by Brad Fraser
CAROLYN
Kane please.
KANE
What?
CAROLYN
Don’t you see.
KANE
You can’t walk away from the business.
CAROLYN
The way this all happened. Madison moving out. Royce finishing high school. David coming back. The timing is right.
KANE
The timing couldn’t be worse.
CAROLYN breaks away from KANE.
CAROLYN
I meant it’s right for me.
KANE
Carolyn don’t leave I can’t I don’t I have a belly. I’m old and I have a belly.
CAROLYN
Kane.
CAROLYN moves to KANE and kisses him softly.
KANE
Don’t stop loving me.
CAROLYN
I never will.
KANE
Please.
CAROLYN
But I’ve never had another lover. Or been through a breakup or lived on my own.
They’re kissing one another softly. Both are crying.
KANE
It’s not as good as you think.
CAROLYN
Woke up alone. Called a girlfriend up for coffee.
KANE
It’s not worth losing your family over.
Their hands begin to move over each other’s bodies sensually.
CAROLYN
I’m just renegotiating the terms of engagement.
KANE
I can’t wake up without you.
CAROLYN
We shouldn’t.
KANE
It’s always so good.
CAROLYN
Yeah but.
They have started to fuck.
KANE
Please don’t leave me.
CAROLYN
I have to.
KANE
I love you so much.
CAROLYN
I love you.
They fuck. Lights rise on the empty kitchen. The door opens very carefully. DAVID and ROYCE enter. DAVID is carrying the rifle and supporting ROYCE with the other arm.
ROYCE
Ssh.
DAVID deposits ROYCE in a chair.
DAVID
Here’s the deal. I take the rifle back to Sigfreid’s and no one knows what happened. But if you renege on what we talked about I wake your parents up right now and tell them everything.
ROYCE
Don’t make me.
DAVID
No negotiation.
ROYCE
They’ll hate me.
DAVID
Do it or I will.
Pause.
Royce.
ROYCE
Okay shut up.
DAVID
Remember you keep my secrets and I keep yours.
ROYCE
Mom! Dad! I need to talk to you right now!
DAVID opens the door.
DAVID
Again.
ROYCE
I need to talk to you!
KANE
(off) Hello?
CAROLYN
(off) Royce?
KANE and CAROLYN are heard approaching offstage. DAVID winks at ROYCE.
DAVID
Tell them.
ROYCE
Alright.
DAVID exits, closing the door quietly behind him. CAROLYN enters pulling her robe on.
CAROLYN
Royce?
KANE enters doing up his pants and pulling his undershirt on.
KANE
Son?
Pause.
ROYCE
I need help.
CAROLYN
What?
ROYCE
Please.
KANE
What can we do?
ROYCE
Please help me. Please someone help me. I’m really really sad all the time and I need someone to help me. Please. Help me.
Lights rise on DAVID at the restaurant. He’s checking the glassware for spots. MADISON enters.
DAVID
Everything okay?
MADISON
Sure. Where am I?
DAVID
Six. And there’s only one busboy for the entire house tonight.
MADISON
That blows.
DAVID
Labour and food costs are too high and reservations are too low. How are things at home?
Pause.
Madison?
MADISON
Royce had some kind of—breakdown. They’re doing tests in the hospital. He’s like totally bipolar or something. He’s—so sad.
DAVID
The doctors will help him be less sad.
MADISON
That’s not the same as happy.
DAVID
It’s a start.
MADISON
Mom’s moving out—but not till the Royce thing’s resolved.
DAVID
What’s your dad doing through all this?
MADISON
Drinking a lot of beer smoking like a chimney and living at the office.
DAVID
Great.
MADISON
I want to tell them. What we did.
DAVID
Absolutely not.
MADISON
The truth makes things better.
DAVID
This isn’t about the truth. This is about getting back at your parents and making them responsible for our bad decision.
MADISON
Why would I want to hurt them?
DAVID
It takes the spotlight off of Royce and puts it back on you.
MADISON
Fuck you.
DAVID
Time to grow up.
MADISON
I still think I should.
DAVID
Don’t do it Madison. I mean it.
