excerpt from
Hearts and Minds
from
The Best American Short Plays 2006–2007
REBECCA Okay, class. Listen up. We need to focus. I want you all to close your eyes. Just do it. Now take a series of deep, deep breaths.
[As if getting him into line.]
. . . Rudi. Take the breath all the way down and slowly let it out. . . . Keep breathing. . . . Somewhere inside your body is a tight ball. I’ve got one right now in my stomach. I want you to send the breath to wherever that tight ball is, let the breath dissolve that hard little ball . . . and then breathe out the molecules that came off of the ball. . . . Do it again. Rudi, I want you to really see the ball. . . . All right, Rudi, then see the bialy. Just keep breathing . . .
[RUDI appears in the doorway, upstage. He apparently overheard her talking to herself, and now leans in to see what’s going on. REBECCA does not see him.]
. . . Now the ball—or the bialy—has disappeared, and the only thing is your breath, coming in, slowly, and going out, slowly . . . and the molecules of your breath are swirling around this classroom, mixing together with the molecules of other students and teachers, who teach and learn, and pour out ideas and passions. Imagine if you will molecules of people who lived and died, and spoke and wrote long before us—those particles are here too. The molecules are all mixing together, connecting in new ways, actually creating something unprecedented. With each breath, what you’re breathing in is different than what you just breathed out. And that altered air is filtering into your bloodstream, going into your brain, pumping into your heart. . . . Take a moment and listen to the new air, surging through you. It’s not just your breath or my breath. It’s the oxygen we all have to share in order to survive. And if we really let it in, it can change everything. . . . Now, open your eyes. And please turn your chairs so you can face each other.