Miracle
CHARACTERS
KATE 30. Aria’s mother.
ARIA 7. Kate’s daughter.
SETTING
A park, in any town.
TIME
November, hopefully not forever.
At lights up, Kate, 30, is sitting on a bench C; outside, November, a chill in the air. Her large handbag sits on the ground next to the bench. Behind Kate is a scrim showing bare trees and an open expanse of land. We hear a young girl shriek, and Kate looks up. ARIA, 7, rushes on from the audience, holding a plastic container of milk. Aria collapses on the bench.
ARIA
Mama!
KATE
What’s wrong, sweetheart?
ARIA
Lincoln asked me to share my milk, and when I said no, he tried to take it from me.
KATE
And what did you do?
ARIA
I stomped on his foot and ran away.
KATE
What have Daddy and I said about sharing?
ARIA
I don’t have to if I don’t want to.
KATE
And?
ARIA
No more foot stomping.
KATE
That’s right. It’s your milk, and if you tell him no, he should respect that. But stomping on feet isn’t the best choice, okay?
ARIA
Okay.
KATE
What would be a better choice?
ARIA
Telling him “no,” again. But that doesn’t always work.
KATE
So, what could you do?
ARIA
Yell. Yell, “Hands off, you big fartface!”
KATE
Or tell an adult.
ARIA
That’s not as fun.
KATE
Can we pretend I’m a good mom, and stick with telling an adult?
ARIA
Okay, we can pretend.
KATE
Drink your milk.
ARIA
It’s gone.
KATE
Do you want some crackers? I have crackers
Kate reaches for her handbag.
ARIA
No thank you, I’m full.
KATE
Okay. I think I’ll have one, though.
Kate eats a cracker.
Are those your friends?
ARIA
Some of them. That’s Kennedy. She’s really smart and always wears fancy clothes.
KATE
That is easily the most expensive jacket I’ve ever seen on a seven-year-old.
ARIA
And Susan runs all of our games. The boys didn’t used to let the girls play, but she made them. Now we all play together.
KATE
What about Lincoln?
ARIA
He usually plays by himself. He likes really artsy stuff, like theatre. I’d rather play kickball.
KATE
You’re very good at it.
ARIA
Thank you.
KATE
I spoke to your grandmother today. She would have come, but her back is acting up again. She was putting her flowerpots back into the shed and she fell.
ARIA
I miss Grandma. You should go see her.
KATE
I will. When she’s feeling better. I don’t want to be an imposition.
ARIA
You could bring her some of Daddy’s chicken soup.
KATE
I sure could. That stuff works miracles. Miracles.
ARIA
Where is Daddy?
KATE
He’s at home, making some special food for your birthday dinner. Lasagna.
ARIA
I love lasagna!
KATE
It’s my favorite too. And since you’re turning seven, you can have a great big piece.
ARIA
And ice cream?
KATE
I think we can find some.
ARIA
Yay, ice cream!
KATE
Not like you need any more sugar, little one.
ARIA
And it’ll be Mama and Daddy and me. Just us.
KATE
Just us. Is that okay?
ARIA
Yes. Birthday parties are overrated.
KATE
What about presents?
ARIA
I like presents.
KATE
Don’t tell Daddy, but I brought you one.
Kate pulls a thin package out of her handbag. Aria tears the present open.
It’s a book, about great women of history.
ARIA
(Reading)
Jackie Kennedy…Susan B. Anthony…Mary Todd Lincoln…
KATE
So see, you can be anything you want to be. Unlimited potential.
ARIA
I could be a chef like Daddy.
KATE
Or a teacher, like Mama.
ARIA
Nah. I don’t really like kids.
I could be an astronaut.
KATE
Sure, an astronaut. That’s a lot of school, though.
ARIA
You like school. You and Daddy met in school.
KATE
Yes, we did. First year of college. First day, actually, we met at orientation. We were on the same team for the campus scavenger hunt.
ARIA
Did you win?
KATE
You know, I don’t remember.
ARIA
Daddy’s so competitive, he would remember.
KATE
I think you’re right. But I do remember, after the hunt we went back to his dorm, and we made cookies – ginger cookies. They were awful. Completely burnt. So Arthur – Daddy – promised me he’d keep practicing, if I’d help him with his English homework. We got married two days after we graduated, four years later.