MADISON
Are you threatening me?
DAVID
Yes.
MADISON
But I feel so guilty.
DAVID
That’s how we adults remember our mistakes. Now get set up. We open in fifteen minutes.
MADISON
You’re an asshole.
DAVID
I know. Now do your fucking job.
Lights rise on CAROLYN in a hospital room with ROYCE.
CAROLYN
The doctor says you’re doing quite well.
ROYCE
Yeah.
CAROLYN
The talks with the therapist?
ROYCE
Okay.
CAROLYN
The pills?
ROYCE
Helping.
CAROLYN
You’re not having compulsive suicidal thoughts are you? We’re supposed to watch for that.
ROYCE
No.
CAROLYN
They said something about possible—sexual side effects.
ROYCE
I’m asexual Mom.
CAROLYN
Is that—official now?
ROYCE
Yes.
CAROLYN
We accept you for who you are.
ROYCE
The doctor suggested some websites and support
groups.
CAROLYN
I’m sure you’ll find them very helpful.
ROYCE
They’re for you and Dad.
CAROLYN
Right of course. Do you feel like you might want to come home soon?
ROYCE
Are you still sleeping in the den?
CAROLYN
It doesn’t matter where I’m sleeping as long as we’re all together.
ROYCE
I miss those horrible sounds you guys made when you got it on.
CAROLYN
Stop.
ROYCE
Can’t you?
CAROLYN
I don’t think I can.
ROYCE
Why not?
CAROLYN
My feelings have—changed.
ROYCE
Love can’t just go away.
CAROLYN
No but it does become—other things. Other kinds of love.
ROYCE
And this is all because of the Montreal thing?
CAROLYN
No.
ROYCE
Does every marriage fail?
CAROLYN
No but a lot of them expire.
ROYCE
Then why get married?
CAROLYN
When you fall in love with someone you have to believe it’s forever. It’s not real otherwise.
ROYCE
Are you on medication?
CAROLYN
Just half a lorazepam before I came in. My doctor prescribed them. They help a lot. Anyway love—you know—that one word doesn’t really do the job of describing how mixed-up those feelings really are. My feelings for your father have changed. I don’t love him the way I used to but I do still love him.
ROYCE
But not enough to stay.
CAROLYN
Right.
ROYCE
Thanks.
CAROLYN
For what?
ROYCE
Not lying to me.
CAROLYN
Come home Royce. You’re ready
ROYCE
Okay.
KANE enters.
KANE
Things at the school took longer than expected.
CAROLYN
And?
KANE
And I’ve got all of your assignments for the rest of the term so you never have to go back there again.
ROYCE
Thanks Pop.
CAROLYN
Royce is ready to come home.
KANE
You’re sure?
ROYCE
Yeah. This place is boring.
KANE
Alright.
ROYCE
They want me to come in every other day for a while—I start group therapy next week—and I have to stay on the meds.
CAROLYN
Of course.
ROYCE
They want me to do some sessions with you guys too.
KANE
Of course. Royce. We.
ROYCE
Yeah.
KANE
We love you.
CAROLYN
More than anything in life.
ROYCE
Even if I’m crazy.
KANE
You’re not crazy.
ROYCE
But I’m.
CAROLYN
Recovering. You’re recovering.
KANE
Let’s go.
Lights rise on DAVID at the restaurant checking cash envelopes. MADISON enters with her envelope.
MADISON
One of the chairs is off-kilter at five C.
DAVID
I’ll get it fixed. How’s Royce?
MADISON
He’s started talking to me again. For real. He told me about the gun thing. Thank you.
DAVID
It was a cry for help.
MADISON
But pretty fucked up.
DAVID
He’s getting what he needs now.
MADISON
You were right about telling my parents too. It would have made everything worse. I just—secrets have a way of getting out.
DAVID
Not when it’s shared by only two people. A secret’s not the same as a lie. There’s cassoulet left over. Are you hungry?
MADISON
Yeah but well no—I told some of the guys I’d meet them in a few minutes.
DAVID
Is Willett going?
MADISON
He’ll probably be there.
DAVID
He makes you laugh.
