The CTR Anthology

by Alan Filewod

Have we waited too long –

  Past point of return?

  We can only wait – and hope.

  SCENE FIVE

  (An office in the White House.)

  Newhouse: Hello, Baker, I came by to pick up those reports I loaned you. Chambers and I have received a new posting.

  Baker: Oh really? Where are you going?

  Newhouse: South America.

  Chambers: Guyana.

  Baker: Guyana? What did you do – poke the President’s wife? Your daddy doesn’t make it easy on you, does he?

  Chambers: I think it’s the other way around.

  Newhouse: Pardon?

  Chambers: Nothing.

  Baker: Good luck, Newhouse.

  Newhouse: You’re in early.

  Baker: Couldn’t sleep – I was up half the night.

  Newhouse: Really? I expected you to attend our Masquerade Ball.

  Baker: I was there – arrived late – left early. Do you know Isabel Duke?

  Newhouse: Isabel Duke … don’t think so … Congressman Duke’s wife?

  Baker: Daughter.

  Newhouse: Chambers, you know everybody –

  Chambers: Congressman Duke did come in with a young lady –

  Baker: So she was there! When did you see her?

  Chambers: – they both left early I believe.

  Baker: That’s odd. I called her at home.

  Newhouse: Are you in love? –

  Baker: – I like her – we’re just dating.

  Newhouse: (laughs) – Baker, you’re lying –

  Baker: – it’s nothing – I find her attractive –

  Chambers: – nothing’s wrong with that! –

  Newhouse: – you’ve lost your reason to an attraction and your sense to an infatuation. Chambers, I think this is serious. Now, does this Isabel love you?

  Baker: It never comes up.

  Newhouse: Sounds like that’s your problem.

  (Intercom buzz.)

  Baker: Excuse me. Yes. I beg your pardon … send her in. That’s odd. Ambassador Peters is here to see me.

  Newhouse: The Dragon Lady – she’s the one who transferred me to Guyana. I’m going out the back.

  Baker: What would she want with me?

  Newhouse: Well, her surprise visits usually mean trouble.

  Baker: Trouble?

  Newhouse: Maybe she didn’t like your costume … Chambers!

  (Newhouse and Chambers exit.)

  Ambassador: You’re in early.

  Baker: I take great pride in my duties, Madame Ambassador.

  Ambassador: Yes. The President said you were a man who takes his responsibilities seriously.

  Baker: I try to earn his respect. Can I be of service?

  Ambassador: The President thinks that your education might benefit from a posting to Ottawa.

  Baker: He does?

  Ambassador: Is there a problem?

  Baker: Not at all, Ambassador. I just don’t understand the reason for his decision, but please, I’m listening.

  Ambassador: I’m afraid he’s very disappointed with you – at the moment.

  Baker: What have I done?

  Ambassador: Mr. Baker, the President thinks he caught you making love at our Masquerade Ball.

  Baker: What?

  Ambassador: Isabel and you –

  Baker: It wasn’t me – and I know it couldn’t have been Isabel. Who identified us?

  Ambassador: The President discovered her in a rather compromising position – and he deduced the man was you.

  Baker: Oh God – if she was with someone else I want to know who.

  Ambassador: Robert, it appears you’ve been eclipsed.

  Baker: This is unbelievable … I … to think she – You’re absolutely sure – Isabel and this man were –

  Ambassador: I don’t question the President’s eyes.

  Baker: And he thinks it’s me – Shit, Isabel, we love each other.

  Ambassador: The President considered having both of you arrested.

  Given the climate, her deceit is a tangible threat – personally and politically. I suggested the posting as a remedy, Robert – a little time, a change of place, among friends.

  Baker: You have an ally for life, Ambassador. I’m honoured you’d have me. Thank you.

  Ambassador: Good.

  (Ambassador exits)

  Baker: Fuck! – Isabel fucking someone – fuck!

  SCENE SIX

  (Fundamentalist Gathering. Disabled Evangelist prays.)

