WOODEN MAN drops the ball and it rolls over beside SISTER COYOTE. Blue spot fades as she picks up the ball and walks toward the WOODEN MAN.
You dropped your ball.
WOODEN MAN stares at her and reaches for the ball.
WOODEN MAN
I could never throw a curve ball. All my life I couldn’t throw a curve to save it.
SISTER COYOTE
I could show you mine. I was pitcher for the Redhawks. We were the meanest team you ever set eyes on.
WOODEN MAN tosses her the ball, goes stage right and crouches like a catcher and shows her the glove.
WOODEN MAN
My dad tried to show me how to throw a curve, but the ball just wouldn’t curve for me. He’d get so mad, his face would get all white and he would spit a little out of the corner of his mouth and he would swear and go in the house and turn the TV on, and he would mumble: “Kid’s arm is useless.”
SISTER COYOTE walks over to the opposite side of the stage and fades him and tosses the ball up into the air and fields it in the palm of her hand. She scratches out her mound with her feet and she readies herself to throw a pitch.
SISTER COYOTE
Our coach was the chief and he made the rules because he bought all the uniforms and he supplied the equipment. He pretended like he was BIG LEAGUE but he didn’t know a thing about baseball and the only thing BIG about him was his belly and his big belly stuck out of his shirt and he would just sit in the dugout and pretend like he was giving us secret signals. We all would look at him and pretend that he was running the show but really it was Lucy, the third baseman, who was making the calls, and she called for a fastball and I would wind up and give her my best fastball.
She throws him a fastball with some smoke behind it and it makes a hard snapping sound as it hits the glove.
WOODEN MAN
STRIKE ONE!
WOODEN MAN tosses it back at her and resumes his catcher position. She does her ritual and prepares herself for another pitch and she awaits his signal this time. WOODEN MAN shows her two fingers and readies himself again for the next pitch. She throws it and it hits the glove just like the first one.
STRIKE TWO!
He stands up and walks toward her as if he is the catcher walking toward the mound in an important game. He gives her the ball and kicks at the dirt.
SISTER COYOTE
Okay, I’ve given two of my best pitches and all I have left is my curve, and I’ve been working hard on it all week but it just sort of hangs there and doesn’t curve that much and the chief is getting all mad and he’s threatening to pull me out of the game, and my friends are there and that cute guy in grade twelve is there with all his friends and he’s come to see my great curve ball and this is the time for it, right?
WOODEN MAN
The CURVE.
He walks slowly back to home plate as she continues to talk to herself.
SISTER COYOTE
Was there any other choice? You had thrown the fastball on the first pitch and that batter just sat there and she knew, yes, she knew that the curve was coming up, everyone knew that the curve was going to be the last pitch, so she just sat there and she chewed her big wad of gum and she just waited for the third pitch because she knew it was going to be my weakest pitch.
WOODEN MAN crouches in his catcher position and shows her one finger, the middle one, and he smacks the dust out of his glove and readies himself for the next pitch. SISTER COYOTE sees the sign and she winds up, checks the bases, looks at the catcher, and she throws the most perfect curve ball that she could ever throw, and it hits the glove with a resounding smack.
WOODEN MAN
STRIKE THREE, YOU’RE OUT!
SISTER COYOTE
It was the most beautiful pitch that I have ever thrown in my life, even now I could never have thrown a better pitch, and everyone was screaming and yelling at me like I was some sort of hero, and the girls on my team all ran up to me and they put me on their shoulders and paraded me up and down the their base line, and all the people in the stands cheered and called out my name and the cute guy in grade twelve smiled to me and gave me the thumbs-up sign, and the chief was trying to get at me and hug me but he tripped and ripped the seat of his uniform pants and everyone saw his bum and everyone started to laugh at him and he began to laugh and everyone was laughing, even the other team who had travelled all this way to try and beat us, but we had beaten them, yes, we had beaten them with the best curve ball anyone could’ve thrown on that day.
WOODEN MAN
Nice pitch, kid.
He walks over and sits down in his spot and puts the glove and ball backunderneath the bench, and then becomes wooden.
