by Sam Shepard
OEDIPUS: Do you recognize me? My face?
HARRINGTON: I know you’re the king.
OEDIPUS: And how do you know that?
HARRINGTON: I was told.
JOCASTA: Hearsay.
OEDIPUS: Do you recognize me from the scene of the murder?
HARRINGTON: Like I said, I wasn’t there.
OEDIPUS: (To RANDOLPH.) And how about you? Do you recognize me?
RANDOLPH: No, sir.
OEDIPUS: (To RANDOLPH.) Could you describe the murder to me? Do you have a picture of it in your head?
RANDOLPH: Yes, sir.
OEDIPUS: Let’s hear it.
JOCASTA: Neither one of them was there!
OEDIPUS: I want to hear it.
JOCASTA: A fantasy!
RANDOLPH: Based on the evidence he was standing by the road—the highway.
OEDIPUS: Who was?
RANDOLPH: The killer.
OEDIPUS: Was he alone?
RANDOLPH: Yes, sir.
JOCASTA: And how do you know that?
RANDOLPH: Tracks, ma’am.
JOCASTA: His tracks?
RANDOLPH: Yes, ma’am. He was on foot. Very distinct.
JOCASTA: You said there were others! A group of bandits.
RANDOLPH: There was only one killer. One foot. The left one. Much bigger than the right.
(All of their eyes, including OEDIPUS’s, shift focus to his large left foot. Silence as they consider the repercussions.)
JOCASTA: It’s not proof! Just a mark in the sand! It could have been anyone. There were others!
OEDIPUS: It wasn’t anyone. I’ve had this mark as long as I can remember.
JOCASTA: This talk is a waste of time. It’s all speculation!
OEDIPUS: How can you say that when the clues of truth are in my hands?
JOCASTA: You are fatally wrong! May you never learn who you actually are.
OEDIPUS: How could I ever wish that I were someone else?
JOCASTA: Your misery will know no bounds! (JOCASTA starts to leave, but then stops with her back to OEDIPUS, upstage.)
JOCASTA: Learn to love death’s ink-black shadow as much as you love the light of dawn.
(She exits. Long silence. HARRINGTON gets spooked by it.)
Scene 31
HARRINGTON: Where’s she suddenly gone? (Pause.) Why this silence?
OEDIPUS: What would you fill it up with?
(RANDOLPH starts nervously retrieving all the objects he’s laid out and replacing them in his pockets. He drops the cigar butt in the process.)
HARRINGTON: (To RANDOLPH.) What’re you doing? We’re not finished yet.
RANDOLPH: (As he retrieves objects.) My job is scientific, objective. Totally quantitative. I didn’t come here for—
OEDIPUS: (Picks cigar butt off the floor.) What’s this?
HARRINGTON: Part of the evidence, sir. We’re pretty sure the victim was a cigar smoker.
OEDIPUS: (Smelling butt.) The victim?
HARRINGTON: Yes, sir.
OEDIPUS: Not the killer?
HARRINGTON: No, sir.
OEDIPUS: (To RANDOLPH.) You were telling the story. The story of the murder.
RANDOLPH: Well, based on our findings. We can’t be sure.
OEDIPUS: (Smelling cigar.) This smell reminds me of something.
HARRINGTON: My father used to smoke a good cigar now and then.
OEDIPUS: Your father?
HARRINGTON: Yes, sir.
OEDIPUS: (To RANDOLPH.) Continue with the story, Detective.
RANDOLPH: Where was I?
OEDIPUS: He was standing by the side of the road. Hitchhiking, I believe.
RANDOLPH: Did I say that? Hitchhiking?
OEDIPUS: Yes, I believe you did.
RANDOLPH: (To HARRINGTON.) Did I say that?
HARRINGTON: No, I don’t think so, sir. I don’t think he said that—“hitchhiking.”
OEDIPUS: Are you calling me a liar?
HARRINGTON: Well, no, of course not.
OEDIPUS: (To RANDOLPH.) Didn’t you say you thought he was alone, standing by the side of the road, hitchhiking? What else would he be doing out there?
RANDOLPH: I may have. I don’t remember.
HARRINGTON: (To RANDOLPH.) You never said that. “Hitchhiking.”
OEDIPUS: (To HARRINGTON.) He should know what he said, shouldn’t he?
HARRINGTON: He said he may have said that. “Hitchhiking.” He said he couldn’t remember.
OEDIPUS: Never mind, never mind! Let’s get on with it. What happens next?
RANDOLPH: A car comes along.
OEDIPUS: A car.
RANDOLPH: Very slowly. From the east. Very heavy. Kind of greenish black.
OEDIPUS: Wait a minute, wait a minute. How do you know all these things? How do you know it was greenish black, for instance?
HARRINGTON: Paint chips.
OEDIPUS: (To HARRINGTON.) I’m not talking to you. I’m talking to him.
HARRINGTON: Yes, sir.
OEDIPUS: (Back to RANDOLPH.) How do you know all these things?
RANDOLPH: Well, the direction’s easy. The trajectory of the tire tread. The weight is measured by the depth of the tracks. And the color—well, the color—
OEDIPUS: Yeah. How do you know the color?
