{"id":15464,"date":"2018-10-25T18:20:26","date_gmt":"2018-10-25T22:20:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/?p=15464"},"modified":"2018-10-25T18:20:26","modified_gmt":"2018-10-25T22:20:26","slug":"on-island","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/on-island\/","title":{"rendered":"On Island"},"content":{"rendered":"

November 2018 | view this story as a .pdf<\/a><\/p>\n

From a New Two-Act Play<\/h3>\n

By Susan Minot<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"NOV18-Fiction\"PROLOGUE<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

(AMBIENT SOUNDS: GULLS.
\nProjection on scrim of MAIN STREET:
\na classic small island street. Behind the scrim: MIRANDA SNOW carries a box and heavy mooring chain. A man in his 30s\/40s, behind her, drags a wheeled bag, looking lost, which indeed he is. JONATHAN is \u201cfrom away.\u201d He is watchful and interested, with a quick innocence.)<\/span><\/p>\n

JONATHAN<\/span><\/p>\n

Excuse me. <\/span><\/p>\n

(Miranda stops.) <\/span><\/p>\n

Is this\u2026 What island are we on?<\/span><\/p>\n

MIRANDA<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

North Haven.<\/span><\/p>\n

JONATHAN<\/span><\/p>\n

Oh no. I have a feeling I\u2019m on the wrong island.<\/span><\/p>\n

MIRANDA <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Where do you want to be?<\/span><\/p>\n

JONATHAN<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Vinalhaven. I\u2019m not sure I want to be there, but that\u2019s where I\u2019m supposed to be.<\/span><\/p>\n

MIRANDA<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

This is not Vinalhaven. <\/span><\/p>\n

(Points to the audience.) <\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s Vinalhaven.<\/span><\/p>\n

JONATHAN<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s so close.<\/span><\/p>\n

MIRANDA <\/span><\/p>\n

Yes, but the Vinalhaven ferry goes another way further away. You got on the wrong ferry.<\/span><\/p>\n

JONATHAN<\/span><\/p>\n

I did? Ha\u2026 Does that happen a lot?<\/span><\/p>\n

MIRANDA<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

No. <\/span><\/p>\n

JONATHAN<\/span><\/p>\n

No?<\/span><\/p>\n

MIRANDA<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Most people here know where they\u2019re going.<\/span><\/p>\n

(BLACK)<\/span><\/p>\n

(Early morning birdsong.)<\/span><\/p>\n

SCENE ONe: ISLAND ROAD, DAWN <\/span><\/p>\n

(Projection of ISLAND ROAD.
\nFir-lined and narrowing to a point<\/p>\n

in the distance. A person appears stage right walking a dog. DOG WALKER (CLARA) is mature but ageless. She moves down stage left at a slow pace then back to upstage right, stopping and starting so that she seems to be walking on this road. She is the narrative presence. The other characters do not acknowledge her.)<\/span><\/p>\n

DOG WALKER<\/span><\/p>\n

(Entering.) <\/span><\/p>\n

This is the best time of day on island. Peaceful. The sun not up. Walking the dog. <\/span><\/p>\n

(To the dog.) <\/span><\/p>\n

Come on, Maisie. Out of there. Sunrise feels like a miracle. The same thing happened yesterday and will happen tomorrow. It couldn\u2019t be less of a miracle. Still. You feel the planet beneath you, almost feel it spinning. Islands are more quiet than other places. Sounds carry, as if you were on a stage.<\/p>\n

(Motorboats hum in the distance.)<\/p>\n

Boats head out to haul their traps.<\/p>\n

Today is August 3rd. It happens to be my sister-in-law Dottie\u2019s birthday. She\u2019s going to be 81. Our island is North Haven. In Penobscot Bay. We\u2019re one of a hundred islands dotting the bay, mostly unpopulated. Twelve miles long, three at the widest point, and thin as a finger in some places. Our year-round population is 351. In the summer, it\u2019s four times that. The summer people come and go.<\/p>\n

(Behind the scrim, SUMMER PERSON walks stage right to left.)<\/span><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s one now. Come on, Maisie. Don\u2019t know who that is. Mostly I recognize \u2019em, but less and less these days.<\/span><\/p>\n

(The sound of a BICYCLE CLICKING BY.)<\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s one of the Chandler boys. Look just like their father.<\/span><\/p>\n

(Sound of a car motor passing. She waves.) <\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s my niece, bringing her husband to work down at the Reynolds\u2019 place. I know all the islanders: I\u2019m one myself.<\/span><\/p>\n

(Sound of a baby CRYING.) <\/span><\/p>\n

The Fosters have a new baby. Got their hands full with two already.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lots of us are born here and live here all our lives. We get married here, have babies here, are widowed here.<\/span><\/p>\n

(Behind scrim TWO WALKERS enter stage left to cross right on their brisk morning walk.)<\/span><\/p>\n

1st WALKER<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m not kidding, this is the last time we all get a house together.<\/span><\/p>\n

2nd WALKER<\/span><\/p>\n

But where else are you going to find?<\/span><\/p>\n

1st WALKER<\/span><\/p>\n

Me? I\u2019m not moving. They can be the ones to move. <\/span><\/p>\n

(They exit.)<\/span><\/p>\n

DOG WALKER<\/span><\/p>\n

Summer people aren\u2019t always friendly. We year-rounders might not look friendly, but we are. You just have to bother saying hello. <\/span><\/p>\n

(SOUND OF JOGGING SNEAKERS ON PAVEMENT. A female jogger, SALLY WELD, appears from stage right, running. She slows down, seeing the dog.)<\/span><\/p>\n

SALLY<\/span><\/p>\n

Look at you, puppy! Morning, Maisie.<\/span><\/p>\n

DOG WALKER<\/span><\/p>\n

Morning. <\/span><\/p>\n

SALLY<\/span><\/p>\n

(Bending to pat the dog) <\/span><\/p>\n

Yes, you\u2019re Daisy\u2019s friend, aren\u2019t you? <\/span><\/p>\n

DOG WALKER<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s right.<\/span><\/p>\n

SALLY<\/span><\/p>\n

You have a good winter, Maisie?<\/span><\/p>\n

DOG WALKER<\/span><\/p>\n

Not too bad. April always lasts too long. <\/span><\/p>\n

SALLY<\/span><\/p>\n

Winter was hard. <\/span><\/p>\n

(Standing, a little disturbed) <\/span><\/p>\n

You have a nice walk\u2026 Bye, Maisie. <\/span><\/p>\n

(Exits left.)<\/span><\/p>\n

DOG WALKER<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s one of the Weld girls. I think she\u2019s the older, Sally.<\/span><\/p>\n

(Sound of FERRY HORN)<\/span><\/p>\n

The morning boat. Leaves 7:30. Ferry goes back and forth three times a day. Come on along, Maisie. Trip\u2019s just over an hour from the mainland. Or America, as we call it.<\/span><\/p>\n

(Heading off stage left.) <\/span><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t go there much. If we can help it. <\/span><\/p>\n

(Exits.) <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

November 2018
\nFrom a New Two-Act Play<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15465,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[112],"tags":[230],"class_list":["post-15464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fiction","tag-november-2018"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15464"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15464\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15468,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15464\/revisions\/15468"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}