good Day. MING02 I'm called Ming-Oh-Two. LEE72 Yes, I was told. MING02 Good. And you remembered it. LEE72 Of course...it's very memorable. MING02 Really? Why's that? LEE72 Eh...such a low number, I suppose.... MING02 Mm-hm. LEE72 Oh! There's a bee... MING02 What's that? LEE72 A caution. A bee stung me on the neck and is still buzzing around the room. MING02 Really? LEE72 I haven't seen one since I was a child, yet a bee is a prisoner in this room. It's really quite remarkable. MING02 Yes. (MING02 circles uncomfortably around LEE72 looking at his neck, noting where the bee took it's Parthian shot.) LEE72 Yes. And it's very aggressive. You should be careful. MING02 And why should I be careful? LEE72 That it might sting-- (MING02 yanks the stinger out of LEE72's neck.) LEE72 Ow! What are you--? MING02 Nothing to fear. Here. Here's the bee's little stinger. See? What's the fuss? All his/her power right here in my finger tips. Now the bee is of no more consequence than a fly. (Someone sitting in the other part of the room shifts audibly in his/her seat.) LEE72 Who's there? (pause) I think.... There's someone lurking in the corner of this room. MING02 This room is oval. It has no corners. LEE72 Very well. Oval. So you say, but nevertheless, someone is spying on us. MING02 And if there were someone, would that be of concern, Lee Seven-Two? LEE72 I just think they ought, the person ought, to come out and make himself known, that's all. MING02 Interesting. LEE72 Hm? MING02 You've picked a gender. LEE72 What? MING02 How did you manage that? LEE72 How did I--? I haven't picked a gender, I just.... (thinking better of it) Yes, you're right. I should have said, "The person ought to have come out and made him/herself known. MING02 (addressing the dark) Observer...what is your name? (The observer answers in a distinctly asexual, emotionless voice....) SHI57 I am now called She-Fifty-Seven. LEE72 There is someone in the corner! MING02 As I told you before, this room has no corners-- LEE72 Oval, oval. Against the wall, whatever, there is someone against the border of this-- MING02 Yes. Yes, there is. You are correct. It's clear then. (to the business at hand...) Now.... (suddenly changing the subject) By the way, it is my understanding that you invoked a deity earlier. LEE72 What? MING02 Don't you recall? LEE72 I, eh...no, no.... MING02 (louder, to the room) Play it back, please... (There is the scratchy/ screechy sound of something being played backwards, then....) LEE72 (V.O.) "Ow! Oh my God!" MING02 Play again, please. Volume decibel nine. LEE72 (V.O.) (louder this time) "Ow! Oh my God!" MING02 There. Am I clear now? LEE72 You recorded me? MING02 We record this room. This is a public room. LEE72 I was stung by a bee-- MING02 And so...you invoked a deity? LEE72 No. MING02 No? I can play it again-- LEE72 I know what I said. I wasn't invoking a deity, per se. I was surprised--shocked--by the bee. The word simply slipped out-- MING02 As an expression of shock or surprise... LEE72 Yes. Not as if I expected All Mighty God-- (MING02 looks sharply at LEE72: "careful now.") LEE72 --a deity, to suddenly intervene on my behalf. MING02 No. No, I suppose not. Well. It's not a serious breech, is it? LEE72 Look, if I may, I'd like to know why I've been called here today. MING02 Have you got somewhere to go? LEE72 No. MING02 At this point, you aren't under any obligation to stay here. If you'd like, you may go. LEE72 I may? MING02 Of course. Would you like to go? LEE72 No. I'm glad to stay and find out why you've asked for me. MING02 Good. (MING02 is in no hurry to satisfy LEE72.) LEE72 So then... MING02 Yes? LEE72 Why...have you called me? MING02 It's concerning some wording we've been made aware of...a notable arrangement of words...on your personal station. LEE72 My personal station? MING02 Yes. LEE72 You have access to my personal station? MING02 Of course. This is thoroughly disclosed. Certainly you carefully discerned all the documentation when you accepted your personal station? LEE72 I looked over it. MING02 Ah. It is a common theme. "I looked over it." And yet when these situations arise, one wishes one had done more than to "look over" the documentation. LEE72 Well, I needed a personal station. One needs a personal station to shop, to communicate, for entertainment. MING02 You're very lucky, then, to be afforded one for free! LEE72 Yes. Not like I have a choice. One needs a personal station, and there's only one place to acquire one, only one place that makes one. Here. MING02 One is hardly without choice. There are those who "work" for their food. You are not