FISHES OF THE SEA

BIRDS OF THE AIRBY

STEPHEN PATRICK HIGGINS

4B West StAberporthCardiganCeredigionSA43 2DB

4B West StAberporthCardiganCeredigionSA43 2DB

CHARACTERS

MUSIC

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SCENE 1

F/X: BRIAN’S ROOM.SOUND OF RAIN AND THUNDER.

BRIAN (IMPASSIONED): I love it when it rains. No one disturbs me. I regain my

freedom, when it rains, like it is now, lashing its drops down

into the expanding puddles that for the briefest of moments

flash with the nippled impact of contact before another

appears & expands & then another & another on & on they

erupt, whilst I stare, watching, as the plip plop marks appear

& vanish like the footsteps of an invisible dancers feet as

they progress across their aquaeous stage.

F/X: CONTINUING RAIN & THUNDER

BRIAN (MORE RESTRAINED): I like it when it rains. I told you that didn’t I? It allows me

the time to think, gives me an excuse not to venture out,

pretend in some illogical way I’ll come to grievous harm if

such droplets were to touch me. Ha, I know it’s untrue but

these days you have to have your ways. These days? I

suspect always “you’ve always had to have your ways”.

F/X: KNOCK ON DOOR

BRIAN: Doesn’t stop others though.

F/X: SOUND OF CHAIR SWINGING ROUND TO FACE INTO ROOM

BRIAN (LOUD): Yes.

-1-

F/X: DOOR OPENS AND JACK ENTERS ACROSS WOODEN FLOOR

BRIAN: And what can I do for you on this beautiful day?

JACK: Beautiful?

BRIAN: That’s the water of life my friend, hate that, hate life.

JACK: I’ve never thought of it like that.

BRIAN: Time you did.

JACK: I’ll, I’ll, I’ll bear it in mind.

BRIAN: That’s good of you. (BEAT) Now what can I do for you? Or more precisely what

do you believe I can do for you?

JACK: Well, as I said on the phone it is a bit of a story to tell, that’s why I preferred to

come and see you, I didn’t think I could explain it properly on

the phone that is, it’s a bit involved.

BRIAN: Tell away, I’m not going anywhere, and if you’re eager enough to wander over

here on a day like this, with such a downpour cascading

from the heavens I suspect it’s a tale worth hearing, and the

least I can do for you is at least listen.

JACK: OK then, well it started…back on the..28th..yes the 28th…you don’t mind?

BRIAN: Not at all

JACK: It’s a bit involved

-2-

BRIAN: You’re here now

JACK: Well as I said it was back on the 28th

BRIAN (THINKING EFFECT): You always know when they go back to a given date, one

of their choosing, that they’ve already decided the root cause

of the situation. My first reaction is to make a note of it,

knowing that my first question will be “ you said it started on

the 28th, what happened just before that? “

JACK: Yes, the 28th, that’s when it started…

SCENE 2

F/X: STREET, OUTSIDE, SOUND OF FEMALE WALKING ON PAVEMENT, BUMPS INTO SOMEONE, BOOK FALLS TO FLOOR.

JACK: I’m terribly sorry

LOU: I should think so.

JACK: I’m terribly, terribly sorry, my mind was on other things. I wasn’t watching where I

was going, here let me pick that up for you.

F/X: PICKS UP BOOK, TAPS IT ON HAND TO SHAKE OFF DUST.

JACK: Good choice, “ Fishes of the Sea, Birds of the Air “.

LOU: YOU KNOW IT?

-3-

JACK: Know it! I know it so well, I could almost recite it, it’s the catechism of my life

LOU: I’ve only just started it.

JACK: Wonderful, so you’re just at that perfect beginning, I must admit my life just

flowered after reading it, never again was I the same, it

somehow got into my veins, took up residence in my brain.

What drew you to reading it?

LOU: Someone, someone I know, spoke about it, just the same, spoke about it just the

same as you just have, ‘ their life never the same ‘…

JACK: Really?

LOU: Yes, and I want my life to be changed.

SCENE 3

F/X: BRIAN’S ROOM. SOUND OF THUNDER AND RAIN ON WINDOW

JACK: And that’s how it started. It was the 28th.

BRIAN (THINKING EFFECT): Repeated that date again. The human urge to hold on

tight to some manufactured crampon that we’ve so solidly

bashed into the rock face of existence for ourselves. It may

only be a crampon, but it’s ours, we’ve put it there, and from

around that point we move on, all further activity stems from

that first fixation, in isolation from all other possibilities.

(PAUSE) Ironic, considering ‘ Fishes of the Sea, Birds of the

Air ‘ is the antithesis of exactly that.

