Lameece Issaq
SETTING: A bombed-out house in Aleppo, Syria.
TIME: The present.
CHARACTERS:
*NOOR — a 10 year old girl. Sentimental and protective.
*HADI — Noor’s younger brother, a boy of 8. Cynical and intelligent.
*To be played by young adults in their 20s. No need to pretend to be children. Simple choices are best. No accents. Noor does not wear a hijab, although they are Muslim.
NOOR AND HADI GO TO HOGWARTS
Black. A projection appears on the back wall of the stage:
A Tweet from seven year-old Syrian girl, Bana Alabad, which reads: “Under heavy bombardments now. In between life and death. Please keep praying for us. #Aleppo.”
LIGHTS UP on NOOR, 10, and her brother HADI, 8, surrounded by rubble, in what was once their living room. Vestiges of the room are still in tact here and there — half a table; a legless chair; a telephone receiver. Both children are covered in dust; HADI’s head is wrapped in bloodied gauze, his vision impaired from the bombing. He wears an old school digital watch. NOOR is in a wheelchair, numb from the waist down. A dust-covered doll with a bandage over her eyes sits beside her.
NOOR reads to HADI from an old, miraculously functioning laptop. It is plugged into an old car battery, powered, also miraculously, by solar panels in the partially remaining roof. It really all is miraculous.
NOOR
“Harry looked at him, startled; the idea that anything as normal as a wedding could still exist seemed incredible and yet wonderful. ‘Yeah, we shouldn’t miss that,’ he said finally. In spite of everything, in spite of the dark and twisting path he saw stretching ahead for himself, in spite of the final meeting with Voldemort -”
HADI
Voldemort is a little bit Assad, a little bit ISIS and a little bit Trump, don’t you think?
NOOR
Sshh! “…in spite of the final meeting with Voldemort he knew must come, he felt his heart lift at the thought that there was still one last golden day of peace left to enjoy with Ron and Hermione.” The End.
(NOOR closes the laptop. A brief pause as they take in the ending of the story.)
HADI
He’ll never beat him. Voldemort.
NOOR
Don’t be stupid.
HADI
He’s too powerful. Evil always wins.
NOOR
Spoiler! Harry kills him in the final book!
HADI
Well. That’s not very realistic.
NOOR
I wish Dumbledore didn’t die.
HADI
Everyone dies.
NOOR
Not great wizards! Great wizards are NOT SUPPOSED TO DIE!
HADI
Everyone. Even great wizards. I’m going to die and you’re going to die, just like Mama died and Baba died and Yousef died.
NOOR
Some people get out. Some people get saved.
HADI
For a ten year old, you’re really naive, Noor. Grow up.
NOOR
Bana got out. Bana and her family were saved!
HADI
Bana got lucky. She got out because she’s a Twitter celebrity. Only famous people get saved. Psht. Stupid Bana.
(mocking)
“I’m in Turkey and I’m so happy! Look at me with the Turkish president and Lindsey Lohan! Hashtag Aleppo, hashtag save the children!” I hate Bana!
NOOR
Don’t say that! Bana is my best friend!
HADI
If she was your best friend, she would have taken you with her out of this hellscape!
NOOR
She’s going to America and I am going to meet her there!
HADI
No one is going to America! Not you, not Bana, not anyone! I hate Bana!
NOOR
Shut up! Shut up, Hadi! If it wasn’t for Bana, we wouldn’t have any of these books! These are the very e-books that J.K. Rowling sent to Bana herself! The author of the entire Harry Potter universe personally went out of her way to gift my best friend Bana with one of the most beloved children’s series OF ALL TIME, and then my best friend Bana, re-gifted them to ME! And it is because of this generosity that we have been able to survive the most wretched event of our young lives!
(pause)
HADI
Fair point.
NOOR
Thank you.
HADI
Book seven?
NOOR
Yes.
(NOOR opens the laptop, clicks on something and begins to read.)
NOOR
“We now present the seventh and final installment in the epic tale of Harry Potter, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. By JK Rowling.”
(she clears her throat)
HADI
Wait.
NOOR
What?
HADI
It’s the last book?
NOOR
Yeah.
HADI
Oh.
Ok.
(NOOR goes back to the screen. She scrolls up a bit.)
NOOR
Ok…we can skip that, and that…
HADI
No. No, no, no. Don’t skip anything.
NOOR
Well — it’s just like quotes from poets and dedications and boring stuff. It’s not the story —
HADI
I don’t care. Read it.
NOOR
Why?
HADI
Just — because —
NOOR
No —
HADI
Read it! Read it!
NOOR
Hadi —
HADI
We have to make the book last as long as possible! It’s the last one! Just read it!
NOOR
Fine.
(she goes back to the screen and scolls up.)
Um…ok, here. This is a poem by…I don’t know how to pronounce his name.
HADI
Read, read.
NOOR
“Oh, the torment bred in the race, the grinding scream of death, and the stroke that hits the vein, the hemorrhage none can staunch, the grief, the curse no man can bear. But there is a curse in the house, and not outside it no, not from others but from them, their bloody strife. We sing to you, dark gods beneath the earth. Now hear, you blissful powers underground, answer the call, send help. Bless the children, give them triumph now.”
(Pause. NOOR looks at HADI.)
HADI
Yeah, skip that stuff.
NOOR
Thank you.
(reading quickly)
“Chapter One: The Dark Lord Ascending.”
HADI
Slow down! God!
NOOR
Sorry!
(reading very, very slowly) “Chapter One: The Dark Lord Ascending.”
