new scene, first draft as always

17 (NURSE 1 is eating doughnuts. NURSE 2 and 3 watch.) NURSE 2 You’ve been eating lots of doughnuts. NURSE 1 Not really. NURSE 3 Yes, really. NURSE 1 I know but I have good reasons. NURSE 2 What’s a good reason to eat so many doughnuts. NURSE 1 You know why I do it. It’s him. NURSE 3 You’re eating too many. It’s not good for you. that many doughnuts takes a toll on your heart. I know you think you can hurt your heart, get your arteries clogged, have a heart attack so he’ll operate on you, but that’s not the way. That way will lead you to nowhere but pain. NURSE 2 You need to let up on the doughnuts. We’ve all noticed. It’s become too much. We’re concerned. NURSE 1 You’re concerned? NURSE 2 This is an intervention. NURSE 1 It is? NURSE 3 Miriam wanted to come but she’s in surgery. NURSE 1 With a doctor. NURSE 2 Yes. NURSE 1 That you for your intervention. I’m touched. I’m warmed. My heart . . . But I don’t know how to fill myself if I stop eating doughnuts. I’m afraid I will cease to exist if I stop eating even for a minute. NURSE 2 We’re here to help you. NURSE 3 Tell us what you want us to do. NURSE 2 We can go out for a healthy lunch. Together. Would you like that? NURSE 1 OK. (Enter PETER, ecstatic) PETER It works! The heart works! (PETER hugs the NURSES, jumps up and down in celebration.) PETER The heartbeat is so strong, much stronger than I thought it would be. NURSE 1 That’s great! PETER I have to go tell Lisa! (PETER exits running.) (NURSE 1 breaks down and sobs. NURSE 2 offers her a doughnut.) NURSE 3 OK. It’s OK. We can have the intervention tomorrow.

scene 2, first draft as always

2

(A hospital. The CRIMEFIGHTERS become NURSES. LISA in another area being examined by PETER, a heart doctor.)

NURSE 1
Is she in there?

NURSE 2
She’s in there with him.

NURSE 3
Lucky girl.

LISA
Thank you for seeing me so soon.

PETER
It’s no problem.

LISA
I’m sure you must be very busy these days, what with the rash of heart crimes.

PETER
Lot’s of people worried about their hearts. Lot’s of people sleeping alone. People who don’t even have to sleep alone. Don’t even want to. Lots of fear.

LISA
I was scratched.

PETER
You were?

LISA
By a syringe.

PETER
So you’re concerned.

LISA
I have concerns.

PETER
Well, let’s take a listen.

NURSE 1
He listened to my heart once.

NURSE 2
He did?

NURSE 3
He didn’t.

(LISA opens her shirt. PETER takes the stethoscope and listens to her heart.)

NURSE 2
Was the stethoscope cold?

NURSE 1
Only a little.

NURSE 3
Were his hands warm?

NURSE 1
He brushed my arm with his fingertips. They were like butterflies.

NURSE 2
Did you kiss him?

NURSE 1
I was too afraid. There was his breath in my ear. Pounding in my throat. I remember, he said—

PETER
Your heart is beating fast.

LISA
Is it?

PETER
You need to relax.

NURSE 1
He listened for a long time but when he was done, he told me I could go.

NURSE 2
And you went?

NURSE 1
There was nothing else to do.

PETER
(to LISA)
You have a strong heart. There are other tests I can run if you want but from what I’ve heard your heart is strong and capable of many things.

LISA
Thank you. That’s nice to hear.

PETER
Not everyone has such a strong heart. My own heart. It was damaged once and has never quite been able to recover. It’s a muscle you know.

LISA
I know.

PETER
And it atrophies if you don’t use it. Sometimes I don’t use mine as much as I should. Yours, though. You can be as active as you want. A heart like that.

LISA
Thank you, Doctor.

PETER
Call me Peter.

LISA
Thank you, Peter. (pause) There’s something else I wanted to ask you about.

PETER
Oh.

LISA
Sorry.

PETER
No. No. You heard about my experiments. It’s hard to keep anything a secret. I tried to keep it out of the papers, but I guess in the current climate—People are afraid to sleep together even when they shut their windows and lock their doors. My artificial heart would of course protect them. We could all sleep with our lovers without fear. We wouldn’t fear to love.

LISA
You have a lover you’re afraid to love?

PETER
No, no. With this heart? No, not me.

LISA
There’s not anyone?

PETER
No, not now. Not anymore. Not anyone.

LISA
But I’m sure, a man like you—

PETER
Please. I don’t want to talk about it.

LISA
Sorry. I just thought--

PETER
You were asking about the artificial heart. I’m going to be the first test subject. I can’t do the operation myself of course. But if the heart works on me and my body doesn’t reject it. . .

LISA
But doctor, can your heart . . . I mean, the artificial heart—can—Can it love?

PETER
There’s only one way to find out.

LISA
But what if it keeps you from ever loving again?

PETER
That’s the chance I’ll have to take, for science. For the hope of mankind.

LISA
Don’t you want to love again?

PETER
Me? Oh, no. Not me.

LISA
Why not?

PETER
My heart can’t handle it.

(LISA kisses him. A sound of a heart beating fast can be heard.)

LISA
It handled that OK.

(PETER looks shocked)

NURSE 1
I could fall in love with that doctor.

NURSE 2
Me too.

NURSE 3
In another life.

PETER
Well, I think we’re done here. I have other patients. You, I’m sure have other—

LISA
Come out to dinner with me.

PETER
Well—I—I don’t normally—with patients.

LISA
Have dinner with me.

PETER
It’s not—

LISA
Come out to dinner.

PETER
OK, Yes. OK. Yes. I would love to join you for dinner.

<3

a new scene. as always, this is a first draft. 5 (In the hospital, the NURSES stand around talking. PETER is visible in a space behind them, working on an artificial heart with a screwdriver.) NURSE 1 Is he in there again? NURSE 2 Yeah. Never eats or sleep, just plays with that damn heart. NURSE 3 Does it work? NURSE 2 Not yet. NURSE 1 If he’s fiddling around with that, he doesn’t have to deal with the world outside or with real problems or with other people. NURSE 2 He’s solving a real problem. You’re not being fair. NURSE 1 I don’t want to be fair to him. He’s never been fair to me. NURSE 3 Can you say that? Can you really say that? NURSE 1 If he’d been fair to me, He would have let me kiss him under the mistletoe at the Christmas party. He would have smiled back more, he would have frowned less. He would have taken the time to notice my body instead of looking away. He’s never been fair to me, so he doesn’t know what could have happened. NURSE 2 He has a higher calling. NURSE 1 He has an escape hatch. I wish I had one. I would have liked to find it in his lips. (The NURSES sigh in unison) NURSE 3 His lips. NURSE 2 His lips. PETER Dammit! Why won’t you beat? Beat! Beat! (PETER fiddles with it some more.) NURSE 1 I’ve seen him in there, you know. With the heart. Shimmying his screwdriver between the chambers. PETER Beat, dammit. Beat. NURSE 1 He wants the heart to beat for him, but a heart will only beat for who a heart beats for. NURSE 3 Isn’t that the truth?