by Karen Sunde
HOW HIS BRIDE CAME TO ABRAHAM
An Israeli-Palestinian story
CHARACTERS:
ABE Young soldier, by nature tender, bright, coarsened by grueling duty.
SABRA Young woman, ferocious, fine. Child’s heart, locked in horrors.
GRAMMA ABE’s GRAMMA (in his mind). Salty, warm as sunset, wise as time.
DOGSTAR ABE’s platoon-mate – rough, officious, human.
BEN ABE’s best friend, platoon-mate – exuberant, careless.
HOW HIS BRIDE CAME TO ABRAHAM
MUSIC: OPENING THEME. SEGUES TO–
ANNOUNCER: Welcome to a Full House production with Abraham Film Project of How His Bride Came To Abraham. (PAUSE) Our story begins a few years ago on a sunny afternoon in South Lebanon, near the Israeli border...
SOUND: SUMMER AFTERNOON – INSECTS, OCCASIONAL BIRD CALL
SOUND: OFF MIKE SMALL SQUAD OF SOLDIERS MOVE ON GRAVEL OR DIRT ROAD
SOUND: AS THEY NEAR, THEIR VOICES BECOME CLEAR…
BEN: Look, I see one.
ABE: Keep moving, Benny.
BEN: It’s a yellow bill! I win!
ABE: You don’t see a yellow bill.
BEN: Just look, right there!
ABE: All right, but we shouldn’t be...
BEN: (BUMPED OFF BALANCE) Auuh.
ABE: Watch out...
SOUND: EXPLOSION SHOUTS
ABE: (TERRIFIED) Benny!
DOGSTAR: God. oh, God!
ABE: (SCREAM) Help him!
DOGSTAR: Stop the blood.
SOUND: SCUFFLE OF FIRST AID, MOVE OF BEN ONTO STRETCHER
BEN: (SCREAM, BEING MOVED) Aaahhh!
ABE: Ready on stretcher? Move him out!!
DOG-STAR: Abe's hit too.
ABE: I’m all right.
DOGSTAR: Look at your foot!. It’s all torn up!
ABE: Get Benny out of here! Leave me. Go!
DOGSTAR: Go! Go. Go. Go!
SOUND: SQUAD TAKES OFF ON RUN
ABE: (AS SHOCK TAKES HIM) Take it easy with Benny. Move! (HEAVY BREATHING)
SOUND: SQUAD RECEDES INTO DISTANCE. AFTERNOON SOUNDS RETURN – INSECTS, BIRD CALL BECOMES HUM THAT IS GRAMMA-SOUND
ABE: (PAIN, FEAR) God...why? Why here...? (CHANT) The Lord is my shepherd...the Lord is...oh God...
GRAMMA: (VOICE IN ABE’S HEAD CORRECTS HIM, QUICK) The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures, He leadeth me beside the still waters, He restoreth my soul.
ABE: (NEAR DELIRIUM) Yeah that’s it; Gramma, thanks for the thought, but give it to Benny.
SOUND: GRAMMA SOUND LOUDER
GRAMMA: Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death...
ABE: No. Why'd you have to stop here, Benny?
MUSIC: GRAMMA SOFTLY HUMS AN ISRAELI FOLK SONG
(ABE BREATHING HARD FROM PAIN, SHOCK, AND TO KEEP FROM CRYING, DRIFTS TO SLEEP)
SOUND: SHARP CRACKLE FROM FIELD RADIO, STATIC ACCOMPANIES RADIO VOICE
(ABE SNAPS AWAKE. IT COULD BE THE ONLY "REAL" MOMENTS ARE THOSE WHEN ABE HEARS THE RADIO, AND ALL ELSE IS THE DREAM INTO WHICH HE ESCAPES)
RADIO: Dogstar to Apex. Dogstar to Apex.
ABE: (DIZZILY) ...what.
RADIO: Radio check.
ABE: (JERKING AWAKE) Yeah. yeah. you hear me?
RADIO: You're coming in clear.
ABE: (NOT WANTING TO KNOW) How's...Benny?
RADIO: He passed out. just lost consciousness.
ABE: Get him the hell out of here!
RADIO: We'll send a squad for you.
ABE: Hell with me.
RADIO: You've gotta be in shock, Apex!
ABE: (DIZZILY) First rest I've had since basic.
RADIO: Don't fall asleep.
ABE: On this lovely hillside?
RADIO: Don’t move! There’s a sharp drop-off.
ABE: (SEES CLIFF EDGE) Ooo – I”ll say.
RADIO: Apex, our procedures for this area don't allow...
ABE: Just get Benny out safe! I'm the leader. And fuck radio checks. I need a nap.
RADIO: Apex...!
SOUND: CLICK OFF RADIO. GRAMMA SOUND
ABE: (PAIN, TRYING TO MOVE) Fucking hell.
GRAMMA: (INTIMATE) Thou preparest a table before me, in the presence of mine enemies.
ABE: (FALLING ASLEEP) That's nice, Gramma. But how 'bout you send me a Shabbat angel.
MUSIC: GRAMMA’S HUM BLENDING INTO MUSIC
SOUND: TIME OR DIMENSION SHIFT - MUSIC, NATURE SOUNDS CHANGE TO SUNSET
SOUND: SUDDEN CRACKING THROUGH BRUSH
ABE: (WAKES, STARTLED, WINCES) Ah.
SOUND: READYING RIFLE
ABE: (TO HIMSELF) Who’s there?
SOUND: CLICK OF RIFLE READIED. MORE STEPS, CRACKLING
SABRA: (OUT OF BREATH, HUFFING) Mmm.
SOUND: RUSTLING, SOUND OF OPENING CANTEEN
ABE: (UNDER BREATH) Oh my god...
SOUND: THIRSTY DRINKING
ABE: Halt.
SOUND: DRINKING STOPS
ABE: Raise hands or I shoot.
SOUND: RUSTLING, CRASH OF DIVE, BUMP
(GRUNTS AND YELPS OF STRUGGLE)
SABRA: (ANGRY YELL) Aaahh!
ABE: You son of a bitch!
SOUND: GRAPPLE FIERCELY, ROLL,
(YELPS. CRUSHING WITH HIS WEIGHT, ABE CONTROLS)
ABE: You can’t fight with your head hidden in this stupid kaffiyeh.
SOUND: TEARS CLOTH KAFFIYEH OFF
(BOTH GASP)
ABE: You’re a girl?
(SABRA KICKS HIM, ABE HOWLS, SCRAMBLING AWAY)
ABE: Aah, my foot! (BEAT) Stop, or I shoot!
SOUND: CLICK OF RIFLE READIED TO SHOOT
SABRA: Do it. Shoot me.
ABE: Come here.
(BOTH PANTING, PAUSE)
ABE: Come here!
SOUND: SHE STEPS TO HIM
ABE: Give me your pack. (BEAT) Give it! Slowly...
SOUND: KNAPSACK DROPS
(SABRA GRUNTS AS ABE GRABS HER, SCREAMS AS HE TWISTS HER ARM)
SOUND: DROP TO KNEES
ABE: Now sit.
(SABRA YELPS PUSHED ONTO HER FACE)
SOUND: THUD ONTO GROUND
ABE: Get down!
SOUND: RUSTLE, SEARCH PACK
ABE: Where's your weapons?
(NO RESPONSE. HE JABS, SHE YELPS)
ABE: Where are they?
SABRA: You're the killer.
SOUND: FRISKING HER
SABRA: (GASP) Trespasser.
ABE: Yeah? And you're a fucking infiltrator.
SABRA: Sure.
ABE: What's this knife?
SABRA: For food, thief!
(GRABS HER, SHAKING WITH HIS WEAK CONDITION AND FRIGHTENED RAGE)
ABE: Benny's blood is all over your booby-trapped road. and you're fucking well going to pay!
(SHE SPITS AT HIM)
ABE: (GRABBING HER THROAT) What are you doing here?
SABRA: (CHOKING) Get off my land!
ABE: Almost made it, didn't you? Only one more mile to the border. Where're your pals?
SABRA: Surrounding you.
ABE: I’ll take care of that.
(ABE PULLS HER CLOSE TO HIM, LIKE A SHIELD)
SOUND: SCRAPING OF THE MOVE
SABRA: Think I protect you? They'll shoot right through me.
(HE TWISTS HER ARM HIGHER)
SABRA: Aaaah, my arm!
ABE: Shut up!
(SILENCE. BOTH ARE PANTING HEAVILY. ABE, ON GUARD, EXPECTING AN ATTACK)
ABE: Maybe you are alone.
(SHE DOESN'T RESPOND)
ABE: Where are your weapons?
SABRA: What? My Kalashnikov? Grenade launcher? Pack of C-4? You think I've got nowhere to go? You
think I'm a stinking Palestinian?
ABE: Who else.
SABRA: Ass among asses.
SOUND: SCRAPING SLIDE OF HER PULLING HIM WITH HER
ABE: Hold still – that’s a cliff
SABRA: And I’m going off it Better let go of me, or you’ll fall.
SOUND: SLIDE OF PULLING BACK
ABE: Hold still! What are you doing here?
SOUND: PULLING AGAIN
SABRA: Tending my land! It’s a long way down. Afraid of heights?
ABE: You're trying to cross the border (PULLING BACK) to murder Jews!
SABRA: How. With my fists? Here I go!
(PAIN YELP FROM ABE AS SABRA FLIPS HIM–)
SOUND: THUD OF FLIP, THEN STEPS AS SHE GETS TO HER FEET
MUSIC: WEIRD FIGHTING FOR CONSCIOUSNESS SOUND
ABE: Don’t jump!
MUSIC/SOUND: AS SHE JUMPS, HE SLIDES, DOWN THE CLIFF, WITH BOTH YELLING; SOUND RISES LIKE SIREN – INTO THUMP! THUMP! – BOTH LANDED AT CLIFF’S BOTTOM
(BOTH WINDED, AMAZED)
SABRA: Hurt yourself? Looked funny falling with that butchered foot.
ABE: (ABOUT TO PASS OUT) Run. go on!
SABRA: So you can shoot me?
ABE: (DIZZY) Why don't you run?
SABRA: Why should I? I'm home.
SOUND: STEPS AWAY; RUSTLE OF UNDERBRUSH PULLED ASIDE
ABE: (STARTLED) What’s that?
