Scene: A
mortuary dressing room in Southern California. Everything inside is pink, from
the seashell pink wallpaper to the mauve couch to the pink box of pink tissues
resting on the faux mahogany sidetable. The room is illuminated by internal
lighting; however, there should also be a sense of the afternoon sun shining
through the windows. At center stage there is a gurney. A small body, covered
by a white drape, rests on the gurney. A door opens and a woman enters the room
as a man hold the door opened for her. She takes in the room and the body
before returning to the presence of the man. She provides an appreciative nod
which he returns before leaving.
The woman is in her mid-30s. She is pregnant, 2nd
trimester. In addition to an expectable grief, she carries measures of both
composure and trepidation. After engaging with situation of being in the room,
she removes herself partly by pulling out a cell phone.
Joanna: David. Hey, honey.
[Pause]
Joanna: Yeah. Yeah. I’m doing
fine. I just got to the funeral home. What’s that?
[Pause]
Joanna: No. We took different cars and traffic on the
5 was . . . well, it was the 5, so we got separated. They shouldn’t be too far
behind. I’m just hanging out with Grandma Pearl til they get here.
[Guilty/Apologetically] I’m sorry. I’m just . . . Yes. How is Ella doing?
[Pause]
Joanna: Okay, just don’t let
my dad spoil her.
[Pause]
Joanna: Oh God. You know when
they get here . . . I don’t entirely know what I’m doing.
[Pause]
Joanna: Well, David, because instead of marrying some
nice Mormon boy from Sandy, Utah, I married you. [Chuckles] You know, I’ve
never gone to the temple. I’ve never dressed myself in the temple clothing,
much less someone else. [Groans] And for some reason, I keep thinking my mom or
one of my sisters will ask me to step outside. Mom has told me it’s okay but I
guess I’m expecting that this will be like when my sisters were married and I
had to wait in the lobby. I’m nervous and missing Grandma Pearl.
[Pause. If she is not already closer to the body and
contemplating it, she should be before continuing]
Joanna: She was a pioneer herself . . . in her own way.
She, uh, she moved with her mother from Utah to Los Angeles when she was pretty
young. They always took care of each other. Up until the day my great-grandmother
died.
[Pause]
Joanna: I wonder if my grandmother dressed her mother.
That would make sense . . . You know, when my grandmother was 8 years old and
they were still living in Utah, her mom was sick the day my grandmother was
going to be baptized. She had to stay in bed while her baby girl walked several
blocks to get downtown so she could be baptized in the Tabernacle. Grandma
Pearl dressed herself in white that day. There was some man there that baptized
her; she didn’t know who he was . . . I remember she told me that it was a long
and lonely walk, both ways.
[Pause]
Joanna: [Chuckles] She liked you . . . Yeah, she didn’t
marry a nice Mormon boy either. [Smirks]
[Pause]
Joanna: Thanks. I love you, too. And David, don’t let
my dad give Ella any funeral potatoes?
[Pause]
Joanna: Why? Because I know you love our daughter. The
recipe calls for two cups of sour cream, a cup of grated cheese, a half a cup
of melted butter, and then the potatoes are topped with corn flakes. I don’t want
Ella having a heart attack before she’s five.
[Pause]
Joanna: Okay. I’ll see you in a little while.
[Hangs up phone. Removes part
of the drape to uncover Pearl’s face. She is an elderly woman and we can see her
shoulders are bare. She should not be wearing any clothes underneath the drape.
Joanna moves the drape to hold Pearl’s hand and pats Pearl’s hair. Joanna
returns Pearl’s hand under the drape and replaces the drape over Pearl’s head. The
door opens and the man admits three women: one woman in her 60s and two around
Joanna’s age. Joanna’s sisters tout large purses and don gigantic southern
California sunglasses. One carries a 64 oz mug filled with Diet Coke. Joanna moves
forward to hug her sisters and her mother. Their mother gives an appreciative
nod to the man much as Joanna had done earlier. Again, he acknowledges the
sentiment before leaving. Mother motions her daughters towards her. They
gather, fold their arms, and bow their heads in prayer]
Mother: Oh God, Help us to do
this service for Pearl. She has blessed our lives but cannot now reach the
buttons of her dress. Help us prepare this for her. We say this in the name of
our Savior, Amen.
