CHARACTERS The play is written for a male and female actor to perform the following, characters: SYLVIE MOON, the mother RaY MOON, the father DULCIE DowLy, the spinster Sib CRAVEN, the clown VERONICA VALE, the singer SONNY JIM, the soldier THE WIZARD, the magician DAWN BERGER, the babysitter CARL OGLE, the inventor ‘There are also recorded voice-overs: RUBY MOON (an actual young girl), GRANDMA MOON (an elderly woman) and DETECTIVE HOLLOWAY (dhe male actor). SETTING An intemal world—timeless, placeless—featuring an armchair, standing lamp, telephone, gramophone, answering machine and coat stand with various garments. The furnishings are antique in a room evoking the cosy past and dust-covered memory. Upstage is a blood-red velvet curtain and scrim, allowing objects to ‘appear’ and ‘disappear’ with light. There is also a rocking horse, street lamp and an abstract sky with a full moon hovering, PLAYWRIGHT’S NOTE Ruby Moon involves a theatrical conceit, with two actors playing all the characters in the play. They do not make wholesale changes in costume, hair and make-up. Rather tney adjust simply and swiftly from the base attire worn by the characters of Ray and Sylvie. The intention is that the play moves fluidly between scenes and characters The play runs strietly without interval. PROLOGUE The sound of a rhythmic sprinkler, cicadas and a distorted music-box version of ‘Greensleeves’ crackling from an ice-cream van speaker. SYLMEE is curled up in the armchair: She stares absently as the rocking horse rocks slowly back and forth. RAY stares at his closed umbrella, The sound fades to leave just a ticking clock before an abrupt silence. Ruby's ghostly whisper reverherates like a secret. RUBY: [voice-over] It begins like a fairytale. The sound of rain, RAY and SYLVIE are shaken from their reverie. syLvit: What was that? kay: [ealling] It's only me, baby. I’m home. He shakes the rain out of his broken wnbrella. syLvi: Did you say something? kay: I said I'm home. Do I get a kiss? SYLVIE gets up 10 look out. S¥LviE: Sounds like it’s coming down cats and dogs. Rav: Yes, domestic pets are pelting from the sky. SYLVIE: How was the world today? RAY: Its usual self. Tt asks after you. SYLVIE: Give it my best, won"t you? ay: What news from the home front? SYLVE: All quiet. Nota peep. [Looking at him] Look at you, Ray. You're soaked ay: Is there anything more undignified than holding up a broken umbrella in the rain? She takes the umbrella and helps him take off his coat, SYLVIE: You'll catch your death out there. Rav: Do I get a kiss? She hangs up the coat. Silence. SYLVIE: Busy at the store?RAY: The train was full tonight. SYLVIE: Wish this rain would stop. Ray: Have you had your lie down? Silence. SyLviE: How do we do this again? They stare at each other. ray: It was busy today, SYLVIE: Well, it is a peak-hour train. RaY: Still, it's good for the garden. SYLVIE: I had a little rest this afternoon. They stare at each other. ‘Yes, that’s it. Ray: Our friend Sid came into the store again, SYLMIE: From number two? kav: He was bothering the customers. Reading the picture books aloud. Thad a good mind to report him... Any messages? He presses the button on the answering machine. The sound of Grandma Moon's voice GRANDMA MOON: [voice-over] It’s only me. Has the little one left yet? [Beep.] I's me again. She still hasn’t arrived, I hope she's with you. [Beep.] Hello? Is anybody there...? The sound of beeps. Ray: When are we going to erase those? SYLVIF: Leave them. Silence. ay: Sonny Jim's limp isn’t getting any better. [passed him in the cemetery ‘on the way home. SYLVIE: Walking that nasty dog of his? RY: IL was paying its respects on one of the graves again... SYLVEE: As if death wasn’t insult enough... Ray: They still haven't cut the grass at number seven, It's an eyesore. Someone should have a word. They need to get a gardener in. heard both parents were bed-tidden with no income to speak of. kav: They must miss Dawn’s babysitting money, svivit: Bad things happen in houses Tike that. Ray: They bring down the street... SYLVIB: Such a pretty little street. Ray: How about a kiss? She doesn't move. svi: Can you hear that? Silence. ray: You're imagining things. svLvie: Listen. Out of the silence a naive piano refrain echoes. They listen. She’s playing again. .. Can you hear her? That’s not from the music books. That's her own tune. She practises it for hours. Isn’t she clever...” She listens intently. [Singing] ‘She's not in the room She's not outside Hide from the world ‘The curtain girl...” The music disappears Ray: Where is that from? syLvie: [told you. It’s hers. She made it up. Ray: She was only six SYLVIE: Past tense. Ray: Somebody must have helped her, Sylvie. With the words, the tune. SYLVIE: She’s been here before. I always said that, Ray. She’s an old soul Ray: Always hiding behind the curtain. Wearing it like a dress. SYLVIE: Little feet poking out undemeath. kav: ‘Where’s Ruby...? Where can she be hiding?” SYLVEE: [Joking out] Did you see him hiding out there before? Ray: The Wizard? syLvie: Under the street lamp. Rav: Has he been bothering you? sYLvig: He knocked this morning after you leit for work. ray: You didn't answer it? SYLvie: I kept the curtains closed all day.Ray: I thought I saw him loitering in front of the school. The telephone rings. SYLNIE stares at it SYLVIE: Are you going to get that? Ray doesn't move. She picks it up. [Into the phone] Hello....? Hello, you, Where are you calling from. Are you keeping out of this rain...” When are you coming home...? RAY stares at her [nto the phone] We're not going anywhere... We'll be right here. RAY: [whispering] Who is it? SYLMIE: [into the phone] Yes, he’s here, Ray: Sylvie, who is it? SYLME: [/owering the phone from her ear] It's her. Silence. RAY takes the phone from her RAV" [into the phone] Hello...? Hello...? Hello...2 He slowly hangs up. SYLviE: I heard it ring. RAY: Sounds like that rain’s easing, . syLvtr: Didn't you hear it ring? Rav: Why don’t you give us a kiss? SYLMIE: She must be soaked to the bone. Ray: Sylvie...? SYLVIE: Did you leave the key under the mat for her? Rav: What happened? Why are you in such a state? SYLviE: I'm always in a state. Don't you know, Ray? I haven't been well. Ray offers her a glass of water and pills, She feigns taking them Ray: T could read you the story, baby? S¥LvIE: Yes, tell me the story, Ray. I want to hear the story. She fetches a worn leather book. They sit on the armchair With the voices... Do the different voices Ray: [reading] ‘It had been one of those scorching summer days When all the world appears ablaze Sprinklers swivelled to a hypnotic beat Cicadas pulsed to the shimmering heat Concrete was caramel under your feet and The ice-cream van turned slow motion into the dead-end street, ‘The setting sun lit the flame trees one by one Her mother looked down the street like the barrel of a gun As the litte girl tured like a page to wave farewell Before skipping away down the path to hell.” He turns the page but then closes the book. sYLviz: Don’t stop. Keep going. kav: I can’t do the story tonight. He puts the book away. syLvte: You have to. ay: I can’t bear it syivie: [want to know how it ends. Ray: It doesn’t end well syLvte: L don’t want to hear that story. av: Grow np, Sylvie! Grow up! He shakes her fiercely until she cries, SYLvig: Can I have the book? He allows her to take the book. She loves her stories, Ray. She'll never be too old for them. Ray: Every night they were new again, SYLVIE: Past tense. Ray: Knew them by heart. If you missed a word she pounced on it. SYLVIE: Past tense! Ray: I'll get you your cup of tea. SYLVIE: Stop speaking in past tense! RAY: Shush, baby, the neighbours. SYiMik: Have you seen them looking sideways at us, Ray? Keeping a safe distance? They used to leave soup on ovr doorstep... flowers. Rav: Maybe our grief has reached its use-by date... SYLVtE: They all wish we'd move... ay: We don’t know that syivit: Tell me what we know, Ray. Ray: Not tonight, Sylvie. SYLVIE: It helps when you tell me what we know. Silence,Ray: We know she set off to visit her grandma but never arrived, Svivig: We know her butterfly clip was found in the gutter outside Veronica Vale in number five, Ray: Beside an upturned melted ice-cream SYLVIB: The cracked cone rising up from the bitumen... Ray: Like the Wicked Witch of the West's crooked hat. SYLVIE: But she didn’t have money to buy an ice-cream, Ray: We don’t know that. SYLvIE: We know Miss Doily from next door’s parrot was up in the flame tree out front... RAY: ‘Who's a pretty girl...? SYLviE: ‘Who's a preity girl...?" I watched her set off into the dying sun, When the world is askew. And I know how this sounds, Ray, but I distinctly heard the parrot say, “Where’s the pretty