Darrell Dennis by Darrell Dennis

Author:Darrell Dennis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Playwrights Canada Press

SCENE 19: TREATMENT

SIMON: On Halloween day, my mother drove me four hours from Vancouver to the treatment centre. We sat in silence the entire time. When we arrived, nether of us spoke for a long time. Finally…

SIMON, AGE 22: You did the best you could. I don’t blame you for anything.

TINA: Sheeet… you better not. You better not go ts7uming [crying] around, talking about, “Oooh, my mother didn’t hug me enough…. Oooh, my mother never cut the crust off my sandwich…. Oooh, my mother didn’t buy me a pony.” You made your own choices Simon. Like Kye7e used to say, “choice is the only thing you never lose.”

SIMON: I could see tears welling up in her eyes. I didn’t know what else to say, so I leaned over and gave her a kiss. Then, I wiped away her tears and walked into the centre. After they searched my bags and took away my aftershave, I went to my room. Somehow, lying down in skid row hotel rooms with junkies, hookers, and alcoholics, was not enough to shame me. Only rehab smelled like failure. In the morning, we were herded like cattle into the sharing circle. “Hi, I’m Tracy, I’m an alcoholic. Hi, I’m Mike, I’m an addict. Hi, I’m Frank. I’m an alcoholic/addict.” Just then, I recognised a voice. A voice I hadn’t heard since I was thirteen years old.

JANINE, AGE 25: Hi. My name is Janine and I’m an alcoholic and addict. This is the sixth treatment centre I’ve been to, but I really want to quit this time. I’ve been hooked on cocaine, booze, heroin, just about everything. I have a three-year-old daughter who was taken away from me by social services. I really miss her and I want her back. And I have AIDS. That’s all I have to say.

SIMON: I flashed back to that night in the community hall. It was a million years ago when we were still just kids. When we still had a chance. And then I realised what this place was. A second chance. Or at least a chance for a second chance. I didn’t have Stephanie, I didn’t have money, I didn’t have a job, but I had a chance. (SIMON kneels and touches the rocks.) A chance most people never get… (SIMON picks up the film canister from the centre of the rocks and holds it in his hand.) Janine looked up at me from across the room. She was scared. I knew she recognised me because she tried to smile, but her lip started to shake. I smiled back at her and she relaxed. I had a friend…

Lights change.

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