Setting:
During this blackout some excessive hanging
packs are unhooked from BASH and SORA to be tossed off
stage.
The Screen:
has been moved so the left corner is set
about two feet back from its place in the previous scene.
Lights:
only directly overhead lights.
Time:
The morning of May 18th, 1689
At Lights Up:
(BASH and SORA are at the far leftt
corner of the curtain. They seem rested and acclimated to
being on their trip. BASH is leaning on his staff, staring
off stage-right. SORA reads to him from a small paperback
guide book.)
SORA
Moo-row-no-yash-ee-ma. The shrine is dedicated to the goddess (ahem) called "The Lady of the Flower-bearing Trees." Another shrine to her is at the foot of Mount Fuji. This goddess is said to have locked herself up in a burning cell to prove the nature of her divinely conceived son when her husband doubted her fidelity. As a result, her son was named "Born out of Fire" and the shrine name means "burning cell."
(SORA stops reading, looks down the page as if searching for more -- wanting more information. Finding none, he stares rather dumbly in the direction BASH is gazing.)
BASH
(Without changing his stance seems as if he is talking to himself.)
What does it mean? The first shrine we find on our journey is dedicated to a woman.
SORA
A hard-headed one, that's for sure. Didn't she die as a result?
BASH
She died after giving birth.
SORA
Well, she got herself in that fix.
BASH
Not alone.
SORA
Was the father really a god?
BASH
Aren't they all?
(laughs)
Too bad we can't ask her.
SORA
Why do the locals worship her?
BASH
(after a long silence)
Maybe because all births are holy and mysterious.
SORA
As are all beginnings.
(He reaches over and puts his arm on BASH's shoulder.)
Let's take it as a blessing on the start of our journey.
BASH
(taking a step away from the intimate moment)
It's the custom that poets here write of rising smoke.
SORA
(raising an eyebrow)
Smoke?
BASH
(continuing as if not interrupted)
and ORDINARLY (the word is stressed) people DO NOT eat fish.
SORA
(gives him a knowing look)
BASH
...because they smell bad when burnt.
(The two seem to share and inside joke as they proceed. As they leave the left corner of the curtain, it is slowly moved back about two-three feet. The two proceed to the right corner of the curtain, turn as if making a switch back.)
Continue on to Scene Three .
