Is she drugging me? (TEDDY looks down.) She’s not coming to your room, is she? (TEDDY looks down.) When we were kids, my parents gave me the task of walking in on her with her boyfriends. I was to keep any trouble from happening. And I did for a long time. But then she rebelled. She had something on me. I forget what. But after that, I would walk in on the most disgusting things. Her body. She used her body in such ways.
You couldn’t imagine. It was horrible. And the men didn’t care. Some of them liked it. They would come back for more. It would make me feel so strangely. It was so disgusting. I’d hate to think she’s getting up in the middle of the night and doing things like that to you. She’s not coming to your room, is she, Teddy?
6.
CELIA
It’s best, I think, to just assume that everything you do will work out. If you think too much about details, it’ll only make things more complicated. Just do what you do. Everything can be justified if you think hard enough. And once you have your justification, well, you can just hold onto it. It’s yours. It’s there to help you. Who cares if it’s true? As long as it makes you feel better. I feel the same way about love.
Don’t you?
Well, I’ll tell you something. Consider it a parting gift. Love is . . . What love is, really, when it comes down to it, it’s the thing that makes the day bearable. It doesn’t matter if it abides by other people’s rules. It doesn’t matter if it involves a certain amount of sex or a certain amount of kissing or if someone gets hit. It doesn’t matter what the actual mechanics of the relationship are. At the end of the day, if it makes you feel better, then you should do it, everyone else be damned.
7.
CELIA
(Talking to Teddy's corpse)
I dug you up because I wanted to play with you Teddy, but you’re dead for good, aren’t you? Oh, what did I do? I’m so stupid. I knew I would regret it but I did it anyway, didn’t I, and here you are and anyone can see, you’re no fun anymore. In that back of my mind there’s always that voice saying you can dig him up again after, but I always forget that once I get you back, you’re not going to be any fun at all. I thought, maybe a little bit of fun. I could move your face around and pretend like we’re having a conversation, but I see you now and I just don’t want to. It seems pointless.
Teddy, we must live with the mistakes we make. That is the lesson here. Not for you, of course, but for me. You must live with the mistakes you make. So I’m prepared to live with and maybe learn from this mistake. I’m beginning to think some of my loneliness may be my own fault. Ah, but you would have left anyway, and when I saw you it would make me lonelier still. But lonelier than now? Perhaps not. I think nothing is lonelier than now. I guess I should put you back in the ground. I just don’t want to let you go.
Let me look at you for a bit. That’s it. Don’t move. Just let me look at you.
Incendiary
1.
ELISE
I want to stop. I
really do. I’m trying. I really am.
But I don’t think you understand.
A fire is the most beautiful thing ever created. I dare you to show me a work of art that can
rival a five alarm fire. You couldn’t do
it. You just couldn’t. And I like art as much as the next person but
I wonder always when I see a Van Gogh or a Rembrant--I imagine, as I’m sure you
do, what it would look like on fire. That
second before the painting caves in, that would be . . . it would be . . .
incomparable. But sadly, I don’t think
any of us will live to see it. We could
burn prints, I suppose, cheap gift store prints, but it would just be
paper. No melting paint, no
disintegrating wood. It’s a waste.
There is nothing in this world like fire. At first it’s just a match, an idea, a spark,
a little yellow flame, and it need nurturing to grow to an inferno. Those oranges, those yellows, those cores of
blue don’t just happen by themselves.
They take planning. They take
skill. They take love. I am not some Zippo-flicking fourteen year
old—no. I am an artist. I can light a fire so precise all that’s left
of the building is dust while the rest of the block is miraculously
untouched. And of course, me and the
boys are always around to come and put it out in case anything should happen.
2.
ELISE
You live alone. No
pets even. You drink too much. You swear too much. You call your mother on Sundays. You never call your father. Your socks often don’t match. You never learned to swim. You’ve never been married but you had an
ex-girlfriend you loved more than anything.
She died when a tour boat accidentally caught fire in the
Caribbean. You were supposed to be on that
boat but you couldn’t get the time off.
Some nights you wished you had died with her—suffocated and then burned
to death. Other times you imagine you
could have saved her even though you never learned to swim. You couldn’t cope for a while after her death. They gave you time off after you crashed up a
coupe or two. Then you spent a little
time in a white room with cushy walls.
