All The World's A Stage

by em j

...And the men and women merely players.' Something a bit different, charting Sara's life from the day of her birth.

2. Act Two

All the world's a stage,
And the men and women merely players:
They have their exists and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
Its acts being seven stages…

Act Two

The curtains draw on a little girl. But she is a bit less little than the last time we saw her. She has a bag on her back. She is smiling a lot. Her mother, also looking older, is holding a camera.

"Say cheese, Sara!"

"Cheese!"

The camera flashes.

Her father comes out of the kitchen. He says he has a present. He hands Sara a pencil case filled with pens and pencils. Her face glows as she hugs her father.

"Have a good day at school, sweetheart."

She walks out of the door, hand in hand with her mother.

IIII

Sara is waving her hand eagerly in the air.

"Yes, Sara."

"25."

"Correct."

Sara is smiling, again. She likes school a lot. The teacher told her yesterday that she was a fast learner. Sara can vaguely remember her Mummy telling her that once.

IIII

"What does your Mummy read to you, Sara?"

Sara shrugs.

"Well, what do you do with your Mummy after school?"

She shrugs again.

"It's not like you to be so quiet."

Sara pretends she needs to go to the toilet. She doesn't want to say that her Mummy doesn't read to her or play with her or help her with her homework. She is embarrassed.

IIII

There is a lamp casting a bright glow on the books on the desk. Sara is sitting at the desk, her brow furrowed with concentration. She puts her pen down.

"Mummy, can you help me with my maths?"

Sara's mother looks exasperated. "Do you ever stop working?"

"I like working."

"Maybe you should go out with your friends."

"I like staying here with you."

Her mother sighs and moves back into the kitchen.

"Mummy?"

"What, Sara?"

"Maths?"

She shakes her head. Sara keeps doing her homework.

IIII

A school playground is buzzing with little children. The sound of traditional chants fills the air. Little girls and boys run around and squeal with delight. Except one.

"Can I play?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"You're weird."

"No I'm not."

"Go and do some more work."

"But I want to play."

"Tough."

The children form a circle, purposefully excluding the hurt but angry little girl with thick brown hair. She goes and sits on the wall and reads a book.

Ip-dip-doo.
The cat's got the flu.
The dog's got the chicken-pox,
So out goes you.

IIII

Sara gets a cake on her seventh birthday. But it only has six candles. She counts them aloud.

"Where's the seventh one, Mum?"

Sara's mother looks upset.

"We only had six. And why am I not Mummy any more?"

"Mummy's childish."

"You are a child."

Sara looks cross. She blows the candles out after Mum and Dad have sung to her, but she won't eat any cake. Mum gets more upset. Sara goes to her bedroom to read a book. She can't concentrate on it because Mum and Dad are shouting at each other.

IIII

It is the summer holidays. Sara wants to go on holiday. Mum says they can't afford it. Dad says that's because Mum wastes all their money. Sara wishes she had never said anything. She gets her book out again.

"You're always reading."

"I like reading."

"You should be outside playing."

"I have no one to play with."

"Where are your friends?"

"I don't have any."

"You must have."

"Well, there is Annie."

"Who's Annie?"

"A girl from school."

"Why don't you invite her round to play?"

"I don't want too."

Mum and Dad both look frustrated with Sara. But at least they're not cross with each other, she thinks.

IIII

Sara's father has just thrown the cake at the wall, complete with eight candles. Sara shouts at him. Her mother shouts at him. They are all shouting. Sara stops and goes to clear up the mess of cake on the wall and floor. Her parents don't stop arguing. Sara finishes cleaning and stands watching them. They don't seem to notice her. It is getting dark outside. Sara draws the curtains. She tidies up her mother's magazines on the floor. Her parents are still shouting. Sara is in the middle of wiping down the table when she notices the blissful sound of silence. Mum and Dad are hugging each other. They go into their bedroom without a word to Sara. She is hungry but she daren't disturb the peace. She goes into the kitchen and heats up some baked beans. She leaves them for too long and they stick to the bottom of the pan. It takes her a minute to eat but an hour to wash up the pan. It is late before she goes to bed.

