Lyrics: Dave Malloy
Music: Dave Malloy
(lights up on susan, sadie, and beckett in the now empty space. susan holds her grandmother’s shawl, sadie the hurdy-gurdy, beckett the pendulum
Beckett brings a table to center; susan spreads her shawl over it, and sadie places the hurdy-gurdy on top. beckett places the pendulum gently on the hurdy-gurdy
sadie turns the crank; the drone fills the space as the trio sings.)
BECKETT
last night
SADIE
last night
SUSAN
last night
BECKETT
i had this dream
SADIE
i had this dream
SUSAN
i had this dream
BECKETT
that the three of us were at a café
SADIE
that the three of us were at a café
SUSAN
that the three of us were at a café
ALL
three strangers
at one table
BECKETT
one reading a book
SADIE
one on their laptop
SUSAN
one just staring at their coffee
SADIE
it was late afternoon
ALL
the sun coming hot through the windows
it was banal
and thriving
and perfect
BECKETT
my left hand was resting on the table
SADIE
right next to my right hand
BECKETT
when i became lost in a thought
SUSAN
when i became lost in a thought
SADIE
when i became lost in a thought
ALL
staring off into space
and as we daydreamed
our pinkies
brushed one another
BECKETT
we were startled
SADIE
startled by the touch
SUSAN
but we didn’t retreat
SADIE
we let them linger
SUSAN & BECKETT
let them move closer
ALL
slowly lightly playfully
let them entwine
SUSAN
then the third of us reached out their hands
BECKETT & SADIE
and the other two reached out their other hands
ALL
until we all joined
interlocking our pinkies
together
SUSAN
it felt so good to feel
BECKETT
the small rounded warmth of the fingertip
SADIE
of a stranger
ALL
though in that moment
you didn’t feel like a stranger
SADIE
you felt like family
BECKETT&SADIE&SUSAN
and i heard the echoes
of all of our mothers
all of our fathers
grandmothers grandfathers
all of our lines stretching back and back and back
ALL
until converging
in a lazy triangle
amidst the perfunctory din of a sunlit café
the three of us smiled as one
as we looked back at the houses we had come from
and we looked back at the people we had been
and then we looked forward
toward whoever we were each
about to become