Maps
June 24th, 2020
Starring: Erika (female, mid/late 20’s), Curt (male, mid/late 20’s)
A small house kitchen. Erika sits at the table, with a book. She looks tired. Curt enters, wearing a backpack. He looks tired. He puts it down on the countertop.
CURT
Oh. Hey.
I didn’t think you’d be up.
ERIKA
I wanted to say hi.
Your plate’s in the microwave.
CURT
Thanks.
He warms up the plate, grabbing a fork as it counts down.
How was the hotline?
ERIKA
A few calls. Overall, pretty quiet.
CURT
Anything serious?
ERIKA
It always is.
But no, nothing too...you know.
Curt grabs his food and sits at the table, across from Erika. He shovels food down.
How was research?
CURT
Fine. Long. A lot of 300 year old dust.
ERIKA
You were in the archives all day?
CURT
Pretty much.
ERIKA
You didn’t text back. I was kind of worried.
CURT
They confiscate your phone when you get in there. They don’t want you taking photos.
ERIKA
No breaks, nothing?
CURT
No, I pretty much worked straight through.
ERIKA
Ok.
CURT
Ok?
ERIKA
Yeah. Ok.
CURT
Did I do something wrong?
ERIKA
No.
CURT
I was working.
ERIKA
I know.
CURT
It seems like you want to say more—
ERIKA
That’s not true—
CURT
I’d prefer if you just told me what was on your mind—
ERIKA
Nothing’s on my mind—
CURT
Do you need more from me, or something?
ERIKA
I didn’t mean anything by it. My brain farted.
CURT
Okay. As long as that’s true—
ERIKA
It is.
…
So did you read anything good? New info, helpful stuff?
CURT
Maybe.
We don’t have to talk about it.
ERIKA
I want to. You said before I haven’t taken enough interest so...I’m asking. Unless you’re tired or—
CURT
No, I appreciate it.
…
I was looking at these old sea logs.
I mean
I don’t even know if any of it’s going to go into the dissertation...but it’s kind of interesting, I think.
...
So I was looking at these logs of this captain from the early 1700’s. It’s basically a diary from one of his voyages.
ERIKA
Who’s the captain?
CURT
He’s just some British dude, not that important.
ERIKA
Why’s he sailing?
CURT
It’s a supply drop of something. I haven’t really figured out exactly what and why. But anyway, the other main purpose of the whole trip was for cartography. Some English patron wanted a map drawn of the lower colonies and the caribbean coastal areas, so they hire this cartographer, Blythe, to do it. So after the ship did the drop-off, they were going to sail a bit longer around the area, get the research, draw the map, so on and so forth.
ERIKA
Ok.
CURT
So this guy Blythe brings this apprentice with him. Overton. Real young, like mid teens. And he seems like kind of a quiet kid. Nothing strange, just kind of a watch and observe type.
ERIKA
Ok…
CURT
So then they do the whole Atlantic journey and the supply drop, which nothing apparently really happens, according to the captain. But then, when the whole coastal cruise starts, things seem to go differently. They’re starting to map everything, and it’s all good, but then Overton, the kid, gets really really sick. “Bedridden,” as described. He wasn’t going to die, but he needed to recover, so they quarantined him in private quarters, which he wasn’t getting before. So in the meantime Blythe’s doing his mapping without Overton, and nobody sees this kid at all for like a week or two.
So then after that they’re in the Gulf of Mexico area, and some sailor comes to the captain and says that Overton’s better. So the captain goes to check on him, and sure enough, Overton is better. In fact, it doesn’t really seem like he was very sick at all, at least according to the captain.
ERIKA
So—?
CURT
Exactly. If he wasn’t that sick or not at all, what was the point?
Well it turns out that the private room Overton was staying in was on the starboard side of the ship, and it had a desk and a window that allowed him to see the coastline from the room. And although he couldn’t prove it, the captain believed that Overton was looking for a way to make a map of his own. Like, separate from Blythe’s.
ERIKA
But the only way he could do it is if he had the space and the time—
CURT
Right. So the captain does some digging, and he finds this separate map that Overton’s been drawing in the meantime. And it’s really good. At least on par with Blythe’s, but without having a full view and all the instruments and stuff. It’s impressive.
ERIKA
But Blythe has no clue.
CURT
No clue. And the captain seems to know that if he rats to Blythe that his apprentice is undercutting him, Overton’s going to get his ass handed to him, lose the apprenticeship, his future, everything. So the captain decides to let Overton stay in the private quarters for the remainder of the trip, as a “medical precaution,” but really it’s just to cover up the whole secret map he’s making. So Overton is assisting Blythe’s map by day, and drawing his own by night.
ERIKA
So then what?
CURT
That’s kind of all of it. Blythe drew his map, Overton drew his map, they eventually sailed back to the UK.
ERIKA
But Blythe never caught wind?
CURT
Doesn’t seem like it.
ERIKA
Have you seen their maps? Can you?
CURT
I’ve seen a scan of Blythe’s, or one similar to it. It’s very good. I mean, not by today’s standards, but for the time…
ERIKA
What about Overton’s?
CURT
Nope. There was never a circulated map with his name on it, at least that I’ve seen.
ERIKA
Weird.
CURT
Yeah. The captain writes that at least when he saw it, it was a very different style than Blythe’s. There was no universal scientific tool to see where things actually were, so every map was subjective to the cartographer. Blythe’s kind of focuses on the colonies and the caribbean in relation to Britain. It’s a bit less detailed, but a lot more comprehensive. Overton’s was said to be more interested in the coastal topography of the “new world” itself. All details.
Same view, entirely different perspective.
ERIKA
But nobody’s seen it.
CURT
Nope.
...
ERIKA
That’s pretty cool. The whole thing.
CURT
Yeah. I mean, I think so.
…
CURT
What?
ERIKA
What?
CURT
What’s the look?
ERIKA
Nothing, I’m listening. I was listening to the story.
CURT
Ok, sorry...
It’s just you made that comment before and then—
ERIKA
I thought we were over it. I am.
CURT
I know, but I still get this sense of like...distrust.
ERIKA
I think at this point you’re fabricating something out of literally nothing.
CURT
Alright, I’m done. I promise. I just wanted to make sure you’re saying everything you want to say.
ERIKA
I have. Have you said everything you want to say?
CURT
Yeah. And probably then some.
ERIKA
Ok.
…
CURT
Okay I know this is me just saying more but
I do feel like we’re pulling apart. A little.
And maybe all this is me reacting to that, or worried that I’m going to lose that. And I can’t speak for you but I don’t want to lose it. And if I’m doing anything that maybe is causing tension I would love if you would tell me.
…
ERIKA
You read into things so much. Like, everything I do, you’re so worried about what it means, or what it says about you or me or us. And it’s part of why I’m so attracted to you. But you don’t need it as much as you do. You end up torturing yourself.
And I’m not perfect. Obviously not. There’s always shit to be worked on. But how I see it, we’re not in dire straits. We’re not going to implode. It’s not life or death.
This isn’t the hotline, you know?
CURT
Yeah. No, it’s not.
…
A short silence is broken by an Erika yawn.
Bedtime?
ERIKA
Oh yes.
Coming?
CURT
Yeah.
Thanks for sitting with me.
Love you.
ERIKA
You know it.
Erika goes off to bed. Curt watches her go, then wills himself out of his chair. He puts his plate in the sink, then looks to the bedroom door. Erika has left it open, just a crack.
CURT
Do I?