ON THE PERIPHERY (excerpt) By Sedef Ecer, Translated by Evren Odcikin

On the Periphery

by Sedef Ecer translated by Evren Odcikin

“Dedicated to my Dad… to that polite punk that taught me to choose wild weeds over house plants.”

—Sedef Ecer

13. ON SKYPE AZAD Can you hear me?

TAMAR Azad?

AZAD Yes, can you hear me?

TAMAR My Azad! I can hear you. I can even see you.

AZAD My Tamar. I’m here! I am in the “West.” It’s over, my misery. It’s over. And as soon as I get my papers, I am gonna bring you over.

TAMAR Where are you?

AZAD I don’t know. In a city by the sea. It was horrible, that boat. We were so many. I thought about you the whole time. They put us in like sardines. Fiko’s cousin’s friend took our passports, our money, everything. Put all the passports in a plastic bag. But I kept your picture. I didn’t give him your picture. I looked at it every day to give me strength. Every day. When I was sad, when I was hungry. I looked at your beautiful face.

TAMAR I thought about you all the time, too. Especially when that storm was in the news.

They showed ships sinking on television. I was so afraid. I thought about you all the time. Were you cold?

AZAD Freezing. Hungry. Thirsty. Scared. All the money he took from me, that bastard, and he puts me on a disgusting ship filled with rats. Our clothes were soaked.

Everyone coughing all the time. People were sick, crying, moaning. There were even women with babies on board. (Beat) A woman’s baby died. Everyone told her to throw the baby overboard, so it wouldn’t rot, stink, but she wouldn’t let it go.

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I got so scared at one point. As we got close to land, the sailors showed me. A statue of the Virgin Mary at the bottom of the sea. They had thrown it into the water. For the dead migrants. They said thirty-five thousand* people had died in that sea, from boats, drowned. And there she was, the Virgin Mary, surrounded by water, protecting the dead. It looked like she was drowning in her own tears.

TAMAR I wish you hadn’t left, Azad. What will you do now?

AZAD We are in a refugee camp. Fiko had told me that if we get caught, I should say I am political. Say “Police are hunting me back home because I’m a political leader.” So I did, so they won’t send me back.

TAMAR A political leader? (She laughs.) My Azad, political! Did they believe you?

AZAD Of course they believed me. You see, Tamar, you kept saying to me “I know,” but you never believed that I would make it. You didn’t believe, did you, my Tamar?

TAMAR Yes, I did. (Beat) No, I didn’t. (Beat) I don’t know, Azad. It’s three kilometers from here and we never even saw the sea. How could I believe your E.U. dreams?

AZAD Did you tell anyone?

TAMAR (Lying) No, I didn’t.

AZAD You can tell them now. You can let them know, those losers, that Azad crossed to the other side. Not to the other side of the Periphery Road, no, to the other side of the world! To the “West!”

TAMAR (Proud) Tell me, Azad, what is it like, the “West?”

AZAD I don’t know yet. I haven’t seen the streets. As soon as we got out of the boat, they put us in the camp, so I don’t know.

* Please update this number for the year the play is produced.

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TAMAR OK, so… I did, I did tell someone.

AZAD Who? TAMAR Sultan.

AZAD Sultan from the television? You met Sultan?

TAMAR No. No. I wrote a letter to the show. I wanted her to know. In case you didn’t make it through the storm. I thought she could help. I was so scared.

AZAD You used my name?

TAMAR No. I figured I’d have to give your name only if something happened. Who else could I ask for help? Sultan is the only powerful person I know.

AZAD Tamar, you don’t know her. You just watch her on TV. TAMAR I don’t know. I do feel like I know her. I watch her every day. What she wears, what she likes, what she says, I know it all by heart. She will help me, I know.

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14. SULTAN OF THE PERIPHERY SULTAN My dear viewers, my destitute viewers, welcome to the show. You with no other hope in life, no bonds, no roots, no house, no health, no future, no navel...

Welcome! I will help you all, God willing, thanks to our dear sponsors. “Miracle Pots and Pans” cook miraculous dishes and sponsor miracles.

What do you hope for? What can I do for you? Tell me your wish and I will grant it.

Now, in front of these cameras, tell me about your pain, live, and I’ll find a solution, live.

