The tree kept falling over and they needed a stronger base to keep it upright. \u201cDo you need the tree?\u201d Pierce asked. Pierce was the producer. He was worried about spending more to bolster the tree. It was probably the most expensive piece of stagecraft of the whole set, possibly the most expensive piece that the theater company had ever had made. \u201cThe play is called Tree of Life so we kind of need a tree, dude,\u201d Monica replied, standing at the edge of the stage looking at the empty rows of seats in the theater. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI’ve been thinking, do we need a post-modern retelling of the story of Genesis?\u201d Pierce asked. \u201cI mean, why now?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Monica rolled her eyes. Pierce’s vision seemed to stop on a dime. His cheapness was why they had such a faulty tree in the first place. He took the lowest bid to have it built, and they’d been spending money on repairs ever since. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYes, Pierce. Right now is the exact right time for it. Eve needs someone to speak up for her.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI’m just worried that tree is going to kill somebody. The liability if that happens,\u201d Pierce began whispering calculations. \u201cIt’d be enough to bankrupt the company.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat’s funny,\u201d Monica said, \u201cI’m worried about, you know, somebody actually dying.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI am, too,\u201d Pierce snapped. \u201cBut I have to look at the bottom line of it, too. You’re the director. You spend money like it’s printed in a back room.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe sold the investors the script. They bought a script with a tree. It needs a tree.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat if the tree is a metaphor?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt’s already a metaphor, Pierce.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat if we have it rewritten, though, so there isn’t a physical tree that might kill somebody in the center of the stage?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat if? What if we had competent people build it in the first place?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWell, we can’t keep harping on that, can we?\u201d Pierce kicked the tree. A plaster branch from the uppermost bough creaked and snapped off, tumbling down onto Pierce’s foot with a loud pop. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pierce screamed, and Monica grabbed him before he crashed onto the stage. Jon the stagehand rushed to Pierce and helped prop him up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI guess we’re getting rid of the tree,\u201d Monica said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDrive me to the hospital, Mon,\u201d Pierce said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe could call an ambulance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat’s not in our budget,\u201d Pierce said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
***<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHey Rob, this is Monica.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHi Monica,\u201d Rob said. \u201cHow are you? I am really excited for opening night.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt’s coming up fast. So that’s something that I wanted to talk to you about. We’re having problems with the tree, it kind of broke.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOh, you want me to come down and fix the tree? I’ll get my tools and be right there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNo, it’s kind of a hazard that’s beyond fixing. It kind of broke Pierce’s foot, so yeah, we were thinking maybe you could write it out of the play.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cUm, jeesh, that’s…I wrote the play kind of because of the tree, so that’s going to be hard. I mean, I wanted the tree to be part of the, um, seduction, of Eve–\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI know, I read the play.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBu-but also part of the you know, how we have the kind of symbiotic relationship with trees, how they breathe in the carbon dioxide and out the oxygen–\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI know, I read the play.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSo you see, I just don’t really see how it’s going to happen. It’s not going to be the same play it wou-would be if we cut the tree. No pun in-intended.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf we don’t cut the tree, someone will die.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cW-well, that’s not good, either.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLook, the actress who plays Eve is a magnificent playwright, I am going to put her on this with you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI-I’m kind of a so-solo act,\u201d Rob said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOkay, I am just going to send her over to brainstorm with you,\u201d Monica said. \u201cHer name is Monique, you just pitch things to her, see what sticks, but we need to get this done as soon as we can. We’re less than a month away from opening night.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
***<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHey, sorry I’m late. I was just dropping my kids off at their dad’s,\u201d Monique threw her purse off her shoulder onto the couch and stuck out her hand. Rob shook it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHow do you like to work?\u201d she asked. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cUm, well,\u201d Rob began.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI’m just asking because I really like to just dive in. No bullshit, you know? I don’t want to sit around wasting time. So we’re getting rid of the tree? I’m glad, that thing was like a deathtrap waiting to, um, you know, spring. Traps spring. I mix metaphors sometimes so just keep an ear on it. I have to say, I love your play. Love. Love love love. I was just so…fucking ready for it, you know? The challenge, the story. I don’t think we have to change much except for everything, you know what I’m saying? Great bones. But we have to keep the beauty, the ideas. Just, just Eve.