MADDY: Yeah, he’s been very –
VIOLET: Kind. He’s an exceptionally kind person.
MADDY: Right. He’s a saint! It’s a wonder he puts up with me! I mean, I can barely put up with myself, so –
VIOLET: If your father had been one tenth as kind as Dennis, he might still be alive today!
MADDY: Mum. Please don’t start.
VIOLET: I’m just saying that the man had many flaws. He was deceitful, greedy, and kind of stupid. But it was his inability to show any degree of kindness towards other people that did him in. (looking at her) So it’s really up to Cathy then. If she’s okay with it, I get to see my grandchildren.
MADDY: Yeah. But I don’t think she’s totally against it. She’s just –
VIOLET: Cautious. Very cautious. And as personality traits go, that’s not always bad. Not nearly so bad as impatience, which by the way was another of your father’s flaws and probably the one that got him killed.
MADDY: Mum, this isn’t going to help either of us.
VIOLET: Why not?
MADDY: Because it might not be –
VIOLET: Accurate? Oh right. Sorry. It was actually my impatience that doomed him. But you can only take hearing about and even witnessing so many of a person’s misdeeds before you take action. Especially after you’ve tried to warn the authorities about him and they’ve ignored you, or even worse, blamed your “illness” for what you were telling them about a man who was so clearly a danger to society. And then later when your patience runs out and you’re forced to take matters into your own hands, instead of investigating why you did what you did, they put you in front of a judge who condemns you to a life of supervision and constant medical intervention. Is that fair?
MADDY: You murdered him, Mum!
VIOLET: Well someone had to, honey. He was a serial killer!!
Blackout.
SCENE 3
MADDY is letting CATHY in. The shower is running.
MADDY: Thanks for coming so quickly.
CATHY: Well, you sounded pretty worried.
MADDY: I got scared.
CATHY: Because you think she’s getting worse?
MADDY: Yeah. Or maybe …
CATHY: What?
MADDY: Maybe it’s me. It’s like … You know how at some point in your life you start seeing a lot of your parent in yourself?
CATHY: That’s happening to you?
MADDY: Well, sometimes when she’s saying things, I –
CATHY: She’s ill.
MADDY: I know, but maybe I am too. Because when she’s saying certain things it’s like I hear myself talking and –
CATHY: You’re not ill, Maddy. You’re just overwhelmed.
MADDY: Ya think?
CATHY: Yeah, she can be a handful. I mean, some of the things that come out of her mouth …
MADDY: The worst is when she seems to be making sense.
CATHY: Yeah, so what’s that about?
MADDY: You’re asking me?
CATHY: No, I’m just thinking out loud.
MADDY: I want to help her. I want her to get better. But mostly I just want her to stop scaring me. I think it might help if you let her see my kids.
CATHY: Help you?
MADDY: No. Help her … to, you know, calm down a little. Well yeah, okay, it might help me, too. Because I feel pretty guilty about her not having any contact with them.
CATHY: She will as soon as we get her more stabilized.
MADDY: But how long is that going to take?
CATHY: Well first she’ll have to start trusting that her doctors and I know more about her condition than she does.
MADDY: They miss her. Shawna especially.
CATHY: Sure. But if she’s having a bad day she could scare them. Or even –
MADDY: She’d never hurt them.
CATHY: Not intentionally. But the psychotic break she had was so intense and so prolonged that we don’t – When was the last time they saw her?
MADDY: Just after her hearing. She was in the hospital.
CATHY: And that went okay?
MADDY: There was a policeman outside her door. That kinda freaked them out.
CATHY: And how was she?
MADDY: She was excited to see them. She’d painted all her fingers.
CATHY: Sorry?
MADDY: For her puppet show.
CATHY: She did a puppet show for them … with her fingers.
MADDY: Yeah, she used to do them for me.
CATHY: Okay. Were they fun?