girl? kay: We don’t know that. SYLVIE: ‘Where’s the pretty girl..." Like a prapheoy ‘That was when T heard the phone ring. Which surprised me because the repairman’s van was still parked out front of Carl Ogle’s place. Remember the heat had short-circuited the wires? It was 6.48. When your train gets in, And I hurried inside. I knew it was you calling from the station Ray: Like I always do. SYLVIE: It was our ritual. ay: Past tense, SYLVIE: Twelve minutes walk away. Ray: Through the buck of the church and down the laneway next to ‘umber five. SYLvie: Dinner on the table at seven Ray: But it wasn’t on the table. SYLMIE: [had to race in to tell Dulcie Doily about her escaped parrot up in the tee. She was very agitated. “Your little devil needs her mouth washed out,” I told her my daughter was not. Ray: Past tense... SYLVIE: ... is not the kind of girl to curse. By the time I got back you were here on the phone eating an ice-cream, Ray: I felt like a treat. SYLVIE: "You'll spoil your dinner’, I said. Ray: There was no dinner. Silence. SYLVIE: What else do we know? RaY: We know [ was on the phone to Grandma Moon, She was concerned because Ruby badn’t arrived. She'd left those messages. S¥LvIF: We know we searched the street. One side each. Knocking on every door. ray: We know we called the police, Missing persons. SyLvtE: With their list that goes forever. We must pass missing people every day. ray: We know the case remains officially open. syLvir: We know we stopped hearing from Detective Holloway. ay: “You need to prepare for the worst..." How does anyone do that... SYLvIF: There's always something worse than the worst you can imagine. Ray: But you never know. SYLVIE: We didn’t bury her, $0... Ray: You never know.. SYLVTE: She was probably taken and... hurt, We have to accept that. That she was hurt, By someone. Ray: It’s been too long, Silence. SYLVIE: So why, after all this time, would someone send this? She picks up a brown paper package that has been sitting there ail along. RAY takes it. He opens the lid and slowly removes a plastic doll’s arm, They stare at it. Tt was in the letterbox... Ray: What am I to make of this, Sylvie? sYLvie: It's Ruby Doll's arm. Ray: We don’t know that. SYLVIE: We do, RAY: You can’t just give this to me with no warning. SYLVIE: We both know exactly what this is, Ray, It wor Ray: [examining the package] No postmark. syLvie: No handwriting. They examine the doll’ "tbe ignored. im.Ray: Did she have the doll with her that day? syLvie: I don’t know. av: How can you not know? It's a lead. A clue, The detective's case may depend on it, syLvie: Why didn’t you think to ask until now? Ray: Have you checked her room? Is the doll in her room? syLviE: [shaking her head| She must have had it with her. Someone's trying to tell us something, kav: Tt could be from Ruby Doll SYLVIE: She did love that doll, Ray: Past tense. SyLvte: Remember she came home with it the week before...? RAY: The doll dressed up exactly like her. SYLvIE: We kept asking, ‘Who gave you the doll, baby?” Ray: She said she'd promised not to tell SYLMiE: We thought maybe Grandma Moon Rav: She swore it wasn’t her. SYLvie: But her memory was going. Ray; We should have found out who gave her that doll SYLVIE: We didn’t know it mattered until now. Silence, She regards the doll’s limb. Ray...? What if this is what he’s doing to her right now’ What if he's... dismantling our little girl? Ray: We mustn't jump to conclusions. SYLMIE: This changes everything RAY: Maybe it’s a prank. SYLVIE: This is a message. RAY: If we just knew who gave it to her, That might give us somet! SYLVIE: What if it was one of them...’ We could ask? RAY: We can’t knock on their doors again, Sylvie, They'll think we're ma SYLviB: We have to, One side each. Just like that first night. ng SCENE ONE A solitary spotlight on RAY. He walks on the spot to an accompanying soundscape in ihe street: a chill wind, a distant barking dog, the faint echo of a hymn and awind chime. He stops still. The sound of a doorbell. whispering] Come in, come in. An elderly spinster, DULCIE, adjusts her apron and peers into a covered birdcage. RAY takes in the room. | just put her down for the night... RAY: [whispering] Sorry to be calling this late. DULCIE: [ keep Tate hours. Often pop down to the church to practise the organ. I just sang her my favourite hymn. Always sends her off to sleep. Ray: I can imagine... What's it called? puLeie: “Kum ba yah kay: The parrot? puLctE: Her name’s Polly. Ray: Oh, unusual. puLcit: My little gift from God. She peers into the cage and does a parrot’s voice between barely moving lips. Initially this is disguised, but the charade becomes apparent and is done without acknowledgement. [As the parrot] Sark, hallelujah. [Ay herself] Yes, Polly, hallelujah [As the parrot] Aark, hallelujah. (As herself] Yes, shush now. Go to sleep. She leaves the cage and returns to RAY. T think that’s done it. Thank the Lord. [As she parrot] Aark, hallelujeh. RAY realises that DULCIE is doing the parrot's voice. She has stopped turning away (0 disguise it [As herseif] Yes, Polly. Nigh-night. [haye to be careful not to say L-o- 1-d or G-o-d or she'll never drop off. [4s she parrot] Aark, hallelujah. Silence.Rav: You don’t suppose the bird can spell, Miss Doily? DULCIE: Please, Raymond, call me Dulcie. How is that poor wife of yours? Ray: Much better. DULCTE: Fragile creature, She must be a burden, Ray: Getting stronger by the day. buLctE: I don’t know how she cun bear the guilt, Ray: Why do you say that? DULCIE: I’m not a mother, but one does fear for the little lambs left alone to stray. And when one considers certain elements in the neighbourhood. Types like Mr Craven across the way. G-o-d only knows what goes on in that house. Ray: She was visiting her grandma, DULCIE: Just like the story. What was it? You'll know, you're in books. Was it the one with the wolf? RAY: It’s not like we sent her off into the dark woods, Dulcie, Ruby often walked down to her grandma’s. She only lived at the end of the cul-de-sac, DULCIE: And now she’s dead. ray: We don’t know that. buLCiE: Grandma Moon. Ray: Oh, yes DULCIF: Dear old thing. Used to sit beside me in church. [As the parrot) Aark, peace be with you. [As herself) And also with you, Shush now... She’s still learning. Very keen. I lost my last Polly. G-o-d test her soul. kay: Dulcie, do you remember Ruby's doll? The one that looked like her? ULCTE: I do vaguely recall a doll. Ray: Did she have it with her that day? To go to her grandma's? DULCiF: I wasn’t in my right mind that day. Polly had gone miss RaY: Did Ruby ever tell you who gave her that doll? DULCIE: She used to pretend it could talk. Which I found a little creepy. Do you keep a bible in the home, Raymond? Ray: Did she ever say where the doll came from, Miss Doily? putcte: Dulcie, please. Every good home has a bible. Without a moral compass a child is easily lost. Suffice to say Kuby seemed unfamiliar with the scriptures. I still have her on our prayer list. And I drop the odd psalm in your letterbox to comfort Sylvie. ng. 10 kay: Did you happen to see anyone near our letterbox today’ bULCIE: She's in a better place now, Raymond. Out of harm's way. Seated beside the Lord. [As the parrot] Aark, praise the Lord. [Ay herself] Hasn't missed a single Sunday service, Perches on my shoulder, Takes communion, Ray: She's not with the Lord. DULCIE: Don’t listen to him, Polly. Ray: What sort of God would take an innocent little girl? DULCIE: Are you sure she was innocent? Silence. RAY gathers himself. Ray: We think a piece of the puzzle may have been overlooked, Dulcie. We think that piece is her doll. DULCIE: Raymond, you can’t keep doing this to yourselves. She's not coming back. kay: What about the Gallows boy? DULCIE: ‘That was a fong time ago. ay: He came back. DULCIE: But he was never quite right. Does he still knock on your door? Ray: Mostly he just watches from under the street lamp. DULCTE: You have to let it go. There is evil in this world, Raymond. Do you really want to be the shattered couple in number one for the rest Of your lives? RAY: Did you give Ruby the doll, Duicie? putcie: Tmost certainly did not. And T'll have you know you have no right to keep coming in here accusing a poor little old lady! Ray: This will be the last time DULCIE: You say that but it never is. Silence. ‘The man upstairs had his reasons. ray: We're not church-going people, Miss Doily. DULCIE: Let me tell you about your little angel, Mr Moon. It’s no secret that my previous Polly lost her way that fateful day. Out of nowhere I was confronted with a blaspheming parrot. One could scarcely believe the foul language that came out of that beak. I aught her to say, ‘Who's a pretty girl?”, ‘Polly want a cracker’, as well as select Christian blessings. It's only me here so it’s nice to have someone uto talk to. But after leaving her alone with your Ruby that day it was as if she was suddenly possessed. And it can only have been the strength of the Devil himself who forced open that cage door. [She Jooks out.