Before our dreams turn to stone
Characters:
- Camille – a young tinkerer
- Peter – Camille’s friend
- Hades – god of the dead
- Ares – god of war and violence
- Hephaestus – god of technique and craftspersons
- Athena – goddess of wisdom and knowledge
- Jack – a police officer
- John – a police officer
- (loads of digital devices)
Places:
- a flat
- a librairy
- a police station
Scene 1: The flat
Camille
Friend, could you take a picture of my work?
Really, it’s me bragging more than a test.
Not with your phone, take this old camera.
the camera clicks
Peter
Here, wanna see the result…
the camera continues clicking and starts whirring
… what the Hell?
enters Hades
It is warm, it is hot, it is burning!
Hades takes the flaming camera
What in Zeus name’s is this drawing doing?
Looks like a sweet duck, more like a gorgon!
It fried this camera, was it the goal?
exit Hades
Camille
This camera, along many others,
Was fried by that basilisk of a duck.
Livings may look freely at this cute bird
But electronics! They should be afraid!
No more CCTV and surveillance.
It is our revenge against the bourgeois,
The nefarious capitalistic scum,
Walking hand in hand with bloody Ares!
enters Ares
Ares
Who the fuck are you, cursing a god’s name?
Who do you think you are, you piece of shit!
You will never be remembered, nor…
enters Hephaestus
Hephaestus
… Stop!
Maybe they never will be remembered,
All they will ever care or dare to do
Shall be against you, that is, being kind,
Helping others, reaching for them with love
Teaching them, sharing knowledge and culture,
Uncovering through hard work and sheer luck
The secrets of the worlds and of their mind,
Showing their wits and their gifts to their peers,
Having Apollo’s and Athena’s feats!
enters Athena
Athena
I could not agree more, this child is sweet.
exit Athena and Ares, enters Hades
Hades
Though, the other will never witness it.
As he is near entering my domains.
Hades
… Yes, Peter. Like a picked poppy
He will soon start his deadly withering
Heartbreaking, truly, but I cannot act
For I swore on the Styx not to ever
Intervene in the Moirai greatest work;
Sadly, his thread is about to get cut,
And only a lover could save his life.
exeunt Hades and Hephaestus
Peter
Excuse me my friend, I must drink water
Camille
Go on, go on, you seem pale and blemish.
Peter
Sudden shivers are going down my spine.
I have just had a terrible vision
Of what the future could ever have been
Had you not hatched that little duck of yours.
And of what the future could ever be
Were Ares’ goons get a firm grip on it.
In one case or the other, I lose hope
Faced with a fight no one could ever win
enters Ares
Camille
On one point I agree: such a fight could
Destroy you, me and almost anyone.
Ares is a god, we are mere mortals.
And as you said, the future was not bright:
From here to the mall, I know of, at least
Twelve governmental spying devices.
And I am not counting the peeps and creeps
Taking selfie with you or me in it.
But I do not worry about Him
Ares
to himself
Watch your fucking mouth!…
Ares
to himself
… On that I agree!
Camille
… He will never know me.
Ares
You insulted me, fucking little wimp,
You belittled me, oh, pain in my ass
Know, I will fucking make you bow to me!
exit Ares
Peter
I feel as if blood flows in me again.
And Death has moved away from us also.
Do you want to come with me to the mall?
Camille
I’d prefer the library to the mall,
Small research is about to be done!
exeunt Camille and Peter
Scene 2: The librairy
Camille
I love the smell of books in the morning
And the sun’s gentle kiss on their cover.
The studious calm of this place soothes me.
All I want, when I am here, is to learn.
Peter
Do not forget to have pauses, hydrate,
Enlighten yourself. But before, tell me,
What do you want to study? Art? Ducks? Gods?
enters Athena
Athena
to herself
Even I am at loss, what will they search?
Camille
That, my friend, is a surprise. Go, have fun,
Why don’t you go get us lunch. I’d like…
Peter
… No!