MADDY: Never. And neither was this one. In it she was trying to explain to the children what went on with her and my dad. Their grandfather was the thumb, and he was a very large, angry man. And my mum was the pinky finger trying to stand up to him. I stopped it when I realized where it was going.
CATHY: The pinky finger about to kill the thumb.
MADDY: I don’t know what it had in mind, but it was definitely getting pretty worked up. Shaking. Kind of twisting around …
MADDY demonstrates.
CATHY: Getting ready to attack …
MADDY: It was weird. But the kids didn’t get any of it.
CATHY: Did they laugh? Tell me they fucking laughed.
MADDY: No. But they didn’t run out of the room screaming, either, which is what I felt like doing. (shrugging) They just wanted to be with her, I think. They’re kinda used to her behaviour. They were both born after she had to leave teaching.
CATHY: Have you ever talked to them about that, why she left?
MADDY: We’ve talked about burnout. And they’ve seen me after a bad shift at the restaurant.
CATHY: Not exactly the same thing.
MADDY: Close enough. Try making the chef’s special crème brûlée while the asshat shouts in your ear, (in a stereotypical Parisian French accent) “Not like that, you idiot. It’s slightly burned maybe here or there. Not the whole fucking thing!” … I mean, that crap is a bitch to get right at the best of times but – There you go. That sounds like something she might say. Jesus. Okay. Tell me something now.
CATHY: Tell you what?
MADDY: Put it into some kind of … context. Normalize it a bit. Help me stop feeling that she and I are locked away together in a very dark place.
CATHY: Well, first of all –
MADDY: I know. It’s not me. It’s just her. But it feels like it’s the both of us.
CATHY: When you’re with her.
MADDY: Well, she can be very unsettling.
CATHY: And funny. She can be very funny.
MADDY: Yeah, but the thing is I’m not sure she always knows when she’s funny or when she’s …
MADDY and
CATHY: Unsettling …
CATHY: Plus. Your mother might be the extreme edge of a possible epidemic.
MADDY: An epidemic? Jesus. You mean there are a lot more of her out there?
CATHY: I see a lot of middle-aged women who seem to be on the verge of totally losing it. And I’m talking about women who didn’t go through half of what your mother did with your father and everything he did or might have done. I mean, before she …
MADDY: Blew his head off.
CATHY: When I hear some of those women talk about their lives, it’s like they’re just having a normal response to how they’re being treated in the world. One woman thought her condition was caused by dusting.
MADDY: Dusting …
CATHY: It took up way too much of her time. Especially (in a strange whisper) “Those goddamn book shelves!”
MADDY: Jesus …
CATHY: Yeah, Jesus … Okay look, here’s the news of the day. I was going to call and give you a heads-up, but here I am so … Leo’s out of prison.
MADDY: Why? For good behaviour?
CATHY: Maybe.
MADDY: He doesn’t know where she is, does he?
CATHY: No, of course not. But I’m thinking I might tell her he’s out. It could help her get some things straight.
MADDY: Well, I don’t know if it’ll help he
r, but it’s definitely gonna shock her. She thinks she killed him.
CATHY: No. She just likes thinking that she did. It was important for her to believe that both your father and your uncle Leo were no longer walking among us.
MADDY: And now?
CATHY: You mean today? Who knows? But a few months ago, when we had her stabilized, she told me she figured it was actually only Keith who was the contract killer and that Leo just … helped him somehow. She still thought that Leo had to be made accountable but –
MADDY: So she suddenly remembered all this? Why wasn’t I told?
CATHY: You couldn’t be found. Even your husband didn’t know where you were.
MADDY: Yeah. Maddy needed some serious Maddy time.
CATHY just looks at her.
CATHY: Anyway … she stayed on her meds long enough to connect to reality. It was a good sign.
MADDY: That she was getting better …
CATHY: She’ll never get better, Maddy. But if we can keep her on her meds …
VIOLET comes out of the bathroom in a robe, post shower, her hair in a towel.
VIOLET: So have you decided anything?
MADDY: About what?
VIOLET: About me, honey. What else would you be talking about?
MADDY: Cathy thinks it’s just a matter of time until we can bring Shawna and Kyle to see you.
VIOLET: Really? Well, isn’t she a sweetheart.
CATHY: Did you enjoy your shower? You were in there for quite a while.
VIOLET: It’s my favourite place on the planet. Why? Were you worried I was doing something drastic to myself?
CATHY: You’re not self-destructive, Violet. We know that.
VIOLET: Do we?
CATHY: I meant my team and I. So you can stop trying to convince me otherwise. Come on over. We need to talk.
VIOLET: Oh. Well, talking would be wonderful. I’ve sincerely enjoyed the few occasions when we’ve actually done that. (to MADDY) What she really means is that she needs to tell me something. Tell me how to correct something in my behaviour. How to understand something about my situation. How to comply with my legal and medical obligations …
CATHY: Violet. Come. Sit.
VIOLET does.
VIOLET: (smiling) I’m all ears.
CATHY and MADDY exchange a look. CATHY turns and smiles at VIOLET.
CATHY: Leo got out of prison yesterday.
VIOLET: (smiling again) Did he, now? So there’s a prison for corpses, is there?
MADDY: Mum.
VIOLET: I killed him. I shot them both in the head.
MADDY: You shot Dad in the head. You shot Uncle Leo in the neck.
VIOLET: Close enough.
CATHY: Not really.
MADDY: He’s alive.
CATHY: Which is something you already knew, Violet.
VIOLET: Okay. What else do I know?
CATHY: I’m sorry?
VIOLET: I mean, what else do I know that I’ve forgotten I know?
CATHY: Just that. He’s alive. And I wanted you to know that he’s out of prison.
VIOLET: So that I can have him over for dinner?
CATHY: So that you’ll know what’s going on. What really is. And what isn’t.
VIOLET: Alright. But back to that dinner thing. (to MADDY) Do you think that would be a good idea?
MADDY: Not really.
CATHY: (to VIOLET) Do you?
VIOLET: Well, I did try to kill him. So I guess I might owe him an apology. I seem to remember he liked beef stroganoff. Yes. I could make that! (heading to the kitchen) I’ve got a great recipe somewhere.
MADDY: (quietly, to CATHY) What’s she doing?
CATHY: Looking for the recipe.
MADDY: I mean, do you think she believes you about Leo being alive?
CATHY: Let’s assume she does and take it from there.
VIOLET comes back into the room.
VIOLET: (coming back carrying a meat cleaver) Couldn’t find the recipe. But I found this instead. Is it okay if I don’t cook for him and I just finish the job this time?
She mimes cutting off a head then holding it up.
MADDY: I think it’s just a joke …
CATHY just sighs.
Blackout.
SCENE 4
VIOLET is setting the table for two and suppressing a giggle.
VIOLET: (talking to the other place setting) What a harrowing story. And you’re not even a homosexual as far as I know. I mean, if you were, then all that sodomy that was committed on you in prison might have been, at least potentially, enjoyable. Not that gay men enjoy being raped. No one enjoys being raped. I think I just got confused about that. It’s actually me. I’d be the one enjoying you getting raped. Do you have any more rape stories like that one? Or even worse?
A knock on the door.
VIOLET: Well, let’s find out.
She answers the door and lets LEO, in his late forties, tough and lean, into her apartment.
VIOLET: Leo. Hello. Nice of you to come. I was worried you wouldn’t get my message.
LEO: What message? We talked on the phone.
VIOLET: Oh. That was actually your voice? Not a recording?
LEO: Jesus. Same old Vi.
VIOLET: Same as when?
LEO: Never mind.
VIOLET: I hope you like beef stew. I’m behind in my shopping, so it’s out of a can. (looking at him closely) No … you look okay.
LEO: What?
VIOLET: I mean compared to how you could look.
LEO: And how is that?
