The Blind Racist

THE BLIND RACIST by Ioana Filip

+40728076117 ioana.o.filip@gmail.com

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SCENE 1 WE HEAR THE NOISY STREETS OF A BIG CITY: HORNS AND PEOPLE WALKING BY. WE HEAR A CAR APROACHING AND STOPPING CLOSE TO US. THE ENGINE SHUTS DOWN AND WE HEAR SOMEONE RUNNING TOWARDS US. DRIVER JOHN:

Sir?! Do-you-need-any-help?

WE HEAR SOME SLOW STEPS JOINED BY A STICK HITTING THE GROUND.

LUGH SIGHT:

I’m sorry… what?

DRIVER JOHN:

(SPEAKING RARE, AS IF LUGH SIGHT DOESN’T HEAR WELL) Do-you-needany-help?

LUGH SIGHT:

(SPEAKING RARE AND IRONICAL, BUT THEN SWITCHING BACK TO NORMAL TONE) No-I-don’t. Why on Earth do you talk like this?

DRIVER JOHN:

(EMBARASSED) Oh I’m sorry… I thought you were...

LUGH BLIND:

(CUTTING THE DRIVER’S SPEECH) Blind? Sharp observation, I am.

I’m blind as a bat… However my ears work great.

DRIVER JOHN:

I’m sorry...

LUGH SIGHT:

(CUTTING THE DRIVER AGAIN) Oh, stop being sorry. What are you all sorry about? I am just blind, I am no foul.

WE HEAR SOME STEPS IN THE SNOW APPROACHING IN A HURRY AND THEN THE DOORS OF THE CAR CLOSING, AS THE AMBIANCE CHANGES TO THE INSIDE OF THE CAR.

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LUGH SIGHT:

(SPEAKING WHILE ENTERING THE CAR AND CONTINUING INSIDE AS WELL FRUSTRATED)I should be sorry for all of you sounding so illiterate while speaking to me as if I’m retarded. Now… Since you've already established our dialect (SARCASTIC) ME – GO – BACK SIT, YOU – DRIVE! SCENE 2 WE HEAR THE ENGINE IGNITING AS THE CAR DRIVES AWAY. WE ARE INSIDE THE CAR.

DRIVER JOHN:

Where to Sir?

LUGH SIGHT:

To Swiss Cottage on Avenue Road.

We need to pick up my assistant, Trevis. Then we head to the National Gallery Shop on Orange Street.

DRIVER JOHN:

Right Away Sir. PAUSE. WE HEAR THE CAR ENGINE FROM INSIDE OF THE CAR AS IT’S DRIVING OFF.

LUGH SIGHT:

What’s your name?

DRIVER JOHN:

(OFF) John Sir. John Petterson.

LUGH SIGHT:

Well John, please don’t take me sight seeing, all right?

DRIVER JOHN:

(OFF.HESITATING) Yes, Sir!

LUGH SIGHT:

Take the short route, on Kings, I’ve been living here forever, I’ve seen it all one too many times.

DRIVER JOHN:

(OFF) Of course…

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LUGH SIGHT:

Of course.

WE HEAR THE CAR ACCELERATING AGAIN (IRONICAL) Oh John, what a bitter disappointment, not as quick-eyed as I thought: you’ve just missed the second exit on the right! I mean, don’t get me wrong.

I love the city and I’m sure you’re the perfect tour guide, but today doesn’t seem like a good day for sight-seeing. Look at this snow! It’s been ages since we last seen snow. Look at this extraordinary city! Look!!! I’m looking!

DRIVER JOHN:

(OFF. TOGETHER WITH LUGH SIGHT) I'm looking!

LUGH SIGHT:

Oh, don't look. Drive!

LUGH

CHUCKLES

I can't watch the road you know!

PAUSE My name is Lugh Sight. With a G. Kind of ironic for one who’s legally blind. Don’t you think?

DRIVER JOHN:

Nice to meet you Sir.

LUGH SIGHT:

Like wise. You probably heard of me before: the blind jerk who thinks he'd seen it all.

DRIVER JOHN:

Yes Sir, I did.

LUGH LAUGHS

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DRIVER JOHN:

I mean, I heard about you.

WE HEAR THE RADIO STATIONS SWITCHING. Would you like to listen to some music Sir?

LUGH SIGHT:

No John, thank you.

THE RADIO STATION SHUFFLE SOUND STOPS. Quiet is good. We have so little silence in London. So few times we stop and say: hey, listen, it's quiet. We should take advantage of each moment of silence we can have. Don’t you think?

