Last Quarter Flashcards
(enters)
Really?
Shhh.
This is getting ridiculous.
Could you have a little respect please?
Why do you have to keep doing this?
Someone has died.
You’ve been watching them again?
I just don’t get why we have to go through all of this every time. It’s so pointless
and it just makes you cranky.
I’m not cranky, I’m in mourning.
For what?
I told you. Someone has died
Millions of them die every day. What makes this one special?
See, this whole charade just puts you in a bad mood
It’s a way to honor them.
Honor what?
Their life.
Their lives are about seventy-five years long, on average, and you know what
they do with them? They sleep. For twenty-five years of it. And for the rest of the
time they put on different clothes and sit at computers doing things they don’t
enjoy and saying things they don’t believe and they try to get money so they can
be happy and then they get money but they’re not happy, so they complain and
text each other and do it all again, and in the meantime, they eat oatmeal!
What?
Oatmeal! I mean of all things.
I liked oatmeal.
Of course you did.
Why don’t they matter to you?
Who?
Them.
You see that light in the distance? That’s the Orion Nebula. Right now, right
there, millions of stars are being born. Enormous balls of gas are forming and
starting to burn in a constant flame that will last for billions of years. They’ll
shine so bright that people on a planet hundreds of thousands of light-years away
will see them and make stories to explain their existence, never knowing the truth,
and those people will watch the stars for hundreds of their generations, passing in
and out of the universe like mayflies, and their civilizations will be created and
destroyed, and their planets will hurtle around their suns, and the universe will
expand and change, and galaxies will collide, and those stars will still burn. And
with things like that in the sky around me, when that’s what I live with, what does
a person down there who will be dead in less than a hundred years matter to me?
How can you expect me to care?
They care about you.
Of course they do.
(scoff)
what?
Nothing.
No, say it.
Just… you. You’re just so…
What?
…I liked to imagine you were watching me,
too. But of course you weren’t
Why would I?
Exactly. Why would you? Well, I guess it’s true. Be careful what you wish for.
What does that mean?
Nothing.
No, what does that mean?
Just… I used to wish about you and then
Then what?
Well, I got what I wished for, didn’t I? And look where it got me. Stuck here.
Stuck?
Well, what would you call it?
Do you still think this was a punishment?
Of course it was.
It was never a punishment. I-I saved you.
Right.
I did! You were being exiled, you had nowhere to go, and I took you in. I sheltered you.
You trapped me.
I protected you! Those men who sentenced you, they didn’t care what happened to, they just wanted you gone. I gave you somewhere to go.
But you never gave me a choice.
What choice was there? Look at what I did for you. You were nothing. I turned you into a myth. A legend. A god.
Don’t you realize what a curse that was? I’ve had to wait here for centuries, as
everyone I loved turned to dust, and all I could do was sit here and watch. If you
made me a god, you made me a powerless one
I was trying to help.
I don’t want your help.
Then what do you want?
What I’ve always wanted.
You still want to go back?
Of course.
You’ve seen what happens. You just said. You’ve seen how small and useless their lives are, how quickly they’re over, and you want that?
Yes.
But why?
You can’t understand.
No, I can’t. Don’t you see? They’re tiny flames that flicker and fade in a second, but you, you shine.
No, you do. I’m just the shadows on your face.
Would you stop feeling sorry for yourself? I mean look around! I gave you everything.
You took everything from me.
You know what. Fine. If that’s how you see it, then fine.
What other way is there to see it? You took me away from my life, my home, and
stuck me up here with you.
What else would have had me do? Let you die? Is that what you wanted?
Yes.
Why would you say that?
Because it’s true.
Fine.
Sorry, I didn’t…
No, it’s okay.
I didn’t mean… It’s not that I’d rather be dead…
You don’t have to-
… I knew that I would only have a short amount of
time to say what needed to be said, do what needed to be done.
Okay.
I want to show that I was watching, that I knew they were
there, however briefly. I want to honor what they left behind
Who died?
A woman. The last of my descendants
You had children?
(nods)
How did she die?
She drowned.
I’m sorry.
It’s not your fault. She was thirty-four. That wasn’t so young during my time, but
it feels younger now
Thirty-four years? No time at all.
I know it doesn’t mean anything to you, compared to the cosmos and everything.
That’s not what I’m saying.
You’re right, though. No time at all. Or at least, not nearly enough
I’m sorry.
For what?
I don’t know. I just don’t know what else I’m supposed to say.
Do you want me to name a star after her?
Can you do that?
Why not? That one. In the Andromeda Galaxy. It just started burning. We’ll name
it after her. What was her name?
Emma.
Okay, well, that’s Emma the star.
Does it help?
What?
The star.
Oh. Sure.
Sure?
Yes, it does.
Good, I’m glad. You really want to go back?
I do.
Even though you’re going to die.
Yes. I know that doesn’t make sense
No, I think… I think I understand.
You do?
Well maybe not. I don’t know.
Will you miss me?
No.
Okay.
Anyway, I don’t want to talk about it.
Right. I forgot.
I do appreciate it, you know
What?
Everything. I know that you’re… you were just trying to help.
Yeah.
Yes?
Nothing. It just feels nice, that’s all.
Ah.
Even if does make you cranky.
It doesn’t make me cranky.
Yes it does.
No, it–
It does.
Okay. I could… leave it behind for you. When I go
If you want.
Do you want me to?
I don’t care.
