Moon of Changing Season by Judith Marie Wallace


		Moon of Changing Season Judith Marie Wallace ACT I. Towering mesas in the distance. MARY is walking toward her Hogan after visiting her son’s grave which is located on her land. A raven caws in the distance.) (PRESTON enters and approaches MARY.) PRESTON Mary? (MARY looks at PRESTON then begins walking toward her house.) PRESTON I’m here to pay my respects to Sonny. MARY It’s too late PRESTON Mind if I visit his grave? MARY You had no respect for my boy when he was alive. Why do you come here now? PRESTON Don’t start in on me. You know I went to his apartment to check on him. MARY My Sonny died in that city with all that fast noise screaming in his head. PRESTON I told him to lay off the booze more times than I can remember. MARY He had peace when he was living on the reservation. PRESTON He wanted to numb the despair that followed him everywhere. MARY Sonny was doing good till you took him to that city. PRESTON He loved the city life. MARY That way of life that you always want to bring here, that city life, far away from Earth and Sky. That life, it killed his spirit. PRESTON Remember when me and Sonny were boys? MARY I taught you and Sonny to be strong so you could lead the people. PRESTON We worshiped you. But you wanted us to think like you. To be like you. To lead like you. MARY Your parents didn’t pay no attention to you. It was me, me who saw that you were a smart boy. That’s how come I wanted you to get good schooling. To go to the university. To work for that big company in the city. I thought one day you would become a wise leader. PRESTON I hauled Sonny out of every bar in Albuquerque. MARY You didn’t bring him home. PRESTON He didn’t want to come back here. MARY Sonny, he called me the night he died. Called me from a place where it was noisy. Lots of noise. People talking loud. A bar. I know it was a bar. PRESTON I was there, that night, when he called you. He was buying dinner and drinks for everyone. He had a woman with him. She was gorgeous. We were celebrating the revenue sharing deal he negotiated with the State. He was laughing. Everyone was talking about the resort, the casino. Sonny was happy. He was laughing. MARY He said, on the phone, he told me that you are like a White Man always wanting new clothes, new cars, new everything, all the time. Then he told me I was right. He said, "Mom, you’re right. I’m coming home. The resort and casino are going to bring bad medicine to the tribe." PRESTON Drunk talk. It was just drunk talk. You ought to know that. MARY He thought of you like a brother. PRESTON I checked on him. He was in bed. I thought he’d sleep it off like he had a thousand other times. MARY You left him. PRESTON When are you going to stop blaming me for his death? MARY A leader takes care of his family, and his people. (A couple of beats.) PRESTON You want to know why Sonny died? (Beat) Okay, I’ll tell why. MARY He died choking, choking on his vomit. That’s what those police said. PRESTON Do you remember screaming at us when we were kids? Nothing we did was right. You convinced my parents to send me away to boarding school. I hated it, but taking their physical beatings was a lot easier than listening to you yell at me constantly. If I sucked up to their white ways, I could please those damn boarding school teachers, but no matter what I did, or how hard I tried, I could never please you. I tried and tried and tried, but you never accepted me for who I am. I was lucky. I got away from you. But not Sonny. No, Sonny was stuck here with you. You screamed at him so long and so hard that he didn’t think he was worth a damn. Sonny drank himself to death because he didn’t give a shit about himself, or his life. (A few beats.) MARY Your words are like winter wind tearing branches from the trees. Go away now, boy. PRESTON Sonny died dreaming of the day our people would have a shot at a decent life. Sonny’s dead, but his dream is alive inside of me. I’m not going to sit by and let you keep the people chained to poverty. MARY When you come here I ask you what you want. Now I see. You did not come here to pay respect to my Sonny. You come here because people, they been talking bout how they heard me talk on Seth’s radio station. The people they don’t want that resort and casino. They want the land, and their way of life. You say you want to honor my boy, but you really, you want to talk to me. You be scared your big money plans are going to die. PRESTON (Laughs) I’ve got the Council votes I need to get this project passed. Get out of the road, or I’m going to take you down. MARY People been listening to me talking on the radio. Lot of them been telling the Council to vote against your plan. PRESTON Stay off that damn radio station, or I’ll shut it down. MARY That station, it’s the only station our people got here on the reservation. PRESTON I’m not going to let you use that station to brainwash them into accepting their poverty. MARY I be too old to give you a whipping like you always needed when you were a boy, but I’m not too old to know that words on the radio can defeat you. I’m going to keep talking on that radio all the time. Go. Go away from my land. (PRESTON begins walking toward the mesa.) MARY Don’t go there to my boy’s grave. (PRESTON keeps walking toward the mesa.) MARY Stay away from my boy’s grave! (PRESTON continues walking toward the mesa.) PRESTON I’m going to pay my respects. MARY Skin Walker has captured your spirit. All that is left are bones.