SISTER COYOTE
Arm’s a little tired. Not used to the distance, I guess.
She crosses over and sits down at the feet of the WOODEN MAN and she leans against his legs and goes to sleep.
WOODEN MAN
Nice pitch, kid.
Stage lights begin to fade. In the dark we hear a raven cawing followed by a voice yelling: “Get out of here, you stinking raven!” A spot comes up downstage centre and BROTHER RAVEN walks into the light, lights a cigarette and blows the smoke back at the voice.
BROTHER RAVEN
I was picking at the apples in the garbage. Just picking at the apples. Where is the wrong in that?
Takes another long drag, it goes down the wrong pipe and he begins to cough. He stamps the cigarette out and wipes the tears from his eyes.
Never was much of a smoker.
Takes bottles out of his coat, takes a good-sized swig and puts the bottle back into his pocket.
Now drinking is more my style. Nothing like a good shot to get the earth moving. Nothing like a good shot.
The spot turns to blue and BROTHER RAVEN sits down and takes a piece of paper and a piece of candy from his pocket. He unwraps the candy and puts in into his mouth and savours the sweet taste, he uncrumples the piece of paper and begins to read it.
“In the morning as Mother walked to the river and all the children slept so peaceful on the floor with their little feet sticking out of the warm blankets, there would be a calm quietness that came over the land and all you could hear was the river as it moved gently to the ocean and Mother would walk down to the river and she would take off her dress and she would slip into the water and bathe herself and ready herself for the long day ahead.”
He takes the candy out of his mouth and admires it and puts it back into his mouth and sucks on it some more and flips the piece of paper and continues to read.
“Mother would start the fire and me and my brothers and sisters would rise up off the floor and stare at her in wonderment and she would ask us if we had had visions in our sleep and I would always answer yes and proceed to tell her what I had seen: I had seen a young salmon come to the shore of the river and it whispered to me that I should join her in the water and I asked her why and she giggled and said it was nice and warm, so I went in and the salmon swam right beside me, and she would whisper to me that I was cute and that I had skinny legs, and I would laugh and try to catch her, but she was a salmon and she could swim somewhat better than I could, and she would always get away before I could touch her. Mother would always laugh at my visions and my brothers and sisters would always laugh and tease me and they would always show me the salmon they had caught and say to me: ‘Is this her, is this her!’ And I would cry because what if it was her and they had cut her open and they had put her on the fire and I had eaten her. Mother would try and explain to them what my visions meant, but they were too eager to run out and play in the forest, and I would just sit there and Mother would tell me her visions, and I would eat tuna sandwiches because I felt too bad about eating salmon, and Mother would join me on the floor and hold me tight and she would laugh as she told her visions, and I would laugh too because she was so funny and kind, so funny and kind.”
He folds up the piece of paper and puts it back into his pocket as stage lights come u
p and WOODEN WOMAN begins to move. She reaches beneath the bench, pulls out a spinning top and begins to spin it about the stage as she follows it on her hands and knees. BROTHER RAVEN stands up, reaches into his pocket, pulls out a comb and begins to comb back his slicked black hair.
Always had the ability to have visions. Never know quite what they mean but they mean something and I have them every night.
He finishes combing his hair, puts the comb back into his pocket and pulls out an old rotten apple from his pocket and begins to pick and eat away at it. WOODEN WOMAN stops spinning the top, goes back and reaches underneath the bench and this time she comes out with a bag of marbles and starts to play a game of marbles while still on her hands and knees.
Just picking at the apples. Never meant any harm to no one but they think you’re stealing from them even if the apples are rotten. Even if the apples are rotten…
WOODEN WOMAN shoots one marble and it rolls to the feet of BROTHER RAVEN. He picks it up and walks over to her and her game of marbles as the blue spots fades.
WOODEN WOMAN
Play for funsies or keepsies?
BROTHER RAVEN
Keepsies!
WOODEN WOMAN
Okay, okay, but I get to shoot first and you can’t say funsies if I start to win, all right?
BROTHER RAVEN
All right, but I only have one marble left and if I lose it I can’t play anymore.