ARIA
Did you wear a big poofy dress?
KATE
I really wanted to. I’d always thought it was silly until I got engaged, and realized how much I wanted to feel special. But we were flat broke, and we didn’t want to ask your grandparents for money, so I bought a lace dress at Macy’s, and he wore his best suit, and we got married at the courthouse.
ARIA
I didn’t know people did that.
KATE
It was actually really fun. We all went out to dinner afterward. I threw a fake flower bouquet. And all the people we cared about most in the world were there.
ARIA
I wasn’t there.
KATE
You’re right, except you.
ARIA
I wish I had been.
KATE
I would have liked that.
ARIA
I’ll bet you looked beautiful.
KATE
I don’t know about that. But I felt beautiful, and I think that’s more important.
ARIA
And then you had me right away!
KATE
Well, not right away.
ARIA
Why not? Isn’t that what happens when people get married?
KATE
Sometimes. But Daddy and I just wanted to be a couple for a while. He started culinary school, and I got a teaching job, so we decided to wait. We wanted to make sure we saved enough money so the baby could have a good life. But everyone kept saying, “Oh, now is the best time to have kids! You don’t want to be old parents! Don’t you want your mother to have grandkids?” And one day, you came along.
ARIA
(Giggling)
Surprise!
KATE
The best surprise in the world. Daddy and I were very scared, but we couldn’t wait to meet you.
ARIA
Do you remember the day I was born?
KATE
Every second. You caused me a lot of pain, you know.
ARIA
I’m sorry, Mama.
KATE
It was worth it. Every push, ever rip, every tear, to see your little face shrieking to high heaven. I held your Daddy’s hand and cried when they handed you to me. I’d never held anything so small. It was like the world stopped, and it was just our little family that mattered in all creation.
We brought you home, and put you in your crib, and it still didn’t feel real. We named you Aria, because you would always kick when Daddy and I sang at Temple on Saturdays.
ARIA
Was I expensive?
KATE
You were very expensive!
ARIA
I’m going to go tell Kennedy. I’ll bet I was more expensive than she was.
KATE
Don’t you want to hear the rest of the story?
ARIA
(Suddenly very grown up)
Are you sure you want to tell it?
Kate pats the seat next to her, and Aria sits back down, nestling her head on Kate’s lap.
KATE
I’d never been so tired in my life, so when it came time for your six-month checkup, I made Arthur go so I could sleep. He was late coming home, and I was so worried, and – I didn’t mean to yell. He was crying. He said the doctor found a red spot on your eye. That we would start seeing changes. That you would stop hearing, stop seeing…stop moving. That there was nothing we could do.
ARIA
Nothing?
KATE
We tried so hard, I promise we did. We sold our little house, maxed out our credit cards, borrowed from anyone we could. But all those people, everyone who insisted we have a child – they’d all vanished. They were happy to care about you before you were born, but after…we were on our own.
I found you, lying on my chest. I’d fallen asleep, I prayed you had too. But it was over. Our little surprise hadn’t become our miracle. We asked for forever, we got two years. Six months of that was heaven. The rest was the darkest circle of hell.
ARIA
Would you do it again?
KATE
Which part?
ARIA
All of it.
KATE
I don’t know. We decided not to have another child, it’s taken care of, but going back in time and doing it again, I don’t know. We loved you so much. You know that, don’t you?
ARIA
Yes, Mama.
KATE
Good.
ARIA
Can I go play with my friends now?
KATE
Of course, sweetheart.
Aria hugs Kate.
ARIA
I love you, Mama. And I love my new headstone.
Aria runs off. Kate picks up the book and discarded wrappings. She pulls a small bouquet of flowers out of her bag and places them DC. Kate exits. The image on the scrim shifts to include headstones on the ground.
Lights down.
End play.
Kayla Hambek is an actor and playwright from Minneapolis, Minnesota. She has a B.A. in Theatre from Bethel University, and is currently pursuing her MFA in Playwriting at Augsburg University. Her most recent original work, an adaptation of Jane Austen’s Persuasion, was produced in June 2017 by Aethem Theatre Company.