RANDOLPH: Paint chips.
(OEDIPUS looks quickly to HARRINGTON, then back to RANDOLPH.)
OEDIPUS: (To RANDOLPH.) Then what? What time of day was it? Can you tell that from the evidence?
RANDOLPH: Yes, sir. Early morning?
OEDIPUS: And how do you know that?
RANDOLPH: Dew stains on the windshield, sir.
OEDIPUS: Oh, so you found the car, then?
RANDOLPH: Yes, sir. Abandoned at a liquor store in Cucamonga.
OEDIPUS: So you know what color the car was by the actual car. What is this bullshit about paint chips?
HARRINGTON: We found the paint chips before the car.
OEDIPUS: (Turns on HARRINGTON.) When I want information from you, I’ll ask directly!
HARRINGTON: Yes, sir.
(A transition begins to occur where OEDIPUS becomes more and more angry. He’s limping around, head down. Jams the butt of the cigar between his teeth, getting belligerent. HARRINGTON cringes slightly. RANDOLPH becomes silent and stiff.)
OEDIPUS: (Pacing, head down, with cigar.) So there’s a killer by the side of the road, hitchhiking. He’s alone. A car comes slowly from the east. A big, heavy, greenish black car. By all accounts. Dew on the windshield. What happens next?
RANDOLPH: Well—
OEDIPUS: (Keeps pacing.) Go on.
RANDOLPH: The car starts inexplicably edging over onto the shoulder of the road.
OEDIPUS: The shoulder the lone man was hitchhiking on?
RANDOLPH: That’s right.
OEDIPUS: Inexplicably?
RANDOLPH: Well, they’re all alone on the desert out there. There’s nobody around.
OEDIPUS: How many’s in the car? This big, heavy, greenish black car?
RANDOLPH: Three, sir. One driver and the other two in back.
OEDIPUS: And so far, we don’t really know who they are?
HARRINGTON: Oh, we know who they are, all right.
OEDIPUS: (Turns on HARRINGTON.) SHUT UP!!
HARRINGTON: Sorry, sir.
OEDIPUS: I meant at this point! At this point in time we don’t know who they are. They could be anyone.
HARRINGTON: That’s right.
RANDOLPH: They could be anyone. At this point in time. He’s right.
OEDIPUS: It’s not until something happens that it becomes a crime! Until someone gets killed! Right now they’re all living and breathing! They’re enjoying the desert air. As far as we know they might all be singing.
HARRINGTON: Singing?
OEDIPUS: The car seems to be almost floating. Edging over into the hitchhiker’s line of vision. Inexplicably!
RANDOLPH: (Catching some of OEDIPUS’s mysterious excitement.) Yes! That’s right. And the hitchhiker d
oesn’t seem to budge. He just stands his ground.
OEDIPUS: Why should he budge?
RANDOLPH: I don’t know. So he doesn’t get run over, I guess.
OEDIPUS: It’s an empty desert. Plenty of room for everyone. Why should the hitchhiker budge? He’s there first. The car can go around him, can’t it?
RANDOLPH: Yes, of course. But—
OEDIPUS: The hitchhiker has every right to be there!
RANDOLPH: I suppose, but—
OEDIPUS: So he’s the one in a vulnerable position, isn’t he? Not them. He’s the one who could be easily destroyed. Not them. He’s the one who could be demolished. Eradicated from the earth! Wiped out in the blink of an eye.
RANDOLPH: Well, of course. But—
OEDIPUS: So what do you suppose happens?
RANDOLPH: How should I know?
OEDIPUS: You’re the expert. Don’t you see what’s coming?
RANDOLPH: No!
OEDIPUS: The car comes to a stop and just sits there with the engine idling, the tinted windows rolled up and the three men inside just staring out the window. What’s the hitchhiker do now?
RANDOLPH: I don’t know.
OEDIPUS: He doesn’t either. Anything could happen. There’s a threat in the air! Isn’t there?
RANDOLPH: A threat?
HARRINGTON: (To OEDIPUS.) Can you see the driver?
OEDIPUS: (Slowly turns to HARRINGTON.) Of course I can see the driver.
RANDOLPH: What’s the driver doing?
OEDIPUS: (To RANDOLPH.) He gets out. At the same time the driver gets out, a back door opens and another guy gets out. They both leave the doors wide-open and the engine idling.
HARRINGTON: That means there’s one guy left inside! In the backseat.
RANDOLPH: That had to have been Langos or Laius or—whatever you want to call him. The former king. The father of—
(Long menacing pause as OEDIPUS limps very slowly and deliberately over to RANDOLPH, stops right up close to him, and takes ahold of his lapel.)
OEDIPUS: (In RANDOLPH’s face.) What’d you say?
RANDOLPH: That had to have been the king that was murdered. Inside the car. In the back.
