SYBIL
Chapter 21: The Truth

Characters

CHARLIE: a man in his early 30’s

BEN: Charlie’s friend from college

Setting

The setting is a bar. There are two chairs and a table.

Scene 1

(As the lights come up CHARLIE addresses the audience. Spot light on CHARLLIE only.)

CHARLIE

I could tell from the tone of his voice that this was not going to be a casual conversation to get together for a few beers and shoot a little pool. Benjamin had an urgency in his speech that told me he had something to say. I imagined that it was one of his crises. It often was. Probably it would be over his job or that his wife had found out about one of his indiscretions. Our meeting wasn’t to be in a few days or on Sunday night when we often scheduled our rendezvouses. No. It had to be tonight. Couldn’t I arrange my time so that we could meet? I seldom told Benjamin no, anyway. And since most of what he was usually involved interested me, I agreed to meet him at nine o’clock.

When I arrived, Benjamin was already there. Anxiously waiting with a drink in his hand.

(CHARLIE turns to the bar. The lights come up on the table.)

BEN

(hurriedly, without introductions)

Can I get you a drink?

CHARLIE

Sure. Just a beer is fine.

BEN

(to a bar waitress who is not seen)

Another beer please. (back to CHARLIE, a little more relaxed) Thanks for coming.

CHARLIE

That’s O.K. What’s up? You sounded like you were having some trouble. Is everything all right?

BEN

As a matter of fact things aren’t so good. You know that paper I am trying to write. Well, I keep running up against a brick wall with the research. If I don’t finish it soon I won’t get tenure. I’ll lose my job. Claire will kill me. But believe it or not, that’s not what I wanted to talk to you about. Did anything unusual happen to you today? I mean anything out of the ordinary?

CHARLIE

No. Nothing that I can think of.

BEN

Did you meet anybody new or were you approached by anyone? Say to confront you with a question? I know that this will sound strange, but did you have to make any important decisions? Anything that might alter your life significantly?

CHARLIE

(sarcastically)

Just which pair of shoes to wear. I’m sorry. I don’t think so. It’s been a relatively straightforward day. What is this all about?

BEN

Well, it started with my paper. It’s fair to say that I’ve run into more than a few snags. I have consulted all of the resources I could think of and it still isn’t making any sense. In desperation I have started hitting all of the used bookstores in the areas seeing if I could find some out-of-print material that I’d missed. At the third or fourth store something I can’t explain happened. Although I had never been in this particular store before I walked directly to the subject area that I needed. I shuffled through the titles as if I knew what I was looking for. My eyes stopped abruptly on this little red book that was stuck in between others. I sensed that it had been misfiled. It didn’t outwardly appear to look like the scholarly books surrounding it. I discovered that it was some sort of calendar or diary. It was written in long hand. Not every date was written down and I thought that it was strange that the calendar years were not included, rather year numbers were used, like year 10, year 11, and so on. When I started to read the entries I realized that they weren’t narrative as you would expect, but they were statements that gave directions or instructions.

CHARLIE

You mean like a treasure map? Turn left at the tree.

BEN

No. More like advice. Some of them like commandments or euphemisms. Like, “Treat everyone as equals,” or “The truth shall set ye free.” Things like that.

CHARLIE

(again sarcastically)

I’ve got it. You found a copy of the writings of Chairman Mao.

BEN

(unshaken)

No. I don’t think so. But I do agree it seemed like it was someone’s personal notes. I was about to put it back on the shelf when I noticed the entry for year 11, March 14. (Ben produces the book from his pocket and hands it to CHARLIE.) Here. Look.

CHARLIE

(He looks up the date.)

“You may get away with it today but the guilt will be harder to live with.” This is all very interesting, Ben. But so what?

BEN

When I was eleven I copied someone else’s test. When the teacher discovered it she blamed the other student for copying my test. That student never exposed me and I never admitted to it.

CHARLIE

You mean to tell me that you think these words of wisdom were written about you. Everybody has gotten away with something when they were a kid.

BEN

Sure, but I still haven’t gotten over the guilt.

CHARLIE

Now look, Ben. There’s no reason to believe that this diary is written about you. It doesn’t list any specific names or dates. It isn’t titled, BENJAMIN’S PROPHECY.

BEN

Wait. There’s more. Find year 17, April 6.

CHARLIE

Year 17, April 6. Here it is. Although she is all that you can think about, don’t make any long-term commitments.

BEN

That’s about the time I became involved with Claire. We got married right after college.

CHARLIE

I know, Ben. I stood up in your wedding.

BEN

But you see. It's not going well. Don’t make any long-term commitments. There is more. Come on. Charlie. Humor me.

CHARLIE

All right.

BEN

Read year 21, June 18.

CHARLIE

(He looks it up.)

Leaving will create more problems than staying. So what do you make of that?

BEN

Do you remember what happened then?

CHARLIE

I haven’t a clue.

BEN

That’s when we graduated. What happened?

CHARLIE

We got jobs. Those of us that could avoided the draft. (a look of recognition) All right. I know what you did. You ran away to Canada.

