Characters:
Ladybug Sticker Babies.
Mother Sheet.
Spear.
There is a huge group of ladybug stickers. Since they are immobile, their little voices all call out, clamor, and crawl around one another. Which is to say, they overlap.
LADYBUGS:
Its warm on this ledge
Who left us out here?
The girl
The girl
The girl
Dont you remember?
Oh look inside the living room
Oh wow!
Cool!
Lamp! Lamp lamp lamp.
Its green and huge.
Whats a lamp?
Its warm.
Like the ledge in the sun.
And the white paint on the window sill.
The girl.
She’s warm.
The SPEAR enters, singing like a troubador.
SPEAR:
Oh I ramble through the jungle
Step step step
Do you want to hold me
Defend golden Incan troves with me
Uh uh uh
Keep me in your hands
Thrust thrust thrust
Baby
In the jungle
Thrust thrust thrust
I’ll attack I’ll protect
But this is a two way street.
I need someone too baby
Use me, misuse me
Ill use youuuuuuuu
Thrust thrust thrust.
Good evening little ladybugs.
LADYBUGS:
You are so big and threatening.
It’s a giant.
A skinny giant.
A giant stick bug!
A stink bug?!
Ewww
SPEAR:
Don’t be afraid, I'm only dangerous in the wrong hands.
LADYBUGS:
We are never dangerous in anyones hands.
SPEAR:
How nice to not have responsibility. You don’t bare the burden of violence.
LADYBUGS:
We are still a little scared of you.
A little.
Yeah a little.
SPEAR:
I miss the jungle. I miss the canopies and the sloths.
LADYBUGS:
Why are you telling us?
Yeah why us? That’s not our problem.
We’ve never seen the jungle. We go with handmade cards. And sometimes lists. We’re sort of like tadpoles. Yeah. But we’re afraid of ants. Yeah.
SPEAR:
I thrust. Oh its wonderful! Have you ever seen a thrust?!
(thrust)
LADYBUGS:
Ah!
SPEAR:
(thrust)
LADYBUGS:
Ah!
SPEAR:
(thrust)
LADYBUGS:
Ah!
SPEAR:
Don’t you like this?
A new voice emerges, deep and maternal. Singular.
MOTHER SHEET:
No, no, please stop.
SPEAR:
Who are you?
MOTHER SHEET:
I’m the paper sheet, these ladybugs are my children.
You are frightening them with your abrupt thrusts.
SPEAR:
Well then you should raise them to be more fearless.
Then there is a noise of a loud slide, like a rolling metal wave.
SPEAR:
Ah! Whats that!
MOTHER SHEET:
The patio door. Oh fearless one.
The ladybug children snicker.
The MOTHER SHEET gathers steam.
MOTHER SHEET:
And who are you to tell me how to raise my kids? I shelter them and keep them close the best I can. I try to keep them with me, as a family. Sometimes that’s nearly impossible to do, but its not my fault! I wish I had to teeth to bite back the sticker peelers.
SPEAR:
Maybe I could offer you protection.
MOTHER SHEET:
Maybe you’d corrupt my children.
SPEAR:
Trust me.
We are a unit. We stick together. Go back to where you came from you… you big brute.
SPEAR:
Paper sheet! Don’t talk that way to me!
MOTHER SHEET:
Keep away from me, keep away from my lucky tiny babies.
SPEAR:
I’m not trying to hurt anyone. I cant help how I was made. Its not my fault.
MOTHER SHEET:
Its not my problem.
SPEAR:
One time… someone used me to kill a tiger. I hated that. One time… someone used me to kill another person. I’ll never forget that. It gives me nightmares.
MOTHER SHEET:
Its not my problem. I have to keep my family together, when something bigger is always trying to pull us apart.
LADYBUGS:
We want…. ICECREAM!
Icecream!
Icecream!
Icecream!
Icecream!
MOTHER SHEET:
Sh! Now quiet!
Spear. No one has talked to me in a long long time.
I have the uncontrollable urge to tell you something.
SPEAR:
Whats that?
MOTHER SHEET:
To her self in angst
How can anyone keep secrets when their children are always around?! Stuck on me like…she whispers as softly as a drifting iceburg) burrs.
SPEAR:
Just keep whispering. They wont hear.
LADYBUGS:
Yeah we wont hear.
We wont listen.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
MOTHER SHEET:
Ah its no use.
SPEAR:
I think I know your secret.
MOTHER SHEET:
How could you?
SPEAR:
I’ll write it down for you. You can read it and see if I’m not right.
He writes. A screen comes down.
The words are displayed on it. They say:
I’m tired of caring for my children. I love them. I’ll always love them. But that doesn’t feel big or important. That feels like default.
MOTHER SHEET:
Oh yes. Oh yes. Oh no.
Maybe I’m not cut out to love. I am an object, so what is my purpose? I think I’d like one.
SPEAR:
To be used.
And whats use, but mis-use? Lets find a trap door. Lets slip out.
MOTHER SHEET:
My babies…
SPEAR:
Find them other sheets of paper to stick onto.
MOTHER SHEET:
Not so loud.
SPEAR:
I can’t hear them.
LADYBUGS:
Mom?
Mom?
Mom?
Mamma?
Silence.
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