SABRA: What do you think. a door.
ABE: A door in the hill? Come here!
SABRA: Scared?
SOUND: STEPS TOWARD HIM
(GRUNTS, YELP AS HE GRABS HER, TWISTS)
SOUND: STUMBLE, THUMP OF FALL TOGETHER
(ABE’S PAIN YELP, BOTH SPRAWL PANTING)
ABE: Who's in there? (JERKS HER) What is this? Where are we!
(GRUNTS OF STRUGGLE UNTIL HE’S EXHAUSTED)
SOUND: IN THEIR SILENCE, NATURE SOUNDS RETURN
SABRA: Want the key?
ABE: Key...?
SABRA: Or you'd rather blast it open? Purify it? (PAUSE) Go ahead. Make it "pure." Kill everything in there. Then you're safe. (PAUSE) Not sure? 'Course if there’s ammunition behind this door, you fire, it explodes, and you've lost it.
ABE: (EXHAUSTED WITH PAIN, SNAPS- ) Go.
SABRA: Go?
ABE: Slowly. To the door.
SOUND: STEPS AWAY, CLICK OF RIFLE
SABRA: Now what.
ABE: Open it. Slowly. If you make a fast move...
SABRA: ...you'll fire. I know the game.
SOUND: UNHOOKING OF DOOR
SABRA: Ready?
ABE: (BREATHING HARD, THEN- ) Open it.
SOUND: DOOR CREAKS OPEN. NOTHING HAPPENS
ABE: (PAUSE) Move in front of it.
SOUND: STEP IN FRONT
SABRA: Well?
ABE: (FRUSTRATED) Come back here.
SOUND: STEPS TOWARD HIM
(GRUNT OF GRAB, TWIST HER, SWING HIMSELF OVER HER BACK)
SOUND: HE LANDS ON HER, STAGGER
SABRA: (GASP OF HIS WEIGHT ON HER) Oof!
ABE: Well, move! Go into the hill.
SABRA: With you on my back?
ABE: Move!
SOUND: SCRAPE AND DRAG OF HER MOVING WEIGHED DOWN WITH HIM SEGUES INTO–
MUSIC: SOUND OF ‘MAGICAL PLACE’ MUSIC AND GRAMMA SOUND
GRAMMA: (WARM WHISPER) Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over.
ABE: I don't believe it. Where are we?
SOUND: DRAG AND THUMP OF SLIDING HIM OFF HER
ABE: What is this place?
SABRA: Home.
ABE: What?
SOUND: STAND-OFF, THEN SHE MOVES AWAY
ABE: Wait... what are you...?
SOUND: WATER PUMPED INTO PAN OR BOWL/ STEPS TOWARD HIM
ABE: Don’t touch my foot... aaaaah!
SABRA: It's filthy.
SOUND: WATER DIPPED, POURED OVER FOOT INTO BOWL; RAG WRUNG OUT
ABE: (LITTLE GRUNTS, TRYING NOT TO YELP) Uhn.
SABRA: Step on a land mine?
ABE: (GRUNTING) Damned terrorists.
SABRA: Wasn't theirs.
ABE: What do you know about it?
SABRA: You stepped on your own mine.
ABE: Fuck I did.
SABRA: (CLEANS DEEP IN WOUND) You Israelis drop mines around like cow cakes.
ABE: (SUDDEN PAIN) Ahhh!
SABRA: (EXAMINES SPOT) Not pretty.
ABE: Why were you crossing the security zone?
SABRA: (INCREDULOUS) Security?
ABE: You know what it's called.
SABRA: Security, yes - for Jews. on my land.
ABE: That's right!
(STAND OFF)
ABE: Why were you crossing it?
(SHE GOES BACK TO WORKING ON HIS FOOT)
SABRA: Came for the apples.
ABE: Apples...?
SABRA: You've left me no brothers to do it.
ABE: But, how did you...
SABRA: Get so far? Past your patrols, your snipers, your mines? This is Lebanon! You've no right to keep me out.
ABE: You must have...
SABRA: ...sneaked through? How else?
ABE: Why should I believe you?
SABRA: Because I felt safe, so you caught me.
ABE: I should believe you because I caught you?
SOUND: STEPS AWAY
SABRA: You never would have, not in a million years, if I hadn't felt safe.
SOUND: SCRAPE OF CRATE DRAGGED TO HIM
SABRA: (LIFTING HIS FOOT) I'm at home.
ABE: (PAIN OF SUDDEN MOVEMENT) Aaahh!
SOUND: STEP AWAY, VOICE AWAY
SABRA: Keep your foot up there. Unless you want it the size of your head.
SOUND: WATER POURING INTO TIN CUP. STEP TOWARD HIM
ABE: For me?
SABRA: Drink.
ABE: (BEAT) First you.
(PAUSE WHILE SHE DRINKS, THEN HE; SATISFIED GASPS– )
ABE: Did my Gramma maybe send you?
SABRA: Who?
ABE: My Gramma. I asked her to send me a Shabbat angel.
SABRA: (LITTLE IRONIC “HUH”) Hmh.
SOUND: STEP AWAY
ABE: Wait. Where are you...?
SOUND: DRAG SACK, THUMP OF POTATOES
ABE: Is that...potatoes? (PAUSE) This isn't your home.
SABRA: No.
SOUND: THUMP, DISCARDED POTATO
ABE: No? No one lives here?
SABRA: You let no one.
ABE: This is just a field hut, a cave dug out of a hill. Where are you from?
SOUND: WATER POURED, SCRUBBING POTATOES IN IT
ABE: You said something about brothers. We'd left you no brothers?
MUSIC: OF BENNY, IMPENDING EXPLOSION
ABE: Why won’t you answ...? (MURMURS) Benny...
SOUND: REMEMBERING EXPLOSION. BAD DREAM
ABE: Oh God...Benny...(SNAPS AWAKE)
SOUND: FUMBLE GETTING RADIO. SWITCH IT ON. STATIC BUZZ
SABRA: (STARTLED GASP) Ah...
ABE: What’s wrong? (BEAT) It’s just my, my radio. (PAUSE) I won't hurt you. Don’t be... I'm sorry about the...searching you. I know that in your culture... well, we have orders not to even touch you. I mean, if you're a girl. (BEAT) Not that I wouldn't like to... I mean, it seems years since I've even seen a girl, so... but I wouldn't have been so rough, if...
SOUND: SMALL EXPLOSION
MUSIC: THEME OF REMEMBERING
ABE: (GASPS, SUDDENLY BACK IN THE EXPLOSION) I saw the mine exploding, and Benny on top of it, and... God, his leg was...
SOUND: CRIES OF BENNY, THEN IT SHUTS OFF ABRUPTLY
ABE: (PULLING OUT OF MEMORY) So I'm not quite...normal. and I...nothing seems real, you kn
ow? I mean, I'm still here, but who are you? Sitting beside me. And what are you doing? (LITTLE LAUGH) Preparing the meal for Shabbat?
SOUND: RADIO CRACKLES
SABRA: (JUMPS) Aah. someone's coming for you?
RADIO: Command to all channels. Headquarters under attack from unidentified Hezbollah positions North. We're receiving heavy incoming mortar and RPG fire. Returning patrol squads proceed only under advisement. Repeat. Proceed to base only under advisement.
ABE: (SUDDEN EXTREME FEAR) God! did you get Benny through?
SABRA: (WARILY) Someone's coming for you?
ABE: (CALMING HIMSELF) Probably. (CASUALLY) 'Course they're coming. (TRYING TO TEASE) think they'd leave me alone out here? With a stream of Jew-hating infiltrators?
SOUND: SUDDEN RUN FOR DOOR
ABE: (STARTLED) Wait! Don’t run. Don’t...
SOUND: CLANK AS HE GRABS RIFLE, CRATE FALLS
ABE: (FOOT ON FLOOR PAIN) Aaaah! (DIZZY) You can’t...
SOUND: THUMP, FALLS TO FLOOR
ABE: Uuh...Shit!
SOUND: CREAK, DOOR SHUTTING. TWILIGHT BIRDS
MUSIC: OF THE MAGIC WOODS
SABRA: (UNDER BREATH) Can’t go? I’m gone...
SOUND: STEPS RUN, THEN CLIMBING
SABRA: (HUFFING AS SHE CLIMBS) If I get up the cliff, I’m away.
MUSIC: STRANGE WIND, GRAMMA MUSIC
SABRA: He can call for help.
GRAMMA: (HUMMING IN WIND) Mmmm…
SABRA: What... (AWED, BUT FEARLESS) who’s there?
MUSIC: SWELLS AND HOLDS.
SOUND: BRANCH CRACKS, AS THOUGH STRUCK BY LIGHTNING
MUSIC: CLASH)
SABRA: Aah! what’s that stuck in the tree.
SOUND: CLIMB TO REACH BRANCH
SABRA: His boot? The one that blew off...blown apart and sticky with...
GRAMMA: (HUMMING CLOSE) Hmmm. Hmmm
SABRA: We’ll need a fire.
SOUND: SLIDE DOWN TREE; GATHERING STICKS
SOUND: DISTANT RADIO CRACKLE BECOMING CLOSER AS STEPS APPROACH…
RADIO: (DISTANT) Command to all channels: Combat ready units, report immediately.
SOUND: DOOR CREAKS OPEN, RIFLE CLICKS TO READY
ABE: Welcome home. (EMBARRASSED) Gun in your face, sorry. What was I supposed to... what’s the wood for? You want me to believe you only went for...what’s that... (SHOCKED, BUT BOUNCES) My boot. my bloody boot. Wherever I step, you'll make blood soup. won't you.
SOUND: SABRA’S STEPS AWAY, DROPPING WOOD
ABE: That's a joke. Like my Gramma would say. Not funny?
SABRA: Who?
ABE: You heard me.
SOUND: STEPS TO HIM, LIFTS
ABE: (PAIN OF LIFT Ahh! What are you...
SOUND: DRAGGING HIM
SABRA: (GRUNT) Get you off the ground.
ABE: (GASPING, AS THEY MOVE) Aw...you're just pissed you can't get two good boots. right? You'd trade for a Seiko diver's watch. or a couple ounces of hash.