| How long are you going to leave her out there? Ray: As long as it takes. DULCIE: Detective Holloway was of the opinion that it no longer serves 4 purpose. Indeed, one might find ita touch morbid seeing her there by the kerb day after day, night after night. Ray: Were you making a complaint? DULCHE: It can't be helping either of you, ay: I was about to bring her in, DULCIE: I think it’s best. Time to move on. RaY: Just to get her out of the rain. Get some dry clothes on. He goes to leave. DULCIE: Did you allow your child to play with Mr Craven from across. the way? RAY: She never had anything to do with Sid Craven, putcte: How strange. I saw her come out of there that day. was putting seed out to lure Polly. She was jingling coins in her hand and went skipping off after the ice-cream van. [She opens her bible and sings 10 herself] “Kum ba yah, my Lord... Kum ba yah. Ray: Don’t get up, Miss Doily. I'll see myself out DULCIE remains absorbed in her bible. DuLctE: How does that story end, Raymond? With the little girl and the ‘wolf? Does it end well? Ray: The woodsman saves her with his axe. buLCIE: Hmm, that’s some comfort. Mind you, she wasn't missing this long. And she was a good litte girl. Taking food to her sick grandma. Not one to curse. Yes, the Lord looked out for her, Silence as she stares at RAY. [As the parrot] Aark, bugger the Lord. Bugger the Lord. [As herself] Shush now, Polly. RAY: Goodnight DULCTE smites sweetly at Rav. DULCHE: [as the parrot] Aark, where's the pretty girl. 12 Ray retreats. He peers under the cover of the cage. It is empry inside. DULCIE is lost in her bible. |As the parrot] Aark, where's the pretty girl...? SCENE TWO The naive piano refrain echoes. RAY carries the Ruby mannequin. Itis dressed in a ruby-red dress with white polka dots, red shoes and dark hair in pigtails tied with red ribbon. SYLVIE appears. SYLVIE: Oh, baby! Look at you! You're soaked. Let's get you out of those wet things. Get a towel, Ray! She peels off the dress. RAY fetches a towel. You're shivering, baby... It's okay... Mummy's here RAY hands over the towel. SYLMIE dries the mannequin, Ray: You're not getting better, SYLVIE: Will you fetch me another dress? Ray: Its not her, Sylvie. You know that. SYLVIE: Let me pretend. Ray: That's all we do, syLvit: Feel her, Ray. She's chilled to the bone. Rav doesn't move. Fetch me another dress. Ray: Which one? SYLVIE: You know which one. He doesn't move. She dries the mannequin. Is that better, baby? Hmm? Ray: I don't know where they are, Sylvie. SYLviE: I'll get it RaY is left alone with the mannequin. He gives ita tender caress He suddenty pulls the arm off and stares at f. SYLVW. returns with a replica dress, to see RAY holding the arm. What have you done?Ray: Nothing. It fell off. 1's okay. He attaches the arm. SYLNi: dresses the mannequin. svLvie: Help me, Ray... help me put it on, RAY: This has to stop. He helps put on the dress. SYLViE: What did Duleie say? ay: I’m sure you can imagine. SYLVIE: I want to hear it from you. Ray: The woman is quite mad. SYLVIE: What did she say? RAY: Same as always. “The Lord took her.’ And she wants us to stop Teaving the mannequin at the kerb. SYLvts: Don’t call her that. kay: She complained to the detective. Silence. She says Sid Craven gave Ruby the money for the ice-cream... Do wwe trust him’? SYLVIE: Do we trust any of them? They stare at the mannequin. Ray: Let me put her under the house tonight. Then I'll take her back to the store tomorrow. SYLvIE: Look at the face, Ray. They can’t put that in a display window. She's ours now. And she’s going back out. For everyone to see. Ray: But they know what she looked like, baby. SYLVIE: Past tense. RaY: It’s not helping. It hasn't led to any reports. Maybe it’s time we. SYLVIE: ‘Moved on’? Ray, there's nowhere from here, Let them look at her. Day and night. Through the cracks in their curtains. Let them see what was stolen from us. Ray picks up the mannequin. SYLVIE kisses it on the cheek. SCENE THREE A solitary spotlight on SYLVIB, She walks on the spot to an accompanying soundscape of footsteps on concrete, a cold, whistling wind and a wind chime. She begins to notice an echo to her footsteps and slows to realise they are out of kilter with her own. She stops. The sound of the footsteps continues then stops. The distant sound of a wooden pipe playing the naive refrain, sip: [calling] Is that you... sip pulls the cord 10 switch on the lamp above the chair he is sitting in. He wears a grimy, blood-stained singlet under his suspenders. He also wears hairnet and is removing the remains of white make-up from his face. S¥LVIE: The door was open, Sid. I hope you don’t mind. sip: Please, call me Sid. svLviE: I did, iD pulls the cord to switch off the lamp. T can’t see you there sip: I'm not here. SYLVEE: Is something the matter, Sid? sib pulls the cord to switch on the lamp. Where did that blood come from? sin: I don’t want you to see me like this. syLvus: Ray says he saw you in at the store today...? sip: T wasn’t there. He pulls the cord to switch off the lamp. syLvir: Why don’t you leave the fight on, Sid? I'd feel better with it on, sip: Are you afraid of me, Mrs Moon? SYLVIE: Why, should T be? He pulls the cord to switch on the lamp. sip: I don’t mean any harm,SyLvie: T’ve never seen you without your face on, Remember I used t0 pass you in town when I was putting up posters? Do you still imitate strangers? sip: Do you still imitate strangers? He imitates SYLVIE’s every move. SYLvIE: You should keep your door locked. It’s not safe out. sib: “Doors are locked. Windows shut tight. Curtains drawn on this once- friendly picture-book neighbourhood.” syLvie: Who said that? ‘siD: Who said that? SYLVIE: Please don’t copy me. SID: Please don’t copy me. He continues to imitate SYLVIE. SYLVIE: Sid, stop it! pe Are: yout going te vit: People don’t like you doing that. Silence. Why would you think Fd hurt you? sip: Why else would you be here? SYLVEE: I’m seeing everyone on this side of the street. Have you done something wrong? SID shrugs. Whose blood is that’? sib: I didn’t do anything. They just kept hitting. SYLVIE: Who? sip: People don’t like clowns anymore. rt me? He winces as he takes a step and takes off his shoe to empty out a small stone. SYLVIE: You can never trust a stranger, Sid. And you should always lock your door. stb: No one comes in, SYLVIE: Miss Doily says Ruby came in here. stb: I leave the door open for her, but she doesn't visit anymore, He puts his shoe back on and winces. syivit: So she did visit? sip: T made her face. He takes off his shoe to empty another small stone. He continues 10 1ap the shoe and a steady stream of stones cascade out. SYLVIE watches. SYLVIE: And did you give her the doll? sip: Little Ruby? syLvie: Yes. Did you give her Little Ruby to play with? sib: She played with me. [Fe puts on his shoe.| | feel bad about Ruby. syLve: Why do you say that, Sid? stb: I miss her. SYLMIE: It's not like you're responsible. sip: “In many ways perhaps we all are, All of us in our most secret selves, in our darkest hour, are capable of what is unconscionable.” SYLViE: I need you to be serious, Sid. si adopts an exaggeratedly serious pose. Ineed you to recall that day. sip slips into a routine. He adopts the pose of a distraught mother searching. His voices are cartoon-like. sip: [ealling, as Sylvie] “Ruby...? Ruby...? Where are you...” He adopts the pose of « stoic but worried father [As Ray] ‘Ruby...? Ruby...?” He makes the sound ofa police car siren approaching and pulling up. He mimics the sound of the police car radio, [Asa distorted radio voice] ‘VKC to BKY, come in, over... He plays a detective. He knocks on an imaginary door, holds up a ‘badge’ and writes in a ‘notebook’. [As the detective] ‘Rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb. Rhubarb rhubarb? Rhubarb? Rhubarb rhubarb.’ He plays a police dog. He sniffs and barks before becoming a search party officer issuing barely decipherable instructions through a megaphone. [As the officer] ‘Please remain in your homes. Do not, I repeat, do not come out into the street, We appreciate your co-operation.” 