Mother, Juni’s Not Here
By: Ricardo Rodriguez
Ext. An empty beach at dusk with nothing but marshes in the background and a faint line of purple mountains sticking out like little teeth out of the horizon. Juni sits by the water. A crab walks by and stops at Juni’s bare feet.
CRAB
Why, hello, child! What’s your name?
JUNI
I don’t know. I left it at home.
CRAB
Oh. And where would that be?
JUNI
In the city?
CRAB
Then what brings you here?
JUNI
No one wanted me around back home.
CRAB
Do you feel better here?
JUNI
No.
CRAB
But you’re alone?
JUNI
I don’t want myself around either.
(Pause)
And who are you, exactly?
CRAB
Mictlantecuhtli.
JUNI
Oh, good, so you’re here to take me?
CRAB
If you want. I was just going home.
JUNI
Where is your home?
CRAB
Beneath the ocean.
JUNI
Is it peaceful down there?
CRAB
Yeah. More than it is up here.
JUNI
Will I be at peace?
CRAB
No. You’ll still be lonely.
JUNI
Oh.
Silence
CRAB
So do you want me to take you with me?
JUNI
Please.
CRAB
You won’t regret it?
JUNI
Will I still exist?
CRAB
Yeah.
JUNI
Oh.
Beat.
CRAB
The tide is rising.
JUNI
Why?
CRAB
Uhm, I think the moon pulls it up. Like a bedsheet over the coast.
JUNI
Why doesn’t the sun do the same?
CRAB
Maybe it’s too far away?
JUNI
Oh.
CRAB
Well, if you want to come with me just wait for the tide to take you. If not, just leave.
JUNI
Well, I have nowhere else to go… can’t I just stay here forever?
CRAB
No. You always have to keep moving.
JUNI
Oh. It wouldn’t have been pleasant anyways.
CRAB
Okay then. Ciao.
JUNI
Wait! Don’t you wanna know why?
CRAB
Why what?
JUNI
Why it wouldn’t be pleasant?
CRAB
Oh. I guess.
JUNI
Well…I — I don’t know.
CRAB
Yes, you do.
JUNI
I hate myself.
CRAB
Yes, you do.
JUNI
I don’t know who I am!
CRAB
Yes, you do. And you’re smelly too.
JUNI
And my voice is thick.
CRAB
And you have more hair than a polar bear.
JUNI
And my thighs scream when I walk.
CRAB
And your clothes are disgusting.
JUNI
And the world sees me as a —
CRAB
Man.
JUNI
And my friends —
CRAB
Go on without you.
JUNI
And I —
CRAB
(Nodding wisely)
Want to stop existing.
JUNI
And I don’t know where–
CRAB
The older me is.
JUNI
And —
CRAB
The tide is here.
JUNI
(Looks at the water surrounding their heels)
I don’t know what to do.
CRAB
Stay a little while. We’ll talk later.
(Crab walks into the ocean and disappears. Juni stands up. Stares. They begin to slowly go back home)
Blackout.