(1937. The sounds of the Jungle can be heard. It is dark. A bamboo
forest in Southeast Asia. A suitcase lays on the dirt floor of the forest.
Tyger is on the floor, motionless. Sofia watches Tyger. She is a young girl
costumed in a dress and wears a fedora hat.)
SOFIA
I heard the rattle and crashing of thunder on the brick ground under my shoes, and the people screaming in Chinese, and Japanese, other another language, scurrying like honey bees from the scent of smoke and the Japanese war planes roared across the sky like a fairy tale and my father and mother jumped for a car carrying Americans and English to safety, but my mother was crushed under the tires of the truck and I was swept away from my fatherÕs hand in the floods of people screaming and moaning and crying and weeping. And like a flash of bright light my father was gone and mother was dead.
TYGER
And then you came
to me.
SOFIA
Then I went back
to the house. Not my house, but my neighborÕs house, hoping and praying the Japanese
wouldnÕt search the American and English houses and focus on the natives. But
the Japanese came too quickly. Sirens screamed, and they smashed in the windows
and doors, and destroyed the front porch with fire, and I hide under the bed in
one room while they searched another, and then hide in a hole they ripped in
the wall of the room they just searched as the Japanese moved from room to
room. I took all I could find that they left behind and started running.
TYGER
You ran from your
tribe?
SOFIA
I blinked, and it
was all gone. The ground turned from brick to dirt and dirt to mud. Are you
going to kill me?
TYGER
Why do you ask
such a question?
SOFIA
IsnÕt that what
you do?
TYGER
This is my land,
my trees, my ground, my sky. I do as I please. Do I intimidate, child?
SOFIA
Please. DonÕt
kill me. Please.
TYGER
I have better
ways to use the time that floats between my trees then to kill a child.
Your box. What is in your wooden
box?
SOFIA
My suitcase?
TYGER
Your
suit-case-box. What is within? What do you carry with you in this
suit-case-box?
SOFIA
Why do you ask?
TYGER
It smells of
death.
SOFIA
You are not going
to kill me? And eat me? That is what tigers do. IsnÕt it?
TYGER
If I wanted to kill you with my paws, and
eat you with my teeth, you would not be standing on your hind legs breathing
this question. Tigers do not kill and eat humans.
SOFIA
I heard they did.
TYGER
This is not fact.
Remember I spoke these words.
(The hum of war
planes roar over the sounds of the jungle. The lights fade.)
(The sounds of the jungle. Sofia is on the
ground, sleeping. Tyger stands over her.
Vulture is at first no place to be scene, then emerges from behind
Tyger.)
VULTURE
Her meat smells
soft and tender.
TYGER
You are filthy.
VULTURE
You sound mad.
Have I made you sad? Why arenÕt you glad...old...mate?
TYGER
Why have you
returned to my trees? My land. My sky. We had an agreement after the canary
man. Why donÕt you follow the red
rage of the humans?
VULTURE
Too many horses in the sky. The humans ride
the wind like olive dragon flies. I needed a holiday from the lost city by the
water.
TYGER
YouÕve been to
the city of pain?
VULTURE
I can smell a
free meal from mile of distance. The burning chemicals and paper houses
splashed across the ground. The bodies were laid down one on top of the other.
TYGER
Are all the
humans gone?
VULTURE
Most. But one special creature has
caught my eye.
TYGER
You are wasting
your time here. IÕm not going to kill the child.
VULTURE
IÕm not here for
the child...old friend. It smells like itÕs the size of a pea. Soon it will be
the size of mouse. And if not, the girl will never survive with out her tribe.
IÕll just eat her...when sheÕs ready.
(The sound of war
planes are heard. Lights fade.)
SCENE 3
SOFIA
This war walks
without shoes.
TYGER
The lump in my
throat was the size of a pea. Then it was the width of an acorn. Now it is the
size of an almond. The room of sound closes in my ears. The sky is coming down
and the trees are rising.
SOFIA
The spider
monkeys are all gone. I donÕt think they will come back. People will find us
soon. I can feel it. And then they will help you.
TYGER
The trees stretch
like wheat between my toothless paws.
SOFIA
They are not
toothless.
TYGER
Do not speak to
me as a cub! The lump in my throat was the width of a pea, then the size of an
acorn, is now the size of an almond and will soon be as large as the white
clouds in the sky. My paws have teeth no more. It is foolish to suggest
another. Do your ears hear my words?
SOFIA
Yes. IÕm sorry.
Would you like me to get you some water?
TYGER
I have no thirst.
SOFIA
Me neither. Would
you like to sleep?
TYGER
I cannot sleep.
Tell me about Hollywoodland again. Sofia. Tell me about the pictures.
