Sneak Peek: a scene form Mortals As They Walk

The desert burns my feet as I walk. Walking faster does not help. I try walking on the outer edges of my shoes, which helps until my ankles begin to hurt. I look ahead, shielding my eyes from the blinding sun. The mountains in the distance are a hazy mix of grays and whites. Just before the foothills sits a shimmering black lake. Parallel lines of white and blue float above it, shifting and fading. There is no water. It’s a mirage.

The bright blue sky is cloudless. The sun, directly overhead, assaults my head like a god holding a blowtorch. The sand and dry brush extend in every direction, like a sea of yellow and brown. Ahead, closer than the mirage, I see what appear to be sailing ships in a parallel line, perpendicular to my path. They look about three inches tall from here, all the same height, stretching from right to left. At random times, flashes appear. Sunlight momentarily reflecting from a porthole or mast, perhaps.

How did I get here?

I begin singing. “Where’s my beautiful wife…my beautiful house?!” What was that song? Something about being held down under water—

A tall plant blocks my path…

“Well,” says the plant, “are you going to keep shouting like that?”

“I was singing.”

“Didn’t sound like any singing I’ve heard. In any case, you are late.”

“Late for what?”

“The meeting. Everyone else is here.”

Ellie sits on a nearby rock. She is wrinkled and sad. She looks old. Her hair is a mess. She stares at the ground. Zig is beside her, about two feet away, sitting on another rock. He also stares at the ground. His clothes are disheveled; he looks gaunt and sickly. Between the two rocks stretches a shimmering web, in tatters. A large brown spider clings to it.

“Ellie! Zig! What are you doing here?”

“Silence,” the plant says. Neither Zig or Ellie acknowledge me.

“Okay, we can begin. Robert?”

Startled, I turn to see Robert standing beside the plant. He wears a long black robe.

“I am angry! Do you hear? Angry!” His face becomes red and he stamps his feet.

No one moves or speaks. Am I supposed to answer?

The spider speaks. “You’re an arrogant ass. Why have you called us here?”

I think he is speaking to me, but Robert responds. “I may well be, but that does not…

“I think he is speaking to me, but Robert responds. “I may well be, but that does not mean I am wrong! Who says you have to be old or educated to be wise? I know things!”

“I agree,” a new voice says. It is Eli, standing on the other side of the plant. “Someone needs to say something. This is outrageous!”

I am confused. They look like themselves, but they do not sound right. The patterns of speech are all wrong. How did we get here? It must be delirium. From the anesthetic. Did I have the surgery already? No, that was before. I had an accident. I fell in the ocean. Am I dead? No, they rescued me. Didn’t they?

“You! Woman!” Robert points at Ellie. “What are you doing with your life? Nothing!”

It was my turn to be angry, but when I open my mouth, no sound comes out. I shake an indignant fist at Robert and go to Ellie. She looks up, and I place my hand on her shoulder, but she shrugs it off. Robert appears at my side and shoves her. Falling backward, her head snaps as she lands, slamming into the dirt beneath. She rubs the back of her head.

“I may not know much,” Robert says, “but I know that you want to be liked so badly that you will lie about anything. You talk about how hard you work, but inside, you know you don’t really work that hard. You’re afraid everyone will find out. Right?”

Ellie does not respond as she sits up with her mouth open. I don’t know if she is stunned by the fall, by his words, or both.

“You tell people that you’re not married because you love your job and you love helping others. But that’s a lie. Truth is, no one wants you.”

I grab at Robert’s arm, but he shrugs me off. “More than that, no one ever will. You are a shallow, self-absorbed, worthless, woman!”

Ellie looks up at Robert. “You know nothing about me.”

“Your sister never answers your calls, does she? You pretend you’re normal that your life has meaning, but you are a basketful of psychoses that no one cares about!”

Ellie’s eyes brim with tears. “You…you…” She falls silent.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought, loser.” He dismisses her with a wave and walks to Zig, who sits with his head in his hands.

“And you. You, fat, self-centered blowhard. Your constant berating of your wife is what made her hate you! She was a beautiful and compassionate woman until you wore her down. And your affairs—yes, of course she knew!—and your smug condescension made her retreat into herself. You destroyed her, you pig!”

Zig does not move.

“But underneath all that arrogance and apparent self-confidence lies a sad sack of pain. You have no idea how to sell, no idea how to be a friend, and no idea how to love someone. You’d like to, but instead you turn to drinking—the weakest of all responses! Not even enough of a man to admit it and get help—you laugh it off in public and cry to yourself when alone! Good ol’ gregarious Zig. A worthless façade!”

Zig shoots up from his seat with anger and draws back a fist. But Robert was prepared and landed a roundhouse on Zig that sent him sprawling. He lay in the sand, still.

I turn on Robert. “Ro…Ro…” The words would not form.

“Shut up, Lobster. I’m not done.”

“No!” Eli shouts. “I have something to say.”

Finally. Someone with sense. Robert, with a short bow, waves to Eli.

“You!” shouts Eli, as he passes between Robert and I to bend down before the spider. “You make me sick with your false honesty about yourself and your self-deprecating attitude! It’s just more deception!”

I’d never seen Eli this angry. This was not his usual firm and steady demeanor. This sounds more like Robert—but Robert doesn’t sound like Robert, either.

“You use this ruse of honesty about yourself to gain sympathy, and then you strike with the vilest of words! ‘Actions have consequences’ and ‘we reap what we sow’—what a load of excrement you spew! You know that’s not always true. Yet you keep clutching at it. ‘Poor me, I was made this way’—it’s all garbage!”

With that, Eli raises up a booted foot and brings it down, crushing the spider to the ground. He whirls and addresses the plant. “You don’t escape either, you bundle of firewood! Your faux intellectualism is old and tired—you sound like a British house-servant in a B movie!” He moves closer. “In fact, you’re the worst of all! You have the fake self-deprecation and false humility of the spider, the façade of Zig, and the uselessness of Ellie. You spout the same tired old sayings: ‘oh, it’s not Fate, but a cause and effect’ and your stupid, sorry story about Enlil and—”

Eli stops, choking with anger.

Robert comes to his side as the old man coughs. “He’s right, you bundle of dry sticks! What do you have to offer—old, dry, and nearly dead! Yet you hold forth like you are the sage of the universe. Everything is clean and logical. I have had it with you, too!”

Robert swings about, searching the ground. With a cry of delight, he bends down and picks up a thick branch. He wields it like a bat as he rushes the plant. It shudders at the blow, as pieces of dry leaves and sticks fly off. Robert swings again.

“It’s your time, firewood! Is this an effect or a cause?!”

Eli recovers and approaches the plant. Picking up a large stone, he falls to his knees and begins to pound at the main shaft near the ground. Robert continues to bash away at the upper stalks. Both scream profanities with each blow.

I spin, looking for help. Ellie lies on the ground, sobbing. Zig lies still on the ground, his mouth leaking a trickle of blood. The spider is crushed collection of a thorax and broken legs.

I raise my face to the sky. My voice freed, I wail and cry and scream.