Deirdre December 2006
STAGE DIRECTION
On Center Stage there is a hospital bed, with heart monitors, oxygen tanks, fluid bags hanging off of metal bars, and lots of monitors hooked up to different wires. A fluorescent light above the bed is lighting the room, along with a miniature Christmas tree in the corner on Stage Left, furthest to the audience. There are cards and packages beneath the tree. Beside the bed is a nightstand-on-wheels, with a Styrofoam cup and a few packages on top of it. To Stage Right there is a diagonal wall, with a large window on it, showing a view of a small city, darkness, and whirling snow. The floors are a dull laminate, and the walls are painted a traditional cream. In the hospital bed lies a little girl of about eleven, who has long dark brown hair and big eyes one brown, one blue. Her skin is pale, and she hardly smiles. IVs are hooked into her arms, and wires are planted on her chest and forearms. The light blue hospital blanket is pulled to her upper stomach, exposing her white hospital gown. Her hair is in a tangled mess, and her eyes are shut.
A nurse comes in, pushes a few buttons on a monitor screen, takes Deirdre's pulse, and leaves the room.
A voice, a strong, powerful feminine voice comes from nowhere within Deirdre's hospital room.
VOICE
How do you feel, Deirdre?
DEIRDRE
*Sarcastically* Fantastic.
VOICE
How do you feel, Deirdre?
DEIRDRE
I told you.
VOICE
How do you feel, Deirdre?
DEIRDRE
*Exasperatedly* every night
VOICE
How do you feel, Deirdre?
DEIRDRE
Horrible!
VOICE
That's better.
DEIRDRE
No, no it's not. It's Christmas time, everyone's at home with their family, happily unwrapping presents and eating good food that doesn't look like plastic and taste like what it ishospital foodand hugging their mommies and daddies while I'm here in this bed drinking a flat smoothie, and the only carols I hear are those of my machines and IVs bubbling.
VOICE
Battle it, Deirdre. Battle it.
DEIRDRE
Battle it? How? Pretend there's giant nutcrackers and chop their nuts off with a wooden sword? Like play land? I can't.
VOICE
Why can't you?
DEIRDRE
Because I don't have any weapons, let alone a sword. I just have a hopeless illness, and I'll never overcome it.
VOICE
Battle the illness, Deirdre! Battle it!
DEIRDRE
I am battling it, you stupidvoice! I'm battling it with medicine, IVs, heart tests, CAT scans, EEGs, EKGs, MRIsthe whole nine yards! I have a psychologist, a psychiatrist, and a pediatrician! And none of them seem to be helping
STAGE DIRECTION
Deirdre breaks down and sobs.
VOICE
They can't cure you, Deirdre. They can only drug you up and tell you stories. You are the only one with the willpower.
DEIRDRE
What does willpower have to do with disease and treatments, you dumb voice?
VOICE
It has everything to do with it, Deirdre. Willpower is your steed, weapon, and shield on the field of battle. Without it, you fail.
DEIRDRE
You sound like my mom.
VOICE
Maybe I am.
STAGE DIRECTION
All is silent.
VOICE
What would you use your willpower for, Deirdre?
DEIRDRE
What does this have to do with how I'm doing?
VOICE
Everything.
DEIRDRE
Are you my mother?
VOICE
That's entirely up to you.
DEIRDRE
You kind of creep me out.
VOICE
That's what I'm here for.
DEIRDRE
Are you my conscience?
VOICE
Possibly.
DEIRDRE
I don't like your answers.
VOICE
Nothing I can do about that.
DEIRDRE
Are youthe ghost of Christmas Past?
VOICE
Will youstop asking stupid questions?
STAGE DIRECTION
Deirdre is silent, pondering these words.
DEIRDRE
What do you want from me?
VOICE
An answer.
DEIRDRE
An answer to what?
VOICE
An answer to this. What are you battling?
DEIRDRE
That's easy. You're lucky I'll tell youthere's nothing else to do, and I can't get to sleep. I'm too depressed.
VOICE
Depression is for adults.
DEIRDRE
That's what you think.
VOICE
What are you battling, Deirdre?
