SCENE 8: DANCE OF THE DISAPPEARED

(Music in the dark, perhaps the dance music of the previous
scene. Lights up slowly to reveal NAOMI inside the Ford Falcon.
GUARDS lounge about the shell of the car, ignoring her.)
NAOMI: "A woman without hands, without feet, without a
head. Death is just eyes," my grandmother used to say. "If
she comes ahead of her time, she leaves a pair of eyes and
scurries away before we can catch even a glimpse of her.
Do not be afraid! Those eyes can see wonders that you
never imagined. When the right time comes, though, not
a minute before or after, she comes back and you follow
along in silence." (GUARDS laugh to themselves.) I long for
those eyes, to see a way out of here, any way, the only way.
They don't let me sleep, so I dream of those eyes while
they torture me. Far, far away, my body just a shell lying
on that table, jerking with each new electric charge, but 1
am gone, somewhere they can't find me.
Yesterday one of the guards let slip that the President
had been kidnapped. Kidnapped! The president of
Argentina! I felt wonderful, I don't know why, like I had
company. As if the others weren't enough.
Last night, he was waiting for me in my cell, el
Presidente. A sweet old man with a rosary in his hands. "I
have just finished my prayers," he stated. "Perhaps these
will help you," and he offered me his rosary. I asked about
Gerardo, if he knew anything. Why el Presidente should
know about everyone who's been disappeared, I don't
know. But he was here! So I asked. He said - and I got this
right, because I asked him to repeat it - he said, "His
disappearance might be an instance of self-kidnapping."
Self-kidnapping! Why hadn't I thought of that? And what
about me? I asked. If Gerardo kidnapped himself, why am
I here? "Oh, my dear," he said, "you're not here because of
him. No. You have your own sins to absolve." Then he
called for a guard and left me alone to wonder what sins I
have to answer for.
My sin was staying in Argentina; my sin was believing a
government would not dare to execute its own citizens on
the streets in broad daylight. My sin was naiveté, and I am
paying for it. Never again will I sleep in peace. Never again
believe a political promise, never see a soldier without
wondering how many he's disappeared, never see a
policeman without imagining the victims he's tortured.
Never, never be touched by a man without hearing the
laughter of the Milicos. (GUARDS laugh again. After a
moment, NAOMI laughs too. They hear her.)
GUARDS: What's so funny?
NAOMI: I was just complaining about all the ways my life is
changed ... as if I had a life to return to. As if ...
GUARDS: You never know.
Tomorrow may be your day.
Yeah, you'll win the lottery! (GUARDS laugh.)
NAOMI: Excuse me, sirs, could I please move around a little?
(GUARDS are astounded.)
GUARDS: What!?
NAOMI: I'm cold. (Pause)
GUARDS: All right.
Why not?
(For a moment, NAOMI doesn't believe what they've said.)
We said okay.
Move.
(NAOMI eases herself out of the Ford Falcon, half expecting
to be punished, and starts moving her body, flexing her
arms and going up on tiptoe.)
Bravo!
Let's see it again!
Look, guys, it's "The Death of a Swan."
Keep it up!
(GUARDS watch as NAOMI continues, growing more
confident and more dancelike with each passing moment.
The music rises to greet her.)
Let's have the Nutcracker!
That same rhythm, and a one and a two ¬
The "Tarantela"!
(Dancing now for herself, not the GUARDS, NAOMI moves
Downstage joyously.)
NAOMI: (To audience) And a three and a four, I forget the
chorus harassing me - and down and up - because
somewhere from deep down inside where they can't
touch an unknown warmth flows over me - and two and
three - down my arms and hands and reaching my neck
and "Yes!" comes out my mouth and "Good!" and I laugh
and laugh, and it's the first time that I've been warm and
happy, and I laugh inside not outside, and I dance the
dance of Blind Woman's Bluff and I laugh inside not
outside, inside not out - two, three, and... (She finishes
with the music. Silence. The GUARDS are astonished,
appreciative, but quiet. Blackout.)