PAUSE. LUGH CHUCKLES CLOSE TO THE MICROPHONE UNDERSTANDING THAT THE DRIVER GOT THE POINT BUT CONTINUES. (CLOSE)Ah! The silence of winter…

It’s nice to have a bit of break from all the noises around: no bird squeaking, no bugs flying, no heels hitting the ground and diving into the heated asphalt…

WE HEAR THE CAR SLOWING DOWN AND WE HEAR VOICE OF PEOPLE PASSING BY OUTSIDE. It’s nice to have some break from all that, don't you think John? Some peace of mind. Yet, noise it's London’s charm! I wonder how people can live in Northern countries on that blistery cold.

(LUGH SIGHT/CONT'D OVER)

5

LUGH SIGHT (CONT'D):

I mean for a blind person that’s like living in eternal silence, like being locked in a dark prison with no inmates. I mean cold and ugly I can tolerate, but silence, silence in big quantities drives me crazy.

Can you imagine being in complete darkness for three months, John?

PAUSE The tick coat of icy snow silences every attempt of noise…

Ridiculously scary! That’s why I love England!

DRIVER JOHN MUMBLES IN APPROVAL It’s gloriously noisy, all year round! So , when we get snow in the city, once in a cold moon, it’s just a break from all these crazy sounds around. That’s magical, that’s one hell of a magical silence. Don’t you think?

But winter, winter has a dark secret. You know what’s winter’s secret John?

DRIVER:

(OFF) No Sir, I don’t.

LUGH SIGHT:

The winter’s secret, John, is that it can’t keep one. It can’t keep a secret, it tells on you! Winter betrays everybody that trusts it.

(PAUSE) In winter I feel I’m getting too personal to everybody I pass by. You know what I mean?

(LUGH SIGHT/CONT'D OVER)

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LUGH SIGHT (CONT'D):

The snow tells me the dirty things the man in front of me whispers to the girl in front of him. It betrays the bird crying for food on the other side of the road and warns me when a car turned on Surr St. It just makes all noises louder. That’s winter. A paradox!

It kills the echo of life while turning its volume up.

PAUSE. WE HEAR THE CAR STOPPING AND WE HEAR PEOPLE TALKING OUTSIDE THE CAR TOGETHER WITH THEIR STEPS ON THE SNOW. Now spring on the other hand, people think it’s pure, SARCASTIC)the symbol of rebirth.

An honest season one might add.

But really, spring it’s deceiving.

Spring reveals nature to all its beauty but keeps the secrets hidden away. All it takes is the beating of a cuckoo’s wings, or the sound of the flower-perfumed wind, to perfectly camouflage what others want to keep for themselves. It hides what people don’t want other to know and reveals only the beauty of life.

That’s why spring looks so perfect. But spring lies, John.

Spring lies! But it’s the type of lying you forgive, the innocent one, the omission if you will. The glass half full. And some people like you ignore it John… Not you personally, but you: the sighters.

Why would I choose to ignore the spring's symphony for something I could see? Why would I refuse to discover the full truth?

Why not listen and create.

(LUGH SIGHT/CONT'D OVER)

7

LUGH SIGHT (CONT'D):

If you refuse to believe that having a vision is better than vision itself, than you’re a life amateur John. A Sunday driver! Don’t you think?

DRIVER JOHN:

You’re definitely right Sir! LUGH SIGHT GIGGLES

LUGH SIGHT:

But... Surely, you do listen.

(DRAWING ATTENTION) Oh, don’t miss the next exit John.

CAR BREAKS, TIRES SQUEAING. I’m watching you!

PAUSE. CAR ACCELERATES

closer.

We are picking up Trevis, remember? (PAUSE) He's a nice guy, young, squeaky voice and a Russian perfume. Certainly, he insists is not, it's definitely French with an Oriental aroma. But I tell you, you can’t foul a blind man’s nose.

It never fails. He usually dresses cashmere, very silky, and my guess is he will not have left home those noisy rubber boots. He's the special type. You can’t miss him.I promise. Hell, I can’t miss him… and I can’t see. That obvious he is. His rubber boots don’t help him in this snow either! It kills your ears whenever he comes LUGH LAUGHS

DRIVER JOHN:

Yes Sir!

LUGH SIGHT:

(CHUCKLES) I’m glad you agree

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John… (CLOSE) I’m glad you agree.

