A long(ish) “poem” for three voices
VOICE 1 – He wears a shirt and trousers
as if they’ve been thrown on in a hurry
VOICE 2 – She wears a dressing gown
VOICE 3 – He wears the work clothes of
an office worker
FADE UP:
VOICE 1:
When does a landslide begin?
Is it when the mountain cracks?
Or when the boulders crumble?
VOICE 2:
Is it when the pebbles fall?
Or the gravel shifts?
VOICE 3:
Is it when the bird shifts a speck of dust?
Or that butterfly flaps its wings?
VOICE 1:
A bird…
VOICE 2:
Takes a peck…
VOICE 3:
And a mountain
Lands on your house…
VOICE 2:
And the world
VOICES 2 & 3:
Lies broken…
VOICES 1 & 2
When does a landslide begin?
VOICE 1:
You could argue that
The landslide began when the earth moved…
VOICE 2:
It did for us…!
VOICE 1:
And the continents crashed
And the mountains rippled up
From out of the sea…
Or…
VOICE 2:
Maybe…
VOICE 1:
Even earlier than that…
When the rocks orbiting the sun
Coalesced and cooled
To form a world…
VOICE 3:
Or…
VOICE 2:
Maybe…
VOICE 1:
Even earlier than that…
VOICE 2:
All the way back
To the big bang…
VOICE 1:
Ah yes! The big bang…!
VOICE 2:
It gets blamed for a lot…
VOICE 3:
It ought to be…!
VOICE 1:
People do think that it all
Comes down to that great…
VOICE 2:
Big…
VOICES 1 & 2:
Bang… !
VOICE 1:
People blame it for everything…
VOICE 2:
Everything…!
VOICE 3:
I know I do…!
VOICE 1:
So…
I ask you again…
When does a landslide begin?
VOICE 2:
When does a landslide begin?
VOICE 3:
When does a landslide begin?
VOICE 2:
It all began so innocently
After all…
We’d been together for years…
VOICE 3:
Years!
VOICE 2:
And, you know…
It was…
Fine…
VOICE 3:
Fine…?
VOICE 2:
Well, you know…
We rattled along
In our own quiet way…
Harmlessly…
VOICE 3:
Harmlessly?
VOICE 2:
But never really…
GOING anywhere…
So I did this thing…
VOICE 3:
Didn’t you just…!
VOICE 2:
WENT to this thing…
And I met this guy…
Nigel…
VOICE 1:
Hello!
VOICE 2:
And at first it was…
Fine, you know…?
VOICE 3:
Not really, no…
VOICE 2:
We just chatted and…
VOICE 3:
And…?
VOICE 2:
Became friends…
VOICE 1:
GOOD friends…
VOICE 3:
More than just friends…
VOICE 2:
Not yet…
Not then…
Later on, maybe,
But not yet…
VOICE 1:
But meeting her…
It hit me like a landslide…
I knew that I wanted her…
Wanted to be with her…
Forever…
VOICE 2:
Forever…
VOICE 1:
She was the one…
VOICE 2:
The one…!
VOICE 1:
And whatever it took
I was going to take her…
VOICE 3:
From me…!
VOICE 2:
From you…
VOICE 1:
Well why not?
You weren’t offering her anything.
I offered her everything…
A future…
A life together…
Everything…
VOICE 2:
But not yet…
I wasn’t ready…
Yet…
VOICE 3:
But…
We had a life…
VOICE 2:
Not that sort of life…
VOICE 1:
No!
VOICE 2:
And anyway…
For the moment…
VOICE 3:
The moment…?
VOICE 2:
I wanted…
Both…
VOICE 3:
Your cake and eating it?
VOICE 2:
Maybe…
Perhaps…
I don’t know…
It just…
Started…
And you made it easy…
“I’m just visiting my friend” I’d say…
“He’s having some problems”
VOICE 3:
And like the idiot I am
I believed you…
VOICE 2:
You always did…
VOICE 3:
So many times…
Too many times…!
VOICE 2:
I sometimes wished…
That you would cheat on us too…
VOICE 3:
I never did!
VOICE 2:
But I wished you had…
VOICE 3:
To ease your conscience?
VOICE 2:
It would have made things…
Easier…
VOICE 1:
Easier…
VOICE 3:
Too easy…
VOICE 2:
You think this was easy?