SOUND: PLOPPING HIM ONTO SEAT
ABE: (WINDED) What are you up to? (PAUSE) You like the boot? It’s exploded, what do you want – in the lining there, that’s...funny looking, huh.
SOUND: CLINK OF DOG TAGS
ABE: That’s extra dog tags. in case you blow my head off. In case you want to know who my feet used to belong to.
SOUND: STEP TO HIM, CLINK OF DOG TAGS DUMPED, STEP AWAY
ABE: Not even curious? (HE READS TAG) “Abraham Arik Mannheim. 2nd lieutenant. 9665379, type O.”
SOUND: SCRAPE OF STACKING WOOD FOR FIRE
ABE: Never know when it'll come in handy. (BEAT) You don't think so? You don't want my dog tags? You could trade 'em for a dozen prisoners. We're crazy like that. We care about our people. (HE'S GETTING ANGRY) This is everyday business out here. Blood and corpses. You shouldn't be running loose!
SOUND: SCRAPE OF WOOD
ABE: Listen. You don't want to be found out. You don't want to meet my buddies, right? You've been lucky so far. But I should have shot you on sight.
SABRA: (SUDDEN, SHARP) is that my fault?
ABE: (ANGRY) I'm talking reality, not rights. It's not my fault either, but I could have shot you. And that's just my orders. To protect me!
SOUND: ROCK SCRAPES OR FLINT
ABE: Trying to light a fire? Sure you know how to do that?
SOUND: SCRAPE STOPS, THEN RESUMES, WITH BLOWING PUFFS
ABE: I mean, my sister wouldn't have the least idea how to... oh.
SOUND: FIRE CATCHES, CRACKLING
ABE: Yes, I have a sister. (PAUSE) Did you hear what I said?
SOUND: HER STEP TOWARD HIM
ABE: What?
SABRA: (BEAT) My knife.
ABE: (PUZZLED, THEN–) Oh. Sure. Sure. (GRUNTS, PAIN OF GETTING IN HIS POCKET) Here, you want it? (PULLS IT AWAY) Uh-uh-uh... Your eyes talk. At home mama told me, "if you want something, use your mouth." but your eyes are talking. If I could just...translate. Here, take it. (BEAT) They look a hundred years deep. (SOFTLY, WITH WONDER) What happened to you?
SOUND: BEAT, SWIFT STEP AWAY, WATER POURS
ABE: When you did talk, you lied.
SOUND: SLICING POTATOES, PLUNK INTO WATER
ABE: About what you're doing here. Doesn't figure. Too much risk. Your life for a few apples? (BEAT) Got you, huh?
SABRA: Maybe it's...a gesture.
ABE: Sneaking in here?
SABRA: So the land won't forget me. (BEAT) Just touching it. As though, if I don't visit, it'll be lost.
ABE: (SOFT) God, you're beautiful now...so bare. You're a child.
SABRA: (CAUGHT, BUT...) Makes no difference.
ABE: But old enough to have a husband.
SABRA: A girl can choose. Whether to...
ABE: I thought it was “arranged” for her.
SABRA: In civilization it is. We live in disaster.
ABE: People still live.
SOUND: BEAT, RADIO CRACKLES, THEN STATIC
(BOTH STARTLED – LITTLE GASP)
RADIO: Dogstar to Apex. Dogstar to Apex.
SOUND: SHE SCURRIES AWAY
ABE: Don’t be afraid of it.
(BUT ABE’S AFRAID – REALITY OF BENNY IN DANGER SWEEPS BACK)
SOUND: CLICKING RADIO
ABE: (TENSE) Abe here. How's Benny?
SOUND: STATIC
RADIO: (EVASIVE) We just got through. The shelling's awful here.
ABE: I've got interference...what?
RADIO: I said the shelling...
ABE: How's Benny!
RADIO: We...got him into emergency. He bled a lot, Apex, he...
ABE: What did the medics say!
RADIO: They're gonna see if they can sew him up.
ABE: (NOT BELIEVING IT) Sure.
RADIO: How are you doing?
ABE: (NEAR TEARS) Great. Great.
RADIO: You know we're under attack here.
ABE: I heard.
RADIO: Soon as it eases up, we'll find an APC and be out after you.
ABE: I'll be here. Out.
SOUND: RADIO CLICKS OFF
(DRAINED, ABE BREATHES HEAVILY)
SABRA: They'll be coming.
ABE: They're under fire.
SABRA: But they'll be coming.
ABE: They're not coming yet.
SABRA: Then I'll go.
ABE: Go? You can't go.
SABRA: Yes. You'll let me.
ABE: (LIGHT, TRYING TO TEASE) Let you go? When I've got such a nurse-maid?
SABRA: Let me go.
ABE: You're free. You went for wood. You could run.
SABRA: You could shoot.
ABE: Yeah.
SABRA: Then I’ll just...get my pack, and...say...<
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SOUND: SHE STEPS AWAY, PICKS UP PACK, STEPS AWAY, CREAK OF DOOR OPENING... CLICK OF RIFLE READIED, CLICK OFF SAFETY
SABRA: (STOPPED) You said I was free.
ABE: (BEAT) But I'm not.
SABRA: So you’ll shoot?
ABE: Can’t tell.
SABRA: Put your gun down.
ABE: Can’t. (BEAT) Are your potatoes boiling? (PAUSE) You won’t move? Why did you do all this?
SABRA: What.
ABE: Take care of me.
SABRA: (BEAT) Arab hospitality.
ABE: For a Jew?
SABRA: Anyone.
ABE: An invader?
SABRA: All right. I was lulling you. Till you fall asleep.
ABE: To see that, you'll have to stay.
SABRA: (ANGER, FRUSTRATION Uuuh!
SOUND: SHE FLINGS DOWN PACK, STEPS TO FIRE
ABE: Good choice.
SOUND: SHE STIRS POT, FIRE CRACKLES. RIFLE CLICKS OFF AGAIN
ABE: (CHEERFUL) Hi, I'm Abe. You have a name? (BEAT) You don't?
SABRA: You've taken it.
ABE: Your name?
SABRA: Who I am. Everything.
ABE: (LIGHTLY) So you are my nameless Captive? Or I'm yours. I mean, you could kill me... (SNAPS HIS FINGERS) ...like that. Being female and clever and all. (PAUSE) But maybe you don't want to make a mess.
SABRA: I want you gone.
ABE: Not simple.
SABRA: Just let me go back.
ABE: Back where?
SABRA: The way I came.
ABE: You're not that stupid! It's possible, just possible, if you're very careful where you step, to make it through these woods...in daylight. But at dark, they start to move. That’s right. And now it's dark. And now...a deadly stream comes slipping, probing, pouring through – all terrorists. You know that, don't you. All ripe with blood lust. They don't care who they kill. Just so it's Jews. But we Jews are out here too. Every single night, in a new place, a new nest, we wait for them to come, we pick them off, they don't get through alive. (BEAT) So. You want to go out and take up sides? (BEAT) Do you? (WINDING INTO RAGE) We have machines that find you if you move. Or even if you don't. In daylight, I ask myself questions, a whole rule-book full, before I shoot you, But not at night. At night whatever moves is killed. (BEAT) And it's getting worse. They're coming younger, they're coming loaded with explosives, they're coming on purpose to die. Kamakazi's. Human bombs. You'd like to scoot out there and smack into one of them? Kids, with glassy eyes, looking to get to heaven?
SABRA: It's not heaven they want. You took their land.
ABE: You ready to join them? (BEAT) Are you!? (PAUSE) If you think you're safe out there, you must have friends I haven't met. (BEAT) And what if the only reason your friends don't attack...is that I'm holding you?
SABRA: (DERISIVE) Tsaa.
ABE: Wrong?
SABRA: You'd be dead.
ABE: They'd sacrifice you to get at me?
SABRA: I'm alone!
ABE: Not...anymore. (LIGHT) I'm hungry.
SABRA: (FRUSTRATED, SWEARS) Halala!
SOUND: CLANKS PAN ONTO STONE
ABE: What are you afraid of?
SABRA: Nothing.
ABE: The other soldiers? Me?
SABRA: Nothing. (ICY) Nothing you can do...would make me afraid.
ABE: (PAUSE) Why did you bathe my foot? (BEAT) Why?
SABRA: It looked stupid.
ABE: Stupid? Hmh. Guess so. (BEAT) A stick on fire? What are you...
SOUND: CRACKLE OF LIGHTING STICK END, OPENING LANTERN, SIZZLE OF LIGHTING LANTERN WITH BURNING STICK
ABE: Ahh, candles at sundown. Nice. (PAUSE) Want some flavoring...for your potato stew?
SABRA: What?
ABE: There's bully beef. in my bag. That’s it, think about it; you’re hungry. (BEAT) It won't bite. It's de-horned.
SOUND: SHE STEPS TO IT, PICKS UP BAG, RUMMAGES
ABE: (CHANGES TO QUIET PLEADING-) My silent Arab angel...We're only here because of the Palestinians. To keep them away from the border. The infiltrators. They're violating your country too. (BEAT) You’ve got it. Bring it here.
SOUND: SHE STEPS TOWARD HIM
(ABE GRUNTS, GETTING IN HIS POCKET)
SOUND: OPENING TIN
ABE: (SNIFFS) Mmmmh. Smell this.
SABRA: Just let me go.
ABE: You're afraid to face the soldiers.
SABRA: Don't you know what they'll do?
ABE: We'll have a great time.
SABRA: (SHOCKED) What?
ABE: If you're who you say you are.
SABRA: They'll put me in prison. They'll destroy this place. They'll...
ABE: You think we're barbaric?
SABRA: I don't give it a name. I see what you do.
ABE: (BEAT, FURY) How much could you get for me? Live. From Hezbollah?
SABRA: (REACTS WITH A HISS) Ssss.
SOUND: SHE STEPS AWAY. COOKING SOUNDS: BANG, STIRS, ANGRY SILENCE
ABE: (SHIFTS, PAIN YELPS) Uh. (PAUSE) Uhh! (PAUSE) I think it's drying too much. I...
SABRA: Have you got an undershirt?
ABE: What?
SABRA: An undershirt.
ABE: Yes.
SABRA: Take it off.
SOUND: DISHING BOWLS FULL
ABE: (UNSURE) All right.
SOUND: STEPS TOWARD HIM
ABE: (UNBUTTONS, TAKES OFF SHIRT) Shirt’s off. undershirt?
