Out of the Wings

Una mariposa blanca (1957), Gabriela Roepke

A White Butterfly : ACT ONE

A White Butterfly, translated by Gwendolen MacKeith

ACT ONE

Sample text

LITTLE OLD LADY:

Good morning … (As LUISA hasn’t heard her, she goes up and gently touches her.) Good morning!

LUISA: (Startled.)

- Oh! …

LITTLE OLD LADY:

Sorry, I frightened you …

LUISA:

I didn’t hear you come in, madam. What can I do for you?

LITTLE OLD LADY:

Does everything that’s lost get reclaimed here?

LUISA:

Yes, madam.

LITTLE OLD LADY:

Sometimes I don’t manage to read the signs on the door and I get it wrong …

LUISA:

Have you come to look for something? …

LITTLE OLD LADY: (Simply.)

A memory.

LUISA:

Describe it to me. If you’ve lost it in any part of our store, it must be here.

LITTLE OLD LADY:

No … I didn’t lose it in the store.

LUISA: (Somewhat surprised.)

Then, there’s no guarantee of finding it; describe it to me all the same …

LITTLE OLD LADY:

The thing is … I lost it years ago …

LUISA:

Years!

LITTLE OLD LADY:

And … I don’t know what it’s like …

LUISA:

Madam! …

LITTLE OLD LADY:

If I knew what it’s like, or where I lost it, I wouldn’t come and ask for your assistance, would I?

LUISA:

Is it a family memory? … Some kind of souvenir? …

LITTLE OLD LADY:

No, dear. Simply a memory. A memory I lost in my youth …

LUISA:

Sorry, madam. I don’t think I understand you …

LITTLE OLD LADY:

When you get to my age, the only things which count are memories. I have a few, but I know that the best one, the most beautiful, I lost one day! It flew out of my mind like a bird and I haven’t found it again.

(Pause.)

LUISA:

Madam … I think you’re mistaken. Here we don’t …

LITTLE OLD LADY:

Don’t tell me you don’t have memories. People lose them so often …

LUISA:

No … Here we don’t have memories … Otherwise …

LITTLE OLD LADY: (Interrupting her.)

Before I forget, allow me. (Opens her bag. Takes out a card and gives it to her. LUISA reads it and is surprised.)

LUISA:

One moment, madam. I’m going to fetch the manager. Have a seat.

(Exits. The LITTLE OLD LADY noses around a bit. She looks everywhere then sits down. MR SMITH comes in, followed by LUISA. Both look for a moment at the LITTLE OLD LADY.)

MR SMITH: (Quietly to LUISA.)

Is that her? (LUISA nods.) And she comes recommended by the cousin of the Ministry of Education. A man of great influence, what an opportunity! (Losing heart.) But … she must be mad … , dangerous even.

LUISA:

She doesn’t seem like it.

(She goes to her desk and starts working. MR SMITH is forced to confront the situation.)

MR SMITH: (Man of the world.)

Good morning, madam. My secretary has informed me about your request. I would like to say that my duty in this office is first and foremost to please the customer, but I’m afraid that in your case …

LITTLE OLD LADY:

It’s very simple, sir. It’s about …

MR SMITH:

I know what it’s about, madam …

LITTLE OLD LADY:

And doesn’t it seem simple to you?

MR SMITH:

No, not as simple as you think. (He pauses.) I would really like to help you, but …

LITTLE OLD LADY:

It’s nothing more than a memory, sir.

MR SMITH:

Precisely, madam.

LITTLE OLD LADY:

Couldn’t you be so kind as to ask your secretary if she would look for it? …

MR SMITH:

I think it would be pointless.

LITTLE OLD LADY: (Crestfallen.)

Then it’s true, you don’t have memories!

MR SMITH:

No, we don’t have memories.

LITTLE OLD LADY:

But … you told me that you had everything in this office which gets lost.

MR SMITH:

Everything, madam. But not ‘everything’.

LITTLE OLD LADY:

I could come by later if you need time to look for …

MR SMITH:

Madam, coming to this office to look for a lost memory is the same as asking the sun not to come out, or to prosecute the winter because …

LITTLE OLD LADY:

And why not? Perhaps it wouldn’t be more than a question of talking to them and coming to an agreement.

MR SMITH:

Madam …, please!

LITTLE OLD LADY:

It’s not just people you can talk to, sir. Remember Saint Francis of Assisis … He used to talk to the birds.

MR SMITH:

But nobody knows if they answered him. (A pause.) Madam, I’m terribly sorry, but my time is precious and … (Looks at the card and makes an effort to control himself.) As I’ve said, I would love to help you but …

LITTLE OLD LADY: