Excerpt of Medea's Ghost

(formatted for web viewing.)

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From Act II, Scene 1 (Prison Visitor’s Room) 

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MARY: Well where’d you last see her?

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TERESA: In Mexico. I was eight.

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MARY: Wait, wait, wait. You mean she didn’t come to the United States with you?

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TERESA: No.

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MARY: I thought you came here illegally.

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TERESA: I did.

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MARY: With who? Your dad?

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TERESA: No.

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MARY: Then who?

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TERESA: Another time.

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MARY: Now! You know my story!

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TERESA: I came alone.

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MARY: But you said you were eight!

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TERESA: I was.

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MARY: So…. (Silence.) Look. I want to know. I remembered for you.

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TERESA: But I— I’m here to listen to your stories, not for you to listen to mine.

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MARY: Oh, yeah? Well, I listened to your story about the subway. I didn’t want to, but I listened. I think that was pretty polite of me.

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TERESA: It was.

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MARY: So?

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TERESA: Yes?

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MARY: The story.

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TERESA: It’s hard, Mary. I told my father part of it. Not all of it. My aunt, God bless her, knows, and my mom, my adoptive mom, as you put it. That’s it. Not even my husband.

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MARY: Well. (Pause.) I’ve told you everything.

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TERESA: Dios ayúdame.

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MARY: Not in Spanish.

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TERESA: I know.

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MARY: So?

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TERESA: Okay. My mother in Mexico sent me to the United States. I had two little brothers. My older sister was 12, so she could work, and help. My mother couldn’t take care of five kids, and she felt I could make a better life for myself here. So she paid some coyotes to watch out for us and get us to Papa’s, in Phoenix.

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MARY: Us?

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TERESA: My sister and me.

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MARY: (Confused.) Your older sister?

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TERESA: My younger sister.

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MARY: You said you came alone.

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TERESA: Yes, except that my younger sister, Rosa, was with me.

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MARY: That’s not alone.

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TERESA: I was supposed to take care of her.

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MARY: But you were only eight.

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TERESA: And she was only six.

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(...continued...)

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