SABRA: Off.
ABE: (GRUNTS, PULLING IT OFF–) Well?
SABRA: Give it here.
SOUND: SHE RIPS UNDERSHIRT INTO STRIPS, WITH QUICK JERKS
SOUND: RUMMAGING IN PACK
ABE: What do you want in my pack? Yes, that’s ointment for... (FOOT LIFTS) ahh...! Ok, that’s...that’s ok, you... (GASPS WITH LESS PAIN) you’re good at this. This wrapping is...(BREATHING DEEP) You’re very...effective.
SABRA: (LIGHT) I've had practice.
ABE: You've done this before?
SABRA: More times than you dream.
ABE: (QUIET, EARNEST) Tell me.
SABRA: (OPEN) I...
SOUND: RADIO CRACKLES
SABRA: (LITTLE GASP) Aahh!
ABE: Wait. See, I’ll stop it. I’ll make it wait. see? (BEAT) Are you sure...we're enemies?
SOUND: RADIO STATIC
RADIO: Dogstar to Apex. Dogstar to Apex.
SOUND: SHE STEPS AWAY. HE PICKS UP RADIO
ABE: Apex here. (BREATHES DEEP BEFORE ASKING) How's Benny.
RADIO: (BEAT, EVADING QUESTION) Can you verify your coordinates, Apex?
ABE: How’s Benny?
RADIO: We have you at 33.16 north, 35.32.5 east. That's roughly 11 kilometers from Beaufort Castle.
ABE: (HOLDING IN HIS PANIC) How's Benny?
RADIO: We're, uh, responding to incoming fire. We haven't been able to...
ABE: Answer me about Benny!
RADIO: He's out of surgery, Apex. But nobody can see him. It...doesn't look good.
ABE: Oh, God. Oh, God.
RADIO: Damn, Apex. Don't make me sorry I told you.
ABE: I'd have killed you if you didn't.
RADIO: Verify, Apex. Are those your coordinates? We've located an APC. We're going to crash on through.
ABE: (HEAD HANGING, GROAN) Uhh...
RADIO: Apex? Do you read me? We're coming after you.
ABE: I...
RADIO: Copy again? Apex?
ABE: There's...no need to come.
RADIO: What?
ABE: Don't risk it. Not at night. I...found shelter.
RADIO: What shelter? Apex. are you all right?
ABE: Just...start out in the morning.
RADIO: What about
your foot?
ABE: (PAUSE) I washed it. (BEAT) Ok?
RADIO: Apex...I don't think...
ABE: I just need to keep it elevated! Out.
SOUND: CLICKS OFF RADIO
ABE: (NEEDING ESCAPE) Did you poison it? The stew? Thank you. (SMELLING HIS BOWL) Uumm, yes. Delectable poison. (PAUSE) Come. Sit by me. Eat. (PAUSE) Among Jews the women may now sit at table. Though not at prayer. Will you come?
SABRA: You didn't tell them.
ABE: Tell them what?
SABRA: About me. About this dangerous infiltrator.
ABE: They might not sleep well, knowing.
SABRA: And you will?
ABE: Is that a warning? Ah, a smile! I don’t believe it. And she sits beside me? My luck has changed. (MURMURS A GRACE)
SABRA: (ALSO MURMURS GRACE)...Name of the father, the son...
ABE: What's that?
SABRA: What.
ABE: You're not Muslim.
SABRA: Why do you ask?
ABE: You're Christian.
SABRA: What difference?
ABE: You crossed yourself.
SABRA: I'm Arab.
SOUND: SOUND OF SPOON, BOWL, EATING
SABRA: (WINDED FROM FAST EATING) He's your friend?
ABE: Who?
SABRA: (BEAT) Benny.
ABE: (BEAT, TIGHT) Will it make a difference?
SABRA: A difference?
ABE: In whether you hope he dies?
SABRA: (BEAT) Have you seen anyone die?
ABE: (BEAT, THEN SPILLS- ) He's my best friend. We joined up together. He and my sister are... (BREAKS, CHOKED UP)
SABRA: (SOFT, NONCOMMITAL) Death is easy.
MUSIC: BENNY “PRE-EXPLOSION” THEME
ABE: He was teasing me, you know? We were on opposite sides of the road, plodding behind the bedouin, the tracker, focused on the ditch, for anything – wires, barrels, trash – anything signifying "bomb here." But Benny stops... telling me he's spotted a yellow-bill. he's such a goof. He won't believe in danger. And we have this standing bet – whoever spots a yellow... He must've been standing on the thing already, right on it. And I got close, knocked into him deflected him just a bit, and... It was so loud. then just a ringing sound, like my ear drum had snapped, before I remember him slipping down next to me, his guts a mess, and his leg...gone. Oh God...
SABRA: (BEAT) It might've been worse.
ABE: What?
SABRA: If you hadn't taken...part of the force of it.
ABE: You know what a blast does to flesh? The way it flings everything, bursts, just like a... (REALIZES) You do know. You know everything, don't you? (TAKES HER HAND) No, don't...move. It’s just your hand. Don't be afraid. Let me hold it. What can I do? I can't run after you. That’s it, just...quiet, together. What harm does it do? Does this compromise you? Are you defiled if I hold your hand? What's going to happen here. Ok? You want me to let you go? Tell me who you are. (PAUSE) It's easy. "Abe, my name is Nadia. I come from..." wrong? Is your name not Nadia?
SABRA: (PAUSE) Sabra.
ABE: Sabra? That's not a name. is it? Sabra? All right, all right, it's a start. You're Sabra. And you can't live here now, but you live...where? Beirut? (Pause) That's it? You've come all the way from Beirut? Why won't you tell me?
SABRA: (BEAT) I don't exist.
ABE: You don't exist?. You're some spirit of the woods? I'm imagining you?
SABRA: Maybe you are.
ABE: Well, something brought you here. There's some reason you're "visiting" me.
SABRA: No...
ABE: No?
SABRA: Why are you here?
ABE: Me? Dumb luck.
SABRA: Luck?
ABE: Sooner or later, it runs out. That's what they tell you.
SABRA: Runs out.
ABE: And that's when you step on a mine. Whammo.
MUSIC: CLASH – EXPLOSION MUSIC
ABE: (CRIES OUT) Ahhh! (ENDS GASPING) It's because Benny was 'short' – only four days till he'd go home – that's when you let down, when you dream you're out of it, next step to being free – and he pulled me along into his dreaming, just like... God. This whole thing is fatal. I can believe you don't exist. And you conjured this place, just to trip my reflex – "Let go. You're safe home."
I'm out here forty days at a time, and every minute of every hour of those forty, I keep a vision of my death, moving with me, clear. I have to. Because I'll never see my waiting death...before it comes. And I have to stay alive. So my eyes are dry, on constant alert, sweeping, with my head on my taut neck. "Don't blink. don't let down. catch anything that moves."
Could you do that? On a warm summer night...it's impossible. Spread out for ambush, lying in the grass, impossible. It gets so clear, so soft. The star fires so close overhead. How can I keep death alive inside me? (SILENCE) What big eyes you have. (BEAT) What do your parents say about you?
SABRA: (AVERTING) My parents.
ABE: Yes. is this - what you're up to – proper behavior for a fine young Arab of good.family… What is it?
SABRA: I don't have any.
ABE: No parents?
SABRA: (BEAT) It was a bomb. In a car.
ABE: And that's why you don't exist?
SABRA: No. I never existed.
ABE: Sabra. Your brothers. You said...
SABRA: They weren't really my brothers. They're Um Ali's sons.
ABE: Um Ali – the mother of Ali. she raised you? (SATISFIED TO HAVE AN ANSWER) Well. that's something.
SABRA: How many Arabs have you killed?
ABE: None. None! Sabra, listen. I asked for this. I transferred here, out of Israel, so I wouldn't wind up killing children! I don't like this. you think I want to kill someone? I don't hate Arabs. I only want to live in peace. but they keep on coming to kill us.
And I'll tell you, it's not like you think. They've got no chance here. No chance to win. To even fight. I've seen it work. One night on ambush, I crawled back to the APC, the tank, and inside, they're watching with a night-scope, on a screen, like a video cartoon! And there come the stick creatures. They show up on the screen because they're alive out there, they're warm, they're moving – not even close, a whole kilometer away! And because it's night, we don't ask – we just fire. We fire, several rounds, and every shell seeks warmth, and bursts itself in flesh. We watch. In silence...the creatures falter on the screen. no shrieks, nothing. The stick shapes just begin to fade, getting dimmer as their warmth is lost, until they blank out, blending with the screen, completely cold. (PAUSE) No. I've never seen anyone die.
SABRA: (DARKLY) Lucky.
ABE: (SHOUTS) I'm protecting the border, farmers two kilometers from here! Am I allowed to defend my home?!
SABRA: (BEAT, THEN SOFT- ) Home. Yes. (BEAT) What's it like.
ABE: I... what?
SABRA: Your home.
ABE: My home.
SABRA: Yes. You have one?
ABE: Of course!
SABRA: What's it like.
ABE: It's... what do you mean?
SABRA: A house. A farm?
ABE: Just a house. A...
SABRA: On a hill?
ABE: Well... Yes, a hill.
SABRA: Is there a tree?
ABE: What are you after?
SABRA: It's old, isn't it.
ABE: (AMUSED) I don't understand.
MUSIC: SNEAK IN UNDER SPEECH
SABRA: (ASKING HIM TO IMAGINE HIMSELF THERE) You're at home. You see your mother. Your father. A rug by the door. A picture of your sister and you - but younger.
ABE: (SEEING HIS HOME) Yes...
SABRA: Are you afraid?
ABE: At home? No.
SABRA: No one is?
ABE:
My Gramma.
SABRA: She's afraid?
ABE: My mother was born in a camp...in Germany.
SABRA: A camp? With no sewer?
ABE: No, I think... I think they had a sewer.
SABRA: She was afraid?
ABE: Yes.
SABRA: So then, in the camp with her baby – your Gramma had no home?
ABE: No, then she didn't. And later...
SABRA: Did someone take it? Did she fight?
ABE: It wasn't exactly...
SABRA: You have to fight. It's your home.
ABE: Yes.
