Scenes for three actors

(Kenza holds a phone. Distant hold music.)

AGENT

Afterlife support, hello. For a complaint about an existence, press 1.

KENZA

Hello. I’d like to speak to someone. A real person. It’s been forty minutes.

AGENT

I understand your frustration. May I have your destiny number?

KENZA

My… destiny number? I never received one.

AGENT

That’s the most common issue. Nobody receives it. Let me transfer you to a supervisor.

SUPERVISEUR

Supervisor, hello. I see your file. You’re complaining about… everything, actually.

KENZA

I’m complaining that I never know whom to complain to. That’s different.

SUPERVISEUR

Ah, that’s the basic plan. For clarity, you had to sign up at birth.

KENZA

No one offered me any options at birth!

(A beat.)

SUPERVISEUR

… I’ll note your remark. It’ll join the others. Please hold for one more lifetime.

(A museum, 3 a.m. Two guards at the lodge. A third arrives, in a uniform from another era.)

JONAS

You’re early. Shift change is at four.

LE VEILLEUR

I am always on time. It’s your clocks that hesitate.

MILA

Is he on your roster?

JONAS

I thought he was on yours.

LE VEILLEUR

I’ll take the clock floor. Same as every night.

MILA

Nobody takes the clock floor. It’s been closed since the fire.

LE VEILLEUR

Closed to the public. Someone still has to wind the clocks. You can hear them, can’t you?

(A ticking, far away. The floor has been empty for twenty years.)

JONAS

…What time did they strike, before?

LE VEILLEUR

Twelve past three. The hour everything stopped, up there.

(He touches his cap.)

LE VEILLEUR

Good night. I’ll resume my round.

(He goes up. On the lodge clock: 3:11. It begins to strike.)

(A garage locked from the inside. Three chairs. An empty sports bag in the middle.)

ANA

The bag was full at two o’clock. There are three of us. Nobody left.

VICTOR

Then it’s still here. Banknotes don’t evaporate.

SAM

Or someone filled a second bag while we slept. Just saying. Not looking at anyone.

VICTOR

You’re looking at me.

SAM

It’s a small garage.

ANA

One more thing. The police were in the alley before us. Before. Do you understand what that means?

VICTOR

That someone talked.

SAM

Or that someone talks too much at the café across the street. Right, Victor? Your waitress.

VICTOR

Say that again.

ANA

Stop.

(A beat.)

ANA

The bag. The alley. Only one person here wasn’t in the police photos. Only one that nobody saw during the split.

(Their eyes slide slowly towards Sam.)

SAM

…You’re not going to believe what I’m about to say.

ANA

No. But say it anyway. We have all night.

(A chore chart covers the entire fridge.)

BASILE

New rules. I made a chart. With colours.

JO

Basile, there are more columns than there are dishes in this kitchen.

NOUR

I’m in purple. Why am I in purple?

BASILE

Purple means “responsible for the general harmony.”

NOUR

So I do nothing, but if it goes wrong, it’s my fault?

JO

Welcome to management, Nour.

BASILE

The chart is very clear. Box 4B: “Who let the yoghurt turn into a civilisation?”

JO

… I plead guilty to the civilisation. But it was peaceful.

NOUR

Can’t we just do the dishes in turns, like humans?

(A beat.)

BASILE

… That, I hadn’t thought of. But it doesn’t have a colour.

(The living room of the family house, boxes half-filled.)

PAUL

We said: each of us takes one thing in turn. No fighting.

ANNA

You already slipped Dad’s watch into your pocket, Paul. I saw you.

PAUL

I was the one who drove him to the doctor. Every week.

CLARA

And I paid for the medicine. Shall we count everything, too?

ANNA

Stop. The watch isn’t the problem. The problem is that all we have left to share are objects, and no one left to tell us to be quiet.

(Silence. Clara sets down the box she was holding.)

CLARA

Take the watch, Paul. I just want his old radio. The one that crackles.

PAUL

… It doesn’t even work anymore.

ANNA

Exactly. That way, at least, the silence of this house will be one we chose.

(A restaurant. A blind date going, gently, sideways. In the right way.)

NINA

So, Raph, our friends set us up because, and I quote, “we’re the same.”

RAPH

Yes. Except I hate cinema, travel, dogs, and talking. And you love all four.

NINA

We’re the exact opposite. Our friends know us very badly.

LÉO

I love dogs.

(A beat. Nina turns towards Léo. She doesn’t really turn back.)

NINA

…You love dogs.

LÉO

And cinema. And talking. Right now, for example, I’m talking. I’m having a bit of trouble stopping, suddenly.

RAPH

You know what? I think the blind date worked. Just… not in the intended direction.

