Heroines of Chaos

(Ference mumbles in Hungarian. He suffers with bad dreams of war: post-traumatic stress disorder. )

(Hawaiki looks up.)

(Ferenc is dozing, twitching and mumbling incoherently.)

(Then, suddenly, Tamara sniffs the air, and quickly stands up. She bongs on the singing bowl. SOUND: BONG! Then she slaps Ferenc heavily on the shoulder. Hawaiki snaps the book shut, and rushes inside.)

(LIGHTING: ON THE SIDE OF HILL: Begin with red glow behind a dark hillside.)

(ON VERANDAH: Ferenc slaps his own cheek, and stands quickly, sniffing warily.)

(ON VERANDAH: Tamara calls inside, her voice sharp:)

(Tamara shakes Ferenc:)

(LIGHTING: ON HILLSIDE: in the darkness, flames erupt and spread.)

(ON VERANDAH: Tamara goes inside. Tamara speaks from off-stage.)

(Tamara comes out, bringing Hawaiki, who is clutching Odval tight to her chest.)

(LIGHTING: ON HILLSIDE: wildfire spreads wider, taller, and closer.)

(ON VERANDAH: Tamara grabs tokotoko, and the field-glasses. The two women run off into the night. Ferenc goes inside, his gait uneven.)

(LIGHTING: ON HILLSIDE: a wall of flames fills the darkness.)

(ON VERANDAH: As if at war, Ferenc returns with a gun-belt slung diagonally over one shoulder and a pistol, then limps off slowly into the dark.)

(SOUND: BANG! BANG! Gunshots mingle with the crackle and roar of the fast approaching wildfire.)

(Altan comes from the high pasture, bringing tea in one steel container, and goats milk for the baby in another. Hawaiki feeds Odval, her movements gentle and reassuring. Altan puts his arms around Tamara. Tamara wails.)

(Altan takes Odval, and cradles her. Hawaiki uses the NATO field-glasses. She sees burnt-out orchard, burnt-down farmhouse. Hawaiki sees burnt grass, and a charred body by the now-roofless burnt-out small stone shed. )

(Hawaiki hands Tamara the field-glasses. Tamara checks.)

(Suddenly Hawaiki points.)

(Hawaiki grabs the field-glasses back, and sees a two-seat high-wing electric aircraft flying up the valley. The spotter plane flies overhead, and circles the survivors. They all wave. Hawaiki uses the field-glasses again. She sees two troopers riding electric military quad-bikes along the track into the valley.)

(Tamara starts to sob. She is relieved, but at the same time, grief-stricken about Ferenc. Hawaiki pulls Tamara close, and holds her tight, as best she can.)

(Tamara and Hawaiki come onto the stage. Hawaiki is carrying the baby Odval, and wearing a large neck pendant.)

(The two women go inside the stone shed.)

(Tamara opens one of the safes. Inside are several thick Ecology/Horticulture textbooks. Also: lots of brown paper bags, rolled and clipped airtight with wooden clothes pegs, and labelled with date and vegetable name, for example: Rocket, Tarragon, Onion. Tamara pulls out a packet, sniffs it. Hawaiki sniffs too. Then Tamara puts it back.)

(Tamara pulls out a textbook, and flips through it.)

(Tamara shuts the safe door, the two women go outside.)

(Hawaiki sets off along the track. Hawaiki turns, smiles, waves.)

(In the distance, Gabriela comes into sight. Hawaiki stops, and Tamara walks up to stand by her.)

(Gabriela reaches Hawaiki and Tamara.)

(Gabriela waits.)

(Gabriela sets off back the way she had come.)

(Tamara and Hawaiki set off, up toward the high pasture.)

(Gabriela, two strapping young men, and Salvadori appear on track in the distance. There are two small wheelbarrow-carts. On the carts are hand tools, mattocks, large two-man push-pull hand-saws, shovels, and spades.)

(From the high country come Tamara and Hawaiki, weary but resolute, with dead rabbits slung over their shoulders. Hawaiki is still wearing the large neck pendant. Both women wave. The others wave back.)

(The two groups meet. Hawaiki and Tamara unload the rabbits.)

(SCENE LIGHTING TEMPORARILY OFF : BLACK-OUT : Black-out)

(The young men, and women, are finishing the build of a rough lean-to shelter outside the stone shed. One side is half open and faces the red-brick forge.)

(The forge is now covered by large stone to protect against rain. Salvadori and Tamara help, walk around, organize, discuss.)

(Hawaiki and Gabriela drag in brush from the unburnt high country for bedding and shelter.)

(Sunset. Men and carts leave. Tamara too. Hawaiki, still wearing the Tikopian PENDANT, and Gabriela wave farewell. The two girls will overnight in the shelter.)

(The girls light the fire in the forge and begin to roast a rabbit. )

(A branch has been forced through a skinned and gutted rabbit. Kahoa holds one end of the branch, the other rests on the large stone, so the rabbit roasts. Gabriela huddles in shelter, watching.)

(Hawaiki takes the rabbit off the fire, slices meat off it, hands Gabriela a portion, and tries one herself.)

(Tamara takes it off, and hands it to Gabriela.)

(Gabriela inspects the pendant.)

(Delbee turns and comes to the front of the stage.)

(Delbee walks back and joins the others working in the orchard.)

(An elderly hooded woman in Buddhist nun, red linen robes, leaning on tokotoko walks in the orchard. Her face is hidden by the hood [or large straw hat with veil], but it is Tamara, now 86.)

(Odval, now about fifty, who bears a striking resemblance to Zsófi, approaches and gives Tamara a gentle hug. Odval takes her arm, and together they head off stage toward the family burial plot near track. They are followed by: DELBEE, Zsófi’s granddaughter, 17, in linen, plus a ventilated wide-brim straw hat. She holds her baby, Zsófi’s great-grandchild, in her arms.)

(They stand in front of Zsófi’s headstone. Tamara’s fingers loosen. The dandelion falls onto Zsófi’s grave.)

(Tamara sighs – wistful, love long-past.)

(There’s a catch in Tamara's voice.)

(The sound of several deep yoga-style breaths.)

(SOUND: a peal of thunder.)

(Pause.)

(Pause.)