I didn't run. Not because I didn't want to. More like I couldn't,
because when she looked at me it was like my feet were nailed
to the floor.
JEWELL
But you do, Mira. You have the kind of wings nobody sees.
MIRA
(laughs nervously) Ohhh, like a bird? Not me. Oh, no.
Unless it's, um, a wren, maybe. Something brown and grey, hops
around mostly, picks up straw and stuff, God I'm babbling, am
I saying this out loud, or is this just rushing through my head
while I stare at her gape-mouthed?
JEWELL
You don't have to say anything.
MIRA
Oh, thank God, she can't hear what I'm thinking.
JEWELL
I know what you're thinking.
MIRA
Noooo!
JEWELL
That you can't even feel them yet. But that's all right. To
make them move, you have to practice. Here.
(JEWELL touches MIRA in the center of her back.)
MIRA
Oh!!
(MIRA goes up on her tiptoes, sways, like she's going to
topple over.)
JEWELL
See. (smiles) I know you can feel that.
MIRA
Feel it? My heart is fluttering, racing, faster than I can
count.
JEWELL
600 beats a minute, actually. Like a bird.
MIRA
And I think, oh, I get it, that's why birds have such short
life spans. That's the price of flight. Their heart outruns their
life, outruns their good sense. You can't live with that kind
of heart-pounding excitement, and last.
JEWELL
Now: try to move them. You know you can.
MIRA
Move them? I can't feel anything except this pounding, this
shuddering, in my head and my chest and my knees and... (she
stops) Except suddenly, I could.
JEWELL
Yes.
MIRA
There was this itching, this intense feeling crawling up my
spine. And I could hear the beating of thousands of pairs of
wings, like a humming. It started to fill the back of my throat
with something sweet, something I'd never tasted. It got me so
dizzy, I had to hold onto the table, or I knew I'd topple over.
I was afraid to let go, and afraid to look at her. So, I ducked
my head, and looked at the ashtray for a really really long time,
until my head stopped spinning. And when I looked up again? She
was gone.
(Lights down on JEWELL, lights up on SHRAINE and FRANKIE.)
(THEY all sigh.)
FRANKIE
That. Is. Mira, what can I say.
SHRAINE
One of those moments. Major.
FRANKIE
Defining moments.
SHRAINE
I can't believe you...
FRANKIE AND SHRAINE
You looked at the ashtray??
(CONTINUES)
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