When you returned they gave you fire duty. You have an almost religious need to catch
this arsonist. And while I believe you
have interest in me, I can’t help but think deep down, perhaps subconsciously,
you want to be close to me in case it helps your case in the long run. That and I’m the best looking firefighter in
New York. Although they didn’t print
that.
3.
(ELISE and JAKE continue to kiss as they move into the space that is
JAKE’s apartment. They undress as they
kiss, but ELISE’s big rubber boots stay on.
Then they are making love on the bed, perhaps under the covers, perhaps
not. There are groans of pleasure.)
ELISE
There are many ways to make a fire. Oooh.
Friction is good. Ahhh. Although not the most popular. Pressure.
We like pressure. Mmmm. You can have an electric fire, sure or gas,
grease, a chimney fire. Uuunh. But I like the kind made with intense amounts
of friction. Or one solitary
strike. Mmmm. Of a match.
But yes, the intense pressure of bodies uuummmm colliding oohhh to make
a spark uuuuhhh that may or may nnnnmm not set the whole thing whaaaa into a
blazing mm pulsing mm creature ah with
a mmmm…life of its own.
(They come.
JAKE falls asleep. Exit ELISE)
4.
(ELISE is lighting a fire.)
ELISE
Burn, burn, burn.
I will raise you from a flame and nurture you. Feed you until you grow up into a real
fire. And then you will burn, burn,
burn. You will scratch the sky and you
will scathe the ground and you will be warm and good and you will make me very
happy for a time and then when I put you out that will be happy too because you
have to be snuffed out if you want to come back another day. But let’s not think about that now. Now we raise you to the sky and you will be
powerful and good and fierce. And you
will burn.
5.
ELISE
I’m just saying you better not. Things can catch on fire sometimes I can’t
control. Like your house. Or your husband. And maybe the firefighters will get bad
directions and arrive much much too late to do anything about it and then your
house or your husband will be unrecognizable.
Things like that can happen. I
mean you do what you want, I’m just saying if you like your house and your
husband you might want to reconsider your position on whether or not you should
mention my firestarting career to anyone.
Because I’m really good at eluding cops at least long enough to set
everything you love on fire.
6.
(Bedroom. Night. JAKE snores in bed. ELISE is partially dressed.)
ELISE
I could stay. I
could stay. Oh, but the light and the
heat and the smell, oh the smell. But I
could stay. He has smells. He has heat.
He has other fine attributes.
The light. The sound of a scraping match. Acetone.
Gasoline. Kerosene. The dripping.
The pain in the eyes. The light. The heat.
The billows of smoke. We have too
many buildings, don’t you think? Too
many construction sites, empty warehouses, all so much fuel. It’s a service to take away these extra
dangerous buildings. They are in the
way, they are dry and cracked and falling down and they need a good match, a
good flame a cleansing of the palate, a cleansing of the city.
But I could stay and climb into his arms and breathe
his foul comfort of a breath. I could
cling to his beliefs in right and wrong and the law. I could give up firestarting right now for
good. I could climb back into his bed,
dive under the covers. I could warm
myself on his broad back, lick the back of his neck, put my small hand around
his trigger finger.
But there’s the light.
There’s the heat. There is love
and there is love and there are things that I need. And I
. . .
(ELISE folds JAKE’s, puts it with care on his bed, then kisses him on
the forehead.)
7.
LIZ
I want him to . . . uunh. . . feel pain like I feel
right now. Is that so much to uunh ask?
Can we agree? Ow. He should suffer. He should be in lots of pain for lots of time
and should suffer. Uunh. Like I’m suffering. I want you to hurt him uunh. Like no one ever hurt him. Like he’s never thought it was possible to be
uunh hurt like that. His mind can’t
conceive uuh of that kind of pain. And
his mind will shut down. Ow. And so will his body ahhh until you shock it
awake oooh to make it feel more pain. Uuuuuuuunh.
8.
ELISE
Let’s run away.
There’s an island in the Mediterranean the tourists don’t know
about. It never rains there and the
hurricanes never hit it and you can pick coconuts and bananas off the
trees. You don’t need a fishing pole for
the fish. There are so many they flop
into your arms as if to say eat me for
dinner. We can go there now. With our pensions we’ll live like royalty on
the beaches all day swimming with dolphins and at night we’ll make love until
we become one person.