VIOLET: Dead. You could look dead.
LEO: Yeah, well you tried your best.
VIOLET: Yes, I did. And I might have been wrong to do that.
LEO: You were definitely wrong. I had nothing to do with what Keith was up to.
VIOLET: There was evidence to the contrary.
LEO: No, there wasn’t. It was all in your fucked-up mind.
VIOLET: Well, they must have believed some of what I told them, or you wouldn’t have wound up in prison.
LEO: That was for an unrelated matter. And it only came to light because you tried to implicate me in those murders Keith committed.
VIOLET: Oh yeah. Something about … what? Something about … Help me out here, will you?
LEO: Extortion. I was extorting people.
VIOLET: Right. But not killing them?
LEO: No.
VIOLET: Or so it appeared.
LEO: Well none of them were dead, so it “appeared” pretty clear, didn’t it?
VIOLET: Let’s eat. Do you like beef stew?
LEO: You already asked me that.
VIOLET: And what did you answer?
LEO: I didn’t.
VIOLET: So what’s the big deal about me asking you again? Jesus, you’re touchy. Is it from all that sodomization?
LEO: Look, you said you wanted to talk about something important.
VIOLET: Right. Then I invited you to lunch.
LEO: I came for the talk. Not to eat.
VIOLET: You have to eat before we talk. Especially after I went to all this trouble.
LEO: The trouble of opening a can?
VIOLET: The trouble of finding out what pisshole motel you were staying in, and then getting myself into a mental state whereby I could invite you into my home in order to get a few things settled without getting myself so upset that I can’t be responsible for my actions.
LEO: That sounds like a threat. They tell me you’re under a lot of restrictions, that you’ve been declared mentally incompetent or something, that you’ve been going through a lot of treatment.
VIOLET: Yes. It’s been quite an adventure.
VIOLET is dishing out the stew from a pot.
VIOLET: Bread?
LEO: … Sure.
VIOLET pushes the loaf of bread on the table towards him.
VIOLET: Help yourself to the butter. I remember you were always big on butter. Butter is probably a luxury in prison, right?
LEO: Yeah,
it is.
VIOLET: Okay. So slather it on then.
LEO does. Takes a bite.
VIOLET: Good, eh?
LEO: (eating) Yeah.
VIOLET: Dip it. Dip it in the stew. I remember you liked doing that. You liked dipping things into other things. Keith thought it exposed your lower-class roots, but you didn’t seem to care.
LEO: I didn’t.
VIOLET: Yeah, that was the one time you ignored him and stood up for yourself. Too bad it was about something as silly as dipping bread. But whatever, you were finally going to be who you were, low-class warts and all. And the hell with anyone who had a problem with that.
LEO: Like you.
VIOLET: I never cared what you came from Leo. I just hated what you’d become.
LEO: You mean a crook?
VIOLET: And a vicious killer. Don’t forget that part.
LEO: Of for Chrissake Violet. How long are you … going … to … to …
VIOLET: Something wrong?
LEO: I feel … a little …
He passes out and falls off his chair.
VIOLET: Yeah. Too much butter will do that to you. Well, that kind of butter anyway.
She begins to drag him by his ankles towards the bedroom.
VIOLET: Hope I didn’t put too much of that stuff in. It wouldn’t kill you, but it would make you very stupid. Too stupid to talk any sense. And we can’t have both of us being like that, can we? How would we ever come to a reckoning?
Blackout.
SCENE 5
CATHY and VIOLET are on the couch. VIOLET flips through a magazine. CATHY is reading from a binder.
CATHY: (reading) “There are several kinds of anxiety disorders. People with these disorders respond to certain situations with fear and dread.”
VIOLET: (off a photo) You’d look good in this. At least for a year or two. After that it could just make you look desperate for attention.
CATHY: “The fear and dread can manifest in a rapid heartbeat or periods of extreme sweating.”
VIOLET: I don’t have that.
People Live Here Page 7