NINA

Want to walk that imaginary dog? Now? It’s a nice evening. Well, outside, there’s an outside.

(Three people wait at a crosswalk. The light won’t change.)

LE MONSIEUR

It’s been red for eleven minutes. I counted.

VÉRA

Maybe it’s testing us. Maybe it’s waiting for us to deserve it.

LA DAME

I’ve been waiting so long I’ve forgotten where I was going.

LE MONSIEUR

Let’s cross. There isn’t a single car.

VÉRA

And the example, sir? A child might see us disobey a light.

LA DAME

There’s no child. There’s nothing. There’s only us and this red.

LE MONSIEUR

… Exactly. With no witness, what’s the point of being brave?

VÉRA

Then we stay. At least, together, we’ll be wrong properly.

(A village at dusk. Two travellers enter the only inn. The innkeeper was expecting them, two places already set.)

L’AUBERGISTE

Ah, there you are. We were starting to wonder if you’d make it before dark. Your room is ready. Number two, as usual.

LÉO

“As usual”? We’ve never been here. We got lost, actually. The road ended, so we…

L’AUBERGISTE

The road always ends here. That’s why we’re expecting you.

MARA

Our names are on the board. Look. “Léo and Mara, room 2.” Written in chalk. A long time ago, by the look of it.

(At the tables, the villagers turn and smile, unsurprised.)

LÉO

How do you know our names?

L’AUBERGISTE

In this village, you never meet anyone by chance. Everyone who arrives here… was expected. For a long time. Some for a very, very long time.

MARA

And if we left, right now?

L’AUBERGISTE

You can try. Many have tried. But the road that brought you… look outside: it’s already gone.

(A living room. The inspector, standing. Nora and Vincent, seated, not looking at each other.)

L’INSPECTEUR

You both say you spent the evening here. Together. Watching a film.

NORA

That’s right. The 8:50 film.

VINCENT

We fell asleep before the end. Around 10.

L’INSPECTEUR

Which film?

NORA

A crime film. With… that actor. The tall one.

VINCENT

A comedy. We laughed a lot.

(A silence. Nora closes her eyes.)

L’INSPECTEUR

So, a crime film where you laugh a lot. Fascinating. You should have agreed in the car, beforehand. That’s where alibis are built. Not in my living room.

VINCENT

…Can we call a lawyer?

L’INSPECTEUR

Two. Get two. From now on, you no longer have the same story to defend.

(End of the meal. The waiter has left a single bill.)

KARL

Right, split it three ways? Easy.

INÈS

Except I had a salad. You, Karl, you had… the menu.

KARL

I tasted. Tasting isn’t eating.

TOM

You “tasted” three desserts, Karl.

KARL

Quality control. It’s a service I provide, really.

INÈS

So you want us to pay you for eating our desserts.

KARL

“Pay” is a strong word. Let’s say: acknowledge.

TOM

Waiter! Three bills. And a medal for the gentleman.

(Night. Three sisters, a single lamp between them.)

MARA

The law is clear. Whoever buries him dies with him.

LIV

The law of men. There is another, older one, that says a brother does not rot in the sun.

SÉLÉNÉ

You’re both going to get yourselves killed over a handful of earth.

LIV

Not both. Me. You, Séléné, you’ll live to remember. That’s a role too.

MARA

And me? Am I erased between the heroine and the survivor?

LIV

You choose. That’s the worst of the three roles. I don’t envy you it.

SÉLÉNÉ

Stay. I beg you. A dead brother asks for nothing. The living do.

LIV

A dead brother asks for nothing, true. That’s exactly why someone must ask in his place.

(Liv takes the lamp and rises.)

MARA

… Then I’m coming. Two hands dig faster than one.

(A meeting room. Three people, a whiteboard. At the top: “CRISIS”.)

LA DIRECTRICE

Right. The plant dumped three tonnes of paint into the river. Press is calling. What do we say?

PAULO

We don’t say “dumped”. “Dumped” is a negative word. We say “shared”.

ANH

“The company shared colour with the ecosystem.”

LA DIRECTRICE

I love it. It’s warm, it’s generous. Keep going.

PAULO

“In a spirit of transparency…” No, not “transparency”, the river isn’t transparent anymore.

ANH

“In a spirit of authenticity, we own our visible footprint.”

LA DIRECTRICE

“Visible footprint.” Gorgeous. It almost sounds like an award.

PAULO

We could make it an award. The “Chromatic Boldness Prize.” We give it to ourselves.

LA DIRECTRICE

You see? There is no crisis. There are only campaigns that don’t know it yet.

(Anh, very quietly, to Paulo.)

ANH

…And the fish?

PAULO

The fish aren’t on our channels. They’re not our target.