SCENE 3 CAR STOPS. WE HEAR THE DOORS OPENING AND THE NOISY CITY SOUNDS COMING FROM OUTSIDE. WE HEAR PEOPLE’S STEPS ON SNOW. WOMAN:

(OFF) And I told him to call him, but he never bothered to…

TREVIS WALKER:

(OFF) Oh, I'm sure he will madam.

WE HEAR SOME RUBBER BOOTS SCRUBING CLOSE TO THE MICROPHONE AND SOMEONE BLOWING AIR CLOSE TO THE MICROPHONE AS IF HE JUST FINISHED A CIGARETTE.

WOMAN:

(OFF) Bastard!

TREVIS WALKER:

Luuugh!

DOORS CLOSE. WE HEAR THE CAR AMBIANCE AGAIN WITH THE CITY NOISES OFF THE MICROPHONE.

LUGH SIGHT:

Trevis! Always a pleasure to see people pronounce my name right.

To the National Gallery dear John.

TREVIS LAUGHS

TREVIS WALKER:

(SPEAKING OVER LUGH) First rule of painting – get your teacher’s name right.

TREVIS BLOWS THE CIGARETTE AIR AGAIN

LUGH SIGHT:

Or, don't speak when your teacher does.

DRIVER JOHN:

(OVER LUGH SIGHT)To the Orange

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street, right aw...

DRIVER JOHN STOPS BEFORE FINISHING HIS SENTENCE LUGH SIGHT:

Gentlemen, what the hell is wrong with you today? What is this mess?

TREVIS LAUGHS AND MOVES HIS FEET MAKING SQUEAKY SOUNDS WITH HIS NOISY BOOTS. WE HEAR THE ASHTREY DOOR BEING OPENED.

LUGH SIGHT:

Trevis, would you be so kind and tell me what do I have to do for you to lose those rubber boots?

TREVIS LAUGHS AGAIN SCENE 3

TREVIS WALKER:

I got you the designs you wanted to check out.(TREVIS COUGHS)

LUGH SIGHT:

Fantastic. A bloody artist who can’t make up his mind on the designs. A sighter needs a blind man’s eye.

TREVIS WALKER:

And this makes your day, doesn’t it?

LUGH CHUCKLES

LUGH SIGHT:

(CLOSE) It sure does.

TREVIS WALKER:

It’s going to be full of reporters. Quite good press for you.

LUGH SIGHT:

Exactly what I needed. Not only a blinker, but also an eye-shiner, compliments of those rude flashes.

You’d think they want to look inside your soul.

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TREVIS WALKER:

Oh, you’re overreacting. Plus, they make your eyes truly pop out.

THEY BOTH START LAUGHING

LUGH SIGHT:

Trevis my boy, you just reminded me of Menworld, thank you very much. Boy, that was quite a photo session.

TREVIS WALKER:

(ENTHUSIASTIC) Oh, Menworld! Do I want to hear the story?

LUGH SIGHT:

Well, you might just have to now.

So this young lad calls me in a nice spring Monday morning to go at Menworld's headquarters for an interview about my work. Surely my majestic work and fine taste in arts is something to be remarked in their top magazine, he claims.

I was about to meet the editor in chief a man truly interested with my work, who turned out to be a woman. I found it both intriguing and stupid so I decided to take their invitation and basically shove it in their front page.

So... There I was. Answering questions to this woman - Tricia Amsterdam. After half an hour of speaking to a rude button on her voice recorder, going on and off whenever she felt I said something relevant to her story, she goes '<<Mr. Sight. The blind man who'd seen it all.>> How's that for a headline?' So, naturally, I answered: 'That's exactly what my assistant would have said' TREVIS STARTS TO LAUGH VERY LOUD

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LUGH SIGHT:

Surely, she didn't get my point so she giggled, threw her voice recorder over the bottles of perfumes she had in her bag, as a salvation to her perspiration problems one might add, and continued with pedestrian enthusiasm: 'please, let's go and take some great pictures.' We proceeded to a big room, which from the sound of the photographer's personality it could only be white, where he started to perform his magic. But surely, it was mostly tricks than magic. Because he had worked only with models before,his indications were fairly poor for a blind man look mean, or confident, look smart. So after a while, I started to feel pity for the foul and quite a bit afraid he will make me pose in front of a fan with my lips all squinched, so I said: look, I've never really seen myself in the mirror, so unless you make my eyes truly pop out I can't really help you with my face expressions. So either you give me some rational direction like, I don't know, lift an eyebrow or we'll be here all day.

