The Little Lion, Act One

CHARACTERS

LAIBALE (LAY buh lay) GILLMAN REBEKKAH WEINSTEIN JOEL ESTHER GEORGE VALTER LEITUKIS / CAPTAIN LEITUKIS (Lie TOO kiss) MR. LEITUKIS (Lie TOO kiss) MENACHIM (Mah KNOCK him) NESE (NAY say) GILLMAN PETRAS REPSYTAS (Rep SEE tus) DR. ELKES RABBI SHAPIRO MOSHE (MOE shee) GILLMAN ISRAEL GILLMAN SHEINA (SHAY na) GILLMAN ANOTHER SHEINA (SHAY na) COLONEL CRAMER MASTER SERGEANT RAUCA SCOUT / SERGEANT ZOSIA MECK TOWNSPEOPLE GERMANS

SETTING

The play takes place in and around Kovno, Lithuania, between November 1938 and April 26, 1944.

NOTES

Some scenes require the participation of the ENSEMBLE, or all available actors. VOICE or ACTOR #1 / #2 indicates one speaker from the ENSEMBLE. The stage should be outfitted with a projector and sound system to display archival photographs at key points, which are indicated by PROJECTION and SOUND in the stage directions.

(The streets of Kovno, Lithuania—November 1938.

Darkness.

ENSEMBLE assembles on stage. Low backlight reveals them in silhouette. They are still. One by one they vocally imitate, slowly at first, the sound of a motorcycle engine being turned over. This is not a well-oiled machine.

There are also birds. Sluggish at first, then in full call as the motorcycle engine revs to speed.)

ENSEMBLE Tick.

Tick.

Caw.

Harumpf.

Tick.

Harumpf. Clunk.

Tick.

Ca-caw. Chirp. Tweet.

Harummmmmmmmmm, chug, rattle, clunk.

Caw caw.

Tick.

VOICE Come on, Icarus.

Tick.

(Eventually, the engine turns over, and the vocalizations become deep, rumbling, assured, as the engine comes to full life. The bird calls escalate then diminish as the flock flies away in a swoosh.

PROJECTION: Birds take off, dark and ominous.

SOUND: Motorcycle race.

PROJECTION: Race images.

The silhouettes become the Lithuanian TOWNSPEOPLE, who cheer the motorcycle racers. A passerby could mistake it for a melee, they are so pumped. The favorites seem to be LAIBALE and another boy named VALTER. It’s the end of the race. The two are obviously neck and neck.

LAIBALE wins!

MR. LEITUKIS curses the sky and throws his stub on the ground, spits on it.)

REBEKKAH (squeals as if at a rock concert) LAY-BELL-AYYYYYY!

(LAIBALE rides into the theater on a motorcycle. He wears a shirt with a nifty art deco graphic on it: Kovno #1. He is “mobbed” then escorted, still on the bike, onto the stage. Among his supporters are JOEL, ESTHER, MENACHIM and GEORGE.

GEORGE has a rudimentary camera. He takes pictures throughout the scene.)

GEORGE Hold still for a picture, Laibale.

(JOEL, a large boy who often scratches his neck, head, and chest, steps forward. He wears a shirt with the same design: Kovno #2.)

JOEL What about me?

GEORGE All right. Get in there, Joel.

MENACHIM Great shirts!

LAIBALE Joel designed them!

GEORGE Hold still.

(VALTER’s father, MR. LEITUKIS, confronts his son.)

MR. LEITUKIS Valter! You lost to a Jew boy?

VALTER He cheated!

JOEL He did not!

VALTER Laibale did something to the engine so he could go faster.

LAIBALE That is not cheating, my friend. That is competing.

MR. LEITUKIS He is not your friend.

(MR. LEITUKIS spits on the ground in front of LAIBALE.)

JOEL Hey!

MR. LEITUKIS Stay away from me, you!

REBEKKAH Laibale, you won!

(REBEKKAH places a medal with a ribbon around LAIBALE’s neck.)

LAIBALE Do I get a kiss, too?

(LAIBALE’s mother, NESE, comes forward.)

NESE (joking with LAIBALE) I thought you’d never ask.

LAIBALE I meant Rebekkah!

NESE You don’t want to kiss your mother?

VALTER Of course he does. All Jew boys are mother lovers, isn’t that right?

NESE You mind your manners, Valter Leitukis.

MR. LEITUKIS I can correct my own son, Nese Gillman.

NESE With what? Your fists? You might try being a decent example to the boy.

VALTER Your son is a cheater!

ESTHER You lost fair and square, Valter. Grow up.

VALTER Oh, I will. Don’t you worry. And you’ll be the first one to know it, Esther. That I can promise you.

ESTHER What’s that supposed to mean?

MR. LEITUKIS Enough. You don’t need to show up at the garage, tomorrow, Laibale. I won’t be needing you anymore.

VALTER Ha!

LAIBALE What? Why not?

MR. LEITUKIS Did you adjust the carburetor on your motorcycle?

LAIBALE Yes, but—

MR. LEITUKIS And you used my tools?

LAIBALE Yes, but—

MR. LEITUKIS And my garage?

LAIBALE . . . Yeah.

MR. LEITUKIS Then you stole from me, didn’t you?

NESE My son does not steal!

VALTER Thief!

ESTHER (to VALTER) Name-caller!

LAIBALE Mr. Leitukis, you told me you didn’t mind if I used the garage after work hours.

MR. LEITUKIS I didn’t know you were planning to cheat my son.

JOEL He didn’t cheat!

MR. LEITUKIS You stay out of this! And I told you to keep away from me.

VALTER Yeah! Go wash your head in kerosene, Typhus Boy!

MR. LEITUKIS Be quiet, Valter. You should have won this race. You have shamed this family.

VALTER That’s not fair! You’re an idiot if you think—

NESE No!

LAIBALE Mr. Leitukis, please don’t fire me. I’ll show Valter what I did to the carburetor so he can win next time.

VALTER I don’t need your help.

LAIBALE And I’ll work extra hours without pay to make up for using your tools.

TOWNSPERSON A Jew offering to work for nothing? Did I hear that right?

(Some laughter)

JOEL (to TOWNSPERSON) How would you like a punch in the mouth?

NESE Stop it! Mr. Leitukis, I will make a dress for your wife. Take it, and no more talk of thievery. Do we have a deal?

MR. LEITUKIS I’ll take the dress for my wife, but I don’t want to see any of you anywhere near my garage. If I do, you’ll have me to reckon with!

VALTER And me!

JOEL (fake-charges VALTER) Boo!

(VALTER shrinks back. The crowd laughs. VALTER’s father pushes him offstage.)

Don’t worry about them, Laibale. You’ll find another job. You’re the best motorcycle mechanic in Kovno—probably all of Lithuania—and everybody knows it.

LAIBALE I’m sorry, Mother.

NESE Congratulations on your win, son. I’ll see you at home.

LAIBALE Wait. I’ll give you a ride.

NESE That motorcycle will be the death of me one day, Laibale. Please don’t be late for dinner.

(NESE exits.)

JOEL (scratching) I was real proud to be racing alongside you, Laibale.

LAIBALE Yeah, too bad about that potato cart jumping out in front of you like that. You okay?

JOEL Sure. But I don’t think the potato cart will ever be the same.

(JOEL imitates the crash. They laugh.)

Anyway. I’m proud of you. Score one for the Jews, right?

LAIBALE I suppose.

JOEL Hell yes, you suppose. Okay, I gotta go. My mother and I are leaving for Germany tomorrow to sit shiva for my bubbe .

ESTHER I’m sorry to hear about your bubbe , Joel.

JOEL Thank you, Esther. I’ll be back in a couple days. Hey, Mrs. Gillman, wait up! My mother wants me to tell you something.

(JOEL exits.)

ESTHER I drew some pictures of the race, Laibale.

(ESTHER shows him.)

LAIBALE Wow, Esther. These are pretty good!

MENACHIM Esther can draw just about anything, can’t you, Esther?

ESTHER Oh, I don’t know about that.

MENACHIM I do!

GEORGE You were great, Laibale. Let me get another picture. Hold up your medal.

LAIBALE Where did you get a camera?

GEORGE My uncle gave it to me. Hold still.

LAIBALE For how long?

GEORGE Got it.

REBEKKAH I don’t like the way that Russian soldier is looking at us.

GEORGE We should get out of here before giving him a reason to come over here. Can I walk you home, Esther?

ESTHER Menachim already asked.

GEORGE Oh. Can I take your picture then?

ESTHER Some other time, George. Bye, Laibale.

(MENACHIM and ESTHER exit.)

REBEKKAH Oh, Laibale. You were so brave! I was worried you would fall.

LAIBALE I never fall.

REBEKKAH You led the whole way, as if you were flying!

LAIBALE Sometimes I think I am flying.

REBEKKAH (draws closer) Laibale, there’s something I want to say to you . . .

(PETRAS enters.)

PETRAS Laibale?

LAIBALE Petras! Where did you come from? Did you see the race?

PETRAS Oh, I saw. Congratulations.

LAIBALE I haven’t seen you in so long, I barely recognize you.

(To REBEKKAH)

Petras and I used to play together when we were small. We used to have spitting contests. He would always win. My mother taught his mother to sew.

PETRAS But then Laibale went to Hebrew school and I went to public school, and we lost touch.

REBEKKAH Hi. I’m Rebekkah.

PETRAS Hi.

LAIBALE Come by the house. My mother would love to see you.

PETRAS . . . I don’t think I should.

LAIBALE Why?

PETRAS (shrugs) I just wanted to say hi.

LAIBALE I’m really glad you did.

PETRAS I better get going.

(To REBEKKAH)

REBEKKAH Goodbye.

LAIBALE Goodbye, Petras.

REBEKKAH I have something I need to say to you, Laibale. Can we go someplace where we can be alone?

LAIBALE I don’t know what Rabbi Shapiro would have to say about that.

REBEKKAH He would say, “Shame on you, children!”

LAIBALE “Shame on you, children!”

(They laugh.

