Act Two

(In class. LEO and SARAH sit together. Nearby is an empty seat.)

LEO: I can’t concentrate on this chemistry.
SARAH: Why, are you thinking about the draft?
LEO: Yeah, and I don’t want to go.
SARAH: I was talking to my old babysitter, and she said you could join a religious group, you know, like the Quakers, and then maybe you don’t have to.
LEO: You mean, be a conscientious objector?
SARAH: Yeah. I guess they ask you a whole bunch of questions.
LEO: Yeah, like, do you object to all wars, and, what would you do if someone killed your mother, that kind of stuff?
SARAH: Well, all you gotta say is, yes, I object, and no, I wouldn’t kill the guy who killed my mother.
LEO: But I don’t know if I believe that.
SARAH: Yeah, but you don’t want to die in Vietnam, do you?
LEO: Well, no.
SARAH: Then maybe it’s a good time to start believing it.
(DWIGHT enters, out of breath).
DWIGHT: Hey guys! There’s a riot down on Miffland! People are throwing rocks! They’ve taken over Witte Hall! Come on!
SARAH: But what about Chemistry class?
DWIGHT: Ah, forget Chemistry class! What can the teacher do?
LEO: Well, I’m sick of Chemistry anyway. Let’s go!
(All leave, PROTESTERS and POLICEMAN enter)

POLICEMAN: Stand back! Stand back!
PROTESTER #1: heck no, we won’t go! US out of Vietnam! US out of Cambodia! Power to the people! Right on!
PROTESTER #2 Stop the discrimination at the university!
PROTESTER #3: Power to the people! Right on! Down with Army Math! Close Army Math!
PROTESTER #4: 1, 2, 3, 4!
POLICEMAN: Get going! Get out of here or I’ll beat you! Now!
KARL: Down with Army Math! University of Wisconsin out of Vietnam! No more war!
DWIGHT: Stop discrimination at the University of Wisconsin! Close down Army Math! No more army recruiters!
DAVID: It’s a revolution! The people are uprising! Down with the system! Down with the government!
POLICEMAN: OK, I’ve had it! Get out of here! Go on! Go home!
(POLICEMAN sets gun out to block the way)
(SARAH puts flower in gun, everyone cheers, POLICEMAN makes angry face)

(back in classroom)(SARAH, DWIGHT, & LEO sit together)
LEO: Boy, this Chemistry is hard!
DAVID: It’s better than getting drafted, isn’t it?
LEO: It’s not helping me. I got number 52, I’m probably going in September.
SARAH: This draft is so sexist. They only call up men.
LEO: Believe me, you don’t want to get drafted. Who wants to die?
DAVID: (sarcastically) What’s the matter, don’t you believe the government line….that we’re fighting communism? That we need to help the South fight the north to stop the evils of communism?
LEO: I don’t believe it.
DAVID: Neither do I.
SARAH: It’s so obvious that they’re lying.
DAVID: (staring at book) Hey, far out. Do you realize that with this fertilizer, and what it’s made of, you could make a bomb?
SARAH: Really? Let me see that!