SCENE TWO
On a river bank. It is noon. Under a tree. DOMINGO finishes up a small cage for the sparrow. Voices and laughter are heard approaching. DOMINGO hides. They are the laundry woman passing by and disappearing in the distance. DOMINGO comes out of hiding.
DOMINGO: The laundry women are returning to town. That means it’s past noon. Why hasn’t Juana arrived? I hope the police officers didn’t discover the leaflets last night. If something happens to her I will never forgive myself. Why the hell did I let her take them? Those jerks are capable of doing anything to find out who gave them to her. I should have told her the truth. At least that way she could have been prepared. If she got arrested, who knows what she thinks of me now. I wouldn’t blame her. But I could not destroy the leaflets. I committed to distributing them and that’s what I have to do, no matter what it costs me. (Pause.) I don’t know why I got her into this. (Pause.) Who is that coming? (He hides.) (Pause.)
JUANA (Entering): Domingo? Domingo?
DOMINGO (Coming out of hiding): Juana! I was so worried about you.
JUANA: Were you hiding? Why? Are you on the run?
DOMINGO: No. But remember what happened last night at the Church.
JUANA: No, don’t remind me. I was shaking with fear.
DOMINGO: What did the police officers say to you when I left?
JUANA: They just asked me a couple of questions and then they left.
DOMINGO: Oh good. And what did you do?
JUANA: I went back home with my heart in my throat.
DOMINGO: But has your fear dissipated?
JUANA: I couldn’t sleep all night. My head was spinning like a merry-go-round.
DOMINGO: And the package? You didn’t bring it?
JUANA: No, Domingo. The boss lady didn’t let me bring it, despite my insistence that I had to give it to Lucia urgently. She told me to take it to her in the afternoon when I go to Church. I came anyways so you wouldn’t worry.
DOMINGO: And where did you leave it?
JUANA: I hid it. Don’t worry. No one will be able to find it.
DOMINGO: Then bring it to me at Church this afternoon without fail. We will pass by there at around five to announce our closing show.
JUANA: I will be there without fail. But don’t you think it’s dangerous? I’m scared. I’m scared something could happen to us.
DOMINGO: Calm down.
JUANA: I’m nervous. I feel butterflies in my stomach.
DOMINGO: Calm down, Juana. Don’t forget that tonight after our closing show we are leaving to San Andres. Did you pack your clothes?
JUANA: I packed last night. I plan to leave without saying anything to the boss lady. Because if I tell her, she won’t let me go. But in any event, I’ll bring you the leaflets at five.
DOMINGO (Surprised): The . . . leaflets?
JUANA: Yes, the package of anti-government leaflets.
DOMINGO: How do you know about that? Did you open the package?
JUANA: No, I swear by the Virgin Mary I didn’t. But I was so nervous when I was alone at the Church, that the package fell from my hands and the leaflets scattered all over the atrium. You believe me right?
DOMINGO: It would have been better if you hadn’t found out.
JUANA: Why? Don’t you trust me?
DOMINGO: Yes, of course. But . . .
JUANA: But . . . what?
DOMINGO: That way you wouldn’t be at risk.
(They look at each other silently.)
JUANA: Do you think they would have done something to me if they had found it?
DOMINGO: The police have no mercy, Juana. With no one. No one.
JUANA: And where did you find those leaflets, Domingo? Because you don’t have anything to do with what people are talking about in town, right? Tell me you don’t, Domingo.
DOMINGO: Yes, Juana, I brought those leaflets to town. And I’ve been distributing them at dawn after our shows. Last night I was planning to finish distributing the last of them in the barrio by the hospital.
JUANA: In the Merced barrio?
DOMINGO: Yes. But I wasn’t able to because in the afternoon the police came and searched the circus.
JUANA: And where were you?
DOMINGO: I was at the entrance talking with Rabanito. When I saw the police coming straight to our tent, I went inside, grabbed the leaflets, and I went out the back without anyone noticing. Then I went to the Church to look for you.
JUANA: So they know you are the one distributing them?
DOMINGO: I don’t think so.
JUANA: But then why did they go and search the circus?
DOMINGO: They are taking shots in the dark. The leaflets are driving them into despair. They went to the circus just like they’ve gone everywhere else. But they didn’t find anything.
JUANA: I would have never thought that you were to blame for what is happening in town. We are humble people here, Domingo. We don’t have anything to do with politics. Leave that to the powerful people. Wouldn’t it be better to tear up the leaflets and leave things as they are? What do you gain from distributing them?
DOMINGO: Preparing the people for what is to come.
JUANA: What is to come?
DOMINGO: The revolution.
JUANA: The revolution? To overthrow the government?
DOMINGO: Not just to overthrow the government, Juana. To change the way we live. So that all men can have the right to live as human beings. To awaken people’s consciousness.
