time, Jerome, you were up half the night.
Jerome: I wasn’t afraid.
Leo: No, it was the bed shaking, not you.
Jerome: Shut up.
Lise: Your brother is just teasing, Jerome.
Leo: (a teasing mimic) God, you’re embarrassing.
Winston: Listen to you, brave man.
He tickles LEO, who giggles and smiles widely. A nice family moment except for JEROME, who sulks.
When I was little, your age or younger, growing up in Eastport. In a house with my mom and dad and grandmother. One fall night there was a thunderstorm, just like this one, rolled in off the sea. It was dark back then. At night. Not like now. There were no electric lights to read by, ever. So when clouds that heavy dropped on ya, well sir, it was pure black.
He blows out the candle. The children giggle. A crack of thunder and they start.
Lise: Winston.
Winston: That storm there shaking the town. Our house, each room lit up, a constant flash of lightning. All of us frozen around the wood stove, too scared to move anywhere else. Kerosene lamp on the table, the flame in it itself shaken by the thunder. It was that bad. Well, Nan, she got up to add a junk of wood to the fire. Moving across the room like in slow motion. The sputter of light. And when she opened the stove door, well, the lightning. Blue fire. It came right through the chimney. Right into the house. Ball of blue fire, right into the room with us.
It does. WINSTON becomes lost in the memory of it, disturbed by it.
Circling the room. Like an animal stalking its prey. Hungry. Angry. Spitting at the walls.
Theresa: What happened?
Winston: The rumble overhead.
Theresa: Daddy?
Winston: The silence in the room.
Theresa: Daddy, what happened?
Winston: The silence, except for that hum, that dry hum. Sizzle. Burn. Burning.
Lise: Winston?
Beat.
Winston.
Winston: My grandmother, she…
A figure can be seen in the darkness, a broom in hand.
Jerome: What, Daddy, what?
Winston: She just…
The figure moves towards the ball of light and with the broom sweeps it away into fire and sparks. Darkness.
Jerome: Daddy?
LISE relights a candle. WINSTON is surround by his family, listening intently. WINSTON is distant, still disturbed by the memory.
She what, Daddy?
Lise: Enough scary stories for one night, please.
Jerome: I’m not scared.
Winston: She swept it outside.
Jerome: She swept it outside? The lightning?
Winston: Yes. That she did.
Jerome: With a regular old broom?
Theresa: Were you scared?
Lise: Of course he was, it’s a powerful thing. That’s why you’re to stay away from the windows when told.
Thunder, THERESA starts.
LEO stares at the candle. Moves closer to it.
Don’t stare, Leo. You’ll hurt your eyes.
Leo: Wouldn’t the broom just burn?
Lise: Leo, get away from that candle!
The family look at her.
You’ll hurt your eyes, honey.
Winston: It’s okay, Leo. Give it to me.
Beat.
Jerome: It must have been bright. The ball of lightning.
Winston: That it was, bright. The afterimage of it, for a good fifteen minutes after.
Jerome: What’s an after…?
Winston: Afterimage.
Jerome: Yeah.
Winston: It’s when your eyes, when you look at something… well here, try it, this candle.
WINSTON hands JEROME the candle.
Lise: Winston.
Winston: Stare at the candle here, and don’t blink. Yeah?
Lise: I just asked Leo not to.
Winston: Just for a second.
Jerome: I don’t see anything.
Winston: Keep staring. Okay.
And now look away and close your eyes.
They do.
Well?
Jerome: I can see it, I can see it.
Winston: Theresa?
Theresa: A black spot? Moving, dancing.
Winston: That’s it. Leo?
He goes to give the candle to LEO. LISE gets up and takes it.
Lise: Winston, I said no.
Leo: I want to see it.
Lise: Well I asked you not to.
Winston: Just let him look.
Lise: Time enough now anyway. Should be in bed.
Winston: Lise—
Lise: I said no.
Beat.
Come on, back to bed, everyone.
The children groan.
No sulking now, I mean it.
