Boy #2

[Lights up on Boy. His hair is parted on the side and he wears a silk bow tie. He takes a scroll from his pocket, uncurls it, clears his throat, and ROARS]

IF MODERN LIFE OFFERED THE POSSIBILITY OF SURPRISE, YOU WOULD HAVE UNCOVERED THIS SCROLL IN THE BOWELS OF THE UNIVERSE, UNDERNEATH A SNICKERS BAR AND PAIR OF OLD TENNIS SHOES. YOU WOULD HAVE FOUND THIS LIKE JOSEPH MORMON DID THE GOLDEN PLATES. INSTEAD, I’LL TELL YOU ABOUT LEONA BELL. THESE ARE PIECES OF A SPLINTERED EXISTENCE.

[He continues in softer tones]

Birth or April 8, 1972:
Leona is born to Samuel and Beatrice Bell. She emerges from the womb without a heartbeat. The doctor takes a coffee break, and then runs a blood test. As it turns out, Leona suffers from a heart disease called Amoraphobia. She will be incapable of love. She will fear it. Beatrice holds her diseased child and cries. Samuel curses himself for impregnating his wife.

Age 4:
Leona cries when receiving a hug from her preschool teacher, Mrs. Dapley.

7th Grade:
Leona builds a rocket and decides to take off for Mars. She is holding a blow- torch to the bottom of the rocket in an attempt at take-off when Samuel rushes into the backyard and swears at her. She pouts and runs into the bathroom only to discover that the cramps in her uterus are not caused by fear of black matter but a new menstruation. She will forever link the mystery of outer space with her own womanhood.

11th grade:
At a party, Vincent Smith offers Leona a hit near the pool table. He passes the joint to her and their fingers touch. Leona takes a puff and exhales; the smoke turns an electric green as it shoots from her lips. She tastes like gasoline.

22:
Leona works for a travel agency. She books trips to Oslo and Cancun, Maui and Vancouver. When no one is looking, she runs her fingers over the Andes and thinks of people she would throw off the mountaintop.

31:
Vincent calls the agency and is thrilled to discover Leona’s husky voice on the other end. She meets him at the local Hilton for a drink and some cocktail peanuts. Afterwards, they make love in Room 412 under fluorescent lighting. Vincent fizzes with happiness.

35:
Leona pins her hair up and steps into her wedding dress.

36:
Leona’s period goes missing during a lunar eclipse. She gives birth to a baby boy.

70:
Leona is hailed as an engineering wonder. She is the oldest living survivor of Amoraphobia and makes it into three medical journals. Her husband likes to carry the clippings around in his wallet.

72:
Leona loses her will to live. While her husband and son are out at the baseball game, she digs a grave in the backyard and jumps into in. A willing neighbor covers her in dirt. When Vincent and Jacob return, they hear Leona breathing underground and dig her up. Leona stays in the earth, without moving, for another 20 years.

[Boy looks around the room].

My mother doesn’t need you or me or anybody. She’s flutist and cellist and pianist and conductor. She’s everything and then some. My mother is contained and tidy and lying in the dirt. My mother is a symphony.