by Alan Filewod
Sedna: No!
George: Love you … (Silence.) Oh sweet mother of God … what have I done?
Sedna: I loved you, Father. Long ago … (George crouches rocking. His head between his knees. Sedna cradles her seal tail.)
Sedna: You cursed me. Half human, half seal. Each part of me hating the other. You owe me …
George: It should be simple. You and me.
Sedna: You owe me a child.
George: A child … Almira? A child. (The boom. George hears it. Sedna lifts her face to George.)
George: (recognizing the face of the old woman) You?
Sedna: I shall get it?
(The boom.)
George: Nooooooo!!!
SCENE NINE
(Sounds of Sedna’s music. Gently Sedna places her tail into the sea.)
Sedna: The soul shall burst her fetters
At last and shall be free.
As the sun, as the wind, as the night,
As the stars, as the sea.
(A faint heartbeat. Almira steps from the fish shack walking slowly towards the sea …)
Almira: I used to run. As I ran all I could hear was my own heartbeat … boomp, boomp, boomp, thudding over and over. Maybe it’ll stop right now.
Sedna: Close your eyes. Open your ears. Listen. Just wave after wave, swelling, shattering, returning to the sea once again. Soothing isn’t it?
Almira: I don’t want to hope. But I do. I don’t want to love. But I do …
Sedna: The soul shall be crowned and calm …
Almira: I don’t want to be afraid.
Sedna: … eyes fearless and she …
Almira: But I am. Any minute now there’ll be nothing but dead silence. No petitions! No seals! No beaches! No George! No baby! No me!
Sedna: No anger. No loneliness. No fear. Only the wind and the waves and the sounds of the sea forever.
Almira: (stepping into the water) Forever is too long.
Sedna: Don’t do it, Almira!
Almira: What am I doing?
Sedna: I’m not a fool.
Almira: George thinks I’m crazy.
Sedna: Then trust me.
Almira: Trust you?
Sedna: I trust you.
Almira: (stepping out further) The whole world is dying … (With a gesture Sedna stops her. With another the sound of Almira’s frightened heartbeat fades and Sedna’s music becomes stronger. With a final gesture the lights shift to deep pinks letting us sink just below the surface of the sea as the floating island is revealed. The floating island is Sedna’s home and a place for nurturing and magic. It could also be a ghost of all the great breeding grounds that were once dotted throughout the Atlantic.
Sedna draws a silk kimono from the sand dune. It is a precious and sensual detail from her past, giving the impression of a wedding dress that has never left its trousseau. When the kimono is unravelled, dried rose petals drop from it. Its movement is evocative of the sea. Sedna wraps Almira in the kimono.)
Sedna: The soul shall burst her fetters
At last and shall be free
As the stars, as the wind, as the night.
As the sun, as the sea.
(Sedna sets a garland of seaflowers on Almira’s head.)
The soul shall struggle and stand
In the end swift and free
As the stars, as the wind, as the night.
As the sun, as the sea.
(They dance a courtly dance.)
The soul shall be crowned and calm
Eyes fearless and she
Shall be queen of the wind and the night
Stars, sun, and sea.
(From amongst her skins Sedna takes out a small mirror. Chimes are heard. They continue softly, sporadically throughout the scene.)
Sedna: Look into the mirror.
Almira: No!
Sedna: Just a quick glance.
Almira: NO …
Sedna: There’s nothing to be afraid of.
Almira: There’s the dark … ghosts … senility … losing someone …
Sedna: (persisting) Look into the mirror, Allie.
Almira: (transfixed) Friends. (Looking away.) I’m afraid of making friends.
Sedna: That’s just a little one. (Again she places the mirror in front of Almira.)
Almira: I’m afraid of dreaming. I’m afraid of tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow. I’m losing my mind! (Sedna forces Almira to look in the mirror.) I don’t want to be alone.
Sedna: Excellent. That’s that then! Let’s eat. (Pausing.) I forgot. Kneel on the cushion.
Almira: (dismayed) I don’t see any cushion.
