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CAST:
JASON: A lawyer, Father of Penny
PENNY: Penelope. (Not the Penelope of the other plays)
FRANCISCO: A waiter
NOTE: Brandy snaps are a sweet, cylinder shaped condiment
filled with cream. If not part of the culture where the play is presented they
can be substituted (title and dialogue also.)
SETTING:
[A restaurant. Jason is sitting at table with menu. Penny
enters. Jason rises, gives her a fatherly kiss. They sit.]
JASON: Ah Penny at last, I thought you weren't coming for a moment.
PENNY: I got busy. How could I miss a treat?
JASON: What will you have? There's a chocolate gateau.
PENNY: I feel like a brandy snap.
JASON: You always used to like gateau. I remember when you were a toddler.
Your mother and I took you to a picnic and you smothered yourself in
chocolate and cake.
PENNY: I'm not a toddler any more Dad.
JASON: All right. A brandy snap then. (PAUSE) Cappuccino?
PENNY: I'll have black coffee today.
JASON: Oh?
PENNY: So I can see my reflection in the surface.
JASON: You always did have a. . . I might have a brandy snap myself.
(JASON SIGNALS FOR A WAITER. FRANCISCO ARRIVES.)
You have brandy snaps?
FRANCISCO: Indeed, we have anything you might desire.
JASON: You might find me a million dollars then.
FRANCISCO: I shall write you a cheque. ('Check' in America.)
JASON: Which will bounce no doubt.
FRANCISCO: Only if you present it to the bank. Does signor wish to
order?
JASON: Coffee black for each of us and two brandy snaps.
(FRANCISCO GOES.)
Cheeky fellow. Why did he call me 'signor'?
PENNY: All the waiters here pretend to be Italian.
JASON: I should have known.
PENNY: What?
JASON: You'd select a café where everyone was mad.
PENNY: But everyone is mad. It's a condition of normalcy.
JASON: Personally I would have preferred somewhere a little more
up-market.
PENNY: Meaning I would have had to wear designer clothes.
JASON: Don't be foolish. A reasonable standard is all that's required.
If you need money to dress well it's always available.
PENNY: I prefer my jumper and jeans.
(FRANCISCO RETURNS WITH COFFEE AND BRANDY SNAPS.)
JASON: That was quick.
FRANCISCO: I am a magician also signor.
JASON: Tell me, why do you call me signor? You are not an Italian are you?
FRANCISCO: Indeed not. The management ask me to pretend to be, signor.
JASON: Is that so?
FRANCISCO: And, of course, we are what we pretend to be.
(SERVES AND GOES.)
PENNY: (STIRRING TWO SPOONS OF SUGAR INTO HER COFFEE) He got you there.
JASON: Talking in riddles. Can you see your reflection?
PENNY: (LOOKING DOWN ON HER COFFEE) I see a brown girl.
JASON: You are not a brown girl.
PENNY: The medium transforms the image. I saw a sunset.
JASON: They frequently occur.
(THEY ARE BEGINNING TO THINK THEIR OWN THOUGHTS, NOT TALKING TO
EACH OTHER.)
PENNY: It was over the sea. A misty dusk. Rain clouds had come up
from the south behind the island. Kapiti. A roiled lion sitting on
the horizon. The sun was like a Chinese lantern. Misty. A suffusion of
orange light glowing in the mist.
JASON: Those views are worth a million dollars. One street back from the beach
and you can halve the value of a similar house.
PENNY: It was nothing. A vision. A transformation of the world. We see a vision
and we do not react. We just carry on doing the same old things.
JASON: Real estate is always a sound investment. It can usually be relied
upon to generate a tax free return. The main problem with real estate
for the ordinary man is that it is not possible to invest in small
amounts.
PENNY: I thought I saw a vision of eternity in the sun and the sea. But
the glorious picture was a veil. We can't penetrate the fabric of
the world of illusion. I would like to dismantle the stars in the
blue dome of heaven, the sun and the sea and the earth. When they
are gone what remains? The essence?
JASON: The market's volatile. Yes. Volatile I would say. Blue chips are
referable. Stay away from high risk investments.
PENNY: I think of a rose. Incarnadine beauty. Drenched with the blood
of Christ. It flowed from the wounds made by the thorns. Imagine
that Christ on the cross was crowned with a wreath of roses.
JASON: From the beginning I had ambition. Wanted to get ahead. Became
a king in the world of commerce. My life is affluent. I have
everything you might desire. And yet there is something missing.
Look at her, smiling quietly to herself, content to abandon
possessions, live an uncluttered life. Does she know anything
that I don't?
PENNY: He has to cling to that world-stuff as though it is of some
importance. I left that behind. I hate his principles. But
I'm his daughter, I love him.
(THEY COME OUT OF THEIR BROWN STUDY.)
JASON: A Penny for your thoughts.
PENNY: Don't make terrible puns Dad,
JASON: But you must have been thinking of something.
PENNY: I was thinking I might like another brandy snap.
THE END
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