-4-

F/X: RAIN AND THUNDER HEARD AGAIN.

JACK: It’s almost as if “ All the waters, from all the lands, poured to wash, every

previously accepted impurity, insignificance, from my being,

to leave me bathed, bare, brilliant, in the glorious sunlight of

infinite possibility, “

BRIAN (THINKING EFFECT): A quote. That deserves noting too.

F/X: NOISE OF NOTE BEING WRITTEN.

JACK: She was stunned I could just quote it like that.

SCENE 4

F/X: STREET.OUTSIDE.

LOU: You do know it off by heart.

JACK: Not all of it

LOU: But that, I’ve just read that, look my bookmark’s on that page.

F/X: SOUND OF BOOK BEING FLIPPED OPEN, TAPS APPROPIATE PAGE.

LOU: Look.

JACK: That’s the beauty of it. Why life “is never quite the same”. That’s what happens.

Once you know it, you know within yourself that you can

never honestly say you don’t.

-5-

SCENE 5

F/X: BRIAN’S ROOM.SOUND OF RAIN OUTSIDE.

JACK: That’s when she said it, said what I’ve come to see you about today, why I asked

for a little of your time, because of what she said, until then it

had never occurred to me, and it threw me off balance

totally, as if she’d grabbed my lunging wrist and twisted me

through one hundred and eighty degrees and then hurled me

like a sack of rubbish on to the floor…

F/X: NOISE OF BRIAN MOVING FORWARD IN HIS LEATHER SEAT.

BRIAN: Go on.

JACK: It winded me, thrashed the wind out of my sails like she had a huge carpet

beater and had slapped the almightiest of blows into my

midrift. So I needed to talk to you about it, that’s why I’m

here, to hear your opinion, had it occurred to you…

BRIAN: Had what?

JACK: What she said.

BRIAN: You haven’t told me what it is that she said.

JACK: I hardly dare. I tell you. I hardly dare! It shook me that much to the core that I

hardly dare. All my life I’ve lived here, I’ve always prided

myself on understanding what’s going on, I could walk

outside my door, sniff the air and the feeling on the street

would be within me, instantly! But this, this threw me, all of it.

When “ Fishes of the Sea “ came into my life that was the

-6-

first thing, that was like a whole new world had opened

before my eyes. (BEAT) And now this…

BRIAN: Now what?

JACK: What she said, I’d never given it any thought, more than that, it was like a

thought that had never existed before, it was like I had

missed a whole chunk of something, as if I had previously

been blind, and now, now some second, no it’d be third,

sight had opened before me, it just threw me, my whole

insides went wheee! And then what scared me more…

BRIAN: Scared?

JACK: Yes, scared, what scared me more, was that it made me realise just how much

my view of life had changed, from before, from before I’d

read those words. I realised how much they’d seeped inside

me, become a part of me, and the totality of it all scared me,

the sudden realisation of it all terrified me. I could feel myself

giving into panic as I thought ‘ Is this true? ‘ And if it is, how

in danger am I? I tell you, honestly, I’ve barely slept or

woken since, without that meeting troubling my equilibrium,

plaguing my mind, the rest of life has become a blur, passing

around me in an un-focused haze, since that meeting, a

chance encounter, when she said those words, undermined

my security, since then, I’ve, I’ve been lost.

BRIAN: Lost?

JACK: I can’t believe it. How it’s got to me.

BRIAN: What, what is it exactly that has got to you? What happened, what did she say?

-7-

JACK: Well, to be blunt, to just say what she said, she said “ Isn’t it dangerous? “

F/X: CLAP OF THUNDER

BRIAN: Dangerous?

JACK: I’d never given it a moments thought before, and since then I’ve given the whole

incident nothing but, and I still have no answer, my head’s

been turned every which way by all of this, that’s why I had

to speak to you, I couldn’t make sense of it all, any of it.

BRIAN: Dangerous? Why would anyone think that?

JACK: You haven’t either, have you, you’ve never given it a moments thought either,

you’re no more aware of it than me, no one knows, not even

you, and it’s eating at me, the whole thing, like an enormous

time devouring leech, giving me no peace, constantly

feeding upon the lifeblood of my thoughts, no one can tell

me, no one can answer the question, all I want to know is : Is

it dangerous?

BRIAN: It isn’t meant to be, I can say that.

JACK: Neither is an axe but it can be!

BRIAN (THINKING EFFECT): I feel compelled to ask, about the day before the 28th, but

to do so now would be to deny the reality of the moment,

ignore the plight that sits before me, he’s on the point of

bursting into tears, I can’t push him ruthlessly over the edge.

