Characters
PAIGE, woman in her late thirties
SONNY, PAIGE’s husband, slightly younger
BILLY, PAIGE’s son, SONNY’s stepson, around seven years old
Setting
Night. Living room in modest, working-class home. Front door. Hallway to bedrooms. Sofa, its back to the hallway. Armchair facing sofa, coffee table,
et cetera. Entry table with a purse on it.
At Rise
SONNY enters through front door, car keys in hand. Pauses, listening. Places keys in purse on entry table. PAIGE enters from hallway.
PAIGE: Any problem?
SONNY: It was closed.
PAIGE: (Looks at watch) Closed? I thought it was open.
SONNY: The grocery part was open, the pharmacy was closed.
PAIGE: I’m sorry, I should’ve checked first.
SONNY: I’ll go by after work tomorrow.
PAIGE: That’s OK, I’ll stop by in the morning . . . on my way.
SONNY: (Sits in armchair) There’s no hurry.
PAIGE: Just to be sure.
SONNY: He’s fine for now.
PAIGE: (Sits on sofa) I don’t want him to run out.
SONNY: There’s no need to worry. Before I left . . . after I left . . . before I got in the car . . . when I saw I didn’t have my keys . . . I came back in and . . .
PAIGE: (Interrupting) I didn’t hear you come back in.
SONNY: Yes, I came back in, and your purse was on the table, so I looked in your purse . . .
PAIGE: (Interrupting) You looked in my purse?
SONNY: . . . to get your keys . . . because I forgot mine. And that’s how I know there’s enough: “William Weston. Ten milligrams. One tablet twice daily.” And there are enough pills for a few more days.
PAIGE: (Caught off guard) Oh . . . I . . . of course, that was stupid of me. I forgot all about those pills. They’re extras . . . I always keep extras, just in case . . . I mean, you never know . . . so I always keep extras tucked away somewhere.
SONNY: Oh, you’d have found them anyway . . . the next time you went out . . . because when you open your purse . . . to get your keys . . . they’re right there . . . next to the keys. You couldn’t miss them.
PAIGE: I’m getting awfully scatterbrained.
SONNY: You’ve had a lot on your mind lately.
PAIGE: Even so.
SONNY: (Pause) Is he still up?
PAIGE: What? Billy? Yes, he’s getting ready. (Turns around and calls down hallway) Billy? Are you getting ready? Sonny’s back . . . Sonny’s home, Billy.
SONNY: (Looks at watch) He’s up a little late, isn’t he?
PAIGE: (To BILLY) Your pajamas are in the . . . Have you put on your pajamas? (Silence) I’ll be there in a minute, Billy. Put on your pajamas and I’ll be in. (To SONNY) I’ll check on him in a minute.
SONNY: (Beat) So, how’s the new doctor?
PAIGE: Good, good . . . I think she’ll be good. I like her . . . Billy seems to like her.
SONNY: How can you tell?
PAIGE: How? I don’t know . . . I could just see . . . he was paying attention . . . he was listening.
SONNY: That’s good, then . . . that she’ll be able to help. The last guy didn’t do much of anything, so far as I could tell . . . except send a bill.
PAIGE: Oh, I’m sure he did something.
SONNY: But not enough to make any difference . . . not enough to solve the problem.
PAIGE: I don’t know if it’s a problem that can be “solved,” in that sense.
SONNY: What sense?
PAIGE: In the sense that there’s a problem one minute and then there’s no problem the next.
SONNY: But a solution to the problem is the point, isn’t it?
PAIGE: Of course it is . . . but you can’t expect . . . in this kind of
situation . . .
SONNY: What kind of situation?
PAIGE: What kind?
SONNY: You said “this kind of situation.”
PAIGE: I meant losing his father like that.
SONNY: But he didn’t lose his father like that.
PAIGE: What’s that supposed to mean?
SONNY: It means, you haven’t told him what that is, so he couldn’t have experienced it like that. He could only have experienced it the way any normal kid would in any normal situation.
PAIGE: Children respond to things in different ways, Sonny. They have different reactions.
SONNY: And one of those reactions is to turn into a mute?
PAIGE: (Suppressing her shock, under her breath) Don’t say that! He’s not a mute!
SONNY: Well, if he’s not a mute . . . (Noise from hallway, pause) Billy, it’s time to get in bed! Your mother let you stay up, but now it’s time to get to bed. She’ll check on you in a minute, but right now . . .