SABRA: If they come in the night. Where it's safe. Where your mother holds you. Where you go to sleep.
ABE: (ALARMED) Sabra. What is it? What happened. (PAUSE) How old were you?
SABRA: How old?
ABE: When your parents were killed.
SABRA: Old. Plenty old.
ABE: How many years?
SABRA: (WITHOUT EMOTION) Eight.
ABE: (WANTS TO CRY, BUT TRYING TO MAKE HER SMILE) And here you are...apple hunting – a spirit in the woods, who's snatched me, this unsuspecting soldier, a spirit...who doesn't even exist. (PAUSE) Does Um Ali tell stories?
SABRA: Stories?
ABE: Yes. Good stories.
SABRA: Not now.
ABE: But before.
SABRA: Sometimes. About a bird.
ABE: Tell me. (BEAT) Don't go.
SABRA: I'm not.
ABE: Yes, you did. You raised your wings.
SABRA: No.
ABE: You left. You tried. (BEAT) But you're my captive here. You have to stay in my good graces. I want to see this hand. (TAKES HER HAND) Aha. You know what I see here? In this line here. (TRACING IT) This life line...
SABRA: I don't have any.
ABE: Ah ah ah, let me look. What I see is a good hand, a strong one. It dreams. it feels...many things. It needs to build a strong life. I have hold of it here, you see? It does exist.
(SABRA GASPS, SUDDENLY WEEPS, FULL OUT, HEARTBROKEN. ABE STARTLED, PUTS HIS ARM AROUND HER. SHE SOBS, CLINGS TO HIS ARM)
ABE: Don't. Don't cry, don't, Sabra. It's all right.
(HE KISSES HER HAIR, THEN KISSES HER CHEEK. SHE CATCHES HER BREATH–)
SABRA: What...?
ABE: I'm sorry. I shouldn’t, I...
(HE STOPS SPEAKING; SUDDENLY SHE LEANS FORWARD AND KISSES HIM, SOFT AND QUICK LIKE A CHILD)
ABE: Well, thank you. That...little kiss. I'm sure that did happen.
(SHE LEANS FORWARD AGAIN, AND KISSES HIM A BIT LONGER)
ABE: And again, you... Yes, touch my face. Your hand is so…soft.
(HE TAKES HER HAND FROM HIS FACE, KISSES IT)
ABE: Such a gentle hand...
(THEY ARE HOLDING AND KISSING EACH OTHER)
ABE: Don't hurt, don't hurt, please don't hurt so much.
(SHE PULLS BACK, CATCHING A BREATH)
SABRA: I'm your enemy.
ABE: Yes. Yes, you are. (KISSES HER)
SABRA: Why did you come here?
ABE: To be with you.
(THEY KISS AGAIN, BUT SHE SUDDENLY PUTS HER HAND OVER HIS MOUTH)
SABRA: Shhhh. Hear that?
SOUND: NIGHT SOUND – NATURAL OR MUSIC
SOUND: SABRA RUNS TO DOOR
SABRA: It may be nothing. If it's your soldiers...
ABE: They'd warn me first. How about yours? More, uh, apple farmers?
SABRA: Shhh...
ABE: (HEEDLESS, GIDDY) I mean, for all I know, we're sitting on the main road to the Promised Land.
SABRA: What would happen to you if...?
ABE: If what?
SABRA: What would your Captain say? About me?
ABE: If he found me with you? Dumb luck. (BEAT) I'm teasing, Sabra. Come here.
SABRA: It's dark.
ABE: Yes. It's dark now. No one can find us. Come here. (PAUSE) Yes. You're right. I'd be in giant trouble. Even for talking, let alone...touching. (PAUSE) So, my Shabbat angel, tell me your story. Don’t look away. This is not fair, you know. I don't even know your name. (BEAT) Sabra isn't your name.
SABRA: Abraham.
ABE: That's mine.
SABRA: Abraham.
ABE: How about your “brother” Ali?
SABRA: Yes.
ABE: Um Ali's first born. What happened to him?
SABRA: He went to the fighting. She wanted him to be a priest. But he went to the fight.
ABE: What fight? (BEAT) against Israelis? He's with one of the factions?
SABRA: No more. Shot through the throat. (PAUSE) She says she gives them. It's all she can do. She gives sons.
ABE: And the other?
SABRA: Hamid.
ABE: Hamid?
SABRA: He'd curl my hair round his finger.
ABE: Hamid is... What? Tell me.
SABRA: Hamid studied to doctor. He didn't believe in the fighting.
ABE: Then what.
SABRA: (SIMPLY, WITHOUT EMOTION) Your soldiers took him anyway. They must have thought he knew...would tell...about his brother. so they tried to make him. They beat him every day, they beat him on the head until...his eye was crushed, and then, so no more marks would show, they hanged him naked by his wrists. They piped in screeching, screams of others, and wouldn't let him sleep. They made him crawl and bark.
ABE: No...please...
SABRA: They cut his feet. They...
ABE: Stop...
SABRA: ...did things to his sex, it was...
ABE: That's enough.
SABRA: (PAUSE) He didn't ever sign their paper. but when they let him out, before he died he told Um Ali they were so strong, they must be right, he wished he were a Jew.
ABE: (ANGRY) I can't believe this, Sabra. When was this?
SABRA: (DRY) He came home blind. Then he died. That I saw.
ABE: (CALMED, DETERMINED) Before. when you were only eight...did you have real brothers or sisters?
SOUND: SHE GETS UP SWIFTLY, BUT HE HOLDS HER THERE
ABE: Sabra, stay. (PAUSE) I'll stop asking. Just...sit with me. (BEAT) Please don't be afraid of me.
SABRA: (SOFTLY, A VOW) Your name shall be Abraham...for a father of many nations have I made thee.
ABE: Yes. that's what they say. (LITTLE LAUGH) And I try to understand it.
SABRA: (GAINING STRENGTH) And the Angel of The Lord called unto him out of heaven, saying "Abraham. Abraham." and he said "Here I am." (BRIGHT) Where do you come from, Abraham?
ABE: Jerusalem.
SABRA: (STARTLED JOY) No...!
ABE: I do. Have you seen it?
SABRA: No.
ABE: But everyone knows...
SABRA: Yes. Everyone knows Jerusalem.
ABE: You have to come. You have to see it. The great mosque is brilliant, so...breathtaking, cut out of the blue sky.
SABRA: (SHYLY) And the air rings?
ABE: (LAUGHS) It does! It's so clear.
SABRA: (A-GLOW) Everyone comes from Jerusalem.
ABE: Yes. When you're there, you know. All of Abraham's children. (HEART-FELT) Come sit by me, Sabra.
SABRA: (EXCITED) Wait, Abraham. This night is like no other.
ABE: (LAUGH) That's for sure.
SABRA: You don't understand, but you will. And I...
ABE: You can tell me. (BEAT) Then come. Tell me the bird story.
SABRA: What story?
ABE: About the bird.
SABRA: That Um Ali tells?
ABE: Yes.
SABRA: It just learns to fly.
ABE: (SMILING) That's all?
SABRA: (CHILD-LIKE) The bird is born in a terrible desert, ugly and full of screams. But the bird has a dream of an olive tree, and awakes thinking she's lo
st, because the dream - an old stone wall with eggplants growing, and strawberries along its foot, and at its end, a silver, rustling, olive tree – is filling her mind, until she believes that this is real, and the ugly iron desert full of terrible cries is the dream.
So she tells herself "if you could only fly, you could lift out of this dream and find the sweet, warm, real world." And she begins to try. First she just runs. And runs, and runs, along the sharp edge, flapping her flimsy wings, until she feels a bit of strength seeping across her back and out to the pinions. Then one day when she runs and flaps till she’s dizzy, she forgets to stop – and keeps on flapping out past the edge and into fhe sky.
ABE: (PAUSE) Does she find it?
SABRA: What?
ABE: The dream.
SABRA: Which dream?
ABE: The one with the olive tree.
SABRA: No, it's real.
ABE: Does she find it?
SABRA: I don't know.
ABE: You don't?
SABRA: I always fall asleep in the clouds.
ABE: Ah. (ASTONISHED) Oooh, what a smile.
SABRA: Are yWou married, Abraham?
ABE: Me?
SABRA: Are you married?
ABE: LAUGHING) No.
SABRA: Good.
ABE: Yes. That's lucky.
SABRA: But you are...a man.
ABE: What? (PAUSE) Am I a man? (REALIZING SHE MEANS SEXUALLY) Well, yes. Yes.
SABRA: Good. (BEAT) Because I'm going to love you.
ABE: What.
SOUND: SHE STEPS AWAY, STEPS BACK, LAYING QUILT ON GROUND
ABE: Sabra... What’s that quilt for.
SABRA: Come, I’ll help you down.
ABE: I don't...
SABRA: You don't what?
ABE: I don't know what...
SABRA: But will you be happy?
ABE: When?
SABRA: When I love you?
ABE: Yes! But Sabra...
SABRA: (NEAR, TO SUPPORT HIM) Then come.
(GRUNTS OF ABE BEING LOWERED DOWN ONTO QUILT)
ABE: You're teasing me. You aren't serious.
SABRA: Oh yes. Very serious. This night is important to me, Abraham. I don't expect you to understand.
ABE: (IRONIC) Oh, I understand how important this is. That's why...
SABRA: Don't you want me, Abraham?
ABE: Yes! Yes, I do.
SABRA: Good.
ABE: But have you...?
SABRA: Have I what?
ABE: Have you...loved someone before?
SABRA: (WARM, TAKING A VOW) No, Abraham.
ABE: Well then, we can't!
SABRA: No?
(SABRA’S SHY INTAKE OF BREATH)
ABE: (WHISPERS) No. don’t unbutton your...(SHOUTS) Sabra, stop it!
SABRA: Don't be afraid, Abraham. (REASSURING) You came to me from Jerusalem.
ABE: But your father, your brother... You have uncles?
(SHE KISSES HIM, PROCEEDS...)
SOUND: SLIGHT RUSTLE OF CLOTHES
ABE: Sabra, you know better. They'll kill you.
SABRA: Shhhh. This won't hurt your foot.
(THEY KISS, IRREGULAR BREATHING, GASPS, “OH’S”)
ABE: Sabra, we can't. A woman who shames her family can be killed.
SABRA: It's no shame. No shame.