VOICE 3:
I think YOU were…
Frequently…
VOICE 1:
Well, she never cheated on me!
VOICE 2:
No…?
VOICE 3:
But deep down I already knew.
I remember one long
Late winter evening
When you were so long overdue
Round at his place…
VOICE 1:
Time for a quick one before you go?
VOICE 2:
Go on then…
VOICE 3:
Judging by the time you
Finally got home
It must have been a very slow quickie…
VOICE 1:
Oh yes!
VOICE 3:
I was alone for hours
Without a word
Watching for your car coming back
And trying to watch
But not watching
This bloody film
“Trains…”
VOICE 1:
“Planes…”
VOICE 2:
“and Automobiles”
VOICE 1:
Great film!
VOICE 3:
Is it?
I’ve never been able to watch it…
Since…
VOICE 2:
But I did come back…
VOICE 3:
For a while…
You know, your best friend
Our best friend,
The married one…
VOICE 2:
The dead one…!
VOICE 3:
Once told me that she knew all about you…
Two…
VOICE 1:
Well, she would…
VOICE 2:
Wouldn’t she…?
VOICE 3:
And she thought it was really unfair…
VOICE 2:
Was this when you were shagging her?
VOICE 3:
That was much later!
VOICE 1:
Way to go!
VOICES 2 & 3:
Shut up!
VOICE 3:
Unfair on me…
Unfair on her…
She wanted to tell me
But she couldn’t -
Not without…
VOICE 2:
Betraying a confidence…
VOICE 3:
Betrayal…
VOICE 1:
Might have saved a lot of trouble if she
had…
VOICE 2:
Might have prevented…
VOICE 1:
That Friday…
VOICE 3:
The landslide…!
VOICES 1 & 2:
The landslide!
VOICE 3:
You know…
I was having a great day…!
VOICE 1:
So was I!
VOICE 2:
Weren’t we all?
VOICE 3:
A lovely, warm spring day.
The sun was shining
And
It felt like the first
Day of summer.
The boss,
In a rare moment of goodwill,
Decided to let us all
Go home early…
VOICE 1:
The idiot!
VOICE 3:
I knew, you know
VOICES 1 & 2:
Really?
VOICE 3:
The moment I got home
Your White Capri outside
VOICE 1:
Ah…
VOICE 3:
The bedroom window
Open wide…
Like…
VOICE 2:
I heard you come in!
I’ve never been so frightened…
Never moved so fast
In all my life…!
VOICE 3:
I whistled…
Madly
Loudly
As I approached the front door
Hoping you’d hear
VOICE 2:
I did
VOICE 1:
WE did!
VOICE 3:
Rattling the keys
All but bellowing
“Hi Honey, I’m home”
Or something like that
VOICE 2:
Something like that…
I grabbed a dressing gown
VOICE 3:
My dressing gown!
VOICE 2:
And just got to the door
In time to hold it closed
And stop you opening it…
VOICE 3:
“Don’t come in!” you shouted
VOICE 2:
Please don’t come in…
VOICE 1:
Whilst I’m in the bedroom
Frantically grabbing my clothes
And wondering whether
I’d get thumped
And how I’d got into
This sit-com farce
VOICE 3:
And I gave you time
I waited in the kitchen
And let you leave
And didn’t thump anyone
VOICE 1:
Result!
VOICE 3:
Though for years I wished I had
VOICE 2:
I’m glad you didn’t
VOICE 3:
I’m better than that
I deserved better than that!
You left a week later
Got your own place
But the sex we had that week
VOICE 1:
Eh…?
VOICE 3:
Was probably the best we ever had…
VOICE 1:
I think that we need to have
A conversation…
VOICE 2:
Really, we don’t…
But…
VOICE 2:
It was all so long ago now…
VOICE 3:
Then you both went away
For a weekend
And the twist in my gut
When I found out you’d gone
Told me you weren’t ever coming back
VOICE 2:
I tried to stay in touch
We tried to remain friends…
VOICE 3:
But that was never going to work…
VOICE 1:
Never…
VOICE 3:
But even now
After all these years have passed
I still find I resent
The happiness you’ve had
The successes that you’ve had
The family that you’ve had
With the life you stole
From me
And even though
I accept that you did
What you had to do…
For you…
The question
I now realise
Is not
When does a landslide begin
But will it ever end?
FADEOUT
Martin A W Holmes, August 2015
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