BEN

Yeah. And it took quite a bit of finagling on my father’s part to get me back into the country without my having to go to prison.

CHARLIE

Well what could they do when you agreed to shovel shit in a civil service job? They thought they had gotten a great deal. Look Ben. I think you’re reading more into this than is here. This could be about anybody in our age group.

BEN

Don’t you get it? It’s a prophecy. It’s telling me what I should have done at given moments in my life.

CHARLIE

It’s ambiguous. It’s not specific to anything.

BEN

That’s the way an oracle works.

CHARLIE

Sure Ben. Now I understand. You’ve been under a lot of stress lately. The paper isn’t going like you had hoped. You’ve exhausted your resources, not to mention your friends. Then you find this book. Sounds like a good distraction to me.

BEN

It’s more than that.

CHARLIE

No wait. This isn’t what I am hearing. Correct me if I am wrong here, but do any of these words make any sense, “Let’s cut the bullshit. What you see is what you get. There is nothing worse than a conversation with a self-actualized spiritualist. God was invented by men who could not accept that life is meaningless.” Should I continue? Does any of this sound familiar?

BEN

I suppose I could have said that.

CHARLIE

Possibly.

BEN

O.K. So I prescribe to that. Don’t get me wrong. And I know that you are as skeptical as I am. But don’t you wish that there was more to life? Don’t you hope deep down that there will turn out to be an order and meaning that makes sense of all this? What if there was a miracle and you missed it? What if you are given a sign and you don’t even notice it?

CHARLIE

Ben, I’m all for miracles. It’s just that they don’t seem very likely, do they? Did you ever know anyone who ever saw a miracle? And we’re not counting those kids from Fatima. You know how I feel about kids and visions.

BEN

I’m serious, Charlie.

CHARLIE

Forgive me. I can see you are. But don’t be disillusioned. What you’ve got here is someone’s old diary or journal about what they were thinking.

BEN

Wait. Indulge me a little longer. When did we meet?

CHARLIE

In College.

BEN

But when exactly?

CHARLIE

I don’t know, In the fall, 1964.

BEN

I was eighteen. Look under year 18, September 5.

CHARLIE

(complying)

Many new experiences and friends. Choose them wisely. Some might last a lifetime. Ben, this could be anybody.

BEN

Read the next day.

CHARLIE

(at first to himself, then shocked)

Meet the Walrus. Don’t lose him.

BEN

Do I know a lot of guys named the Walrus?

CHARLIE

Maybe it’s a metaphor. Coo-coo-cachoo.

BEN

Don’t you think it’s a little unusual how much this book knows about my life?

CHARLIE

Ben, I’m having a little trouble accepting all this.

BEN

I know it sounds incredible, but how else can you explain how it knows these details about my life? And there’s one other thing. The years do not begin on January 1. They begin on my birthday, August 13.

CHARLIE

I don’t know, Ben. (He hesitates, then with a look of revelation.) Ben, How many years does it continue?

BEN

Look for yourself.

CHARLIE

(He turns to it.)

It ends today. Contact the Walrus. Entrust the book to him. (looking up at BEN) Believing anything about this book would be ridiculous you know.

BEN

Yes. You’re right. Charlie. It seemed like a good excuse for us to get together though. Right?

CHARLIE

(He turns to the audience.)

There didn’t seem to be anything to say to each other, yet there should have been a thousand things. After what seemed an eternity, Ben got up to go, leaving the book in my hands.

BEN

It was good to see you, Charlie. I told Claire that I would be home early. By the way, the book isn’t titled, BENJAMIN’S PROPHECY. It’s called, THE TRUTH.

(Ben turns and walks out.)

Scene 2

CHARLIE

(to the audience, lights only on him)

I barely got to say good-bye. Before I knew it, Ben was gone and I was left with the book. The next morning I got a call from Ben’s wife asking me if I had seen him. She said that he didn’t come home last night. I told her I had and that he had left early. I didn’t tell her about the book.

I didn’t tell the police either when they came the following day to question me. It appeared that I was the last person to have seen Ben. I’m not sure why I kept that night a secret. Had I somehow believed in the book and I knew that Ben was dead?

As time went on and there was still no sign of him I became more convinced that I couldn’t tell anyone about that night. “Yes officer, I knew that he was going to die that night. Here, the book says so.” I was afraid that I would either be locked up as a lunatic, or I would become the prime murder suspect.

The police returned often and there was even a private investigator that Claire had hired. I stuck to my original story each time. I decided I had to convince Clair that he must be dead and that she should stop this agonizing search. Eventually, the police and even Claire gave up on ever finding him, and I had to contend with my secret part of the puzzle, this prophecy (holding out the book).

Years later I received this postcard (removing it from his pocket). On one side it has a wilderness scene with a moose beside a mountain lake somewhere in Canada. On the back was written, “The truth shall set ye free.” I recognized the handwriting immediately. I had looked at it many times over the past few years in the little red book. I suppose I should have recognized it that night in the bar. It was signed, Benjamin.

BLACKOUT

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