The Law of Gravity

Olivier Sylvestre, Bobby Theodore

• Publisher: Playwrights Canada Press
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9780369101693
• eBook ISBN: 9780369101716
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Canadian Drama
• Index: Literature

Dom has had a rough go of things so far. At fourteen, he has the hardened look of someone who's had to fight for everything.

Fred has just moved to Not-The-City, a new place to try to disappear. But he didn't expect to actually make friends. He just hopes he's accepted for how he looks.

When Dom and Fred meet on a hill overlooking a bridge that connects Not-The-City to The City, a place where anyone can be anything they want, the two find a refuge in one another and make a pact: they'll cross the bridge at the end of the school year. They'll be free. What could happen by then? Who will they be? And will the bridge even let them cross?

1. The Wrong Side

Dom

Okay so

this is how it starts.

Fred

This story

Dom

On the third of September.

Fred

Grade 9, fourteen, not fifteen, not yet.

Dom

Here I am—

on the edge of the cliff

with the big white Letters

you can see from far away

like big white teeth,

a beacon, informing the world what’s here, over on this side—

Not-The-City.

Fred

I’m new here—

It’s all lawns, pools, prefab houses, golden retrievers, muscle cars

far as the eye can see.

There’s even a replica rocket that’ll never take off,

right in the middle of the highway.

Help. Me. Please.

Dom

Birds are circling around me.

Hey, guys . . . Knock it off. I’m not a french fry, okay.

I look across the river, at what’s on the other side—factories, promises.

The City.

I’d fly over there if I were like you.

I’m hopeless.

Fred

After we’re moved in, I log on,

looking for a friend.

Dom

School’s called Happy Hills.

The name’s enough to make you hurl.

And just as I’m thinking that—

Fred

Hey. How’s it going?

Pause.

Dom

Who are you, what do you want, I don’t even know you.

Fred

We just got here.

Me, my father, and my brother Bruno.

You in 4-E?

Dom

Oh, God. You too?

Fred

You’re the first person I’ve talked to—I don’t know anything about this place.

Pause.

Dom

Really?

Fred

You wanna be friends?

Dom

I’m warning you—I never laugh, I have no friends,

and I hate everything everyone else likes.

Any questions?

Fred

Several.

First—where can you get

decent shoes around here?

Dom

Don’t tell me someone with actual taste

just moved to Not-The-City?

Fred

Second—where’s the highest spot

to look at the stars?

Dom

Do you have a third?

Fred

Not yet. But it’s coming.

Dom

I tell him I know a place—the big Letters.

At the top of the cliff, close to the bridge,

advertising our disaster of a non-city to the world.

But I’m warning you, the path there is steep, dirty,

and desperate, full of twists and turns, and totally muddy.

You’re gonna scream and swear at the whole world.

Fred

Sounds awesome!

Dom

Yeah, well . . .

Pause.

Okay. Sending you the lo...

Table of contents

• Copyright
• Dedication
• Production History
• Characters
• Epigraph
• Prologue
• 1. The Wrong Side
• 2. This Guy from Class
• 3. Bitches
• 4. The Mirror
• 5. Disguises
• 6. The Person
• 7. Lobotomy
• 8. Love
• 9. The Actor
• 10. Clothes
• 11. Birds
• 12. The Bridge
• Acknowledgements
• About the Author
• About the Translator