ABE: Listen to me.
SABRA: You lie, Abraham. You're ready. You want to come into me.
ABE: Oh my God.
SABRA: If I promise you. I promise you no one will know. You want me. Help me. Show me how. It's just once.
(THEY PROCEED, UNTIL HE STOPS ABRUPTLY)
ABE: What makes you think I know how?
SABRA: (STARTLED PULL BACK) Abraham!
ABE: (READY TO BE DEFENSIVE) What.
SABRA: You don't? You've never loved someone?
ABE: No I haven't, but that's not what matters here.
SABRA: Yes, yes, it does. It's perfect!
ABE: Please, Sabra, we have to stop.
SABRA: It can't hurt me, Abraham. It's life. Just once, I want life.
--------------------------
MUSIC: SWELLS. BLENDING WITH–
SOUNDS: NIGHT WOODS, BLENING WITH
MUSIC: ISRAELI FOLK THEME, GRAMMA SOUND)
GRAMMA: (HUMMING) HummmMmmmm
ABE: (AWAKED, GROGGY) Gramma? Are you here?
GRAMMA: (INTIMATE, TEASING, WISE) Never mind, Abraham, I know what you want to tell me.
ABE: About this girl? Am I dreaming, Gramma? Where are you?
SOUND: HOLLOW RATTLE OF TRAIN CARS RUNNING ALONG TRACKS
GRAMMA: (EASY, PICKING UP AS THOUGH IN THE MIDDLE OF CHAT, MARVELING) A boxcar slamming shut. That's what I remember – that sound.
SOUND: SLIDE, THEN SLAMMING SHUT BOXCAR DOOR
GRAMMA: The dark. I'll never forget. With your grandfather still outside. And your mother kicking me from inside...oh, Abraham. The bottomless hell that was coming I didn't imagine, but I knew...that slam was the end of life. (BEAT) But you know, Abraham, after all...it wasn't.
ABE: Right.
GRAMMA: So sleep well, my Abraham (GRAMMA HUMS)
ABE: (SIGHS BACK TO SLEEP) Uuuuuh…
------------------------------
MUSIC: FADES AS –
SOUND: SEGUE TO DAWN BIRDS. WORLD STIRRING AWAKE
SABRA: (LITTLE GROAN OF WAKING) Ummm.
ABE: (STILL ASLEEP, GROANS) Stay right where you are.
SABRA: It’s nothing. I have to go behind a bush.. Sleep, my Abraham.
ABE: (GROANS, INARTICULATE, SEEMS ASLEEP)
SOUND: SABRA STEPS AWAY, BASKET OR CRATE OPENING. RUSTLE OF ITEMS BEING LIFTED OUT OF IT.
ABE: (GROAN, TURNING OVER) Auuuh/
SOUND: STOPS, WAITS, THEN, STEPS AWAY, CREAK OF DOOR OPENING
SOUND: DAWN SOUNDS, BIRDS
SABRA: (TENSE HUFFS OF BREATH, WHISPER TO HERSELF) Got rifle, got pistol. Oh God, thank you for the beautiful night; now help me through this day.
SOUND: CLANK OF GUNS SET DOWN, RUSTLE OF CLOTHES
SABRA: Bird runs till she can fly...be brave now... (DRESSING) Shirt...off, and...belt on.
SOUND: CLINK, RATTLE, OF EXPLOSIVES BELT
SABRA: Careful, shh...wires all hooked, ignition pack in place...no, don’t shake, breathe, quiet...shirt over, jacket on, pistol...
SOUND: LOADING PISTOL
SABRA: Now go. No, not yet, just one more look, he’s asleep. One look...
SOUND: CREAK OF DOOR. STEPS BACK IN
ABE: (SLEEPING BREATHING) Mmm…
SABRA: (UNDER BREATH) So beautiful.
SOUND: HER STEPS TO LEAVE, RUSTLE OF HIS MOVE TO GRAB HER ANKLE. PISTOL FLIES, HITS SOMEWHERE, HER SLIDE AND FALL
SABRA: Ahhhh!
ABE: Delilah!
SABRA: (STRUGGLING) No!
ABE: (HOWLS) Delilah!
SABRA: Let go of my foot! You'll get hurt!
ABE: I'll get hurt. You thieving bitch! You sneaking, poisonous bitch! Why should I let you go? So you can reach your gun?
SOUND: THUD OF HIM PINNING HER WITH HIS WEIGHT
SABRA: Ahaaah!
ABE: You're a terrorist.
SABRA: No...
ABE: Shut up! you are! And I'm a first class mark. What a joke. Hilarious.
SABRA: Abraham...
ABE: Don't talk to me. Don't you dare use my name.
SABRA: I have to go.
ABE: Sure you do.
SABRA: I have to go before your soldiers come.
ABE: Why didn't you slice my gut open? Why didn't you cut out my heart?
SABRA: Yes! Why didn't I?
ABE: (STOPPED. REALIZES) Because you've got a bigger plan. Not just to butcher me. You've planted a bomb. I
saw you with it, witch!
(ABE YELPS GETTING ONTO HIS FEET)
ABE: Where?
SABRA: Don’t stand; you’ll pass out. (HER ARM YANKED UP) Ahaa!
ABE: You wish I would. Where is it? You figured you'd get us all at once. Where did you put it, bitch!
SABRA: Aaaah!
ABE: You think I won't break your arm?
SABRA: (GASPING) You think I'll tell?
ABE: Of course not. Come on.
(HIS GROANS, HER SCREAMS)
SOUND: HIM DRAGGING, WITH HER IN TOW, TO THE DOOR
SABRA: Abraham, I told you...
ABE: ...lies! Lots of lies. (BEAT) Here. By the door? So when it shuts we get it in the face? Kaboom! Oh, baby, you should have blown me away when you had the chance. Because you've got another load set to rip my buddy's guts out, and nothing, nothing is a bloody enough way to settle with you!
SOUND: ABE JERKING HER AROUND
(SABRA’S GASPING BREATH)
ABE: Stick with me, cause if it finds us before you give me the word, you're going with me...all the way, baby. (BEAT) Why the hell did you have to hit on me! What kind of sickness was that? Answer me!! (YANKS HER ARM)
SABRA: Ahhahhh!
SOUND: COLLAPSE ONTO GROUND
(EXHAUSTED, PAINFUL BREATHING OF BOTH)
ABE: You did it, didn't you. You planted the shit that hit Benny. (BEAT) didn't you?!
SABRA: (BEAT) You won't believe me. So believe what you want.
ABE: You bitch...
SABRA: I told you...
ABE: You told me lies!
SABRA: I told you everything I could. You'll understand after...
ABE: After what?!
SABRA: There's nothing to find. You have to let me go.
(SHE’S PULLING AWAY)
ABE: I saw you with the stuff! (LUNGE TO GRAB HER) What’s this...?
SOUND: THUNK AS SHE KICKS HIS FOOT, HE FALLS BACK
ABE: (HOWL) Aaaah!
SOUND: SCRAMBLE, CLICK OF GUN AND RIFLE
SABRA: You made me kick your foot. Now stay there. Or I will shoot.
ABE: It's on you. I felt it.
SABRA: (BREATHING HARD) Come back inside, Abraham.
ABE: The stuff is on you. You're the bomb.
SABRA: Come in. Sit down.
ABE: Why. (PAUSE. NOT MOVING) why?
SABRA: I don't want to hurt you.
ABE: Hah! (BEAT) What are you doing, Sabra?
SABRA: Nothing that concerns you.
ABE: No?
SABRA: No.
ABE: You're just going to blow yourself up.
SABRA: Maybe.
ABE: Maybe? When do you decide?
SABRA: I don't.
ABE: You don't! You just hop on down to the border and wait for somebody to shoot you? Or watch for a school bus to ram yourself into? or what!
SABRA: You'd better go in now. Standing out here isn't good for you.
ABE: Sure. Sure.
SOUND: DRAG, AND STEPS INSIDE
ABE: So what are you going to do with your jackass? Or should I say, your stud.
SOUND: CHECKING PISTOL
ABE: You lied to me.
SABRA: Some.
ABE: You're Palestinian.
SABRA: I come from Jerusalem.
ABE: My God. Palestinian.
SABRA: (QUIETLY) I'm going home.
ABE: Dressed like that? (PAUSE) That's what was wrong with your story of Hamid. I should have picked it up.
SABRA: (SWIFT, ANIMAL ATTACK) It makes sense now? What you did to him? Now that you know he was Palestinian?
ABE: (ICY) When were you ever in Jerusalem? (PAUSE) When?!
SABRA: (HOARSELY) Never.
ABE: (TRIUMPHANT) Never.
SABRA: (CLOSE, INTIMATE) Never.
ABE: (UNDERSTANDING, SORRY) Sab...
RADIO: Dogstar to Apex.
SABRA: (STARTLED BY RADIO, GASPS) I know there were oranges there. On the hill. In the might Jew soldiers came, firing shots, shouting loud "get out!" My father was six. His eyes opened wide – the first time he ever saw soldiers. "Get out, or we'll kill you!"
RADIO: Dogstar to Apex.
SABRA: (CANNOT STOP; INTIMATE, LIKE A SECRET) My grandfather had no gun. "I can't leave my garden, my trees!" My father held his little dove under his shirt.
RADIO: Apex, come in.
SABRA: A soldier took his mother by the hair and dragged her.
RADIO: Are you there? Apex?
SABRA: (AS THE SOLDIER) “Keep moving.”
SOUND: RADIO PICKED UP; CLICK OF RIFLE’S SAFETY
ABE: Apex here. you're up early. Is...Benny...
SABRA: “Keep moving...”
RADIO: Benny hung on. He may make it.
ABE: (YELL) Benny’s alive!
SABRA: Guns jabbed my family into the road, where hundreds of families were running, as though from fire.
RADIO: Good news for a change?
SABRA: Please, let us go back for the stove, for the trunk, for some bread!" There were old who barely could walk, babies clinging to sleeves."
RADIO: Apex?
SABRA: The third day his mother stumbled and didn't get up. They dug a hole by the road. The dove was lost before that.
RADIO: Apex? You all right?
ABE: Great shape. About to hop in there.
RADIO: Stay where you are. We're on the way.
