EACH ONE REACH ONE JUVENILE JUSTICE CENTER
AUGUST 18, 2018
PRESENTS
EL SUENO OSCURO – THE DARK DREAM
BY EDWIN H.
CHARACTERS:
SOLO (“Alone”) THE VULTURE, MALE, 20 YEARS OLD
SALVAVIDAS (“Life saver”) THE NOPAL CACTUS, MALE, 30 YEARS OLD
SETTING:
On the edge of the Arizona desert near the Mexico border. It is at least 110 degrees and the air is very warm. You see sand and rocky mountains. The mountains appear to be near but they are very, very far. There are coyotes walking, poisonous snakes in the sand, and scorpions. There is no water in this desert except the water inside of cactuses. Day and night you can hear the helicopters flying in the sky, and you also hear the scary silence. Sometimes there is the smell of cemetery with unburied corpses. There is the taste of sand in the wind.
TIME:
4:00 PM
AT RISE:
Salvavidas is by himself in the desert.
SALVAVIDAS
I wonder Where Is SOLO?
(yelling) SOLO WHERE YOU AT?!
(SOLO flies in and lands on Salvavidas’ shoulder)
SOLO
Here I am! You know that your Mother, The Rain, is coming now?
SALVAVIDAS
Yeah, why? What, are you afraid of my mom? Ha Ha Ha
SOLO
No. I’m just mentioning it because I know you must be feeling very happy you’re going to get to see your mother.
SALVAVIDAS
(He looks around and sighs.) My mother only comes here once a year. And the the truth is that makes me sad. But, let me ask you something. Today, why are you so anxious now that my mother is about to arrive?
SOLO
Look, maybe this is going to be a surprise to you, and I’ve wanted to tell you, but I didn’t have the way, or find the right moment to tell you. I don’t want to ruin your day. And I want you to undertand that I don’t want to leave you alone in this pobre desierto.
SALVAVIDAS
WHAT?!!? What are you talking about with what you’re telling me right now?!?
SOLO
Take it easy. Don’t get angry.
SALVAVIDAS
(his face is angry) How do you expect me not to get angry if you don’t tell me what you’re talking about.
SOLO
O.K. For a long time now I’ve wanted to get out of here and go to The Villages, but I don’t know the road to get there. The only one who knows is your Mom.
SALVAVIDAS
How can you want to leave? You want to leave me like I don’t matter to you?
SOLO
Of course you matter to me, but my dream is to be with rest of us who are in the Villages.
SALVAVIDAS
How can you be sure that there are others like you in those Villages?
SOLO
Maybe I’m not sure. But I know that beyond those hills is where my companeros (“companions/brothers”) live. Your mother knows this.
SALVAVIDAS
Perhaps you have forgotten about that day when you were going around totally lost in this empty desert, and nobody to save you. I was the only one who had any compassion for you. And this is how you want to pay me for everything I’ve done for you.
SOLO
No, no, it’s not that I don’t appreciate everything you’ve done for me.
SALVAVIDAS
Obviously, now that you’re all grown up, I don’t matter to you anymore.
SOLO
I have a lot of love and respect for you. Your life and your caring for me matters.
SALVAVIDAS
You know, it pains me and it always caused me sorrow to watch those people die. And all that was to give YOU something to EAT all these YEARS you’ve been with me.
SOLO
I don’t know how to thank you for all that. But this is my only chance to be able to get to the Villages.
SALVAVIDAS
The truth is I regret sheltering you. My brother Chele was right, I should have left you to die.
SOLO
(he is shocked/angry) All this time you wanted to see me dead?
SALVAVIDAS
No. But every time I want to give water to people you always say “Man, what are you trying to do? You’re helping humans who just want to take and take water from you and then they just leave you here.” And that made me sad because those people just want to find their American Dream. And when I let those people die they leave their families without saying Good-bye.
SOLO
Yeah, but you don’t know how I feel.
SALVAVIDAS
(yells) And you don’t know how I feel.
(A Silence)
SOLO
The truth is that since I’ve known you, you have become my brother. I realize you gave me love when nobody loved me. You let those people die to feed me. I can imagine that was very hard for you, Bro.
SALVAVIDAS
Not only hard for me but also sad. My love for you is real and for all this time I’ve been LOYAL to my best friend. My best friend because every time I want to get love from my parents they are not there. My dad is such a big Desert that he never notices me. And my mom the Rain, she moves everywhere. You are the only one I can talk to when I feel sad, angry, depressed.
SOLO
I never thought I was so important to you.
SALVAVIDAS
I thought you always looked at me as something different. But even though we are different from each other I can’t let you go to those dangerous places in the Villages.
SOLO
If I wanted to just LEAVE you I would have done it. I could fly North, South, East or West, not caring if I got lost. But I don’t know how to get to the Villages, only your mother can tell me. If you help me and trust me, I promise to return, to show you that I am loyal, brother.
SALVAVIDAS
I really don’t know what to tell you.
(he feels the raindrops) My mother the Rain is arriving.
(SALVAVIDAS opens his cactus spines to absorb the raindrops)
SOLO
La neta, the real deal is this. Sometimes I imagine how nice it would be just to be with other vultures all the time. And what I want most of all is to know a girl, one I can dedicate these words to: Eres tan hermosa como las Rosas
SALVAVIDAS
You are lovely as a Rose
SOLO
Aveces haces que las estrellas se ponen Celosas
SALVAVIDAS
Sometimes you make the stars jealous
SOLO
Quiero que seas mi Esposa
SALVAVIDAS
I want you to be my wife
SOLO
No te dejaria ni por una perla Brilloza
SALVAVIDAS
I would not leave you even for a brilliant pearl So you want to leave me just to find another vulture!?!?!
SOLO
I don’t want to leave you, but, if you help me I won’t ask you to ever sacrifice another human again.
SALVAVIDAS
Alright. If you leave the people in peace I will help you. I will talk to my Mother and get the information you need.
(LATER)
SALVAVIDAS
Solo flew away and has never been heard from since.
SOLO
I got the information, but I was not sincere with Salvavidas. And as time went by I realized that I had lied to my best friend. If you really love someone you have to be loyal to them, to the end.
(POR HABERSE MULTIPLICADO LA MALDAD EL AMOR DE OTROS SE VA A ENFRIAR. / BECAUSE OF SOLO’S BAD DEEDS, THE LOVE OF SALVAVIDAS FOR OTHERS TURNED COLD.)
END OF PLAY
