Characters:

Narrator: An old woman
Narcissa: The wife
Micheal: Her husband
Andrew: Village Bartender
Collin: The town butcher
The Townspeople

Act 1 Scene 1

Scene shows Narcissa and Micheal getting married. Wedding bells and children laugh as they exchange vows. Then the stage lights go off and a spotlight shines on an old woman knitting.

Old Woman: Such a happy couple they were, young, good-looking and kind. I thought they would stay together till death did them part, and so did the entire village. But we thought wrong, because Micheal was in a hole that he dug himself. And when he married Narcissa, she was pulled into it.

The spotlight dims, and the background lights up. Narcissa and Micheal are arguing.

Micheal: Why did you let him in.

Narcissa: He let himself in. He let himself in, so he could get back his money. And because we have no money, he took all our finery.

Micheal: I don't believe that. You let him in, and you know how hard I work-

Narcissa: To go to that damn bar every night! If that is how hard you work, my dear, then I think I can bring more to this household by becoming a village whore.

Micheal: You don't need to try too hard, you're already one.

Micheal storms out of the house while putting on his coat.

Act 1 Scene 2

Micheal drinking at the bar, he slams money down on the table which Andrew collects. He walks out of the bar, tipsy, and after a while, falls into a bush. Narcissa walks out from the shadows, she had been spying on her husband. She walks into the bar.

Narcissa: How much did he pay you now?

Andrew: Twenty quids.

Narcissa sits down on one of the bar chairs.

Narcissa: A little meager than his usual. I think...

Andrew: Take it.

Narcissa stands up and steps backward.

Narcissa: No. I wouldn't dream of it.

Andrew: You don't need to. If you don't take it, I'll throw it into the sewers. I hear there is an old beggar woman asking for alms.

Narcissa hesitates, then takes the money.

Narcissa: Thank you.

Andrew: Come back tomorrow if he does.

The spotlight shines on the old woman again.

Old Woman: So Micheal came to the bar every night. And so did Narcissa, and Andrew would hand her the money her husband put to waste that night. Soon, the two fell in love. And while Micheal drank his life away, Narcissa and Andrew drank to a life together. But when Micheal did die, a life together was the last thing either one of them could envision.

Act 1 Scene 3

Micheal's funeral. A red rose wreath on a mahogany coffin. Narcissa dressed in black with a veil, crying. They lower the coffin into the ground and she falls to her knees, screaming. People rush to her side and console her, but she shoves them away and runs off the stage.

Act 2 Scene 1

Narcissa and Andrew are sitting on bar chairs. Narcissa has a drink in her hand.

Andrew: At your husband's funeral, why were you crying?

Narcissa: I didn't remember the man to whom I was married to, but the man with whom I was in love with. But I didn't realise he had died a long time ago, so the mourning now was to make up for the tears I should have shed then.

Andrew: Tears should not be shed for an alcoholic.

Narcissa: Don't talk about him like that. Although, I haven't told you what we should be talking about now.

Andrew: And should we be talking about now?

Narcissa: I want to end whatever we have that goes beyond the limitations of acquaintances. I have been stupid, and I trust you will say the same of yourself.

Andrew: And what if I don't?

Narcissa: Then you are not only stupid, but also reckless. I don't want to see you any more.

Narcissa walks out of the door.

Andrew: I will make you come to this bar every night, just as you did when your husband was still a drunkard.

Act 2 Scene 2

Nacissa gets home to find a barrel of gin at her doorstep. She reads a note that came along with it.

Narcissa: A token of appreciation. Your friend, Andrew.

Narcissa takes a wine glass from the cabinet, and fills it to the brim before drinking it in one gulp. She reaches to wash the glass, but instead fills it up again. The spotlight shines on the old woman again.

Old woman: And she drank another glass of wine, and then another. And soon, she was as drunk as her husband. And where there is a alchoholic, there is alchohol. And there was only one bar in the town. She did come to the bar every night.

Act 2 Scene 3

A grocery shop, where a gentlewoman, cook, and seamstress are shopping. The greengrocer is behind the counter. They all watch as Narcissa limps with a bag of her own goods.

Gentlewoman: Whispers Poor dear, I see her at the bar so often.

Greengrocer: Every day

Cook: Without fail

Seamstress: Well her husband was at the bar every night as well. Drunk himself to death he did. She's just there because he was.

Gentlewoman: Still, it is not proper. Particularly for a woman.

Seamstress: Not proper, nor acceptable, I daresay. How much for these, Albert?

Greengrocer: A pound, give me two and you can have the lot. The shop's about to close anyway.

Act 3 Scene 1

Narcissa has slumped onto the bar top, she had fainted from drinking too much. A wine bottle tips over and spills wine all over her. Andrew walks in and drops his rag in shock.

Andrew: Cissy, wake up. Wake up.

He shakes her, but she doesn't wake up. Then, he steps back in disgust. He realises he does not love her any more. Andrew drags her dead body to a butcher's dump. Where bones of butchered animals, and bits of their rotting flesh lay. And he dumps here there.

Andrew: Just where your husband died. Filthy, lying, bitch. Daughter of pigs.

He spits on her face and walks away. Narcissa wakes up, and sees where she is. She tries to get up but is too weak. She calls for Andrew but he has long gone. She realises she is alone, and falls over, dead.

Act 3 Scene 2

It's is the next day, and the townspeople have gathered around the butcher's dump in a huddle. They have seen Narcissa's hand, only recognisable by the rosary she wears. The butcher and his men push through and pull her body out onto the street. The townspeople draw the sign of the cross on themselves, as the expression on her face is only comparable to that of the devil.

Gentlewoman: I think, a funeral. Just like her husband's. A red rose wreath, on a mahogany coffin, and we'll lay her to rest beside him.

She turns to cry on the shoulder of her husband. The spotlight shines on the old woman.

Old woman: So that was the end of Micheal and Narcissa Black. And Andrew, well it was the first, and last relationship he ever had with a woman. He continued with his duties as a bartender-

Scene shows Andrew at work, serving drinks with a sorrowful expression to laughing people.

Old woman: for about 10 years, and then, something strange. He was cast out of town, as a pedophile. But he still lived on the borders, capturing little boys and girls who wandered too far from home. He killed them all, and burned them in an oven. He threw their ashes into the butcher's meat, and poisoned the food the townspeople ate. Until one day-

Scene shows Andrew carrying an urn to a holder in the midst of heavy machinery. He trips, and falls into a machine, and out comes meat, blood, and pieces of cloth.

Old woman: Some say the butcher suspected something, and threw the lot away. Others say the meat was sold, and the most imaginative of the lot said it was made into the dinner they served that night at a bar, to Narcissa and Micheal Blacks' ghosts.-

Scene shows Narcissa and Micheal Black clinking glasses of wine, and being served their dinner.

Old Woman: But everyone agreed that the day after, a strange chill came over the town, and no one slept. And they all saw a sight to behold. A man wandering the streets in the middle of the night, carrying an urn.

-The End-