Fireflies
This month, Wayfare is delighted to present the three winners of our first ever ten-minute play competition. Congratulations to our first-place winner by Alyssa Call.
CAST OF CHARACTERS
Abby: 10, Maddy's sister, a spunky little kid, still learning to cope with the loss of Maddy.
Madison: 14, Abby's sister, a recent angel, and an angel in training, also learning to cope.
Two sisters sit in a field near their house. It is evening and the sun is low on the horizon. MADDY, the eldest of the sisters, is braiding grass together to make a flower crown. ABBY watches intently. They hum or sing in harmony while they work on the crown.
MADDY: Under, then over. Under, over. You try.
ABBY takes the grass stalks and tries to replicate what MADDY did.
ABBY: Under... ah!
MADDY: It's okay. We can fix it.
ABBY hands the partially braided grass back to MADDY who braids the stalks back together.
ABBY: Do you like your new home?
MADDY: Yeah, it's incredible.
ABBY: What do you do there?
MADDY: Currently I'm just learning.
ABBY: Learning what?
MADDY: How to—it's like the fireflies in this field.
ABBY: You're learning to be a firefly?
MADDY: Like a firefly.
ABBY: That doesn't sound important.
MADDY: There you're getting it. Under, Over.
ABBY: Mommy says you moved away to do important things.
MADDY: Look at that firefly.
ABBY: I am looking.
MADDY: Isn't it bright?
ABBY: Only cause it's getting dark.
MADDY: The most important time to shine.
ABBY: You left to be like a big slow bug that gets caught in a jar.
MADDY: Just sit back and look at them for a moment. Aren't they beautiful?
ABBY: No.
MADDY: You like them, admit it.
ABBY: What does it matter if I like them?
MADDY: I think they're beautiful.
A pause.
ABBY: Maddy? Why do you like the fireflies so much?
MADDY: They bring light so happily. And at twilight too.
ABBY: Twilight?
MADDY: Right now. When the sun is just barely hidden.
ABBY: And you like that they shine at twilight?
MADDY: I like that they shine when it's hard to see the sun.
ABBY: And that's what you're learning to do.
MADDY: Yes.
ABBY: It would be scary out here without their light.
MADDY: Here, you need to weave another stalk in.
ABBY: I want to be a firefly.
MADDY: You can be a firefly here.
ABBY: Not one that flies.
MADDY: No.
ABBY: I could be more of a firefly if I stay with you.
MADDY: You need to stay with mommy and daddy.
ABBY: But—
MADDY: Let's find some flowers.
ABBY: Maddy, I’m—
MADDY: I think I see a yellow one over there.
ABBY: Ooh! Where?
MADDY and ABBY begin looking for flowers.
ABBY: Found one!
MADDY: Then try putting it on. Just wedge it between the stalks of grass.
ABBY: Like this?
MADDY: Perfect. Now tie some grass around it to hold it in place.
ABBY: Like... ah.
MADDY: It rips a lot. Just take another one.
ABBY: I can't do this.
MADDY: Try again.
ABBY: You just need to come back and make them for me still.
MADDY: I can't do that.
ABBY: Why not?
MADDY: I need to be a firefly.
ABBY: But you're my firefly.
MADDY: Abby, don't make this harder.
ABBY: You were supposed to stay right here. With me, and mommy, and daddy, and me!
MADDY: I'm helping people—
ABBY: I don't care. I don't want you in heaven yet.
MADDY: I—
ABBY: I miss you.
Slight pause.
MADDY(abruptly): Next you take the two ends and—
MADDY starts to tie the two ends of the crown together then, realizing not all the flowers are on yet, rushedly puts the rest of the flowers in place, increasingly becoming more hurried and accidentally crushing some of the flowers. She tries to secure the crown into a circle but starts crying and clings to the crown like a lifeline. Despite her angelic talk, she really is just a 14 year old who misses her family. ABBY scoots closer to her and MADDY clings to ABBY instead. A moment, then ABBY takes the crown and finishes tying it together, humming or singing while she does so. She places it on MADDY's head.
ABBY: You need this more than I do. To remember me.
MADDY: I miss eating our popsicles on the front porch and racing to see who will finish it first.
ABBY: And finishing with brain freezes and melted popsicle juice all over our fingers.
MADDY: And then trying to give mom a high five.
ABBY: I miss riding the bus together.
MADDY: I even miss doing the dishes.
ABBY: You always put the silverware upside down and it drove dad crazy. (beat) I miss playing princesses with you.
MADDY: And making crowns.
ABBY: And watching the fireflies.
MADDY: Yeah.
ABBY: It won't be so long.
MADDY: I know.
ABBY: Mommy says God's timing is different than ours and that one hundred years to us is only a teensy bit of time to Him.
MADDY: It still feels like one hundred years though.
ABBY: Yeah. But at least it's a hundred years of being a firefly.
MADDY: That's true.
ABBY: Maybe the time will go by faster since you'll be helping people.
MADDY: Both of us.
ABBY: Huh?
MADDY: You can help people too.
ABBY: But you're the firefly.
MADDY: You can be too. Look, you cheered me up.
ABBY: You're right. Okay, we have to agree to try to be fireflies.
MADDY: Until we see each other again.
ABBY: For the next a hundred years.
MADDY: And be ready to report when we do.
ABBY: Agreed.
They shake hands with a secret handshake then sit back, laughing. It's good to laugh.
ABBY: You need to go, don't you.
MADDY: Yeah.
ABBY: You'll be a great firefly.
MADDY: How do you know?
ABBY: Because you're the greatest sister.
MADDY: Thanks.
Maddy goes to exit.
ABBY: Wait!
ABBY bounds over to MADDY and gives her the crown.
MADDY: Don't you want it?
ABBY: I can make another.
MADDY: Remember your promise.
ABBY: I will.
The sisters share a smile then MADDY exits. ABBY picks up another stalk of grass and begins to weave another flower crown as she watches the fireflies. She hums or sings while she works, and, after a moment, we hear MADDY singing the harmony from offstage.
Alyssa Call is a senior in the Theater Arts Studies program at Brigham Young University, with emphases in playwriting and directing. Several of her plays have been produced as part of BYU’s Microburst New Play Festival. She has also won Vera Hinckley Mayhew playwriting awards for multiple scripts, including her current full-length, Sincerely, Silas Deane, which is being produced as an advanced directing project at BYU this fall.
Art by Brittany Tuckfield.
Fireflies was performed at the Faith Matters Restore conference on Friday, September 6th as the inaugural performance of Wayfare's theater initiative. The performance was directed by Alexandra Mackenzie Johns, with stage manager Shelley Graham and accompanist Joseph Phillips on the piano. The role of Maddy was played by Rachel Huillet and Abby was played by Reagan Panah.
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