Pretty Goblins

Beth Graham

• Publisher: Playwrights Canada Press
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9780369101297
• eBook ISBN: 9780369101310
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Canadian Drama
• Index: Literature

From holding hands in the womb to holding each other's hair back when they puked, twins Laura and Lizzie grew up only having each other. They couldn't count on their practically feral mom, absent dad, or even the boys they liked. They're polar opposites—Laura's reserved while Lizzie's reckless—but their shared mischievous giggles and dreams for the future kept them going. One day, Laura finds a familiar book of poems in Lizzie's apartment and is dragged through their turbulent past. Together, the sisters relive their complicated history in an effort to make sense of the present. Framed by the beauty of a well-loved poem, this story of ferocious sisterhood, addiction, and the aftermath of trauma will leave howls echoing in your ears.

Pretty Goblins

Laura, wearing a coat, opens the door to Lizzie’s apartment. For a moment, she stands at the threshold, framed in the doorway. She sniffs the air.

Laura: Ugh.

Her gaze sweeps the room and comes to rest on the bed. She shakes her head in disbelief.

Oh my god.

She sets her purse down and inspects the rest of the room, opening a dresser drawer, running her hand over a chair, picking up items on the table, etc. The apartment and its contents are a lot for Laura to take in. She makes her way over to the bed. Laura touches the covers, strokes the pillow. She discovers a book (a collection of poems) on or by the bed.

No way.

She reads the front cover. She opens the book and reads an inscription written inside.

. . .

She turns to a page with a torn corner and stares at the text.

(reading aloud) Morning and evening

Maids heard the goblins cry:

“Come buy our orchard fruits,

Come buy, come buy:”

Lizzie has emerged, unseen by Laura. Laura continues reciting the poem from memory.

(by heart) “Apples and quinces,

Lemons and oranges,”

Both: “Plump unpeck’d cherries,

Melons and raspberries,”

Laura: Lizzie?

Lizzie: “Bloom-down-cheek’d peaches

Swart-headed mulberries”

Swart-headed. Ya gotta love ye olde English.

Laura: Lizard!

Lizzie: Ta da!

Laura: You’re here.

Lizzie: No shit.

Laura: You — you look . . .

Lizzie: Beyond terrible.

Laura: No, no, you look okay.

Lizzie: Okay? Wow, you really know how to make a gal feel good about her personal appearance.

Laura: I mean, you look the same as ever.

Lizzie: You’re diggin’ yourself deeper.

Laura: What the hell am I supposed to say?

Lizzie: Oh I don’t know, that you’re happy to see me?

Laura: I am!

Laura hugs Lizzie.

I really am.

Lizzie: That’s more like it.

Laura: I missed you like stink, ya dink.

Lizzie: If I’d known you were gonna show up like this, I would’ve tidied up.

Laura: There’s no windows in here.

Lizzie: Who needs ’em.

Laura: I figured you, of all people, would want to see the sky.

Lizzie: Sky’s overrated.

Laura: And it reeks.

Lizzie: Home sweet home.

Laura: Look what I found. The Book of Poems.

Laura turns to the torn page.

The page is torn. Did you do that?

Lizzie: Just the corner — by accident.

Laura: You’re lucky Mom isn’t around. She’d’ve given you shit.

Lizzie: (imitating their mother) “You wreck everything, you ungrateful little twat!”

Laura laughs.

Laura: Twat. She had such a way with words.

Laura returns to the book.

“Goblin Market.” Her favourite.

Lizzie: Mine t...

Table of contents

• Also by Beth Graham
• Copyright
• Production History
• Characters
• Pretty Goblins
• Acknowledgements
• About the Author