I’m not one to be tossed away at will.
Tell me what to look for, and I’ll help you.
But I cannot let you do all the work!
Camille
Sadly, I must agree, unwillingly.
Alone, I am quicker, but together!
We shall dig deep down the well of knowledge.
Everything useful, near or far the great…
enter violently the policemen, Jack and John
Jack
We hereby arrest you!…
enters Hades
John
No, not you, them! …
Camille
… Sorry, what did I do?
Jack
I don’t know, we were not told, come with us!
exeunt Camille, Jack and John
Peter
What did… what did they do ?…
Peter
Alas, I still don’t know what to look for!
exit Peter
Athena
Why are you here, following them? Who for?
Hades
It is against my will that I am here.
Peter is almost to pass away, poor boy.
I cannot act, but I can watch over him,
Shielding him from harm, before his time comes.
exeunt Athena and Hades
Scene 3: The police station
Enter Jack, John and Camille, followed by Ares
Ares sits behind a desk, in the shadow
Camille
Will you two tell me why you brought me here?
Jack
Law grants you the right to remain silent.
The policemen put Camille in a cell then go sit behind a desk.
Camille
I wish I had taken a book to read,
Something to do, to entertain my mind.
Because all of this may be very long.
They sit on the floor, back to the wall, closing their eyes.
Enter Athena and Hephaestus
Athena
But it burns down cameras and the like,
Yet, here you stand, safeguarding them from him.
Didn’t you used to be thrilled by the tech,
Buzzing, clicking, whirring, jingling gizmos?
Hephaestus
Their contraption is much more fun than tech.
Or rather, it displays much more technique
Than mere AI or automated such.
There is something to understand, to grasp;
It is finely handcrafted, like clockwork;
I am not one to enjoy soulless arts,
I, for sure, despise all that alienates.
Bodies and minds are to be freed from toil.
And each and every single devices
Is for the gods and mortals’ bliss alike,
To let them feel the joy of arts and crafts.
And to the few who don’t like these, I say:
Machines are here for you to live happy,
Unbothered by debilitating work
Having orgies and eating honeyed figs.
They are a tool to humankind’s greatness,
Not its goal or paramount achievement.
For instance, the Internet is to me
No more than a gear connecting peoples;
To Peter, poor soul, a mean to having fun;
To Camille, it is a pool of science;
And soon it may become a place to mourn,
A place to remember such a good friend,
A…
Athena
… Hush, they are falling in a slumber.
Camille
eyes still closed
Who are you who seems so wise ?…
Hephaestus
… They heard us!
Camille
And why would you speak of Peter like that?
Athena
Hades won’t be pleased when he learns they know.
Enters Hades
Hephaestus
… Nothing, nothing, oh tinkerer.
Hades
to his godly peers
They know either too much or not enough.
to Camille
Your friend …
Hades
… May see his last breath soon.
I must go, I swore not to intervene
Nor to meddle in the mortal’s affairs.
Camille
Peter is soon to die? Him, the flower,
Him, the unending well of happiness?
Why would fate be harsh to such a kind soul?
How could I not battle against Hades
For such a tragedic blow to my heart?
Life is unfair, but death even more so.
Hades
Hush, for you become blasphematory!
Do not dare defy a god like you did!
Athena
Let them do, as we did not introduce,
How could they know who we are, immortals?
Hades
On that I agree, I’ll see myself out.
exit Hades
Camille
What kind of vivid dream is this weird scene?
It does not matter, but I must confess
To me, to you, the gods, and above all
To him, of how much I do love Peter.
I hope to see him one more time, at least,
and to talk to him one more time, also.
I only know how I love him so much,
Yet, is it kinship, passion, friendship?
Labeling my relation to Peter
Is a complex work; how could I do it?
Athena
Why would you burden yourself with this task?
