CLOUDBURST - Phineas: A TRAGEDY
By David Taeehee Lee
The drawing by David Taehee Lee
Phineas: The victim.
Gene Forrester: The perpetrator, dearest friend to Phineas.
Brinker Hadley: The prosecutor, classmate of Phineas.
Leper Lepellier: Sole witness, classmate of Phineas.
Students 1,2,3
ACT 1
Scene 1
Enter Gene, Phineas, Brinker, and twelve students.
BRINKER
Merry even, gentlemen.
Many a soul be concerned
The distress on a Summer’s Eve But now, silence, ho!
For Justice shall be peace And haste fair upon us.
<Silence>
The heavens call forth Phineas, O’ fallen one,
To redeem us with brilliant truth
<Phineas rises>
PHINEAS
I henceforth lay on Her scales, Lady Justice,
And pledge that all truth serves the goddess,
But Lo! We regret this bewildered entity
For he knows not the wishes of his heart:
In ambivalence
Between reality and peace.
BRINKER
Why, poor Phineas!
Respond to me shalt thou?
The incarnation has descended tall and luminous within me, The Imposition of Justice herself.
Therefore, good Phineas, brace thy fragile consciousness For dark haze hath obscure the truth in evil’s fog.
<Gene springs to his feet.>
GENE
If thou truly shalt be Justice,
I demand of Her
This party be dispersed at once;
This outrage guised as holy ritual be annulled; Had I divined this insult to hold
We shall not take part in blasphemy.
BRINKER
This august council recognizes not
Forrester the Harasser;
If thou hath not a part in the fall,
Why repel pursuit of truth and justice?
Alas, Gene, thy foolish confessor,
Behold! The antithesis of Justice stands before us.
GENE
So be it. But by folly I am not enthralled For no truth lies to be unveiled
And no names are to be cleared
I shan't subject myself
To thy cruel entertainment in this court Where mockery and humiliation preside. <Sennet. Gene exits.>
BRINKER
Shall we, Phineas?
PHINEAS Yes, indeed. For last night
The northern star faded from sight
So did I entertain the atypical
For no tree shrugs off the climber…
STUDENT 1
Do you admit then
The presence of company?
STUDENT 2
Which shall leave
The accomplice guilty!
PHINEAS
My apology, good friends.
For the tired and hurt mind
Felled rendered me forgetful and ignorant The shred of memory
Ever elicits the hands of Justice.
But let me speak for you, fellow: Not a soul was present that fateful day.
BRINKER
You’re deceived, foolish Phineas! For the Goddess is omniscient;
Even memories of yore
She remembers
The Goddess is with us when we slumber She knows our dreams decades after
We dream them
The recreation
More vivid than reality
Shall never fade away.
PHINEAS
That rings a bell in ol’ Finny’s memory For the Goddess
Hath blessed him with such grace! Gene hath been under
Her merry jests and charms
How appalling was he
That even Venus herself
Is enticed by this Butterfly’s beauty! No mere mortal
Shall resist such urges.
My invitation he embraced And he grasps
those endearing
hands And wáltzes
like us with
The Naguamsett
glittering at our feet
No, Finny, he stood
firm, on the ground,
The charm so strong
It must tamper with thy memory
STUDENT 3
Alas, Phineas!
Has the puzzle been finished?
BRINKER
Peace, ho! My brothers,
Two steps from victory we lie Yet none there doth testify;
I once more demand of thee, Phineas;
Designate an honored soul Shall bring truth eternally.
PHINEAS
Why, Justice, my Lord,
The most curious
of innocent souls
Hath risen to Her
call;
I give Leper Lepellier to you: A faithful servant
At thy disposal.
BRINKER
Excellent! and shall I send
My left and right arms
To fetch this Lepellier
And bring him to me.
And at last,
Justice will win its victory.
<Two students exit. Enter Leper.>
LEPER
Merry fellow, greetings
On this wondersome eve!
For aid I need
In my heavy quest for truth
O Brinker, splendid one,
Great need hath summoned me
And here a servant
So charged with righteous dignity
Presents his humble self to thee.
BRINKER
Justice sends word of welcome
To Herald Lepelletier,
Haste shall be made now.
GENE
Lepelletier, ye fool!
Hath the fanatics left you a senseless imbecile!
For the common sense
Shan't
And many a
man
Instill reason in the sane.
So Leper, I beg of you
Be not ashamed of
thy fair name
LEPER
Why Gene, old friend,
Will you, given
Authority, to shake fate itself,
Mercy, to spare
for pathetic souls,
Abdicate thy
throne?
Insult the crown you own,
But you shall kneel at my feet!
And then will I consider
Benevolent lenience for thee.
GENE
Such insults I won’t tolerate
Yet must I for
Phineas sake
Too meddle with a-soul
Strike it down
May arouse misfortune, the uncertainty of fate Whereas you, Lepellier,
Qualify not
To utter before Justice.
BRINKER
Silence! gene,
Let the Herald speak,
For he brings what you not:
The essence, the lost piece,
The resolve, the finale;
I grant thy speech, O missionary,
Hence fulfill your mission!
LEPER
And I must. Ahem. The Sun and Moon they were
So bright, the celestial eminence!
I must look wide awake.
Climb the black heavens like they did
And dance in harmony with the heavenly orbs
As always, day and night.
But the Moon
So filled with jealous desire
The ever-bright Sun
Stabbed it in the back
And the Sun, ashen cold
Fell from the sky
Crippled for eternity.
But with its fall
The Moon grows dim and grey For its radiance
Merely the reflection of the Sun.
BRINKER
Wonderful metaphor! Even
Justice is cried in applause and awe.
But to be utterly sure
The Sun Phineas and the Moon Gene? With this final confirmation
We shall
I shall
Commence judgment.
LEPER
Alas! your most exalted Majesty
Or shalt thou be deemed merely pretentious,
Mortal is turned to once looked
down upon
Yet even the fairest of gods
Shall be denied this servant’s obedience;
For he is a peasant no more;
For he holds the keys to heaven’s power;
Lo, Brinker! and behold
I’ve broken the spell
No Goddess you ever were
No dominance you ever exerted
And now a desperate man
Beseeching a confession so needed
But I bite you back
Once and for all.
GENE
And I knew all along! This befouled being
Merely a childish ‘revenge’
And art thy content with it?
Broken peace
Betrayed friendship
How innocent the blood
That’s been spilled
In lust for cruel pleasure?
No difference I see in thy and Hadley
In this matter. Both
So full of preeminence
Claiming the Golden Apple as your own
Only to be crumpled by the third:
Thy ignorance and greed.
BRINKER
Now Leper, my dear friend
I see only good in you-
Never once have I condescended
Nor flaunted my supreme excellence
<Phineas rises.>
PHINEAS
Enough of this nonsense. I take my leave
Free of this mighty burden
For this affairs hath troubled me most gravely
For I have lost more than a leg this night;
But the fellowship
Sworn everlasting
Cast to doubt
By unworthy men
My beliefs, my aspirations,
My essence, my ideals
All but contradict
The cruelest angel’s diabolical thesis.
Cast a wintry spell
Cold as the blizzard
Dark as the solstice
Over summer of wonder
And ignorance bliss.
O mighty gods,
Life itself is unbearable
I pray dearest to thee
Give me to Hades
And fetch this miserable creature From this Earth
Where to be is the blackest curse For then shall he redeem
Once more in fantasy
<For ever more. Phineas falls.>