LAIBALE holds out a hand and REBEKKAH slips onto the back of the bike.)

LAIBALE Hold on.

REBEKKAH Always.

(In the woods, near Zezmer. PROJECTION: Trees.

LAIBALE and REBEKKAH have arrived, get off the motorcycle.)

REBEKKAH What is this place?

LAIBALE We’re near Zezmer. I love these woods. No Russians, no boiling laundry, no bleating goats off to slaughter.

(Mock formal)

Would you care to sit, my lady?

REBEKKAH On the ground?

LAIBALE God made the ground. I imagine it is good enough for your tukis .

REBEKKAH This tukis has done little more than sit on a piano bench lately. Maybe the ground will do it good.

LAIBALE This is my favorite time of day.

REBEKKAH The gloaming.

LAIBALE The what?

REBEKKAH Gloaming. When everything glows.

LAIBALE You glow all the time.

REBEKKAH Is that good?

LAIBALE Yes, that is very good.

REBEKKAH Won’t your mother be upset that you’re late for dinner?

LAIBALE I’m always late for dinner.

(Beat)

Do you hear that?

REBEKKAH Hear what?

LAIBALE Over there.

(REBEKKAH turns, and LAIBALE kisses her briefly. REBEKKAH is speechless.)

LAIBALE I’ve been wanting to kiss you since third grade.

REBEKKAH I’ve been wanting to kiss you since first grade.

LAIBALE Really? I thought you liked Valter Leitukis.

REBEKKAH He likes me, but I don’t like him.

LAIBALE That is very good news.

REBEKKAH I did kiss him once, though.

LAIBALE That is very bad news. Why?

REBEKKAH Because he told me I didn’t look Jewish.

LAIBALE Rebekkah.

REBEKKAH He was being sweet.

LAIBALE You should be proud of being Jewish.

REBEKKAH I am! It’s just . . . hard, sometimes. And when Valter started paying attention to me, I thought he liked me, but . . . he didn’t. Not really.

LAIBALE You do realize that Valter Leitukis is an ass.

REBEKKAH He really is, isn’t he?

LAIBALE Yes, he is.

REBEKKAH I don’t think you’re an ass.

LAIBALE Are you sure?

REBEKKAH Not one hundred percent, no.

LAIBALE Very wise. Rabbi Shapiro says doubt is closer to God than certainty.

REBEKKAH I doubt that.

(They laugh, fall silent. Beat.)

REBEKKAH I think we should get married.

(LAIBALE looks around.)

LAIBALE Are you . . . ?

REBEKKAH Talking to you? Yes.

LAIBALE You must be meshuggah .

REBEKKAH Probably.

LAIBALE Gee, thanks a lot.

REBEKKAH No, I don’t mean meshuggah for wanting to marry you; I mean, meshuggah for . . . oh, I don’t know.

LAIBALE Rebekkah, what’s gotten into you?

REBEKKAH Why shouldn’t we get married, Laibale? You’re very clever for fifteen, and you’re nice and you have a job—

LAIBALE Not anymore.

REBEKKAH —And Esther and Menachim are talking about getting married, and if they’re old enough, then we’re old enough, so why shouldn’t we?

LAIBALE Esther and Menachim are in love.

REBEKKAH We could be in love.

LAIBALE Rebekkah, what’s this about?

(REBEKKAH cries.)

Please tell me what’s going on.

REBEKKAH My father is moving us to America.

LAIBALE . . . America!

REBEKKAH I don’t want to go!

LAIBALE Why?

REBEKKAH Because Kovno is my home!

LAIBALE No, I mean, why America?

REBEKKAH He says Europe is not safe for Jews.

LAIBALE It will get better.

REBEKKAH Papa says it’s getting worse! He says the Russians are confiscating property and transporting people to Siberia.

LAIBALE But they are not targeting Jews.

REBEKKAH It doesn’t matter! The townspeople will blame everything on us anyway. If the Russians don’t get us, they will. You heard Mr. Leitukis.

LAIBALE Mr. Leitukis is the ass that begot the ass.

REBEKKAH I know, but the crowd laughed.

LAIBALE Of course they did. He’s ridiculous. He and Valter both.

REBEKKAH No, Laibale. The crowd didn’t laugh at Mr. Leitukis. They liked what he was saying. Didn’t you get that?

LAIBALE Not really.

REBEKKAH Well, I did. It’s not good to be Jewish, Laibale. Everybody hates us.

LAIBALE Then we’ll just have to mind our own business, worship in private, and stick together. That’s what Rabbi Shapiro says.

REBEKKAH That just makes them hate us more. They pass out those stupid brochures showing us with horns and hooked noses. They call us devils. LAIBALE Maybe it’s good that you’re going to America then.

REBEKKAH It’s not!

LAIBALE And later you can come back. When it’s better.

REBEKKAH When will it be better, Laibale?

LAIBALE After the Russians are gone.

REBEKKAH You don’t get it, do you? The only ones who can kick the Russians out are the Germans. It may be bad now, but if the Germans come, we’re doomed.

LAIBALE One day, it will be better. I promise.

REBEKKAH You can’t promise that.

(REBEKKAH clings to LAIBALE.)

I don’t want to go to America.

LAIBALE I know.

REBEKKAH I want to stay here. With you.

LAIBALE Then you will stay.

(They hold each other.)

REBEKKAH Sometimes I think I’m going crazy. I hardly recognize myself. It’s like I’ve been whisked away and this other Rebekkah is in my place.

LAIBALE I see you, Rebekkah. You’re still here.

REBEKKAH But if you don’t marry me, I can’t stay here.

LAIBALE Then I suppose I should marry you.

REBEKKAH Really? You’ll do that?

LAIBALE If that’s what you want.

REBEKKAH It is what I want! I don’t want anything else!

LAIBALE Then give me your hand. “Wear me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is infinitely strong.”

REBEKKAH Just saying the words doesn’t make it a real marriage.

LAIBALE It is real in my heart. Is it real in yours?

REBEKKAH Yes, but—

LAIBALE (takes off his medal) Here.

REBEKKAH You’re supposed to give me a ring.

LAIBALE One day, I will buy you a real ring, Rebekkah. A gold band, just like my mother used to wear. Only yours. It will belong only to you, and you will never take it off. But for now, this is all I have.

(LAIBALE places the medal around her neck.)

“I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine.” I love you, wife.

REBEKKAH “I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine.” I love you, husband.

(REBEKKAH caresses the medal.)

I will never take it off.

LAIBALE And now you won’t have to go to America.

(Birds stir.)

(As they mount the bike . . . )

REBEKKAH May I ask you something, Laibale?

LAIBALE Call me husband.

REBEKKAH May I ask you something, husband?

LAIBALE You may, wife.

REBEKKAH Do you love me more than your motorcycle?

LAIBALE I did not know my motorcycle loved you.

REBEKKAH No, yutz , do you love me more than you love your motorcycle ?

LAIBALE Oh, I see.

REBEKKAH Well?

LAIBALE Yes, Rebekkah. I love you more than my motorcycle.

REBEKKAH Do you love me more than you love Joel or George or Esther or Petras?

LAIBALE Yes, Rebekkah. I love you more than my friends.

REBEKKAH Do you love me more than you love your mother?

LAIBALE

(Beat)

No. I don’t. I don’t love anybody more than my mother.

(REBEKKAH, behind him on the motorcycle, lays her head on his back.)

REBEKKAH That’s all right.

(Interior, the Gillman home.

NESE sits at her sewing machine.

SHEINA sets the table. ISRAEL is sharpening a pair of scissors.)

ISRAEL He’s getting too big for his britches.

NESE Which is exactly why I am sewing a new pair for him.

ISRAEL That’s not what I meant. I mean he is—

NESE I know what you meant, Israel. Don’t you think you are a little too old to be jealous of your little brother?

SHEINA Please keep your voices down. If Sara wakes up, she’ll never go back to sleep.

NESE I’m sorry, Sheina. I’ve never seen a toddler fight to stay awake like that one.

SHEINA She takes after Moshe.

ISRAEL I’m hungry! Why do we have to wait for Laibale before we eat?

NESE Because, Israel, that is what we do.

(MOSHE enters.)

MOSHE Hello, Sheina, love of my life, mother of our perfect child.

SHEINA Hello, Moshe, love of my life, father of our perfect child. MOSHE Did you see Laibale today? He was a tiger!

SHEINA He was a hero.

NESE He was a lion !

MOSHE He was not a hero among the townspeople. Everyone bet on Valter Leitukis. They lost a lot of money.

SHEINA So they blame Laibale for their own stupidity. Typical.

ISRAEL Laibale, Laibale, Laibale. I am so tired of hearing about him all the time. Anyone can take apart a motorcycle.

MOSHE Then why don’t you? Hello, Mama. What’s for supper?

NESE Hello, Mama, what’s for supper. Hello, Mama, what’s for supper. Every day you ask me the same thing. Hello, Mama, what’s for supper. And what do you suppose my answer will be?

MOSHE The same as it always is, I suppose. Kugel and borscht.

SHEINA Kugel and borscht.

ISRAEL Kugel and borscht.

NESE So why do you always ask?

MOSHE Maybe one day you will say something different.

NESE Maybe one day I will grow feathers and feed you worms.

(NESE removes the britches from the sewing machine. She begins to prepare a new garment.)

ISRAEL That would be a welcome change.

MOSHE Israel, do you ever do anything but grumble?

ISRAEL I do plenty, brother.

MOSHE Chasing women is not doing something.

ISRAEL It is if you catch one.

MOSHE And you’ve caught one, have you?

ISRAEL As a matter of fact, I have. You are not the only one who can afford a wife and child, Moshe.

NESE You have a wife and child!?

ISRAEL No, I don’t. I mean, not yet. I am engaged.

NESE Engaged! To whom?

ISRAEL Sheina.

MOSHE Sheina!

(ISRAEL and NESE look at SHEINA.)

SHEINA Not me!

MOSHE Not this Sheina. Another Sheina.

