Sitting in the Firmament
By
Brandon Seger
Bakersfield Community Theatre—2005 One-Act Festival
Email: [email protected]
Take a look at http://photos.rockclimbing.com/photos//119/11925.jpg
for an actual picture of someone on the top of
Props: The characters wear climbing attire (jacket, pants, boots), snow axes, a coil of rope, a couple of rolled-up
sleeping bags.
Characters
Jerry—experienced mountain climber.
Chris— Jerry’s friend, first time mountain climber, coming along
for the trip.
Amanda—Jerry’s girlfriend.
[Lights up. The setting is on
the cloudy summit of
Jerry Well…here we are…
Chris At last.
Amanda Wow…look at that view.
Chris Goodness, that’s beautiful.
Jerry You ever seen such an awesome view?
Amanda This beats the
Chris Yeah, almost makes it worth these sore muscles.
Jerry What’d I tell ya? You need to exercise more.
Chris Yeah, yeah. Well, we did
it. After four hours of uphill climb,
we’ve conquered
Jerry Third time for me.
Amanda pulls out her camera and turns to
the other two.
Amanda Smile, guys.
Chris Jerry, now you take a picture with her.
Chris takes the camera from Amanda,
she goes over to Jerry and they pose.
Amanda
Look there, in the distance.
I think that’s
Jerry Sure is. Seventy miles away. That’s awesome that you can see it from here.
Chris Just look at it all. Looks like one of those trains sets, only much bigger. You know, where the track goes around a miniature town, with the trees and buildings the size of action figures.
Jerry I know, I used to have one of those when I was a kid.
Amanda I can’t believe how beautiful it is up here. Probably as close to heaven as we can get here on earth. Well, now I can scratch this off my list of things to do before I die.
Chris Beats spending the day at the park, huh? But dang, never felt so exhausted.
Jerry See, this was fun, wasn’t it? You have to come do this with me more often.
Chris I don’t know, I think my legs might shatter just walking back down this monster.
Amanda
Oh, goodness…haha, next we should
do
Jerry Humph, yeah, whenever we can get a whole month off for vacation. That one usually takes weeks.
Chris How high is that one?
Amanda 20,000 feet.
Chris Whoa, man…baby steps. Baby steps.
Amanda Do you know how mountains are created? I bet you don’t know.
Jerry I do.
Chris I took geology a long time ago. Enlighten me.
Amanda Well, the earth’s crust is made of tectonic plates, and when the plates collide, the cause the land to fold up, and after eons of collision, it produces these peaks. Isn’t that fascinating?
Jerry [Droll delivery] Wow, you’re smart.
Amanda Shut up! [Slaps him on the shoulder] I know I am.
Jerry Looks like a storm might be closing in from the southeast.
Amanda
[Sitting down and glancing at watch] It’s
Chris Good thing it’s gets darker later in the evening during the spring.
Amanda Ugh…I feel so…light-headed.
Chris You all right?
Amanda I felt it build up all the way up here…
Jerry [Unraveling a sleeping bag.] Here, lay down. It’ll make you feel better.
Chris What’s wrong with her?
Jerry Just a little altitude sickness.
Chris Oh, great.
Jerry She’ll be fine, it happens sometimes.
Chris pulls out his ham radio.
Jerry What are you doing?
Chris Calling.
Jerry Who?
Chris A pizza parlor! What do you think? I’m calling the mountain rescue team.
Jerry What the heck for?
Chris Amanda’s sick, it’s getting dark, and looks like a storm is coming in.
Jerry Are you nuts?
Chris I don’t want to run into any trouble.
Jerry This isn’t a bus station, you know. We’re fourteen thousand feet up on the top of a mountain.
Chris That’s why they have a helicopter.
Jerry snatches the radio from Chris.
Jerry It’s not like they’re a hop, skip, and a jump away.
Chris Hey, give that back.
Jerry You should use this ONLY for emergencies. We’re fine.
Chris What about her?
Jerry She’ll be fine. As long as she lays down and rests for a while, she’ll be back to normal.
Chris And look, that’s a rather nasty blanket of clouds coming. What will we do if it gives us hell as we’re going back down? What if an avalanche is triggered?