17He takes a flash ‘photograph’ of syivie. He places a ‘microphone? under his mouth. [As Syfvie] “Ifanyone knows where my baby is, please come forward.” He ‘sobs’. He speaks again into the ‘microphone’. [As Ray] ‘We just want our litde girl home safe.” He plays a horde of hungry journalists and photographers. “One more! Mr Moon! Mrs Moon! Over here! This way!” He plays a television reporter delivering his report “According to police sources, foul play is suspected and child welfare ‘groups are already calling on parents not to encourage children to kiss adults goodbye as it may make them vulnerable to predatory advances.” He makes a thumping knock on a door. [Ay the devective] ‘Sid Craven, can you account for your whereabouts at 6.48 p.m. [As himself] ‘Twas playing with Ruby.’ [As the detective] “Cuff him, boys. He’s coming down to the station with us.” He sits down and plex a victim tied to a chair, [As himseifl “I shouldn’t be out this late.” He stands to play the interrogating detective. [As the detective] ‘Rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb?" He sits down to play the victim tied to the chair. IAs himself] ‘I don't understand!” He stands to play the interrogating detective. [As the detective] ‘What rock did you crawl out from, you sick freak? He sits down to play the victim tied to the chair. [As himself] “didn’t hurt her!” He makes the sound of punches and his head swings from side to side with the ‘blows’. “Lswear I didn’t do it!” More ‘blows’ as he is tortured. “She's my friend!” He stops the performance, gets up from the chair and mudges his upturned hat pointedly towards SYLvIB. She drops in a coin. svivre: Why didn’t they arrest you? sib: No proof. sive: Did you buy Ruby the ice-cream, Sid? Duleie says Ruby came ‘out of your house with coins in her hand Silence. sip: What are you going to do to me? sYLviE: Were you in the habit of giving my daughter treats? sip: I didn’t hurt her. SYLVIE: Did she bring you back an ice-cream’ sib: She was bringing back my photo. syLvie: What photo? sip: Veronica Vale at number five, Ruby was friendly with her. She was going to get her to autograph it. syiaie: You must be mistaken, Sid. Our family has no acquaintance with Ms Vale. sib: She was always in there. SYLVIE: What were you doing spying on my child? sib: I was spying on Veronica. Have you heard her? It's like listening to velvet. He slips into playing a chanteuse. [Singing, as Veronica] ‘Madman on the corner, Conducts an invisible orchestra..." SYLVIE: She sings? sib: You should see her at night. When she comes out to play, The ccurtains part and she puts on a show. svLviE: What was she doing with Ruby sib: Tt was secret syLvié: What happened to that photograph? sib: That's just it, She never came back. I lost my photo. syLvie: [ lost my baby girl. Silence. Sid, do you know where she is? sip: It’s not safe out. They hurt you for no reason. They erush you because they can. They hate beauty 19svLvie: Did she have the doll when you last saw her? sib nods. And you haven't sent usa package? You haven't been near our letterbox’? He shakes his head. SyLvit: But she was your ‘friend’, you say? sib: T don’t have any friends now. But I’m a friendly person. syLvie: What did you two do in here together? sib: She used to read to me.. “While the night crept in for a closer look The little git! escaped into her picture book Between the pages lay a pressed blue flower And she whispered to it through the witching hour.” SYLVIE: Were you reading that aloud at the store today”? stb: Do you know what the litle girl whispered? SYLVIE shakes her head. ‘Remember to forget-me-not.” He looks out. SYLvtr: What time does her curtain come up? sib; She keeps you guessing SYLVIE: It’s already late. ‘sip: When the stars come out to shine... He takes up his vigit. SYLVIE: You like Veronica, don’t you, Sid? sip: Very much... SYLVIE: Do you imagine her being your friend? ‘iD: It’s not like that... SYLMIE: Sid...? I know it’s you, Stay away from my mannequin, sip: I didn’t do anything, SYLVIE: We never let Ruby wear make-up. She was too young, iD: But she liked me making her face disappear. SYLVIE: Don’t go near her again. The Ruby mannequin stands under the street tamp with the moon hovering in the sky. 20 SCENE FOUR A slow knock at the door echoes. SYLNté listens to it anxiously sYLME: [whispering] Ray... do you hear that... I's him again... RAY: Just ignore it. They listen in silence. He has no right to keep doing this, Ray: He's harmless enough. syLvig: We don’t know that. Another slow knock at the door echoes. ‘The man calls himself a wizard, Ray. He stands out there staring at our house. Knocking on our door at all hours. Ray: We've nothing to fear from Mr Gallows, baby. If anything he’s our beacon of hope. He came back. They ‘There. He must have gone. SYLVIE: Dulce says she saw him once inside Grandma Moon's. Rav: I’m sure she was mistaken, SYLViE: He was at the sink in the kitchen in broad daylight. She said she had a clear view from the vestry window. Ray: I check the locks regularly, Sylvie, sYLMie: Why won't you just let the school buy it? Be done with the place. RAY: It's not for sale. sten in silence. Silence Sounds like he’s gone. Shall I sneak a peck to set your mind at ease? SYLVIE: If he sees you he'll only keep knocking Ray: I'll send him on his way and then check under the house. A sharp knock at the door echoes. SyLvir: Make him stop. kay: It might not be him, baby. What if it’s one of the neighbours? What if it's the detective? SYLvtE: He doesn’t come here anymore. 21Ray: What if it’s her...? SYLMIE: She could be trying to get in, Let her in. RAY leaves. The distorted sound of Ruby giggling. [Whispering] Ruby...? Baby...” RAY returns with a brown paper package. RAY: It was on the doorstep. syLvir: Did you see him? He shakes his head. Tt must be him, Ray. RAY: He’s an old man, He can't move that fast. SYLVIE: He’s a wizard RAY: We don’t know that, Silence. vivir We should have confiscated that doll. Ray: It would only have upset her. SYLVIE: We should never have allowed it into the house. Someone gave it to gain her trust because once they had that they knew they could abuse it, They were grooming her. And we let them. They stare at the package. Ray: We don't have to open it. SYLVIE opens the lid and holds up a doll’s leg. RAY reaches in to remove the other doll’ leg. They each tenderly caress a timb in silence. Remember when we'd bring her home late at night...? After visiting friends...? SyLvie: ‘Visiting friends’... Its a lifetime ago. Ray: And she'd be all limp and sleepy in the back seat of the car. And I knew she wanted to be carried inside. Tucked tight into her cosy bed. Music box beside her bed. Ballerina doing her pirouette... T imagine them finding her like that. Limp and sleepy. Waiting for me to carry her safely inside. SYLViE: If she’s not alive then she’s only bones, ay: We don’t know that. 22 SYLME: We're living the wrong lives, Ray. There must have been a mistake. These are other peoples’ lives. RAY: He'll slip up, baby. He's feeling safe. The newspapers have moved on. The grief tourists have come and gone. Parents are letting their children stray out of sight again. The hounds have been called back from the hunt. This is when we get him, syLvie: Or her. Ray closes the lid on the package RAY: I think I'Il take my walk. SYLVIE: Must be closing in on show time? ray: I'm afraid you've lost me. syivit: Veronica Vale. She does a striptease in front of her window every night ray: First 've heard. SYLVIE: Wonder if all the men in Flaming Tree Grove watch het. Ray: What is this street coming to...? SYLVIE: She is next house on your side. kay: If the light’s on I'll call by. See what I can find. syiwie: VIL try number four. SCENE FIVE, A solitary spotlight on RAY. He pulls up his collar to brace against the cold as he walks on the spot to an accompanying soundscape: a creaking tree, a clanking street sign and a wind chime. RAY: [whispering] Behind the velvet curtain, the siren of the night with the sweet caress of secrets confessed, put your hands together for the midnight chanteuse... He stops still. veRONtca is revealed wearing a blonde wig, high heels and a sitk slip. She blows dust off a record before placing it on the gramophone. The sound of the needle on a scratchy «album. She stands behind an old-style microphone and mimes to the song. VERONICA: [voice-over] ‘All-too-familiar strangers rue stolen belief...” 23Suddenly she is in a spotlight singing the torch song live. [Singing] “Doubt creeps about like a pantomime thief ‘And you've gone to water ‘The erying bed Take buck those words unsaid Drowned lovers found In acrying bed Into the sun You ran And slowly set And yet Morning hides From prisoners Of the night Guarded by regret The crying bed Take back those words unsaid Drowned lovers found Inacrying bed ‘The crying bed Another long night ahead Drowned lovers found Hold each other down Washed up on old ground Bound in our erying bed.’ She finishes with a flourish. The music ends. The sound of the record spinning under the needle. The spotlight fades. RAX steps out of the shadows, applauding gently: Do you like my voice? RAY: It's beautiful VERONICA: Sweet of you to say. RAY: Should we draw the curtain, Veronica? veRONICA: Let them watch, 24 She takes a drink from a small medicine bottle. Look at you... all shy. [Holding up a warch] You left this here last time, lover boy. Ray: That's not my watch, VERONICA: Oh, [see, we're playing this again, are we? You do love your little games... She offers her hand. They shake. Hello. Ray from number one, isn't it? RaY: Yes. VERONICA: Come for another cup of sugar, Ray? ay: I’ve come about Ruby. VERONICA: Surprise, surprise. She removes her wig and takes another drink from the bottle. Tesoothes my throat. nay: Isn't it addictive? ‘veronica: Isn't everything? Sitence. You keep your wife medicated, don’t you? Ray: She hasn’t been well. VERONICA: She was never well. [She moves closer to him.] | saw her go in to Sid’s before. RAY: Are you going to close the curtain? ‘VERONICA: What’s to see? Just wo neighbours talking. RAY: Should we turn off the light? ‘VERONICA: Do you think she's watching us? She looks out. Rav: Sid said you knew Ruby. VERONICA: We had an arrangement, She fetched my medicine from the chemist. They know me down there. RAY: In return for what? VERONICA sings the naive piano melody. veronica. [ringing] “She's not in the room She's not outsideHide from the world The curtain girl...” Ray: You should have told us she was in here VERONICA: Why? Ray: We're her parents. VERONICA: | assumed you knew where she was. ray: Well, we.. veronica: I only gave her singing lessons, sugar. She preferred the company of grown-ups. She wanted to be a singer like yours truly. Wanted to be famous. And now she is, But I was never famous... T was notorious. [She moves closer.] My allure is founded entirely on dim lighting. I'm nothing without the night. He retreats. Yes, why don’t you run along home, Ray? No doubt your wile is waiting for you to come to bed. RAY: She sleeps in Ruby's room. Has ever since, Not that either of us really sleeps. We did the first night. The police told us we'd need our strength. The sun was up when we woke and for a fleeting moment we listened for the sound of her practising the piano before breakfast, like always, but... What sort of parents could fall asleep? VERONICA drinks from her bottle. VeRonica: She had a sweet little voice, I suppose... Ray: I never heard her sing, VERONICA: All that untouched youth RAY: We don’t know that. ‘VERONICA: Truth is, I can’t bear little girls. They don’t know how the world works. I told her as much, How [loathe innocence. The innocent get what they deservs kav: What do you think she deserved? VERONICA: If you walk down the street in a little red dress you're playing with fire. RAY: She was a child. ‘VERONICA: Then take solace from that, Ray. This way she’s preserved inall her arrested glory. Before being sullied by clawing men. Before all the misbegotten lust visited on the rest of us, Ray: What if it's the last thing she ever knew? 26 She moves close to hien. You did take care of my little girl, didn’t you? ‘VERONICA: What do you say, Ray? Once more with feeling? Pressed up against the window. For all to see. Ray: T think you've got the wrong idea... She kisses him, slow and lingering. Please, Veronica... Did she come here that day? VERONICA: Are you accusing me of something? ay: I'm just trying to get things clear in my head. VERONICA: Let it lie, Ray. Let it lie, RAY: Sid says he gave her a photo of you to sign, She was on her way over. Did she make it? VERONICA: What do you think, lover boy? kay: I'm not your lover boy. veRONICA: Don't you want to have your way with me? RaY: Please tell me, When did you last see her? VERONICA: Alive? Ray: What do you...” VERONICA: Or do you mean the last time? Ray: Yes, but VERONICA: You know the soldier across the way? nay: Sonny Jim? VERONICA: Tt may have been nothing. T can’t be sure it was her. Ray: Tell me! VERONICA: He and his dog were digging in the church late at night. L saw Sonny Jim crouch over the hole with a wrapped bundle in his hands... It was some time after, but you never know. Blackout, The sound of Ruby singing her scales. 27SCENE SIX The harsh sound of a brass door knocker in the darkness. SONNY 41M: [eutling] Who’s there? SYLVIE: [calling] It's Mrs Moon. Sylvie, from across the road. A light switches on to reveal SONNY 31M. He wears an army jacket and suspenders over his bare chest. He is propped up by a single crutch and is carrying an air rifle. SuvIE eyes the rifle. Is that loaded? SONNY 11M: Give you two guesses sytvie: No? SONNY 1M: What's your second guess? svivir: Perhaps you could point it away SONNY JIM: Is it making you nervous, missus? syLvie: Can you put it down please, James? He lines up the rifle and imitates the melodramatic voice-over fora movie trailer. SONNY JIM: ‘In a world shot to hell, one man will stand alone to fight for freedom... In the land that time forgot, a hero will rise... In a city under siege, where was justice...? Right here.” He makes the sound of a pump-action shotgun and ‘fires’. He then plays the victim, complete with slow motion and gruesome effects of the bullet's impact. He falls to his knees, arms to the heavens. “No! It’s payback time.” He makes the sound of machine-gun fire as he mows down the enemy. I should be military adviser on these pictures. I know all about tactical combat and ordnance capabilities SYLVIE: I hope you don’t mind me calling by, James. SONNY JIM: My friends call me Sonny Jim. svLvie: [ never see you with your friends, 28 SONNY JIM: [keep to myself, Work on my models. Got a whole squadron hanging from the ceiling in my room. At night when there's a mosquito it's like I'm in the middle of an air raid. He makes the sound of a descending plane then slaps his cheek, as if squashing a mosquito. I don’t understand why more people aren't interested in war. SYLVIE: It doesn’t take many. She genily takes the rifle and puts it down, He polishes his boots. Did you serve? SONNY MM: Honourable discharge. Best years of my life. Taught me how to survive. You know the trouble with civilians? You're not simpatico with your surroundings. No awareness. Numb, Can’t sense danger. [He looks out.| Look at all these backyards full of dogs doing what their owners should be capable of doing themselves. syivie: So why do yon awn a dog? SONNY IM: For the company. [Calling] At ease, Soldier. As you were. (He salutes. I’m teaching him how to salute. He can put his paw up like this. [He demonstrates.] Soldicr’s an attack dog. Highly trained. He wouldn't lock his jaw on someone unless I gave a direct order. Loves children. SYLVIE: He sounds delightful. SONNY JIM: Everyone forgets that dogs are just people too. SYLVIE: Why you were discharged, Sonny Jim? Was it your leg? Were ‘you shot? SONNY JIM: The dog bit me. Silence. Look missus, Pl save you having to ask. I don’t have anything further to offer regarding your loss. Tdon’t fraternise with minors, so I didn’t know her. sYLviE: Don’t... diminish her. SONNY siM: She may have had a litte crush on me. The uniform has that effect. Hence, I was aware of her presence prior to... well... syivie: You ean say it SONNY JIM: Her abduction. ‘sYLvie: Is that what you think happened? SONNY JIM: I don’t want to upset you. 29sytvie: I'm beyond that SONNY JIM: It does no good to say it SYLVIE: Say it SONNY JIM: Rape. Murder. Maybe not even in that order. T couldn't live with myself if Twas the father. syivie: He couldn't protect her, That's hard for a man. And men don’t speak, so... Detective Holloway told him to check under the house at night. Said runaways often hide there to be close. To hear how much their parents miss them. We told him that Ruby didn’t ran away. But Ray checks anyway. He looks down there every night with a torch. SONNY JIM: Does your husband carry a weapon? SYLVIE shakes her head. He should have a weapon, Needs to place himself inside the mind of the enemy. How does he think? What are his patterns? Routines? ‘Needs? Wants? Weaknesses? I would make him my personal mission. Hunt him down like a dog, Cut his genitals off and feed them to him slowly. Because these people are animals. syivir: [looking out] Ie’s ruined your mother’s washing. SONNY JIM: I won't hear the end of that, She’s always on Soldier’s case. Nota pet person. Keeps threatening to have him put down. I’d like to have her put down, SYLvib: I'm sure she means well SONNY s1Mt: She doesn’t. SYLViE: Ts she often out this late? SONNY JM: She’s out of town. Nagging a relative, SYLVIE: Do you want me to bring that washing in? SONNY JIM: She"ll do it. syLvis: When is she due back? SONNY JIM: Why all these questions? SYLviB: 'm sorry. He takes out a little notebook. SONNY 11M: Can I read you something? She nods. It’s called... Actually it’s better when I stand. [He stands and clears his throat. It's called ‘Mother’ 30 hut up Stop talking to me Leave me alone you Get out of my room T'm not in your womb Anymore. Shut up Shut up Shut up Shut up. Shut up. Shut up... Hove you.’ Silence. T's not published. SYLVIE: It's SONNY JIM: I'S a poem. SYLviE: I thought it might be. SONNY JIM: I’ve never read that to anyone. T tend not to have visitors. Apart from the police when your little girl disappeared. We hit it off in many ways. Like-minded, I suppose. syivte: You and Ruby? SONNY JIM: The police. They appreciated my ability to handle the situation, I'm familiar with the concept of the street canvas. Most people fall apart, [had the presence of mind (o offer them refreshments, Walking the strect for clues and witnesses, as they were, I knew they would need to be provisioned. I inguired about their firearms. They informed me they carried a thirty-eight snub-nosed Colt. One of them had a Glock nine-millimetre, which I thought was interesting. They asked if Pd seen anything. 1 told them everything because often det that don’t seem important can be, such as vehicles that have come and gone. He shows her a page in his notebook. Tgenerally keep a log of unfamiliar cars in the street. Number plates. Make and model. It's a hobby of mine. s¥LviE: Do you often lose your temper, Sonny Jim? Is that why Soldier attacked you? 31SONNY JIM: He didn't attack me. I'm his master. He's highly trained, SYLVIE: Maybe Ruby aggravated him that day...? SONNY JIM: He never touched her sytvie: Do you walk him of an evening? SONNY stM: You know I do. Your husband sees me. SYLvIE: But later? Do you go by the church in the dead of night? SONNY Jt: What's she been saying about me?” SYLVIB: Veronica SONNY JIM: The old witch in number three. Always complaining about Soldier's ‘ablutions on holy ground’ Silence. ‘Lisnow what this is about. On the evening in question, he was sniffing around the church, clawing at the soil. I thought he was going to dig up that priest who took off. As it happens, it was a grave, But a small one. For a tiny body wrapped in a black garbage bag, Wearing a red dress with white polka dots... SYLVIE: Please, no... SONNY JIM: It was her doll. So you tell whoever was spying through their curtain that Sonny Jim did not bury your litle girl in the church. Cheek with Detective Holloway. I was in my room the whole time. ‘My mother confirmed it. 1 was working on my model of a BS2, 1:48 scale. Which remains to this day incomplete. SYLviE: Why didn’t you report this, Sonny Jim? SONNY JIM: Because I knew how it would look. SyLviE: Can you show me where Ruby Doll is buried’? SONNY siM: Can’t do that, missus... she’s gone now. SCENE SEVEN SYLMIE is skipping with a rope. SYLVIE: [chanting] ‘My mother told me That she would buy me A rubber dolly If I was good, good, good. RAY appears 32 RAY: Sylvie! Sylvie, you'll disturb the neighbours! She stops and breathes heavily, recovering. SYLVIE: Too late, Ray. They're already disturbed... ay: You've lost me. syivit: Don’t say that. [She drops the rope.] We have to dig up the church. Rav: Isn't it enough that we just don’t attend? SYLviE: Who knows what else is buried there...? Is that her perfume T can sinell on you? Ray: Who? SYLMiE: Veronica. Silence RAY: What did Sonny Jim have to say for himself? SYLMIE: Same as always. He'd never admit it but he's not coping with his mother away. The sooner she comes home the better. ray: She passed away. You knew that. syivir: Did 1? Silence, Somebody dug up Ruby Doll. They must've seen Sonny Jim. Ray: And now they’re sending her to us. Piece by piece. sYLvie: They're trying to break us... We have to keep going, Ray. Someone has our answer. RAY: What are we doing? What are we doing to ourselves? sYLvie: We deserve this. We weren't there when she needed us. Ray: [can’t keep this up, Sylvie. I can’t sit down for dinner every night with a place set for her at the table. SYLVIE: There will always be a place set. There is no family without her. Don’t you see, Ray? If we miss her enough, we can resurrect her. Ray: [picking up the skipping rope] What if she's still alive...? SYLviE: We don't know that. [She suddenly stops still] Ray...” Ray: What is it, baby? SyLvte: When did this arrive? Ray: What? She points to a large brown paper package. I didn’t even know it was there. syLvit: Then how did it get in? 33RAY shrugs, A suulden slow knock on the door echoes. [Calling] Go away! Leave us alone! They stare at the package. Ray: It's bigger than the others. SYLVrE: Someone's been in here. RAY: They're gone now, SYLVIE: Look at it. It's big enough for. RAY: Don’t say it, Sylvie. Don’t even think it. SYLViE: Someone's been in our house, Ray. Ray: We could move, baby...? We could sell the house? SYLvIE: How would she know where to find us? Silence, ray: We could try again...? syivig: We had a child, Ray. And we lost her. ray: And we searched for her. Over fences. Under bi SYLVIE: We failed her. RAY: We covered walls and poles and fences with her face. SYLviE: And people kept covering her up with posters of lost cats and dogs. kay: We had a skywriter write her name across the sky, Sylvie. There isn’t any more that we can do. syivir: We can find her. Down drains, Ray suddenly goes to the package. Don’t open it! He lifts the lid and stares in at the contents Show me. He holds up a dolt torso with one arm. SYLVtE takes it. Ray: Don’t let it upset you, baby. SYLviE: Don’t you see? We can start putting her back together. Where are the other pieces? Give me the rest of our baby girl. RAY hands her the other doll’s arm and two legs. He watches as she attaches the timbs. He can’t hurt us... [Looking out] Ray... [She drops the doll.| He's out there again, 34 ray: The Wizard? SYLVIE: He’s waving She looks away. RAY: Or casting a spell. I'l go out SYLVIE: What if he’s dangerous? RaY: He's just an old man. (Looking ouf] Where is he? SYLYIE: Under the street lamp. kay: He's not there. SYLVIE: [Looking out] He just disappeared... It has to be him, Ray. He's the one doing this t0 us. kay: We mustn't jump to conclusions, baby. SYLVIB: There has to be an end. Ray: T'Il look out for him on my way to number seven, SYLVIE: Yes, the babysitter. She has to know something, Ray: Don't open the door for anyone. SYLVIE nods Do I get aki She doesn't move. He leaves. She curls up in the armchair and winds the key on a music box. She opens the lid and a lullaby plays as the ballerina figure inside pirouettes: SCENE EIGHT SYLMIE is asleep in the chain The WIZARD appears. He wears a long tattered coat, a crooked hat and carries an ornate cane. He looms over SYLYIE and produces a smail wooden pipe. He plays the naive refrain. She wakes. sYLViE: How did you get in? wizakb: I found the key under the mat. svimie: You have no right being in my home, wi7arn: You're in my home SYLVIE: My husband is coming back. wizarb: Check the deeds on the property, dear lady. Sold by Mr and Mrs GW. Gallows. 35SYLVIE: Not to us. To the previous owners. The ones you drove away. But we're slaying, We stay until she comes home wizarD: You're sleeping in my room SYLViE: That's Ruby’s room. wizarb: And before that it was mine, He puts away his pipe SYLVIE: How do you know that tune? WIAD: I play it for the children, When they hear it they come from all around. SyLvis: Tdon’t believe in conjurers. wizarb: I'm not a conjurer. Pm a magician, SYLVIE: There’s no difference. wizarb: One conjures. The other disappears He waves his cane like a wand. She looks around for evidence of the trick. SYLVIE: You haven't done anything, wizarb: Haven't I? ‘SYLVIE: Tell me, Mr Gallows. wizarb: Wizard. T answer to Wizard. SYLVIE; What’s your trick, Mr Wizard’? wizarp: I make things disappear. Silence. SYLVIE: What things? wizarb: Now, now, I can see your mind is running away with you. Why did you stop working at the library, Sylvie? You had the keys to the kingdom. Picture fiction. Little ones gathered round, wide-eyed, hanging on every word, watching each page urn with breathless anticipation. SYLMIE: They banned you from the premises, WIZARD: The parents. Not the children. SYLVIE: There were concerns. WIZARD: "The wind perched on her shoulder to whisper in her ear fery single gruesome thought that riddled her with fear Fingers from trees stretched through the night sky Like an old woman's hand waving goodbye,” SYLVIE: Tell me what you make disappear. 