NESE Another Sheina?

MOSHE She is moving in tomorrow.

NESE Here—?

MOSHE Israel, we haven’t the room.

ISRAEL We will make the room.

SHEINA It isn’t proper! There is no privacy as it is!

ISRAEL We are staring down the barrel of another war. Nothing is proper. I’ve asked Sheina to marry me, and she said yes. That is all.

MOSHE That is NOT all!

ISRAEL It is! Ever since Father left, you have been calling the shots, Moshe, and leaving me out of everything. Laibale gets all he wants, because he is the youngest.

NESE Laibale does not get—

ISRAEL And all I get is what you hand down to me. All my life I have been in the middle, waiting for someone to take notice of me, and I am tired of being ignored.

MOSHE Then say something worth listening to.

NESE Moshe—

MOSHE Well, he sounds like a baby!

NESE Go on, Israel.

ISRAEL Every day, we hear the word no . No, you cannot attend law school because you are a Jew. No, you cannot live near the park because you are a Jew. Any time you asked something of me, Mama, I have said yes. Moshe, when you needed to borrow money, I said yes. But do I ever hear yes from you? Sheina is a good woman, and she said yes to me. Now, I want all of you to say yes to me. Because I am tired of only hearing no. So. What do you have to say?

(LAIBALE enters.)

LAIBALE Hello, Mama. What’s for supper?

(They laugh.)

What’s so funny?

NESE Nothing. You didn’t hear, Laibale. Israel is engaged to Sheina.

LAIBALE Sheina—

MOSHE Not my Sheina. Another Sheina.

LAIBALE Another Sheina?

ISRAEL Yes! Another Sheina!

(Sara cries offstage.)

SHEINA Wonderful. I hope Another Sheina knows how to keep her voice down. I’ll never get Sara back to sleep now. Moshe, can I talk to you alone?

(SHEINA thrusts a bowl of potatoes into ISRAEL’s arms.)

Make yourself useful.

(SHEINA exits.)

ISRAEL It’s settled then?

MOSHE No. It is not settled. Not by a long shot.

(MOSHE exits.)

LAIBALE Israel, I can’t believe—

ISRAEL Enough! I’m not going to take insults from the likes of you.

LAIBALE But—

ISRAEL But what, little lion? But what?

LAIBALE I was just going to say mazel tov.

ISRAEL (embarrassed) Thanks.

(ISRAEL shoves the bowl at LAIBALE. Exits.

LAIBALE turns to NESE, who has resumed sewing.)

LAIBALE So you got home okay?

NESE As you see.

LAIBALE Smells good in here.

NESE As it should.

LAIBALE I’m sorry I’m late.

NESE The race was over hours ago, Laibale. Where have you been?

LAIBALE Out.

NESE Well, that explains everything.

LAIBALE I took a victory lap is all.

NESE With Rebekkah?

LAIBALE Yes.

NESE Where did you go?

LAIBALE Around.

NESE Out. Around. I’m supposed to know from this?

LAIBALE Do you know the woods near Zezmer?

NESE Where the birds light?

LAIBALE That’s it.

NESE I haven’t been there for years. I always thought that an unsettling place.

LAIBALE But you like birds.

NESE I like finches. Especially in the spring, before their trilling turns.

LAIBALE Turns? What do you mean?

NESE From hunger to something else. Accusation. Torment. Grief.

LAIBALE I’ve never noticed such a thing.

NESE No. You’re too young.

LAIBALE They just sound like birds.

NESE And so they are.

LAIBALE Is that the dress for Mr. Leitukis’s wife?

NESE She is so big I will have to get more cotton.

LAIBALE Why not use wool?

NESE Oh no! It is too precious. And I only have a few meters left.

(Stage whisper)

Besides, Mrs. Leitukis is allergic to cotton.

(They laugh)

LAIBALE Ha! I can’t wait for Joel to get back so I can tell him that.

NESE Oy. That boy. I don’t want him in the house, Laibale.

LAIBALE Why?

NESE You know why. He has lice. If it gets in my fabric, that will be the end. I don’t want you getting too close to him either.

LAIBALE He can’t help it, Mama. His little brothers bring it home from school. His mother is sick all the time, and Joel tries to keep up, but it gets away from him. He does the best he can. And look what a good job he did with our motorcycle shirts!

NESE Joel made those shirts?

LAIBALE His mother did, but Joel designed them. He’s very clever that way. You should see his—

NESE Take it off!

LAIBALE What?

NESE Take it off and get rid of it.

LAIBALE But—

NESE Now!

(LAIBALE removes the shirt, throws it out the door.)

No one in my family will be called a dirty Jew.

LAIBALE (putting on another shirt) Somebody calls me a dirty Jew every day.

(Stung, NESE stops sewing.)

NESE Come here. You are a gift to this world, do you hear me? There is one less star in heaven because it came to earth when you were born. Your soul is made of honey and love. Kindness is written in your eyes.

LAIBALE You forgot to say I am motorcycle champion of the universe.

NESE And you forgot to apologize to Mr. Tokeris for his potato cart.

LAIBALE Did you see that, Mama? Potatoes went flying!

NESE Mr. Tokeris is very upset, Laibale.

LAIBALE Not with me. Joel ran into his cart.

NESE He says you are the ringleader. You and your little gang: Joel, Esther, George. You get them all worked up. The townspeople don’t like it.

LAIBALE So Mr. Tokeris lost a few potatoes. He probably sold more than he lost since there were so many people in town to see the race.

NESE That is beside the point. You and that motorcycle are trouble. And every time your friends are involved, there is more trouble. Last week, Joel climbed onto my roof and broke half a dozen slates.

LAIBALE He just wanted to see over the smokestacks.

NESE And Esther, she asked me for a pencil and never gave it back.

LAIBALE She likes to draw.

NESE George took my hatbox.

LAIBALE He needed to make a camera, a big one— NESE This is how it is going to be, Laibale. I want Joel to apologize to Mr. Tokeris for upsetting his potato cart.

LAIBALE Yes, Mama.

LAIBALE Yes, Mama.

NESE I want George to leave my hatboxes alone.

LAIBALE Yes, Mama.

NESE And I want you to get your medal back from Rebekkah.

LAIBALE My medal—how did you know?

NESE A mother knows. Is there something more you would like to tell me?

What are you doing?

LAIBALE Looking for the eye in the back of your head.

NESE (laughing) Stop, you’re messing up my hair.

(NESE’s finger slips beneath the sewing machine’s needle.)

Ouch!

LAIBALE What happened? You’re bleeding.

NESE I sewed my finger.

LAIBALE Well, that wasn’t very smart.

NESE Thank you. That helps in every way.

LAIBALE I’ll get a shmate .

NESE And now my machine won’t work!

LAIBALE Here, wrap your finger in this. Does it hurt?

(NESE laughs.)

What is funny?

NESE You always take care of me, Laibale. It is supposed to be the other way around.

LAIBALE We take care of each other.

(LAIBALE kisses her finger, wraps it.)

Now, let me look at that machine.

(LAIBALE manipulates the sewing machine throughout their exchange.)

NESE What else did Rebekkah have to say?

LAIBALE Her mother is sending her to America. Her father’s jewelry store was smashed, and her father was beaten like a dog.

NESE How awful! That poor family. I must take them something to eat.

LAIBALE Rebekkah doesn’t want to go to America.

NESE She is too young to know what she wants.

LAIBALE Am I too young to know what I want?

NESE Yes, my little lion. You are.

LAIBALE I don’t feel young. Especially when I am around Rebekkah.

NESE Is that why you gave her your medal?

LAIBALE All fixed.

NESE It works?

(LAIBALE works the sewing machine.)

And better than before. How do you know these things?

(NESE sits at the machine.)

LAIBALE It is just a machine. Machines are easy. Girls, not so much.

NESE Oh?

LAIBALE How do you know when you’re in love?

NESE There are different kinds of love, bubbale .

LAIBALE You know the kind I mean.

NESE You know you are in love when you’d rather be with that person than without them. And you would be willing to fall rather than see them fall, willing to hurt rather than see them hurt, willing to die rather than see them die.

LAIBALE Did you love my father?

NESE At first.

LAIBALE Are you sorry you married him?

NESE To regret love is to wish away your children. I cannot imagine my life without you and Moshe and Israel.

LAIBALE And Sara.

NESE And Sara.

LAIBALE And Sheina.

NESE And Sheina.

LAIBALE And Another Sheina.

(They laugh.)

Are you going to let Israel move her in here?

NESE I haven’t decided yet.

LAIBALE What was he thinking?

NESE Nobody wants to be alone, bubbale . They might say they do, but they don’t.

LAIBALE Nobody wants to be packed in a tin with thirty-one other sardines, either.

NESE No. But we will never have to worry about that.

(NESE hands him pants.)

Here.

LAIBALE What’s this?

NESE For you.

LAIBALE Pants?

NESE Motorcycle pants.

LAIBALE Ima !

NESE I sewed some leather on the knees in case you fall.

LAIBALE This is—I can’t—

NESE Stop it. Get ready for supper.

(LAIBALE clings to her waist.)

They are just pants, Laibale. Go get washed.

(ISRAEL enters with ANOTHER SHEINA, who wears a mink coat.)

LAIBALE Look, Israel! Pants!

ISRAEL (mocking his enthusiasm) Pants!

LAIBALE Pants!

(LAIBALE bounds away, ecstatic.)

ISRAEL (to NESE) Pants!

NESE Don’t make fun. It is nice to see someone around here happy for once. You must be Another Sheina. What a lovely coat. May I take it for you?

ANOTHER SHEINA No, thank you.

NESE No?

ISRAEL She never takes it off.

ANOTHER SHEINA I never take it off.

NESE Oh. All right then.

ANOTHER SHEINA Your boy is going to fall off that motorcycle one of these days, you know. NESE You are welcome in our home, dear, but please don’t bring your crystal ball to the table. There’s hardly enough room as it is.

(Calling)

Kugel and borscht!

(Knock on door)

ISRAEL Who is this, arriving right at suppertime?

