No Man's Land
by Kevin Major

(HAYWARD escapes MYERS and the commotion of the village. He removes a letter from his pocket, unfolds it, straightens out the creases, and begins to read what he has written. His mother enters, sits. From her purse she removes a letter, unfolds it.)

HAYWARD: Dear Mother. I have been thinking today of what it will be that you will find most different about me when I return. No moustache, though many of the other officers have them now. I made the attempt, as I told you before, but it would not grow to a thickness to match any of theirs so I recently did away with it. Tell Father his supply of wax was premature. I shared it out among several of the new lance jacks. (Pause.) I think you will find me different in outlook. I have seen much beyond the shores of Newfoundland and should think I will bring back remembrances of places most people on our fair Island know nothing about.

MRS. HAYWARD (reading): Still, I shall be very glad to be home. Nothing would do my heart better than to see you and Amy. And to walk along Monkstown Road to visit Uncle Harold. Is he still as talkative as ever?

HAYWARD: Then go to the Nickel to take in a moving picture with some of the old school chums.

MRS. HAYWARD: The next time you are in Bannerman Park, stop near the field where we used to play football and think of me. We have our matches still, here in France, and sometimes the days are not far off the ones I left behind.

HAYWARD: Don’t worry about me. I am in charge of a good bunch of men and we all know what we are about. If one or two are wounded, then that is all that can be done. It means they’ll be home all the quicker.

MRS. HAYWARD: Remember me to Amy. Tell her that her brother will buy her the most wonderful perfume he can find the next time he’s on leave. (Pause.) Your loving son, Allan.

(MRS. HAYWARD folds letter and puts it away, as does HAYWARD.)

MRS. HAYWARD (composing a letter to him in her mind): Dearest son. I stopped by Bannerman Park, on my way to a meeting of the Women’s Patriotic Association at Government House. Lady Davidson has asked me to take charge of the groups making bandages and surgical dressings. You should see the piles of them we send off every month to the hospitals in England and France. (Pause.) Allan, I know the war must he far worse than your letters tell. I fear the truth is more than I could I bear. How I pray every day for you. How I wish there was more I could be doing to keep you safe.