OTR 58 you always greeted him with a joke. Your little sisters remembers when she fell down and scraped her knees. She was crying when you came up to her and told her it was going to be all right. This goes on for a while, and when they’re done, everyone feels better.
nails and shaves your face. He puts makeup on your lips and cheeks. He puts you in a hideous suit, and then he puts you in the box.
BOY When you die, people pretend they knew you. They talk about you when they never took the time to sit down and ask you how you’re doing. They had better things to do, and so did you. You were all in your own heads. That’s why they search their memories for the one nice moment you shared together. For the one nice thing they did for you. They hold on to an insignificant memory hoping it will make them feel better. And the worst part is that it does.
BOY When you die, you don’t look like yourself anymore, but people pretend you do. They parade you around in your hideous suit and your ugly box. People come up to you and look at your waxed off face. They cry, and their tears fall on your suit. They are absorbed by the fabric, and when they dry up, you’re left carrying other people’s tears for all eternity. Lots of tears fall on you that day. The suit gets heavier and heavier until your spirit can’t move anymore. At the end, you’re trapped in that box.
GIRL When you die, you appreciate life, and so do all the people around you. You think of when you were a little kid, and the only thing that made you...
(The GIRL puts her hand on the BOY’s shoulder.)
BOY (interrupting) When you die, you’re dead! (Beat.) BOY ...You’re dead, and that’s it. There is no beginning, and there is no end. (Pause.) GIRL When you die, you’re fast asleep. You sleep, and you dream of the most beautiful dream you’ve ever had. You’re calm. BOY When you die, they put you in a box. An old man that you’ve never met starts touching your body. He cuts your
38
GIRL When you die... When you...
(The BOY brushes her off.) BOY When you die, and when you’re stuck in that hideous box, you feel claustrophobic. You can’t move. You can’t escape. You try to scream, but you can’t make any sound. Nobody can hear you. They come up to you, and they look at your body, and they cry on your sleeve, and they make your suit heavier, and they trap you in that box, but they can’t hear you. Then, you start to feel warm, you realize you’re being burned, and it hurts. It hurts more than anything you’ve ever felt before, but you mind, because it’s better than hearing people crying, and you’ll finally be out of that ugly box and that hideous suit. You become a pile of ashes, and you don’t feel anything anymore. You’re dust. You’re nothing. (The BOY looks at her.) (The GIRL looks at him.) (They look at each other.)
39