LAIBALE It’s Dr. Elkes! Come with medicine for Mama.

ISRAEL Does he have to come now ? He’ll want to share our meal, I suspect.

NESE Dr. Elkes, welcome.

DR. ELKES Pardon the intrusion at this awkward time.

NESE I’ll set another plate.

DR. ELKES No, no, Nese. Very kind, but I’ve not come to eat.

ISRAEL Praise God.

(MOSHE enters.)

MOSHE Dr. Elkes! Join us!

DR. ELKES Not today, Moshe.

LAIBALE Did you see me win the race today, Doctor? George took my photograph, and Esther sketched me.

DR. ELKES I did see you win, Laibale! You flew like Icarus himself.

LAIBALE Who’s Icarus?

DR. ELKES You don’t know your Greek mythology? He and his father angered a king and had to flee the island of Crete. They escaped by fashioning wings from feathers and wax.

LAIBALE They flew?

DR. ELKES They did, but Icarus did not listen to his father’s warnings.

(SHEINA enters, holding Sara.)

SHEINA What brings you to our home, Dr. Elkes?

DR. ELKES May I sit?

NESE Of course, Doctor. Sit. Another Sheina, please get Dr. Elkes a glass of water.

(ANOTHER SHEINA looks at ISRAEL, as if to ask “Is she talking to me?”)

DR. ELKES We have been friends a long time, Nese.

NESE Yes? And so?

DR. ELKES Have you ever known me to be an unhappy man? Because these edicts, they make me want to cry.

NESE What now?

MOSHE Are we at war?

DR. ELKES Not yet, but it is only a matter of time.

ANOTHER SHEINA (gives water) What is happening, Israel?

ISRAEL Shush. Listen.

DR. ELKES Thank you, my dear. A public notice was hung on the court building. It forbids Gentiles to mix with Jews.

ISRAEL Mix? What are we, bread dough?

DR. ELKES It also forbids Gentiles from buying merchandise from Jews.

NESE My customers cannot buy their garments from me anymore? Moshe, what will I do?

DR. ELKES And no Jews are allowed to buy from Gentiles.

NESE Where will we get our honey?

ANOTHER SHEINA Where will we get our perfume?

DR. ELKES Any Jews shopping in Gentile stores will be immediately arrested.

ISRAEL They can’t do that!

DR. ELKES They can, and worse. I believe you must think about leaving this place.

ANOTHER SHEINA But I just got here.

SHEINA Moshe?

MOSHE It will be all right, Sheina.

SHEINA We have to think of Sara.

DR. ELKES Yes, parents are very concerned for their children. Some are sending them to relatives in America.

(Fixes LAIBALE with a look)

And do not take kindly when others interfere.

NESE Impossible! We can’t afford to go to Zezmer, much less America!

DR. ELKES In that case, it is important, no, vital , that we all keep records of what you see, hear, or do.

NESE Why must we keep records?

DR. ELKES If not us, who?

MOSHE He makes a point.

DR. ELKES If we are vigilant, all will one day know what happens to us in the months and years to come.

SHEINA But . . . what is going to happen?

DR. ELKES I do not have a crystal ball.

ANOTHER SHEINA That is just as well, because Nese doesn’t permit them at the table.

DR. ELKES Er . . . yes. All I know is what I hear on the radio. And it is not good.

SHEINA We need to fix the radio, Moshe.

ISRAEL I tried. It is unfixable.

LAIBALE It’s the coil.

MOSHE It was fixable, Israel, until you made it unfixable.

LAIBALE It’s the coil.

MOSHE Go get it. I’ll look at it.

ISRAEL Am I your donkey? You get it.

MOSHE Everything you touch turns to ash.

ANOTHER SHEINA Not everything, I hope.

SHEINA Go get the radio, Moshe.

(MOSHE exits.)

Like children, these brothers!

DR. ELKES Have you locks on your windows?

NESE Against what?

DR. ELKES Your neighbors.

NESE No one has disturbed us.

DR. ELKES Others have not been so lucky.

SHEINA I don’t understand what is happening! Has the world gone upside down? Jewish or Catholic, we are all Lithuanians! How can we unite against a common enemy if we are so afraid of our own countrymen?

ISRAEL Calm down, Sheina.

SHEINA I won’t! Isn’t it enough the Russians have deported thousands to Siberia? Where is the rage against them ?

ANOTHER SHEINA Volume. Oy vey.

SHEINA The Germans will march in here any day and these Gentiles act like that will be the answer to all their problems. They love that the Germans wish to destroy us.

NESE The Germans do not wish to destroy us. They are a highly educated people, not mass murderers.

SHEINA If you would read the newspaper once in a while, Nese, you would not say that.

ISRAEL Sheina, enough.

SHEINA Stop talking to me as if I was your wife, Israel.

DR. ELKES I’d better go now, Nese. I am sorry to be the cause of family discord.

NESE You have done nothing. It is always good to see you, Doctor. Thank you for my medicine.

DR. ELKES Use it sparingly. Everything is precious now. Laibale, will you walk with me outside? Can you spare him a moment, Nese?

NESE Of course.

(MOSHE returns with radio.)

DR. ELKES Good night, Gillmans.

(But his farewell falls on deaf ears as MOSHE is descended upon by NESE, ISRAEL, SHEINA, and ANOTHER SHEINA, all speaking at once, and all with their own ideas of how to fix the radio.

DR. ELKES and LAIBALE move out of earshot.)

LAIBALE Israel nicked the coil when he tried to fix it.

DR. ELKES I have something I believe belongs to you.

(DR. ELKES presents the first place medal.)

LAIBALE My medal! How did—

DR. ELKES Mr. Weinstein asked me to return it.

LAIBALE But I gave it to Rebekkah.

DR. ELKES Mr. Weinstein is very unhappy with you and his daughter. You are lucky he came to me and not Rabbi Shapiro. What’s this about the two of you blaspheming the marriage contract?

LAIBALE We meant no disrespect. Rebekkah and I love each other, and when I get my job back, we will move in together.

DR. ELKES No, Laibale, you won’t. Even if you were really married, which you are not, Rebekkah’s father would not allow it. You are children.

LAIBALE But Rebekkah—

DR. ELKES Rebekkah has already gone, Laibale.

LAIBALE No! She leaves next month.

DR. ELKES Under the circumstances, Mr. Weinstein thought it best to speed things up.

LAIBALE But I love her!

DR. ELKES Letting her go is the most loving thing you can do.

LAIBALE No! I can stop them on my motorcycle.

DR. ELKES It is too late.

LAIBALE Tell me where they are!

DR. ELKES I cannot.

LAIBALE Tell me!

DR. ELKES It is time for you to grow up and accept. Only babies believe they can change things with tears and tantrums.

LAIBALE Rebekkah—!

DR. ELKES This is what heartbreak feels like, Laibale. I know it is terrible to lose somebody, but I hope you will never hurt as much as you do right now.

LAIBALE She is my wife!

DR. ELKES You know in your heart that is not true. I have something else to say to you. You must get rid of your motorcycle.

LAIBALE No.

DR. ELKES The Russians are confiscating property. You want them to take it?

LAIBALE No one will take my motorcycle.

DR. ELKES You must hide it then. Do you hear me? It is all well and good to enjoy attention and popularity, but you must be cautious. If you cannot leave this place, you must do everything you can to take care of yourself and your family, even if it means doing things you don’t want to do. Do you understand?

(LAIBALE nods.)

Good boy.

LAIBALE I am not a boy.

DR. ELKES Forgive me. You are right. You are a young man. And a fine one.

LAIBALE I am also a husband. I don’t care what you say.

(LAIBALE puts on his medal.)

I will never take it off.

(Noises, breaking glass)

DR. ELKES More bad business. Keep your eyes and ears open, Laibale. History springs from facts, and hope springs from history.

LAIBALE Yes, sir.

(DR. ELKES exits. LAIBALE reenters the house. Dialogue overlaps.)

MOSHE It’s the antenna. If the wire isn’t bent just right, it won’t pick up the radio waves.

ANOTHER SHEINA I don’t see any waves.

ISRAEL It’s the capacitor.

NESE What’s a capacitor?

SHEINA I think it’s this thingamajig here.

ISRAEL Please do not talk of this if you don’t know what you’re talking about.

MOSHE Maybe it’s the headphones.

LAIBALE IT’S THE COIL!

(LAIBALE exits in a huff. Others look to each other, wondering “What’s the matter with him?”)

(Makeshift garage, a meeting place.

GEORGE, ESTHER, and MENACHIM listen to LAIBALE, who holds a carburetor. ESTHER sketches. GEORGE sneaks an occasional picture of her.)

LAIBALE If a motorcycle sits for a while with gasoline in its system, the lighter bases of the gasoline will evaporate and leave behind a thick gunk that will clog your carburetor. If that happens, you have to clean it out. That means you have to drain the gasoline, remove your carburetor, take it apart—

(MENACHIM raises his hand. He wears round wire-rimmed glasses.)

This isn’t school, Menachim. You don’t have to raise your hand.

MENACHIM Wouldn’t it be easier to prevent that gunk from getting in there in the first place?

LAIBALE Well, yeah, it would, but then—

(VALTER enters. He has a bruise on his face.)

VALTER But then Laibale wouldn’t have anything to talk about. Isn’t that right, Laibale?

GEORGE What do you want, Valter?

VALTER I thought my father told all of you to stay away from our garage.

GEORGE Your garage is across the street.

VALTER Well, I still don’t like you being close by. It’s bad for business.

LAIBALE Why don’t you sit down, Valter? You might learn something.

VALTER (notices ESTHER) What’s this? A sketch?

(VALTER takes it.)

ESTHER Hey!

VALTER Who’s going to make me, four eyes? You?

(Looks at sketch)

Hey, it’s you, Menachim. It’s pretty good. But she forgot something. Horns!

(VALTER picks up a piece of charcoal, and before Esther can stop him, draws horns.)

There. Much better.