9.
CARRIE
I mean she’s right; I didn’t help her stop setting
fires. But sometimes it made her so
happy I didn’t even want to help her.
You should have seen the look on her face when she talked about it. It was like when we were first married, Gary
how you used to look at me. Why don’t
you look at me like that anymore? Was it
something I did or something I said or did you just grow sick of me or is it
something else? Am I a bad person? Is
that why you don’t look at me like that anymore?
1.
SHIRLEY
What I need is to be taken
care of. Worshipped even. It’s not what I want. It’s just the position I’m in. The positions I like to be in. You’re powerful man and I like to spend time
with you because of your power. But that
doesn’t mean you give me enough. It’ll
take more than you for me to get everything I need.
1.
(Janet is trashing
EVAN’s room.)
JANET
I never should have let this go on this long. What was I thinking? I let you do what you wanted and this is what
you wanted. This! I let you ruin yourself. What’s wrong with you? From now on you’re going to be normal. You’ll play a sport. You’ll have friends. You’ll sneak out late at night. You’ll sneak into the liquor cabinet and
you’ll kiss girls and smash mailboxes with baseball bats. You will start being normal. And you will not have any birds in your
room. You will not wear shirts with
birds on them. You will start being an
adult. And that means living in this
world with the rest of us. You
understand? We’re throwing all this
out. Everything! All these posters, all these statues! (tearing
more posters, breaking more statues) All the magazines! Where are the magazines?! (JANET
looks under his bed.) Why is there a
dead bird in a shoebox under your bed?
2.
JANET
It’s not easy. I’m
not saying I thought it would be easy. I
don’t know. I could use some help. It’s been the two of us and that has worked
sort of but also it’s not working at all.
If only your father was here. The
way he had with people. He was amazing,
wasn’t he, in his interactions. He would
know how to talk to you. He made people feel good about themselves. It didn’t matter if he was talking to a
mechanic or a doctor. Everyone liked
him. That’s who he was. I don’t know who he was.
Do you remember his funeral?
The whole town came. They said it
was the biggest turnout they ever had.
For weeks people came by with dinners they made, cakes, breads. But then, eventually, they stopped coming and
they forgot about me. It was him they
liked, not me. I was just a reminder he
was gone. And now I go into the grocery
store and there’s no recognition in anyone’s eyes. Maybe they don’t want to remember him. Or maybe they were never really his friends
anyway. I don’t know. Or maybe too much time has passed. Or maybe they found out. Some of them must have known. In a small town like this --You don’t
remember, do you? I hope you don’t
remember. I tried to keep it away from
you. What he did. And how he did it. I thought I knew him. And then with one quick action he made it
clear I didn’t know him at all.
I don’t know why he left us.
He was just lost. I could see it
sometimes in the way he looked off in the distance. He wasn’t there, wouldn’t let me see. So charismatic all the time and then moments
where he wasn’t there. The
darkness. Still. I never thought—Which is why it scares me so
much that you’re having such trouble. A
man like him could do that, then you with all the problems you’re having. Evan?
Evan, baby?
Evan? Evan, honey,
are you there? Evan? Can you let me in?
Should I be worried?
Is this something to worry about?
(pause) Evan?
I’m going to break the door down. I’ll get the sledgehammer. I’ll get the axe. I’ll knock it down. (Beat)
Evan—You’re not like him, are you?
7 Ways To Say I Love You (Smashing Eyes And Little Folded Hands)
1.
TRINA
Ask your parents. They’ll tell you. When I was one and you were two we built sand castles on the beach in Hawaii. And then after we built them, we smashed them with our little folded hands. Then we said to our mothers and fathers, “Mother, Father, we’re going swimming,” and we jumped into the water head first. You thought the water was awfully cold and said so, breaking the surface, gasping for breath. I dove deeper, trying to see what I could. The water was clear and I could see for miles and miles. It was then I decided I would live there underwater in a bed of coral. The crabs would be my friends. But alas, my one-year-old lungs would not hold out so back up I went, but right before I broke the surface I saw something at the very bottom. Something very far, very dark, out of the corner of my very young awareness. I came up top but didn’t stop to watch you doggie paddle but instead soared to the bottom past fishes and dolphins and sea lions and sharks. And I was inches from the bottom when my lungs again started to wail at me. But by then I could see them—two dark circles—darker than dark. Blacker than anything. And I reached out my toddler hand and gave one tremendous kick and grabbed them tightly. And that’s where I found these amazing eyes of mine that I’ve been wearing ever since. (Pause.) When I came to the surface you were gone. Up and left with your mother and father. And inexplicably, my mother and father were gone too. But I had my eyes. And they made me strong.