Or at least you'll be, because I'll be leaving.

TREVIS LAUGHS

TREVIS WALKER:

Oh, so that's why you finished so quickly that day.

LUGH SIGHT:

Absolutely. Plus I wanted to spoil your date with Nadia.

PAUSE

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LUGH SIGHT:

Oh, don't be so dramatic. I remember my first love. She was the most tender woman I ever knew, her skin was so smooth, the hair smelled like a summer breeze and her perfume, Trevis, her perfume was the smell of heaven. And then, we broke up. Her skin became a thousand nails, her hair - dust in the eyes on a day at the beach and her perfume, the smell of moist in a dry sauna. It was over. So was her memory. So Trevis my boy, allow her to become moist, a reminiscence of something that never occurred. Let her become an illusion. The fantasy of a mad man.

PAUSE

LUGH SIGHT:

You see Trevis, I think for you it's so much easier to forget the one you love.

TREVIS WALKER:

You're wrong.

LUGH SIGHT:

Not you my boy, you sighted ones.

TREVIS SIGHS AS IF HE HEARD THIS TOO MANY TIMES

LUGH SIGHT:

Please, bare with me. When you think of Nadia you think of how she looked like at that romantic restaurant you took her on your first date, you remember the first time she spoke about love and imprinted her face screaming your name the first time she spent the night. That's what you remember.

Now me, I missed Laura on so many levels.

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(LUGH SIGHT/CONT'D OVER) LUGH SIGHT (CONT'D)

I cried each time I smelled her perfume on another woman, lusted for her fingers going over my face and her hair blowing in the wind blocking the sun shades from me. Her image was so much more complex than what you can imagine.

TREVIS WALKER:

With all do respect Lugh, you have no idea how much I loved Nadia. Or how special she was, or what do I remember.

LUGH SIGHT:

You see Trevis, now YOU are overreacting. I'm sure John here would agree with me that he alters his high school sweet heart memory as well. And most likely, he'll tell us he can hardly remember how she looked like. Because back then, how she looked like it was all he cared about. But eyes have a short memory. Now tell us John, am I right or wrong?

DRIVER JOHN:

I married my high-school sweetheart.

TREVIS GIGGLES

LUGH SIGHT:

Bravo to you John. You captured one woman's heart! (CLOSE) One, being the key word here.

TREVIS GIGGLES AGAIN

LUGH SIGHT:

Now you see Trevis, while John here may be one of the last hopeless romantics men on Earth, we may turn out to be irrevocably and forever like this. Not you and me, but us, blind people.

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TREVIS WALKER:

Humour me, how did you reach this conclusion?

LUGH SIGHT:

Well my boy, we listen. And not necessarily because we care more than the average men, but mostly because that's our weapon in everyday life. So while other men want women to get to the point, we want them to go into details as much as possible so that we get the entire picture. On the other hand, John if you're wife's listening close your ears, while most men will skip prelude and get straight to the point, we never do that. We like to touch and discover what the women look and feel like before we get...

TREVIS WALKER:

(CUTS LUGHS THEORY)...Down with it!

LUGH SIGHT:

(IRONICAL AND RARE)Down-with-it, precisely! Actually, if I think of it you claim Casanova has been the best lover in the world.

Surely, in your world. I believe all blind men walking can beat this title at a Sunday brunch.

Turn on the music John, play something for all the women in the world.

WE HEAR THE RADIO STATIONS GOING ON AND WE HEAR THE SONG: LADY IN RED FOR A FEW SECONDS.TREVIS AND LUGH LAUGH.

LUGH SIGHT

(OVER THE MUSIC): There you go.

Best lovers in the world!

TREVIS AND LUGH LAUGH AGAIN

LUGH SIGHT

(SHOUTING TO JOHN OVER THE MUSIC) Enough! Please turn it down.

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WE HEAR THE RADIO SHUTTING OFF

SCENE 4 WE HEAR THE CAR SLOWING DOWN AND STOPPING WITHOUT CLOSING ITS ENGINE. SUDDENLY THE TRAFFIC LIGHT' BLIND SOUND STARTS TO RING. LUGH SIGHS IN DISSAPROVAL CLOSE TO THE MICROPHONE. TREVIS STARTS TO COUGH LOUDER AND LOUDER AND SUDDENLY STOPS AS THE TRAFFIC LIGHT NOISES STOP. LUGH SIGHT:

You're awfully kind for a British lad. A bit disarming I might add.

