ILYA: This will end
in tears.
GEORGIE: I appreciate
you helping me.
ILYA: I’m hoping you’ll
put a stop to this before it goes much further.
GEORGIE: I don’t
think so.
ILYA: And you came
all the way to Barcelona for this?
GEORGIE: This is
where they buried him.
ILYA: They?
GEORGIE: The
government, or—or whoever buries the men nobody knows.
ILYA: Oh, don’t be
silly. Everyone knew Peter. He was a man among men.
GEORGIE: And did you
know him too?
ILYA: When he first
moved here from Rhode Island, I asked him if he had any family. He said he didn’t, so I let him move into my
house.
GEORGIE: You let a
stranger into your house?
ILYA: I’m not scared
of strangers, Miss—
GEORGIE: He didn’t
mention having a sister?
ILYA: No.
GEORGIE: He could be…very
angry.
ILYA: How did you
find out he was here?
GEORGIE: I hired
someone to…to do some digging.
ILYA: And this is
what turned up?
GEORGIE: Yes.
ILYA: A little
detective. How fancy. Peter would have been flattered that you
cared that much. It’s too bad you didn’t
hire one sooner.
GEORGIE: I didn’t
know he was sick.
ILYA: A lot of the
exiles are sick now, haven’t you heard?
GEORGIE: No. I—
ILYA: They’re
wondering if Rhode Island knew. If maybe
that’s why…
GEORGIE: It’s psychological. Tell people they’re going to get sick and
some of them will get sick. Most of the
exiles are fine.
ILYA: Being banished
from your home—I can imagine that having a…negative effect on someone.
GEORGIE: What about
you? Have you ever been…banished?
ILYA: Are you asking
because you’ve finally noticed my not-so-Spanish accent?
GEORGIE: Yes. Where are you from?
ILYA: Austria.
GEORGIE: And how did
you end up here?
ILYA: I didn’t
realize we were here to talk about me. I
thought you just needed me to show you where they buried your brother?
GEORGIE: I also
wanted to ask if you’re doing all right.
ILYA: You’re
concerned for me? Isn’t that sweet?
GEORGIE: I know you
think I abandoned him.
ILYA: I don’t think
anything of you.
GEORGIE: I didn’t. I—he didn’t tell me where he was going.
ILYA: You two couldn’t
have been very close.
GEORGIE: We…no. We weren’t.
ILYA: May I ask why?
GEORGIE: People…drift
apart from each other. It happens.
ILYA: No big
argument, no—
GEORGIE: This seems
to be very personal—
ILYA: Then let’s not—let’s—it
doesn’t matter anyway, I suppose. People
have problems. That’s the world.
GEORGIE: Yes.
ILYA: Have you ever
been to Spain before?
GEORGIE: I’ve never
been out of Rhode Island until now.
ILYA: It must be very
exciting for you.
GEORGIE: I hate to
say that there’s a black cloud over the trip but—
ILYA: Of course.
GEORGIE: I’m here to
bring him home.
(A
beat.)
ILYA: I don’t
understand.
GEORGIE : His
body. I’m here to take his body—
ILYA: No.
GEORGIE: No?
ILYA: No. He’s not going anywhere. Certainly not back to the state the expelled
him.
GEORGIE: If he were
still alive, he could’ve gone back with me, but since he’s not, I’m—
ILYA: You’re
what? Exhuming him and then flying him
back in a coffin? What’s the point? Honestly?
GEORGIE: What’s the
point of him staying here?
ILYA: He lived here.
GEORGIE: People live
a lot of places.
ILYA: But he died
here. And by ‘he lived here’ I don’t
just mean he resided here, I mean he ‘lived’ here. This place was his life. He loved it here. He never once talked about Rhode Island with
anything but…God, is disdain even a strong enough word?
GEORGIE: He should be
somewhere where his family can visit him.
ILYA: Meaning you?
GEORGIE: Yes, meaning me.
I can’t feel him near me the way I feel our parents. We were a very spiritual family.
ILYA: Spiritual
meaning religious?
GEORGIE: Yes.
ILYA: Well, that
explains a lot.
GEORGIE: I just think
that if I can have him buried where my parents are buried, I’ll…There’s this
feeling I have that it can…That it’ll make things whole. That it’ll make them right.
ILYA: A dead body
lying next to two other dead bodies doesn’t fix anything. It only soothes whatever throbbing is going
on inside your head. And that throbbing
isn’t a demon or a spiritual conundrum.
It’s just throbbing. It’s just a
headache fueled by guilt.
GEORGIE: Are you
okay?
ILYA: I’m fine. I’m just pissed off.
GEORGIE: At me?
ILYA: Of course at
you!
GEORGIE: Rage is one
of the symptoms.
ILYA: Symptoms of
what?
GEORGIE: How have you
been feeling?
ILYA: I thought you
didn’t believe in the exile sickness.
GEORGIE: I believe
other people believe in it.
(A
beat.)
ILYA: I took care of
your brother. When he got sick. I did it knowing there was a chance I could
get sick too. I felt that it would be an
honor to die of the same thing he did.
GEORGIE: What
happened to him here?
ILYA: I don’t
understand.
GEORGIE: What did he
become that you all…that so many people seem to want to protect him, even now
that he’s dead. That you won’t even let
me bring his body back to Rhode Island with me?
ILYA: He was special. Why else would he be chosen for exile? Saints are exiled, great minds and leaders—
GEORGIE: It was
random. He was chosen randomly.
ILYA: That is what
you believe.
GEORGIE: It’s fact.
ILYA: Nothing is
random. Even if your government randomly
selected a group of names, those names are special. They are connected even before they’re
chosen. There is a reason that people are
selected for great tasks.
GEORGIE: What task
are you talking about? He came here, got
sick, and died. What task did he
accomplish?
ILYA: You could never
understand.
GEORGIE: Help
me. Help me understand.
ILYA: I hope I do
die. And when I do, I’ll be buried right
next to Peter.
GEORGIE: He only knew
him for five years. I knew him since he
was a child. Since he was born.
ILYA: Life, like many
things, has periods of importance and periods of monotony. I believe that Peter’s life in Rhode Island
was just a prologue to the life he had here.
GEORGIE: Then you’ll
have fond memories, and I’ll have his body.
ILYA: No one is
letting you leave here with him.
GEORGIE: The law will
side with me on this.
ILYA: There is a
higher law.
GEORGIE: Amen. He’s on my side too.
ILYA: A law of
people. Of the crowd. Of a place.
GEORGIE: Are you
trying to tell me I’m not in Kansas anymore?
ILYA: I’m saying you
may be staying here for awhile before this…sorts itself out.
GEORGIE: I’ll be gone
by the end of the week. And I’ll have
Peter with me.
ILYA: Over my dead
body.
GEORGIE: According to
you, that might just be the case.
ILYA: You believe
people can make themselves sick just by the power of persuasion. Do you believe they can kill themselves the
same way? With mere influence?
GEORGIE: I believe
the mind is a powerful thing. But I
believe that the things outside of us, outside of our own control, are even
more powerful.
ILYA: Well would you
look at that? Finally something we agree
on.
(Lights.)
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