Lyrics: Dave Malloy
Music: Dave Malloy
BECKETT
my new place was humble;
just a little utah-shaped room
in the basement of a butcher shop
one little window
looking out on a graveyard
it was the first place i found
i didn’t have any furniture
i let jackie have it all
wanted to be as low-conflict as possible
so all i had was a bunch of frayed cardboard boxes
borrowed from a friend
who had just left a poet
they had sharpie scrawls all over them
naming rooms that i didn’t have
“office”
“attic”
“den”
i started out sleeping on the floor
thinking, ok tomorrow i’ll run out to the store
get an air mattress or something
but—i don’t know, i just kind of got used to it
it felt monastic
like i was doing penance
(a giant marionette spider descends from the rafters, operated by susan.)
SHELOB (SUSAN)
such a good boy
BECKETT
oh yeah, the place had spiders too
SHELOB
atone for the darkness within
BECKETT
that’s right shelob!
yeah, i named her shelob
so ****ing basic
SHELOB
you belong here with us spiders
hidden away in the basement
with other cursed things
BECKETT
i had had plans to you know, do the place up—
but i just kind of lost my drive
i ordered some basics on amazon:
a beanbag chair, a bath mat, a couple sauce pans
a…colander?
not like i cooked
honestly the grocery store freaked me out
and i really didn’t want to leave the house
BECKETT, SUSAN & SADIE
that’s death out there!
BECKETT
actual, literal death
i could hear it
going door to door—
WOLF
{howl}
BECKETT
yeah no thanks
mostly i did delivery—
a lot of delivery
tracking the driver on my phone
watching them out the peephole
waiting till they’re gone
crack open the door
snatch my food
slam it shut
BECKETT, SUSAN & SADIE
sanitize—
BECKETT
eat my dindin with a plastic fork
reclining on my boxes
while binging old horror movies:
night of the living dead
bride of frankenstein
and the wolfman
(a knock at the door. beckett freezes.)