moonlit sea

NIGHT
Two people are walking, hand in hand.



HER: [suddenly looking at his face] Did I ever tell you that I can talk to the moon?

HIM: [amused] No, I can't say you have.

HER: I do.

HIM: And does the moon reply?

HER: Oh, no, she doesn't hear me. But I can listen to her singing.

HIM: [slightly perplexed] Singing?

HER: [softly] To you I'll give the breath of stars,
                    the touch of night,
                    the murmur of daybreak,
                    and you must do nothing but be.

HIM: That's a song?

HER: Of course.

HIM: It doesn't rhyme.

HER: It doesn't have to.

[They walk in silence.]

HER: She's in love, you know.

HIM: Who?

HER: The moon, with the sea.

HIM: [drops her hand] What do you mean?

HER: She whispers to him sometimes, when it's late, and I hear her.

HIM: [silence]

HER: She tells him how much she needs him, even though you'd think it would be the other way around. It's not though, of course, because she's in love.

HIM: [stops walking] How can the moon need anything?

HER: [stops] Oh, she does. [turns to him, steps closer] He doesn't realize that he is everything to her.

HIM: But...it's the moon that really controls the tides, and the sea doesn't do anything.

HER: Yes, he does. You see, she's always there, guiding him. [places hands on his chest] Helping him remember to breathe when he's busy, and sleep when he's tired.

HIM: So why does she need him?

HER: [looks up to his eyes] If it wasn't for the sea, I don't think she'd...be.

HIM: [gently] Be what?

HER: Be anything. Be happy, or upset, or thoughtful. He's the reason that she is.

HIM: [takes her hands] And what does the sea say to that?

HER: I don't think she's really saying it for him to hear. She just has to whisper it, so that she knows. But do you know something?

HIM: What?

HER: I think that he hears it, everything that she says.

HIM: [quietly] I'm certain of it.

[scene ends as they stand, looking at each other and again holding hands]