The Movements of the Wind

Cast: 3 female, 2 male
Genre: dark comedy/drama/family
Set: minimal, impressionistic

Excerpt

or

"Jumping the Wind,"

a ten-minute play

CHARACTERS IN EXCERPT
POLLEN K-10: A piece of pollen, the leader of the pollen group.
POLLEN V-6: A piece of pollen. A student in the pollen group.

Excerpt from PART V:
They wait for the wind again.


AT RISE: A wilting flower petal. Two pieces of pollen, POLLEN K-10, the leader of the pollen group, and POLLEN V-6, a young pollen, are preparing for a jump.


POLLEN K-10
Quick—it’s coming!

(The WIND enters. This may be a silent group of actors, or if the director wishes to eliminate this acting role, it may be replaced with the sound effect of wind, or simply implied through the pollens. The WIND is slow and soft at first, but gains momentum and volume as it progress through the pollens’ dialogue.)

POLLEN V-6
It’s too weak.

POLLEN K-10
It’s not! It’s a perfect breeze!

POLLEN V-6
No, no. It’s too—We won’t get anywhere.

POLLEN K-10
We will! We’ll—hurry, now! With this gust!

(The WIND picks up speed)

POLLEN V-6
Don’t pull me!

POLLEN K-10
Well, you’re just standing there, rooting in to the petal even more!

POLLEN2
I’m storing my energy.

POLLEN K-10
Don’t store it—use it! Come on! Now!

POLLEN V-6
Quit rushing me! You’ll mess it up. We’ll never make it to another flower and we’ll just end up, we’ll end up stuck in the wind and…fall somewhere useless, like in that box of sand or…I just—you need to think a little more before you act!

POLLEN K-10
Oh! I need to think more? You’re telling me that I don’t think about things? That I haven’t planned ahead? Well, I’ll tell you—I’ve been planning this moment since we got to the flower! Who started the jump-off training on this petal?

POLLEN V-6
It’s not about the training…

POLLEN K-10
You don’t think the training was important?

POLLEN V-6
Well…

POLLEN K-10
I’ve had 5000 successful pollen jumps since I started! You know what the rate was before I instituted the class?

POLLEN V-6
Ten percent success. I know. You quote that every time you start a new session!

POLLEN K-10
And you know what it is now?

(The WIND slows down)

POLLEN V-6
You say eighty percent success.

POLLEN K-10
You don’t believe me?

POLLEN V-6
Maybe it’s true. It might be. I’m just saying…you’ve never mentioned how you get these statistics…

POLLEN K-10
You never questioned that before.

POLLEN V-6
Everyone was wondering.

POLLEN K-10
Why didn’t you tell me that?

POLLEN V-6
I was being polite.

POLLEN K-10
You should have told me.

(The WIND is gone.)

It’s gone now. The breeze. You distracted me and we missed another one.

POLLEN V-6
Well, it’s good we didn’t ride it. It was short-lived. See? If we’d jumped it, we would have ended up half-way there and fallen in some pile of cow dung, or that circle of water the baby Humans splash around in. Then we would have drowned.

POLLEN K-10
Pollens have made it with less wind.

POLLEN V-6
And pollens have failed with more wind.
(pause)
I’m sorry, Pollen K-10. Please don’t be discouraged with me. We’ll take the next one.

POLLEN K-10
That’s what you’ve been saying all day.

(pause)

POLLEN V-6
The party was nice last night. You organized it well.
(pause)
You’re quite good at organizing. Classes and parties and jumps and…All the pollens look up to you. It was a good party.

POLLEN K-10
You were sitting in a corner.

POLLEN V-6
I was?

POLLEN K-10
It didn’t look like you were having a good time.

POLLEN V-6
Oh, well…I was dancing too. At some point. Didn’t you see me dancing? With Pollen D-9?

POLLEN K-10
He’s a bad dancer.

POLLEN V-6
I know. I told him that too. But he only laughed and then danced worse. He was imitating the bees—flailing about wildly and making that terrible sound they make when they want to kidnap us. You should give him a training in dancing.

POLLEN K-10
I’m not a great dancer either.

POLLEN V-6
He’s nice though. I wonder what flower he landed on.

(pause)

POLLEN K-10
Well, I’m glad you had a nice time last night. I’m glad I could organize a going-away party where everyone was talking about me behind my back!

POLLEN V-6
That wasn’t happening.

POLLEN K-10
You said it was.

POLLEN V-6
Not like that.

POLLEN K-10
You said everyone questioned my statistics. And a party is a perfect place to talk about me behind my back.

POLLEN V-6
Pollen K-10…

POLLEN K-10
Well, isn’t it though? Everyone is gathered together for easy access to one another. That way you can spread the rumors more quickly, right? The peepers and crickets offer loud music—which wasn’t easy to arrange, by the way—so their songs could easily provide audio cover-up for everyone’s gossip about me.

POLLEN V-6
They weren’t gossiping about you. They like you. A few of us were just wondering how you got the statistics. That’s all. I shouldn’t have even told you. I’m sorry.

(pause)

POLLEN K-10
It’s okay. I shouldn’t care. I don’t know why I let it bother me. What difference does it make what they believe or question? They’re all gone now anyway. It’s just you and me.

POLLEN V-6
Me and you.

(pause)

POLLEN K-10
Why were you sitting in the corner last night? After you were dancing.

POLLEN V-6
I don’t know.

POLLEN K-10
Was someone mean to you? Did Pollen H-30 tease you about your color again?

POLLEN V-6
No. No, not at all.

POLLEN K-10
Good. Because your color is beautiful.