prohibited from working. Communication and entertainment are luxuries. Humans don't require them. Housing is provided by the company, for all people, regardless of their position in the Class Lottery, whether they choose to have a personal station or not. LEE72 Yes. (pause) I still don't understand why I'm here today. MING02 (louder) Play back the curious wording, please, October Fifteen, Two Oh-Four-Five... (An asexual computer voice reads the following speech) COMPUTER (V.O.) October Fifteen. Two-Oh-Four-Five. Dear Lan33, I saw you through a window tonight. I was on my way from Meditation, and I happened by a window of a restaurant where you were dining...with another. With another. Lan33, your recent good fortune in the Class Lottery does not preclude you from seeing me, from being with me, and yet most hurtfully, most hurtfully, you've chosen someone else. Only two weeks ago we were physically conjoined, Lan33, and I am at a loss as to how you can manipulate your feelings so easily... MING02 This is something that you wrote? (No answer.) MING02 Did you write these words, Lee72? If you deny that you wrote them, you should be made aware that sharing your passcode is a serious infraction of the Consumer's Code, Four-Four-Seven B, and you could face a sentence of no more than two years, yet no less than-- LEE72 I wrote it. Yes...I wrote it. (The bee can be heard BUZZING. LEE72 swats at it, haphazardly.) MING02 Don't be afraid. He/she's lost all power, this one. LEE72 The bee is a female, Ming-Oh-Two. Most likely a soldier bee or a worker bee, not an emasculated drone. MING02 Good then. She. She. Dead already, she is. I wonder if she knows it. LEE72 Dead? MING02 Yes....bzzzzzz-zzzzzz. (pause) Can she be aware, with her tiny little consciousness, that she's sealed her own fate? Does she have the instinct to know what she's done? One has to wonder. When she took her revenge on you, she caused her own end. When a bee stings, it leaves too much of itself, too much of its own abdomen behind to survive. It dies. And so, this tiny bee, by giving in to her nature, to her need for revenge, she's caused her own demise. LEE72 Revenge? MING02 Yes. LEE72 It wasn't revenge. MING02 No? LEE72 She can't reason like that. It was instinct. She was protecting herself. MING02 Was she? How could she be protecting herself? She's ended her own life. If it's instinct, then her instinct has betrayed her. LEE72 Well, it's her job. Usually, a bee, a soldier bee or a guard bee, is protecting the hive. It's her job to sting when necessary. MING02 In the primitive animal world, they have need of soldiers, we can agree on this, and if this is the bee's calling, her purpose, it is a justifiable sacrifice...but this bee was alone. She had no higher calling, other than to... sting...you. Perhaps she should just have flown away...and lived. (louder) Continue to letter December Twenty, Two-Oh-Four-Five... (Computer voice reads:) COMPUTER (V.O.) ...Dear Lan33, I don't understand...I don't understand a promise broken. A promise of love is a contract, not to be lightly tread upon, and yet you flaunt your new companion willfully in my face. Let me ask you...have you physically conjoined yet? Why do you always appear up where I am? With him? With him. Everywhere you go, you torture me. Lan33, are you following me? Are you following me? Am I following...am I following...am I following...you. (Silence. The bee BUZZES.) LEE72 Die! Why won't you die, and be done with it? (SHI57, wearing a lose white uniform/gown has made his/her way to the edge of light. Just part of his/her lower body can be distinguished.) MING02 In good time, she'll follow her course. Ignore her. (louder) Continue to letter January-- LEE72 No more letters! I know what I wrote. You know what I wrote. MING02 Yes. LEE72 I never sent them. I never sent them! How can I be held responsible for thoughts? For feelings? How can you monitor...how can you monitor...my dreams? MING02 Lee-Seven-Two. Where is Lan-Thirty-Three? LEE72 How should--how should I know? MING02 Where is Lan-Thirty-Three? LEE72 I'm not responsible! I didn't do anything! (SHI57 comes into the light. SHI57 is a woman, albeit an androgynous one.) SHI57 Lee... LEE72 What? SHI57 Lee... (LEE72 turns, for the first time to see...) LEE72 Oh my God... SHI57 Lee...Lee... LEE72 How can you be? How can you be? How can you...? (HE falls to the ground in a pile and begins to weep, to wale. Ever so slowly, moving jerkily like a movie in reverse, SHI57 retreats to the shadows, until she is gone. LEE72 continues to cry softly as the lights slowly fade to black.) (END OF PLAY)