  Evangelist:

  We suffer beyond all telling.

  No one weeps as the children die.

  No pity for the mother’s cry.

  Nature surfaces and

  Sickness fills our ranks,

  Outstripping invention of

  Man-made remedy.

  Commandments

  Warnings years ago

  Have been ignored.

  There was a natural order.

  Sacred love created

  Life –

  Death followed.

  Now order becomes chaos.

  Time flows backward and

  Death

  Precedes conception.

  SCENE SEVEN

  (Night. In headlights of limousine.)

  Minister of External Affairs (MEA): So they want to cut a deal, Commander Gordon?

  Commander: As you predicted, Mr Newhouse, the Fundamentalists are preparing a smear campaign. At present they are reviewing what can be used – sorting fact, innuendo, hearsay.

  MEA: Against who?

  Commander: My sources only named minor party officials.

  MEA: Then why approach the Minister of External Affairs?

  Commander: There will eventually be more prominent targets – possibly the Prime Minister – certainly senior ministers, and members of their families – scandal by association.

  MEA: Do they really think we can be intimidated?

  Commander: Those inflated disease statistics they published last week have already accelerated the panic. Now they’re releasing information, through masked sources, on prominent carriers – some true, some suspected, some manufactured – but all damaging.

  MEA: If they start a media battle, I like our chances.

  Commander: I’m not so sure. They’ve been monitoring government members for years – traced a chain of sexual relationships. Should a verifiable carrier appear in the chain, they’ll publish their accusations – with a map.

  MEA: That’s none of their goddamn business.

  Commander: But it’s more than sexual impropriety. They present it as a public service – identifying carriers in the guise of public safety.

  MEA: Safety my ass – they want power.

  Commander: Absolutely. These scandals involving political leaders make the ordinary citizens feel vulnerable. The more deaths, the stronger the morality, the greater the need for prohibition. I think they’ll succeed.

  MEA: Government by tabloid.

  Commander: Tabloids are the weather vane of public feeling. They may stir up prejudice, but prejudice is very real.

  MEA: There’ll be a backlash – people aren’t totally stupid.

  Commander: The Fundamentalists invested in the media, and placed their people on corporate boards. So they argue not only the need to inform the public, but the profitability of scandal.

  MEA: They’re already campaigning – and we don’t even know there’s a fucking election.

  Commander: But they want to negotiate – they like you.

  MEA: What are they offering?

  Commander: In return for leaving you alone –

  MEA: – that’s no “offer,” it’s blackmail –

  Commander: – in other words no mail blitz, no campaign to discredit you with untoward sexual relations –

  MEA: – well, fuck them – rooting around like maggots –

  Commander: – you remain neutral on policy concerning the plague.

  MEA: How do they expect me to remain neutral –
I’m the goddamn Minister of External Affairs – I can’t dissociate myself from the Prime Minister –

  Commander: They suggest you focus on external affairs and side-step domestic policy – at which they believe you’re already quite adept.

  MEA: Arrogant bastards.

  Commander: They’re being flexible, and you’ve got the manoeuvrability.

  MEA: What’s your advice?

  Commander: If they form a coalition with the Conservatives after the election, and you resign from the Party to sit as an independent – your expertise would be invaluable to them. You might even regain your former ministry.

  MEA: Maybe I can temper their policies – save the country from a worse fate. Keep negotiating – see which way the wind blows.

  Commander: Good.

  MEA: I owe you, Commander –

  Commander: I’m honoured to be of service.

  MEA: What kind of world are we leaving our kids?

  MEA: That’s the Fundamentalist’s greatest argument – protecting the children.

  MEA: What – arranged marriages from birth?

  Commander: If Anna and I had children, I know exactly what we’d do. Virginity is a valuable commodity. (pause) Some parents know where sexual freedom leads.

  MEA: Are you referring to my son, Commander? His indiscretions with your wife were no less compromising to me. But I sent him packing. Any further danger from that affair won’t come from him – if you catch my drift.

