401 - The shadows of the tower

N. Lygeros
Translated from the Greek by Evi Charitidou

Scenario
Social drama

A nostalgic music plays in the night of an apartment. A woman is looking for a book in a small library, while a man is reading a newspaper…

Eva: I can’t find it… Do you happen to know where it is?

The man raises his eyes for the first time.

Andreas: What?
Eva: The gift by Christos…

She is looking at the library again.
Andreas: The twilight of the idols?
Eva: Yes, yes… Do you know where it is?
Andreas: No!
Eva: But then how can you remember the tile?
Andreas: I remember the day he gave it to you…
It’s been three years now…
Eva: And you remember this as if it was yesterday, aren’t you?
Andreas: Right! Silence. Do you remember that night?

The woman tenderly nods.
Eva: I always remember Christos’s gifts…
Andreas: Smiling. You’re right…Only Christos gives Nietzsche to…
Eva: To a woman?
Andreas: No, to friends…
Every gift by him is like a part of soul.
Eva: This is how I felt it too…
Andreas: It was white! I saw it in the room…
Eva: Leaving. I’m coming.
The woman opens a door and before closing it behind her…
Eva: Thank you!
The man now leaves the newspaper aside and listens to the music…

Flashback

Someone is knocking on the door… The man is about to stand up but at the same moment…
Eva: I go!
The woman hastily crosses the whole living-room and opens the door. A couple appears.
Christos: My friend, this is Lucia… The other man stands up. This is for you. He gives a book to the woman. A small book…
Andreas: Books are never small!
Lucia: Especially this book is full of light…
Eva: Have a seat…
Christos: I hope we are not late…
Andreas: Friends are always late…because we always miss them…
Christos: It’s so kind of you.
Eva: To Lucia. Is it your first time to our city?
Lucia: No, it’s my second one…
Christos though has told me many things about you…
Andreas: We are not the only sights of the city!
Christos: The value of a city comes from its people. It is they who create it…

Eva makes room at the table and goes inside to bring…
End of flashback

The door opens again.

Eva: I found it!
She sits next to Andreas and gives him a kiss…
Andreas: Laughing. You missed him that much?
Eva: Aren’t you used to say that we always miss our friends? This is his last gift.
The woman falls on his shoulder.
Andreas: Don’t be like that… He’ll come back to us…
Don’t be afraid…
Eva: Now that I’ve found his book I’m not afraid any longer…

Silence

Andreas: Truth is always simple.
Eva: Isn’t this a complex lie?
Andreas: Christos has always been out of our era…
Eva: Why are you saying this?
Andreas: Because he has never been a contemporary man!
Eva: Currency dies every day.
Christos has no right to die…
He must live…
Andreas: Why?
Eva: For us!
Andreas: I miss Christos too…
Eva: It’s the first time you’re saying this to me…
Andreas: Silence hides many words…
Eva: Christos used to say that each word is a world too.
Andreas: A forgotten world….
Eva: As words live into silence, we live into forgotten worlds…
Do you think that he has forgotten us?… She embraces him firmly …
Andreas: Light doesn’t forget the shadows.
Eva: What shadows?
Andreas: The shadows of the tower…

Change of scene