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cUm, yeah. Do you want a coffee?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDo you have any macha? Weird question, I know. It’s like immediate upgrade, you know, you’re like do you want any sugar and I’m like got any gold? Sorry. But do you?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cUm, I have some licorice tea and I might have some peppermint tea.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAm I too loud for you? I’m an extroverted introvert, if that makes sense. I don’t mind talking, I just, I see it’s making you uncomfortable. I’m attuned to introverts, you know? So I’m going to shut up and write some ideas.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCoffee?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOh, yeah. I’ll take some, why not?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOkay. Do you take sugar? Or maybe some gold in your coffee?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt’s a joke, callback to what you said,\u201d Rob said, \u201cSorry, I’ll shut up now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOh, oh, no, it’s funny. I’ll write that for the script.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
***<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Monique stretched out on the couch. It was a cold, rainy day. The wind thrummed the raindrops heavily against the window, spreading into delicate plumes shaped by relentless gusts. It had been three days since Monique came to help with the play. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHere’s your macha,\u201d Rob said, handing her an earthenware mug. She wore a thick red sweater, and she pulled an afghan from the back of the couch and covered her legs, but she still seemed cold. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDo you want to go take a hot bath or something?\u201d Rob asked. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Monique smiled. \u201cNo, I’m just cold-blooded, you know. I need the sun. I think that’s why I act. The only time I feel myself is when I’m under stage lights.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBeing someone else?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYeah, that’s right. Being someone else makes me myself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rob sat on the other side of the couch with a notebook. He stared at her staring at the striating raindrops. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWell, let’s pick up where we left off.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhere was that?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAdam is exploring Eden, while insisting that Eve stay by their home.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOh yeah.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe says, ‘You are my fixed star, you will always lead me back here, I hearken to you like the flowers face the sun.’\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnd she says, ‘Why should I stay fixed for you? Why should I remain still while you encircle, and circle and circle in wider gyres while I lay waste to my own light?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnd he says, ‘Your light is no more wasted than mine, your days are no less endless than my own, as I learn about the world fraught with danger, you learn the secrets of fire, of the home and of the harvest.’\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnd she says, ‘And the danger of a wandering mind and a straying heart, the danger of seeing a dandelion mote float through the air with more freedom than have I should affright you more than any animal in the garden.’\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cRight.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBecause she knows he’s lying?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe knows that if she leaves that she’s going to go to the tree of knowledge, and that she’ll eat the fruit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe doesn’t know that, though. He knows that he is afraid for her, and in my conception of Adam fear is caused by a lack of knowledge, anxiety is the opposite of action, or something like that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Monique sunk into the couch and put her feet across Rob’s lap, uncovering her toes from the afghan. Rob pulled the afghan back over her feet and tucked it under to make sure it wouldn’t be moved. He liked the weight of her legs across his lap. Their intimacy had grown quickly and startlingly and Rob didn’t want it to end either by finishing the play or escalating it to romance, but some change was inevitable for nothing in nature remains in comfortable stasis, he thought, and he gave her foot a squeeze. She smiled at him over her macha as if she was caught sharing the same thought. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
***<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPierce came up with the idea of you adding Satan to the play.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI know. And I told him no.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBecause if there is a Satan, that robs Eve and Adam of agency. The story is they’re duped instead of curious, which is infuriating. I need for them to make the decision to eat from the tree. That’s why we need the tree as almost a third character, as a stand-in for Satan, but natural and symbiotic and ultimately Adam and Eve need to make their choice on their own, without gods or demons influencing them. We, all of us people, suffer because of the choices we make, not because we’re tricked or cajoled or forced to make a choice. We are ruined by each of our own hand.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI know. That’s what I told him.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou did?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYeah, man. I got your back.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
***<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Monique said, \u201cYou know, in Milton, Adam and Eve are redeemable because they’re tricked.