The Wolves: A Play

Midfield, #00 is lying face down in silence. Suddenly, she jumps to her feet, eyes reddened, and melts down in fury. She dumps a bag of balls on the field and kicks them offstage as hard as possible. Weeping and breathing heavily, she rips her jersey to reveal the black sports bra underneath, falls to her knees, and starts to scream.

Alone on the field, #46 and #11 stare awkwardly at each other until #46, who caught the cold that ran through the team over the course of the play, sneezes. Uncomfortable, the girls begin a stilted conversation that is punctuated by long silences. Something happened, and #46 asks how #11 is doing; she answers not well. #11 returns the question, and #46 mentions the cold. #46 wonders if they will have to forfeit, and #11 presumes they will unless four more players arrive. #46 asks about the rest of the team, and #11 saw them at school but says everything was strange. #8 enters in a rush, a large pimple on her face, and questions whether they’re going to have to forfeit or not. Their record is now 5-2, since they lost the game against Fusion and had to forfeit last week’s game. #46 is surprised last week’s game counted against them as a forfeit. #8 begins texting their teammates to get them to appear.

#8 admits everything felt weird, and it’s compounded by the crying that starts at any given moment. #11 tells the others her dad is trying to convince her to have a conversation about what happened, but she really doesn’t want to talk about it. At the same time, it’s all #11 talks about. Everything she says is about it, particularly when she’s behind the wheel with her dad teaching her to drive. #11 wants her dad to go back to being her dad instead of her therapist. #46 remembers #11’s mother is actually a therapist, and #11 says her dad is a therapist too, adding, “I don’t wanna talk about it” (145). They change the subject to #11’s recent acquisition of a learner’s permit. Suddenly, #8 lets out an exasperated, pent-up scream about the painful pimple on her face. She skipped school yesterday because she woke up with the pimple. #46 asks the other two about Alex and how she is handling things; the girls exchange a look before noting she isn’t doing well.

According to Kristen—who #46 doesn’t know because she plays with the others on the travel team, which #46 learns is bigger than the indoor team—Alex didn’t come to school since it happened. #11 and #8 go through the list of the other girls who play in the spring, one of whom #46 comments may have met her at the service. The three girls fall silent. Then #8 confesses she can’t stop staring at the team photo with the orange slices, while #11 admits she can’t look at it without being unsettled. #00 and #2 enter, and the five girls greet each other, noting they only need one more to avoid forfeiting. #00 comments she hasn’t seen #46 around, and #46 admits she just sits, lonely, in her yurt and that she misses the team. #46 acknowledges #00 is speaking, suggesting she stopped for a while. #11 asks how #00 is doing, and #8 questions whether she needs to vomit. But #00 explains she suddenly isn’t so anxious and intense about being a perfect goalie, a mentality that dominated her psyche on and off the field. #00 adds this change could be because she knew they would probably have to forfeit. They pass another round of describing the situation as “weird,” but this time #11 adds, “She shouldn’t have worn headphones,” to which #00 contends, “That guy should have scraped his windshield or like defrosted it” (153). #11 counters it might have made a difference if she had been able to hear him.

#46 notices the opposing team, the Hornets, are here. #00 expresses that, in this moment, she badly wants to win a game. At #46’s suggestion, they start doing passing drills. Then, led by #8, they sing a Schoolhouse Rock song that musicalizes the Preamble to the Constitution. This raises their spirits as they remember learning it in grade school. Then, #25 enters, and the girls are shocked to discover she shaved her head, complimenting her on the new style. #25 assumed they’d forfeit, but they now have enough team members to play. #25 hesitantly agrees, exiting to tell the referee. #11 and #2 aren’t sure if they want to play, although #00 is raring to go. #8 shouts, “NO!!” and sobs (158). #2 tries to console her. Through tears, #8 explains she just received the news nationals will be in Tulsa rather than Miami. #13 enters, also surprised they don’t have to forfeit. #8 is still crying that she’ll never get to see Disney World.

Looking at #13, #11 asks, “…Are you on crack or something?” (160). #13 explains she is struggling with insomnia and some asthma attacks. #25 returns, prompting a fresh reaction to her hair by #13. #25 reluctantly tells them Louise Peterson helped her shave it. Suddenly, #2 asks to feel #25’s head. The girls all feel her hair, marveling at how soft it is. #2 considers shaving her own head. At #25’s prompting, they do warm-ups. #11 notices Coach Patrick is in the stands and that a surprisingly large number of people showed up due to the network of parental texting. #2 comments he gave a lovely speech, and they all wave. #13 wonders who the “weirdo witch lady” is beside him (164), and #46 says it’s her mother attending her first game. Louise is also in the bleachers, which makes #25 blush. Louise was helping her cope as she has much experience with loss, including the trauma of finding her brother’s body in the garage.

The girls talk about their own limited, and in some cases nonexistent, experience with death. Abruptly, #25 comments this time “she shouldn’t have worn headphones,” and #00 replies “he should have defrosted you know” (167). #13 argues going for a run at six in the morning in the snow was absurd. #7 enters, announcing, “Sup bitches” (167), and the team greets her, some calling her Alex. #7 runs through most of the things the team discussed: #25’s hair, the weirdness, the people in the crowd, Coach Patrick, and Tulsa, also adding her boyfriend, Dan, took time off school to be with her. Then, a Soccer Mom enters and approaches the girls, “manic with grief” and commenting on how wonderful they all look (170). They respond with a timid group hello. With frenzied cheer, she rambles about her daughter, remembering she taught her to speak with a confident directness in tone. But her daughter, who she identifies by name as Megan, was headstrong and refused to change the way she spoke.

Suddenly, the Soccer Mom addresses #2, asking if she’s eating and expressing concern about how thin she is. Then she transitions into an enthusiastic pep talk about winning today, unraveling as she adds, “And Megan’s watching, Megan is” (172). Shifting gears again, the Soccer Mom, upset, remembers she forgot something in the car and rushes off. There is a long, silent moment until the offstage referee blows the whistle. Unnerved, #25 tells the team their starting positions. #7 wishes them luck, but #25 stops her and invites her to stay and do the team cheer. The girls, including #7, huddle together. They start out small, whisper-chanting, “We are the Wolves” (174-75), repeating it with growing intensity until they are shouting it, “until it feels rabid and raw and Bacchic” (174). The Soccer Mom reenters as they howl and pant. They may or may not notice her standing there, holding a bag of orange slices.