DEIRDRE
You won't believe me. No one else does.
VOICE
I always believe you, Deirdre. I have to.
DEIRDRE
Who are you?
VOICE
After you tell me the answers to my questions, I just might let you know.
DEIRDRE
*Sighing* Fine.
STAGE DIRECTION
There is silence as Deirdre stares at the ceiling. The machines beep, and the snow can be heard blowing around outside the window.
DEIRDRE
There's a monster within me. It lives in this cage in my heart.
VOICE
Describe the cage. Describe the monster.
DEIRDRE
The monster is an ugly pale tan color, with big toenails and little strands of black hair all over its body. It has a nasty smile that really makes me uncomfortable. It has long teeth and whenever it smiles it seems like it's laughing at me, and it always foams at the mouth. It lives in my heart. The walls are purplish red, and they have a glowing look to them, you know, like when you put your palm up to the sun and it glows? That kind of color. Three sides of the cage are like that, and then the front is a barred wall. The monster always has a grip on the wall, even when it's sleeping. Whenever it comes out, I feel sick.
VOICE
Sick?
DEIRDRE
Yes. I feelnauseous, like I'm going to throw up. My tummy hurts, and I sweat like a pig, and I get trembly and I want to cry all the time. Whenever I feel this way I get really, really sad because I want my mom here to hold me. But she never is, because I'm here. In the hospital. *Sobs* I want to go home.
VOICE
I know, Deirdre, I know.
DEIRDRE
You do?
VOICE
Yes.
DEIRDRE
Are you sure you're not my conscience?
VOICE
*Sighing* that's up to you.
DEIRDRE
Okay.
VOICE
Why is this part of your battle, Deirdre?
DEIRDRE
Because I want to kill it!
VOICE
How do you want to kill it?
DEIRDRE
*Gasps* what a morbid question!
VOICE
How do you want to kill it?
DEIRDRE
I suppose I want to
VOICE
How do you want to kill it?
DEIRDRE
*Shouting words really fast* I want to stab it in its ugly head and poke its eyes out and kick him in the danger zone and bury it alive! I want to go home! I want my mom!
VOICE
See, doesn't that feel better? Now, why are you in battle?
DEIRDRE
I already told you
VOICE
There's more.
DEIRDRE
How do you know?
VOICE
Because, Deirdre, I do.
DEIRDRE
Okay, okay. I battle against this monster because when I didn't have it then I was okay and I wasn't sick and I could be at home and I could be with my mom and dad and brother and I wasn't lonely or tired or sad or sick or depressed.
VOICE
Depression is for adults.
DEIRDRE
No, it's not!
VOICE
Okay.
DEIRDRE
I want to know the truth! I want to know why this monster is in me, I want to know why the doctors won't believe me when I say that it's a monster, I want to know why they tell me that it's just a figment of my imagination', I want to know why I get picked on at school sometimes, I want to know why! Why, why why?!
STAGE DIRECTION
Deirdre sobs in silence.
VOICE
Battle it, Deirdre, battle it.
DEIRDRE
I will, dangit! I'll chop it up and eat it for dinner! And I'll find the answers, the answers to all these whys. I'll put the monster back to sleep, so it can be the beauty it once was! I'll battle for a way out of this prison! I'll battle for freedom and happiness and peace! I'll battle for my undeserved punishment! I'll battle the unknown! I'll be in battle with an iron fist and an unbreakable sword! I'll beat medicine to a pulp, I'll hang my demons, I'll, I'll, I'll
STAGE DIRECTION
A nurse enters the room, and takes Deirdre's blood pressure once again. She gently removes all IVs and wires, and puts band-aids on the spots where the needles were. She turns off the machines, and hands Deirdre a present from beneath the tree.
Deirdre opens it slowly, piece by piece. She removes a single key from a box, and looks questioningly at the nurse.
The nurse nods, and points to the door on the other side of the Christmas tree. Deirdre's mother, father, and brother are there, smiling and waiting for her. Her mother has open arms. Deirdre shrieks with excitement, jumps from the bed, and lands in her mother's arms.
VOICE
You cured yourself, Deirdre. You can go home. Willpower is the cure.
SCENE