Afterimage by Robert Chafe Read Free Book Online Page A

(Theresa): Red hair.
    Chorus (Connie): But this boy.
    Retrieves a canister of lighter fluid. LISE is still making her way, her impatience growing.
    Lise: I know you can hear me.
    Chorus (Connie): This boy.
    Chorus (Jerome): Not even left-handed.
    Chorus (Theresa): Brown hair.
    Chorus (Leonard): Those eyes.
    Chorus (Connie): Handsome.
    He soaks the picture in the bowl. LISE nears the living room, furious now.
    Lise: Leo, I’m talking to you! Leo!
    Chorus (Winston): The leper.
    Chorus (Connie): The middle child.
    LEO suspends a lit match above the bowl for the briefest of seconds. LISE enters the living room and sees him.
    Lise: Leo!
    He drops it. A massive flash and noise.
    And darkness.
    * * *
    At the hospital, MAGGIE races to LEO’s aid, WINSTON and LISE hover in a fit of worry. MAGGIE pushes them outside.
    They sit, tired, apart.
    A lengthy silence.
    Lise: What time is it?
    WINSTON shakes his head.
    Silence.
    Winston: They’ll give him something.
    For the pain.
    Pause.
    Watch him. In case of infection.
    Beat.
    Lise: He’s gonna be okay.
    He looks up at her.
    Yes.
    I believe that. He will.
    WINSTON looks away.
    Winston: I was at work. Coming up on three in the morning. Raking through the flotation tank. My reflection down below, moving. And it was like it leapt up and washed over me. The sight of it. Oh God, passing through me, through my body just like—
    Lise: You saw.
    Winston: I could hear him, and when I closed my eyes I could still see it. I could still see the fire moving against the dark.
    Beat.
    That’s why I was home.
    Lise: Before the ambulance.
    Beat.
    He’s gonna be fine. He is.
    Winston: Yeah? You believe that?
    Lise: I know that.
    Winston: No. You don’t.
    Lise: He’s going to be fine.
    Winston: You said that about me.
    Lise: Yes and—
    Winston: And look at me!
    Pause.
    Will he be able to see?
    Beat.
    Tell me that. Will he be able to see?
    The force of it threw him back against the wall. His little red hat gone, dust. Hair, gone.
    Lise: Winston—
    Winston: His forehead, cheeks. His face fucking cooked. His eyelids welded.
    Lise: Please, don’t.
    Winston: They don’t know about his eyes, they don’t know that yet.
    So, will he?
    Beat.
    Will he be able to see?
    Lise: I don’t know.
    Winston: No you don’t.
    Lise: Please don’t be angry with me, I can’t take it.
    Winston: It’s just a phase. He’ll get over it.
    Lise: This is not my fault.
    Winston: That’s your guilt talking.
    Lise: Please don’t say this is my fault.
    Winston: Jerome’s going to stub a toe, you buy him steel-toe shoes.
    Lise: That’s not fair.
    Winston: No it’s not, but it’s true. You’ve never cared enough.
    Lise: No, no, that’s not true.
    Winston: You’ve never been able to see for him.
    Lise: I’ve only ever seen for him!
    Beat.
    This was all I could see.
    I couldn’t see anything else about him but this.
    Beat.
    Ever since I met his mother. Ever since that he’s been blood and pain, I look at him and see ash and tears and I couldn’t stop it. I tried so hard, but I couldn’t stop it.
    Beat.
    I couldn’t stop it. So I stopped. I stopped…
    Pause.
    Winston: You’re his mother.
    Beat.
    LISE can’t look at him.
    Sometimes knowing things is scary. You’ve said that.
    You say that.
    Long, long pause.
    He’ll be in for at least three weeks. And out of it for a couple of days. You should go home.
    They stand at separate ends of the room, unable to look at each other.
    LISE looks up, making a realization, a sad smile.
    Lise: Hmmm, this room. This is where I first saw him. Where I first saw you.
    WINSTON smiles too, nods sadly.
    LISE and WINSTON stand at LEO’s bedside.
    Chorus (Theresa): She didn’t go home. Neither did he. He was consumed with fear for his son. The memory of that first time he saw his own face. The shock beyond anything that he could be prepared for. And he was a grown man.
    Chorus (Connie): But Leo.
    Winston: Leo.
    Chorus (Connie): So young. Already so sullen. Already so sad.
    Chorus