THE TAIL OF THE SIREN
By Conrad A. Panganiban
DROKOV, An older grizzled male shoemaker turned sailor whose heart has grown cold and dark after spending the last 10 years searching for the Siren that stole his lover on the High Seas.
ANGEL, A young, stunning, agendered sailor. Angel’s joy for life is groundless. And the only thing more beautiful than hir looks and spirit is hir voice which can make anyone do what ze wants.
After the scene transitions from the previous play, A plank reads, “The Tail of the Siren.”
Lights dim as day turns to night and as the stars awaken the sky, ANGEL, a stunningly beautiful sailor with Moonlight in hir hair and amazing shoes walks onto the deck, looks at the stars above and begins to sing…
ANGEL
[A SAILOR’S LULLABY]
ROCKABY SLEEP MY SAILORS
DREAM OF THE OCEAN BLUE
LOOK AT THE STARS TO GUIDE US
TO WHERE MY HEART WILL FIND YOU
HEAR THE WINDS
CALLING OUT YOUR NAME
HEAR THE WAVES
CIRCLE BELOW
SEE THE MOON
LIGHT LEAP OFF OF THE WATER
TO COVER YOU
WITH ITS GLOW
ROCKABY SLEEP MY SAILORS
DREAM OF THE OCEAN BLUE
LOOK AT THE STARS TO GUIDE US
TO WHERE MY HEART WILL FIND YOU
TO WHERE MY HEART WILL FIND YOU
The sailors around begin to fall asleep.
When ANGEL ends the song, the grizzled sailor, DROKOV makes his way onto the ship’s deck. As Angel looks on, DROKOV measures the distance between some of the stars with his hands and fingers. He then reaches into his pocket to pull out a worn notebook and a pencil to write something. After making some calculations, THIS IS THE NIGHT!
ANGEL
Ahoy there!
DROKOV remains looking out at the sea around them.
ANGEL
Ahem… AHOY THERE!
DROKOV looks at Angel and turns away.
ANGEL
No need to be rude, Bluto.
DROKOV
Would you shut your pipe? I’m trying to listen.
ANGEL
Shut my…
DROKOV
Shhhh…
ANGEL
Between all the snoring around us, Popeye, I doubt that you’ll be able to hear anything useful out there.
DROKOV
They’re out there. They’re out there and I’m listening for ’em. Every last one of them!
ANGEL
Well, Ahab, sorry to put a damper on your Willy, but there’s no Seagulls out here in the middle of the High Seas.
DROKOV
They’d be lucky if it’s the seagulls I was hunting.
ANGEL
Oooo… that fight talk makes me feisty.
DROKOV
Give me peace and sally on over to the foc’sle why don’t ya?
ANGEL
(Crosses to Drokov)
Maybe I can help. Four eyes and ears are better than the two of each of yours.
DROKOV
I can handle them on my own.
ANGEL
Them?
DROKOV
Leave me be.
ANGEL
Suit yourself you old crusty…
(ANGEL starts to saunter away)
At least the mermaids will want to talk to me on the other side of the?
DROKOV
Stop! What did you just say?
ANGEL
Now he wants to talk?
DROKOV
You said… merrrrmaids!
ANGEL
So Old Man Salty has a thing for the mermaids does he?
DROKOV
Old Man Salty’s name is Drokov. And Drokov has no thing for any of them vile creatures.
ANGEL
Mr. Third Person calls them “vile”? From what I’ve seen of them, they are the most stunning creatures of all the sea… well, with the exception of the one you’re looking at.
DROKOV
So, you’ve seen them, Songbird?
ANGEL
Tweet. Tweet. Looks like there’s no birds out here tonight. Only sailors… and Angels. Me being both.
DROKOV
An Angel and a Sailor?
ANGEL
I’m many things to many people, but I’m only one Angel.
DROKOV
So, Angel. Where are they since you’re the only one alive that has laid eyes on them.
ANGEL
I’ve seen, spoke, and even danced with them.
DROKOV
Danced? With their tails?
ANGEL
In these waters, everything is possible.
DROKOV
Like stealing lost loves.
ANGEL
Ahhhh… you’re one of those people. Another sailor in the search for thier lost love.
DROKOV
10 years on this very night, he left for what was only supposed to be a few weeks. And 10 years, I have been searching for him. And them.
ANGEL
Sugar, he probably shacked up with a captain in the harbors of the Ma-Yi. Or died of scurvy. Or most likely, fell overboard into the deep during a storm.
DROKOV pulls out a bottle with a piece of paper in it.
ANGEL
The proverbial, Message in a Bottle, have ya?
ANGEL holds out hir hand which DROKOV gives the bottle too. ANGEL takes out the note inside and reads.
ANGEL
“If my dear shall ever recover this letter, I am forever regretful that I may never see you again. I tried to resist the moonlight of / Museline’s”
DROKOV
“Museline’s moonlit hair under the Grus and Columba. Find me here for I will be here waiting for you on the other side. Tu eres mi vida, J.V.”
ANGEL
J.V.?
DROKOV
Mi Vida. Mi Corazon.
ANGEL looks up at the stars and points up.
ANGEL
Grus, The Crane.
And… Columba, the Dove. Both there.
DROKOV
Right here.
ANGEL
And Melusine?
DROKOV
The name of the mermaid whose two tails turned into legs that ran off with my true love’s heart. And drowned him at this very spot.
