Kinahan - Crossings

She sits on a chair against the wall. She waits. She is awkward. She looks out the window. She then approaches the piano. She runs her hand along the piano, opens it up and hits a note.

She puts her bag on top and starts to play the hymn Amazing Grace music first and then she sings she has the voice of an Irishman.Another woman, MARGARET, enters, she is unnoticed. GRACE moves effortlessly from the hymn to another tune Take Me Back to Dear Old Blighty MARGARET interrupts after a verse. MARGARET. Miss Doherty? GRACE hits a discordant note and stops playing. She is a little aghast. Yes. Yes. Thats me. Im. I am. I am.

I am Miss Doherty. They both stand in silence. I I just arrived. On the train. MARGARET. Very good. Yes. It is. It is.

Its very good. Very comfortable and punctual. MARGARET. Very punctual. GRACE. Slight pause. Are you Margaret? MARGARET. I am. GRACE. GRACE.

Well well She sits back down again on the stool. Im sorry. She takes a handkerchief from her sleeve. MARGARET. Are you not well? GRACE. No. Yes. No Im really, I am quite well.

Its just that you look like you resemble William you do you really do and well, perhaps its all a bit a little startling. MARGARET. Startling? GRACE. Yes. MARGARET. GRACE. GRACE.

Yes, I did. And yes I knew William very well. MARGARET. How? GRACE. How? MARGARET. Yes.

How did you know William? GRACE. Why we served together. MARGARET. You served together? GRACE. Yes. MARGARET. MARGARET.

William wasnt in the Inniskilling Fusiliers. GRACE. No. Yes. I know that. MARGARET.

William was in the Kings Shropshire. GRACE. Yes I know that. I was in the Inniskilling MARGARET. Lance Sergeant. GRACE. GRACE.

Yes I know that. MARGARET. So? GRACE. So? MARGARET. Im afraid. This appears.

You appear. This is all a little confusing, Miss Doherty. GRACE. Is it? MARGARET. Yes it is. And I am a busy woman.

I have things to do. GRACE. Of course you do. MARGARET. I have to open the hall. I have to arrange chairs.

I have to GRACE. I brought some letters. Photographs. MARGARET. I have all of Williams letters. GRACE.

And a few locks of his hair. I promised, you see. I promised William that I would find you. MARGARET. You promised William? GRACE. MARGARET. MARGARET.

Its hardly difficult to find me, Miss Doherty. I was born and bred in Badgersbridge. GRACE. As was William. MARGARET. Yes.

As was William. GRACE. And he wanted to be buried here. Did you know that? Next to the railway station. Under the old oak tree. If anything happened.

He said that that was his spot. MARGARET is dumbfounded. She doesnt reply GRACE continues. He said that he would go missing there for hours, sketching the trains. Sketching the passengers. He said that you used to love watching the trains too when you were little. MARGARET.

I didnt I dont have time to watch trains. GRACE. A peculiar pastime all right but then William was MARGARET. William was what, Miss Doherty? GRACE. A different sort. MARGARET.

A different sort, what do you mean by that, a different sort?! GRACE. Well, he sketched everything, didnt he? I have two of his notebooks from France. Trucks, ditches, birds. Tinned milk, satchels and faces so many faces. And William could catch a face, couldnt he. Couldnt he, Margaret? She makes to move toward her. MARGARET flinches. GRACE hesitates. He could catch the pain.

The confusion or the laughter. William could catch everything. See everything. Thats what made him different. MARGARET. I have Im afraid I have no idea what you mean? GRACE.

I brought them with me, Margaret. Williams notebooks. I thought that I might bury them too but now Im afraid that I cant part with them. MARGARET. Bury? GRACE. MARGARET. MARGARET.

What on earth are you talking about, bury? GRACE. I promised. MARGARET. Promised who? Promised what? You are speaking in riddles. GRACE. Promised William, of course! But there was nothing left of him.

You know that dont you, Margaret? They told you that didnt they the army? MARGARET. William died in action. GRACE. Yes he did. MARGARET. GRACE. Yes. Yes.

Did they tell you how? Did they tell you why? MARGARET doesnt answer. William was out with a posse laying roads. He was laying a road in preparation for battle. And we were behind the lines thats the worst of it, Margaret because he wasnt supposed to we werent supposed to die because of the Balmorals. But it was a stray shell. A stray bloody shell. William. William.

It landed right on top And I wasnt there. And I wish I was, Margaret. Because I wish that I had died with him. Because I dont know how to live. How to live without him now. Pause. MARGARET is aghast. Oh dear, have I said too much? Have I said too much, Margaret? MARGARET sits down silently in a chair. I promised.

We promised, you see. Me and William. That if anything ever happened to either of us that no matter what we would bring the other home. So William chose his tree, Margaret, and I chose mine. And he told me exactly where it was, his tree, and I saw it as soon as I stepped off the train. I saw the ancient green of it.

The thick of it. But he also told me to find you. Find Margaret, he said, youll love Margaret. Slight pause. So here I am. MARGARET. GRACE. Yes. MARGARET. Startling. Startling.

There is a lot that is startling returns from this war. Slight pause. GRACE. So I thought I hoped we might make a day of it? MARGARET. Make a day of what? Burying my brother? GRACE. He said you had a sharp tongue on you all right. Slight pause. MARGARET. Slight pause. MARGARET.

William said that. GRACE. Yes. MARGARET. It certainly sounds like something he would say. She pulls a hanky from her pocket. What was that hymn you were playing? GRACE.

Hymn? MARGARET. On the piano. GRACE. Only Blighty. MARGARET. Oh. Oh.

That was Williams song for me. MARGARET. Grace? GRACE. Yes. I took the name after my mother. I dont. I dont.

I really dont understand this You! GRACE. Me? MARGARET. Yes. I mean. Where Where are you your mother from? GRACE. Ireland. MARGARET. MARGARET.