Sedna: I’m getting too old for this. (From the dune she pulls a pink brocade shell-shaped cushion.) Kneel! Almira Murdoch, I christen thee Pearl.
Almira: What’s wrong with Almira?
Sedna: Don’t interrupt.
Almira: I like my name.
Sedna: Here you take a new name. It’s part of the ritual. Like the mirror.
Almira: Why?
Sedna: Who remembers after three million years? Now you’ve made me lose track …
Almira: And where are we?
Sedna: (getting out a silver tea tray. On it are teacups, a pot, sugar, milk, honey cakes, and asparagus tips.) A floating island. Somewhere between the sea and the shore.
Almira: In Japan they have whole districts devoted to beauty and pleasure. They are called floating islands as well. (Pause.) It’s a glorified red light district really.
(The boom.)
Sedna: (Diving behind the dune she rolls infantry style and returns to Almira with two World War II combat helmets.) You better keep these handy. (The boom.) During the time when man fought man it wasn’t so bad for us selkies. You left us to bear and rear our pups in peace. (The boom. Then the sounds of whales singing.)
Sedna: Oh, that’s just the whales. They get melancholy and start remembering. (Both women listen to the sounds of the great creatures’ songs.)
Almira: What do they remember that’s so beautiful?
Sedna: In the war … the one you call the second … their songs were mistaken for the sound of submarine sonar … (The boom.)
Sedna: Pow! No more whales. (Silence.) But they still sing. And like myself they still return for whelping.
Almira: Whelping?
Sedna: It’s February.
Almira: February.
Sedna: Why else would we be here?
Almira: Something happens in February.
Sedna: This is the time when we selkies take our positions for lying in.
Almira: There are no other selkies here.
Sedna: It wasn’t always like this. It’s an old habit. (Looking around the island she notices how empty it is.) Without much meaning I suppose … seeing there’s only one island and myself and the ghosts … (Pause.) And you!
Almira: Don’t look at me! I can’t help you.
Sedna: Milk? Sugar?
Almira: Milk. (Noticing that the tea is blue.) No. Yes. Sugar.
Sedna: This is a party!
Almira: A wake.
Sedna: New life is a wonder. And should be celebrated. A baby brings love into the world.
Almira: Oh no.
Sedna: After all it’s February. Selkies love to party.
Almira: I don’t believe it.
Sedna: What? What? What?
Almira: This is a baby shower!
Sedna: Go on. A baby shower?
Almira: Yes, a baby shower.
Sedna: What a wonderful idea. A fallout of babies!
Almira: No, a baby shower.
Sedna: What is this wonderful thing I’ve never heard of before?
Almira: A bunch of women get together and by devious means trap an unsuspecting woman …
Sedna: (fearful) … Go on …
Almira: They make you open presents.
Sedna: Presents? (Laughing.) Tell me more.
Almira: As you open each gift you have to stick the bows on your head. Good friends only put one
bow on their present. After that …
Sedna: There’s more?
Almira: … Everyone takes off her wedding ring. Puts it on a thread and holds the ring over their bellys. Back and forth means a boy … a circle a girl.
(As she speaks Sedna circles Almira’s belly with her finger.)
Almira: (abrupt) Then they drink lots and lots of tea!
Sedna: Remarkable.
Almira: I’m not finished. Have you ever tried to see how many clothespins you can hold in one hand while flipping wet clothes onto your shoulder with your feet?
Sedna: Couldn’t you just pick them up?
Almira: Not with another baby on your hip! (Pause.) Sixteen is the highest I’ve ever seen. Then you play Bingo. (Sedna shouts “Bingo” as if she has played.)
Almira: Most likely, though, you’ll drink more tea and eat some lighthouses.
Sedna: That’s what’s happened to all the lighthouses!
Almira: You don’t know what a lighthouse is? Lighthouses are a dessert made with a Ritz cracker, a layer of jam, a marshmallow, and a cherry on top. And that is a baby shower!
Sedna: I am amazed.
Almira: Wait till George hears this.
Sedna: So we keep the same rituals still.