(The sound of
propeller war planes over takes the scene. Lights fade.)
SCENE 4
(Darkness. The
song ÒIf I didnÕt Care.Ó plays. The song stops. Screams can be
heard from Sofia. Tyger roars as the sound of spider monkeys fall from the
trees. The monkeys scream. The sound of the suitcase being slammed around is
heard. Silence. The sounds of the jungle return. Lights up.)
TYGER
What was taken?
SOFIA
I donÕt know.
Nothing. I think.
TYGER
Are you well?
SOFIA
IÕm fine. I wanna
go home. I wanna go home, I want my father, I wanna go home. I wanna go home, I
wanna go home, I wanna go home.
TYGER
Do not be upset.
Please. You dropped your hat. (He takes the hat and places it on her head.)
SOFIA
Thank you.
TYGER
The spiders
monkeys have run away into the night.
They will not return tonight. If they do, I shall petrify them with my
growl. I will do this for you. You can her the throbbing of space between the
spider monkeys and the canvas of leaves above our heads. They are gone. They
will not return.
SOFIA
My stomach hurts.
TYGER
Should I get you
water?
SOFIA
No. Why havenÕt
you eaten me? That is what tigers do...isnÕt it.
TYGER
I do not eat
children. Are you afraid of me?
SOFIA
Yes.
TYGER
Child. The stars
will fall from the sky before I hurt you. What is in your suit-case-box. What
do the spider monkeys want?
(Sofia opens
her suitcase. The sound of war
planes over take the scene. Lights fade.)
SCENE 5
( Darkness.
The song ÒIn A
MellowtoneÓ by Duke Ellington plays. Lights come up on Tyger and Sofia.
Vulture is no place to be seen. )
SOFIA
And he punched
him in the jaw! He punched him right in the jaw and saved the princess, and
saved the whole galaxy from the clutches of the evil Barron. HeÕs the best
super hero of all. He strong and fast and smart. Better than Superman. Better
than Batman. Better than Captain Marvel. HeÕs even better than Wonder Woman,
almost. Wonder Woman saves the world, but Flash Gordon saves the whole galaxy
every week. He has his owncomic, his own radio hour, and a new serial at the
movies every two weeks.HeÕs perfect. He fears nothing. Flash is the best super
hero.
TYGER
What is...Super
hero?
SOFIA
A super hero is a
person but better. Heros are strong, fast and they always stop the bad guys.
TYGER
I like this
Hollywoodland. It sounds like heaven. Tell me more.
SOFIA
In the movies
dreams come to life. This one picture show...oh...oh...This girl...she had on
this beautiful white gown, like the kind you are supposed to wear when you get
married, and she had a bobbed hair style, just like the ones the flappers used
to have back in the twenties, before the depression, and she looked so
beautiful on the big screen, and the band sat behind these big signs that had
D.E.O written on them in the prettiest writing, and when she danced with the butler,
she looked so happy every time I saw it. The butler had the kindest eyes,
eventhough he never smiled. I sat
in the third row all eleven times, except for the eighth time, when I sat in
the first. I sat in the first row because I thought if I got close enough to
the screen that maybe, just maybe I would fall into the screen and never have
to come out and never have to go home, and never have to see my parents again
or the kids at school. But it never happened so I sat in the third for the next
three times I saw it to make it perfection. Films are best when you see them
from the third row because you can see the whole the screen, but you canÕt see
the theater, and you canÕt hear the projector go click. If you sit in the first
row, itÕs hard to see the whole screen, and anything past the fifth row you see
too much theater. You have to sit in the third row. Movies didnÕt have sound
until a couple of years ago. The sound and the music make it better. Like you
are really there, dancing with the butler. Nothing bad ever happens in the
movies. Sometimes thereÕs vampires and wars and big monkeys, but thereÕs always
dancing, and the vampires always die in the end.
TYGER
What
is...vampire?
SOFIA
TheyÕre evil.
They stalk you at night when you sleep. They drink blood and eat the dead. And
they can only be killed by sun light and a stab to the heart.
TYGER
The sun shines
little in the forest.
SOFIA
Do you think
there are vampires surrounding us? Are you afraid?
TYGER
I fear nothing.
SOFIA
Vampires arenÕt
real anyway. They make them up in Hollywood. Do you want to know a secret? I
used to sneak out of my house, when my father thought I was doing my school
work, and go to the movies then. I would sneak out of my bedroom window, it was
on the first floor, and get home before they unlocked my door. Before my father
moved us to Hong Kong. I didnÕt have any money, so I would get in the theater
through the fire exit. (Pause) My father used to lock me in my room, and tie my
ankles to my desk chair with the ribbons from my ballet slippers. He said I
wasnÕt allowed to leave my room until I got my school work done. I donÕt think
he ever noticed I slipped away to see the movies. IÕve never told anybody that
before. (Pause) Now you tell a secret.
