I Didn't See Alvin
Neil Bartram
GENRE
(ALVIN addresses a gathering at the chapel.)
[ALVIN]
Thank you all for coming. We're gathered to honor the memory of my father, Gordon Kelby
[THOMAS]
I snuck into the gallery of the chapel to watch him - to watch him try to do what I've devoted years of my life to doing!
[ALVIN]
Let me tell you a story about my father
[THOMAS]
Look at him standing there! Look at him - comfortable, confident, smug, telling story after story after story after goddamn story about his father!
(He listens for some time.)
And they were good
They were so... good
Look at him
(THOMAS examines this memory of ALVIN more closely.)
I didn't see that tear on his coat
I didn't see the way that his hands were shaking
The way the words got caught in his throat
The way he'd fixed his hair
I didn't see the way the platform made him look so tall
No, I didn't see Alvin at all
I didn't see that I was the fraud
Or notice it was Al who was born the artist
I took the bows while he would applaud
I hardly saw him there
Turns out it was Alvin who inspired me every day
But I didn't see Alvin that way
Yes, he was always there
Offering so much
He was constant and dependable like stone
I didn't stop to see what else I'd lost
When we gradually lost touch
But look up from your page, Tom!
Look up from your page
You're alone
I didn't see...
(ALVIN steps out of the past and observes him.)
I didn't see the end of the road
I'd set my vision firmly towards the future
Burying the debt that I owed
To Alvin and my past
I didn't see the sand slip through my fingers way back then
And I didn't see Alvin
Again
(Silence.)
[ALVIN]
"The End". A story about Alvin Kelby
[THOMAS]
I'm done with stories, Al
[ALVIN]
Have you finished my eulogy?
[THOMAS]
No
[ALVIN]
Then you're not done
(THOMAS begins to tidy up the papers that are strewn about the space.)
"The End", a story about Alvin Kelby. That's the one you're looking for, right?
How did a kid who once thought a butterfly could melt the polar ice caps end up in a frozen river on Christmas Eve - and more importantly, what did it have to do with you?
(pause)
You'll never know, Tom
You'll never know
[ALVIN]
Thank you all for coming. We're gathered to honor the memory of my father, Gordon Kelby
[THOMAS]
I snuck into the gallery of the chapel to watch him - to watch him try to do what I've devoted years of my life to doing!
[ALVIN]
Let me tell you a story about my father
[THOMAS]
Look at him standing there! Look at him - comfortable, confident, smug, telling story after story after story after goddamn story about his father!
(He listens for some time.)
And they were good
They were so... good
Look at him
(THOMAS examines this memory of ALVIN more closely.)
I didn't see that tear on his coat
I didn't see the way that his hands were shaking
The way the words got caught in his throat
The way he'd fixed his hair
I didn't see the way the platform made him look so tall
No, I didn't see Alvin at all
I didn't see that I was the fraud
Or notice it was Al who was born the artist
I took the bows while he would applaud
I hardly saw him there
Turns out it was Alvin who inspired me every day
But I didn't see Alvin that way
Yes, he was always there
Offering so much
He was constant and dependable like stone
I didn't stop to see what else I'd lost
When we gradually lost touch
But look up from your page, Tom!
Look up from your page
You're alone
I didn't see...
(ALVIN steps out of the past and observes him.)
I didn't see the end of the road
I'd set my vision firmly towards the future
Burying the debt that I owed
To Alvin and my past
I didn't see the sand slip through my fingers way back then
And I didn't see Alvin
Again
(Silence.)
[ALVIN]
"The End". A story about Alvin Kelby
[THOMAS]
I'm done with stories, Al
[ALVIN]
Have you finished my eulogy?
[THOMAS]
No
[ALVIN]
Then you're not done
(THOMAS begins to tidy up the papers that are strewn about the space.)
"The End", a story about Alvin Kelby. That's the one you're looking for, right?
How did a kid who once thought a butterfly could melt the polar ice caps end up in a frozen river on Christmas Eve - and more importantly, what did it have to do with you?
(pause)
You'll never know, Tom
You'll never know
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