The children begrudgingly start to get up.
Jerome: I wasn’t afraid.
Leo: No, it was the bed shaking, not you.
Jerome: Shut up.
Lise: Your brother is just teasing, Jerome.
Leo: (a teasing mimic) God, you’re embarrassing.
Winston: Listen to you, brave man.
He tickles LEO, who giggles and smiles widely. A nice family moment except for JEROME, who sulks.
When I was little, your age or younger, growing up in Eastport. In a house with my mom and dad and grandmother. One fall night there was a thunderstorm, just like this one, rolled in off the sea. It was dark back then. At night. Not like now. There were no electric lights to read by, ever. So when clouds that heavy dropped on ya, well sir, it was pure black.
He blows out the candle. The children giggle. A crack of thunder and they start.
Lise: Winston.
Winston: That storm there shaking the town. Our house, each room lit up, a constant flash of lightning. All of us frozen around the wood stove, too scared to move anywhere else. Kerosene lamp on the table, the flame in it itself shaken by the thunder. It was that bad. Well, Nan, she got up to add a junk of wood to the fire. Moving across the room like in slow motion. The sputter of light. And when she opened the stove door, well, the lightning. Blue fire. It came right through the chimney. Right into the house. Ball of blue fire, right into the room with us.
It does. WINSTON becomes lost in the memory of it, disturbed by it.
Circling the room. Like an animal stalking its prey. Hungry. Angry. Spitting at the walls.
Theresa: What happened?
Winston: The rumble overhead.
Theresa: Daddy?
Winston: The silence in the room.
Theresa: Daddy, what happened?
Winston: The silence, except for that hum, that dry hum. Sizzle. Burn. Burning.
Lise: Winston?
Beat.
Winston.
Winston: My grandmother, she…
A figure can be seen in the darkness, a broom in hand.
Jerome: What, Daddy, what?
Winston: She just…
The figure moves towards the ball of light and with the broom sweeps it away into fire and sparks. Darkness.
Jerome: Daddy?
LISE relights a candle. WINSTON is surround by his family, listening intently. WINSTON is distant, still disturbed by the memory.
She what, Daddy?
Lise: Enough scary stories for one night, please.
Jerome: I’m not scared.
Winston: She swept it outside.
Jerome: She swept it outside? The lightning?
Winston: Yes. That she did.
Jerome: With a regular old broom?
Theresa: Were you scared?
Lise: Of course he was, it’s a powerful thing. That’s why you’re to stay away from the windows when told.
Thunder, THERESA starts.
LEO stares at the candle. Moves closer to it.
Don’t stare, Leo. You’ll hurt your eyes.
Leo: Wouldn’t the broom just burn?
Lise: Leo, get away from that candle!
The family look at her.
You’ll hurt your eyes, honey.
Winston: It’s okay, Leo. Give it to me.
Beat.
Jerome: It must have been bright. The ball of lightning.
Winston: That it was, bright. The afterimage of it, for a good fifteen minutes after.
Jerome: What’s an after…?
Winston: Afterimage.
Jerome: Yeah.
Winston: It’s when your eyes, when you look at something… well here, try it, this candle.
WINSTON hands JEROME the candle.
Lise: Winston.
Winston: Stare at the candle here, and don’t blink. Yeah?
Lise: I just asked Leo not to.
Winston: Just for a second.
Jerome: I don’t see anything.
Winston: Keep staring. Okay.
And now look away and close your eyes.
They do.
Well?
Jerome: I can see it, I can see it.
Winston: Theresa?
Theresa: A black spot? Moving, dancing.
Winston: That’s it. Leo?
He goes to give the candle to LEO. LISE gets up and takes it.
Lise: Winston, I said no.
Leo: I want to see it.
Lise: Well I asked you not to.
Winston: Just let him look.
Lise: Time enough now anyway. Should be in bed.
Winston: Lise—
Lise: I said no.
Beat.
Come on, back to bed, everyone.
The children groan.
No sulking now, I mean it.
The children begrudgingly start to get up.
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