HADI
You are so annoying.
(The computer screen goes black.)
NOOR
No. No, no, no.
(NOOR clicks on the laptop several times.)
HADI
Yeah, you really are.
NOOR
Oh come on.
HADI
What?
NOOR
Nothing, nothing.
(NOOR bangs on the laptop. She checks the plug and pulls it out and puts it back in again. She closes the laptop and opens it up several times.)
HADI
Alright, come on! Let’s go!
NOOR
Uh…yeah – ok, just a sec…I just…the book is uh, just taking a minute to load…
(NOOR rolls herself over to the car battery, into which the computer is plugged. She fidgets with it. Nothing. The computer is out of electricity, and the electricity source is now dead. The following dialogue takes place during this entire sequence.)
HADI
Yeah, well, that computer is ancient. I can’t believe it survived the blast. Sturdy as fuck.
NOOR
Hadi!
HADI
What?
NOOR
Don’t curse.
HADI
Why not?
God will punish you.
HADI
(indicating his surroundings)
Um…
(NOOR has given up on the laptop and sets it down.)
NOOR
You know what? Let’s read a little later. Prolong it a bit.
HADI
Ok.
NOOR
You hungry?
HADI
A little.
NOOR
I have pistachios.
(NOOR wheels herself over to Hadi and gives him a handful. They eat and toss the shells onto the ground.)
HADI
I wish I could go to Hogwarts.
NOOR
You’re too young. You have to be 11. You’re only 8.
HADI
They would make an exception for me because of my latent genius. Also because they’re short on Syrians and want to show the world how open-minded and not xenophobic they are. You know, ‘cause of Brexit.
(NOOR laughs)
HADI
And I would become the member of the Slytherin House —
NOOR
What? Ew!
HADI
I just think they are generally the more interesting group. They get a bad wrap, but they’re capable of great things. Also, I want to speak Parcel Mouth.
NOOR
You want to speak to snakes? That’s creepy.
HADI
I think speaking to snakes would come in handy in these parts. I could stage all kinds of attacks on ISIS — like order a million pythons to charge at them and suffocate them all to death! And on Assad and all the Russians and everyone! Death by snake!
NOOR
Don’t be violent, Hadi.
HADI
I can’t help it. It’s all I know.
NOOR
We have to use our magic for good and only good, habibi.
(a beat.)
HADI
Do you think anyone will come for us, Noor?
NOOR
Of course they will. Someone will come.
HADI
I’m scared.
NOOR
Me too.
HADI
Ok, don’t get mad but.
NOOR
What?
HADI
Just don’t get mad.
I won’t — what?
HADI
Well…alot of people thought Bana was fake.
NOOR
Don’t say that. I hate when people say that.
HADI
Like they thought she was made up. Like by the rebels.
NOOR
I know.
HADI
And people investigated where she lived to make sure she was actually Tweeting from Aleppo. They checked her geocoordinates. Her geocoordinates!
NOOR
Stop saying geocoordinates.
HADI
I’m just saying. Do you think that’s why?
NOOR
Why what?
HADI
Why no one is helping us? Why no one wants us? Because they think we’re not real?
NOOR
They know we’re real. I think they’re just scared.
HADI
Of what? Of us? We’re just kids. We are all mostly kids.
(HADI’s watch beeps several times. He stops it. He reaches behind his back and pulls out a long, thin item wrapped in newspaper.)
HADI
Happy Birthday!
NOOR
Oh my God! I totally forgot! Wait — what day is it? Are you sure it’s today?
HADI
Yup! I’ve been keeping track of the days on my watch since the bombing. It beeps every hour. And this is the 48th beep. So, Happy Birthday.
NOOR
I forgot all about it…
(Hadi stands up and hands her the gift.)
HADI
Open it.
(NOOR takes and unwraps it. It is a TV antenna, wrapped in copper coil.)
HADI
It’s —
A wand.
NOOR
A wand.
HADI
Yep.
NOOR
It’s beautiful. Thank you, habibi.
HADI
You’re 11 now. You can officially be admitted to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
NOOR
I wish I could use this to go to America.
HADI
You’ll have more luck getting into a fictional school of magic.
(Hadi puts his hand to his head.)
NOOR
Are you ok? Hadi?
HADI
I don’t feel very good.
Sit here, by me.
(Hadi sits on the ground next to NOOR’s chair and puts his head in her lap. He is fading.)
NOOR
Hadi? Hadi, are you ok?
HADI
Read to me.
NOOR
Ok. Ok, um —
(she picks up the laptop and plugs it in. She taps on the tracking pad several times in a panic. The computer won’t budge.)
HADI
Noor…read to me…please…
NOOR
Ok, habibi, I am — here we go. Stay with me, Hadi. Stay with me —
(NOOR taps the tracking pad harder and more urgently as Hadi fades further away.)
NOOR
Come on. Work. Work! Please —
HADI
Noor, read…
(NOOR looks at the wand. She taps the computer several times with it.)
NOOR
Please…please…please.
(Nothing.)
Hadi? Hadi, wake up.
(Hadi moans. NOOR whacks the computer hard with the wand.)
NOOR
Come ON!
(The computer suddenly flickers back on, the blue light illuminating NOOR’s face.)
NOOR
Hadi? Hadi! Don’t leave me…
(She gently strokes his hair.)
HADI
I’m here. Read to me, Noor.
(She breathes a sigh of relief.)
NOOR
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, by J.K. Rowling. Chapter One.” BLACKOUT.
END OF PLAY.