36 wizarb: Patience, Patience, dear lady, Why didn’t you go back to the school? Didn't you love reading the little ones their stories? syLvie: Even the ones who couldn’t read knew precisely when to turn the page. wizarp: Days gone by I could amuse them in the yard with my tricks, my sleight of hand, Nowadays, banished as T am, T must content myself with listening (o them on the other side of the wall. Pressed against stone, straining towards their exclamations of life... so that they might seem like my own. Sometimes you get one stray from the pack. And they use the wall to clap against. To play their little game. I like to shadow them on the other side. He plays the clapping game in the air [Whispering] “But when 1 told her kissed a soldier She would not buy me A rubber dolly. syivir: Did you buy her the doll? WIZARD: She wanted to be my assistant. Dear thing. Wanted me to saw ber in half, make her disappear. Would she betray my secrets? That is always the concem, But then she had so many secrets of her own that you never even knew. SYLVIE: You had no right speaking to my little girl \wizaRb: She spoke to me. Children were my greatest audience. Willingly mesmerised. Mouths agape. Seduced by my flourish of the hand away from the trick, After the show the little ones always wanted to touch my hands. The hands that make things disappear. [He snaps his fingers.) Just like that. Vanish into thin air. SYLVIE: What have you done with her? wizakb: T could wave my wand, Sylvie, but 1 can’t bring her back There are no magic words for that. SYLVIE: Stop talking in riddles... wizaro: [regarding his cane] | was given this at a carnival by an old man, My head was spinning from the rides and the sweets. In the bufleting crowd, I slipped from my mother’s hand to stare up at the lights of the carousel. as giddy without even moving. Faces blurred, None of them my mother’s. Until he appeared, like magic. The Wizard. He could see T was lost and he offered me his hand, the one that a7could make things disappear. “Let's get you home’, he said. As we slipped through the throng, he told me he was a magician of great renown and that he would teach me his craft. And if T were good, good, good, he would give me his cane so I could be the Wizard. sytvit: And he just let you go? WIZARD: When I knocked on the door here at number one, they'd gone. ‘There were strangers in my house. I was found, cane in hand, on the crushed grass where the carnival had been, SyLviE: You were spared. wizarp: T was chosen, syi.viE: What happened to the old man who took you? wizarp: I am the old man who took me, Silence, 1 cannot divulge how it was done. The code, you see. Sworn to secrecy, The magician appears to disappear. Where did he go? No one knows. The little boy reappears out of thin air, Like magic. Wielding a wand. SYLVIE: What did he do to you? wizarb: I didn’t do anything to him. SYLVIE: If you're not the Gallows boy, what do you want with our house? wizarp: T am the Gallows boy. SyLVIE: You're the Wizard, wizarp: I'm both, SYLVIE: If you know, tell me where she is. Please. ‘wizarD: Lam not your concer, dear lady. I have no need of alittle girl ‘The time is fast approaching when I shall need a little boy, like the one at the carnival that day. Someone to become. syLvte: Don’t do that to a mother. \wizarb: I always bring them back. Perhaps tomorrow, after school. the doors will burst open and they will come running out. Laughing, squealing, clutching a prized project in hand, T will be waiting for him by the gate. My little project. My chosen one. The lost boy, spinning like a carousel, searching the blurred faces for his mother. And 1 will dwarf his hand in mine, the hand that can make things disappear, and I will gently whisper into his ear, ‘Let's get you home." The naive piano refrain echoes. 38. syLviE: Can you hear that? The WIZARD answers the tune on his pipe. My husband says I hear things that aren’t there, Sounds, voices, He hears them too. Only he's afraid (o say. One of us has to appear to be coping. WIZARD: | see him every day, your husband. SYLVIE: He says he sees you on his way to work. wizakb: “Work”? Is that what he tells you? Dear lady. he rides the train all day. SYLVik: You're mistaken. He’s at work. wizarD: Up and down the line. Looking out the window for a girl in a ruby-red dress covered in full moons. And when he’s not on the train T see him in the window at number twelve. syivie: Grandma Moon’s? WIZARD: Little wonder he won't sell. [Holding out his hand| Spare a coin for the Wizard? SYLVIE places a coin in his hand. He takes out a dirty piece of cloth, the same material as Ruby's dress, and places it over his hand. SYLVIE: Where did you get that? wizarb: Pay close attention now. And I say the magic words... Bul there are no magic words... Behold! With a flourish he lifts the cloth. The coin is on his hand. SYLVIE: The coin’s still there. wizarp: But it’s not the same coin SYLVIE: Give that to me. She snatches the cloth from him and examines it. ‘There’s a button. It’s from her dress. WIZARD: Too small for that SYLVIE: It's Ruby Doll’s dress. How did you get this? Wizarb: A good magician never tells SYLMIE: Did you dig this up in the church? Attrain's horn sounds in the distance like a ghost. WIZARD: The last train’s calling me. SYLVIE: Are you sending her to us in pieces, Mr Wizard? 39wizarp: I would ask the one who gave her the doll, dear lady. SYLMiE: Do you know? wizarb: Who would you trust with your child? He recedes into the darkness. SYLVIE: [calling] The babysitter... WIZARD: [whispering] Bad things happen in houses like that, The train's horn sounds closer SCENE NINE A solitary spotlight on RAY. He watks on the spot to an accompanying soundscape: a distant barking dog, the faint echo of a hymn being played on an organ in the church and a window shutter flapping in the wind He stops still. The sound of a stow, foreboding doorbell. RAY: [whispering] Dawa...? DAWN appears. She wears an old and frayed dressing-gown, a beanie, and has flesh-coloured rubber bands strapped across her face, making her look deformed. DAWN: Been expecting you. Saw you go into the other houses. Knew I was next Ray: Do you know why I'm here, Dawn? PAWN: Something about Ruby. It’s always about Ruby. RAY: It’s colder in here than it is outside. pawn: Wouldn't know. Don't go out if I can help it. Ray: [s there no heating? DAWN: It’s too big. Too many cracks for the wind to whistle through. Can you hear it? She whistles. Ray: What's that smell? Dawn: It’s the rubber. Ray: From what? DAWN: Do you want to know a secret, Mr Moon? RaY nods. She drags a large old suitcase towards him. 40 You should prepare yourself. Going to be a bit of a shock when I ‘open it. And you have to promise not to tell my parents. They don’t know. Do you promise? You have to swear. RAY: Just open the suitease, Dawn. She opens the suitcase. Hello, you. Who are you looking at? Hmm? With your big blue ails... Want to come out to play? Come to She takes out a doll. It is a miniature Ruby. ‘That's my girl... she’s a little shy. Isn’t she just perfect? She reveals the suitcase full of similar dolls. ‘The others weren't right. Can see where 1 went wrong now. Have to leam from the mistakes. Ray: Who are all these for? DAWN: Only make them for me. Could never sell them, They're my babies. fou make them? DAWN: Down in the basement, down in my ‘dungeon’. kav: Dawn, have you been sending those packages? DAWN: What packages? RAY: Answer me. DAWN: I don’t even go out anymore, [She brushes the dolt’s hair.) 1 miss babysitting for you. Like stepping into the page of a picture book. Behind the little red door in the little white house. Where I had Ruby all to myself. Tuck her in, Read her stories. Brush her hair. Such beautiful hair. Not like my old pile of rope. Ray: What have you got on your face, Dawn? Are they rubber bands? pawn: Don’t come any closer please. RaY: They must be hurting, DAWN: I’m used to them. RAY: What are you doing to yourself? DAWN: ‘God made the seas God made the lakes God mace Dawn Well, we all make mistakes,” Only thing T ever Tearned at school was how to hold myself in contempt. Nobody can hate me more than I do. 41Ray: Take them off, Dawn. For me. Please. She slowly removes the rubber hands. That's the girl... There, you look lovely. pawn: I do not. [She stares at the doll.