The Bluebird

ACT I

[A single figure, CHARLES, is sitting at a desk, facing the audience. On either side of him are two stacks of papers, and he is writing furiously. Behind him, there is a large window with the curtains drawn. A DOCTOR enters.]

DOCTOR: Charles?

CHARLES: Not now. I am busy.

DOCTOR: Yes. I can see that. Doing what.

CHARLES: Recording my family’s history.

DOCTOR [Reaching for a paper]: Recording...?

CHARLES [stopping the DOCTOR’S hand]: No.

DOCTOR [catching a glance of the page he’s writing on, sighing]: Charles...

CHARLES: What?

DOCTOR: This isn’t real. Charles? This is fantasy.

CHARLES: I told you ‘not now.’

DOCTOR: Charles, listen to me. You are not in your secluded home in the mountains. You are in an asylum. You are a veteran of the World War, and you are suffering from some disorder. You cannot distinguish reality from your fantasies. I am telling you, you were never married, and you never had a son.

CHARLES: Please leave. We’re not having visitors here. Now get out.

[The DOCTOR exits, as GARON enters from the opposite side of the stage. The curtains of the window open.]

GARON: Father?

CHARLES: Yes?

GARON: Who was that?

CHARLES: Some variety of salesmen. I said I wasn’t buying.

GARON: We never have visitors.

CHARLES: We never have any use for them. There’s never a single thing they can do for us. I have no friends, and neither do you.

GARON: No wonder, we live all the way out here.

CHARLES: This home was a present for your mother, so that you would have a safe place to grow up in. We’re safe here. Safe from all the other turmoil of the world. As I’m sure you’ve read about in the books.

GARON: Yes... I have... but the books tell of many things.

CHARLES: Garon... there are alot of things in the world. Some good things, yes. But... with all the bad things you endure to get to the good things... it’s not worth it.

GARON: Some of the books tell otherwise.

CHARLES: Just... just go and find something to amuse yourself. I’m busy.

[GARON exits]

CHARLES: I should’ve been more careful which books I got for the library. He’ll start getting ideas into his head. Going off on adventures, rescuing damsels in distress... great. I’ll have fathered Don Quixote.

Everybody wants to connect
Everybody wants to change the world.

You think you can see through a perfect time
And you think you can live in your dream.
You dream about the things you’ll do.
Your life, as it would seem.

But the price of being alive is your life.
It’s a price I just can’t afford.
So instead of living with sorrow and strife.
I’m just free to be ignored.

Just live right here inside your head
Don’t go out an live, instead
Just pretend your dead.

Stay shut away, it’s one less choice you’ll make
Stay away from life, it’s just one less mistake
Stay alone, it’s one less heart you’ll break.

[CHARLES continues writing. The DOCTOR enters with two OFFICIALS]

OFFICIAL 1: Charles Walker, age 24, born in San Francisco, California, drafted into the army at age 18, year 1917. Promoted to the rank of Captain, and since the end of the war, he’s been... detained here.

OFFICIAL 2: Loonies... Can’t stand them. Always try to grab utensils or what-have-you.

DOCTOR: He’s in good health, physically, and he’s not dangerous. Just... very confused.

OFFICIAL 1: He thinks he lives in a far-off, secluded place?

OFFICIAL 2: That’s not completely incorrect.

DOCTOR: He is incapable of discerning his fantasies from reality. In addition, he is a compulsive writer.

OFFICIAL 2: What does he write about?

DOCTOR: Well... it’s hard to explain. He’s living some sort of other life in his head...

OFFICIAL 1: What, specifically?

DOCTOR: He thinks he’s some old widower who lives in the mountains, raising a son. I don’t know the full extent of this... character’s history, but he doesn’t seem very cheerful. Charles himself seems to be cold and short-tempered, often, when he thinks he’s in this world.

OFFICIAL 2: Does he think that you’re his son?

DOCTOR: No.

OFFICIAL 1: Does he ever ‘recognize’ you a specific person.

DOCTOR: No. I’m always just some intruder that he never has time for.

OFFICIAL 2: May we see these papers?

OFFICIAL 1: It might be best if we can see them, so we can better understand the nature of these... fantasies.

DOCTOR: Here’s one of them.

[The OFFICIALS take the paper, and reads aloud]

OFFICIAL 2: Garon is a bright young boy. Just as you would’ve loved to know him. I know you would love him.

CHARLES, OFFICIAL 1: I’ve kept him safe. The outside world won’t touch him. He won’t get drawn into all the corruption of the world...

CHARLES: Just the other day, he was listening to a bluebird singing. He has quite a love for nature. Well, at least for the more beautiful aspects of nature. I don’t know how he’d feel about the... harsher aspects... of death... but it is no worry. It’s something he won’t have to worry about...

Not for a while, at least. At least... he can be safe here, and live out his own life. He has everything he needs here. Of course, that’s why it’s home.