WOODEN WOMAN
Okay, you better shoot first. Where’s your marble?
He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a red marble. He holds it up to the light and stares through it. WOODEN WOMAN comes up beside him and she stares through it too.
BROTHER RAVEN
It’s the prettiest marble I’ve ever owned. All my life I’ve been playing marbles and this is the prettiest one I’ve ever come across.
WOODEN WOMAN
It’s lovely. All red and you can see right through it. Where did you get it?
He brings it down from the light and steps back away from her and kneels down and readies himself to play marbles. WOODEN WOMAN kneels down beside him and looks him right in the eyes.
Where did you get that marble?
BROTHER RAVEN
I’m not supposed to say.
WOODEN WOMAN
Why not? Is it a magic marble? Because if it is, then I don’t want to play for keepsies.
BROTHER RAVEN
Too late.
He begins to win all her marbles. She kneels there beside him and watches as he makes the most amazing shots she has ever seen. The red marble banks and kicks out all her marbles and she sits there in wonderment and he collects all her marbles and puts them in his pocket.
WOODEN WOMAN
No fair. Winning with a magic marble just ain’t fair.
BROTHER RAVEN
Here, have an apple.
He gives her one of his rotten apples and she bites into it without looking at it.
WOODEN WOMAN
Good apple.
BROTHER RAVEN
I picked it myself.
WOODEN WOMAN
I was good at picking cherries.
BROTHER RAVEN
Not me. I couldn’t climb the trees and I was always falling out of them and landing on my head. I just ate the ones that fell to the ground.
WOODEN WOMAN goes and sits in her spot on the bench and lifts her dress up to the knee. BROTHER RAVEN goes and kneels at her feet just like SISTER COYOTE is sitting with the WOODEN MAN.
WOODEN WOMAN
See this scar right here on my shin? A spirit gave me that scar. You see, I got that one from falling down a cherry tree when I was just a little girl. The tree was on old Irving’s land. No one ever went onto his land because everyone thought his land was full of bad spirits. They used to say the spirits were bad because they had all died on the same day, they had all died on the same hour and they had all died the same way, and they had all been buried together on Irving’s land.
BROTHER RAVEN rests his head on her knee, listens to her story and slowly falls asleep.
Nothing on his land but rocks and weeds anyway, so we pretty much stayed away from him and his land of bad spirits. But there was that cherry tree that everyone knew and talked about. They said that the cherries were so big and juicy that you could eat one and be full for a week. They said this tree never went a day without a new cherry growing and becoming big and juicy. As you can tell by this scar, I went on that land and I went past those bad spirits and I went up that cherry tree and I picked me the biggest and the juiciest of all the cherries on the earth. I ate maybe four or five and stuck the rest of them cherries into my pockets and I was making my way down the tree when I saw her.
She puts her dress down and puts the half-eaten apple in the WOODEN MAN’s hand. BROTHER RAVEN is fast asleep as she touches his face.
I’ve never seen such a sight in all my life. It was a young girl. She looked to be maybe ten or eleven. She stood there at the bottom of the tree and she looked up at me. I spoke to her and I said: “Hey, would you like some cherries?” The little girl stared at me and then she touched the tree and the whole tree shook, no, the whole world felt like it was shaking and I tried to hold on but I couldn’t because my hands were slippery from the juiciest cherries in the whole wide world, and I fell, no, I slid all the way down that tree and fell right at her feet.
That girl just stared at me as I ran, no, I limped all the way off of Irving’s land and I never looked back. So you see, a spirit gave me this scar.
BROTHER RAVEN moves and becomes more comfortable, and as he does this his magic red marble falls out of his hand and WOODEN WOMAN reaches down and picks it up and she stares at it in the light as stage lights begin to fade.
Finders keepers.
Blackout.