Almira: (realizing her predicament) What if I never see George again?
Sedna: (offering the honey cakes) Try one of these little cakes.
Almira: No thanks.
Sedna: Honey cakes are always eaten at whelping.
Almira: No poison?
Sedna: (eating one) Delicious. (Almira takes one and nibbles.) Women of the sea believe that this is a time for rejoicing.
Almira: And sorrow.
Sedna: That too.
Almira: For what?
Sedna: For the great mystery that is ours. (Pause.) You like them?
Almira: They stay down!
Sedna: More tea?
Almira: A woman has to be careful about food. (Pause) Myself sometimes I’ll be cooking up a pan of mushrooms and this thought will just jump into my head. I think, someone has just rounded up the dearest, sweetest, little cock tips, and here they are sautéeing in my pan of butter. Puts me right off.
Sedna: (fanning herself) Warm isn’t it?
Almira: George doesn’t understand. I know it’s crazy. But you watch for it. I haven’t touched a mushroom since. … It shouldn’t run your life. But it does. Food, I mean.
Sedna: At whelping parties it’s important to eat foods that represent the forces that fertilize. (Almira, giggling, waves a piece of asparagus.)
Sedna: A reminder of our humble beginnings.
Almira: Lust! (Almira chomps the asparagus.) George’s smell use to drive me crazy. I loved it. Heavy with oils. As if I were in a foreign market filled with unknown and forbidden scents. One whiff and my stomach would flip. What a wonderful sensation … desire. Beware of desire and the lunacy of love. Look where it got me.
Sedna: I envy you.
Almira: Don’t be foolish.
Sedna: Oh Almira, most of the real pleasure in the world for men and women is still provided by children.
Almira: (sighing) And the burden.
Sedna: The work’s in raising the husband, not the children.
Almira: I’ve been through the 60s. George and I are equal. Just because he’s useless with cars, and doesn’t know the first thing about nailing two planks together. Why should he? I mean … I know he’s helpless if he cuts his finger, or gets a cold. But that doesn’t make him a dependent! For heaven’s sake … I’m a feminist!
Sedna: I had dozens of litters. If I hadn’t passed the age for bearing … Who knows?
Almira: You are crazy!
Sedna: Wanting more?
Almira: Wanting more.
Sedna: (lying on her back she scratches seal-like) Young pups are delicious! The bring a lot more pleasure than mates. (Sedna brings out of the folds of her clothes a wineskin.)
Almira: I like George.
Sedna: (drinking) Then you are twice fortunate.
Almira: I don’t understand him, that’s all. (Pause.) Do selkies marry?
Sedna: We’re here to talk about you.
Almira: I only wondered.
Sedna: I am half human. Wine?
Almira: I thought maybe you didn’t do that sort of thing. (Silence.)
Sedna: It was a long time ago.
Almira: Ahuh!
Sedna: Ahruh!
Almira: I thought so.
Sedna: I was human. All I could do was marry.
Almira: What happened?
(Softly Sedna’s music enters into the background.)
Sedna: I refused every male that appeared at my doorstep.
Almira: But not everyone.
Sedna: No. (Smiling.) One day a most beautiful man came to my father’s doorstep. Such eyes he had. Black as night. He told me he would cherish and honour me with a home and warmth and food. He also promised me a room of my own. So I married.
Almira: And lived happily ever after.
Sedna: I murdered him.
Almira: George doesn’t know how lucky he is.
Sedna: He lied!
Almira: “’Till death do you part.”
Sedna: You should have seen that place! It was worse than a nest; full of feathers and mouse-droppings. Talk about crumbs in the bed!
Sedna: (Behind Sedna the music builds. Layering the many voices of the sea.) Before the sun had set, my father had heard of the murder and came to take me back to his house. Suddenly, while crossing the water, the sea became fantastic. The wind rose, the waves grew monstrous. My father, thinking that God was angry at my actions, offered me as a sacrifice and tossed me overboard into the sea. (Shouting.) Coward! What a coward you were, father!
Almira: He left you to drown?