MADISON
Yeah.
DAVID
Not too hard on the eyes either.
MADISON
Okay now you’re starting to sound jealous.
DAVID
I’d gotten used to—having someone to eat with.
MADISON
We’ll eat again.
DAVID
But not like we used to.
MADISON
No and that’s totally my fault. I just have this thing where I have to fuck every guy I meet. I need to work on it and I will really. But right now I gotta.
DAVID
Don’t worry. Good night.
MADISON exits. DAVID goes to the kitchen briefly and returns with a bowl of food, a glass and a carafe of wine. He pours himself a large glass of wine and sits down to eat alone. Lights rise on the kitchen of the Sawatsky house, empty. MADISON enters dressed entirely in black. She moves to a counter, pulls out a bottle of vodka and pours a slug into a glass. She downs the shot and pours more. ROYCE enters, also in black. He shares a look with MADISON, reaches into his pocket and takes out a pill bottle. He takes a pill using what’s left of MADISON’s vodka to wash it down.
MADISON
Those help?
ROYCE
It’s like being wrapped in something cloudy.
MADISON
But you don’t feel as down.
ROYCE
I don’t feel as anything.
MADISON
Great.
KANE enters dressed entirely in black.
Shot?
KANE
Set me up.
MADISON pours a shot into a glass and hands it to KANE. KANE downs the shot and holds the glass out to MADISON. She pours another shot into it.
MADISON
Funerals are vile traditions.
KANE
They help with closure.
CAROLYN enters dressed in black.
CAROLYN
Closure’s overrated.
MADISON waves the bottle at her mother.
MADISON
Takes the edge off.
CAROLYN
Okay.
MADISON pours her mother a shot. KANE raises his glass.
KANE
To Herbert Carver.
CAROLYN
It was nice of so many of his former students to show up.
MADISON
They were so old.
CAROLYN
He loved to read. It was like a religion to him. He picked a book for each year of my childhood and read it to me until I was old enough to read myself. Then he gave me a book for every birthday until he—got sick. It was how we communicated.
MADISON
Who besides me
needs another drink?
ROYCE
There’s something I should probably tell you guys.
Pause.
CAROLYN
Well?
ROYCE
I’ve met someone. Special.
KANE
Someone?
CAROLYN
Special? But I thought you were.
ROYCE
I am.
KANE
And is she he?
ROYCE
She. Her uncle raped her repeatedly between the ages of two and seven so she hates sex. She’s the sister of this guy I know from group. Her name’s Tasha. She’s not very pretty but she’s really smart. And funny.
Pause.
CAROLYN
Good for you.
ROYCE
We share feelings of inadequacy and internalized self-hatred.
KANE
It’s important to have things in common.
ROYCE
And our med cycles are simpatico.
MADISON
Great.
ROYCE
The doctor says it’s a sign of progress.
MADISON
I have an announcement of my own.
CAROLYN
What’s that?
MADISON
Willett and I are going to try monogamy.
Pause.
KANE
Who the hell’s Willett?
MADISON
My boyfriend.
CAROLYN
Boyfriend?
MADISON
I’ve been seeing him for nearly two months.
CAROLYN
Is he—nice?
MADISON
He thinks he’s far smarter and better looking than he actually is but I really kinda like him.
ROYCE
And he’s a waiter?
MADISON
Just part-time while he goes to university.
CAROLYN
Great. What’s he taking?
MADISON
Political science don’t even get me started. If the relationship lasts another two months I’ll introduce you.
CAROLYN
I found an apartment.
Pause.
It’s just a few blocks away. Walking distance.
Pause.
I also found a job. I’m going to be doing the books for a trucking company.
MADISON
Trucking company?
ROYCE
Whoa.
CAROLYN
I liked the women in their bookkeeping office.
MADISON pours KANE a shot. He downs it.
ROYCE
I guess if it’ll make you happier.
MADISON
Right.
CAROLYN
There are two extra bedrooms. You kids can stay
whenever you want.
ROYCE
Great.
MADISON
I wouldn’t be very comfortable sleeping there.
CAROLYN
You’ll get used to it eventually.
