two-hander By Abongile Mayana (a one act play in which I reveal how little you mean to me) ME: At age 20 Mary Shelly published Frankenstein. Mala Yousafzai received the Nobel Peace Prize at 17. Tatum O’Neal won the Oscar for best supporting actress when she was 10. Magnus Carlsen became a chess grandmaster at 13. Jesse Owens was 22 when he won four gold medals in Berlin. YOU: I assume you have a point? ME: That’s proof that they existed, people will remember them. I’m 23, I’ve yet to do anything important at all and time’s slipping away. YOU: What does it matter? ME: I’m afraid I’ll be forgotten. Less than a ghost, less than nothing. It’ll be as if I was never here. YOU: Nonsense. We’ll have each other, I’ll remember you. ME: That doesn’t mean anything. You’ll be less than a ghost too. [ Silence. We have nothing left to say to each other. ]
59
