Toodle-oo, Tuvalu

(An expanse of water, extending all the way to the horizon. Eventually, a ROWBOAT appears and drifts to center stage. DONALD, 50, is rowing. His son JASON, 18, is engrossed in a handheld holographic videogame. It is 2050.)

DONALD (looking around)
My gosh, this brings me back.
(turns upstage, looks into the distance)
Wow.
(he looks to JASON)
When I was your age, all this was land.

(JASON gives the surrounding water a cursory glance and goes back to his game)

JASON
Hm.

(pause. DONALD points to the middle distance.)

DONALD
You see out there? Jason, will you look?

(JASON puts his game on “pause,” exasperated. he looks where his dad is pointing.)

JASON
Sure.

DONALD
No, to the left a bit.

JASON
Okay.

DONALD
Directly below there, about fourteen feet, is the Rhenium Vapor Fountain where your mother and I used to play Intra-Continuum Space-Candyland.

JASON (creeped out)
Aw, Dad. C’mon.

DONALD (smiling)
What? We weren’t always old. We used to be a young dating couple, like you and Nicole.

JASON (blushing)
Uh, no. I don’t think you were ever like me and Nicole.

DONALD
Things getting serious between you two?

JASON (smiling)
I don’t know. Whatever.

DONALD
You ever tell her you’re a Tuvaluan?

JASON
No.

(pause. DONALD is visibly saddened.)

DONALD
Not even a word about it? How come?

JASON (shrugs)
It hasn’t really come up.

DONALD
It’s something to be proud of. Tuvalu took a look at the rising water levels and did something about it. They went into battle to save their homeland.

JASON
Yeah, I know. “They sued the U.S. and Australia to get them to cut down their CO2 emissions.”

DONALD
It’s an inspirational story.

JASON
No, “David and Goliath” is an inspirational story, because David won. How does our story end? Well, here’s our homeland. Oh, except for the “land” part.

(pause)

DONALD
It was a brave fight. And it was the right fight. The outcome doesn’t change that.

(pause)

JASON
I know, Dad. It’s just... It’s the past. It’s gone. I’m just focused on other things.

DONALD
Yep. Well. You’re not alone.

(the boat runs up against something and lurches slightly. DONALD reaches down over the side of the boat and finds a tiny point of land sticking up an inch out of the water. he holds it at arm’s length to push the boat away from it.)

JASON
Is that...?

DONALD
Put your hand there.
(DONALD takes JASON’s hand and holds it on top of the point of land.)
That’s the highest point on Tuvalu. That’s your soil. It doesn’t matter if you can’t see it anymore. It’s always yours.
(pause)
You feel that?

(pause)

JASON
Yeah.

DONALD
I used to have to reach up to put my hand on this point. You could sit here and watch the sun set into the South Pacific. You had a view of the whole nation stretching out in all directions, up to sixteen feet below you in some places.
(DONALD removes his hand. JASON keeps his in place.)
That’s yours.

(pause)

JASON
Yeah.

(DONALD looks around at the surrounding ocean while JASON continues to contemplate the land under his hand)

DONALD
I suppose the sunset must happen a few seconds sooner now than when I was a kid.
(he reaches to the floor of the boat and pulls up a plastic bottle of water. he unscrews the cap and takes a swig. he holds it out to JASON.)
You want to do the honors?

(JASON looks at his dad and takes the bottle. he holds it out over the tip of land and pours. the water level gradually rises until the land disappears beneath it. he hands the bottle back to DONALD, who screws the cap back on. DONALD rows the boat off stage, while JASON stares at the point where the land was.)