POLLEN V-6
He was fine. He didn’t say anything. Everyone was so nice. Everyone has always been nice. I was sitting because, I guess…I guess I was just watching. Just looking at everyone. At our home. Do you know, Pollen K-10, I don’t remember being anywhere else but here?

POLLEN K-10
Well, you haven’t been anywhere else but here.

POLLEN V-6
Haven’t I gone off, for a little bit at a time?

POLLEN K-10
I don’t think so. Not that I’ve noticed. But maybe. Maybe you’ve wandered off and wandered back.

POLLEN V-6
I feel like I have. But I don’t remember. I only remember being here, and knowing everyone, and taking your training, and having the parties when classes graduate, and then being here now. With you. The last two.

POLLEN K-10
That’s about all I remember also. That’s about all we’ve done, Pollen V-6.

POLLEN V-6
It’s been good though, hasn’t it?

POLLEN K-10
I suppose. But it’ll be good out there. Just as good. Maybe even better. A fresher flower, new pollens, more space, more opportunity.

POLLEN V-6
Yes, I know that. I mean, I assume that. But sometimes I wonder if we could just stay here. And have more parties and trainings and, just, talk and live. That might be nice.

POLLEN K-10
It wouldn’t be the same.

POLLEN V-6
Well, not exactly, of course. We don’t need the training now. We’ve already learned it all.

POLLEN K-10
I mean, there would be no one else here. No one else to have parties with. Everyone else would have moved on, and we’d be sitting here by ourselves on a rotting flower.

POLLEN V-6
I wonder how big the other flower will be. The one I land on. The one you land on. Do you think we’ll land on the same flower?

POLLEN K-10
I doubt it. Pollens usually get separated in the wind.

POLLEN V-6
Hm.
(pause)
I’ll miss this flower.

(pause)

POLLEN K-10
Pollen V-6?

POLLEN V-6
Yes?

POLLEN K-10
We really do need to ride the next wind.

POLLEN V-6
I know.

POLLEN K-10
This flower is dying. We can’t stay—it’ll infect us. It might have already. And in any case, the cat will get it tonight. It always gets the dying flowers.

POLLEN V-6
I know.

POLLEN K-10
And it’s getting dark.

POLLEN V-6
Yes, I know.

POLLEN K-10
Another wind will be coming soon. Are you ready for the jump?

POLLEN V-6
I think so. But I’m not sure. I might not be.
(pause)
Will you tell me where you got the statistics? Before we go? I mean, don’t you think it would be alright to tell me?

POLLEN K-10
Will it make a difference?

POLLEN V-6
I’m not sure. But I’d like to know. I’d really like to know the truth.

(long pause)

POLLEN K-10
The statistics aren’t real. I made them up.
(brief pause)
I tried to get information from the flies, but they’re too fickle. They forget what I’ve asked them to do almost immediately after they leave, and they don’t remember me when they return. The friendlier bees tried to help, but then, even the most honorable ones told me upfront there was a conflict of interest—they might lie to me even if they didn’t want to. They couldn’t help it—it’s their nature. The birds don’t care. The Humans don’t understand us. There was nowhere for me to get the statistics.
(pause)
But…the statistics are true. Pollens survive the ride so much more than they used to, because they believe they can. They believe they’re prepared, and they believe the pollens before them who took the training were prepared. And they really are prepared, Pollen V-6. And so they believe they will make it.

POLLEN V-6
Do you believe they’ll make it?

(pause)

POLLEN K-10
I believe we will make it.
(pause)
It’s coming.

POLLEN V-6
Okay.
(pause)
I’m ready. This wind. I’m ready.

(They wait. They hold their heads up and look around, feeling, listening, and waiting for the wind. After a beat, it starts to come.)

POLLEN V-6
I’m scared.

POLLEN K-10
I know. So am I.

POLLEN V-6
(pause)
I can’t move.

POLLEN K-10
Pick yourself up. Just try.

(The Wind becomes very loud.)

POLLEN V-6
I can’t. I can’t, Pollen K-10! I’m stuck.

POLLEN K-10
Well—try harder! Here—
(tries to move POLLEN V-6)
Don’t root in! Please don’t root in, Pollen V-6! Don’t let yourself do that!

POLLEN V-6
I’m trying—I’m trying, but I can’t help it!

POLLEN K-10
We have to go now! The wind is reaching its peak. We have to go at the peak! You know that!

POLLEN V-6
I can’t move! I want to move! I want to, but I’m scared! I can’t move!

POLLEN K-10
Hold onto me!

POLLEN V-6
What?

POLLEN K-10
Hold onto me! We’ll go together!

POLLEN V-6
But you always said—in your training—

POLLEN K-10
“Go alone, always go alone!” I know, I know I said that.

POLLEN V-6
One pollen might drag another down, you said. One pollen might be weaker than another and pull them both to the ground.

POLLEN K-10
But one pollen might be stronger than the other. And lift that pollen up…to safe ground.

(The Wind is frantic now, frenzied and so loud that the pollens’ screaming voices are barely heard over it.)

Quickly now! Hold onto me Stick with me!

(POLLEN V-6 shakes her head)

Pollens have a better statistical chance at survival when they go together!

POLLEN V-6
But—

POLLEN K-10
I need you too!

(THE WIND reaches its height. POLLEN K-10 grasps POLLEN V-6’s hand and POLLEN V-6 holds on tightly. They enter the frenzied wind. THE WIND engulfs them and howls loudly. It swirls them around the space several times. Then they are gone.)

(pause)

(All is quiet and bright. Sunny.)