At Capacity--Scene 2: Not soon enough

Scene 2

(Lights up to find CLAIRE, a woman in her early 40s, glasses low on her nose on a chain around her neck, hair pulled back in a ponytail, dressed in weekend clothing. She is at a large dining room table with a 1970s chandelier hanging over it and surrounded by boxes. One large box is marked “Trash” and another smaller box is marked “Keep.” Claire is picking things out of yet another box, looking at each thing, and making decisions. It’s rather random, but she does this for five objects. All the objects are Christmas decorations. Objects that she thinks are worth keeping, she places gingerly into the “Keep” box, objects that she deems unworthy are tossed recklessly into the “Trash” box. There’s something comical about how Claire makes this happen.

The sixth object she pulls from the box is wrapped in tissue paper. Claire begins to unwrap it, and as the first layer comes off, Claire becomes more inquisitive about what it actually is. She carefully walks to a chair that’s downstage of the table, sits, and places the object in her lap. She continues to unwrap it very carefully, and when it fully reveals itself to her, she lets out a gasp and gingerly picks it up.  She holds it up to the light, and we can see that it’s a Christmas tree topper that’s shaped like a snowflake rather than a star. It glints in the light, like it’s made of crystal or something very precious.  She sighs as she looks at it, and simultaneously, a door opens and closes offstage. Claire doesn’t hear it.)

CLAIRE (looking up at the object glinting in the light)
Thank you.

JULIA (offstage)
Claire ? 

CLAIRE (continues looking at the object, letting it catch the light, not loud enough for Julia to hear)
In here…

JULIA
Where are you? . . . (Julia can be heard rummaging through the house, cabinets slamming, etc.) Why don’t you have any lights on? (As Julia is moving through the house, she is turning on lights as she makes her way to Claire.)

CLAIRE (to herself, not loud enough for Julia to hear, still with the snowflake)
Trying to save power…

(Julia enters to see Claire with the snowflake. She has a glass of wine in her hand, and she’s wearing a sweater and her scarf.)

JULIA
Where did you find that?

CLAIRE
In this box. It was halfway down. I can’t believe it’s not smashed.

JULIA
What is it?

CLAIRE
It’s the snowflake tree topper.

JULIA
Whose was that again?

CLAIRE
Mom’s Aunt Virginia’s. Mom had it on our tree for years, but then suddenly it went missing.  Remember?

JULIA
“Went missing” or Dad hid it?

CLAIRE
That’s awful, Julia. Why would you say that?

JULIA
Well, it's there in your hands now, isn’t it?

CLAIRE
Still. He’s barely been gone six months and you’re—

JULIA
It was a joke, Claire.

(Claire chooses to ignore this comment.)

CLAIRE
I was just home from college. You all waited to decorate the tree until after I finished exams—

JULIA
It was late, like the 22nd or something like that.

CLAIRE
I had a final the day before, then I drove the five hours. It was like my junior year. Oh Baby Jesus, was that the Christmas I was dating Bobby?

JULIA
Oh God, that one who showed up to the house on the 26th with presents for all of us?

CLAIRE
We’d only been dating for like a month and—

JULIA
Piece of work.

CLAIRE
He got you some boots or / something, right?

JULIA
Mom wouldn’t let me wear them because she said they looked like hooker boots.

CLAIRE
Bobby did not buy you hooker boots.

JULIA
I’m just saying what Mom said.

CLAIRE
Mom did not like Bobby.

JULIA
I think he got that.

CLAIRE
He wasn’t around much longer after Christmas.

JULIA
He got the message.

(There’s a pause here. Claire to go back to the snowflake.)

JULIA
I can’t believe you found this. Where was the box?

CLAIRE
Right with all the other decorations in the crawl space. Jack stopped on his way home from school and he helped me pull them out.

JULIA
How’s Jack?

CLAIRE
He’s fine. Likes middle school now. Kind of rough at the beginning, but he’s getting used to it.

JULIA
I can’t believe he’s 11 already.

CLAIRE
Mom always said time flies. (she takes a moment here to look at the snowflake again) I always just said “yes it does” to humor her, you know, but she was right.

JULIA
So the snowflake incident.

CLAIRE
Yeah, the snowflake topper was a big—

JULIA
Drama.

CLAIRE
And Mom got upset--

JULIA
Had a breakdown

CLAIRE
--when we couldn’t find the snowflake topper. Mom did not have a breakdown. Why do you always exaggerate about her?

