SORROWFUL NUISANCE (A short play)
Four Arab men speak of the bombs nuisance... As lights rise on the stage we see four old and judicious Arab men, Ahmad, ( most praiseworthy ), Anis, ( love and friendship ), As’ad, ( happiness ), and Almahdi, ( guided to the right path ), standing near a deli in downtown Baghdad, conversing …Periodically a distant explosion will cause them to hold their words or repeat them. The explosions do not alarm them; instead they are a part of their daily lives in Iraq; their routine. The men, numb to the bombs frequent occurrence, are only a quick and sorrowful nuisance. ANIS: Answer me, As’ad. My brother of happiness whom I love; (A bomb explodes from afar.) ANIS: Must there be a kindness, a compassion, if you will, that permeates the human spirit? AS'AD: No, Anis, my friend, of course, there mustn't. But there should. There should be if man wants to become the son of enlightenment. (There is a long pause now as the men regard his answer. Another bomb explodes, nearer now,