OEDIPUS: (Shifts into a deep, dark tone, backing RANDOLPH up slowly, clenching RANDOLPH’s lapel.) I’ll tell you what happened. You want to know? You want to know what actually happened? (OEDIPUS moves closer to RANDOLPH, more threatening. RANDOLPH backs up.) The driver came right up to me and shoved his face into mine. Just like this. I could see my own face in the lenses of his dark glasses. My scrawny face, staring back at me. He asked me if there was something wrong and I told him, “No, nothing’s wrong!” He asked me if there was something wrong with my foot. Why was one of my feet bigger than the other one? And I told him it swelled up like that because my father was afraid of me when I was a baby. Somebody had told him that when I grew up I was going to kill him. My father. Kill my very own father and sleep with my very own mother. So he bound up my ankles and drove a stake through the left one, then hung me in a tree upside down so I’d bleed to death. The driver snickered when I told him this. He turned to the man behind and gave him a wink. The other man didn’t wink back. The driver turned to me again and told me I was in his way, that I should get off the road and let him pass. I told him there was plenty of room to get around me. This was a big country. There was room for everyone. And then do you know what he did? (RANDOLPH shakes his head.) He gave me a little shove. Like this. (OEDIPUS pokes RANDOLPH sharply in the middle of the chest with his index finger.) Right in the middle of the chest. Just like this. (He pokes RANDOLPH again, who stumbles back.)
HARRINGTON: Now, just a second.
OEDIPUS: (To HARRINGTON.) You stay out of this! (Back to RANDOLPH, unrelenting.) Then I ran to the car. The driver tried to stop me, but I knocked him down. The other guy pulled a gun, but I jumped in the car. It was still idling. A bullet crashed through the window as I got behind the wheel. I looked in the backseat. It was my father with a short cigar sticking out of his teeth. We looked into each other’s eyes for just a second. Surprised. I remembered him. His eyes. He slammed the door open with his shoulder and ran. I punched the car in reverse and tried to catch him, but the driver had recovered, grabbing the hood ornament with both hands. So I dropped it down into first and ran over him. The other guy kept shooting. Bullets were ripping through the headliner and blasting through glass. So I drove straight for him and ran his ass down, too. Then I went hunting for my father. He was running across the desert with his tie flying. He’d lost one of his shoes, so now and then he would hop like an injured rabbit. Limping. Just like me. Limping. I caught up to him and ran him over from behind. Then I backed over his head. Smashed it like a melon. I remember the popping sound. I stopped and got out. I walked back to the body. I stepped on what was left of his face with my big left foot. Then I pissed all over his chest. Then I went back to the car and drove off in the direction of Cucamonga. (He moves off in a daze toward down left.) That’s about all I can remember.
(He exits left, leaving HARRINGTON and RANDOLPH bewildered. When OEDIPUS has gone, suddenly, an extremely loud crash as though a large crate full of china dishes has been dropped from a great height, offstage. It’s important that this sound effect has a “live” quality to it. At the same time, ANTIGONE screams and a white curtain falls from the ceiling and hangs there, extreme downstage. A large black silhouette of JOCASTA, hanged by her neck, falls and swings slowly, casting an image across the curtain. This all happens as simultaneously as possible. HARRINGTON and RANDOLPH run off in terror. ANTIGONE enters with a long, crooked walking stick, tapping it as she goes, as though blind. She seems almost catatonic as she wanders on, chanting the word “Mama” in a kind of incantation. She keeps it up continuously as the silhouette of JOCASTA continues to slowly swing. OEDIPUS comes on behind the curtain, limping toward the silhouette, offstage. A horrible, grief-stricken moan comes from OEDIPUS as he encounters the corpse of JOCASTA. In silhouette we see OEDIPUS embrace the corpse, then leave it swinging as he comes onstage, his eyes streaming with blood. ANTIGONE keeps wandering and repeating “Mama” under OEDIPUS. The corpse keeps swinging.)
Scene 32
OEDIPUS: The queen—my mother, my bride. All the great days, like ghosts, gone. Gone. The horrors of my own doing. Blind—blind to those for whom I was searching. All is wailing and ruin now. All. How can I bear to see when all my sight is horror. Everywhere. Night. Gone. My father. My sister. My daughter. My child. (ANTIGONE takes his hand and places the long, crooked walking stick in it. He leans on it, becoming ancient. ANTIGONE takes his other hand and begins leading him.) My faithful daughter. Lead me. Lead me away. I am sick. Sick in daily life. Sick in my origins. Take me away.
(ANTIGONE leads him slowly off, continuing to chant “Mama” softly to herself. OEDIPUS hobbles along, clutching his walking stick, very old. As they both exit behind the white curtain, their shadows are cast up along with the swinging corpse of JOCASTA. TRAVELER comes on down left as the ORACLE, in front of the white curtain. He speaks directly to the audience, very simply.)
Scene 33
ORACLE: The whole city went back to being what it had always been—just a place where people came and went; births, lives, deaths. On the surface they seemed returned to health and self-confidence, but a distant memory still persisted, a shadow that never left. Something had been torn apart from the inside out. A ghost of something close at hand yet far enough away and so terrible as to pretend it never happened.
(ANTIGONE’s background repetition of “Mama” suddenly stops. JOCASTA’s body continues to slowly swing as lights go to black.)
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