Sedna: I clung to the gunnels. Taking out a small hunting axe my father hacked at my hands.
Almira: (taking Sedna’s hand in hers) Oh Sedna …
Sedna: The first blow tore off the first joints of my fingers. As they dropped into the sea from each was born a dolphin. Do you believe me?
Almira: Of course.
Sedna: On the next were born the seals and the walrus. On the third and final blow I dropped to the ocean floor. Then from all around me, from my flesh and blood, were born the whales. They swam beneath my father’s small dory till the sea boiled. …
Almira: He drowned?
Sedna: I think it’s time for more wine.
Almira: I’m sorry.
Sedna: (bitterly) I rid myself of a husband who would have all my power drained in preparing his nest, his food, his clothes, and a father who bartered with my life. They prepared the scene for their own finish. (Pause.) As we all do.
Almira: So, peace and quiet!
Sedna: What do you think it’s like being the very last selkie in the world?
Almira: No past … no present … no future. Heaven!
Sedna: Heaven is overrated. My whole race lost forever.
Almira: I wish mine was.
Sedna: You sound very certain. No one to remember you, no future generation to mourn you, no one to miss you. All the good that you have said and done lost forever.
Almira: And the evil. We are a deformed and demented race.
Sedna: Fool!
Almira: (softly) You’re the murderer.
(A long silence.)
Sedna: All right! (She knocks the garland from Almira.) I will show you what it is to have all that love would create destroyed in one stupid act.
(The lights shift as Sedna begins to weave her spell. George dresses in a wool jacket and watch cap. In one hand is a harpoon, in the other is a small axe. [The same one as Sedna’s in scene 6.])
Sedna: Long ago,
The Earth’s Spirit was everything
That walked, swam, crawled
On her surface.
That bond is broken.
And once …
(Having slipped off the kimono Sedna crawls onto Almira’s bac
k as she lowers her to the floor. They become one.)
Sedna: Fishermen and the creatures of the sea
Believed
That the Spirit of Man
And the Spirit of Animal was one.
That bond is more than broken,
It is forgotten.
Why?
(They both adopt the movements of a seal.)
Sedna: On the beach, lying and bathing, as far as the eye can see, are the great seal.
George: (stealthfully he creeps around them) Look at those mothers.
Sedna: Beautiful mothers.
(Almira mimes swinging her tusks.)
George: Careful of the tusks.
Sedna: If we see any man on the shore and catch him …
George: Careful. (Nudging with the harpoon) Careful. You’re not going to get this man, big one.
Sedna: We could rend him with our sharp-biting teeth …
George: Yoh girl. Soft big one.
Sedna: But we use them only to climb ladderlike to the very top of the beach rock. Where tired …
George: (caressing the beast) SSSSHHH! Sleep now. That’s right, you sleep.
Sedna: We fall fast asleep.
George: Make haste! Part the hide from the fat … (Slicing and pulling the rope through Sedna. He wraps the rope around her shoulders. It is attached to the harpoon.)
George: Into the skin goes strong cord. Tie it to the tree over there.
Sedna: Black silhouettes shimmer in the glare of the ice.
George: This one is near unto 3000 pound.
Sedna: They saw we are beautiful.
George: (laughing) Never leave nothing to the devil.
Sedna: Arms rising and falling …
(George pulls the rope taut.)
George: Throw the stone. Now. At the head. The head!!
Sedna: Angry we descend after the attacker … stripping … off… the thick … skin!!
(Almira’s body goes rigid as George strips away Sedna’s skin)
Almira: AAaaaaaaggggghhhhh!!
Sedna: One slice …
(Kicking Almira over, George mimes slicing her from belly to chin.)
Sedna: The seal opens. Her heart quivering and steaming in the cold … (George lifts up the axe.) … Exhausted, fearful and half-dead the great seal is made rich prey.
(Almira and George stare into each others’ eyes as he stands over her. The sounds of the seal baying and the heartbeat and the sea voices all mingle.)
Almira: George …
Sedna: My dream is the nightmare you humans have spewed on this earth.