If God continues to give me life, I’ll continue to save lives. Your cure is that number at the bottom of your screen. If you suffer from heartache, call me. Call me now.

What did Plato say? “Love is blind.” Call, so I can help open your eyes.

Call me any time of day. Jot down this number, the number of our beloved sponsor, “Miracle Pots and Pans”.

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15. THE RUMORS DILSHA We kept seeing each other, Kibele and I. We didn’t care that people were angry. We only cared about our babies. And our babies’ bellies.

BILO Bellies with no navels.

DILSHA It was like they weren’t born of a mother, those babies.

BILO No. They had no ties to their mothers.

DILSHA Like we hadn’t birthed them. Like we didn’t exist. I looked at her baby, I looked at mine and I thought: “We’ve left no mark on them.” And I cried.

BILO I didn’t want Dilsha to see Kibele any more. I couldn’t even walk into the tea shop.

“Get your wife to obey you,” they kept saying.

DILSHA “You are putting the whole neighborhood at risk.”

BILO Death threats, insults at our door. Every morning.

DILSHA Just because I was friends with Kibele.

BILO One night, some men from the neighborhood raided the Gypsy quarter. Lit their carts on fire, beat those they could catch, stole from them what little they had.

“Stay away,” they screamed. “You belong on the other side of the trash, you are not welcome in our neighborhood, stay on the periphery!”

DILSHA The periphery.

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BILO Our periphery was on the other side of the trash mountain, it turns out. They forbid the Gypsies from coming to our side.

DILSHA The neighborhood was at war. This was new! We had very little, but we always, always lived together. On this side of the Periphery Road, there was never any trouble.

BILO Now, the Kurds were at war with the Shia. The Shia were at war with the Nationalists. The Nationalists with the Communists. The Communists with the Islamists. The whole neighborhood was fighting!

DILSHA Now, there was a periphery of the periphery. And the Roma had to stay there.

BILO On top of all this, architects and engineers started showing up. They cut off our electricity.

DILSHA But I refused to not see Kibele. I wasn’t scared. We shared the same fate. Just like our babies.

BILO Yes. They kept seeing each other.

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16. ON SKYPE AZAD I missed you, my Tamar.

TAMAR And I missed you. Why have you not called?

AZAD I couldn’t. I was on the road. Trying to get into France.

TAMAR You weren’t in France last time? Where was the Virgin Mary at the bottom of the sea?

AZAD Italy, I think. They wanted to send me back, so I had to escape. I found a truck to take me.

TAMAR You look thin.

AZAD I haven’t really eaten in ten days.

TAMAR Ten days?

AZAD Yeah. (Beat) But I’ve forgotten all that now. I am in Paris.

TAMAR Paris?

AZAD Well, near Paris. Very close to Paris. Basically Paris.

TAMAR So, is it really that beautiful?

AZAD Yes, my Tamar, yes. It must be very beautiful.

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TAMAR Oh là là! Is it true that the women all say “oh là là?”

AZAD I don’t know.

TAMAR You don’t know?

AZAD I didn’t notice.

TAMAR So you don’t know if they say “oh là là?”

AZAD I don’t know, Tamar, I don’t know. I didn’t hear anyone say “oh là là”. I heard people say “Inshallah, mashallah.” Stuff like that, but not “oh là là.”

TAMAR So, when can I come be with you?

AZAD Not just yet.

TAMAR Why not?

AZAD I have to find a better place to stay.

TAMAR Azad?

AZAD Yes? TAMAR Did you meet a French girl?

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AZAD You crazy?

TAMAR Swear on your magic charm.

AZAD Stop it, Tamar.

TAMAR I said swear.

AZAD I swear.

TAMAR Kiss your magic charm.

Azad pulls his leather necklace from inside his shirt and kisses it. It’s the same magic charm as the one Kibele made.

AZAD Enough. I suffered for a month. To come here, to make a better life with you. You don’t even know. I don’t want you to live through what I’ve seen. When I am ready, I’ll send word and you will come. Okay? By plane, like a princess.

TAMAR OK. Azad. OK. Tell me, when you look out the window, what do you see?

Azad’s image disappears.

Azad! Azad!

AZAD Tamar! You disappeared. (Static) From my window... I see the Periphery Road, my love. It’s the Periphery Road. But in Paris.

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