THE WHY OVERHEAD
1.
KAREN
(to her DOG)
I see you looking at me. I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking I should get dressed and go to work. “Get going,” your eyes say. But I am moving. You might not see it, but I’m moving. It’s slow sure, but I’m faster than erosion. Faster than continental drift. But wait a minute. Let me rest. What’s the hurry? Live in the moment here with me. I’m here right now and I aim to stay here for another few minutes, an hour, a day. Everything will go on without me. I didn’t go to work yesterday or the day before and yet the world continues to revolve. New York does not need me. People go about their lives. No one calls to ask where I am. It’s like I don’t exist at all. But I do exist don’t I?
Please stop judging me. I don’t need to go to work, not today. It won’t affect the food in your dish. You’ll get fed. And you won’t be lonely.
Please don’t say anything. I know you disapprove and I hear you but it’s really not what I want right now and I know you subscribe to a sort of tough love viewpoint, but sometimes that’s not very helpful and furthermore, not appreciated. Don’t look at me like that. I do appreciate you, just not the hard line you try to draw sometimes. The world is not black and white. And colors can be confusing, so let me sit and rest and figure out a few things, okay? It’ll be fun. I can stay here all day with you. We can watch bad romantic comedies and you can jump up on the bed and curl up with me and we can eat crackers if we want. I won’t kick you out. And tomorrow? (beat) Who knows? Let’s just think of today. Everything is so uncertain these days.
2.
JESSICA
Because I can’t handle things falling on my head. My older brother when I was a kid, used to drop things on me. He would pin me to the ground and then drop things on my face. Gummi Bears, ping pong balls, chocolate chips, our goldfish.
Legos, Barbie heads, pens, popsicles, water balloons, eggs, tin foil, socks, shoes, magnets, pieces of paper, jello, cereal, the cat.
Marshmallows, a slinky, legos. Flowers, ice, a recorder, matches, unlit. Matches, lit. matchbox cars, cellophane, statue of the virgin Mary, chapstick, butter, and then liquids. Juice, milk, water of course. Salt, pepper, thyme, rosemary, parsley, bacon bits, tongue depressors, spit, oregano, pancakes, stuffed animals, marbles, lettuce, sticks, forks, spoons, wood chips, chopsticks, erasers. Legos. Did I say legos? Toast, rubber balls, hackey sacks, Frisbees, action figures, dirt, spare change, mints, catfish.
It is my dream to someday lock him in a room, handcuff him to a chair and spend all day and night dumping things over his head.
3.
ANNIE
Something like this makes you think about what you know about yourself, your likes and dislikes, your way in the world. I feel like all this time the things I disliked were really the things I liked and possibly vice versa. I’m not sure what that means except I might be in love.
4.
JESSICA
Everything is not about the two of you, and your bets and side bets, your tantrums, your proposals, your lust and your desires. I can have desires and you don’t have to enter into them in any way. I can have sex dreams and sex day dreams and they can be about someone else. I’m tired of being tied down or covered up. I am not a statue on a pedestal or a flower in a vase. I am not just a beautiful thing, although I am that for sure. But I want to be recognized for who I am, not only how I look. I don’t want to always be protected from the world by other people. You don’t have to build a ceiling over me. I don’t need it. I don’t know. Treat me like a normal person, not the freak in the room who happens to be incredibly incredibly beautiful.
5.
SUE
Well thank you all. I don’t know that that will help me catch the perp per se but I do feel like we’re getting somewhere. Everyday, we try to get somewhere new. That’s the way I try to live my life and it’s working out so far. I mean, don’t get me wrong. It’s not perfect. My life is not ideal.
I used to be an addict. It burned down a lot of bridges behind me. There are a lot of people who won’t talk to me anymore though I wish they would. I’m not telling you this because I want your sympathy. Or pity. I’m just a person. I went through something and came out the other side, scarred but intact. And there is temptation of course everyday but I tell myself, that was a bad life I led. And I embraced the law and what is good and right because it seemed like the opposite way was the way to go, you know?
