MEETING-CALLINGS

Part 4 - The Arrow

A man (thin) lies on a bed in the corner of a room. He lies on his back, head turned toward the wall.

His left side faces the wall, his head at a short distance from the second wall and corner.  His right leg is drawn up at the knee while his other leg, although horizontal to the bed, is also slightly bent at the knee so that the two legs spread apart from the axis of his pubis.  His right foot is covered by the wrinkles of the loose gray blanket that covers the bed.

The pattern of wrinkles in the blanket have congealed the action of the drawing-up of the man's foot while it still remains in contact with the blanket.  His left foot is at a slight left angle.  Both feet are bare and hairless, with black, soiled soles, large boney toes and prominent tendons.

The man's body has sunken slightly into the blanket but the density of the mattress and the rigidity of the black, metal-framed, springless bed don't allow the weight of his body to affect the clear open space between the bare cement floor and the bed.

His body is thin, well proportioned and slightly muscular.  The gray/green, thinly, ribbed corduroy pants he wears are loose around his waist, the creases at the crotch and knees adding to the disheveled appearance of the well-worn pants.

He wears no other clothing besides these pants.

His pair of thin white socks, soiled and worn through at the soles almost to the point of complete transparency, lie haphazardly and precariously on the bottom edge of the bed.

He wears no belt, watch or rings.

With his right hand the man scratches a large heart into the thickly white-washed wall.  He draws the heart with slow, short, deliberate strokes.  Upon completing the heart he considers it for a time and then draws two arrows which pierce each side of the heart.

He draws large, pointed heads to the end of each arrow shaft.

A second man (old) is pacing up and down in the area between the foot of the bed and a small, square cubicle which is in the diagonally opposite corner of the room.

The man walks as close as possible to the wall but does not touch it, as if avoiding the proximity of the bed.

The man shuffles as he paces, his feet dragging the weight of his thick, rubber-soled brown shoes with large, heavy heels.

He wears rumpled gray pants which hang at the seat and taper narrowly into cuffs at the ankles.  He wears no socks and the seat and knees of his pants are shiny with wear.

Over his cream colored, short-collared shirt he wears a long dark, olive-green overcoat, the sleeves reaching to his knuckles.

His head is wrapped in a thin white towel.  The towel is wrapped over his head and forehead, over his ears, and under his chin, the two ends hanging loosely to his shoulders.

The man (old) paces from one end of the room to the other a number of times, staring at the floor in front of him, his hands in his pockets.  The man (thin) scratches the heart deeper into the wall.

A cheap radio plays accordion folk songs in the distance.

The man (old) pauses and stares at a metal plate which is set slightly into the wall at eye level.  He takes no notice of the man (thin) on the bed to his left.

The man (old) reaches down and removes one of his shoes in a smooth easy movement without undoing the laces.

He hammers on the metal plate with the heel of the shoe five or six times while making low, rounded sounds deep in his throat.

The man (thin) continues scratching the heart into the wall, at times re-etching or extending parts after pauses for consideration.

The man (old) continues pacing.

The man (thin) continues drawing.

The man (old) repeats his hammering on the metal plate, then continues pacing.

The man (thin) extends the shafts of the arrows.

The man (old) notices this, fixes his vision on the movement of the (thin) man's hand movement.

The man (old) does not lose sight of the hands while he crosses the room, turns and walks back again.

The man (old) paces across the room twice more, losing sight of the man (thin) for only the short time it takes for him to twist his head around as he makes his turn at the wall.

The man (old) makes the final turn of his second journey across the room: his gaze is fixed, his eyes are glazed over.

Instead of fixing his eyes on the man (thin) as he turns, his gaze merely mechanically follows the dictation of the movement of his body.  His vision pans across the wall in front of him and fixes on the metal plate directly across the room as he paces towards it.

As he reaches the plate he turns around once more in a similar manner, head fixed, eyes glazed, staring directly ahead of him.  He still keeps close to the wall as he paces.

The man (old) reaches the line of the entrance to the square cubicle in the corner of the room, without pausing or making any abrupt movements, he enters the small cubicle.

He stops in front of a thick gray blanket that hangs in the center of the cubicle suspended from a line above head height between the two walls.

He stares directly ahead of him.

He begins urinating against the blanket, talking to it.

Monologue:

"I used to worry about being like this ... not knowing more ...

but now ... now I don't worry about that anymore. . .”

The man (thin) has completed the heart and both arrows.

A thick gray blanket covers his curled-up form with only the top of his head showing slightly out of the blanket.