VALTER What are you going to do? Hit me with a book? Hey, Esther, why don’t you draw my picture?

ESTHER With those bruises? You look like something shat from the hind end of a goat.

MENACHIM Ha!

LAIBALE What happened to your face, anyway?

VALTER None of your business.

(JOEL enters, out of breath and very agitated.)

Well, if it isn’t Typhus Boy.

JOEL If you call me that one more time, Valter Leitukis, I’m going to spit in your mouth.

LAIBALE Joel! I thought you were sitting shiva for your bubbe in Germany.

JOEL I was. I’m back now. Listen to me. I saw something terrible.

LAIBALE What?

JOEL The Nazis.

ESTHER They’re no more terrible than a regular German soldier. They all look like mud snakes in jackboots.

JOEL I’m not talking about soldiers. These were townspeople. They were burning buildings.

VALTER Who cares? I hope they burn down their whole country.

JOEL I’m talking about synagogues and schools and stores being set on fire and Jews being beaten and arrested.

LAIBALE Come on, Joel. That’s impossible.

JOEL I saw it! The rabbis were all running around, trying to save the Torahs. The Brownshirts just laughed at them. They made them urinate on the holy books at gunpoint.

ESTHER What!?

JOEL They held down one old rabbi and yanked out his beard.

VALTER Oh, wow! Ha ha!

GEORGE Shut up, Valter!

JOEL Shopkeepers were pulled into the streets and beaten with mattocks and hoes, anything they could get their hands on. There were lots of German soldiers, but they just stood there and watched it all happen. Mama and I hid for hours in an alley behind some old sauerkraut kegs. I thought we’d be next. There was so much glass, Laibale. Broken glass, everywhere. I’ll never forget the sound. Mama’s shoes were all torn when we finally got out of there. Her feet were bleeding.

VALTER Maybe she should have worn better shoes.

ESTHER And maybe you should have run a little faster from your father, Valter, because we all know that’s how you got those bruises.

MENACHIM Esther.

ESTHER No!

(To VALTER)

You hear a story like this, and you laugh? You make fun? So tell me. When your father was beating on your face, did you laugh then, too? Is it so funny when it’s happening to you?

MENACHIM Let’s go, Esther.

ESTHER I feel sorry for you, Valter. You’re just a frightened bully who’s been taught to be mean.

VALTER And you’re just a dirty little Jew whore.

(ESTHER makes a run at VALTER, but MENACHIM holds her back.)

You’re finished. All of you. And you’re so stupid you don’t even know it. Wait until the war comes. The Nazis will clean house and get rid of all you dirty Jews.

(VALTER exits.)

ESTHER Donkey dick! Let me go, Menachim.

MENACHIM You sure?

ESTHER Let go, please.

(He does. ESTHER exits, MENACHIM follows.)

LAIBALE Donkey dick. Ha ha!

(To JOEL)

You okay?

JOEL You don’t get it, do you, Laibale?

LAIBALE I don’t get what?

JOEL I am not okay. I don’t think I’m ever going to be okay again. Not after what I saw.

LAIBALE Come home with me. Mama will make us kugel and borscht.

JOEL You need to grow up, Laibale.

LAIBALE I’m only three months younger than you!

JOEL In the last few weeks, I’ve aged in dog years.

LAIBALE You’re . . . really scared, aren’t you?

JOEL Aren’t you ?

LAIBALE I’m not scared of anything. Except maybe your lice.

JOEL Go ahead and laugh.

LAIBALE Aw, c’mon, Joel.

JOEL I’ll see you around.

LAIBALE Joel! Wait! I’m sorry. (JOEL exits.)

GEORGE (about the carburetor) This looks complicated.

LAIBALE Things come apart easily. The hoses, the float bowl, the jets, the air screw. You’ll be surprised how little time it takes. If you pay attention to the order in which things break down, you’ll have a much easier time putting it all back together again. But if you don’t pay attention, and let things come apart in no particular order, you’re going to end up with a nightmare that seems to never end, no matter how much you scrub the pieces, no matter how much you care.

(GEORGE takes a picture.)

(REBEKKAH from New York. Piano music.)

REBEKKAH Dear Laibale,

I am living with my uncle in New York. He has a piano. I have two Gentile friends named Linda and Betty. They both have blond hair.

Laibale, I had to give up your medal to Father. He threatened to take away the dresses your mother made for me if I didn’t, and I didn’t want you to get in trouble with Rabbi Shapiro. I hope you’re not too upset.

Please talk to Mr. Leitukis, Laibale. If you get your job back, you can visit me. Please come soon. I am afraid I will forget what you look like.

Love, your wife, Rebekkah Weinstein

(The Leitukis garage.

LAIBALE runs into scene, a man with a mission.)

LAIBALE Mr. Leitukis? Mr. Leitukis, I need my job back!

(PETRAS emerges wiping hands on a rag.)

Oh—hi.

PETRAS Hi.

LAIBALE Do you . . . work here now?

PETRAS I just started.

LAIBALE Oh.

PETRAS So.

LAIBALE I was looking for Mr. Leitukis.

PETRAS He went home for lunch.

LAIBALE Oh. What are you doing?

PETRAS I was, uh, just trying to figure out how to, uh . . .

LAIBALE You don’t know what you’re doing, do you?

PETRAS I haven’t the foggiest idea.

LAIBALE Need some help?

PETRAS Oh, man, that would be great. Let me back it out.

(PETRAS goes inside garage.)

LAIBALE Why isn’t Valter helping you?

PETRAS (offstage) He’s supposed to be here, but as soon as his father leaves, he disappears. Which would be good except for one thing . . .

PETRAS You got it.

(SOUND: Car starts up.

PROJECTION: The back end of a 1938-era Mercedes-Benz.)

LAIBALE Is that a Mercedes-Benz?

PETRAS Yeah! From Germany.

LAIBALE Well, of course from Germany. Whose is it?

PETRAS I don’t know.

LAIBALE So what are we doing here?

PETRAS Mr. Leitukis just said to change the tire, give it a wash, and gas it up.

LAIBALE Which is the bad tire?

PETRAS Uh, I don’t know.

LAIBALE Huh. Guess we’ll have to change them all then.

PETRAS Really?

LAIBALE No. It’s this one.

PETRAS How can you tell?

LAIBALE I have eyeballs. You know how to place the jack?

PETRAS Uh.

LAIBALE That’s what I thought. Step aside; genius coming through.

(LAIBALE gets to work.)

PETRAS I’m a little surprised to see you here, Laibale.

LAIBALE And why is that?

PETRAS The edict. Jews are not allowed to work for Gentiles.

LAIBALE I was hoping Mr. Leitukis would make an exception. Okay, hand me that tire iron.

(PETRAS hands him a wrench.)

That’s a wrench.

PETRAS Oh. I knew that. Here. Listen, Laibale, Mr. Leitukis isn’t going to make an exception.

LAIBALE He has to. I shouldn’t be punished just because I’m a better mechanic than Valter. This is a crowbar.

PETRAS Dammit.

LAIBALE This is a tire iron.

PETRAS Got it. So, I hear that Esther and Menachim are getting married.

LAIBALE Mazel t ov to them.

PETRAS I thought maybe you and Rebekkah—

LAIBALE We did.

PETRAS What!? When?

LAIBALE In secret, right before she went to America.

PETRAS Why in secret?

LAIBALE Her father. She thought if we got married, she would get to stay, but . . . I need my job back so I can earn enough money to go there before she forgets what I look like.

PETRAS Oh. Huh.

(Beat)

I really appreciate your help with this. I owe you one.

LAIBALE You mean that?

PETRAS Of course.

LAIBALE Because I could use a favor.

PETRAS Name it!

LAIBALE Would you ask Father John if I can hide my motorcycle at the church?

PETRAS Isn’t that dangerous?

LAIBALE No more so than hiding it at my house.

PETRAS No, I mean for Father John.

LAIBALE Oh. I didn’t think about that. Never mind then. I’ll think of something else.

PETRAS No, I’ll ask. Maybe in the cemetery. No one would think to look there.

(SOUND EFFECT: Coughing German World War II-era motorcycle.

German SCOUT pulls up to Leitukis garage on motorcycle. A droll sense of humor masks his dangerous nature. He is a textbook alpha male— threatening without having to raise his voice. He dismounts.)

SCOUT You. Come here.

LAIBALE Me?

SCOUT Who belongs to this place?

LAIBALE Mr. Leitukis.

SCOUT And you are?

LAIBALE Laibale Gillman.

SCOUT Gillman. You are a Jew.

LAIBALE Yes, sir. You are a Nazi.

SCOUT I am not. I am a German scout. If I were a Nazi, I would have chewed you up and spit you out by now.

LAIBALE Are you going to kick out the Russians?

SCOUT Give me a minute. I just got here.

(To PETRAS)

And you are?

PETRAS Petras Repsytas.

SCOUT You are Jewish as well?

PETRAS No. I am Catholic.

SCOUT Where is Mr. . . . ?

PETRAS Leitukis. He went home for lunch.

LAIBALE Your motorbike has a dirty carburetor.

SCOUT You know this machine?

LAIBALE Of course. You need a tune-up, or you won’t be going anywhere.

SCOUT Is that so?

LAIBALE That is so.

SCOUT And you can provide this service?

LAIBALE Well, yeah, but I don’t (work here—)

SCOUT Go ahead then.

LAIBALE But—

SCOUT You will do it now.

(LAIBALE looks at PETRAS, who shrugs.)

LAIBALE Yes, sir. I’ll need to get a few things.

(LAIBALE goes inside the garage. The SCOUT lights a stage cigarette—no tobacco—and looks around, very deliberately.)

SCOUT (to PETRAS) When does this Mr. Leitukis return?

PETRAS I don’t know.

SCOUT You know where he lives?

PETRAS Yes, sir.

SCOUT Go there.

PETRAS Now?

SCOUT Yes, now.

PETRAS But I’m supposed to—

SCOUT You are supposed to do as I say.

(PETRAS starts off.)

Wait. Repeat to me. What are you doing?

PETRAS I’m going to get Mr. Leitukis.

SCOUT Wrong. Did I tell you to get him?

PETRAS I thought so.

SCOUT You thought wrong. I told you to go to his house. And when you get there, I want you to tell him to stay home.

PETRAS Stay home? For how long?

SCOUT Forever ought to do it. This garage now belongs to the German army. Off you go.

(PETRAS exits.)

Have you ever been to the Ninth Fort, Laibale Gillman?

LAIBALE (reenters with tools) No, sir. Why do you ask?

SCOUT Because if I don’t like what you do to my motorcycle, that is exactly where you are going. And do you know what happens to Jews who go to the Ninth Fort?

LAIBALE They die?

SCOUT Every last one.

(Beat)

You have nothing to say?

LAIBALE No, sir.

SCOUT Why not?

LAIBALE Because I am not stupid.

SCOUT No, it appears you are not. How many bikes will fit in this garage?

LAIBALE I don’t know. A dozen or more. Are there more of you on the way?

SCOUT Oh, yes. Many, many more.

(SCOUT looks at his watch.)

What else can you repair?

LAIBALE Radios.

SCOUT Radios. You have one then?

LAIBALE Uh . . . no. I—no.

SCOUT Hmm. What else can you fix?

LAIBALE I don’t know. Anything with moving parts.

SCOUT You don’t look like a mechanic.

LAIBALE You don’t look like a German scout.

SCOUT How are German scouts supposed to look?

LAIBALE My friend says you all look like mud snakes in jackboots.

SCOUT And that is what I look like to you?

LAIBALE No, sir. You look like a motorbiker.

SCOUT (takes out pad and pencil) What is this friend’s name?

LAIBALE

(Beat)

Valter . . . that’s V-A-L . . .

SCOUT I know how to spell this name.

LAIBALE Are you going to send Valter to the Ninth Fort?

SCOUT You ask a lot of questions. What is this?

LAIBALE My medal. I won it in a motorcycle race.

SCOUT I’ll have it.

(SCOUT takes LAIBALE’s medal.)

LAIBALE No!

SCOUT Shush, shush.

LAIBALE It’s mine!

SCOUT Don’t worry. I will give you something to replace it. Something better. A star . Let go.

LAIBALE No. I promised someone I would wear it forever.

SCOUT (produces pistol) Forever begins now if you like. Makes no difference to me. (LAIBALE lets go of the medal. SCOUT puts it in his pocket.)

Now you will fix my motorbike.

LAIBALE I’ll need to remove the carburetor.

SCOUT Remove it then. You have one hour.

LAIBALE One hour? This takes all afternoon!

SCOUT Today, it will take one hour. And then you will repair the Colonel’s automobile.

LAIBALE Where is it?

SCOUT Right there. If it were a mud snake in hip boots, it would bite you.

(LAIBALE sets to work.)

SCOUT (talks to cigarette butt as he crushes it beneath his boot) Out, out you go, little spark. Nothing more from you.

(Lights out.

SOUND: Many, many motorcycles, then laughing, cheering.

PROJECTION: Archival photos and drawings of Germans arriving in Kovno and townspeople greeting the German army.)

(ESTHER and MENACHIM’s wedding. A Jewish wedding takes place as GEORGE recites the details of the massacre. Beneath a canopy, MENACHIM stomps on the goblet.)

CROWD Mazel t ov !

GEORGE The massacre at the Leitukis garage began with laughter.

(Wedding crowd eruption)

I was taking pictures at Esther’s wedding when I heard cheering and clapping and thought there must be a victory celebration of some sort going on near the Leitukis garage. When I got there, I couldn’t believe my eyes.

(Wedding crowd jubilance.

GEORGE takes pictures as he speaks.)

A group of civilian townspeople armed with rifles had herded fifty or sixty Jewish men into the garage. The Jews were forced to clean the floor of horse manure with their bare hands. After they were done, they were led to a water hose and told to wash up. The bystanders jeered and laughed, but the voice that chilled me most was one I knew.

VALTER Now we’ll have some REAL fun!

GEORGE The townspeople attacked the Jews with spades, sticks, rifle butts, crowbars, and other tools from the garage. Some wore white armbands. When the Jews collapsed, they forced the hoses into their mouths and turned them on.

VALTER Get up! GET UP!

GEORGE A young man named Algirda Pavalkis grabbed a man by his hair and dragged him across the lot.

(The crowd cheers.)

He struck the poor man with a crowbar.

(Crashing sound effect)

Sometimes it took only one blow.

(Cheering)

Other times, it took two or three. Within forty-five minutes, the young man had beaten over fifty Jews to death.

(PROJECTION: Archival picture of ALGIRDA ANTANA PAVALKIS.)

And when he was finished, Algirda Antana Pavalkis put the crowbar to one side, fetched an accordion, stood beside the mountain of corpses, and played the Lithuanian national anthem.

(Cue accordion music—Lithuanian national anthem—singing.)

The townspeople sang. In the front row, women with children in their arms stayed for the whole thing. They watched. They sang. They clapped.

(PROJECTION: Archival picture of crowd.)

Apparently, the night before, Russian soldiers had dragged Algirda’s parents from their beds and accused them of being enemies of the state. They were shot on the spot.

Algirda blamed the Jews. He believed the anti-Semitic propaganda, which blamed the Jews for Soviet occupation. He believed the Jews were responsible for his suffering.

And the crowd. These Lithuanian civilians. Mothers, fathers, policemen, workers. A few Nazi soldiers. This crowd did nothing. Except watch. And clap. And laugh. And sing.

(ESTHER and MENACHIM kiss. ALL freeze on stage.)

And take photos.

(German headquarters. Office of COLONEL CRAMER.

DR. ELKES, RABBI SHAPIRO, and COLONEL CRAMER.)

COLONEL CRAMER What do you mean we did nothing?

RABBI SHAPIRO Colonel Cramer, your men stood by while fifty-three men were beaten to death!

COLONEL CRAMER They did not stand by. They kept order.

RABBI SHAPIRO It was a melee!

COLONEL CRAMER An orderly melee, Rabbi, and I will thank you not to raise your voice to me.

DR. ELKES These Lithuanians are out of control. Their killing spree must be stopped!

COLONEL CRAMER I agree. If we allow them to continue, they will put us out of a job.

RABBI SHAPIRO Is this humor? Because I find it neither amusing nor appropriate.

COLONEL CRAMER What would you have me do, Rabbi? You said yourself the townspeople are out of control. Would you have me arrest them?

RABBI SHAPIRO Yes!

COLONEL CRAMER Then I would arrest the entire non-Jewish population of Kovno. Where would I put so many prisoners? Catholics no longer wish to live together with Jews. The choice is up to you—either the present bloodbath, or move into a ghetto where you can live and work together, unmolested.

RABBI SHAPIRO We will not be moved from our homes!

COLONEL CRAMER Then you will continue to be kidnapped off the streets and end up who-knows-where, and that will be your fault, not mine.

RABBI SHAPIRO This is revolting! Death is staring at us through the windows!

DR. ELKES Peace, Rabbi. Colonel Cramer, what ghetto did you have in mind?

COLONEL CRAMER Slobodka.

RABBI SHAPIRO Slobodka! Slobodka cannot accommodate us! There is not enough housing. There are no resources.

COLONEL CRAMER But you will stay out of the way of the townspeople and protect one another.

(Knock)

What is it, Sergeant?

(SERGEANT, who is the SCOUTfrom earlier, enters with LAIBALE.)

SERGEANT Herr Colonel Cramer. The Jew you ordered.

DR. ELKES Laibale!

COLONEL CRAMER Danke . Leave us.

(SERGEANT exits.)

Come here, little Jew. Do you see this boy, gentlemen?

LAIBALE I am not a boy.

DR. ELKES Not now, Laibale.

(To COLONEL CRAMER)

You will not harm him!

COLONEL CRAMER Why should I want to harm him? I want to use him as an example. This boy is a credit to his race. He fixed my Mercedes and my sergeant’s motorcycle. He is essential. Without him, I have no one to repair vehicles, and that would be a tragedy of a truly large degree.

RABBI SHAPIRO My God.

COLONEL CRAMER My advice to you is this. Stop talking to me about this one or that one killing a few Jews. Separate and isolate yourselves. Move into Slobodka and make yourselves essential.

RABBI SHAPIRO It will not contain us!

COLONEL CRAMER Then you will all have to leave certain items behind to make room.

RABBI SHAPIRO What sort of items?

COLONEL CRAMER Nonessential items.

RABBI SHAPIRO Goniff !

COLONEL CRAMER Come, come, Rabbi. What use do you have in the ghetto for an automobile? Where will you wear jewelry or put all your heavy furniture? We are doing you a favor, taking it off your hands.

RABBI SHAPIRO Doctor, it is time for us to leave.

DR. ELKES One moment. I wish to be clear in my mind. You are recommending that some 35,000 Jews crowd into a space barely big enough to house 8,000?

COLONEL CRAMER I don’t know the numbers.

DR. ELKES Those are the numbers.

COLONEL CRAMER If you say so.

DR. ELKES And bring with them only pots and pans?

COLONEL CRAMER Why bring pots when you have pans?

RABBI SHAPIRO You make yourselves rich on the backs of our people?

COLONEL CRAMER Turnabout is fair play, Rabbi. Your people have been amassing wealth unfairly for centuries. It is time you learned humility.

RABBI SHAPIRO We will not do this. We will not do as you say.

COLONEL CRAMER Then you will be killed in the streets like rats.

RABBI SHAPIRO Reason with him, Doctor!

DR. ELKES Colonel Cramer—

COLONEL CRAMER It is a win-win solution. You get protection from your overenthusiastic neighbors, we get what you already know must be left behind. I am appointing you, Dr. Elkes and Rabbi Shapiro, as head of the Jewish Council in charge of this transfer. You will appoint Jewish policemen who will see to it that this move to the ghetto takes place in an orderly fashion.

LAIBALE May I say something?