  Commander: If you’re suggesting that Anna –

  MEA: – I’m suggesting that you keep her locked up when she’s in season – much safer for all concerned.

  PM: (Address to the Nation) Citizens of this great nation, there are those who demand mandatory testing of the entire population, as well as the segregation of plague victims and carriers.

  (Pause)

  I believe we can halt the spread of the disease without such drastic measures. If you act with courage, for the collective health of the nation, we offer a humane remedy to our distress.

  Tonight, through the executive powers of the Prime Minister’s Office, I announce the establishment of clinics for voluntary testing in every health centre across the nation. Your test results, I guarantee, will remain strictly confidential. Only with complete self-knowledge can each of us act conscientiously and responsibly.

  (Pause)

  Anyone who suspects themselves to be a carrier, anyone living in fear that they have been exposed, I especially urge you to come forward. It will require courage not to go underground, but I implore you to participate willingly.

  (Pause)

  You may suspect a family member, a friend, an associate at work – encourage them to volunteer for the test.

  Reassure them that they will face no recrimination. Earn their trust, and you earn the nation’s gratitude.

  (Pause)

  Because I ask you to test voluntarily, I will fiercely protect your right to privacy. But I can only defend the freedom of high risk groups if they accept their personal responsibility. (Pause)

  You all know the radical solutions proposed to cope with the disease. But I reject any proposal that undermines the civil rights of our citizens. We must remove the shame, deny the stigma, and show mercy to those in distress.

  (Pause)

  Only those who knowingly pass on the disease, without informing their partners, deserve prosecution. But I trust people will change their behaviour – act for the common good – if they have self-knowledge.

  (Pause)

  I am your leader. I also have a family – a wife, children. I fight for you as I would fight for them – bringing light to the dark fear in each of us. Fear is our enemy – do not obey it.

  I am hopeful. I see a brighter future. We are a great nation. This contagion can not destroy our faith in human nature, or the enduring principles that built this country. Join with me in our continuing pact of courageous democracy.

  SCENE NINE

  (Cathedral. Commander and Anna kneeling in rear pew. MEA enters pursued by reporters.)

  MEA: No comment. No comment. The nation’s health is not the responsibility of the Minister of External Affairs.

  (MEA kneels in forward pew and is joined by Commander.)

  MEA: Me and my shadows. I feel like a fresh piece of meat.

  Commander: We just received a diplomatic pouch from Ambassador Peters. Your son seduced a young lady at our embassy’s Masquerade Ball –

  MEA: – that sounds like him –

  Commander: – it’s worse – the President walked in on them –

  MEA: Shit! Who was the girl?

  Commander: Isabel Duke – daughter of Congressman Duke.

  MEA: Oh Christ – the Genghis Khan of Capitol Hill. How could he be so fucking stupid – they could lay charges or expel him –

  Commander: Not likely. She claims not to know who she was with –

  MEA: – must be love – she’s protecting him –

  Commander: – but the President thinks it was Robert Baker –

  MEA: – Robert Baker? Christ –

  Commander: – The President ordered the Duke girl tested, and sent Baker here as a reprimand. He arrived this morning.

  MEA: To keep it quiet rather – the Baker family is too important. Where the hell’s my son?

  Commander: Peters order him to Guyana, but he disappeared –

  MEA: – then he’ll show up here – for money –

  Commander: Minister, I have the highest regard for you, but your son is a prime target for the Fundamentalists –

  MEA: It’s more complicated than that, Donald –

  Commander: – they won’t negotiate with you if they know they can eliminate you.

  MEA: If they smell blood, they’ll come in for the kill. When he gets back, I’ll get rid of him. He can go out to the estate and fucking rot.

  Commander: He won’t stay there – you said yourself he’s beyond control –

  MEA: If he shows his face I’ll tell him he’s a carrier –

  Commander: – but he’s not – is he? –

  MEA: I’ll tell him I reviewed and altered his medical reports.

