APPEARING HERE
GINNY, thirty-four, a woman with Down syndrome, a volunteer, a choir singer
CHRISTOPHER, thirty-three, Ginny’s half brother, teaches at the local community college
JUSTICE, sixty-eight, Ginny and Christopher’s honorary aunt, a librarian, a writer

SETTING
Ginny’s house in Corsicana, Texas. One-story, ranch-style, doesn’t get great light.

Christopher gets home. He’s a little drunk. Justice is watching TV with Ginny.

JUSTICE
Hey, there he is. How was it?

GINNY
Hey, buddy-o.

CHRISTOPHER
Who’s buddy-o?

GINNY
That’s you.

JUSTICE
How was your friends?

CHRISTOPHER
They were okay. Yeah.

He sits down.

Is that Mariah Carey?

JUSTICE
I don’t think so.

GINNY
Yes, it is.

JUSTICE
Oh.

They watch.

CHRISTOPHER
Is this a VHS?

GINNY
Yes, it is.

CHRISTOPHER
DVD player still not working?

GINNY
No, it’s not.

CHRISTOPHER
Is this that movie Glitter?

GINNY
Yup.

CHRISTOPHER
Is the Roku not working?

GINNY
The internet is still not working.

CHRISTOPHER
Seriously?

GINNY
Seriously.

CHRISTOPHER
Jeez. Okay, maybe someone has to come look at it. I called EarthLink and the bill is definitely paid. So I guess someone has to come look at it.

GINNY
That would be great.

CHRISTOPHER
Okay.
Lost without her internet.

Christopher finds a manuscript on the table.

CHRISTOPHER
What’s this?

JUSTICE
Oh, that’s nothing. Just something I’m writing.

CHRISTOPHER
You’re writing something?

JUSTICE
I’m always writing something.

CHRISTOPHER
Is it fiction?

JUSTICE
Not really. It’s about anarchism.

CHRISTOPHER
Oh. Are you an anarchist?

JUSTICE
Yes.

CHRISTOPHER
Oh. Whoa. Cool. What’s like, the . . . what’s the, like . . .

JUSTICE
Well, it’s about anarchism and gifts. About the belief that humans are fundamentally generous, or at least cooperative. That in our hearts, most of us really do want the good. It’s about the evils of centralized power, especially in a country as massive as the USA, let alone a state as big as Texas. It’s about small groups. It’s about community. It’s about the right to well-being. It’s about family. It’s about the dead. It’s about ghosts. It’s about gentle chaos. It’s about contracts of the heart. And the belief that when a part of the self is given away, is surrendered to the needs of a particular time, in a particular place, then community forms. From the ghosts of the parts of ourselves we’ve given away. A new particular body. Born of our own ghosts. I don’t know. It’s about Texas.

Pause.

CHRISTOPHER
Hey, uh, Justice.

JUSTICE
What’s up?

CHRISTOPHER
I think I have to go away for a little bit. Just like a week.

JUSTICE
Okay. Everything okay?

CHRISTOPHER
Yeah everything’s okay, yeah, just . . . yeah, my dad’s dying.