PAIGE: (Interrupting, loud whisper) Look, Sonny, Billy has undergone . . . whatever you want to call it, whatever term you want to use . . . Billy has undergone a traumatic experience, and you don’t get over a traumatic experience just like that. So the fact that he doesn’t talk right now doesn’t mean . . .
SONNY: (Interrupting) That’s the part I don’t understand, PAIGE: I mean, I thought I understood . . . you know, how he can’t talk at this particular moment . . . but here’s where I get confused . . .
PAIGE: About what?
SONNY: Before I went to the pharmacy . . . when I came back in . . . because I forgot my keys . . . the thing is, I thought I heard voices.
PAIGE: Voices?
SONNY: From the bedroom.
PAIGE: That was me, of course. I was reading Billy a story, like I always do, before he gets ready.
SONNY: That’s what I thought . . . that you were reading Billy a story like you always do, before he gets ready. But then thought I heard another voice.
PAIGE: Another voice? There wasn’t another voice . . . the only voice you heard was mine . . . because I was reading a story.
SONNY: But it didn’t sound like your voice, that’s the thing. It sounded like . . .
PAIGE: (Interrupting) Then you misheard my voice. People mishear things all the time. I was reading a story out loud, and you know how . . . when you’re reading out loud to a child . . . you use different voices . . . so it’s easy to mistake one of those voices . . .
SONNY: (Interrupting) But let’s just say . . . for the sake of conversation . . . let’s just say that if there was another voice . . . a voice that wasn’t yours . . .
PAIGE: That’s what I’m trying to tell you. You’re not listening to me. What I’m trying to tell you is that there wasn’t another voice . . . there was only my voice, which you mistook for another voice.
SONNY: Is there something you want to tell me, Paige?
PAIGE: Why would I want to tell you something?
SONNY: Are you sure?
PAIGE: Why wouldn’t I be sure?
SONNY: Maybe I ought to ask Billy.
PAIGE: (Alarmed) Billy?
SONNY: Why not? He’s not deaf, is he? He might be mute, but he can still hear . . .
PAIGE: Billy’s not . . .
SONNY: (Interrupting) . . . so if I ask him a question, he can still nod, or shake his head, or . . .
PAIGE: Listen, Sonny. Listen to me . . .
SONNY: I am listening to you.
PAIGE: I need to explain something.
SONNY: I thought you might.
PAIGE: It’s not what you think.
SONNY: No?
PAIGE: You need to understand . . .
SONNY: Yes?
PAIGE: . . . it’s going to take time . . .
SONNY: For?
PAIGE: . . . for him to get comfortable with you.
SONNY: It already has taken time.
PAIGE: Then it’s going to take more time.
SONNY: No, Paige, it’s not going to take more time, because too much time has already been taken. You see, there’s only so much time you can take, and then there’s no time left.
(SONNY stands, turns toward hall.)
PAIGE: Where are you going? (Stands, steps in front of him. Under her breath) Wait . . . Sonny . . . wait a minute. Stop . . . no . . . really, Sonny, stop. Listen to me, listen. I’ll talk to him. You stay here and I’ll . . .
SONNY: (Interrupting) I’m going to do you a favor, PAIGE:
PAIGE: Let me explain!
SONNY: From now on there’s only going to be one father in this house, and that father didn’t stick a fucking shotgun in his mouth!
(SONNY sees BILLY in his pajamas standing in hall. PAIGE turns.)
PAIGE: Billy! Get back in your room!
(Throughout, BILLY stands, hands at his sides, silent, expressionless.)
SONNY: (Calmly) Hello, Billy.
PAIGE: Right now, Billy, get back in your room!
SONNY: I’m glad you’re still up . . .
PAIGE: Billy!
SONNY: . . . because I’ve been talking to your mother, and it seems like we’ve got a problem.
PAIGE: Billy, go. Go to your room!
SONNY: And you know what fathers do, Billy? When there’s a problem?
PAIGE: Do you hear me!
SONNY: They solve it.
PAIGE: Billy!
SONNY: So that’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to solve the problem. And once the problem is solved . . .
PAIGE: (Grabs SONNY by the arm) Stop it!
SONNY: . . . we’re going to live the way families are supposed to live. The way normal families are supposed to live.
PAIGE: Don’t do this!
SONNY: So that’s how it’s going to be, Billy. Once the problem is solved, we’re going to live like a normal family. What do you think about that, Billy? About living like a normal family?
(BILLY looks at them impassively.)
Slow fade out.
THE END
