January 20 Play: MOSCOW

20: MOSCOW - by Ed Valentine
© January 20, 2010 * ed@edvalentine.com

LIGHTS UP: 2 alone, in overcoats. Long overcoats. Fur hat for ALEXI. Babushka for MASHA. Onion domes in the background. We’re in Moscow. Snow all around.

ALEXI ALEXOVITCH: I want it.

MASHA ROMANOFFSKI: What will you give me?

ALEXI: I need it.

MASHA: There is price, comrade.

ALEXI: But.

MASHA: There is always price.

-

ALEXI: But I have to have it!

MASHA: I heard you first time.
(Looks around. Takes out a package, wrapped.)
There.

ALEXI: Everything?

MASHA: Everything you need.

ALEXI: In here?

MASHA: Trust me.

ALEXI: -
Should I?

MASHA: What choice you have?

ALEXI: -
(Shrugs.)

MASHA: With this, you can start new life. New name? Check. New passport? Check. New documents? Check.

ALEXI: And the new face? My new face?

MASHA: Check. With new face you start completely anew. Your future will be fresh and virgins as this snow.

ALEXI: Sweet relief!

MASHA: What are you running from?

ALEXI: Who wants to know? Why do you ask? Who wants to know?

MASHA: No reason. Professional curiosity. I give new face, I wonder why you want new face.
-
So…

ALEXI: There was this girl –

MASHA: Say no more. All right, then: so what you give me?
-
The Price, Comrade, the Price.

ALEXI: Oh.
Well, here.
(Reaches in his coat. Rummages around. Takes out his heart. Maybe it’s a bleeding heart, or maybe it’s a Valentine’s heart. But it’s his heart. If it’s a real heart, maybe it bleeds on the snow. ALEXI hands MASHA the heart. MASHA takes it reluctantly.)
Take it. In my life, where I’m going, I will not need it.

MASHA: You never know. You sure?
(ALEXI shrugs. Leaves MASHA alone in the snow. MASHA sighs.)
You never know.

(Tucks heart in her coat as snow begins to fall. As MASHA begins to exit off the other side, lights fade.)

END OF PLAY.