DR. ELKES Not now, Laibale.

COLONEL CRAMER Let him speak. What is it?

LAIBALE Can my brother’s girlfriend bring her mink coat to the ghetto? Because she loves it so much she never takes it off.

COLONEL CRAMER (laughs) This is wonderful, truly. Out of the mouth of babes. Such concern for another. Of course, of course, your brother’s girlfriend will wear her mink coat. She was supposed to have turned it in already, but I can make an exception in this case. You see, gentlemen? I am a reasonable man.

RABBI SHAPIRO I am going before I say something offensive to my God.

DR. ELKES Come, Laibale.

COLONEL CRAMER This one stays with me. We have business.

DR. ELKES What sort of business?

COLONEL CRAMER He will be returned, Doctor. You have my word.

DR. ELKES And do I have your word that if we move into the ghetto, the killings will stop?

COLONEL CRAMER Once you move into the ghetto, we can control your neighbors, yes. Those killings will stop.

RABBI SHAPIRO Doctor, come. I am sick to my stomach.

DR. ELKES Are you all right, Laibale?

(LAIBALE nods.)

Come to my office when you are through here. Bring your friends. Do you understand?

LAIBALE Yes.

(DR. ELKES and RABBI SHAPIRO exit.)

COLONEL CRAMER So. You are clever with tools. My sergeant tells me you claim you can fix anything.

LAIBALE This is true.

COLONEL CRAMER I have something very important to the war effort, but it no longer works. You will fix it.

LAIBALE I’ll try.

COLONEL CRAMER There will be no try. You will fix it, or you will disappear. Simple.

LAIBALE But you promised Dr. Elkes I would be returned unharmed.

COLONEL CRAMER Ah, yes, so I did. You said you have a brother?

LAIBALE Yes.

COLONEL CRAMER Then he will disappear instead. Do we understand each other?

LAIBALE Yes.

COLONEL CRAMER Very good. It is here.

(COLONEL CRAMER unveils a sewing machine.)

It is a sewing machine. The latest model. But it bedevils me.

LAIBALE What’s wrong with it?

COLONEL CRAMER I don’t care what is wrong with it, little Jew, I care only that you fix it.

LAIBALE Now?

COLONEL CRAMER If it is convenient.

(LAIBALE pulls up a chair.)

LAIBALE Do you sew with this machine yourself?

COLONEL CRAMER No, I dig holes with it. Of course I sew with it. What do you think?

LAIBALE What do you make?

COLONEL CRAMER Toys. For my grandchildren. Like this.

(COLONEL CRAMER produces a stuffed toy. It is not well sewn. It is hard to figure out what it is.)

LAIBALE Oh. That’s. Good.

COLONEL CRAMER It is good, isn’t it? Sewing calms me. It . . . removes the world. But good wool is difficult to come by.

LAIBALE My mother sews.

COLONEL CRAMER Is that so?

LAIBALE She makes dresses and blouses and coats and pants.

COLONEL CRAMER She has wool?

LAIBALE Uh, no. As you say, it is difficult to come by. Only cotton.

COLONEL CRAMER You will bring the cotton to me.

LAIBALE What? No. She needs it.

COLONEL CRAMER I don’t like this word no ,little Jew, have I not made that clear? Where do you live?

LAIBALE I would rather not say.

COLONEL CRAMER Very well. I have changed my mind. You are no longer essential. You need not fix the machine.

LAIBALE I already did. It was the tension.

COLONEL CRAMER Tension?

LAIBALE It just needed adjustment. Can I leave now?

COLONEL CRAMER One moment. Where did you get those pants?

LAIBALE My mother. She made them.

COLONEL CRAMER Is that leather on the knees? Allow me to see them.

(LAIBALE rises.)

No, I mean, remove them.

LAIBALE What?

COLONEL CRAMER Remove your pants.

LAIBALE

(Beat)

No.

COLONEL CRAMER You are refusing?

LAIBALE You can’t have them.

COLONEL CRAMER I can have whatever or whomever I wish, little Jew. That is the world you live in now. Remove your pants, or I will remove them for you.

LAIBALE But—what will others think of you when I walk out of here with no pants?

COLONEL CRAMER You think I care?

LAIBALE They will think, “A boy walks into an office wearing pants and walks out with no pants. What has occurred between this boy and the Colonel that a boy who had pants now has no pants?”

COLONEL CRAMER What do you mean?

LAIBALE I think you know what I mean.

(COLONEL CRAMER hits LAIBALE. Hard.)

COLONEL CRAMER I could eliminate you right now, are you aware of that? I will ask you again. Where do you live?

LAIBALE Konsta Street. Next to the butcher.

COLONEL CRAMER Get up. Remove your pants and I will not take your mother’s cotton.

(LAIBALE does so. COLONEL CRAMER holds out the stuffed animal.)

Here. For you.

(LAIBALE reaches for it. COLONEL CRAMER snatches it away.)

Aha! Just kidding. Here.

(LAIBALE takes the toy, warily.)

You will report to the garage in the morning and repair motorcycles.

(COLONEL CRAMER opens the door.)

And now you will leave. Sergeant!

(SERGEANT enters.)

SERGEANT Ya wolt !

(SERGEANT double-takes when he sees LAIBALE with no pants.)

COLONEL CRAMER The little Jew will leave now.

(LAIBALE exits.)

Sergeant.

SERGEANT Jawohl , Herr Colonel.

COLONEL CRAMER Tonight I want you to go to Konsta Street. Next to the butcher.

SERGEANT I know the place.

COLONEL CRAMER A woman there wears a mink coat. Bring it to me.

SERGEANT Jawohl .

COLONEL CRAMER If she resists, shoot somebody.

SERGEANT Jawohl .

(SERGEANT exits.

COLONEL CRAMER sits before the sewing machine. He places fabric beneath the needle and sews. He hums a German lullaby.)

(DR. ELKES’s office.

DR. ELKES talks to LAIBALE, GEORGE, ESTHER, JOEL, RABBI SHAPIRO.)

DR. ELKES The rumors are bearing fruit. Tomorrow, we will be ordered into the ghetto.

ALL (except RABBI) What? What does this mean? How can they do that? Impossible!

DR. ELKES Listen now, speak later! Please. I have important instructions. Few on the outside know what is happening here. Whatever fate befalls us, it is up to you, the artists, to immortalize every aspect of our ghetto reality.

GEORGE What do you mean?

DR. ELKES Keep records! Documents. Photographs. Drawings. Paintings. Diaries. Maps. Graphs. Even your songs, poems, theatrical pieces. We will prepare these things in secret. No one must know what we are doing.

JOEL Why?

DR. ELKES Because the Germans will show a skewed picture to the world. We must document the truth.

ESTHER How?

DR. ELKES Esther. I have seen your drawings. You capture a likeness quickly and accurately. But no more sketches of wildflowers or snowflakes. You must draw what happens here. Every day. Sketch your surroundings, make portraits of the Germans who give the orders, record our daily life, our chores, our labors. You are done with pretty, do you understand? You must record truth.

ESTHER Sometimes the truth is pretty.

DR. ELKES The Germans will not suppress pretty truths. They will hide all that is ugly. You must sketch the ugly.

ESTHER I understand.

DR. ELKES George. Even if you hide your camera, they will find it. Give it to them. Make them think you have nothing more.

GEORGE I will have nothing more.

DR. ELKES I have seen you make a camera from a hatbox. Can you make something smaller?

GEORGE I think so.

DR. ELKES Do it. But you must find a way to take pictures so that nobody knows. And you must shoot more than pretty girls, George. Train your eye on all of your people.

GEORGE Yes, Dr. Elkes.

DR. ELKES Joel.

JOEL I’m not artistic.

DR. ELKES You designed those motorcycle shirts. Everybody wanted one.

JOEL That’s different.

DR. ELKES And you mapped the route for the race.

JOEL Yeah . . .

DR. ELKES Valuable skills. Make a map of the ghetto. Every street, every house, the location of the river. Use Esther’s colored pencils. Make it clear, accurate, and beautiful. Give it to the Germans.

GEORGE Give it to them? Why?

DR. ELKES A gift. So they come to you with future needs. They will want maps of new roads. Or bridge locations. They will want graphs to chart their progress. They will want you to print the edicts that hang in the town square. You will have advance knowledge of such things, knowledge you will share with Rabbi Shapiro and me.

JOEL You mean, like a spy?

RABBI SHAPIRO We are all spies. But we are not playing a game, children. This is very serious.

LAIBALE Then stop calling us children.

RABBI SHAPIRO You make a point.

LAIBALE What do I do, Dr. Elkes?

DR. ELKES Exactly what they want you to do. I have seen you repair a machine, Laibale, and it is nothing short of artistry. You have a head for figures and a sharp memory. You must keep track of the vehicles that move in and out of the garage. That will give us an idea of how many troops are coming through. Whatever you do, do not sabotage engines.

LAIBALE Why not?

DR. ELKES Because they won’t shoot you, Laibale. You are too valuable. They will kill one hundred other Jews instead. That goes for all of you. Your art is your sabotage. Tell me you understand this.

ALL We understand. Yes, okay. Got it.

DR. ELKES And finally, Rabbi Shapiro.

RABBI SHAPIRO I will keep a diary. I will write down every lie they tell, every profanity they utter.

DR. ELKES We will give the materials to a trusted Lithuanian for safekeeping until the war ends, a priest perhaps.

LAIBALE Petras Repsytus can help with that.

DR. ELKES If any of us survive, we will retrieve the archive and show it to the world. If nobody survives, the priest will give it to a Jewish organization. History will not forget us.

ESTHER What will happen to us, Doctor?

DR. ELKES Honestly, I don’t know. But whatever fate befalls us, we must not think of ourselves as victims, ever. We are civilized human beings leaving detailed messages for the future. We will do more than stay alive. We will listen . . . see . . . think . . . build . . . compose. We will give ourselves a purpose, and our art a life after death. Draw in, everyone.

(They huddle.)

We swear to tell no one of the existence or location of these treasures. No matter what. Even if it means we get hurt.