Jerry We’re not going back down, we’re going to set up camp and stay the night.
Chris Stay the night?
Jerry Yeah, we have sleeping backs, we got a tent. It’ll be a lot easier and safer if we stay the night through.
Chris It’s going to get freakin’ cold up here.
Jerry We’ll be fine.
Chris What if one of us gets sick too?
Jerry If we were going to get a case of altitude sickness it would have already happened. She started feeling it when we were going up Casaval ridge and I knew what was wrong.
Chris If she started not feeling good, then we should’ve turned back.
Jerry We’ve only got two days off left. If we did the climb tomorrow then we’d be in a rush. We’d be totally burnt out by the time we had to go home.
Chris Ah…why did this stupid mountain have to be so far north? A little closer to home would’ve been nice.
Jerry Oh well. Now here’s the news. We’ll put up the tent, maybe start a fire later on, have some food, go to sleep then we’ll get up maybe around 3 AM, pack up and go back.
Chris 3 AM? Why so early?
Jerry Because then the temperature is very low. The snow will be stronger, more frozen. If we sleep in, then when we get up it’ll be warmer then when we head back down we’ll be walking through mush. It’ll make it harder than it has to be. So unless you want your legs to be a lot more sore than they already are, we got to get up early.
Chris Jeez, this is rough.
Jerry We were lucky coming up here. With the clouds blocking the sun the rays couldn’t reach the mountain, so the snow was more cooperative.
Chris We could’ve brought skis…I didn’t even think about that. Then getting back down would be a snap—and a lot more fun.
[Jerry goes over to check on Amanda.]
Chris How is she doing?
Jerry Sleeping like a log. A little nap is just what she needs. She’ll get up in a little while, and then everything will be fine and dandy.
Jerry goes to sit down beside Chris,
their backs resting against one of the rocks on the mountain.
Chris [Softer tone] So, when are you going to ask her?
Jerry Give me a minute to breathe, will ya? I don’t know.
Chris Tonight, tomorrow?
Jerry I wouldn’t ask her that early in the morning.
Chris So you have to do it soon.
Jerry I don’t know…I’m a little nervous.
Chris Come on, man. It can’t be that hard.
Jerry How would you know? You ever asked it?
Chris No…but I’ve seen enough romance movies. It’s never as hard as it looks. Let me see that stone again. [Jerry retrieves a small case containing an engagement ring.] Wow. That is pretty.
Jerry It better be. Cost me enough.
Chris Dude, I bet you no one’s ever done this before
Jerry Huh?
Chris I bet you no guy has ever proposed to a girl atop a high-altitude mountain.
Jerry Who knows.
Chris She’s going to think it’s so romantic.
Jerry I hope so. But having you with us, it might not. [laughs]
Chris Hey…now you’ve been waiting months to be able to plan this trip. You have to do it, man.
Jerry I will, I will…I’m not worried about that, at the moment. Right now, I just want to sit back, here on top of the world, and enjoy the view. Look where we are, sitting here in the firmament. Our heads are in the clouds—literally. How often do you get to see a view like this?
Chris Never seen a view like this before.
Jerry Yeah. So, enjoy it while we’re still here.
A brief moment of silence as they stare
into the view.
Chris Ok, come on…when are you going to ask her?
Amanda, having come to a few seconds earlier, sits up.
Amanda Ask me what?
[Jerry and Chris look at her blankly as Jerry hides the ring. They all look at each other as the lights fade.]
Instructions for using dry ice
(I will provide the ice chest and the supply of dry ice for each performance)
CAUTION:
Dry ice is extremely cold and can cause injury to skin if touched with bare hands. Handle blocks of dry ice by using tongs or thick gloves.
Open the ice chest, and make sure it is clean and empty inside. Using proper gear, handle chunks of dry ice and place them in the ice chest. Fill the ice chest with water. Warm water will produce more fog, but the fog effect will die out faster. Cold water will produce less fog, but the effect will last longer. Experiment with different amounts of dry ice and warm/cold water to find the right fog condition suitable for the stage.