People can change.
Most people don’t. But they can. You can go to God. That works for some people. Or shrinks or I don’t know. We all have our own paths. But I think it’s important to make sure you’re on the right path for you, you know? Look at where you’re going. Get out of the car, examine the map, make plans if you can. But don’t just put your foot down on the gas and shoot down the highway in the fast lane without proper consideration of where the fuck you’re going.
But really I guess what I want to say is would you like to go out sometime?
FOOD FOR FISH
1.
ALICE
What you speak of, I think, Fred is a coldness I have managed to cultivate towards the majority of men. Because I give off the air of not caring about you and because I speak to you and others brusquely, because I am short and dismissive with you, you think there must be something about me. I get many dates because of this. Perhaps you think I am like this all the time, but I am not. It disappears when I go home. It is not anything true. Because when I go home I am under a different spell. Not unlike the way you are under mine. Do you understand?
FRED
I think I love you.
ALICE
All right, well, add your name to the chalkboard and leave me a sample of your genetic material and we’ll see what comes of it. I promise not to erase your name prematurely.
2.
ALICE
Oh, Father, what am I doing? I don’t know who I am anymore. I go to work in a fog. Is this what I’m supposed to be doing with my days and nights? Look at me, ready for another date, a date I don’t want to go on but why sit at home when another cold soup man is willing to buy me a another hot meal. So I put on the date lipstick and the date perfume, because who knows, maybe this time, this man, but no, he too will sit in a shadow and I will stop listening in the first minute.
Why is my life not like yours and mother’s? Why is my bank account empty at the end of every month and my bed empty at the end of every night? This was not the way you lived, even when you were digging and burying. I am unable to bury a damned thing. Help me. Help me, Father. What am I supposed to be doing? How can I get through this night? Or tomorrow?
3.
SYLVIA
Go ahead and stop me then. (Silence) What you can’t? No, you can’t stop me now, can you? The night is blank and the streets are empty. I pick a direction at random and begin running. I feel like I am running through water. My legs don’t move like I tell them. My brain is mush holding on to a single thought—that I must find him. I run and I run and the air is water and my brain is melting. I am about to give up. I can’t see anything, anyone, anywhere. And then he is there.
(BOBBIE caught in streetlamp.)
SYLVIA
Where were you?
(BOBBIE tries to kiss her. She turns away again. He begins to walk away again, hurt.)
SYLVIA
No, I’m sorry. Don’t go. Shit! I’m so stupid. Wait for me.
(BOBBIE and SYLVIA walk.)
SYLVIA
He walks more slowly this time. As if he’s waiting for me. But he still doesn’t look in my direction or seem to see me in his periphery. I stare at him as we walk along, oblivious to the night, the neighborhood, to everything. Then we are standing in front of a brownstone. Then we are in the hall. Then we are in his apartment or what I assume is his apartment.
(BOBBIE goes to his desk, opens the drawer, takes out his handgun. He looks down the barrel for a while. They are both completely still. Then BOBBIE slowly turns his head and looks at SYLVIA.)
SYLVIA
How can I explain that I’m not afraid? Yes, it is dangerous, but not any more dangerous than falling in love. When it comes down to it what it really does is make a piece of metal move very quickly. It doesn’t ever get to the root of things. It just takes care of the surface problem—if that’s what it’s for, that is. I don’t ask what it’s there for. But let me be clear I’m not afraid.
(BOBBIE puts the gun back. Sits down and begins to type.)
SYLVIA
I am more afraid of what he is writing. I am afraid of his command of language, his diction, the way the verbs might rub up against my palate or jam themselves, get stuck in my throat. I am afraid I might like it too much, get used to it. Or maybe instead it’s the opposite: I am afraid of disappointment. I am afraid of who I think he is and more afraid he isn’t.
(BOBBIE stops typing, slips the sheet into a bottle and corks it.)
SYLVIA
Then he speaks to me for the first time, although he looks away from me as if anyone in the room might catch his voice and latch onto it and find meaning in it and, if it happened to be me, well so be it. He says:
"If you stay here, I will hold you all night long."
So I do.
HEARTS LIKE FISTS
1a.
