Poetry With Hart

Characters:

Iggy = Punk Mary Poppins

Cc = Bizagoth

Melody = Hippie Priestess Vibes

Yow = Cryptid dog, alternates between gray-white and pitch black fur depending on the day, deep piercing red eyes, good boy

*

Setting: Kitchen, pantry open, Iggy digging thru it with a leash looped in one hand as Yow is sniffs around her feet. The other two enter the room, Cc first, as things drop to the floor. As Iggy sees them, the scene starts..

—

Iggy: Hey guys! Look who I found!

Cc: Oh my gods no

Iggy: I haven’t asked anything yet

*Cc crosses quickly and opens the backdoor*

Cc: We can’t have a dog.

Iggy: Just hear me out.

Melody: Daww, he’s a puppy. Let’s hear her out.

*Melody immediately crosses, sits next to the dog and starts petting and loving on him*

Cc: Fine, this better be good.

Iggy: I was out for my morning –

Cc: – Meandering.

Iggy: And I saw him just curled up near the back of the house,  just this sullen ball of fur. And I thought, you know what?

Cc: What?

Iggy: What a fabulous gift for Cc!

Cc: Huh?

Iggy: He’s all black, most of the time. He’s sweet and sad and protective and snarly. Just like you.

Cc: I’m flattered.

Iggy: And you always said we need to be safer. What’s safer than a dog barking and snapping at intruders?

Melody: (to the dog) Daww, you don’t bite do you buddy. You’re so sweet and lovely. And if you bite you don’t bite haaaaw-rd

Cc: I mean he could be usful…

Iggy: See

CC: But how do you know he will fit in here? I mean a strange dog, you just found wandering outside the house.

Melody: Oh, I can answer that.

Iggy and Cc: Huh?

Melody: The dog food is behind the cereal. Right there in back. His bowl is under the sink.

*Iggy excitedly retrieves them and starts setting them up. Cc, sits at the kitchen table, rubbing her temples*

Cc: Explain. Please. Now.

Melody: Well, you know how Iggy arrived when I was about 17/18, or so.

Cc: Yeah I remember..

Melody: And you arrived when we were about 12, give or take.

Cc: Accurate.

Melody: You were the sense of duty and diligence born out of necessity with the madness in the home. We needed you to keep us grounded. Iggy was in response to… well when we were trapped, the abuse, torture –

Cc: You don’t need to say it.

Melody: She is the need to get out, to connect with the world again in any way possible. 

Cc: Yes, I remember all that. I was there for all of that. How does this explain the dog?

Melody: He came before you both.

Cc: I’m sorry, no he didn’t. I would’ve remembered a dog.

Melody: He arrived when we first came to the mountain. At around 5 or so. Wandering alone those years. The spaces of emptiness. I needed a protector. Something to channel the anger I couldn’t place in words at being alone. Being a part from everyone,  talking but not communicating.

Cc: But how do you explain my not knowing him?

Melody: When you arrived, he ran away. It’s not your fault. But the anger, I couldn’t hold on to it. There was no channeling it. No feral fierocity born from neglect. There was just “what had to be done,  and how to do it.” So I let him go.

Cc: And now?

Melody: Oh, he came back to visit off and on some time ago. I’ve been feeding him occasionally out behind the shed.

*Cc puts her head down, Iggy squeals with glee*

Iggy: Does that mean we can keep him?

Melody: Ultimately, that’s up to CC. He’s her dog, after all.

Cc: He can stay in the house one night –

*dancing yipping, etc happens. The dog approaches CC, as if he knows*

CC: Then he goes back out to the shed. He’s not one of us.

Iggy: Daww, the mean old lady doesn’t mean that.

*Cc cautiously pets the dog,  looking straight into his eyes*

Cc: I mean you’re partly right. He could be useful but… he’s not even… what is he, really?