ANGEL rolls up J.V.’s note and places it back in the bottle and gives it back to Drokov.
ANGEL
Javier sounds like some kind of poet.
DROKOV
How did you know his name was Javier?
ANGEL
You’d be surprised how many sailors start of as a Javier and eventually turn into the names of Drippy or Thirsty.
DROKOV
Javier could never be one of them. He was special. He was… and to think that he can fall for me, a lowly shoemaker.
ANGEL
I love shoes!
ANGEL models hir shoes.
DROKOV
Quarter Panel shearling with siping soles.
ANGEL
The man knows his shoes.
DROKOV
Shoes not meant to be for sailors. Not very sensible if you ask me.
ANGEL
Who ever said that you’re only allowed to love something that made sense? A shoemaker becoming a sailor? Now that doesn’t make any sense.
DROKOV
When I found that bottle, I didn’t even know how to swim. But I learned. I didn’t know my way from the aft to the keel, but I learned. I didn’t know that losing a love could feel like…
ANGEL
Did you learn from that?
DROKOV
Not until Melusine is dead.
ANGEL
The Sirens have their ways.
ANGEL begins to sing the Sailor’s Lullabye again…
ANGEL
ROCKABY SLEEP MY SAILORS
DREAM OF THE OCEAN BLUE…
Are you feeling sleepy?
DROKOV
Should I?
ANGEL
People say that my voice can have an effect on people.
DROKOV
Not with me. I’m tone deaf.
DROKOV clears his throat and begins to sing BADLY the parts of a Sailor Song.
DROKOV
ROCKABY SLEEP MY SAILORS
DREAM OF THE OCEAN BLUE
ANGEL
Okay! OHHHKAYYY!!! I believe you! Promise to never attempt to do whatever you were just attempting.
DROKOV
See? Can’t even hear myself sing, so I’m naturally immune to a mermaid’s power of song.
ANGEL
Then, say if you encountered a mermaid and ze asks you, “Is King Alexander alive?”
DROKOV
Then I would parry back with, “He lives and reigns and conquers the world!” I told you I learned, so not one of them will fool me with the riddle for them to cause storms.
ANGEL
Did you really learn all of these things to ward off the powers of the Sirens?
DROKOV
You ask a lot of questions, Angel.
ANGEL
I’m a curious person.
DROKOV
Is that all you are?
ANGEL
We’re all mysteries. Some more mysterious than others.
DROKOV
How did you get all that moonlight in your hair?
ANGEL
Oyster juice shampoo.
DROKOV
How are you the only one alive after talking with Mermaids?
ANGEL
Who would kill all of this?
DROKOV
Then, how did you make all the sailors fall asleep with your song?
ANGEL
Honey, it’s because I’m GOOD!
DROKOV
At what? Being Museline?!
DROKOV pulls out a sword.
ANGEL
What are you doing?! Javier said that you had some rough edges but not like?
DROKOV
Javier? How did you know…
How do you know Javier?
ANGEL
Um… who did you say who is who now?
DROKOV draws the sword closer to Angel.
DROKOV
Tell me!
ANGEL
He… he…
(ANGEL pulls out hir own sword.)
He taught me how to hold his sword!
ANGEL and DROKOV have an epic sword fight… while the sailors stay asleep around them.
ANGEL
Did Javier teach you how to do this?
DROKOV
No. But he taught me this!
They fight some more.
ANGEL
For what it’s worth, I find you utterly attractive. Your passion and determination… 10 years? That’s terribly sexy.
DROKOV
If it weren’t for the moonlight in your hair,
the glisten of your lips,
and the endless pool of light in your eyes,
I would drop Javier in a heartbeat.
ANGEL
Then why are we fighting?
And just then, we hear the beautiful humming melody of the Mermaids that surround the ship (which would be hummed by the sleeping sailors) coming from the sea below and around them.
ANGEL
It’s them! It’s… they put a spell on…
(ANGEL draws the sword on Drokov)
No. I can’t. I must… No, I won’t…
ANGEL falls to the ground unable to stand.
DROKOV
Uhhh…. are you okay?
ANGEL
Their song… their… I tried to save Javier from drowning when they made him fall overboard with their song. And when I swam to him it was too late.
As my punishment for helping one of your kind, the mermaids hexed me.
DROKOV
By turning your fins into legs.
The Mermaid’s melody and the sound of wind gets louder and louder…
ANGEL
And when I boarded this ship, they made me use my voice to lure sailors to them… to their death… to his death… and to my…
ANGEL gets up and begins to walk off the ship.
DROKOV
Now is the hour
Now is the time
To take back my heart
To take back what’s mine
The melody begins to grow silent and ANGEL begins to pulled out of the trance the mermaid’s put on hir.
DROKOV
This is the moment
Where I break your spell
Swim back to your home
Or go burn in…
Everything is silent and the sailors being to wake.
ANGEL
How did you that?
DROKOV
Something I learned.
ANGEL
Thank you.
I’m… I’m sorry that I couldn’t save your love.
DROKOV
For the last 10 years, I’ve forgotten how to do just that.
ANGEL comes near Drokov.
ANGEL
I can teach you.
DROKOV
And I can learn… again.
They share a moment.
DROKOV
Nice shoes.
DROKOV lets a smile that hasn’t been seen or given in a decade.
All the sailors begin to get up as dawn approaches as they begin the next leg of their journey.
END OF SCENE