I told you a secret, now you tell me a secret.
TYGER
I killed a human
one time.
SOFIA
I thought you
said tigers didnÕt kill people.
TYGER
I lied. A small
grey haired man with dark copper skin came to me, naked and sad. He told me he
was old and sad because his lovely canneries were dying and it was his
fault. His daughter said his birds
died because they were sick, but he knew they were sick because the man could
no longer change their water dish.
His fingers would shake as he touched the dish and all the water fell to
the ground beneath his feet. He told me to kill him with one paw. He would kill
no more lovely birds. He shook and cried as he begged, and I murdered him, with one paw. I killed
him. I ended him with one paw...and walked away.
SOFIA
Did you eat him?
TYGER
No. I did not eat him. Are you afraid of me,
Sofia?
SOFIA
No.
TYGER
I have a gift for
you. ItÕs not from Hollywoodland, though.
SOFIA
What.
( Tyger
produces a jar of peanut butter.)
TYGER
I found it
floating in the river with the large white stones. It is not from the jungle,
nor the river or the sky. It smelled like you.
SOFIA
ItÕs peanut
butter. You eat it. Open your mouth.
( She feeds
him. The peanut butter with her fingers. She eats as well. Clearly, the peanut
butter sticks to the roof of his mouth. This is bizarre for him.)
SOFIA
Are you all
right?
TYGER
This tastes like
sweet mud. It sticks to my teeth. You eat this?
SOFIA
ItÕs peanut
butter. I love it. We were never allowed to have it because my father is
allergic to peanuts. It makes him sick. I love peanut butter.
TYGER
Then I love
peanut butter.
SOFIA
Where did you
find it?
TYGER
Floating in the
river with the large white stones by the ocean. Tell me more about movies. Tell
me , again, about the girl who dances.
SOFIA
Nothing bad ever
happens in the movies. Everyone dances and the bad people die.
( Lights fade.)
SCENE 6
( Darkness.
Screams can be heard from Sofia. Tyger roars as the sound of spider monkeys
fall from the trees. The monkeys scream. The sound of the suitcase being
slammed around is heard. Silence. The sounds of the jungle return. Lights up.
Sofia and Tyger are on stage. Vulture is no place to be seen.)
TYGER
The spider
monkeys have gone into the night. I petrified them for you.
SOFIA
IÕm scared.
TYGER
DonÕt be. If they
return, I shall feed them the peanut butter and their teeth will stick
together.
When I was young,
and wanted to escape...when I would feel sad or scared...I used to dream I was
a blue and green butterfly and float above the flowers and the leaves on the
trees. I would dream nothing could touch me.
SOFIA
My father used to
lock me in my room at night. When it was time to sleep. And I could hear
monsters in my closet trying to whisper in my ear, and vampires down the
hallway, hiding behind the wooden grandfather clock, waiting to eat me. And I
would hide under the covers and pretend a cat lived under my bed, and the cat
would protect me from all the monsters and all the vampires down the hall,
hiding behind the grandfather clock.
I could hear the monsters whisper and growl in my ears. They would crawl
out of the fireplace and snarl at me.
TYGER
I thought only
the light of the sun could kill vampires.
SOFIA
IÕm sure a tiger
could. YouÕre not afraid of the spider monkeys?
TYGER
I have no fear. I
have seen no animal I cannot kill.
SOFIA
YouÕre like the
butler, or Flash Gordon in the pictures. Just like the butler that dances with
the girl in the long white dress and the bobbed blond hair style, or flash
saving the galaxy from evil. (Pause) The butler always takes the girl by the
hand and dances with her when no one else sees her, and the music plays in the
background...like insects in the forest...and she smiles, even though he
doesnÕt. And everything is right.
TYGER
The soldiers will
come soon. I can feel the space closing between the trees and the lost city.
This war walks without shoes, and soon they will come for you and take you
away.
( The sound of
war planes is heard. Lights fade.)
SCENE 7
( Silence.
Lights up. Tyger lays on the ground. Sofia and Vulture are looking directly at
each other.)
VULTURE
The box you
carry. It smells like. I was in the desert not long ago, writing my name in the
dust on the door of a black colored plymouth auto-mo-bile, when I last caught
that scent. That is what you call them, automobileÕs, isnÕt it child?
SOFIA
How did you know
that?
VULTURE
The tiger, me and
he, we are as old as the sand beneath your toes. We both listen. We both hear
what we want to hear. Like your air-o-planes that race trough the sky like
angry hornets. And the peanut butter you ÒloveÓ so much. The man. The old human
he killed, tasted like pig. It was
perfection. The tiger ripped the bones clean from his flesh. Once youÕve had
human you can never go back. Do you know who I am. Do you know why I am here.