JULIA
Didn’t she make Dad go up into the attic and search for it that night?

CLAIRE
She did.

JULIA
And then again the next day?

CLAIRE
Yep. And then I finally drove to the Kmart at 6:30 on Christmas eve to buy some kind of topper because Mom was still pissed off that there was nothing on the top of the tree. Dad could care less, but Mom was going on and on about how awful the tree looked with nothing on top.

JULIA
And that’s when you got that God awful angel, right?

CLAIRE
She was not God awful, and besides it was all they had left at 9:30 on Christmas eve.  I had to beg the stock boy to look for one in the back because the one on the display tree was busted.

JULIA
She had those lights in her hands and under her angel skirt.

CLAIRE
And really bad hair.

JULIA
Bad.

CLAIRE
And Steve wouldn’t shut up about it being a Chinese angel or something.

JULIA
Cause the eyes were like little lines rather than opened.

CLAIRE
I tried to tell him that it was because she was praying, but you egged him on.

JULIA
When Dad put her up on the tree, Steve kept singing “O Come All Ye Faithful” in a Chinese accent until Mom told him to shut up. Then he did it in church when it was the opening hymn and he and Mom got laughing really hard and Dad wouldn’t speak to them for the rest of the night.

CLAIRE
That was that Christmas?

JULIA
Yeah. Don’t you remember? It was like a domino effect. You stayed up at school later/ than usual—

CLAIRE
I had / finals! 

JULIA
And Mom got all upset about it, cause she thought it was because of Bobby and then it was just one thing after the other. Some Christmas.

CLAIRE
You make it sound like it was my fault.

JULIA
Well?

CLAIRE
Julia, that was over 20 years ago! Are you telling me you’re still upset about it?

JULIA
I’m not upset about it.

CLAIRE
No, I think you are.

JULIA
I’m not upset about it.  OK?

CLAIRE
I can tell by the look on your face.

JULIA
What look on my face?

CLAIRE
That smug look you get when you’re sure you’re right about something and you’re not gonna budge on it.  Lips tight. Head tilted slightly to the right. And eyebrows raised.

JULIA
I don’t know what you’re talking about.

CLAIRE
See? You’re doing it right now.

JULIA (turning away)
I am not! I don’t do that!

CLAIRE
You’ve been doing it since you two came home from the hospital, so—

JULIA
Babies can’t make faces like that. 

CLAIRE
Well, you could.

JULIA
How do you even remember that?

CLAIRE
I remember lots about that time.  I was 8 years old, so I remember it. A lot of it.

JULIA
But you can’t remember how my face was.

CLAIRE
You’d be surprised what I remember.

(Claire says this last line in such a way that Julia goes silent. Something is not quite right between the two of them in this moment, but it’s not clear what it is. After a long pause, Claire sets down the snowflake carefully and moves back to her sorting process.)

CLAIRE
Did you find Steve?

JULIA
He’s where you said he would be.

CLAIRE
Uh huh.

JULIA
He can't be warm enough. It’s freezing out and starting to snow.

CLAIRE
I’m sure he’ll come back when he’s ready.

JULIA
He’s out there looking at a photo album.

CLAIRE
Which one?

JULIA
I don’t know which one.  He said it’s got our kindergarten birthday party in it.

CLAIRE
The Smurf one?

JULIA
Jesus, how do you remember this stuff? I can’t even remember it, and it was my party.

CLAIRE
Uh, well, maybe I’m not trying to forget.

JULIA
Oh cut the crap, Claire. You just like being the historian.

CLAIRE
You weren’t doing such a bad job when it came to the hooker boots before.

JULIA
That’s different.

CLAIRE
Uh huh.

(Claire reaches into the box and pulls out a large female caroler doll, something that would sit in a bay window.)

CLAIRE
Oh my God, look at this? 

JULIA
Uh, shit…

CLAIRE
Do you remember this?

JULIA
Of course I remember it. I was scared shitless of it for years.

CLAIRE
Mom and Dad had these carolers for as long as I could remember. We put them up every year in that front window, and Dad put all the lights around. People could see them set up from the street. And then you and Steve turned two and that was history.

JULIA
Those dolls give me the creeps.  Are all three in that box?

CLAIRE (looking in)
The other two are right here.

JULIA
Well, just leave them there. In fact, why don’t you put Jezebel back in their with the other two and take that box out of here.

