Matter, Anti-

Anti-Matter

A Play in One Act by J.B. Pravda

The scene opens on a small urban college campus; all the action is set
in a large faculty lounge with furnishings so old they appear 'retro'
modern; there is a prominent bench style sofa with dimpled dark orange
vinyl covering with stained stainless steel legs and padded armrests;
two colleagues who have repaired to this quasi-haven; they vaguely know
each other from obligatory campus functions, but not by name. They are
smoking jealously, almost like kids in a school bathroom,
furtively.

The time is an uneventful Wednesday afternoon, a day reserved for no
class instruction.

MAN(50ish, single): Anything&;#8230;the matter?

WOMAN(40ish, no ring): [looking startled from a seemingly vacant
reverie] Do we know each other?

MAN: Not sure&;#8230;..you just looked troubled&;#8230;.

WOMAN: No, no, just pensive; you do look familiar&;#8230;.

MAN: [putting out cigar] Me, first year physics,
you?&;#8230;&;#8230;

WOMAN: Oh, sorry, senior economics,&;#8230;.uh,
Jane&;#8230;.

MAN: Pretty awful, sort of branded by what we&;#8230;do; it is
customary, 'he said, awkwardly', to use one's personal identity away
from&;#8230;.this (motions with his hand toward
space)&;#8230;Jim..Tauzin

[They exchange mini-wavelike greetings across the large room]

WOMAN: I just got back from an informal reunion of sorts with my old
classmates; we met in Woodstock&;#8230;.

MAN: brings back memories&;#8230;.

WOMAN: You know, I took so much abuse over economics&;#8230;.
'Fellow Traveller of Predatory Capitalism',&;#8230;.on my name
tag!

MAN: Cruel&;#8230;.and droll&;#8230;.

WOMAN: No matter&;#8230;&;#8230;enough about my
troubles&;#8230;..

MAN: Well, in my little world, 'matter'
&;#8230;.matters&;#8230;.and, of course, energy&;#8230;.

WOMAN: Freshmen!&;#8230;..sounds like mostly 'energy' to
me&;#8230;.(she sighs &; laughs gently)

MAN: Well, as a 'matter' of fact&;#8230;.(he is self amused)

WOMAN: Hey, my sympathies are yours&;#8230;.at least all I need to
do is sell my students one physical law: 'Consumerism Uber
Allis'&;#8230;

MAN: That's all---in this world, anyway, that
matters&;#8230;.stuff&;#8230;. 'matter'! (smiling)

WOMAN: (looking wistfully out the window at space in general) What must
it have been like for people before&;#8230;&;#8230;you know, all
THIS&;#8230;(she points out the window, surveying material reality
with the sweep of her hand, dismissively)

MAN: &;#8230;.between&;#8230; 'Let there be light' and say 150
years ago&;#8230;.wow&;#8230;.haven't really thought about
this&;#8230;since my student days, spell that with a 'z'!

WOMAN: Funny, feels like I've been in one, a daze, for much
longer&;#8230;.(snapping back to 'reality')&;#8230;you know,
'preverbal', cavedwelling proto-man&;#8230;.

MAN: let's not forget proto-woman&;#8230;

WOMAN: Be serious!

MAN: What could be more; no, strange, though, out of all those
wonderful drawings, no proto-'Mona Lisa', just four legged beasts,
hands, even UFOs, but no women&;#8230;

WOMAN: Chalk it up&;#8230;..hey, they did,
literally&;#8230;.(smiling) to bare necessities, like
food&;#8230;

MAN: Makes you wonder&;#8230;doesn't it&;#8230;did they conceive
of what we call 'beauty' in terms beyond future meals?

WOMAN: still, must have fully sensed living, moment to
moment&;#8230;what we call being in the NOW&;#8230;

MAN: yet we seem to spend most of our time and energy on past and
future.

WOMAN: Memories&;#8230;.and plans; who was it, Lennon, said: 'Life's
what happens when you're busy making&;#8230;..them'?

MAN: hey, your old pals would back off now if they heard that!

WOMAN: (preoccupied) Yet, doesn't your field give us moderns some cold
comfort, what with matter being incapable of destruction, right?

MAN: Don't know about comfort, but, yes, it's just 'transformed', into
energy, then maybe other matter, again&;#8230;unless it encounters
'antimatter'&;#8230;

WOMAN: And just how likely is&;#8230;.that?! (alarmed)

MAN: Well, it's largely theoretical&;#8230;.

WOMAN: So, we're far more likely to be hit by &;#8230;.a
bus&;#8230;.

MAN: Well, to scale, sure&;#8230;.this expanding Universe is a big
pool of time and space, although&;#8230;

WOMAN: Are we gonna need Feynman diagrams?!

MAN: (surprised by her knowledge) Not
exactly&;#8230;&;#8230;it's just that we don't actually know
what, say, 90+\% of the Universe contains&;#8230;.what we call 'dark
matter'&;#8230;.(squinting, pensively)..or, how visible matter
formed in the first place, like galaxies&;#8230;.

WOMAN: Are you teaching astrophysics or 'Star Wars'?!

MAN: See, that's not as sarcastic as you think----------call it 'the
force', or 'aether', which many geniuses as late as the early 20th
century called it-----we just don't know.

WOMAN: (sympathetically) Much like the stock market, then, you don't
really know what some solid citizen white collars will
do&;#8230;till it's done!

MAN: Well, to scale&;#8230;.

WOMAN: Isn't the human psyche like a mini-Universe, and you can't
predict when it will meet ITS anti-matter, its unknowns?

MAN: Wow, hadn't looked at it that way&;#8230;&;#8230;good thing
I'm not invested&;#8230;.

WOMAN: Hey, they run banks, too!

MAN: So, what you're suggesting&;#8230;..is&;#8230;.that life's a
crap shoot?

WOMAN: Don't look at me, just look up 'existential
dread'----Kierkergaard, Sartre: 'man's helplessness in an ever more
complex world, where chaos lives within order, right?

MAN: Antimatter&;#8230;..it's part of nature, the Universe,
regardless of probability and, AND, in a complex dynamical
system&;#8230;&;#8230;

WOMAN: 'You never step in the same river
twice'&;#8230;&;#8230;..am I warm?

MAN: Tell me something, know of any comfortable
caves&;#8230;&;#8230;.

WOMAN: &;#8230;.mind over matter&;#8230;besides, it
doesn't&;#8230;matter!
[stage direction: they get up, leave, leaving their briefcases
behind]