Finding Forever

 

"Finding Forever"

(Stage setup: A 10-foot partition stands center stage. MANY is a mad scientist, a time prospector, an obsessed philosopher with a wild gleam in his eye. He is armed with various measuring devices, from large to microscopic, each one promising to bring him closer to "forever.")

---

Lights up.

MANY: (Holding a long measuring tape, stretching it across stage.)
"Ten feet! The distance from stage left to stage right! Now, to begin the countdown to forever!"

10. (Marks it. Moves to a smaller ruler.)

MANY: "Nine! Nine feet, nine inches, and counting! I can feel it—it’s so close I can taste it!" (licks the air, then scowls) "Tastes like... plywood?"

9. (Pulls out a foot-long ruler, meticulously marking the next decrement.)

MANY: "Eight! No, wait—eight point nine! No, no, no—closer! There’s space between the spaces!" (Eyes twitch.)

8. (Switches to a six-inch ruler. Now measuring inches, hunched over, eyes wild.)

MANY: "Seven feet, eleven and a half inches! Ha! You can’t hide from me, Forever! I’m catching up to you!"

7. (Now with a caliper, measuring down to millimeters, whispering to himself.)

MANY: "Six feet, six inches, three millimeters… oh-ho, we’re getting small now! You feel that, Forever? You sweating yet?"

6. (Brings out a magnifying glass, squinting, measuring grains of wood in the partition.)

MANY: "Five feet, three inches, and... nanometers? Oh, I’ve gone subatomic, haven’t I?" (A manic laugh.)

5. (Now with an electron microscope, frantically scribbling notes.)

MANY: "Two microns! Two microns between me and eternity! This is it! I HAVE IT!"

(Pause. A moment of triumph. Then... doubt creeps in.)

4. (He exhales. Looks down at the partition, then back at his instruments. His hands shake. He knows what must be done.)

MANY: (Voice trembling.) "Bring me... the quantum scanner."

3. (The scanner reveals quarks, vibrating strings—movement in places he never thought to look.)

MANY: (Whispering, breaking.) "No... no, no, no. It just keeps going."

2. (He falls to his knees, pulling at his hair, staring at infinity hiding in the minuscule.)

MANY: "I... I thought I was almost there! But there’s more! There’s always more!"

1. (Silence. He breathes. His eyes shift. The realization lands.)

MANY: (Soft, almost laughing.) "I will never find forever... only its fingerprints."

(He stands, dusts himself off. Looks around. Looks up. Smiles—just a little.)

MANY: (Shaking his head, laughing to himself as he exits.)
"Turn off the lights."

Lights fade to black.