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYeah, but that’s not what I wanted to say. I feel like so much of the mess we are in is because we can say, ‘oh, we were tricked,’ instead of accepting a larger responsibility for our actions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWell, maybe Eve should, instead of taking responsibility, lie about being tricked. Maybe that’s where it has to end.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBut she doesn’t. That’s not what I want for my Eve.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat’s not what you want, but maybe that’s what she does.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rob glared at his pad of paper. \u201cI am going to stop talking now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
***<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI am hungry,\u201d Monique said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOh, yeah, you should get home to feed your kids. I’ve been keeping you here too late.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNo, they’re with my ex tonight. I figured we might have to pull an all-nighter. Monica has been texting, she needs the draft by tomorrow morning. We really need to get working.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOh,\u201d Rob said. \u201cI just…I spe-spent two whole years working on this play, and I c-can’t just knock out a different version with the same meaning and implications.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBut you’ve made a lot of good changes here, Rob. I love it. You’ve given me such beautiful words to say.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBeautiful but empty so just superficial as bubbles or something ephemeral like that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe should order something to eat. You’re losing your touch as we speak.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They ordered and ate something and Rob felt better. Winds unsettled the windows, they seemed like they would shatter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
***<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDo you have any candles?\u201d Monique jumped off the couch in the sudden darkness of the apartment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI have a flashlight.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhere?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOn my phone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Monique rolled her eyes. \u201cWhat are you going to do when the big one hits?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI don’t know. I live in an unreinforced masonry building so I’ll probably die.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDon’t say that, Rob.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt’s my choice and I have to live with the consequences,\u201d Rob said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou’re committed to that, I have to admit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Monique took out her lighter and lit a burner on the gas stove and used its feeble light to search the kitchen for something that might be used as a candle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
She remembered she had a pack of crayons in her bag. She peeled them from their wrappers, melted them in a pot, found a small glass jar from Rob’s recycling, and made a wick from a pack of kitchen twine weighted with a small safety pin from her sewing kit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It didn’t smell good, but it worked. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhere’d you learn to do that?\u201d Rob asked. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI don’t know. Internet. Pintrest or something.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
***<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They wrote by the light of the improvised candle, pouring out the puddling wax so the flame wouldn’t drown itself. Rob and Monique acted out the scenes, by the flickering light, breath coming out in misty puffs as they practiced and proved the dialogue, scratching out sections and scribbling more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCupid and Psyche is the same story, with the same frustrations,\u201d Rob said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt’s a Blackbeard story.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Garden of Eden is a Blackbeard story, where God is Blackbeard. Blackbeard lays a trap, the room where he leaves his dead brides. God lays the trap in the Tree of Knowledge. It’s the same trap. Knowledge is the bait, curiosity is the spring, death is the trap.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBut isn’t death preferable to ignorance?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI don’t know. We live in a world now where we are ignorant of ninety-nine point nine nine nine nine subjects because our collective knowledge is so vast, don’t you think?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBut all that happens in Cupid and Psyche is that Cupid gets burned with a little wax,\u201d Monique said, and she dripped some wax into her open palm. \u201cIt hurts, but then it hardens.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYes, but Psyche isn’t that smart, which is maddening because she’s supposed to represent the mind.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat kind of says something about what the Greeks thought about the mind, doesn’t it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The light from the candle flickered. \u201cIt’s going out,\u201d said Monique. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDrowning itself,\u201d Rob said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c’In me thou see’st the glowing of such fire, that on the ashes of his youth doth lie, as the death-bed whereon it must expire, consum’d with that which it was nourish’d by.’\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat’s right,\u201d said Rob. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
***<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The flame had been out for many moments. \u201cGoddamn, it’s cold,\u201d Monique said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDo you want that bath now?\u201d Rob asked. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOnly if you take it with me,\u201d Monique said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI’m serious.