Lost Lake by David Auburn

Author:David Auburn
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780374714147
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

SCENE 4

Night. VERONICA is bagging surplus groceries. She starts to fold a pile of kids’ clothes. She stops for a moment, listening to the night. It’s quiet.

Beat.

The sound of a truck. Headlights in the window. Motor turns off. Truck door opens and closes. Lights stay on.

VERONICA: Hogan?

HOGAN: (Off.) Yep.

VERONICA: Turn those lights off.

HOGAN: Oh.

(The lights go off. HOGAN enters. A bottle of Old Grand-Dad. He looks a little unsteady.)

Told you I’d stay away.

VERONICA: Uh-huh.

(Beat.)

HOGAN: Getting ready to go?

VERONICA: Yes.

HOGAN: Tomorrow morning.

VERONICA: Yep.

HOGAN: How were your last days? Was I right about the weather or what?

VERONICA: They were real nice.

(Beat.)

HOGAN: Just thought I’d check to see if you needed anything else before you go.

VERONICA: No, I think we’re okay, thanks.

Oh. One of my kids broke a cereal bowl. You tell me how much it costs and I’ll pay for it.

HOGAN: That’s all right.

VERONICA: No, take it out of the damage deposit. I don’t want to—

HOGAN: It’s just a bowl. Forget it.

(Beat.)

Did we end up doing the damage deposit?

VERONICA: Yeah, in the first two payments, remember?

HOGAN: Right, yes.

Oh—but the third payment never—

VERONICA: We said we’d forget about all that.

HOGAN: Right, right, right right right.

VERONICA: Let’s not go through this again, please. I’ve had a real nice couple days—

HOGAN: Of course. No.

(Beat.)

VERONICA: So you still have to return my damage deposit.

HOGAN: Yes. Absolutely. I’ll do a quick walk-through tomorrow, then send it off first thing.

(Beat.)

VERONICA: Oh, I dropped a coffee mug, too. I tried to glue it but it wouldn’t glue so I threw it out.

HOGAN: Don’t worry about it.

Unless it was my 1980 Lake Placid Miracle on Ice mug.

VERONICA: I think it was, yeah.

HOGAN: Shit.

VERONICA: I’ll pay for it.

HOGAN: That was a collector’s item. There’s no way you can afford to replace it. If you could even find a replacement.

VERONICA: Well, you shouldn’t have left it here if it was so valuable.

HOGAN: I didn’t think you’d use it.

VERONICA: Why wouldn’t I use it? It’s a coffee mug.

HOGAN: It’s clearly a collector’s item.

VERONICA: Then you shouldn’t have left it on the shelf with the other cups.

If it’s so important to you—

HOGAN: Never mind, just forget it.

VERONICA: I’ll pay for it.

HOGAN: Forget it, I said.

VERONICA: I’m sorry.

(Beat.)

HOGAN: So I brought you something. Little farewell gift.

(He gives her a wrapped present.)

Just to sort of say no hard feelings kind of thing.

VERONICA: Oh. Well, thank you.

HOGAN: Open it.

(She does. It’s a book.)

VERONICA: A Child’s First Book of Birds.

HOGAN: See, I saw this and I thought this would be the one for a seven-year-old. See, it’s got pop-up pages? And you can pull that flap and make the wings beat, there’s a bunch of stuff like that, and check this out:

(He presses a button and the book emits a birdcall.)

For each one you can hear the actual call. That’s pretty incredible, huh? Tiny little speaker in there somehow. So your boy can really learn them now.

VERONICA: That’s—thank you very much. That’s very …

HOGAN: Of course you’re leaving. But there’s birds in the city, too, right?

VERONICA: Yeah.

HOGAN: There’s an inscription.

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