Goodnight Children Everywhere and Other Plays by Richard Nelson

Author:Richard Nelson [Nelson, Richard]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781559362443
Publisher: Theatre Communications Group
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

SCENE 2

Much later that evening.

Part of the kitchen of the house. There is large rustic wooden table, which has been used both for eating and as a sort of desk. Piles of papers, bills, catalogs, etc.; a phone, whose cord extends to the wall, making a kind of obstacle for anyone going around the table. There is a transistor radio on the table.

The Debussy continues from the last scene, though over the theatre’s speakers now.

Tom enters from the pantry; he carries a bowl, a spoon, a box of cereal. He does not hear the music. He sets his things down on the table and goes off again. From off, we hear the opening and closing of a refrigerator. Tom returns with a carton of milk. He sits, pours the cereal, the milk; he reaches across the table for the sugar. He spoons on the sugar and begins to eat. He stops and turns on the transistor radio. The Debussy is gone and from the radio we first hear a pop tune with a lot of static. Tom fiddles with the knob, tries another station, then another. He hits upon a religious program. He listens for a moment to the minister on the program as he eats.

The phone rings. Tom doesn’t know what to do. He looks in the direction of the door. It rings again. And again. He puts down his spoon, begins to reach for the phone, when the ring stops—someone has picked up the phone on another extension.

Tom changes the channel again, then again, then again—everything is junk: pop tunes, commercials. After about the twelfth station, he turns off the radio.

In silence he eats.

Alice enters from the living room. She has a drink in her hand. At first she says nothing; Tom just eats. Then finally:

ALICE: That was Elizabeth on the phone. She’ll be here in a minute. She’s just down the road at the gas station. She couldn’t remember the turnoff.

TOM (Eating): Which one is—?

ALICE: She’s the middle child. She lives in the city, too. (Smiles) She’s in publishing.

TOM: In the same—?

ALICE: She’s with a different house. (Notices that he is eating)

TOM: I found some cereal, I hope that wasn’t—

ALICE: You haven’t eaten anything, have you?

TOM: I didn’t expect—

ALICE: You come out for the weekend and—and you don’t even get fed! What could I have been thinking—

TOM: Alice, I’m—

ALICE (Looking for food): I’m not normally like—

TOM: I am fine, Alice! Please.

(Beat. She stops looking around.)

I don’t expect anything. Not now.

(Pause. Tom eats. Alice sips her drink.)

ALICE: You want a drink? I . . .

TOM: If I do, I’ll find it.

(Neither knows what to say. Alice sighs.)

ALICE: I’ve been in his study—cleaning up.

TOM: I thought that’s what that woman—

ALICE (Over this): She missed some places. Look at this. (Holds out the small photo album she’s been carrying) They’re already in the album. I didn’t even know he’d got the photos back yet. And they’re already in his . . .

TOM: And that is unlike him?

ALICE: Very. (Looks at the photos) From Bermuda.

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