JUANA: I don’t know what you’re talking about. People are not evil.
DOMINGO: You’re right. The people are not evil. But their heads are full of rotten ideas. And only a revolution can create new ideas of what life should be. (Gravely.) And what death should be.
JUANA: But we can’t change anything. We are too small.
DOMINGO: We are precisely the ones who must destroy this world of lies that we live in, Juana. Don’t you realize that everything around us is a lie?
(Approaching voices are heard.)
JUANA: Shhh! Do you also hear voices? Who could it be?
DOMINGO: I don’t know but they’re headed this way.
JUANA: Hide. Quickly, Domingo.
(They hide. Enter CLOWN-POLICE OFFICERS 1 and 2.)
POLICE OFFICER 1 (To POLICE OFFICER 2): Let’s just go back. We can come back another day.
POLICE OFFICER 2: Hurry up and stop talking nonsense.
POLICE OFFICER 1: Are you sure we’re going the right way?
POLICE OFFICER 2: I’m positive. I know this pathway very well. It’s not the first time I come down here.
POLICE OFFICER 1: But it’s late. Maybe they already left. I think we should go back. Remember we’re on duty. If we get caught . . .
POLICE OFFICER 2: Don’t be a wuss. Who’s going to know?
POLICE OFFICER 1: In any case, with the new chief we better tread carefully. Don’t forget he’s got a bad temper.
POLICE OFFICER 2: Yes, he has a bad temper. But he takes advantage of his role like no other. Or did you already forget the mess he had going last night at the office with the women from the “Black Cat”? And if he’s having fun with his women, why can’t we have some fun with ours?
POLICE OFFICER 1: But who told you the laundry women are ours?
POLICE OFFICER 2: Experience. (Laughing.) Are we not the authority? This uniform has to be good for something.
POLICE OFFICER 1: And you think they’ll let us?
POLICE OFFICER 2: They have to let us. It would be the last straw if they didn’t! First we’re gonna enjoy the eye candy of watching them bathe naked. Then we’ll jump on the last two remaining. But walk swiftly otherwise we’ll be too late to find them
POLICE OFFICER 1: You’re right. To hell with it, life is short and pleasure scant.
(They exit. Pause. JUANA and DOMINGO come out of hiding.)
JUANA: Are they gone?
DOMINGO: Yes, they’re gone. Calm down.
JUANA: I don’t know what’s happening to me, but I feel as though heaven and earth have become one. Tell me, Domingo, why are you an enemy of the government?
DOMINGO: I’m an enemy to injustice, Juana. And above all, an enemy to misery.
JUANA: I’d never heard you speak this way.
DOMINGO: Well it is time for you to realize many things you did not know before.
JUANA: But have you thought about what’ll happen to us if the revolution doesn’t take place?
DOMINGO: Don’t worry. Nothing will stop it. The day it comes we will be free. Free to live as human beings and not like dogs as we live now.
JUANA: I don’t understand politics, but I’m afraid something might happen to you. You yourself said that the police have no mercy for anyone.
DOMINGO: But I’m not afraid of death, Juana. Death has been chasing me all my life. When I was a child it was my playmate because I had no one else to play with. But I want to be free. I want to be free of death.
JUANA: What death are you talking about?
DOMINGO: About the one I carry inside. Do you know why they killed my father? (They sit down.) I’ve never told anyone before, but do you know why they killed him? Because I gave him away. They took advantage of the fact that I was a child and they took me to the prison where they had him under arrest. He was in a dungeon with his mouth tied up and his arms in a cross. When I went in, one man sat in front of him and another began to hit him until his whole body was bleeding. A military officer with a long mustache sat next to me smoking peacefully. Every once in a while, he offered me candy. I started crying asking them to stop hitting my dad. The military officer promised me they’d stop hitting him if I told them where he’d hidden the bombs. I will never forget my father’s eyes in that moment. They were trying to tell me something I couldn’t understand. But in my pain I thought that if I showed them the place where I’d seen him hide some packages, they would free him. Without realizing it, I myself was killing him. When they let me out of the dungeon, I could see death’s portrait in my dad’s listless eyes.
JUANA: And what happened?
DOMINGO: The military officer with the mustache found the bombs and I never saw my father again.
JUANA (With affection): Domingo . . .
DOMINGO: Soon after that, my mother left. I remember her dressed in black, crying for hours and hours without saying a word. Sometimes, seeing the guilt on my face, she’d say: “It wasn’t your fault, hijito, it wasn’t your fault . . . ” but hot tears fell from her eyes, burning my face. One morning at dawn I woke up scared and I felt her cold and stiff next to me. Her eyes were open and sadder than ever. (Pause.) When they took her to the cemetery, I comforted myself by thinking at least there she wouldn’t cry anymore.
JUANA (Caressing him): Domingo . . .
DOMINGO: But I’ve never been able to forget the taste of her tears.
JUANA: Death has followed you ever since?
DOMINGO: Ever since. Then a travelling foreigner who sold antiques at the market took me in. And in his house, death’s shadow was my constant companion. We often hid anti-government rebels fleeing from the police. I’d come and go carrying messages for them from the street. I’d hear them in the dead of night speaking of freedom. That was how I realized that freedom, for me, meant ripping that death from my heart.
JUANA: I’m afraid they will beat you to it, Domingo. Remember, they have power on their side. What can a few leaflets do against the weapons of the government?
DOMINGO: Awaken the consciousness of the people, Juana. Show them the way.
JUANA: But how can you trust a town that lives in such fear?
DOMINGO: I’m also afraid. But I know that the revolution can restore the dignity they took from me. My father was a good man, and they killed him like a dog. I was only a child, and they forced me to give him away. How do you think I can live happily in a world where the same story happens every day?
JUANA: I thought you were happy in the circus.
DOMINGO: I won’t deny it. But if I joined the circus for any reason, it was to run away from sadness. One day I discovered that by making others happy, I was also filled with happiness. I don’t know how to explain it to you, but for me the first step towards freedom is happiness. I know that by sharing it, we can kill sadness and fear.
JUANA: Isn’t that enough?
DOMINGO: No, Juana. The happiness of the circus isn’t enough. That’s why I also hand out the leaflets. They are programs for a new world. A world where children’s laughter will put an end to all the pain that tombstones in the cemetery now hide. Because right now, everything is pain. The happiness of the circus is short-lived. It lasts only for the duration of the show. And it dies with the last lights cast inside the tent. Afterwards, we all return to a miserable and pointless life.
JUANA: We must resign ourselves to the life we have, Domingo.
DOMINGO: No. I won’t resign myself.
JUANA: But the priest says in his sermons that we should resign ourselves.
DOMINGO: Yes, because they don’t care about human suffering.
JUANA: Domingo, don’t say that.
DOMINGO: Why not? It’s true. Just like it’s true that I want to win back my right to be a man.
JUANA: Well, I just want to be by your side, no matter what happens.
DOMINGO: Don’t worry, we will always be together. But I don’t want our children to live in the world we’ve had to endure.
JUANA: Our . . . children? (Pause.) Domingo . . . (Pause.)
DOMINGO: Yes, Juana. Our children.
JUANA: I also have a secret to confide in you, Domingo. (Pause.)
DOMINGO: What’s the matter? You’re pale. Your hands are cold.
JUANA: I’ve also gone through bitter moments, very . . . very . . . bitter.
DOMINGO: But tell me, tell me, what’s happened to you?
JUANA: Something terrible. I was also a child when they took my dignity.
DOMINGO: Juana!
JUANA: Let’s go. I’ll tell you on the way. It’s late and I have to go back.
DOMINGO: But what did you mean to say? I don’t understand.
(They begin to exit.)
JUANA: Well . . . one night . . . my boss . . . he came into my room while I was sleeping. I woke up with a knot in my throat from the fear as his hands searched my body. But even though he saw me shaking with fear, he didn’t let me go. Then . . .
(They exit. Pause.) (Enter POLICE OFFICERS 1 and 2.)
POLICE OFFICER 1: You see? We came all this way for nothing. The laundry women have gone.
POLICE OFFICER 2: Don’t complain. At least we got to play hooky for a while. I got tired of waiting at the circus for the guy we’re suppose to arrest.
POLICE OFFICER 1: Me too, I won’t deny it. But remember the boss told us to bring him immediately.
POLICE OFFICER 2: Do you think it’s really that circus clown who’s been distributing the leaflets?
POLICE OFFICER 1: That’s what those old hags said.
POLICE OFFICER 2: It doesn’t surprise me that now we even have anti- government clowns. I’m being frank.
POLICE OFFICER 1: Me neither. But we’ll make this one swallow hell’s fire until he confesses. You’ll see. If they left him to me alone, I’d make him talk in two shakes of a lamb’s tail.
POLICE OFFICER 2: I don’t doubt it. You’d make the devil himself shake his tail.
POLICE OFFICER 1: We have to teach those political rebels how to be men. Not scarecrows. And if they like to play with fire, then they have to be able to take it. Don’t you agree?
POLICE OFFICER 2 (Mockingly): Yes, vampire. Whatever you say. (Laughing.) Grrrrrrrrr . . .
POLICE OFFICER 1: Don’t call me that. You know I don’t like it. And hurry up.
POLICE OFFICER 2 (Going after POLICE OFFICER 1, arms stretched like a vampire): Grrrrr . . . ! Blood . . . ! Blood . . . ! I want blood . . . ! Grrrrr!
(Blackout.)
