CAROL:
The words of this man
Like the heat and the heart of this man
Pierce my aching sky
Electrify my burning soul
Rearrange my well-laid plans
He races across my willing flesh
Like a fire ablaze beneath my skin
And when I touch his face
Or kiss his soft sweet lips
My cool reserve wears paper thin
He kicks up the dust of my fantasies
He stirs the clouds of my dreams
His lightning flashes across my horizon
His thunder echoes through my spirit
Or so it seems
He hides in the curves of my sandy beaches
Fishing my ocean for clues
He collects my pebbles of desire
Casting his net, he captures my heart
And whatever else he may choose
He needs no permission to explore me, I am his
What treasure he finds, he may keep
His flag has firmly established my shores
In fact, his breadth has touched my deep
I have surrendered my earth to him
He has found his place to rest and be warm
And when he is done fighting and flailing and raging
He may settle me like a soft, sweet mist
I am his tranquil sky
He is my tempest, my storm…

(Randy leaves somewhere in the middle of the poem).

CAROL:
And slowly her life began to deteriorate. Brick….by brick.

(Different day).

(Bric enters the living room and paces the floor for a while. He is angry. Randy, in a coat and scarf, comes through the front door carrying the baby in her bassinet).

RANDY:
(excited) Oh gosh – it’s so cold outside. It’s sure to start snowing any day now. I can’t wait for it to come, then the baby can see snow for the first time. She won’t know what it is, but oh well….

(notices Bric pacing).

BRIC:
You home awfully late.

RANDY:
(cautiously) What time did you get in?

BRIC:
Early enough to know how long you been out. Where you been?

RANDY:
(lying) Oh, Tanya stopped by to see the baby. We took her on a
little trip to the zoo to see the animals and get some fresh air before it gets too cold. Then we stopped and grabbed a bite to eat. I wasn’t planning on being gone so long. (pause) Did you eat?

BRIC:
Yeah, no thanks to you.

RANDY:
Babe, we have plenty of stuff in the fridge to eat. I said I was sorry. It won’t happen again. If you’re still hungry I can make you something nice before I give the baby her bath and feeding. Do you want me to?

BRIC:
No. (menacingly) I want you to tell me where you been.

RANDY:
(scared) I just told you…..

BRIC:
Right. You was at the zoo with Tanya. ..okay… then why she call
here looking for you? Huh? If she was at the zoo with you why
would she ask me if I knew where you was? Now, where was you?

(moves dangerously close. he’s livid)

RANDY:
(taking a step back) (stuttering quickly) Okay, just don’t be mad. I did go to the zoo with the baby and I did grab a bite to eat, but not with Tanya. Trevor came over to see the baby and suggested that we go for a ride.

BRIC:
It’s always Trevor ain’t it? You lied to me because you was
sneaking off with him?

RANDY:
I didn’t want you to get mad. I know how much you don’t like
Trevor, but they’re Carol’s godparents and he just wanted to do
something nice, that’s all, Bric. I wasn’t sneaking off. Nothing
hap –

BRIC:
(slaps her hard) Don’t ever lie to me again.

(Bric leaves)

(Randy stumbles in shock. Bric has never hit her before. She walks over to the couch and cuddles the baby. She is crying).

CAROL:
He apologized after that. He really felt bad. The thing is – he kept feeling bad every week. He was good about not leaving marks. I never saw any bruises on her, but then again – I wasn’t paying
attention. (pause) And still she loved him. To be honest, I loved
him, too. He was daddy. And you just wanted to please him. We
both wanted to please him. I knew my dad as demanding and hard,
but that was just the way he was. He had a hard life – so I was told. My mom always made the right excuses when she had to. But
sometimes you couldn’t excuse who he was. I think after a while
she was unhappy, but that was a small price to pay for loving him, I guess. There’s so much I didn’t know about her. So much I’m finding out now. (pause) I don’t remember her smiling. Wait –
that’s not true. I remember the first time I saw her smile. It was also the last time. I was seven years old.

(Lights out).

SCENE II