WE HEAR THE SOUND OF A PHONE AS TREVIS WALKER RECIEVES A MESSAGE But that of course until that awful machine of yours starts ringing.

TREVIS STARTS LAUGHING How on Earth do you sleep at night?

TREVIS WALKER:

Oh, but that's the most popular time of the day.

LUGH SIGHT:

Bloody hell.

TREVIS WALKER:

They tweet from overseas. It's the peak hour.

LUGH SIGHT:

Twitter smitter. Can you imagine how is the Twitter experience for me? I have a computer reader that gets me through all the status updates, who in most of the cases

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are meant to be funny. So, it's basically like listening to Stephen Hawking doing stand up comedy.

TREVIS WALKER LAUGHS TREVIS WALKER:

On the other hand, the Twitter account I've made for you has a registered 1000 followers. So you're a twitter star.

LUGH SIGHT:

Bullocks!

TREVIS WALKER:

(PAUSE) Should I tweet that?

PAUSE

LUGH SIGHT:

You know what I like about you Trevis?

PAUSE You’ve got a hell of an imagination. These damn noisy boots of yours and annoying ring tone show you’ve got it.

No pedestrian would where these noisy boots,it takes imagination to wear them. Ah, imagination. Now that’s a sense you should feel sorry if you lack. The worst part of it is that it doesn’t matter if you never had imagination or lost it during the years, it still doesn’t make your situation any better. No excuses there! Now you see Trevis, I told you one too many times, if you’re blind like me since the day you were born, things are so much easier… But you sighted people can’t picture life without vision, simply because you’ve got none, you have no imagination. Whatsoever.

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LUGH SIGHT (CONT'D):

(LUGH SIGHT/CONT'D OVER) Not you you, but you… (IRONICAL, HIGHLIGHTING WORDS TO RAISE HIS IRONY) The ones who posses the great gift of seeing. Some may agree I’m a blind racist.

TREVIS LAUGHS Don’t laugh (GIGGLES) the more I think of it, the more I’m keen to believe it my self. To be quite honest, sighters are the only one discriminated in our world, the non-favored, the minority if you will.

Not your world, our world. The blind world. We don’t have skin colors or races, no stereotypes, no institutional discrimination.

We have our own culture, we create our own perception of the people.

You on the other hand are completely isolated from our world. You’re our aliens. On some level I think most of us don’t like you – either because you think you’re so gifted or because you always think you know better.

You think we envy you, probably that’s why everybody calls me a jerk too. But how on Earth could I envy you? Pfff… I tend to believe more and more I’m becoming a blind populist. Lugh Sight King!

TREVIS LAUGHS IRONICAL FOR A SPLIT OF A SECOND What? Trevis, my boy, don’t be naive. It takes a racist to fight for a race.

PAUSE You know what annoys me the most Trevis? That you don’t get I would

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never give up being blind.

TREVIS WALKER:

(IRONICAL) Not me me, but…

LUGH SIGHT:

But YOU!

TREVIS WALKER:

Right…

LUGH AND TREVIS LAUGH

LUGH SIGHT:

I live in a dream world Trevis, literally. I decide the shape of things and I change them to however I please. I decide if I like fat women, or skinny, blonde or brunette and I know I can like them, because I won’t tell if someone judges me for it. I decide what beauty is and I have the liberty to choose from various forms. I have no stereotypes. I care not about social conventions, simply because I can’t see them. I decide the beauty of things, I choose their color, I can make a rainy day sunny and a sunny one I can fill it with clouds. You say what I don’t know, doesn’t affect me. I say, what I can’t see shouldn’t affect my world. So, in a sense, I construct it however I choose to. Both my world and yours. I can change your world in the blink of an eye, a blind man’s eye. I can shape it to fit my mood whereas you, YOU have to deal with it. You see, my boy, It’s like I’m permanently on a blind brand of narcotics. It’s an ideal world I walk in and there’s no way YOU can prove me wrong. I wouldn’t trade my world to yours, I wouldn’t change my eyes for anything.

(LUGH SIGHT/CONT'D OVER)

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LUGH SIGHT (CONT'D):

I can’t compare your world to mine, just as you can’t put yours aside one billions of miles in the outer space. Cause if you think of it it’s sort of the same thing. You know it's out there, you know more or less how it should look like but you make up your own vision of it in your mind. That of course, if you have vision, not just sight.

My eyes are impaired all right but I definitely have a vision, now tell me Trevis, how many eyes out there truly have one as well?