CLAIRE
I’ll put them back in the box, but I’m not getting rid of them tonight.  We can deal with it tomorrow. I need to get home.  Patrick texted earlier to say that dinner would be ready at 7, and it’s 6:45 now.

(Julia is silent. Claire grabs a jacket from the back of another chair and puts it on.)

JULIA
What about Steve?

CLAIRE
What about him? 

JULIA
He’s not back yet.

CLAIRE
He’s a big boy.  He’ll find his way back.

JULIA
He says this place has bad energy

CLAIRE
Maybe for him it does. But he’ll come back. The extra sheets and towels are in the hall closet. I didn’t have time to make up the bed, but you can figure it out.

(Claire comes over to Julia and gives her a hug and a kiss.)

CLAIRE
I’m glad you’re here.

JULIA
Yeah.

CLAIRE
Steve and I didn’t want to do this without you.

JULIA
I got that.

CLAIRE
So I’ll see you in the morning?

JULIA
I’ll be here.

CLAIRE
It’ll all be over soon.

(Claire give Julia’s shoulder a squeeze and then exits the way Julia came in. The door is heard opening and shutting. Julia is left sitting on the chair.)

JULIA
Not soon enough.

(Julia looks around the room, picks up the snowflake topper and looks at it. She holds it up to the light and the glinting happens again. She seems comforted by it. The sound of a car starting and pulling away, indicating that Claire is driving away. Then Julia has some kind of memory, and the comfort passes. She sets down the snowflake, gets up, picks up her wine glass, and leaves the room, shutting the chandelier light off as she exits. As that light dims, the box where the carolers are begins to glow, and from the box the sound of Julia’s voice echoes again saying “Not soon enough.” Lights down. End of scene.)

New play project: At Capacity--Scene 1: Cue the snow

(A man sits on a bench in a park looking through an old photo album.  He is in his mid 30s, wearing a business suit, glasses, and a baseball cap. It’s cold outside. He has a scarf around this neck and fingerless gloves. Each time he turns a page, he blows on his fingers to keep them warm. Each time her turns a page, he has some reaction to the photos that he sees. After 5 page turns, a woman enters. She is also in her mid 30s, dressed more casually but also more appropriately for the weather.  She stops short of the bench and looks at the man for a moment.)

WOMAN (softly)
Steve?

(The man doesn’t hear her.)

WOMAN (with more volume)
Steve?

STEVE (without looking up, turning another page, having a reaction)
Yes?

WOMAN
What are you looking at?

STEVE
What does it look like I’m looking at, Julia?

JULIA
Well, I can see that it’s a photo album but that’s not what I meant.

STEVE
Then what did you mean?

(Julia is kind of already out of patience with this, but she re-sets herself and tries again.)

JULIA
I was wondering what you were looking at in the photo album, Steve.

(Steve pauses a moment. Turns a page. Has a reaction. Looks up at Julia for the first time.)

STEVE
Pictures.

(Steve goes back to the photo album.)

JULIA
Oh my God.  Yes, Steve, you’re looking at pictures in a book marked “Album!” WHAT A CONCEPT!

STEVE
There’s no reason to yell, Julia.

JULIA
I'M JUST TRYING TO--

STEVE
If you don't stop yelling, someone will call the police.

JULIA
Ahhhh. What are you doing out here?

STEVE
I'm looking at pictures.

JULIA
I know you’re looking at pictures! I know that. I can assume that from just watching you and—

STEVE
You should never assume anything. It makes an ass out of / you

JULIA
Oh, for / Christ's sake

STEVE
And me.

(Steve looks up at Julia, smiles, and goes back to the album. Julia goes to speak again, opens her mouth, nothing comes out, she shakes her head, looks at him one more time, and turns to walk away. As she does, Steve turns the page, looks at the photo, gasps, and puts his hand to his mouth in surprise.)

STEVE
Look at this! It’s our fifth birthday party!

(Julia stops in her tracks. Without turning around she addresses him.)

JULIA
Why do you have that album?

STEVE
I just picked it up off of the shelf next to Dad’s desk, and I walked out here to the park to look at the pictures.

JULIA
It’s freezing out here, and you’re not dressed for it. Why didn’t you just stay in the house and look at the pictures?

STEVE
There’s no peace in that house.

JULIA
We're the only one's there. How can there not be peace?

STEVE
The energy’s bad in there.

JULIA
What?

STEVE
The energy’s bad. In that house. I can’t concentrate in there even now that it’s empty.