BRIAN (NORMAL VOICE): You’re right..

-8-

JACK: It is dangerous?

BRIAN: No, no well hang on, don’t jump to conclusions, you’re right about me not

having given it any thought, before that is, but you’ve

brought it to my attention, I can see your concern but I can’t

just give you an answer, it’d be glib if I did, you’re right that I

haven’t given it any thought, before that is. I will though, I will

give it plenty of thought.

JACK: I did think that, you might need time to give it some thought if you’d never

thought of it before. I did think that to myself after I spoke to

you on the phone, I almost rang you back yesterday, give

you a synopsis of it all, so you could think about it for today

but my mind couldn’t concentrate, I couldn’t focus on

anything but that. I just had to leave it until today, until I saw

you. I understand that, you need time to give it some

thought, shall I give you a ring or come round tomorrow?

BRIAN: What did you say? Sorry my mind wandered off.

JACK: I said shall I give you a ring tomorrow? Give you time to think it over.

BRIAN: You could. (BEAT) I could, give it, some thought, but, I can say, my…my

intention..my intention..I’ll give it some thought, let me think,

tomorrow, afternoon, yes in the afternoon, call, about this

time, yes let’s say that, same time tomorrow, I’ll give it some

thought.

JACK (GETTING UP): Ok I will, tomorrow at 4, I’ll call, until then, thank you, until then.

BRIAN: Yes, until then I’ll give it some thought.

-9-

F/X: FOOTSTEPS ACROSS WOODEN FLOOR, DOOR OPENS AND SHUTS.

BRIAN: Phew!

SCENE 6

F/X: WIND IS HEARD HOWLING OUTSIDE. RAIN IS POURING.CLOCK CHIMES MIDNIGHT. CLAP OF THUNDER.

BRIAN (INNER VOICE): Is it really the story , which, you have to tell? Compelled?

Why? Should that be the focus of attention? The who’s, the

why’s, the what’s, the where’s, wrapping it in bundles, having

fun with the various tying knots, some false, some not, why

does it need telling? What purpose (PAUSE) purpose, that’s

it, what purpose does it serve, what purpose do I intend it to

serve, and is that purpose enough, enough of a justification

to proceed, what are the implications?(BEAT) That’s it.”

What are the implications of the purpose!”. Oh at last, that’s

the question. (BEAT) I think. (BEAT) No. That’s not it. Of

course there are implications, aren’t there with everything?

(BEAT)

BRIAN (NORMAL VOICE): I need a different angle on this. Go back to the beginning. I

wrote a story.

F/X: PICKS UP MANUSCRIPT

BRIAN: This story. Look at it. The changes I made scrawled across it’s once virginal

sheets. The changes tightened it. Accentuated where I

wanted accentuation.

-10-

F/X: SOUND OF SHUFFLING THROUGH MANUSCRIPT.

BRIAN: I’ll just have to re-read it. Go through it. All of it. From beginning to end.

Focussing on the point. As he said. As she said. ‘ Is it

dangerous?’ (BEAT) Depends on your view of dangerous,

that might be a more appropiate start. Dictionary, where’s

that dictionary.

F/X: SOUND OF HIM GOING AND GETTING DICTIONARY, PUTTING IT ON THE DESK AND SEARCHING THROUGH.

BRIAN: Let’s see now, ‘ Webster’s Third New International Dictionary-Unabridged’. My

word this is a piece of work, 2662 pages, or so the last one

informs me, and on this page d for davit, nice word that, says

it’s probably from the name David, makes you wonder, did

some David invent the thing, was poor old David driven to

come up with some solution to hauling stuff over the side of

his boat? Who knows now? Anyway about 100 entries on

this page, gives you about 266,200 words in all, doesn’t

seem much put like that, must be wrong, dangerous is

before davit anyway.

F/X: SOUND OF TURNING PAGES

BRIAN: Cynaroid, what’s that? Something to do with artichokes, too far back. Dado

plane, damasse, from the French damasser to weave, links

to damask, dankali, a variation of danakil, what’s that now?

Homotic people of Northeast Ethiopia, dangerous is here

somewhere.

-11-

F/X: FINGERS DRUM ON BOOK AND DESK WHILST READING THROUGH, RAIN AND THUNDER CONTINUES OUTSIDE.

BRIAN: What’sthat, adjective, dangerous, haughty, trouble making, hard to please.

What’s the ME in front of it?

