What is being uncovered?
Who is doing the uncovering?
And what's at the core of the onion?
ARARAT: A SCENE
By Jon Adam Ross
A woman, dressed in the clothing of an ancient biblical nomad, stands alone in the sand. Every now and then she looks around her in all directions. It doesn't seem like she is stressed, but she is certainly not comfortable. She removes a canvas waterbag from the sack she wears on her shoulder. She opens it and takes the tiniest sip with great intentionality. She closes the bottle, puts it back in the bag, and resumes looking around. Another woman enters. She is dressed in modern clothes, wearing a backpack, and staring at her iPhone as if it is leading her steps. She does not see the first woman and bumps into her.
BET
Eek! Sorry.
ALEPH
Impressive.
BET
I'm sorry?
ALEPH
I said it's impressive.
BET
I got that. But I don't know / what
ALEPH
/ There isn't an object in sight. Not a dune, not a marking or a stone or even a sandcrab.
BET
And?
ALEPH
And you still manage to walk right into me as if you didn't see I was here.
BET
I wasn't looking up, I mean I was trying to, like, I mean...
ALEPH
(laughing)
I'm not upset. Just impressed.
BET
Yeah, well, I'm, like, lost.
ALEPH
Aren't we all?
BET
Um, no?
ALEPH
You look lost.
BET
I'm not, like, lost lost. I just got left behind by my group and I'm trying to catch up to them.
ALEPH
Me, too! Are we with the same group?
BET
Um...I don't know? You don't look, I mean, I don't think you're in my group. I don't remember you and I would...
(looking her up and down)
...remember you. Also, I don't think you fit the criteria.
ALEPH
Criteria?
BET
It doesn't matter.
(checking phone again)
Ugh, I have no bars!
ALEPH
Isn't it great!?
BET
What?
ALEPH
Freedom!
BET
What are you talking about?
ALEPH
What are YOU talking about?
BET
(showing ALEPH her phone)
I have no BARS!
ALEPH
I hear you about the bars. It's so freeing, to finally be out of that cage.
BET
Ew, you were in a cage?
ALEPH
Metaphorically, we all were, right? I mean it was slavery after all.
BET
Like, sex slavery? OMG, did you work for Jeffrey Epstein? I mean you're a bit old for that, I guess, but some men must like mature / women.
ALEPH
/ I'm sorry, were you not a slave?
BET
Me? Ew, never!
ALEPH
So are you...Egyptian?
BET
No, but THANK YOU! I get that a lot because of my skin. My mom is French, so maybe that's...? Are YOU Egyptian?
ALEPH
No, heavens no! They were our enslavers.
BET
Oh. An Egyptian sex ring. Got it.
ALEPH
Not a sex ring. We were in construction.
BET
Well that explains the-
(pointing up and down at ALEPH's wardrobe)
ALEPH
If you're not with us, and you're not with them, who are you with?
BET
Well if you must know, I've been quarantining from the pandemic for so long I signed up for a singles safari for people in their 20s with a BMI under 15 who've been vaccinated and passed a stringent facial symmetry exam. But, like, I was on a camel ride with this really good looking guy and I was holding on to his shirt to stay steady, but he was super sweaty so I had to stop holding on and then I fell and I guess he didn't hear me because he kept going on the camel and we were at the back of the line anyway and now I'm just, like, stuck here, and I have no bars.
ALEPH
Pandemic? I didn't realize the plagues reached beyond Egypt. God is great!
BET
I don't know about great. It's been a really inconvenient year. And I got mask acne!
ALEPH
I'm sorry to hear that.
BET
I know. You're so sweet. Do you, like, live here?
ALEPH
In this very spot!
(indicating the emptiness around her)
Do you like my tent? I planted the peonies myself. And the birdfeeders bring bluejays every afternoon!
BET
Wow, you don't have to be, like, ironic.
ALEPH
Sarcastic.
BET
Whatever.
ALEPH
We were slaves in Egypt, and thanks to some miraculous intervention, and our own ingenuity, we escaped a couple of months ago, and have been wandering in the wilderness toward a new land where we can make a new home as free people.
BET
Wow, um, okay. Sounds pretty epic. Do you know if that place has wifi? Because my gps...
(looking down at her smartphone which she's been holding and glancing at distractedly the entire time)
ALEPH
I'm trying to connect here.
BET
Yeah, I hear you. Me too.
(looking at phone again)