JULIA
What are you talking about? It's not empty, and it’s quieter than it’s ever been.

STEVE
It’s not quiet, Julia. It’ll never be quiet.

JULIA
What do you mean?

STEVE
Look at this picture! (tries to show her the album, but she turns away) What? It’s of you and your best friend Emily at our birthday party.

JULIA
I don’t want to see that.

STEVE
Sure you do. You’re wearing that frilly little dress that Mom got you from the Sears catalog. You thought you were such hot stuff in this dress. I remember you pulled the page out of the catalog one afternoon before Mom got home from work. As soon as you heard her key in the front door, you made a beeline up to your bedroom and hid it. 

JULIA
I knew she’d be mad that I ripped it out of the catalog. Mom loved that catalog. Every time a new one came, she got so protective of it.

STEVE
But then you got the dress somehow, didn’t you?

(Julia doesn't answer.)

STEVE (with a little more force)
Didn’t you?

(There’s a bit of a pause before Julia answers.)

JULIA (quietly)
I did.

STEVE
You most certainly did.

JULIA
And? (Steve doesn’t answer her.) So I got the dress. What’s the big deal?

STEVE
No big deal. I was just making an observation. (turns a page)  Aha!  And here’s a picture of me with my best friend, Amy.

JULIA
I thought your best friend was Mark what’s-his-name. That’s our kindergarten birthday party, right?

STEVE
It is. We had the Smurf theme that year. 

JULIA
So why are you saying your best friend was Amy when it was Mark what’s-his-name.

STEVE
Mark’s last name is “Jackson.”  We’re Facebook friends now, but I don’t know why you’re thinking he was by best friend in kindergarten. 

JULIA
Uh, because that’s what you used to tell everyone. And he followed you around on the playground all the time. And you used to have him come over and ride bikes around the block—

STEVE
We weren’t allowed to ride our bikes around the block in kindergarten, Julia. You know Mom would never let us do that.

JULIA
Ok, whatever, but why are you saying Amy was your best friend in kindergarten? Was she even in our class?

STEVE
You can’t remember anything, can you?

JULIA
Well, with a husband and two kids I have enough trouble remembering the stuff that they need me to remember. There’s not enough room in my head to remember things from when we were in kindergarten.

STEVE
That’s not how the brain works, Julia. You don’t run out of room for stuff. Your brain might choose to forget things, but it doesn’t run out of room.  That’s why human beings will never be replaced by computers. Computers have limited capacity. The human brain doesn’t run out of megabytes.

(Julia is silent after this, not quite sure how to respond.)

JULIA
Do you think we could continue this back at the house?  It’s cold and you shouldn’t be sitting out here without a heavier coat. You’re going to get a kidney infection.

STEVE (laughing, mocking)
Now, that’s something that Mom would definitely say.

JULIA
I don’t care. She was right about some stuff.

STEVE
WOW! Did I just hear that right? Hold on!  Lemme rewind that in my brain and play it back.  (He makes some silly noises, like tape rewinding sounds, presses his nose, clicks his teeth, then presses his nose again and pretends to see the replay in his mind.) Yep.  YEP! That’s what you said. “She was right about some stuff.” My twin sister is finally saying that our mother was right about some stuff.

JULIA
Well, so?

STEVE
So it’s a shame that you waited until after she was dead to come to that realization.

JULIA
Steve—

STEVE
It might have helped ease the transition for her if she’d known that’s what you thought, maybe even heard you say it, God forbid.

JULIA
Lay off, Steve.

STEVE
I’m not going to lay off, Julia. I’m just saying what I think.

JULIA
Yeah, well you’re getting really good at saying what you think at really shitty moments.

STEVE
After 35 years it’s about time, don’t you think?

(Julia and Steve just look at each other. Julia starts to try to say something but nothing comes out. Again. Steve goes back to the album. There is a long awkward pause.)

JULIA
OK, then. Seems like you’ve got it all figured out. Clearly more than I do. 

STEVE
It comes with time.

JULIA
Uh huh.

STEVE
Uh huh.

JULIA
I’m going back to the house. I think you should come back. It’s cold out here and—

STEVE
I heard you the first time.

JULIA
You should have a heavier jacket and—

STEVE
I’ll be there in a few minutes, MOM.

(That last word shuts Julia down. She turns and exits the scene in the same direction she came from. Steve turns and watches her go. He looks at the album, looks up at the sky, and snow begins to fall on him. He smiles.)

STEVE
Thank you.

End of scene.