F/X: TURNING OF PAGES

BRIAN: ME must mean something. Editorial staff, consultants, explanatory chart, notes,

spelling, plurals, there’s so much here I can’t find it,

pronounciation guide, forms of address, abbreviations, ah

maybe, let’s see, no, aah, where is it, is it relevant,

addendum, more addenda, more than a hundred of these

per page, that word count’s definitely wrong, well under,

aardvark, bloody aardvark, I just want to know, what’s ME?

Perhaps at the back?

F/X: TURNS TO BACK OF BOOK.

BRIAN: No, nothing, aah! Why is this so intricate? Damn! Does it matter? It’s the

definition, of dangerous that I want. Where is it now?

F/X: TURNS BACK TO ENTRY

BRIAN: I should have put a bookmark in here. Aah here we go, let’s see now,

dangerous: Number 1- exposing to danger; involving risk;

demanding caution or care as extremely unsafe. Number 2 –

able or likely to inflict injury, causing or threatening harm or

number 3 – gravely ill, in critical condition. And that’s just the

definitions, there’s a load of synonyms and their relevant

-12-

contents explained, oh I didn’t realise ‘ danger ‘ was so

complicated.(BEAT) Let’s leave it at that.

F/X: BOOK SLAMS SHUT.

BRIAN: Let’s stick to the basics. Adjective: dangerous: - haughty, trouble making, hard

to please. Haughty – Fishes of the Sea. Birds of the Air –

definitely not. Trouble-making – ‘ Trouble’s ‘ the trouble

there, it would have to depend on your definition of trouble.

F/X: DRUMS FINGERS ON BOOK.

BRIAN: No, I can’t go through all that again. Trouble? Not really, altering maybe, but

trouble suggests violence, altering doesn’t, it isn’t a call to

arms, nothing like that, no it’s not trouble making. Hard to

please? No, doesn’t fit, not at all. (BEAT) So far, so good. I

don’t believe it’s dangerous, daungerous, that wasn’t my

intention. Okay, but I’ve got to get that across to him, his

agitation worried me, the way he fidgeted in the chair, it had

altered him, “ Fishes of the Sea, Birds of the Air”, but I

wonder if her comments had altered him more, and more

dramatically, more succinctly, than all my words put

together, so now I have to reply in kind. (PAUSE) How can I

contest with her? How can I contest with his smashed belief?

If Fishes of the Sea was successful, it merely created a

mirror, in which to view his situation, anyone’s situation, for

him, after her comments, it was smashed, broken mirrors

don’t mend, can’t be mended, not flawlessly, they never

project what they did, all reflections become cubist, life or it’s

reflection can never be viewed the same way. So is it her

comment that’s dangerous, not the piece itself, is it really

fragile and therefore forever open itself to danger, as are

those that are affected by it.

-13-

F/X: SLAMS HARD ON DESK

BRIAN: This is getting me nowhere!

F/X: KNOCKING ON CEILING

BRIAN: Shaddup, this is only the noise of a man thinking aloud you moron.

F/X: RAIN AND THUNDER OUTSIDE

BRIAN: I would have trusted it once, trusted it enough to just open it on a page, allowed

my eyes to be taken across the page and alight on one or

two lines, and that would have held the answer. I lived that

way, making decisions, most minor, some major, but just like

that, get the book, open it up, read, decision made. (BEAT) I

should really try that now.

F/X: GETS UP, GETS BOOK, SITS DOWN, TAPS HARDBACK COVER.

BRIAN: Whew! Don’t let me down now, not in this time of need.

F/X: SOUND OF PAGES FLICKING

BRIAN: Stop!

BRIAN (TO HIMSELF): “ …the scales ripple in the light as if being played in a darkened

jazz club with the spotlighted pianist assailing the scales as

rapidly as this fish visible just below the surface of the sea

flashes onwards, to wherever its personal onwards happens

to be…..

-14-

BRIAN: I’m not sure where that gets me. (BEAT) Maybe, maybe I can find an answer in

that segment, so many times before it’s come up trumps,

jumped from out of somewhere I hadn’t known before, like a

zen slap in the consciousness, thwap! Let me reverie…

GRAMS: ANDREW HILL “ FLIGHT 19 “ PLAYS

BRIAN: Nope. I’m trying to push, push too hard, push boundaries that only more rigid

become as I focus upon their existence, their presence, their

hindrance, to my arrival at their desired for comeuppance.

F/X: THUNDER AND RAIN OUTSIDE

BRIAN: That’s it! Time for bed, let’s see what the nightdreams bring.

SCENE 7

F/X: CHURCH BELLS RING FOR 4AM. SCREECH OF FOX.

BRIAN ( DREAM VOICE):

-15-

-16-