ESTHER We will protect our renderings.

GEORGE Our photographs.

JOEL Our charts and graphs.

RABBI SHAPIRO Our words.

DR. ELKES Our history. May we always know who we are, from whence we came, and what we have endured.

(Music brings us into the next scene.)

Leave here now. Tell no one.

(They exit.)

DR. ELKES God help us.

(NESE at the barbed wire fence. PROJECTION: ESTHER’s archival drawing of barbed wire fence.)

NESE Psst! Please! Come closer. I have a thimble. Silver. You can see? Look how beautiful. It belonged to my mother. She was an exquisite seamstress. Her needlework was the finest in Lithuania. I learned at her knee, and— I’m sorry! Don’t go! I talk too much. —Yes, silver.

(Beat)

Food. My family. The little one, Sara, she needs protein—a few eggs from your basket— You want to . . . hold it? But—I don’t know you, and it is all I have, you see.

(Coughs)

No, wait! Come back! Forgive me, it is my allergies. I am not contagious. Please.

(Beat)

If I could see the eggs. —Very well.

(NESE hands over the thimble through the barbed wire.)

You see how beautiful? Yes. Silver. Yes. It is very valuable.

(Beat)

May I . . . have the eggs?

(NESE reaches for them.)

Thank you! Oh, wonderful. Thank you, so much. I do hope you enjoy the thimble, it is one of a kind, and— Wait! Will you come to the fence again? Will you? Will you? Will you?

(Coughs.

Lights out.)

(August, 1941.

Outside the House of the Council of Elders, ghetto.

JOEL, at a desk, puts the finishing touches on an edict, which a SOLDIER whisks off his desk and nails to the side of a building.

MENACHIM cleans his glasses and reads the edict.

ESTHER vigorously sketches the action.)

MENACHIM Good news!

(Enter ISRAEL, MOSHE, LAIBALE, OTHERS.)

ALL What news? Tell us, Menachim! Good news at last! I thought the days of good news were over. What does it say? Read it, man!

MENACHIM Quiet down! “Five hundred men needed for special work detail.”

ISRAEL Hard labor at the airport.

MENACHIM No! It is desk work, and the five hundred will receive extra food. “Only the intelligentsia may apply.”

(CROWD MEMBERS moanand move away, including LAIBALE.)

ESTHER That’s you, Menachim!

MENACHIM “Doctors, lawyers, teachers, anyone holding a college degree will work in the city archives.”

ESTHER You must apply!

MENACHIM I can hardly believe it! Decent work at last!

(MENACHIM and ESTHER hug. MENACHIM exits.)

ESTHER I have another letter for you, Laibale.

LAIBALE Rebekkah! But how . . . ?

ESTHER She sent it to our old address. The new tenant slipped it to me through the fence. If you need paper or charcoal to write back, just let me know.

(LAIBALE has it open before she finishes talking, moves rapidly to one side of stage while opening the letter. ESTHER exits.

REBEKKAH appears.)

REBEKKAH Dear Laibale,

Father says that things are awful there in Kovno, and that Hitler is trying to take over the world, but isn’t that just what I told you a long time ago? I don’t know why you haven’t written to me. Did you get your job back? Do you still have my picture?

Laibale, I met a boy named Eric, and he is very nice to me. Even Papa likes him, probably because he works in a law firm and has nice manners. He is also funny and thinks I am smart. I told him I have a boyfriend in Lithuania, but he changes the subject, so it is difficult to remember that I belong to you. If I could hear from you, it would be easier.

Please write to me, Laibale.

Your wife, Rebekkah

(Lights out on REBEKKAH. LAIBALE turns the letter over and thinks, “Is that it? What the hell?”)

ISRAEL There are rumors that the Germans executed a thousand Jews in a ghetto in Poland.

MOSHE There are rumors that Hitler flies over in an invisible dirigible and poisons our water with the blood of a thousand pigs.

ISRAEL Only a thousand? He’s slipping.

JOEL Where did you hear the rumors of the executions, Israel?

ISRAEL The radio. Laibale got it to work.

MOSHE It was the coil. Who knew?

JOEL Wait a minute. You heard on the radio they executed thousands of Jews in a Polish ghetto?

ISRAEL Like I said, a rumor.

JOEL I don’t think so. It’s just what they would do. Laibale! We have to protect the radio. It is our only link to the outside world.

ISRAEL Of course we must protect it. It is hidden in a good place.

JOEL But if they find it during a house search, they will not just kill you. They will kill one hundred of us. Give it to me. They are afraid of our house because of lice. The Gestapo sends in only one man, and he only pokes at things with his rifle butt. It will be safe at my house. We can meet there to listen to it.

ISRAEL I don’t want to get lice!

LAIBALE Then I guess you won’t be listening to the radio. It is a good idea, Joel. Will you hide my mother’s wool as well? It is not very much, but if they take it, it would break her heart.

JOEL Of course.

(ANOTHER SHEINA runs into scene, pursued by German SERGEANT.)

SERGEANT Halt! Or I shoot!

ANOTHER SHEINA Israel! Help me!

SERGEANT (to ISRAEL) Get out of the way or I will take your head off.

ANOTHER SHEINA Tell him no, Israel! He can’t have my coat!

ISRAEL Well, it is August, Sheina. Perhaps you don’t mind so much.

SERGEANT You were supposed to give it up last winter. You will remove it now.

ANOTHER SHEINA No!

ISRAEL Sheina.

ANOTHER SHEINA Please, please, don’t make me.

SERGEANT I have orders. If you resist, I shoot this man.

ANOTHER SHEINA Please don’t take it. Please don’t. Please don’t take it.

(ANOTHER SHEINA is on her knees, crying, pitiful.)

SERGEANT Get up!

ANOTHER SHEINA No! Israel! Help me!

ISRAEL Please. Can you be more respectful toward her?

(SERGEANT turns gun on ISRAEL.)

You must do as he says, Sheina. Look at me. Sheina! Look at me. It is a just a coat.

(ANOTHER SHEINA wails. He shakes her.)

Do not choose this moment to die. Do you hear me? Choose life, Sheina. If not for yourself then for me. It is over. You must give up the coat.

(ANOTHER SHEINA slowly realizes she has no choice.)

SERGEANT Schnell !

ISRAEL Please. I ask of you.

(ANOTHER SHEINA musters what dignity she has left, and removes the coat. SERGEANT snatches it from her and exits.)

ANOTHER SHEINA I will see you at home.

ISRAEL I will walk with you.

ANOTHER SHEINA No. I know the way. Do you have a handkerchief?

ISRAEL No, I—

ANOTHER SHEINA No. Of course not.

(ANOTHER SHEINA wipes her face with the back of her hands.)

And now I have nothing, just like you.

(ANOTHER SHEINA exits.)

ISRAEL Sheina.

(ISRAEL exits.

GEORGE runs in.)

GEORGE Laibale! Your mother! She’s been taken to the Ninth Fort for smuggling!

(LAIBALE collapses as if his skeleton has turned to jelly.)

MOSHE No! How do you know?

GEORGE I saw her get arrested. She was caught with two eggs. MOSHE Get up, Laibale. We have to get her back. Dr. Elkes will know what to do. I’ll get him. You go home. Tell Sheina I’ll be late. Get up, Laibale! Get him up, George.

(Exit MOSHE. GEORGE assists LAIBALE.)

GEORGE I’m so sorry, Laibale.

LAIBALE Did he hurt her?

GEORGE No.

LAIBALE Was she crying?

GEORGE I don’t think so.

LAIBALE Did she look scared?

GEORGE A little, maybe. But she stood tall, Laibale. She even spoke in German to them.

LAIBALE I have to go.

GEORGE Do you want me to get Rabbi Shapiro?

LAIBALE Why? So he can say kaddish for the dead?

GEORGE No, I just meant . . .

LAIBALE Go home, George.

GEORGE But—

LAIBALE Go home.

(GEORGE exits.

Distributed lines should overlap. Perhaps actions are performed simultaneously, but should not be literal. Some suggestions are included. The effect should build into something thrumming, frenetic, nightmarish.

PROJECTION: Dark birds.)

ENSEMBLE Five hundred men needed for special duty. Only the intelligentsia may apply.

And the rest of us stand out here, every morning at dawn, while those Gestapo morons count us over and over and over—

(ENSEMBLE stand five abreast.)

Then we march out to the airfield while they follow on bicycles, prodding us, and calling us names—

(They fall away. Five more step forward.)

We break our backs for what? Reduced rations and shrinking living quarters.

(They fall away. Five more step forward.)

They’ve taken our firewood so we cannot cook!

Electricity is erratic.

Our clothes are threadbare!

Corpses are looted for boots and overcoats!

The streets are dilapidated and filthy!

The Germans say there is a typhus epidemic!

The hospital gates are locked to prevent anyone from leaving!

(SOUND: Clang!)

And then the hospital is burned to the ground with medical staff and patients inside.

My baby!

The ghetto shrinks. We are closed from the outside world. If we leave, we are shot—

—or raped by people we once trusted!

Families are starving!

You are falling down!

Get up, Laibale!

Do something!

REBEKKAH Do something!

DEAD WOMAN Do something!

(Light change.

SOUND: Motorcycle engines, whining at high speed.

LAIBALE mimes riding a motorcycle in a race. Body forward, head low, eyes peeled.

ENSEMBLE peel away and assume the same position as LAIBALE until the stage is filled with “motorcycles.”

PROJECTION: Dark birds.

The moment keeps building in volume and intensity. LAIBALE finally screams. He is a warrior, an avenging angel, a dark god.

At the height of intensity, a door is kicked open.

ALL freeze.

Enter CAPTAIN VALTER LEITUKIS, carrying or dragging a corpse.)

CAPTAIN LEITUKIS Hello, Laibale.

(He drops corpse to the floor. It is MENACHIM.)

Did you miss me?

(PROJECTION: Photo of a pile of discarded round wire-rimmed glasses.

SOUND: Ominous, threatening, climactic.)