SCENE ONE

(A clearing in the middle of the woods. Flowers in a variety of colors bloom everywhere. A lone DEER, in its adolescent phase, stands in the middle of the field, center stage. AESOP, a scrawny, white man (who has no affiliation with the Greek fabulist and storyteller), enters stage right, emerging from the trees. He is almost completely naked, except for a thin, loose loincloth around his waist. His hair is unkempt, with an assortment of leaves and twigs tangled among the mess.)

AESOP:

Hello, friend! (The DEER continues to graze.) Hello? Hello?! Can this deer hear me? (He pauses.) In fact, can any deer hear me…?

DEER:

(Chewing) Oh, I’m sorry! I was busy eating all of these delicious blades of grass. Who might you be?

AESOP:

(Calmly, almost heavenly) Well, dear friend! My name is AESOP. I come from distant lands beyond the copious trees. I have come here alone, on a chilly fall day, to search for my new calling. Tell me, fellow friend, why are you alone today? I see no other friends in the area.

DEER:

Are you referring to my family? They left me here a couple days ago.

(A good pause, at least 5 seconds of absolute silence.)

AESOP:

Oh.

DEER:

Yeah.

(At least another 5 seconds of absolute silence.)

AESOP:

So, you’re all alone?

DEER:

All alone. They were all that I had. We used to graze together in this very field. (The DEER begins to tear up). I was enjoying my meal, and then all of a sudden there was a loud sound from beyond the brush. It startled all three of us, and my parents ran away from this field. (The DEER turns and looks at his left hind leg. AESOP follows his gaze). Do you see that? That weed found it’s way around my leg, and I can’t get it unstuck. I’ve been trapped here ever since. I don’t know where my parents are. I don’t know if they’re alive or dead. I don’t know if they’re thinking of me. If they worry for me. If they’ve forgotten me. I know nothing.

AESOP:

If you’re stuck here, then why haven’t you asked for help? I can set you free.

DEER:

Set me free? (The DEER gets visibly upset). Set me free? Okay mister, say you do set me free, and allow me to be liberated from this natural shackle. Then what? What is there for me to do? Where is there for me to go? My parents were startled off a week ago. They’re gone. They left me here because they think I’m dead, and they have no intentions of coming back for me. (Pause, AESOP’s face brightens at this phrase). I’m alone. I’m utterly alone. All I can do now is survive, and that just requires me to eat to stay alive. You see, AESOP, You may free me from this weed tangle. I won’t stop you. But you need to understand that my shackles are much deeper than the physical bounds of this foliage. Ever since that day, my life has become an eternal hell. There is no promise for me; no happiness. My life will be survival until it is nothing. This is the destiny I have been selected to endure. By who, you may ask? I do not know, and I do not wish to know. It may be my parents, or the makers of that loud sound, or some higher entity that you and I cannot possibly envision, but the outcome remains the same. I have been chosen to die, and nothing more. The only thing I get to determine now is how long I choose to wait until that fate meets me. And honestly, I think staying here, out in the open, with a limited amount of food makes my life more fleeting, and I want that. Do you know what it feels like to be abandoned? I’ve been thinking about this for a week. It hurts. It hurts so bad. To think that I wasn’t good enough to be saved, to be freed, it breaks my heart. I don’t want to live with a broken heart.

(AESOP approaches DEER slowly)

AESOP:

(Comforting, like talking to a child) Hey, hey, don’t worry. Listen, I’ve been roaming this earth for a considerable amount of time. I’ve seen wonders the world over, and I’ve heard stories from all the different corners of this world. I can tell you that life is worth–

DEER:

Stop.

AESOP:

What?

DEER:

I recognize that smell. It’s the one coming from your loincloth. It’s my mother. AESOP, you… you killed my mother. I can only assume you killed my father as well. After knowing that, and how carelessly you’ve skinned my mother and worn her skin as a covering for your privates, it’s despicable! That sound I heard, with my family, deep off into the woods? Don’t tell me you didn’t do it, I know you did it. (AESOP leaves, stage right, DEER keeps talking as if he never left). You killed my parents, the only people in the world that I loved and trusted, just for you to have clothing and food. Now you’re going to tell me that life is worth living? You’re going to tell me that there’s more to this existence? You’re the worst kind of person.

(Aesop returns, holding a large stone in his left hand.)

AESOP:

(Complete 180, now eerie and deranged) You’re right. I am the worst kind of person. I wanted to restore your youthful wit and perspective just to end you. I wanted to watch the will to live drain from your eyes as your last moments faded into nothingness.

DEER:

Do it, then. End me. You’ve given me nothing to live for, I suppose you can’t do any worse.

AESOP:

(AESOP raises the stone over his head with both hands, ready to strike. There is no fear in DEER’s eyes) Hey, DEER, want to know the worst part?

DEER:

(Bluntly) What?

AESOP:

I’m a conservative. (AESOP begins his swing.)

DEER:

AAAH! 

(DEER is struck in the head with the rock, and plummets to the ground. AESOP circles around the body, inspecting the quality of every facet. He goes down on one knee, and delicately untangles the weeds that kept DEER at bay. After one last glance, AESOP rises from the ground once more, and throws the DEER’s leg over his shoulder. He exits stage right, with DEER’s body dragging in the foliage behind him. An indent is left in the grass where DEER’s body has been dragged. Curtains close.)

END

–WP–

(Published January 2021)