THE RECEPTIONIST
Drama
by Jerome W. Nilssen

A travel agency. There may be several large, exotic travel posters in the background. GRACE WILLOW, in her early twenties, a receptionist, is behind a desk or counter. SETH is on the other side, facing away.

SETH

(Singing)

Tall in a grove of willow trees

A tower stands, white as tombs;

Tall is my Daddy, tower tall,

He has a castle with many rooms.

The linen’s starched, still and white,

The tower’s eye is desert red;

White sand sifts into the rooms -

I stand at the door and scratch for bread.

Daddy above, he gives a damn,

He sends a cherry pit, an apple seed.

His eye blinks shut, his tower bends,

It breaks on my back and I bleed.

GRACE

(Barely noticing SETH, then slowly turning toward him; singing)

I can get you there:

Arrange for the tickets,

Pleasant guides who speak in English;

The smell of clover,

The sound…

CSS Publishing Co., Inc., Cain Cycle, The, by Jerome W. Nilssen