SABRA: Give me the radio. (SHE TAKES RADIO)
SOUND: SWITCH OFF RADIO
ABE: That's just a story, Sabra.
SABRA: Mine.
ABE: A war story.
SABRA: What war? My family was just living!
ABE: I've got stories, too. Want to hear them? Stories like this are passed down and down...
SABRA: This one you should understand...
ABE: ...And changed.
SABRA: ...If your grandmother lost her...
ABE: Don't you dare! My grandmother has nothing to do with you.
SABRA: (QUIETLY) "Wait just till the fighting stops." his father said. But when it did, and they started home... the border was shut. With machine guns.
ABE: Just get out of here, why don’t you? They’re on the way.
SABRA: They took his father for "questioning." the family waited. he didn't return. (BEAT) I was born in Sabra.
ABE: (STARTLED, UNEASY) The camp?
SABRA: The camp. (PAUSE) But my father couldn't forget his father's oranges. He went to fight his way back. When I was eight, Israelis came to Sabra. They surrounded the camp with their tanks. They sent in soldiers...
ABE: (SHARP) Not Israeli soldiers!
SABRA: No.
ABE: Not Jews! Arabs.
SABRA: You don't want to hear this story?
ABE: Why don't you kill me? You've come to kill people.
SABRA: Jews.
ABE: People with children.
SABRA: And oranges. People with homes. But who? The Jews who stole my grandfather's orchard, the ones who made Hamid blind, the ones who stood outside the fence while my mother was...
ABE: I'm a Jew. And they aren't me!
SABRA: But you're the only one I know.
ABE: So kill me! (PAUSE) You can't.
SABRA: Yes I can. I kept thinking of ways.
ABE: Does your god enjoy killing?!
SABRA: Does yours?
ABE: (ALMOST LAUGHING) Oh, you'll be welcome in Jerusalem. Center of the world, city of God, the first God ever to say "you must not kill." Where everyone says they come to worship, but what they do there is hate. The city stinks of blood. (PAUSE) They'll tell you there's another Jerusalem. A pure one, hanging above the first one in the sky. It's a lie. There's only one. And it is brilliant, breathtaking. So why ca
n't its golden light burn off its poison! (PAUSE) Jews aren't as sure as you think, Sabra. With all you Arabs wanting us dead, we worry we wandered too many years. We fear it's only you who belong. So tell me! (BEAT) About Sabra.
SABRA: (CHOKED) You don't want to know.
ABE: That's right! But I have no choice.
SABRA: (SOFT, SWIFT) It wasn't Israelis. You're right. They kept their hands clean. They only opened the gates.
ABE: (HOARSE, TIGHT) It was Christians, Sabra. It was Christians who went into Sabra.
SABRA: (DRAWS INTO HERSELF, SIMPLE, NO EMOTION) I'd gone to the edge of the camp for bread. The babies were crying, hungry again. Angry Timur, just three, and Somaya, who'd sucked mama dry. I saw Israeli tanks lined up by the fence. The firing didn't scare me much. There was always shooting. I scuttled from shadow to shadow, past sundown now, curfew already, but I got through. I was skinny as a shadow.
On our alley, soldiers were banging at Aruri's, shouting "open up," and that frightened me. I could hear muffled screams down the alley. A man ran past. A shot flashed beside me. He fell, but I wasn't surprised, only wanting to get home fast. Darting, I came to our door, put my hand in the light flowing out. I was glad it cracked open, but about to scold mama for not barring it tight, when I heard her moan – a deep terrible sound - then I saw. I saw past the soldier's legs to where little Timur was spread on the floor, opened, like a messy fountain, bubbling bright red.
ABE: No, Sabra, no...
SABRA: My mouth opened, but nothing came out. A hatchet hung from the soldier's fist. Mama was pressed to the wall clutching somaya, I heard her "I swear, this one's a girl." But he tore the baby from mama, and grunting, hurled her against the wall. "Girls become mothers. Mothers breed sons." Then he brought down his iron-spiked boot, hard on Somaya's face. I shrieked "mama!" and jumped for his boot in the air, but he whacked me off with his hatchet, and thumped again with his spike, and again, and again, mashing her tiny face. Then he must have been tired, for he twisted back, and swung his hatchet only once more, slicing my mama's belly straight through. She bent her head forward without a sound. I crawled to her lap. It was warm a long time.
ABE: (SILENCE, HOARSE–) The Lord is my shepherd...
SABRA: (SOFTLY) ...I shall not want.
ABE: When I asked how Gramma survived, she said that, but... (TRAILS OFF, AND–) Um Ali?
SABRA: Um Ali found me in mama's lap. I let her wash me. but I didn't speak...for seven years.
ABE: (PAUSE) But life...didn't end.
SABRA: (BEAT; RELEASED–) Ali and Hamid were good to me, while they stayed. But now, Um Ali only rocks on her stoop and talks about olives. She doesn't remember this dead life. She only dreams of home.
ABE: Sabra...stay with me.
SABRA: (BEAT) A lost home is a kind of disease, you know. It drains your soul.
ABE: I know.
SABRA: Some people leave their homes. Or deny them. But they're never lost.
ABE: No.
SABRA: (BEGINNING TO FEEL LIFE) so I promised her I'd go, I'd find it. And if I get to Jerusalem, the others can come.
ABE: You'll die, Sabra. How far can you get?
SABRA: (CLEAR, HAPPY) I can't tell. The land will know me. When I touch it...I'll be alive. And the joy...!
ABE: You're going to kill people.
SABRA: I won't if they let me pass. I'll warn them.
ABE: If you warn them, they'll shoot you. You'll explode alone.
SABRA: But they'll know it's my home. Why else would I die just to get there?
ABE: You're insane.
SABRA: Am I? Think. If you were me? What would you do.
SOUND: SHE STEPS AWAY TO DOOR
ABE: If you take my rifle...
SABRA: If I leave it, you'll shoot me. (SORRY FOR SAYING IT) You'd have to shoot me. Do you want the choice?
ABE: (BEAT) I'll be naked out here. Your brothers” will be happy to find me.
SABRA: I'll leave it a hundred yards out, against a tree. You can make it that far.
ABE: But if you take my radio, and they call me again...
SABRA: You’ll tell them.
ABE: No, you’ll be safer if I...
SABRA: You’ll call and tell them.
ABE: If they can't reach me, they'll know something's wrong.
SABRA: They'll come just as fast either way.
ABE: But they'll bring more men.
SABRA: Shut up! You can't stop me!
ABE: That's right!
SOUND: QUICK STEPS AWAY. ABE THROWS HIMSELF AFTER HER
ABE: Oh Sabra, my love... (FOOT FOLDS UNDER HIM) Ahh! ...My little one, wait. just wait. I'll think of something. please...
SABRA: Abraham...
ABE: (SUDDENLY CLEAR) I'll take you to Jerusalem.
SABRA: (STOPPED COLD, BUT) Don't say that!
(THEN SHE SOBS, UNCONTROLLED)
ABE: (PULLING HER CLOSE) Yes, yes, please listen my love. (EMBRACING HER) don't cry, it's over now. That's what we'll do. I'll take you there. We'll go together.
SABRA: (CLEAR, QUIET) You can't.
ABE: Why not?
SABRA: You know you can't.
ABE: What can't I do? If I love you, I can do anything.
SABRA: (CALM) you're speaking like a child.
ABE: Maybe. Maybe it needs a child. Then that's what I'll be. Let me take you. We'll find the tree together, the old wall, the eggplants.
SABRA: (GUTTERAL, PAINED) Abraham...
ABE: That's how it should be. I know the way.
SABRA: Please...
ABE: The air is so light there. It chimes. On the hillside, we could sing, we could make a child...
SABRA: You're talking magic. Don't! It's not fair!
ABE: Magic does happen. Do you believe I love you?
SABRA: (CAREFULLY) In this moment...yes.
ABE: Then, in this moment, I can do whatever it takes.
SABRA: What can you do?
ABE: I don't know. We have to think, we have to plan. Oh my love. the first thing is... We have to... (LITTLE LAUGH) ...unhook you. I can't hold onto a fully-armed bomb.
SABRA: (PULLING AWAY) The connection isn't live. I didn't hook it yet.
ABE: Let me see at least, Sabra. Lift your shirt.
ABE: (UNDER BREATH, SEEING EXPLOSIVES BELT) Let's take it off, please.
SABRA: Not yet.
ABE: You don't believe me.
SABRA: I don't know if you can do what you say.
ABE: But you want me to.
SABRA: It's a dream.
ABE: You're awake, Sabra. We both are.
SABRA: How could we go there?
ABE: First, it has to seem natural. We'll say you're Lebanese, and I met you before I...
SABRA: No! they can't see me! I won't. They'll lock me up.
ABE: Why? Did you do something else?
SABRA: No, Abraham. I don't have to "do something" to get locked up. Hamid didn't "do something."
ABE: But we can tell them...
SABRA: No! It's impossible. They'll never let me in.
SOUND: RADIO CRACKLES
SABRA: (GASPS) Ah.
RADIO: Dogstar to Apex. Dogstar to Apex.
SOUND: RUN FOR DOOR
ABE: (CALLING AFTER HER) I'm going to marry you, Sabra.
SABRA: (STOPPED, PERPLEXED) What.
ABE: Let me answer the radio.
SOUND: SABRA STEPS TO HIM, CLICK OF RADIO ON
ABE: Apex here. (TO HER, URGENT) No, don’t...hook your belt, please, Sab...
RADIO: Apex?
ABE: Uuh, what’s for breakfast?
RADIO: We’re five clicks and counting. gear up.
ABE: Roger.
SOUND: CLICKS OFF RADIO
ABE: Now it’s off. You can kill me, and they'll never know what happened.
SOUND: RUN TO EMBRACE HIM
SABRA: Abraham.
ABE: (SIGH OF EMBRACE) Careful. Careful with you. I'm not going to let you go, not going to let anyone hurt you. Do you understand me?
SABRA: Yes.
ABE: If you won't face them, then you'll have to hide here. We'll have to meet later.
SABRA: You can't come here alone. And even if you could, then what? There's no way to "take" me there.
ABE: Can you get to Tyre?
SABRA: I can get anywhere.
ABE: I don't like it. There's too much chance to lose you.
SABRA: I know.
ABE: I'll get you papers. A passport.
