We Might Be Heroes: The Choice

(CATHERINE sits on a train with LIV and ASHLEY.  LIV is the older of two sisters, CATHERINE is their grandmother.)

ASHLEY:  Mom seemed upset.

LIV:  We’re not talking about it.

CATHERINE:  We can talk about it.

LIV:  I don’t want to talk about it.

CATHERINE:  Well, maybe Ashley wants to talk about it.

ASHLEY:  I’d rather not.

CATHERINE:  Well.  Then we won’t.

            (A beat.)

Your mother was upset because you’re her children and she doesn’t want to turn you over to the government.  It’s a reasonable concern.

LIV:  Is that what’s going on?

CATHERINE:  No.  Well—no.  We’re going to see my friend, who…will do a test…on the two of you.

ASHLEY:  Will the test hurt?

CATHERINE:  I don’t know.

LIV:  Nana, you’re supposed to say—No, it’s not going to hurt.

CATHERINE:  But I don’t know that.  I know it won’t kill you, that would defeat the purpose of the test, but I can’t say that it won’t hurt.  That would be lying.  I’m not lying to you.  That’s the whole point of this trip.  That’s why we’re on this train.

ASHLEY:  To go take a test.

CATHERINE:  You don’t have to take the test.  They test you.  To find out if you’re…special.

ASHLEY:  You mean like you?

CATHERINE:  Yes.

LIV:  If you’re special, doesn’t that automatically make us special?

CATHERINE:  Well, you’re my granddaughters, so I think you’re special no matter what.

ASHLEY:  But do we have special powers?

CATHERINE:  That’s what the test will determine.

LIV:  Mom doesn’t have any special powers.

CATHERINE:  My mother didn’t either.  But my grandmother did.  It’s possible it skips a generation.  Or, one of you might have special abilities and other one might not.

ASHLEY:  I hope it’s me.

LIV:  No, you don’t.  If it’s you, you have to go fight the aliens.

ASHLEY:  Maybe I want to fight the aliens.

CATHERINE:  Nobody has to do anything—even if it does turn out one of you is…like me.

LIV:  But they want everyone who has special powers to be, like, an army, right?

CATHERINE:  But it’s up to you.  It’s your choice.

ASHLEY:  Shouldn’t it be Mom’s choice?

CATHERINE:  It should be, but…sometimes we have to grow up a little bit faster than we’d like.  Faster than the people we love would like us to, but…this is one of those times.

ASHLEY:  How did you know you were special?

CATHERINE:  One day I woke up, and my bed was two feet off the floor.  I realized after that I could move things, just by thinking about them.  I was just about your age, Liv, but it’s possible I’d had my ability for awhile and I just didn’t know it.  There were no tests back then.

LIV:  Were you nervous?  When you found out?

CATHERINE:  Oh God, I was terrified.  I told my mother about it, and she told me never to say a word about it to anyone.  Not even when I got married.  So I didn’t.  Your mom didn’t even know until about a week ago, when I told her I had to take you girls into the city.

ASHLEY:  But didn’t you ever want to do anything?

CATHERINE:  Like what?

ASHLEY:  Help people.

LIV:  How was she going to help people by moving a bed?

ASHLEY:  She could move other stuff too, right?

CATHERINE:  You’re right.  And yes, I could have helped people, I guess.  But I did what my mother told me.  I didn’t know I had a choice in the matter.  Now I do, and…I’m ready.

LIV:  Ready to what?

CATHERINE:  Help.

LIV:  Are you serious?

ASHLEY:  That’s awesome.

LIV:  No, it’s not!  She can’t help now.

CATHERINE:  Why not?  I may be your grandmother, but my mind is still sharp.  The other day, when nobody was looking, I lifted a parked car eight feet into the air.  Then I got nervous and dropped it.  Luckily it belonged to your father.

ASHLEY:  We thought a bear attacked it.

CATHERINE:  I can still be useful.  And I want to be.

LIV:  But you could get hurt.

CATHERINE:  Honey, I could get hurt ice-skating.  Life can always be scary, but it’s up to you whether or not you let it scare you.

ASHLEY:  If I can’t fight, would that make me a coward?

CATHERINE:  No.  Not at all.

LIV:  But it sounds like you regret not doing more with your powers.

CATHERINE:  I don’t regret anything.  I’ve had a great life with you, and your mom, and your grandfather, and a lot of other people that I wouldn’t have met if I decided to run off and become Wonder Woman.  It might look boring on the outside, but…I’ve had a lot of fun.  I just wish…I wish it had been my choice.  Back then.  When I made the bed come off the ground.  I wish somebody had said to me, You know, it can be this, or it can be that.

ASHLEY:  Would you still have chosen us?

LIV:  How could she choose us if we weren’t even alive yet?

CATHERINE:  I would have chosen the possibility of you.  I would have chosen that every time.  But I want you to have the choice I didn’t.  I want you to have the possibility of grandkids, and the possibility of fighting aliens and scaling mountains and deep-sea diving and everything else.  I want you to have every possibility and then I want you to choose the one you like best, and I don’t ever want anybody to tell you that life can only be one way, because that’s not true.

ASHLEY:  Nana?

CATHERINE:  Yes?

ASHLEY:  Did you ever make anything else move?  I mean, besides your bed?

CATHERINE:  A few things over the years.

LIV:  Like what?

CATHERINE:  Well, there was this teacher in high school who was very mean to me.  He taught Chemistry and he used to say girls couldn’t’ do Science.  He had a very bad toupee, and one day, I’d had enough, so I made it float above his head while he was writing notes down on the blackboard.

ASHLEY:  What else?

CATHERINE:  The car—

LIV:  Anything else?

CATHERINE:  Yes.  When you were first born, Liv, I used to babysit you, and whenever you’d start to cry, I’d lift you up out of your crib using only my  mind, and you’d laugh and laugh.  You’d clap your hands together like it was magic.

LIV:  It was—wasn’t it?

CATHERINE:  To you, it probably was.

LIV:  Were you scared you’d drop me?

CATHERINE:  I knew I wouldn’t, or I wouldn’t have done it in the first place.  I trusted myself, and you trusted me—whether you knew it or not.  That’s why you laughed.  It was our first little secret.

ASHLEY:  What about with me?

CATHERINE:  With you, I used to do the airplane trick with the spoon only I’d turn the spoon into a real airplane.  I could fly it all around the room and then right into your mouth.  You loved that.

ASHLEY:  I wish I could remember that.

CATHERINE:  I always felt sad when I realized you were both old enough to realize what I was doing and I had to stop.  It felt like I was hiding a part of who I was from you two, and I didn’t want to do that.  Telling you about it a few days ago was like—it felt like a weight was lifted off me.  It felt heavier than that car the whole time I was keeping my secret, and now I feel like I can do anything—even fight aliens.

LIV:  I’m sorry you had to hide all those years.

CATHERINE:  The point is, you never have to hide.  That’s what counts.

ASHLEY:  Nana?

CATHERINE:  Yes?

ASHLEY:  You’re going to be an awesome superhero.

LIZ:  Don’t be crazy.

(A beat.)

She already is.

            (CATHERINE smiles at the girls.  Lights.)