| Look at her pretty little pixie nose. That's how I'll have mine done. Have my teeth bleached too. First the surgery. The facial fractures will help the diet because you can't chew food. Have to move away. Change my hair. Change my name. ‘Rose’. Need to lodge the form. Work in fashion. Already make my own dolls’ outfits. And Rose is the perfect name for a label. My friends would call me ‘Rosie’, I've practised my signature. thas a heart for the dot above the ‘i’ Ray: What's wrong with ‘Dawn"? DAWN: It’s plain and it won't do! Silence. RAY: Ruby’s middle name was Rose. DAWN: Your little princess broke one of my dolls once. Snapped its head off, For no good reason, RaY: Not our Ruby. She was a good git! DAWN: Quite a temper. Real mean streak. Ray: Did you get angry at her, Dawn? DAWN: Don’t call me that. RAY: Somebody's sending us Ruby Doll parts in brown paper packages. DAWN: Have you put all the pieces together? RAY: Still one more to come... it's tearing my wife apart. Silence. She closes the suitease. DAWN: Your house needs a grief chimney too. For the sorrow. We just kept breathing itin, plumes of black smoke, all these years. Nowhere for it to go. Ray: Where are your parents? Are they upstairs? DAWN: Can't go up there. They don’t receive visitors. [She discreetly rings a little bell] That's her bell. She'll think T'm down here talking to myself. [She rings the bell again, without disguise. You're going to get me in trouble. [Calling] I'm coming... [She sits on the suitcase.] | used to have a favourite doll. Every day I dressed her. Brushed her hair. Kissed her goodnight. But mother said it was time to ‘grow up’. One day dolly was gone. Never did find her. ray: Dawn, when you say ‘doll’, do you mean Ruby? 42 DAWN: I mean doll Rav: Is she somewhere in this house? paw: Not unless she’s hiding. kay: Where do you think she is DAWN: You'll never know what I’m thinking. I can make myself think stranger thoughts. Keep everyone from knowing what's inside my head. I have to have my thoughts for myself. RAY: It's you sending the packages, isn’t it, Dawn? DAWN: The packages go to number six. The courier delivers them. Rav: You've seen Professor Ogle with the packages? pawn: I don’t even go outside, The trouble is I'm not a real person yet. But I'm going to become one. The sound of rain falling. Hear that...? They said we should expect rain... [ don’t need to be told to expect rain. It’s raining inside, Mr Moon. It’s raining inside me, The Ruby mannequin stands under the street lamp. SCENE TEN The sound of an answering machine message. DETECTIVE: [voice-over] Ray, Sylvie, it’s Detective Holloway. Would you give me a call at the station as soon as you get this message? The sound of beeps. S¥LVIE is holding a vase full of forget-me- nots. She stares at RAY, SYLVIE: Did you hear that? Ray: What, baby? SYLMIE: The message on the machine. Ray: When? SYLVIE: Just then. Detective Holloway. You didn’t hear that just now? RAY: There was nothing to hear. SYLVIE: They must have found her, Ray. He told us to call Ray: Sylvie, they don't make those kind of calls. They come to your door. Look at the machine. 43SYLVIE looks at the answering machine. It’s not Hashing. He stares at the flowers. SYLVIE: ‘Remember to forget-me-not’. Ray: She's not coming home, Sylvie. SYLVIE: Don’t say that. Why can’t that be the ending? Where she just walks in through the front door? She sits at her sewing mackine. She runs Ruby's dress material through the machine. Ray: What are you sewing? SYLVIE: She needs a dress, She holds up the litte doll’s dress. RaY: It's too small. SYLVIE: It’s for Ruby Doll. [She resumes sewing.] What did Dawn have to say for herself? ay: I shouldn't need to tell you. SYLWIE: Please Ray, RAY: She gave Ruby the doll, but says she doesn’t leave the house. So she can’t be delivering the packages. She pointed the finger at the professor. SYLVIF: He never had anything to do with Ruby. Ray: Except when he had that seizure out front, Remember Ruby took him out a glass of water? SYLvir: Such a good girl Ray: And the professor shuffled away like a wounded beast. Couldn't even look at her. Next day she found the glass on our doorstep with aed rose floating on water. SYLVEE finishes the dress. SYLVIE: Where do you go each day, Ray? Ray: To work. SYLVIE: So when I call you there tomorrow, what will they say? Ray: Don’t call me there. syLvir: T could come with you... Ray: You can’t come in to work, Sylvie. SYLViE: On the train. T could look for her with you. 44 Ray: | don't know what you're talking about. SYLVEE: Every day you desert me, Ray. Condemn me to these walls. To this silence broken only by the barking of Sonny Jim’s dog or the ringing of the schoo! bell or the Wizard's knocking at the door. And all the while you're hiding in your mother’s house and riding the lines to escape me. 's not about you. Not everything's about you. Why didn’t you buy Ruby an ice-cream? You didn’t know she was going to Grandma Moon’s. Why wouldn't you have bought an -e-cream home for her? ay: I just assumed she... SYLVIE: You saw her skip by, didn’t you? The last time you saw her. Down Flaming Tree Grove. You watched from the window. Ray: What window? SYLViE: Veronica’s window. You didn’t call me from the train station, ‘You waited in there precisely eleven minutes before emerging from the laite and you stopped the ice-cream van on its way back up the street because you thought, ‘Why not treat myself?” She dresses the doll. Ray: Where is this coming from? SYLVIE: Don’t think Tdon’t see you slip out for yournightly rendezvous. Cheap promise in your step. Climbing over the fence to her boudoir Tike a teenage boy. Into her powdery skin and painted lips. Ray reaches for her. She turns away to took out. Don't touch. Try your tramp at number five ray: Don't be like this. svLvie: Ray... Where’s Ruby? Ray: I don’t know, Sylvie! Tdon’t know! SYLVIE: The mannequin! Somebody's taken her... Who would do that tous? kay: It could be anyone. SYLVIE: Who could be that cruel? RAY: Maybe it's a sign, baby. SYLvie: Tt was one of them, They all resented her. RAY: Maybe it’s time we put this to bed... SYLVIE: They want me to lose her all over again. 45Ray: She’s gone, Sylvie. Long gone. svLvit: No, Ray. We're close, Closer than ever. They're cracking. Don’t you see? They want to be caught The street lamp shines but there is no Ruby mannequin SCENE ELEVEN A solitary spotlight on syLvie. The sound of a creaking tree, a wind chime and a street sign clanking in the wind. She huddles against the cold as she watches CARL, inside his house, packing a suitcase. He is a dishevelled man wearing a fawn lab coat and protective gloves. The sound of « door buzzer CARL: [culling] I'm nearly ready! SYLMIE appears. SYLvir: Going somewhere, Professor? Cari: They’re coming for me. I want to be sure I'm all packed before they arrive. [He closes his suitcase.| Are they waiting out there? syLviE: Who? caRL: I'm so sorry, Mrs Moon. [He starts to weep but pulls himself iogether.] Let me just fetch my toothbrush. (He fetches a toothbrush.) want you to know I believe in the law. The Law of Physies. Motion. ‘The Universe. It's my purpose to know these laws, To apply them. ‘And yes, even defy them to reach into the unknown... I knew this day was coming. Knowledge has always been my comfort, you see. But never the knowing of this. SYLVIE: The knowing of what, Professor? aL: Can you hear that? Silence. Is that them...? Ts that the sirens...? SYLVIE: Professor? cant: Carl. Call me Carl, I'm not qualified SYLVIE: Carl, I’m here about Ruby. caRL: Iknow why you're here, What can I say’ I'ma failure, She's gone. With the others. They're all gone. | killed them all. 46 Silence. SYLVIE: What others? Carl? CARL: [producing a folded document] It’s all in my statement. Typed and signed. SYLVIE: You CARL: Yes, S¥LViE: Just like that. CARL: I can’t harbour it any longer. SYLVIE suddenly lashes out at him. He absorbs her blows, She stops. He looks out. The stars seem further away tonight. Don't you think? T fell for my wife as soon as she said her name... ‘Celeste’. Always was compelled by the heavens. The cosmos. The great beyond. Beneath my blanket of darkness pierced by brilliant dying lights, SYLvie: Can I see that? He hands her the document, She unfolds it and reads. CARL! It may notbe chronological. Iean’tbe certain of the order initially. Deductive reasoning tells me Penelope was first. Then Ruby. Then... well, you can see the names for yourself confessing...? He puts his head in his hands and weeps. sytvie: Where is she? CARL: That's the problem. Where are any of them? I've racked my brain, believe me. SYLVIE: This is full of names. What sort of monster are you? ani: What happened was in the pursuit of science. The furthering of mankind, Every experiment comes at a cost. It's the price of progress, S¥Lvie: Tell me what you did to my little gir CARL: She loved cartoons. She would come over after school to watch them on our television. One day 1 was troubled by my work and found myself, pardon the pun, drawn to this animated entertainment featuring a duck or rabbit or mouse. [don’t recall the species. But it was being chased by a pig or a wolf or a cat. The primal nature of, predator and prey asserts itself even in the cartoon, I digress. This duck or rabbit or mouse suddenly, and quite implausibly 1 might add, produced a circular black object and laid said object in the path of its pursuer who proceeded to drop down the hole, disappearing a7