Scene 5
Stage lights come up. More leaves on the ground. A wolf howls. A German TOURIST enters and sets up a camera on a tripod. SISTER COYOTE is asleep on one side of the bench and BROTHER RAVEN is asleep on the other side. WOODEN MAN and WOODEN WOMAN are in their usual spot on the bench. The German TOURIST sets the timer and quickly sits in between the two wooden Indians. When the timer beeps the German TOURIST smiles and the WOODEN MAN takes a bite out of the rotten apple that was in his hand and he goes back to being wooden. The German TOURIST looks at the WOODEN MAN and then down at the apple. He shakes his head and then rises and gathers his camera and tripod and exits. WOODEN MAN slowly begins to chew the mouthful of rotten apple. SISTER COYOTE moves and talks in her sleep.
SISTER COYOTE
Tell me a story, Poppa. Tell me a story, Poppa.
WOODEN MAN looks down at her and takes another bite from the rotten apple.
WOODEN MAN
Are you talking to me? ’Cause if you are, then you should look me in the eyes, not polite to ask someone for something and not look them in the eyes.
He takes another bite and another and another until the apple is finished and then he puts the apple core into WOODEN WOMAN’s hand.
I met a man once who wouldn’t look me in the eyes. He’d always be wanting something from me and he would come right up to my door and he’d ask for it without ever looking me in the eyes, and I’d tell him no every time, and he’d walk away all mad but he would come back and he would ask me for something else, and I would look him right in the eyes and I knew that I would give him whatever it was he was asking for, if he would just have the respect to look me in the eyes when he asked for it, but he never did and he hated me. That man hated me because I asked for respect.
SISTER COYOTE moves again and speaks again in her sleep.
SISTER COYOTE
Poppa? You there, Poppa? The house is so cold and all the wood is still wet and my blanket’s too small ’cause I’m getting taller. Can you see that I’m getting taller, Poppa?
WOODEN MAN
Not going to look me in the eyes? Then I am unable to answer you. Sorry, but it’s just a rule I have with people. If you can�
�t look me in the eyes then I can’t answer you. It’s a rule I’ve stuck with all my life and I can’t start breaking my own rules for the sake of talking to anyone so you’ll have to look me in the eyes if you want me to answer you.
WOODEN MAN whistles and plays with the buttons on his shirt. This bores him and he bends down and unlaces his boots and reties them and repeats this and becomes bored with this, and he looks around for something to do but realizes that there is nothing left for him to do.
All right! I will speak and answer you this one time, but you can’t tell anyone that I broke one of my own rules, because if people find out that you can’t even respect your own rules, then why should they respect anything about you, right? Right. So I’m talking to you because there’s no one else to talk to right now and I have to tell you about this vision I just had and if I don’t tell anyone then I think I may have to scream and if you’ve ever heard me scream then you know what a loud scream that I have. So here is my vision. I was on…
SISTER COYOTE
Poppa, can I have another piece of bread? My belly isn’t quite full yet.
WOODEN MAN
Listen, if we’re going to have a conversation, then you’ll have to respect that I was talking and it was my turn to tell you about my vision, so you just sit there and don’t say a word, all right? All right. Anything more to say before I carry on with my vision? No?
SISTER COYOTE moves and we see her face, she smiles and continues to sleep as WOODEN MAN stands and stretches his legs and picks up a leaf and crumbles it in his hand.
I was on the river. I know, I know, I am always on the river but this time I was really on the river. I was born on the river. I bet you didn’t know that. I was born and raised on that river.
He bends down and picks up another leaf and lets it fall from his hand to the ground.
I was on the river and I was on my old boat. The old boat sure could move, when it wanted to. It could cut through the water and nothing, no storm, no wind, could stop her from getting me home.
He picks up another leaf, and goes and sits down in his spot on the bench and stares at the leaf.
I was on the river and I was on my old boat and we were heading home from a long day of fishing. I didn’t pull in too much on that day, but I had enough for supper. The water was calm and there was no wind, and you could just make out the blue of the sky, and you could just catch a glimpse of the mountains. We were making real good time when all of a sudden the engine went dead. I tried to start it up again but she just wouldn’t turn, and then the wind came out of nowhere and the rain started to fall hard, and the blue of the sky was gone and it was dark and you could no longer see the mountains, and the boat turned and started to head downriver as the river’s current became strong and angry.
The Exile Book of Native Canadian Fiction and Drama Page 10
