everybody got quiet, i could feel john tense up, getting all tense, but the couple was, i don’t know, kind of dirty-looking and they seemed like, you know, those kind of people—i don’t know what i mean by that, exactly, but they were—so i asked john, whispered to him, to “let it go.” (BEAT) and you know what? he didn’t so much as bat an eyelash. just kept holding my hand. holding it and playing with the ring on my finger, that made me so happy…
JOHN
i could see he’d given her a bloody nose…
SUE
and they pretty much quieted down right after that. ’s no big deal…
JOHN
anyway…
SUE
anyway, we are getting engaged this summer, for sure. did i tell you that?
JOHN
and finally, as we tumbled along toward massachusetts, nearly midnight…i could feel sue fall asleep against my shoulder, all warm. protected.
SUE
i hope it’s a fall wedding, you know? i always think they’re the most beautiful…
JOHN
but not me…i couldn’t drift off. just couldn’t do it. so i sat up, watching the lights dance by, the moon grinning down. and you know, i started whistling to myself, i did…
SUE
i was sleeping, asleep there on john’s arm, but i’d swear i could hear music…
JOHN
not loud, i mean, don’t even recall the tune. but i was whistling, i was. that much i remember…
SUE
…this beautiful music as i was sleeping, like the sound of angels calling us home…
they sit together in silence for a moment, finally, they rise and embrace, waiting for their picture to be taken, they smile broadly.
harsh blast of a camera’s flashbulb.
silence, darkness.
medea redux
silence, darkness.
woman sits alone in a chair at an institutional-style table, a harsh light hangs down directly overhead. a tape player, water carafe and cup, cigarettes, and an ashtray are close at hand.
woman finishes a cigarette, stubs it out, and slowly begins to speak.
WOMAN
…can i just speak? ’s that okay? i mean, i’ll talk about, but…i got ’a sort of ease into it, you know? ’cause i was never, like, this major talker or anything…like to keep things to myself, some people’d call it “private” or whatever, but it’s more like just being sort ’a “inward.” right? i’m an inward kind ’a person…i think it depends a lot on the way you grow up, you know, family and all, and i just ended up more inward than anything…anyway, i found that a lot of times, when you ask for stuff, or, like, have maybe questions to things…there’s not always an answer out there, you can ask over and over, but you don’t all the time hear something back… (BEAT) speaking ’a that, you can hear me, okay, right? can ya? i guess so…