AND THE SUN STOOD STILL

by Tammy Ho Lai-Ming and Reid Mitchell

MAN1: And the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, until the nation took vengeance on their enemies.

WOMAN1: Nobody in the street was brave enough to scream.

WOMAN2: In dreams, they had all seen it occur before; they were not shocked. Only frightened.

MAN1: It was a long day until golden dusk came. A whole street of people wore a bewildered expression when the sun continued to hang there, refused to go down or move. The orange beams were starting to hurt spectators' eyes. Still, no one exploded.

MAN2: The three or four who could not stand the sun crumpled inward apologetically, as if they had been intruding even on themselves. Meanwhile,that lone black dog worried the two bodies over and over.

WOMAN1: I was not very afraid. I was more curious than scared. Like many other women I stood in front of the front door and observed what other people did; every woman was a detective. I pushed my two young sons into the house.

WOMAN2: That dog has been docile until too many children tossed firecrackers around her.

MAN1: I nudged the woman next to me. "Who are these soldiers?" I asked her. "Has our government dressed the soldiers in a new uniform?"

WOMAN1: I saw them all in flowing white robes; but I was hallucinating.

MAN2: They wore uniforms for winter fighting. They came from the north. They are ready to fight forever.

WOMAN2: How can we fight men and women with no faces?

WOMAN1: We have no armed soldiers of our own. But the sight of these men stirs the rebel inside each of us. We are ready to strike back. Some children are still outside. The sun still casts a fierce light. It is hard to tell which side the sun takes.

MAN1: Nothing will happen until the sun goes down.

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Tammy Ho Lai-Ming and Reid Mitchell met in Hong Kong where he lost a game of Go to her. It turned out he thought that they were playing checkers. Out of this cultural confusion arose a writing project. Nowadays the confusion is all personal. Tammy Ho and Reid Mitchell should receive the Nobel Prize for their explorations in international relations.