Play # 27

Permanent Parisians

__________________________

By Joseph Frost

Originally written for the 2020 "31 Plays in 31 Days" challenge

Contact:
Joseph Frost
710 Newland St
Jackson MS 39211
FrostJosephD@gmail.com
Member, Dramatist's Guild
 TIM and MEGAN, two Americans in Paris.
Unfashionable outfits of tourists, comfortable
walking shoes, camera, maybe fanny packs.

Tim stops and takes out a map.

TIM
I think it’s a couple more blocks...
(points)
That way.

MEGAN
Let’s sit for a minute.

TIM
It’s really not that far.

MEGAN
My feet are killing me.

TIM
I’m tired too. That’s why I want to get to--

MEGAN
Tim.

Megan sits on a bench.

Tim folds his map. He does not sit.

MEGAN
Just think. Some of the great artists of the world probably walked this same bridge,
headed to the same cathedral, and breathed in this same view, and were inspired to make
great art.

TIM
I think most of the artists you’re thinking lived in Montmartre. Up the hill over there.

MEGAN
They still could have walked here.
 2.

TIM
Possibly.
(beat)
But I don’t think many of them went to church.

MEGAN
What?

TIM
You said they would have gone to the cathedral.

MEGAN
So?

TIM
They didn’t go to church. They weren’t Christians.

MEGAN
Some of them were.

TIM
I don’t think so.

MEGAN
They were buried in that cemetery back there.

TIM
It was either in the cemetery or in a beggar’s pit. Families probably said what they had to
say to get them in the cemetery.

MEGAN
Geez, Tim.

TIM
What?

MEGAN
Why do you have to wreck Paris for me?

TIM
What?

MEGAN
Just let me enjoy this.
 3.

TIM
I’m not wrecking Paris. I’m just not letting you make up something that isn’t actually
Paris. This is Paris.
(points to map)
This is Paris. Enjoy this.

MEGAN
Can’t you see the beauty around you? Of course not, with your face buried in a map.

Tim puts the map in his pocket.

MEGAN
Look at the river.
(they both look)
That is the river that artists and poets looked out over as they wrote metaphors and
painted canvases.
(points to the bank)
And over there are the cafes and the boulangeries that fed Napoleon.

TIM
I don’t think Napoleon ate at Kiki’s Curry Shop.

MEGAN
Tim.

TIM
Megan, I get the point. And I’m taking in so much, I really am. I’m just tired, and we
said we wanted to make it to this cathedral and then eat dinner near there. I’m hungry,
I’m hot, and I just want to get there so I can relax.

MEGAN
Relax now.

TIM
I’m fine.

MEGAN
Sit.

TIM
If I sit, it’ll just be harder to get up and get going.
 4.

MEGAN
Tim, this is it. Do you understand? This is what we saved up for. This is why we’re
here. This. This view. This Paris. The charming, beautiful, tranquil Paris. The stroll
through the cemetery, the street food as we walk through the market. The flowing river.

TIM
And there it is.

MEGAN
Ugh.

TIM
Why don’t you think I see it? I’m looking right at it.

MEGAN
You practically ran through the cemetery.

TIM
I don’t want to hang out in a cemetery.

MEGAN
It’s the middle of the day and you’re a grown man.

TIM
Being uncomfortable in a cemetery isn’t childish.

MEGAN
I could have stayed there forever.

TIM
That was my concern.

MEGAN
You wouldn’t let me hardly even grab a picture of the statues.

TIM
How long does it take to get a photo? You aren’t making a daguerrotype!

MEGAN
That is where I wanted to be. Amongst the Permanent Parisians! I want to be a
Permanent Parisian!

TIM
You want to be the statue of a dead person.
 5.

MEGAN
I want this trip to be romantic. And I don’t just mean doing it in that tiny room back at
the Air BnB. I mean, the romance of this city. That’s what I want. I don’t want maps. I
don’t want schedules. I want the Paris I feel in my heart.

Tim looks at her a moment. He reaches into his

pocket and pulls out the map.

Looking at Megan, Tim tosses the map over the

edge of the bridge.

MEGAN
Oh Tim. That’s... littering.

TIM
Not in our Paris, my darling.

MEGAN
(chuckles)
You don't have to--

Tim sits on the bench with her.

TIM
You know about this bridge, don’t you?

MEGAN
What about it?

TIM
This is the bridge du artístes. It was... the primary route used by the artists on their way
to the cathedral.

MEGAN
Oh really.

TIM
Which they crossed every morning. Daily Mass. Catholics, you know.

MEGAN
I did not know that.

TIM
This bench was a favorite of one of the most grand and influential artists of his day.
 6.

MEGAN
Who was that?

TIM
Um... Sherwin De la Williams.

MEGAN
De la Williams?

TIM
Lesser known in the fine art circles, but there isn’t a household in America that hasn’t
been touched by Sherwin’s work.

MEGAN
I hadn’t thought of it that way.
(a moment)
I could stay here forever.

TIM
If we die of starvation we might have to.

MEGAN
I hear Napoleon had a favorite curry stand just over there.

Tim stands.

TIM
It’s true. Along the way, we can pass by the actual molecules of river water that King
Louis the 75th used to bathe in.

Tim extends his hand and helps Megan.

MEGAN
How will we be sure they’re the same molecules?

TIM
Why, you sniff them, of course?

MEGAN
And how do they smell?

TIM
Regal. Obviously.

Tim offers his arm. Megan takes it.

 7.

MEGAN
Obviously.

They walk off.

Lights down.

End.