"HABITAT"
by Charles Deemer
Place
An apartment
Set
A table and chair. A hat rack.
Time
The 22nd century
Characters
Tommy, about 10
Ann, his mother
Granddad, her father
(AT RISE: a boy,
TOMMY, about 10,
is doing homework at a table. His
mother, ANN, enters.)
ANN
Granddad
isn't back?
TOMMY
Not
yet.
ANN
I
hope he's all right.
TOMMY
Is
he late?
ANN
He's
old and forgetful.
(She starts away.)
TOMMY
Mom?
Did the sky used to be blue?
(Ann stops and
turns.)
TOMMY
That's
what Jeffrey said at school. It didn't used to be
gray
all the time. It used to be blue in the daytime and
black
in the nighttime.
ANN
Yes,
but that was a long time ago.
(She exits. A beat, as Tommy goes
back to work. Then a
voice off-
stage:)
GRANDDAD (OS)
Unseal
the hatches! I've returned in one piece!
(Tommy looks up
expectantly,
waiting ... and
GRANDDAD enters.)
(GRANDDAD wears
protective clothing
from head to foot.
His face is
covered by a mask --
a gas mask or
perhaps a hospital
mask and
goggles -- and he
wears a protective
layer of
over-clothing or perhaps a
large poncho. This protective
clothing should
surprise, even
shock, the audience
but the actors
take it in stride
because this is
2.
everyday apparel in the 22nd
century. Granddad
also carries a
large plastic bag.)
(As Tommy talks,
Granddad sets down
the plastic bag and
takes off the
mask and poncho,
which he'll hang
on a hat rack.)
TOMMY
Mom
was worried about you. She said you were old and
forgetful.
I knew you'd be back.
GRANDDAD
Oh,
you did, huh?
TOMMY
Jeffrey
at school said the sky used to be blue in the
daytime
and black in the nighttime.
GRANDDAD
That
it did.
TOMMY
Really?
I can't imagine it.
GRANDDAD
I'll
tell you something else you can't imagine.
(Ann enters.)
ANN
Where
have you been? I've been worried sick about you.
(Out of the plastic bag, Granddad
takes a second,
smaller plastic bag.
And out of this, a
third, smaller
plastic bag. And out
of this, a
paper bag of groceries,
which he
hands to Ann.)
GRANDDAD
The
day you stop worrying about something is the day I call
the
doctor.
ANN
You
know we're overdo for an alert. What if it started while
you
were gone?
GRANDDAD
It's
this afternoon, as a matter of fact. That's what the
grocery
clerk told me.
3.
ANN
How
does he know?
GRANDDAD
His
mother works for Atmospheric Security.
ANN
Well,
thank God you're back then.
(She leaves with the
sack of
groceries.)
TOMMY
What
else I can't imagine?
GRANDDAD
What?
TOMMY
You
said you'd tell me something else I can't imagine.
GRANDDAD
What
were we talking about?
TOMMY
How
the sky used to be blue and black.
GRANDDAD
Ah,
yes. The sky. Sunrise! Sunset! You can't imagine how
beautiful
it was. First, the slightest hint of silver light
at
the horizon, then--
TOMMY
What's
the horizon?
GRANDDAD
Where
the sky meets the land. There was a difference then,
you
could see it. Then, as the sun climbed to the horizon,
the
sky would become red and orange, it was spectacular!
Poets
wrote poems about it.
TOMMY
Do
you know one?
GRANDDAD
Not
by heart. But I'll find one. The rosy-fingered dawn.
That's
how an old Greek named Homer described it. Once,
before
your mother was born, I was camping out in the
desert--
TOMMY
What's
camping?
4.
GRANDDAD
We
used to sleep outside in a sleeping bag.
TOMMY
You'd
be dead the next morning.
GRANDDAD
It
was safe then. I was always up at the crack of dawn
camping,
brewing coffee on the camp stove, the eastern sky
as
orange as fire. I remember one time, silhouetted against
the
flaming sky, came a black-V moving along the horizon, a
flight
of geese going somewhere, off to find food maybe.
What
a sight it was!
TOMMY
What
are geese?
GRANDDAD
You
know about birds?
TOMMY
We
don't study extinct species until next year. Jeffrey said
they
could fly.
GRANDDAD
Birds
were something else. They came in all shapes and sizes.
TOMMY
What
about geese?
GRANDDAD
It's
a kind of bird. They all hop around on two feet and
have
wings and fly. In the morning, even right in town, if
you
had a tree outside your bedroom window, the morning
would
be blessed with birdsong. Birds loved to hang out in
the
trees.
TOMMY
They
could sing?
GRANDDAD
They
chirped, which was called singing. Hundreds of them,
all
chirping up a storm. What music they made!
(Ann enters.)
ANN
I
just saw an announcement on the Vid. The alert will be
starting
any time now. We might as well get ready so we
don't
have to rush around.
(Very casually, all
are going to
put on ponchos and
masks, which
hang from the hat
rack. This is
5.
something they do
often and
therefore habitually.
No panic
here, just efficiency.)
TOMMY
Granddad
was telling me about the blue sky and sunrise and
birds.
ANN
You're
just trying to get out of doing your homework.
TOMMY
I
wish I could've been there to see all that.
GRANDDAD
The
sky used to be a sight to behold.
TOMMY
Maybe
they'll come back. The birds, I mean. Do you think so,
Granddad?
ANN
I
want you in your protective suit this minute, young man!
GRANDDAD
I
don't know if they will or not, Tommy. I have an idea but
I've
been wrong before.
TOMMY
What's
your idea?
ANN
(interrupting)
Oh,
Dad, I forgot to tell you. The Andersons have been
approved
for the Moon Colony. They're so thrilled.
TOMMY
I'm
moving to Mars when I grow up!
ANN
You're
not moving anywhere unless you do well in school.
They'll
assign you to Maintenance Control right here on Earth.
TOMMY
Granddad,
what's your idea about the birds?
GRANDDAD
Oh,
I'm just an old man. It doesn't matter what I think.
(Everyone is now in
masks and
ponchos. Ann takes
Tommy's hand.)
ANN
Down
to the shelter, young man. Now! Come on, Dad.
6.
GRANDDAD
I'm
coming.
(Ann and Tommy exit.
Just before
exiting, Granddad
stops and turns
to the audience. He
lifts up his
mask and looks out at
the audience.)
GRANDDAD
Will
the birds be back? I don't think so. I think we missed
our
shot at saving them a long time ago, while they were
still
here. I think sometimes there are no second chances in
this
universe. Sometimes it's now or never. But what do I
know?
I'm just an old man who misses the sky ... and the
birds
... and ... well, it doesn't matter ...
(He exits, putting on
his mask. The
play is over.)