SABRA: (GASPS, OVERJOYED) A passport?! A real pas...
ABE: You know it... (HESITATES)
SABRA: ...Couldn't say Palestinian.
ABE: It would have to say...
SABRA: (INTERRUPTING) It's no good, Abraham. You'd ruin your life.
ABE: My life?
SABRA: You'd be a traitor. Someone would know. And any Israeli would do anything to stop you, anything. Terrible things would happen, against your will. And they'd never let me live.
ABE: (AMUSED) Israelis aren't as bad as you believe.
SABRA: It can't work. As soon as I do something, anything you don't like, you'll turn on me. You'd never trust me.
ABE: Stop insulting me!
SABRA: There's no time, Abraham. They're getting close. Just let me hide. I've come this far.
ABE: (FRUSTRATED, BURSTS) I can't leave you loose here!
SABRA: That's it. I might betray you. Well, maybe you'll have to shoot me.
(STAND-OFF, BOTH BREATHING HEAVILY)
SABRA: If I give you your rifle, my revolver – here, take them.
SOUND: CLINK OF HANDING OVER GUNS
SABRA: Will you still be afraid I'll hurt someone?
ABE: Besides you, you mean?
SABRA: So it's your duty to shoot me. (PAUSE) Go ahead, do it. (BEAT) or you’re afraid you’d explode with me? (PAUSE) You better not tell them anything about us. They'll think you went mad.
SOUND: HER STEPS TO DOOR, HIS LUNGE TO GRAB HER
ABE: Stop it!
SABRA: Be careful, I'm live!
ABE: Stop wasting the time! I'm not letting you go. I'm going to take you to Jerusalem, even if we have to cross the border under machine guns! so stop this. You've got to trust me
SABRA: (ANGUISHED) There is no way, Abraham.
ABE: (IN A RUSH) All you've known is a nightmare. But I'm strong. I have my home. My only nightmare is fighting your fear. My strength is enough for us both. You have to believe in me, now, believe we have hope. (PAUSE) I'm going to find out where they are. (CLICKS RADIO) Apex to Dogstar.
RADIO: Dogstar to Apex. Afraid we'll sneak up on you?
ABE: Where are you?
RADIO: Just passing Beaufort Castle. You'll hear us any minute. All clear?
ABE: Everything's quiet. Thanks. (CLICKS OFF RADIO) Get me a sealed message. Bring it to IDF central in Tyre. Give it to my friend, Eli. He’s at the gate every day from 8 to 4. Can you do that?
SABRA: Yes.
ABE: (AN IDEA) My boot! Extra dog-tags.
SABRA: What?
SOUND: CLINK OF DOG TAGS
ABE: Here's who you want to find. But I'm keeping half of it.
SOUND: SNAP OF BREAKING DOG TAG
ABE: Half stays with the body, half goes...elsewhere.
SABRA: (HOLDS HIM TIGHT) Oh, Abraham.
ABE: In the message, just tell me where you'll be next saturday, all day. I'll get leave and a ride there. anywhere you say. Do you believe me?
SABRA: Yes.
ABE: Unhook the belt. (BEAT) Please. I won't ask you to take it off. Only...to take care of my love.
SOUND: UNCLASPING BELT
ABE: Now answer me something.
SABRA: (SMILES) What can I answer you?
ABE: If you hadn't planned to die today...would you have made love to me last night?
SABRA: (SOBER) Of course not!
ABE: (LAUGHS) I don't even know how to feel about that. Sabra...Sabra...
SABRA: How will you take me to Jerusalem, Abraham?
ABE: As my wife. Don't you see? You can be anyone.
SABRA: Even an Israeli wife.
ABE: Even that.
SABRA: But not Palestinian.
ABE: Sabra, Sabra...no one can make you anyone but who you are.
SABRA: But if I pretend, I can be happy. (BEAT) What about Um Ali. (CALMLY) It's no good, is it. If I don't touch the land on my own, I haven't done anything. I've abandoned them all.
ABE: No you haven't. Not if you're happy.
SABRA: That's your love speaking.
ABE: Yes!
SABRA: You're so strong. my invincible enemy. And I can rest, you'll always protect me...because you love me.
ABE: Yes.
SABRA: (GENTLY PULLING AWAY) Then you'll understand.
SOUND: NOISES OFF-MIKE, OF SOLDIERS MOVING
ABE: (A REFLEX) Don't go...
SABRA: I have to, Abraham. Please forgive me.
SOUND: SABRA’S STEPS OUT – NATURE SOUND, ABE DRAGGING AFTER
ABE: What. You have to stay here.
SOUND: SABRA MOVING, THEN CLIMBING CLIFF
SABRA: Um Ali needs her joy back. Listen my love: If I live and get there, she'll know she exists.
ABE: It's too late to go!
SABRA: (CALLING) I'll be all right. I'll go quickly; I'll make it, don't worry.
ABE: You can't!
SABRA: I won't forget you, Abraham. (FARTHEST DISTANCE) I married you here.
SOUND: SABRA TAKES OFF RUNNING
ABE: Wait. You can’t go. You can’t go! It’s too late to go. Come back, Sabra. Come back!
SOUND: SOLDIERS MOVING FROM ANOTHER DIRECTION
DOGSTAR: (OFF MIKE) Abe, are you down here?
ABE: I’ll keep you safe. I’ll take you to Jerusalem!
DOGSTAR: (OFF) Advise, Abe?! What's going on?
ABE: Don’t leave me here!!
DOGSTAR: (ALARMED, OFF) Abe, where are you? Who’s that running. Halt!
ABE: No!
DOGSTAR: (OFF) Halt, or I’ll shoot!
ABE: (SCREAM) Don't shoot, don't shoot!!
SOUND: SHOTS OFF. THEN, EXPLOSION FROM THE DIRECTION SABRA RAN.
ABE: (CRY THAT ECHOES) Sabra!!
MUSIC: FLUTE SWELLS, THEN HOLDS QUIETLY UNDER
GRAMMA: (INTIMATE, LOW) Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the House of the Lord forever.
SOUND: GRAMMA’S VOICE OVER-LAID WITH THE SAME LINE IN HEBREW AND ARABIC, BLENDING IN MUSIC
ANNOUNCER: This is Phil Lee, founder of Full House Productions in New York City, and director of this production of HOW HIS BRIDE CAME TO ABRAHAM, written by Karen Sunde.
ABE was played by Amir Babayoff, SABRA by Maya Serhan, DOGSTAR and BENNY by Richard LevIne, and GRAMMA by Jane Titus. Our program was engineered and edited by Phil Lee and Andrew Kirk. The Composer was Darryl Gregory.
We hope you have enjoyed our play. To learn more about ABRAHAM or to help us film the story, go to www.AbrahamFilm.org or call 212.366.1124.
END OF PRODUCTION
APPENDIX
The Seed for Haiti: A Dream
(This interview, casually recounting the play’s origin, began WNYC’s broadcast.)
MUSIC: DRAMATIC ORCHESTRA, HOLDS UNDER, SEGUES INTO STORM
“I’m Karen Sunde and I wrote Haiti: A Dream. The seed for this play happened in a way that …in a writer-ly way I didn’t believe happened to writers, I just always heard that things happened this
way: that is, that I saw a tiny clip in the New York Times that told of a wreckage of a boat, a wooden boat that washed up on the shore of Florida that had been en route from Haiti to Florida, no doubt illegally; no doubt it was destroyed in a storm. So, from that little seed my imagination began to wonder who those people were and what happened to them, and what that yearning was like for them, and what it meant to them, and so then I began to study...Haiti, and that opened another world, an incredible world for me – moving poignant, beautiful, exciting and so so tragic. Doing it for radio was like having the play opened up and given back to me - amplified. The things that I had imagined had grown and were being, coming back, well, like waves, in a way that was more than I could have imagined. I wanted to know what it was like in this dark hold of a ship - very cramped, small, people very desperate, people without…means, without an idea, really, of where they were going, or what they would need, or how long or how harrowing the journey might be – people who were going to run out of food. I wanted to get a sense of the whole ambiance of this island…paradise...essentially, that they were leaving.
SOUND: DENSE CRICKETS, WATER SOUND, INSECTS IN TROPICAL NIGHT, HOLDS UNDER
Karen Sunde, a playwright and screenwriter, lives in New York
ASTERISKS in Play List below indicate published plays available for purchase at: https://www.broadwayplaypubl.com/alphlist.htm * https://www.dramaticpublishing.com **
For descriptions of all works, see https://www.karensunde.com. Some screenplays are at https://www.howardshulman.com
PLAYS BY KAREN SUNDE
LIBERTY
BALLOON *
DARK LADY **
TO MOSCOW **
SWEET LAND OF FIRE
HAITI: A DREAM (in Facing Forward) *
NATIVE LAND
OH WILD WEST WIND (in Rowing to America) **
ANTON, HIMSELF
MASHA, TOO
PLEASE GOD, NO WEDDING OR SHOOTING AT THE END
IN A KINGDOM BY THE SEA (in Plays by Karen Sunde) *
HOW HIS BRIDE CAME TO ABRAHAM *
TRUTH TAKES A HOLIDAY (in Plays by Karen Sunde) *
GENTLEMAN JOHNNY
ME & JOAN (of Arc)
WHEN REAL LIFE BEGINS
TRACKING BLOOD WHITE
DEBORAH: THE ADVENTURES OF A SOLDIER
2020 SEXCARE
THE FASTEST WOMAN ALIVE **
KABUKI OTHELLO **
KABUKI MACBETH
KABUKI KING RICHARD
ACHILLES
KABUKI LADY MACBETH **
QUASIMODO (a musical)
SPA (an opera)
THE SOUND OF SAND
SCREENPLAYS BY KAREN SUNDE
UNDERCOVER PATRIOT
COUNTDOWN
OVER THE RAINBOW
BOULE DE SUIF
THE SECRET SHIP
HOW HIS BRIDE CAME TO ABRAHAM
IN A KINGDOM BY THE SEA
THE LINE
PARALLEL LOVES
DREAM HOUSE
FINAL QUEST: THE MOUNTAIN OF THE GODS
TRIPPING TAMMY
THE FASTEST WOMAN ALIVE
LOVE HITS EARTH (& Other Disasters)
NEXT!
CHICKS GOTTA SWIM