Happy Birthday to me,
Happy Birthday to me…

IIII

When Sara wakes up to the sound of smashing crockery she is not surprised. She climbs out of bed and leaves her bedroom. As she does so, a plate smashes into the wall beside her. Her mother begins to cry. Her father leaves the house. Sara clears up the mess.

IIII

One day when Sara comes home from school the door is ajar. She pushes it open. The scene is worse than her most awful nightmares. Her father is on the floor surrounded by a puddle of blood. Her mother is sitting on the floor beside him, crying her eyes out. There is no shouting. She wanders into the house in a daze and shuts the door behind her. Slowly she moves over to the telephone. Her mother doesn't acknowledge her. She picks up the phone and dials 911.

"I need some help. My Dad's dead."

IIII

Sara doesn't concentrate as a woman takes her hand and leads her out of the apartment. She doesn't want to remember this moment. She suddenly realises she has left her books in the house. She wants to go back. She needs to clear up too. She says so. The lady holding her hand says not to worry. Someone else will do that for her. Sara doesn't want someone else to clean and tidy their house. That's her job. She wants to cry, but she doesn't. Her mother's voice echoes in her head.

"Don't cry. You're a big girl now."

Standing around with the lady who she doesn't know, and lots of policemen and strangers, she doesn't feel very big.

IIII

Sara is in a new bed, in a new house. She has a new Mum and Dad. They sit and eat dinner together with her new brother. Sara can't remember the last time she sat down to eat dinner with her old Mum and Dad. Her new Mum and Dad help her with her homework. They don't let her watch television after school. Sara doesn't mind this. She never liked television very much anyway. But sometimes she does miss her old Mum and Dad. She asks her new Mum, in between mouthfuls, when she can see her old Mum again. Her new Mum's face goes a funny shade of red. New Dad looks worried. Sara takes another mouthful but all of a sudden she isn't hungry. She plays with the food. Usually new Mum and Dad don't like it when Sara doesn't finish her food but tonight they don't tell her off. She goes to bed early. "I want to read," she says. Her new family reads a lot. New Mum says goodnight and kisses her on the cheek. But Sara isn't really reading. She lies on her new bed and stares at the ceiling. Eventually she falls asleep. She dreams. In her dream she sees a little girl eating cake. The little girl has beautiful brown hair. She runs around a lot and then is sick. The dream seems familiar somehow, but Sara can't remember why.

IIII

Sara is sitting on the wall at school again. She has a book. A boy grabs it from her and throws it on the ground. Sara doesn't try to pick it up. She made that mistake before.

"Your Mum killed your Dad."

Sara says nothing.

"Your Mum doesn't love you anymore."

"Yes she does."

"Then where is she?"

Sara has no answer. She gets up from the wall and tries to walk away but another boy appears, and then another. They circle her so that she cannot escape, no matter how hard she tries. They begin to mock her. "Poor orphan Sara. Nobody loves you. Look what your Mum and Dad did to get away from you." Sara approaches the boy who took her book and punches him hard in the face. The boys laugh at Sara and go and tell the teacher. Sara picks up the book and sits on the wall again, until the teacher comes and takes her into the classroom to tell her off.

Nobody loves me.
Everybody hates me.
I'm going into the garden to eat worms.

IIII

Sara is sitting on a chair in the kitchen. New Mum and Dad are looking at her. They look disappointed. This is worse than all the times when old Mum and Dad got cross.

"Violence is never the answer."

"He deserved it."

"No matter what people do, punching them never helps."

Sara plays with her fingernails. She feels a lump rise in her throat but she swallows it down.

"Don't do it again."

"I won't."

Sara leaves the kitchen and goes into her bedroom. There is something stirring inside her. She has lots of memories. She doesn't know where they come from. She wants to get rid of them. She needs to do something. She looks in the mirror at her hair. She picks up a pair of scissors and begins to cut. Locks of silky brown hair fall to the ground. New Mum. New Dad. New brother. New house. Now all that's needed is a new Sara. But cutting her hair seems to bring a new memory. She hears her mother's voice in her head.

"Promise me you'll never have it cut."

It seems promises mean nothing anymore.

The curtains fall.

IIII

Children begin by loving their parents, After a time they judge them. Rarely, if ever, do they forgive them.
Oscar Wilde

In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart.
Anne Frank