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI am, too. It’s too dark to see anything, anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rob considered and said, \u201cOkay.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He went into the bathroom and turned on the tap. A hot steamy spray of water came out of the antique spigot. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou get in first,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSure.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Monique stripped and got into the bath. Rob brought in a couple of thick towels that he had been clumsily seeking in the linen closet and put them on the toilet. Monique moved her legs to make room for him, he could hear the slosh of the water slap against the walls of the tub. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He took off his clothes and got into the tub, too. He could feel Monique’s soft skin against his hairy legs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf you had omnipotent knowledge,\u201d he said, \u201cperhaps the only thing that would surprise you is curiosity. It’s rather cruel.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNo, they were going to die, anyway. God wanted them to eat from the tree so they would know it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhy do you think that?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWell, you’re going to die. I’m going to die. But we haven’t yet, so for all we know we’re the first immortals.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI don’t follow.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou’d think you were immortal all along if you hadn’t experienced death first hand,\u201d said Monique. \u201cGod was just taking the blame for what was going to happen anyway. He was absolving them of responsibility for their actions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They let their legs to intertwine under the water. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI haven’t been this intimate with anyone since I was married,\u201d said Monique.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI haven’t been this intimate with anyone ever,\u201d said Rob. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
***<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They lay in the tub, occasionally filling it with more hot water as it turned lukewarm. Rob rubbed Monique’s pruny foot, feeling the growing ridges. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A great puff from the heater, a hum of power then the lights turned on. Rob turned his eyes from Monique and Monique covered her breasts with her left arm and hand, using the other hand to grab a towel to give to Rob. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou get out first,\u201d she said. \u201cI’ll close my eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He got out of the tub and dried himself off. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCute butt,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEyes closed,\u201d he said. \u201cI’ll go get you something to sleep in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI’m not staying here,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou’re not going home,\u201d he said. \u201cDon’t worry, I’ll be a gentleman.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat’s what I’m afraid of,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
***<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She wore one of his dress shirts and a pair of his old sweatpants. He wore his pajamas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou get in first,\u201d she said. \u201cI hate getting into a cold bed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSure,\u201d he said. He got into bed and held up the covers for her to get in. She scrambled in and shivered while he spooned her. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYour freckles make constellations only I can know and name,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat’s too much,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cToo much for the play?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She rolled over to face him, \u201cToo much for everything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His hands hovered over her, passing over it with an inch sized gap between his hand and her body beneath. He stared at the brilliant flecks in her eyes, which from a distance combined into a single unity, now seemed to be made up of a galaxy of different colors, just as her face looked so different when she was on the stage, always beautiful but a different beauty. He timed his breath so his inhale matched her exhale, and her breathed her breath, smelling it and letting it warm his nostrils. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSleep, death’s twin brother,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLe petit mort,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI don’t want this to end. And now that I’ve said that, it has,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt hasn’t and it was always the end, anyway,\u201d she said, and she reached over his trembling body to turn off the light. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The tree kept falling over and they needed a stronger base to keep it upright. \u201cDo you need the tree?\u201d Pierce asked. Pierce was the producer. He was worried about spending more to bolster the tree. It was probably the most expensive piece of stagecraft of the whole set, possibly the most expensive piece that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[239],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mudassirbackup.infinitycodestudio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mudassirbackup.infinitycodestudio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mudassirbackup.infinitycodestudio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mudassirbackup.infinitycodestudio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mudassirbackup.infinitycodestudio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mudassirbackup.infinitycodestudio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mudassirbackup.infinitycodestudio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mudassirbackup.infinitycodestudio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mudassirbackup.infinitycodestudio.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}