PAUSE I don’t want to see your reality, because mine is just perfect. You can’t change the things you see but I can twist my reality to however it fits my life. Can you do that?

PAUSE I know the sound of your world better than you do and sometimes it makes me sad. I wonder how many times have you stopped to hear it well. If there’s anyone to be jealous in this equation it’s you, not me. So don’t be sorry for me please, be sorry for you.

TREVIS WALKER:

I beg to differ; I don’t think anybody can feel sorry for you… certainly am not.

LUGH LAUGHS Either we hate you because you talk painfully much or because you’re too arrogant.

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I

TREVIS WALKER (CONT'D):

(TREVIS WALKER/CONT'D OVER) You’re like a millennial Sherlock Holmes. Some may love your work, others would just call you a figment of a cocaine addict. You are a bit of a paradox too – the blind who’d seen it all. So… No worries! They may say they’re sorry, but honestly?

(IRONICAL) How can one truly mean it?

LUGH LAUGHS

LUGH SIGHT:

(PAUSE) Well they can’t touch my little piece of heaven. It’s untouchable! I tell you that. It’s no real misery up here, it’s just the taste of a state of mind they dream to have one day, or in another life. I’m born with this state of mind. I’m born in a dream world!

TREVIS WALKER:

They see it in your painting though… You paint your soul, a world through your soul.

PAUSE

LUGH SIGHT:

Correction! I paint your world through my eyes. And apparently most of the time I get it right.

So my eyes can’t be that bad, can they?

TREVIS WALKER:

You know where I stand regarding your theories. I do agree that your freedom to change the world can’t be compared to ours. But what about the moon, the stars, the colors you will never see?

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LUGH SIGHT:

Oh Trevis, what about the breeze you can feel just for a moment during your night with the moon LU and the stars, what about the ever so different grass you walk on your green fields? Tell me Trevis, what makes your day more? What is out there, or what you can really feel close to you? You think memories are made out of visions, memories are made out of feelings.

Because what doesn’t matter, is not to be remembered. You think blind people have no déjŕ vues, that their lives are a mix of sensations. Naďve! Sooo naďve! We have more déjŕ vues that you can dream of having, our whole life is constructed of vivid memories, that combine sensations with scents, noises with touches.

TREVIS WALKER:

If there was one thing I do give you full credit for, is that in a sense you are your own world’s maker. You build it, you protect it, you represent it. And all the memories it was built on.

PAUSE

TREVIS WALKER:

But i don't think ignorance defines us as sighters, i don't think it defines a normal life.

LUGH SIGHT:

Normal, who are you Trevis to decide what's normal?

TREVIS WALKER:

The general acceptance of the term normal, one who's senses are fully functional. I get that you're all pissed off...

LUGH SIGHT:

(OVER TREVIS WALKER) No, I'm not!

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TREVIS WALKER

(OVER LUGH) ...Or that you don't fully agree...

LUGH SIGHT

(OVER TREVIS WALKER, IRONICAL) Oh Trevis, I don't agree with you at all!

TREVIS WALKER

(RAISING HIS TONE)...But just because people enjoy the scenery while dismissing everything else around doesn't make us sighters look dumb. When people decide to spend money on a painting they don't just make a decision out of how the painting looks like. You know that very well. That's why your paintings must sell so good because of the different perspective you put on things Lugh. When I see a sighter landscape, I admire the layout, the colors, the choice of elements, the vision of a well known painter over a simple theme, whereas if I look at your landscapes, I see emotions, I see color choices based on smells, I see textures of feelings, I see life through sensations. You offer a different perspective Lugh, that's why you're so popular.

PAUSE And that's why I think you're the best teacher as well. A sigther that passes through your painting school is a sure success. That's why this desginer we are heading to right now wants you too, because of how you put things into perspective. Not because you're blind. Blindness is not an atuu, don't foul yourself.

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LUGH SIGHT:

You're the foul here Trevis. You see perspectives are given by over analysing. If you'd be stuck in a dark room wouldn't you analyse every thing that goes around?

Increase the smallest sounds around, smell the most irrelevant scents and feel all surfaces even if they're all alike, until your version of truth somehow seems plausible. We adapt. New perspectives are merely social conventions Trevis.

TREVIS WALKER:

So, on some level, you do agree, blindness can be a sure pain in the ass sometimes.

LUGH SIGHT:

Oh Trevis, so as the lenght of your left foot when the lift's doors close , the smell you lost because of tobacco and the lack of IQ when you have a math exam.