  Commander: That might slow the little weasel down.

  MEA: You better hope it does, Commander – because it might be true.

  (MEA leaves. Commander turns to nearby aide)

  Commander: (on phone) I have a bit of a problem. Set up routine surveillance of my home today – you’ve got the address – no later than 2300 hours. I want a log and video evidence of all traffic – in and out.

  (Commander joins Anna.)

  SCENE TEN

  (The chorus responds through phone-in show.)

  1st Chorus: I don’t have it – I won’t take a test – I know I don’t have it – and I’ve never met anyone who has.

  PM: But only by taking the test voluntarily can you be absolutely sure. It’s up to you.

  2nd Chorus: Force the sick to identify their partners. Find out who’s got it by following the links in the chain. Carriers walking our streets should be publicly identified. When it comes to a choice between public safety and human rights, I take the side of safety every time.

  PM: I believe private lives must be revealed voluntarily, and with mutual consent. I hope, if we provide the conditions for individual courage, people will come forward on their own. The government can’t do it alone.

  We need your co-operation.

  2nd Chorus: Have you spoken to the church?

  PM: Yes. Most denominations have been amenable to our proposals, and we have responded to their suggestions. Such church leaders, however, seem more committed to civil unrest than to concrete discussion. Their inflammatory rallies … disappoint me.

  3rd Chorus: Rumours, accusations, lovers informing on lovers – it’s the beginning of a police state.

  PM: Our proposals are designed precisely to prevent a police state. Paranoia is rampant – eating away at the fabric of society. Confront fear with honesty and responsibility.
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  3rd Chorus: We already have laws protecting human rights. You’re encouraging a climate of mistrust.

  PM: There are dangers. But isn’t the unknown, the uncertainty, the speculation more dangerous? We eliminate fear with knowledge.

  Evangelist: Where do we come from, where are we going, why is there a universe? Are there not limits to what mere humans can know?

  PM: We need a lot less mysticism, and a lot more knowledge.

  Evangelist: There is a purpose to this disease. It is neither mystical nor arbitrary.

  PM: Explain yourself. I welcome this opportunity to challenge your thinking. Enlighten us.

  Evangelist: Why do we suffer from the plague? Crimes against nature were committed in arrogance and pride. We assumed an immunity to the enduring laws of nature. Now we must accept the punishment – the suffering. Humble yourself. Acknowledge the limits – to our freedom, to our understanding – and you will have my prayer.

  PM: Your prayers ignite the fear that grips us. You conspire with the disease to maximize its lethal effect –

  Evangelist: – man no longer has the answers –

  PM: – Your words inspire protests, riots, terror –

  Evangelist: – now and in the past we challenged nature, ignored the fundamentals, betrayed the larger meanings with a shrug. You too must suffer. You are diseased.

  PM: Now they attack me. There are consequences to slanderous accusations.

  Evangelist: It is yourself you seek – you who must be tested –

  PM: Accuse me again – clearly – leave no room for misconstruing. This is your opportunity.

  Evangelist: It only makes sense. We reap what we have sown. Defy His commandments and you suffer the consequences.

  PM: – you will regret this –

  Evangelist: – like all men who think themselves immortal, you betrayed the sacred union with the one you love. This disease is payment for your past.

  PM: Do you think you can malign me – my marriage – so freely?

  Evangelist: I do – if truth has any power.

  PM: Truth, yes! Not shameless lies. They cannot harm me, or anyone who thinks. Did my political opponents put you up to this?

  Evangelist: You are your only enemy.

  PM: Must honourable members resort to tabloid tricks – sifting my past to discredit my freely-elected mandate to govern? Reasoned thought, careful analysis and action by consensus are the hallmarks of my government. This is little more than prophecy for profit. Does your holy alliance expect to govern through visions and speculation – by consorting with psychics and gossips? Then allow me a prediction. You will retract your statements, and your cohorts will be exposed. There will be no political gain – only the people’s punishment.