Sometimes, you love someone with warm feelings,
Butterflies roaming freely in your heart,
Making your thoughts buzzing and your head light
When you are with them or see them.
And sometimes, words are a limitation,
You wish to transcend language, but you can’t,
No one, mortal, immortal, can do so.
You are left with awry scribbles and sounds
To express yourself, tell how you love them
Show the world the bliss that is knowing them.
Camille
I will tell him that, the strength of my love,
Speak the unspeakable, make us smile, cry,
Feel as if dusk was never to befall;
But for that, I need to see him once more.
enters Peter, followed by Hades
as the former walks in, holding a duck drawing, Hades picks surveillance cameras behind him
Peter
At last, here you are, Camille, I found you!
Athena
exiting
You who are wise, it is time to be brave!
exit Athena
Hephaestus
exiting
Now wake up, here he comes, your sweet soulmate.
exit Hephaestus
Ares
I will soon see you cowards dying breath.
Jack
Stop where you are !…
John
… He said, stop where you are!
Peter
stopping
Why are they locked up? What crime did they do?
Will one of you, at last, enlighten me?
Jack
We do not know, only follow orders.
Ares
stepping up
Why would I clear up your sweet ignorance?
Why would I when I could stir up your pain?
Peter
ignoring Ares
My great friend, do you know why you are here?
Camille
Oh, my dear, no one’s willing to tell me!
Ares
in fury
You dare ignore me!…
to the police officers
Lock him the fuck up!
the two go to seize Peter, Hades slowly comes closer to the three of them, Peter tries to defend himself, they take their weapons out
Camille
Stop! Please, his heart could not survive the shock.
Nor mine if his ever came to an end.
I would not want to live here anymore,
In a world where the purest of all soul,
Whose only crime is to look for his friend,
Met at its end some groundless penalty.
Ares
Pull the trigger, kill them: one stone, two bird.
Camille
ignoring him
It should not end the purest of all soul,
nor the darkest one. Legal deadly blows,
as if some men were freer than other,
are just horrendous enough in themselves
But officers killing without trial?
It just went from gruesome to appalling.
My love for him speaks, my love for life, too.
And sure, maybe, my perception is blurred,
But again, I can’t see forth without him.
If my heart’s strong enough to go through this,
I would miss him everyday so dearly,
My pain would be so great and hard and grave.
That I could seek such a frigid revenge.
Not over you, mere police officers,
But over the bloodthirsty deity
The unholy warring puppet-master,
The quiet one standing in front of us,
Ares
Enough! Shut your damn mouth or perish now!
One does not drag a god’s name in the mud
Unless they want to meet Hades quickly!
Camille
Yes, that is why I was going to speak
Of the deadly police institution.
Is it now forbidden to show concerns
Over a bit of our human nation?
Peter
Will you let me go?…
John
… Why would we do that?
Camille
Now, could you please let him go without harm?
Or, at least, put him in the cell with me?
Jack
To that, we can oblige without effort.
the officers put Peter in the cell, Hades follows him
Camille
… What, now what? We simply waltz out!
Camille
You see, when police invited technique,
the latter felt as used against its will.
enters Hephaestus
Peter
Love goes both ways, yet here I see no love.
You cannot hang to one and hope things work,
You both need to put some efforts in it.
Hades starts to tweak the lock, maybe trying to pick or unscrew it
An unwillingly loved one will rebel,
Hoping to be aided from the outside,
Hephaestus hands down the duck picture to Peter
Here in the form of an optic door lock.
Hades unhinges the door, with Hephaestus’ help
Now, my friend, we can waltz as we want.
Camille
to both helpful gods
Thank you for this deus ex machina!
Peter
I’d even say: machina ex deus.
Hephaestus
I must say it: smart is the new sexy!
Peter
We can waltz out, go away as we want,
Together, happy, here for each other.
Ares
You shall not trespass out of this damn cell!
exeunt Camille and Peter, holding hands and free