mátame

ACT ONE, SCENE ONE

( enter DULCINEA & HECTOR )

In the backyard of an ancestral mansion a man smokes blond tobacco in a pipe. his hair is straw-blond and he has brown eyes and a moustache. he wears a dark blue suit given to him by his ex-wife, the cuffs of the jacket worn down by the years; but it is a special occasion. a girl in black approaches, her brow furrowed as her mother's used to do. she stands in front of him and inhales the smoke from his pipe as she breathes. a bad habit of sorts.

DULCINEA nathan is crying again. idiota infantil.

HECTOR what else do you expect him to do, his mother is dead.

DULCINEA she was my mother too.

HECTOR you can cry if you want to.

DULCINEA i don't want to.

HECTOR it's her funeral, dulce. you should at least let your brother cry.

DULCINEA don't call me that.

HECTOR that's your name, the name your mother chose for you when you were born.

DULCINEA i don't want it anymore. dulce ―― there's nothing sweet about me.

HECTOR your name makes up for it.

DULCINEA que te jodan.

HECTOR i'm your father, you shouldn't talk to me like that.

DULCINEA to me, you're just a man.

HECTOR well, anyhow, your mother wouldn't like it ―― the thing about your name, i mean.

DULCINEA mother is dead, what is she going to do? ―― die mad about it?

HECTOR i can't help but wonder if you'll have the same reaction when my time comes.

DULCINEA would you rather have me crying like my brother does?

HECTOR no, not that. i just want to know if you care at all. she was your mother, she took care of you ―― i didn't, i don't see why you would show me any more mercy.

DULCINEA it's not the same. you're my father. it's different than how it is with mother.

HECTOR would you cry for me then?

DULCINEA that's not what i said ―― it's merely different.

HECTOR different how?

DULCINEA it's hard to describe ―― i saw myself in the mirror the other day, two days before mother died. i saw myself and i didn't recognize me ―― all i could see was my mother in me. it terrified me.

HECTOR and you dare to call your brother childish ―― you look like your mother, what about it?

DULCINEA some women want to have children, but they don't want to be mothers ―― i don't want to be like her.

HECTOR then don't.

DULCINEA it's easy for your to say, you're a man. you have no idea how it's like  to be a woman ――

HECTOR explain it to me then.

DULCINEA it's like your body isn't your own, it isn't a body at all; it's a cage of raw meet always rotting. it's horrible ―― every man desires to touch it.

HECTOR someone has been reading sylvia plath.

DULCINEA que te jodan.

HECTOR you already said that ―― i thought i had taught you a better use of insults; attacking your poor father like that ――

DULCINEA que te jodan.

HECTOR is that the only spanish you know?

DULCINEA hijo de puta.

HECTOR oh, there's more. incredible.

DULCINEA are you done being sarcastic?

HECTOR let me think about it ―― yes, i'm done.

DULCINEA good. why are you really here, hector?

HECTOR well, there's nothing like a funeral to do business ――

DULCINEA charming.

HECTOR now who's being sarcastic?

DULCINEA must run in the blood. my children will be sarcastic too.

HECTOR talking about children, you are already a woman ――

DULCINEA i'm fourteen.

HECTOR you won't be for much longer.

DULCINEA so that's it? now that mother is dead you're going to marry me off?

HECTOR well, yes ―― but this isn't about me, it's about you.

DULCINEA and why should i believe you? you didn't even raise me, you don't know me.

HECTOR i do, i know you. you hate your brother more than anything in this world ――within reason, he's terribly annoying―― he'll inherit all your mother's fortune and you'll be under his wing from now on.

DULCINEA i'd rather die.

HECTOR that's what i thought ―― there's a man, he has come with me to the funeral. he'll pay his respects.

DULCINEA he didn't even know her.

HECTOR he'll pay his respects to you, dulcinea.

DULCINEA is he old?

HECTOR older than you, younger than me.

DULCINEA that doesn't narrow it much ―― is he handsome.

HECTOR he is, and intelligent too. quite the pair you two will do.

DULCINEA what's his name?

HECTOR thomas riddle ―― tom to friends, tommy to none.

DULCINEA i'm still not sure about it.

HECTOR is that your brother who cries? ―― imagine this sound every day, as you also have to obey him.

DULCINEA te odio.

HECTOR as all daughters do; i'm your father, even if neither of us want me to be.

DULCINEA what am i supposed to do then ―― introduce myself to him? see if he's worthy? ask him to dance on my mother's coffin?

HECTOR don't be morbid ―― just be sweet like your name, and cry a bit if you can; boys like him love it when girls cry.

DULCINEA i won't cry. not here, not in front of mother.

HECTOR so stubborn, your mother didn't cry in her mother's funeral either.

DULCINEA that doesn't make me feel any better.

( exit DULCINEA )