Do you have the faintest of clues what I do? Your box, your suit-case-box smells
like death.Nothing can surprise me, especially a human. Tell me. What is in the
box, little girl?
SOFIA
You eat the dead.
I am alive. Why should I be afraid of you.
VULTURE
ItÕs not what I
could do to you. ItÕs what I will do to him if you donÕt tell me what is in the
suit case-box. Truly, there is no sound quite like gnawed flesh...like your
vampire from hollywoodland.. Your suit-case-box. You have something that could
make existence simple.
TYGER
The lump in my
throat was the size of a pea, than the size of an almond, now is the size of
the white stones in the river by the ocean. It is hard to breath. The world
looks like glass.
VULTURE
Your tiger is not
dead. Yet.
( Lights fade.)
SCENE 8
( Jungle
sounds can be heard. Tyger
is laying on the floor. Sofia is watching him. Vulture circles the scene.)
SOFIA
Would you like
something. Some water?
TYGER
Leave me be.
SOFIA
Do you want me to
pet your ears? You like it when I pet your ears.
VULTURE
HeÕs not dead yet.
TYGER
The lump in my
throat was the size of a almond is now the size of an avocado...will soon be
the size of the smooth white stones in the river. Your war is getting closer.
Leave me be.
( Lights fade.)
SCENE 9
( The sounds
of the jungle. Lights up. Tyger lays on the floor. Sofia looks at him. Vulture
circles. Sofia has her suitcase in front of her.)
SOFIA
I remember the
first time we saw each other. Your bright yellow eyes moved through the tall
wet grass and came straight for me. I knew I was safe from the vampires and
soldiers.
VULTURE
The lump in his
throat was the size of a pea. Then it was the width of an acorn. Now it is the
size of a stone. The room of sound has close in his ears.
SOFIA
The spider
monkeys are all gone. I donÕt think they will come back. The soldiers will find
us soon. ( SOFIA cont.)
I can feel it in
the air. And they can help him.
VULTURE
His paws are
toothless.
SOFIA
They are not
toothless.
VULTURE
The
suit-case-box. Give it to me.
SOFIA
No.
VULTURE
ThereÕs nothing
you can do for him now. The cancer has killed him, give me the suit-case-box.
SOFIA
HeÕs not dead
yet.
VULTURE
Give me the
suit-case-box. Or I will eat his eyes in front of your pretty little head. GIVE
IT TO ME!
SOFIA
No. ItÕs my
suitcase.
VULTURE
IÕll eat his
ears, so you canÕt scratch his dead corps. IÕll tier his tongue from his lips
so you can watch his blood drown the leaves on the grounds, or you can give me
what I wish. NOW GIVE ME THE SUIT-CASE-BOX!
SOFIA
Stay away from
him! HeÕs not dead yet!
VULTURE
HeÕs been dead
all day.
SOFIA
I said stay away
from him.
VULTURE
Enough! Fine.
Live in your dreams. I want, I donÕt need your suit-case-box. IÕm more interested
in the new dish. I hunger skin and my old mate is as fresh as they come. Diner
timeÕs here.
( Vulture
moves toward TygerÕs lifeless body to eat him. Before he is able to nibble,
Sofia opens her suitcase, revels a pistol, and kills Vulture with it..)
SOFIA
I said, heÕs not
dead yet.
( Blackout.)
SCENE 10
( The song ÒIf I DidnÕt CareÓ begins to play and
runs trough out the scene. Sofia stands with suitcase in hand alone on stage.
Tyger emerges from the audience and begins to circle her.)
TYGER
You smell of
salt, child. You have been running. Why?
SOFIA
The city is on
fire.
TYGER
I can smell. The
box you carry...it smells of death.
SOFIA
ItÕs my suitcase.
TYGER
What is in your
Òsuit case.Ó
SOFIA
Everything I
could fined in my neighborÕs house. I was hiding in my neighborÕs house. While
they destroyed the grandfather clock, and shattered windows and smashed holes
in the closet doors. I locked the front door, ran from the house, and dropped
the key in the sewer. And I never looked back.
TYGER
You never looked
back. And the city burned. The suit case smells of death.
SOFIA
Are you going to
eat me?
TYGER
Why would I eat
you?
` SOFIA
IsnÕt that what
tigers do? Eat people.
TYGER
Are you afraid of
me?
SOFIA
No.
TYGER
You are not from
this land.
SOFIA
No. Your eyes are
kind.
TYGER
You are safe from
the burning city. Here, you can lay on the ground and dream under the sky.
( The song
over takes the scene. Lights fade. The song continues to play.)
END