All: Amen.
[Mother opens her large purse
and pulls out a number of plastic bags containing white clothes. As she pulls
them out, she distributes them to her daughters. She pulls out a pair of
scissors and begins to open the bags. When all of the bags have been cut open
she returns the scissors to her purse and places the purse on the ground. The
women surround the gurney. Mother pulls the drape back down to reveal Pearl’s
head and shoulders.]
Mother: Hello, Pearl.
[Mother continues to remove
the rest of the drape. Joanna has positioned herself near Pearl’s feet so she
watches as Mother and Sisters lift Pearl’s naked torso up to slip a white
garment over Pearl’s head and pulling her arms through the sleeves. As the
Sisters lay Pearl’s torso back down, Mother moves to hold Joanna’s hand. Joanna
and Mother lift Pearl’s legs (one at a time) for the Sister to slide a bottom
garment onto Pearl. They lift Pearl so they can move the garment up to her
hips. The women continue by moving Pearl in similar ways in order to put a
white dress on Pearl. Joanna begins to step back as Mother and Sisters begin to
remove ceremonial clothes from bags. As Joanna steps back, the lights around
Pearl, Mother, Sisters, and the gurney fade to black. As Joanna looks on, a
Woman enters behind her]
Woman: Joanna, your spirit is
like this hand.
[Woman holds up her hand and
wiggles her fingers]
Woman: Your spirit has always existed. When you were
born, your spirit went into your body and a veil of forgetfulness was drawn
across your mind.
[Woman slips her hand into a
glove]
Woman: When you die your spirit will leave your body
and join the spirits of your ancestors on the other side of the veil.
[Woman withdraws her hand from
the glove and places it in Joanna’s hand]
Woman: Let death be made as small and familiar to you as
changing clothes, and this life a moment of forgetfulness on a long, long
thread of being.
Joanna: When she was alive, I never saw my grandmother
naked. Now I see that she has parts like mine, hips like mine, hair like
mine. Her hands. I felt the pads on her thumbs, worn softly impermeable
against the steady press of paring knives in the kitchen. Her toes were contorted
by four decades of fashionable women’s shoes. I placed the white stockings
on her feet, the nylons over her calves.
[Pause]
Joanna: I gave her shoes for
a long and lonely walk.
Woman: The Mormonism of your
grandmothers: the small acts of care.
Joanna: Sometimes even in my own tradition I feel a
long way from home.
Woman: Whither thou goest…
Joanna: I will go. And where thou lodgest…
Woman: I will lodge. Thy people…
Joanna: Shall
be my people. And thy God...
Woman: My God. Where will you walk?
Joanna: I am not an enemy. I will not be disappeared
from the faith of my ancestors. I am the descendant of Mormon pioneers. I will
keep on crossing as many plains as this life puts in front of me. I am a
Mormon girl.
Woman: May no harm come to your hands. May no harm
come to your eyes. May no harm come to your voice. May no harm come to your
heart.
[Woman leaves. Light returns on Mother, Sisters, and
Pearl. Pearl is in a casket]
Mother: You look beautiful, Pearl.
[Joanna rejoins her Mother
and Sisters. They clasp hands and begin to sing a hymn, “Come, Come Ye Saints”]
All: Come, come, ye saints, no toil
nor labor fear;
But with joy wend your way.
Though hard to you this journey may appear,
Grace shall be as your day.
Tis better far for us to strive
Our useless cares from us to drive;
Do this, and joy your hearts will swell -
All is well! All is well!
Though hard to you this journey may appear,
Grace shall be as your day.
Tis better far for us to strive
Our useless cares from us to drive;
Do this, and joy your hearts will swell -
All is well! All is well!
We'll find the place which God for us prepared,
Far away, in the West,
Where none shall come to hurt or make afraid;
There the saints, will be blessed.
We'll make the air, with music ring,
Shout praises to our God and King;
Above the rest these words we'll tell -
All is well! All is well!
Far away, in the West,
Where none shall come to hurt or make afraid;
There the saints, will be blessed.
We'll make the air, with music ring,
Shout praises to our God and King;
Above the rest these words we'll tell -
All is well! All is well!