Consequentally, blindness can be a burden sometimes but it's no tragedy, as you see it.

Plus, you have to agree with me, that because of our development , lack of ignorance and ability to adapt, us, blind people, may turn out to be more smart then you in the generations to come.

TREVIS WALKER:

No, you are again bringing ignorance to a general belief. I belief there's no difference between you and us. Sure, you lack a sense, sure we may be more ignorant, but if it were to cut the lines between us two, in life we will perform the same. Are you honestly telling me there's no ignorance in a blind man's world?

24

LUGH SIGHT:

Do you understand what you are asking me? To awknoledge ignorance in a world where all elements combined create new universes every day. In a world where ignorance may be life threatening. are you honestly telling me that blind people didn't take out ignorance on their survival path?

It's evolution. Basic biology.

TREVIS LAUGHS

TREVIS WALKER:

(SARCASTIC)So now, you're a whole new species.

LUGH SIGHT:

Surely, it's an analogy. But think what you're asking me to awknolwedge. We can't be ignorant.

Some of us may stop fighting every once in a while, but this is a whole new deal.

TREVIS WALKER:

Tell me then Lugh, how is it to visit Japan in first class from Britain, and miss what all others would love to have at least once in their life time.

LUGH SIGHT:

It's noisy for about 25 hours, but it gets better while you smell the cherry blossoms if you go in spring. It's noisy there as well, they speak fast and loud.

TREVIS WALKER:

But you miss the overview of two continents, the landscape change, the scenery you land on.You have 25 hours of noises, we have 25 hours of amazement.

PAUSE

LUGH SIGHT:

You do realise, that at some point you need to stop.

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TREVIS WALKER:

Oh, I'm sorry. I was being completely disrespectful.

LUGH SIGHT:

I understand all these. But I also know all the other things that I can manage and which compose my daily life. One trip to Japan is not a life time, it's not something which defines me, doesn't make me happy on the long run. Or our world. And yes, if tomorrow I will start writing a book about Japan I bet your rubber boots it would sell more than if you would start one.

TREVIS LAUGHS

TREVIS WALKER:

I told you... Different perspectives.

PAUSE

LUGH SIGHT:

You know what I mostly hate about you?

TREVIS WALKER:

Us.

LUGH SIGHT:

Yes, you.

TREVIS LAUGHS When you come and sit in front of me. Stare into my eyes and think I can’t tell. You stare! Why the hell you stare at me? Just because I don’t blink, doesn’t mean I’m gazing upon you, that I’m fascinated with you. Sorry my head is in your direction, all right?

(LUGH SIGHT/CONT'D OVER)

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LUGH SIGHT (CONT'D):

And when you do realize in your superficial head that yes, I can’t see if you’re winking at me, you start staring at my eyes - hoping to find answers to questions no one else can, to know if I’m sad, or mad, if I can cry or what colors my eyes truly are. Blue man, blue! Yes, they’re blue, no contacts. For God’s sake, they want to talk to me about the misery I must be living in!

PAUSE Try closing your eyes for like two minutes Trevis. I’ll bring five guys in the room. Tell me if you can’t feel if they’re staring at you. Actually I have a whole theory about it: staring releases a whole bunch of negative energy that people feel for the rest of their lives. As I said, you don’t need eyes in order to see. People think sight comes together with the eyes, at birth - so wrong, sooooo naive! Sight is composed out of a series of information we receive through the entire body.

We can see things through a single laugh, a single touch, a single sound, a single breath. We speak so many body languages that eyes are sometimes barely useful. You speak at least three, John here speak two… I think eyes are just over appreciated.

TREVIS WALKER:

I wonder…

LUGH SIGHT:

I hate people who choose to ignore life passing right in front of their eyes. I’m trying to create a culture Trevis.

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LUGH SIGHT(CONT'D):

(LUGH SIGHT/ CONT'D OVER) I’m trying to create a blind culture. The millennial blind culture.

Something to take us out of the anonymity, from dysfunctional people to the peaks of genius, from dumb to Nobel prizes.

Blindness is so much more than a handicap. Blindness is a way of life, a current, a style. The human race is so different on physical levels, imagine how different we are from you. Instead of trying to fix our problem you should rather try to understand there’s nothing to be fixed.

PAUSE My mother knew I had to learn Braille but I didn’t want to. I always knew the reading system for blind people will evolve. And damn it, I always hated Braille. But tell it to a woman who has seen all her life! Words are meant to enter through your ears and connect to your brain, not through your fingers. You know what I mean? Can you hear music through your fingers?! Sure you can. But can you really listen it?