LISA
What is this feeling, so unpleasant, like my insides rotting or my outside melting? There is a bad taste in my mouth that won’t go away. I feel itchy and oversized and everything is crawling. Is this what rejection is? Isn’t there usually a heaviness to it? An unbearable weight? (beat) Oh, there it is. A big boat of depression sailing over my chest.
It hurts. It hurts so much. It’s not—is it me? No one has ever rejected me before. He must be a lunatic. He must be some sort of nutcase. Someone not all there, because why else--? Ohhh. Or he can see everything wrong with me, all the things I’m afraid are there but can forget about. He knows I’m no good. I could have fought Doctor X harder. I could have climbed the fire escape faster maybe. Or I could have tried harder to love them back. If I had made myself maybe or—
1b.
LISA
What do people do after they get rejected? Do they curl into a ball and die? Do they tear out their hair? Drink themselves into oblivion? I want to do all of these things at once.
There must be something outstanding about him if he’s too good for me. Now I will never want anyone besides him. All other men are fools and idiots who could never measure up. No, there is nothing to do now except commit to a life of celibacy. A life with meaning. (She takes out her cell phone and dials the number on the card the Crimefighters gave her.) Hello, Crimefighters? (A huge crash.)
2.
NINA
Doctor X is just so exciting. And wrong. So exciting and wrong. I think the other girls have an inkling. Because I—I let him get away. I paused. If you know me, you know I’m not someone who ever pauses. I run into any situation, burning building, shark infested pool, without a thought. But I saw Doctor X and I paused, to the point of stopping even. And it was not revulsion I was feeling. Well, it was, but it was mixed with something else, something potent. I’m not sure what. They should bottle it if they could ever find a way to collect it. They’d make millions.
NINA
He just stood there, looking at me, with his doctor’s bag and syringe. He showed no remorse. Remorseless. Soulless maybe. And it took my breath away. I’m terrified of what might happen the next time I run into him. You have to be ready at all times to kill if necessary. But when I think—I’m not sure I could do it in this case. I dread our next meeting and at the same time I look forward to it more than anything in my entire life. You know what I mean?
NERVE
1.
SUSAN
(Suddenly intense)
I think you’re the one who’s never had a really good kiss. A good kiss is like a knife. The best kiss I ever had hurt more than anything. It couldn’t help it. A really good kiss can’t help but hurt you ‘cause you give part of yourself away. Make yourself vulnerable to it. A kiss, a real kiss severs nerves and cuts through you and that’s an injury you’ll never recover from.
2.
SUSAN
Sometimes it’s like you can’t feel anything because the conversations in your head are too loud. You have no connection to your body and you’re numb and depressed. The dancers in your head are twisted into knots. And there are voices, these hurtful voices and the only way to shut them up is to take a knife and cut yourself. Then, the numbness drains out, the dancers are free, and you can feel again for a while.
PRETTY THEFT
1.
SUZY
(Shoplifting)
Well I wouldn’t shut up, would I? When you don’t shut up, the boys notice you. Course, eventually you realize no one was really listening. And you stop speaking up in class—realize maybe you weren’t saying anything anyway—not something someone else couldn’t say better--usually a boy. And the boys who seemed to be listening to you weren’t quite the right boys.
SUZY
(Stuffing her pockets.)
So you stopped talking. But then you realize if you lift up your shirt there are boys that like that too. But maybe those aren’t quite the right boys either because then later those boys want to see what’s in your pants. And want to put themselves in you even if you’re not ready and maybe those aren’t the right boys either but at least they need you for a few minutes.
SUZY
(Stuffing her bag.)
Then you go after your friend’s boyfriend because it’s wrong and it’s fun and because your friend is pretty. And you get him but once you have him, you realize he’s no good. And your friend hates you. But you do it again anyway to another friend. And the girls all begin to hate you. They call you a skank and they call you a whore. But some of the boys like you some of the time. But they think you’re a slut. So you embrace it because what else can you do? You buy a t-shirt that says “Fuckdoll” and a series of short skirts and you try on provocative lipsticks.
2.
ALLEGRA at a bed talking to her FATHER who faces away from us. He wears an oxygen mask and does not move.)
ALLEGRA
And I’m working at this like group home with Suzy Harris. We hang out a lot. You know who she is? I think you’d like her. She’s a lot of fun. She was supposed to come here with me today but . . . she couldn’t make it.
