TAKING OFF THE MASKS
by OPOVV, ©2015
(Mar. 1, 2015) — ACT I
As the curtain rises we hear Haydn’s “String Quartet in E Flat, OP. 1, No.2: 2nd movement” and the clickety-clack of a train that reveals passengers traveling from work in a passenger car that extends from stage left to stage right. We see the passenger on one side of the aisle representing middle-class America. Normal conversation is heard when, all of a sudden, a young woman jumps up and yells.
Young woman: “Am I the only one? Don’t tell me I’m the only one. What’s wrong with everyone in our country? Is everyone nuts but me?”
Conversations cease. Train noise dissipates. She sits down and holds herself tightly, rocking back and forth, Haydn in the background.
Conductor enters from stage left and says, “Purgatory. Next stop, Purgatory.”
Man asks: “Did you just say ‘Purgatory?’”
Conductor: “What? Purgatory? Ha, ha, funny. Next stop Naperville. Naperville, next stop!” Conductor exits stage right.
Now we hear bits and pieces of conversation: “I’d have sworn he said ‘Purgatory;’” “Maybe with a degree in Philosophy you get to work for the railroad;” “He did say ‘Purgatory;’” “I heard it, too;” “What’s ‘Purgatory?’” and “That’s what that young woman just said.”
Man: a middle-aged man stands and addresses his commuter mates: “Listen people. We’re all under a lot of stress. There’s no ‘recovery,’ just like there’s no doctor, or transparency. The whole country is a lie and us going back and forth on this train is just going through the motions of normality; we’re just pretending everything is hunky-dory, and it’s not.”
Another woman: “You’re scaring the children.”
Young man: “I saw this Twilight Zone episode,” at which point he’s shouted down with catcalls of “Can it” and “Save it for your wife.”
Young woman: regains her composure, stands: “Excuse me. EXCUSE me. Thank you very much. It used to be said that ‘Those that do, do; those who can’t, teach.’ Well, nowadays it’s ‘Those that can work in the private sector while those that can’t, won’t, or are either too darn lazy or too darn stupid are employees of the government.’
“Listen to me! If Lois Lerner or any other incompetent and corrupt government employees were caught doing their underhanded and unlawful dealings while employed in the private sector, they would have been fired, arrested, convicted and had their pensions revoked. THAT’S how it’s handled in the real world.
“And Congress let’s them walk! Lets these sleaze-buckets get away with lying. In the private sector, if you’re caught in a lie, you’re FIRED right on the spot! You’ve one hour and security will escort you out of the building.
“And then, on top of everything else, the people who we elect to deport the ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS AND MUSLIMS ignore us! I’m NOT the crazy one here, THEY are!”
Conductor: “Naperville! This is Naperville!”
Everyone gets up and debarks, leaving the young woman and the conductor alone in the car as the curtain is lowered.
ACT II
The music of Wagner’s “Siegfried’s Funeral March” is playing in the background as the curtain rises on a small railroad station surrounded by an eerie fog. The young lady is sitting on a bench. The conductor enters from stage right and, as he walks up to the woman, he removes his mask, revealing that he has a remarkable resemblance to Obama. The young woman is startled.
Conductor: “There, there, don’t be so surprised. I’m here to guide you through your next choice.”
Young woman: “What ‘choice?’ Your Obamacare wasn’t a choice. Your importing the very people who want to kill us wasn’t a ‘choice,‘ so what ‘choice’ are you talking about, if any?”
Conductor: “And that’s why you’re here, because you’re just a little bit too perceptive. You see, most of the mindless masses just believe whatever we tell them to believe.
“Take the word ‘immigration,’ for example. Every time you use the term ‘illegal immigration,’ it makes my job just that much harder. We like to use the word ‘immigration,’ as in ‘immigration reform,’ when we all know that there is nothing wrong with our immigration policy and that the only thing broken is the non-enforcement of our immigration laws.
“We tell the tele-readers (news broadcasters) to use the word ‘immigration’ rather than ‘illegal immigration,’ and so far it’s worked pretty darn good. Why, even Congress can’t tell the difference, they’re so stupid.”
The conductor/Obama now takes off another mask, revealing himself as the Devil, horns and all.
Conductor/Devil: “And now to your choice, young lady. It’s how you die. Do you die by the hands of an illegal immigrant or do you die by the ones who would’ve taken Edward Snowden out? Think about it.”
Curtain lowers as the music ends.
FINI