Clock Key Earl
T. Roske
Grandma: Female, elderly.
Grandson: Male, 30s.
(Lights
up on a sitting room. There is a large and obvious clock somewhere in the room.
Furnishings are apparent. Grandma is searching frantically for something and
has torn the room apart. There are books and papers strewn across the floor.
Grandson watches secretively from the entry.)
GRANDMA
(Frantic)
Where is it? Where is
it!? Oh, I can’t have lost it. I’ve never lost it. It can’t be lost. No no no
no no! Where where where?
GRANDSON
(Entering)
Hey, grandma. Problem?
GRANDMA
Does there look like
there’s a problem? Of course there’s a problem.
(To
self.)
Where did I see it
last? Where did I see it? Where where where?
GRANDSON
Lost something,
grandma?
GRANDMA
Yes! A key. Small,
gold. It’s always with me but now.... well it’s gone. If you want to be of help
for a change, help me find it.
GRANDSON
(feigning
looking.)
What’s this key for?
GRANDMA
That’s none of - for
that clock. It winds the clock and it needs to be wound now before it’s too
late.
GRANDSON
It’s just a clock,
grandma. We can always get a new key, right?
GRANDMA
It’s not just a clock.
And no, you can’t get another key. That clock is one-of-a-kind and been in the
family for generations. We must find the key. I must wind the clock. Now, help
or get out!
GRANDSON
(Chuckling)
Okay, grandma, okay.
I’ll help.
(They
look in silence for a few seconds. Grandson makes very little effort while
Grandma is frantically looking.)
GRANDSON
(Cont.)
Anything, grandma?
GRANDMA
No. No, this is
terrible. I need that key.
GRANDSON
Because without it
you’ll die.
(Pause)
GRANDMA
How...?
GRANDSON
Well, since I have been
forced to take up lodgings with you --
GRANDMA
-- if you were better
with your finances and didn’t gamble.
GRANDSON
If you weren’t so
blasted tight-pursed!
(Beat)
But that’s besides the
point. I’ve noticed that you’ve been quite manic about that clock. Always
rushing to winding it, making your plans around it. Never out of the house when
it’s time for it to be wound. Talked to uncle Martin. You mom was the same way.
My mother, your daughter, won’t even discuss it with me.
But I’ve watched you
and listened. You actually think that if that clock winds down, your life will
end.
GRANDMA
You should mind your
own business.
GRANDSON
I am minding my own
business!
(Beat)
And my business is to
make good on my debts so that I can safely walk the streets again and make my
appearance once again in the clubs and card rooms.
GRANDMA
What does that have to
do with me.
GRANDSON
Everything you bag of
bones! I’ve asked you for the money to clear my debts but you constantly
refuse.
GRANDMA
You have an annual
allowance. You should have learned to live with that budget. Your problems are
for you to handle.
GRANDSON
Oh, I’m handling them.
Don’t you worry. I’ve got it all sewn up. Right here.
(Pause.
Grandma slumps into a chair.)
GRANDMA
(Weakly)
You know where the key
is.
GRANDSON
Oh, I do. I do indeed.
I took it.
GRANDMA
Give it back to me.
Give it back this instant.
GRANDSON
Easy, old lady, you’ll
give yourself a heart attack. I’ve no intention of giving you what you want,
just like you had no interest in giving me what I wanted.
GRANDMA
Fine! I’ll cover you
debts. Just give me the clock key.
GRANDSON
(Laughing)
Oh, we’re way past
that. Now that I know what you fear. No. You are going to die. And mother will
inherit and she will give me what I need. What I want.
GRANDMA
Your mother is weak.
GRANDSON
You, of all people,
know that the most. You made her the woman she is, easily manipulated, easily
controlled. But you don’t control her anymore. I control her, I pull her
strings. When she has the family fortune, I’ll have the family fortune.
GRANDMA
(Much
weaker now.)
You’re making a very grave
mistake. Give me the key.
GRANDSON
(Laughing)
No.
GRANDMA
Then at least wind the
clock.
GRANDSON
Again, no. Just do what
I need you to do: die.
GRANDMA
You think you have it
worked out, boy, but you are making a serious error.
GRANDSON
Oh, I don’t think so,
old lady. This is the perfect plan. You’ll die and I don’t even have to touch
you.
GRANDMA
We’re all going to die.
GRANDSON
Nice try.
GRANDMA
That clock is a curse,
on our family. Put upon us by the daughter of the clockmaker. My great, great
grandmother took the clock and refused to pay for it. She struck the clockmaker
with her umbrella. He fell, hit his head, and died. Because of our position in
society, nothing was done. But at the clockmaker’s funeral his daughter put a
curse on the family.
GRANDSON
Really. How very old
fashioned of you. A curse.
GRANDMA
You don’t feel it yet,
but you will.
GRANDSON
All I feel ....
(Physically,
though minor, discomfort.)
is joy at your eminent
demise.
GRANDMA
We’re all linked. All
of us. To the. To that curse.
GRANDSON
Don’t try and scare
....
(Slightly
more physical discomfort.)
and scare me, old
woman. I have no truck with superstition.
GRANDMA
The curse. The curse is
the clock. We must keep it running, always. When it stops. We stop.
GRANDSON
(More
discomfort, difficult to breath.)
That’s. That’s not
possible. None of it is anything but your own foolish ideas. Just die already.
GRANDMA
We’re all going to die,
fool. That clock is the only thing to keep us alive. Every person, born of my
great great grandmother, their progeny, and their progeny. All will die if that
clock stops.
GRANDSON
That isn’t...
(Weaker.
Dizzy.)
No. Not possible.
GRANDMA
Are you. Are you
willing to take that risk.
(Hard
to breath.)
You’re a gambling man.
Are you willing to bet your life. If you’re wrong.
GRANDSON
You’re trying to.... To
frighten me. No.... I’ll not be cowed.
GRANDMA
Everyone. Your mother,
your sister. Hundreds.
GRANDSON
(Next
line is shouted and it is exhausting.)
I don’t care about
them!
(Beat)
I don’t care.
GRANDMA
But you do care....
about... yourself.
(Beat)
Wind the clock.
GRANDSON
No.
(Weaker)
Die old woman.
GRANDMA
I would have. Anyway.
In time.
(Failing.)
Fool.
(Dies.)
(Pause)
GRANDSON
(Weak.
Tiring.)
Finally. Finally you
old fool.
(Beat)
What is wrong with me?
Could she have told the truth?
(Beat)
No. No!
(Grandson
gets up, staggers to the clock. He slips on the papers on the floor, stumbles
to his knees and loses the key.
GRANDSON
(Cont.)
What? No! Where did it
go. Where did it go!
(Searching.)
She lied. There’s no.
No curse. Crazy. Crazy old woman.
(Panting.)
Where is the key! Damn
you! Oh. Oh.
(Weaker.)
Damn you old. Old
woman.
(Falls
to the floor. Dies.)
(Lights
down.)
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