Humpty Dumpty and Other Plays by Eric Bogosian

Author:Eric Bogosian [Bogosian, Eric]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781559367400
Publisher: Theatre Communications Group

ACT TWO

Scene 1

One week later. Daylight. The sound of an ax splitting wood mingled with dogs barking. Stacks of empty egg cartons and plastic water jugs. Guttered candles have dripped wax over every surface. The face of the fireplace is stained with soot. Pinecones and pine boughs decorate every edge and surface of the room.

Spoon sits at the table wearing a fuzzy overcoat, drinking glasses of something she pours from an unlabeled plastic jug. The sound of chopping stops. Max, wearing an old parka and sporting a week’s worth of beard stubble, enters hauling an armload of wood. He throws it by the fireplace.

MAX: Fucking dogs out there. Hanging around.

SPOON: I think they’re abandoned. I gave them some eggs to eat.

MAX: Great. Tomorrow there’ll be twice as many.

SPOON: Have some of Nat’s cider. It’s good. He calls it “applejack.”

(Max rummages for food in the kitchen.)

MAX: Where’s the homemade peanut butter?

SPOON: Troy finished it two days ago.

(Nicole comes out of the bedroom and groggily heads for the bathroom. Her hand is bandaged.)

MAX: Fuck! I can’t eat another egg. (To Nicole) It’s one o’clock in the afternoon, Nicole.

(Nicole doesn’t reply, she slams the door.)

(To Spoon) She stays up all night and sleeps all day.

SPOON: You know, it’s funny, I like eggs. I think we’re lucky to have ’em, you know? And the stove works, so that’s a good thing. I mean, this isn’t that bad. Is it? The weather’s nice and clear and crispy. We’re surrounded by nature and woods and all that stuff. And there’s no phones. No agents or publicists calling up all day long. Can’t go shopping. Can’t do anything but just, you know, be calm. I like this. I like this a lot. I don’t think I’ve felt this clear in a long long time. You know? I get up early. I do my yoga. I go for walks. I breathe fresh air all day. I watch the clouds in the sky. I can think. And when it gets dark I go to bed. It’s like a dream come true. Back in L.A., all I do is get stuck in traffic and talk on my cell phone and use my credit card and worry about my career. I needed this. I really, really needed this.

(Nicole emerges from the bathroom. Comes down to the kitchen, gets a kettle, fills it from a jug of water, puts it on the stove. She favors her good hand. Max watches her, she ignores him.)

MAX: I could use some help you know.

NICOLE: Max, please don’t start. I just woke up.

SPOON: Good morning, Nicole. I mean, good afternoon.

MAX: If you went to bed on time . . .

NICOLE: How am I supposed to help you when I have this? (Holds up her hand)

MAX: We should have had those stitches out two days ago.

NICOLE: I’m not going back there, Max. Can you imagine what that place is like now? Like something you see on the evening news! All those pathetic people lined up. Babies crying.

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