TREVIS WALKER:

I hear you Lugh.

TREVIS AND LUGH LAUGH TOGETHER

LUGH SIGHT:

When I turned twelve, my Braille teacher observed I couldn’t read…

Still! He had given up on me. So he told my mother I could be the first dyslexic blind person.

TREVIS LAUGHS

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LUGH SIGHT:

Can you imagine that? I’m blind and dyslexic. I still think I am, haven’t touched Braille in a while. Well blind for sure!

(PAUSE) (CLOSE) I can’t read the damn Braille. Shouldn’t someone be interested in debating the blind dyslexia before they blame technology and call us illiterates?

PAUSE So these days… Some blind people praise Braille, the new generation praises technology and voice readers. We have our share of old thinkers as well… (CLOSE) Don’t know where that places me... I want to create a blind-culture Trevis. That’s my dream! To show the world some times it’s so much better to exchange vision to understanding life.

PAUSE That’s what I’m trying to teach through my paintings. That it should be about life, not about observing it. If I'd tell you that starting tomorrow you'll be painting blind folded, what would you say?

TREVIS WALKER:

(HESITATING) That... No way!

LUGH SIGHT LAUGHS

LUGH SIGHT:

It’s funny, you close your eyes when you want to escape reality but then you’re afraid to do so when you are asked to. You think it’s because you have an option, I think it’s because you’re

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LUGH SIGHT (CONT'D):

undecided.(LUGH SIGHT/CONT'D OVER) When you have less, you know what you need. When you have it all, you make up needs. And simplicity is good. At least for every day life.

TREVIS WALKER:

You should have become a philosopher.

LUGH SIGHT:

How could I not be Trevis? I have to make things up in my life.

LUGH AND TREVIS START LAUGHING AS WE HEAR THE CAR ENGINE ACCELERATING POWERFUL. John! You missed the exit again. Just because I don’t see, doesn’t mean I don’t observe! (PAUSE) Now you see Trevis, you might think you need the sight for painting but to be quite honest with you, fingers are underappreciated it.

Fingers can observe a lot more and practice sure makes for vision. Most people can tell if it’s very cold or very hot in one second after touching surfaces. A blind person can. I can. I can tell a pine surface from one finger tip and press the elevator button 10 times faster than you. I have memory, reflex and a completely different image of the world. Yes, tips are underappreciated it.

PAUSE. CAR ACCELERATES.

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LUGH SIGHT:

So when you start painting, feel your painting. It’s something you need to feel.

And I don’t mean it like a metaphor. I mean it like, take your bloody hand and touch the painting. Yes you’ll make your hands dirty, but you’ll discover life! Your painting is alive, don't kill it!

DRIVER JOHN:

Sir! We are here.

CAR STOPS

LUGH SIGHT:

Ah, it’s the Hills boy. Are you ready?

WE HEAR THE SOUND OF A LIGHTER AND TREVIS BLOWING AIR AGAIN

TREVIS WALKER:

Are you? Is not everyday a world famous sighted designer chooses a blind painter to recommend the new collection.

And whom else than a blind painter like you to evaluate minimalistic clothes of a world class designer?

LUGH SIGHT:

Minimalistic clothes on beautiful women… I bet you’d want to be blind right now.

TREVIS LAUGHS

TREVIS WALKER:

I bet you’d want to really see how those super models look like.

LUGH SIGHT:

I’d rather touch. Wouldn’t you?

TREVIS AND LUGH LAUGH

TREVIS WALKER:

It’s a blind date, anyway,

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right?

LUGH SIGHT:

Damn right. Now let’s see them!

THE DOORS OF THE CARS OPEN AND WE HEAR REPORTERS SCREAMING AFTER LUGH SIGHT. WE HEAR CAMERA FLASHES.

UNKNOWN MAN:

(OFF)Sir! Do- You- need – anyhelp?

LUGH SIGHT:

(OFF)Oh bullocks! Go away. I'm just blind!

TREVIS WALKER:

(CONTINUING LUGH'S PHRASE)... Not handicaped!

UNKNOWN MAN:

(FADING AWAY) Oh, I'm sorry Sir! I thought...

LUGH SIGHT:

(FADING AWAY. OVER THE UNKNOWN MAN)Thank You Trevis!

LUGH SIGHT AND TREVIS WALKER LAUGH END

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