Bobby’s good. He works at the garden place in Salem sometimes on the weekends. He wishes he could be here too. He’s uh . . . a good boyfriend. I think it’ll last for us. One of the great . . . things.
Fuck! It’s just as hard to talk to you now that you can’t talk back. I can’t ever say the right thing to you. You’re just so . . . not there, aren’t you. You always ignore me. I know even if you can hear me right now, you’re not paying attention. You never . . . Why don’t I matter to you? What do you want from me?!! Maybe you just want to be left alone.
Well, that’s what I’ll do then. I’m sorry I disturbed your death bed you selfish fucking bastard! You self-centered egotistical, pompous fucking bastard! I don’t care what you want! I hope you die! I hope you fucking die real soon! You can fucking rot and be eaten by worms! I hope fucking worms eat you! Worms with big fucking teeth! And rats and flies and vultures! I hope vultures dig you up and take you out of the casket and fly away with you! You fuck!
(Pause)
I miss you.
I’ve always missed you. I’m sorry. I don’t want you to die. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. Oh, Christ, I’m so sorry. Please don’t die. You’re so small. Please, Daddy.
(ALLEGRA kisses his forehead.)
3.
(ALLEGRA’s house. ALLEGRA’S MOM sits, facing away from us, watching TV. ALLEGRA approaches her mother.)
ALLEGRA
I know you’re probably mad at me for leaving before the funeral, but I just can’t do it. My whole body itches and it won’t stop until I get in a car and can’t see this house or this town or this state from the rearview window.
This way is better. This way I’ll come back from my trip and go straight to school and you won’t have to look at me or think about me. You can tell people you have a daughter but you won’t have to talk to me on the phone or see me on the couch. I’ll be a no-maintenance daughter just like you always wanted.
I’m going to go now. I know someday you’ll want to talk to me again. Maybe after I graduate and get a job and get married and buy a house and have my own daughter. Then you can talk to her and be her favorite and then we can pretend you were a really great mother. She won’t know and I don’t have to tell her.
But now I’m going to get on the road and push you out of my mind and I probably won’t think of you until I get to the grand canyon or some other fairly good canyon and maybe I’ll cry in front of the mammoth orange hole in the ground or maybe I’ll smile because it’s so beautiful and I’m free and windswept.
But first I’m going to get into Suzy’s mom’s car and we’ll drive till there’s just drops left in the tank and as we cross the border into Massachusetts, we’ll roll into the first gas station where I’ll get some Ding Dongs and some orange soda and I’ll bite into the first one sitting on the hood, watching the car slurp up gas. Then I’ll get in the driver’s seat and put my foot on the accelerator until I can’t keep my eyes open anymore. So I pull over and we both close our eyes and sleep until we’re awoken at three am by separate but equally terrible nightmares.
4.
WAITRESS
You have instincts and part of you knows things but the other part of you doesn’t want it to be so. So you say, “no, that’s not it.” A does not lead to B because hey that’s far fetched. Who would believe? The mind is being dramatic and should not be encouraged. Been letting it go too much. Too much time alone to consider too many possibilities.
But to answer your question Tom, sure there was two girls in here. Had some sandwiches. Left right before you came in. Don’t know where they went. Didn’t say.
Just paid and left. Young girls. Too cute for their own good. Are they in trouble or are they themselves trouble? It’s got to be one or the other. No, don’t tell me. I don’t need to know.
Can I offer you some ice cream. Sure, you can stay a minute. Or long enough for a bowl. Them girls is probably long gone by now. Down a back road never to be seen again. Now how ‘bout that? Never to be seen again. That would be something.
SISSY. The funny thing about brakes is one minute they’re working fine and the next minute they don’t work. Personally I know a few things about cars and I could look at your brakes for you if you like. If you want, I’ll do it right now, unless you’ve got somewhere to go.
I could take a look anytime. I know what your car looks like. It’s a very very simple thing to do. Anytime you come to Waldo’s house I could take a good look at your car. Look at the tires, maybe they look kind of flat. Or maybe I’ll look directly at the brake line. It’s terrible for brakes to go on a hill or when someone cuts you off on the highway. So many people die that way. Without any warning, their brakes just go.
see also
MONOLOGUES FOR MEN
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