Something a little different. I've never really taken a stab at writing a play so I figured I'd start simple. Setting is inspired by "The Sunset Limited" by Cormac McCarthy.

I will be continuing this when I have more time if it's well received



The Modern Man's Love Story

A man in his early thirties is sitting alone in his living room smoking a cigarette, he seems nearly comatose (for the sake of convenience, he shall be dialogue "Man 1". A grandfather clock ticks quietly in the background and is the only noise that can be heard other than his occasional tapping to ash. After a minute or two, once the audience has silenced and has turned their full attention to the stage, there is a knocking sound and the man sighs. He stands, steps off stage, and returns seconds later with a second man (dialogue "Man 2"), also in his mid to early thirties. They sit together in the living room.

Man 1- Do you want a smoke?
Man 2- No thanks, I quit while I was away... How are you? I heard about-
Man 1- Do you mind, then, if I smoke?
Man 2- (slightly flustered, but forgiving) Not at all. Please (he gestures to "go ahead"). I heard about-
Man 1- Yeah. How was your trip? I hear New York is beautiful in the Fall.
Man 2- Trip was fine, no traveling issues for once. You know my luck. I'm surprised I didn't get stranded with a blown tire or something...

There is a brief pause in the conversation, both men sit in silence while Man 1 lights his cigarette and takes a few drags.

Man 2- Yeah, you know, I didn't get out of the city so all I got to see were the buildings but you're right. Upper New York is absolutely stunning, particularly the Adirondacks.
Man 1- That's what I've heard. I'll have to go visit sometime. Not the city, of course.
Man 2- Of course.

There is another pause in the conversation.

Man 1- (sighs) I burned all of her things.
Man 2- That bad huh?
Man 1- She's not coming back.
Man 2- How can you be so sure?
Man 1- I won't let her.
Man 2- What happened?
Man 1- You said you'd heard.
Man 2- I want to hear it from you.
Man 1- I probably should have used the fire pit out back.
Man 2- What?
Man 1- For her things. I probably should have burned them out back.
Man 2- What? ... Where did you burn them?
Man 1- In the garage.
Man 2- What?
Man 1- Set off the fire alarm and everything. Firemen came with their sirens wailing and lights flashing and the whole nine yards. Real embarrassing.
Man 2- What'd you tell them?
Man 1- That I was heating up my marriage.
Man 2- They probably didn't take too kindly to that, huh?
Man 1- I have to double my donations this year.
Man 2- Ah.

There's another pause. Both men sit in silence while Man 1 finishes his cigarette.

Man 2- I'm sorry I couldn't make it back right away, I-
Man 1- Don't worry about it. I'm just glad you could make it now.
Man 2- Will you tell me what happened?
Man 1- The "what" really doesn't matter. She's not coming back and my garage smells like burnt plastic.
Man 2- Then what does matter?
Man 1- I was hoping you could tell me.
Man 2- Jesus. I don't know.
Man 1- How's your wife?
Man 2- She's fine... sends her love, as always. She wishes she could have made it today but-
Man 1- I know. It's probably for the best anyway.
Man 2- She does like you.
Man 1- I'm not concerned. Glad she's well.
Man 2- Thanks.... (after a pause) How are you doing?
Man 1- I've been better.
Man 2- Please tell me what happened.
Man 1- What did you hear?
Man 2- Just that she'd left. None of the particulars. I get it if you don't want to talk about it, I'd mentioned that over the phone when you called, but you asked me if I could come out to talk to you about it. I'm here to talk to you.
Man 1- (defensively) We're talking. We're talking right now. (he pauses to light another cigarette.) She left because I got mad at her.
Man 2- For what?
Man 1- Lying.
Man 2- What did she lie about?
Man 1- We've been very quietly discussing the possibility of a separation for the past few months.
Man 2- You never told me that.
Man 1- I never told anybody that. But you still knew. I know she told your wife.
Man 2- Yeah, well, that's what women do. They talk.
Man 1- Yeah.
Man 2- I didn't want to bring it up because I didn't know how serious it was. I never got the whole story, just that it could possibly happen in the future. I guess it's happening now.
Man 1- Well, it happened about a month ago, actually.
Man 2- But you still lived together.
Man 1- Yeah.
Man 2- How did that work out?
Man 1- I think we both know it didn't.
Man 2- Let's be fair here.
Man 1- You walked right into it.
Man 2- Come on.
Man 1- Well neither of us could afford to keep paying the mortgage and simultaneously live in a hotel or pay apartment rent so we split the house up with a few neutral areas and some ground rules.
Man 2- Sounds like any perfectly reasonable marriage.
Man 1- Yeah well, what do I know?
Man 2- So what happened?
Man 1- She kept lying to me. I mean we were separated, or trying it out at least, so I guess it wasn't really my business what she was doing... But I could tell when we would talk she wasn't telling me the truth. I know her better than anyone. We've been together for ten years.
Man 2- What was she lying about?
Man 1- At first it was reasonable. Like saying she was going to have a girls night at the house over a weekend but then leaving for the entire weekend and coming back the following week.
Man 2- Sometimes plans change.
Man 1- I know. I didn't really care either. I thought it was good she was getting out. I was happy for her, honestly.
Man 2- Who's idea was it to try the separation?
Man 1- Hers.
Man 2- Did she say why?
Man 1- Because I didn't want to move away with her. At least, I didn't want to move where she wanted to move, and vice versa.
Man 2- I didn't know you guys wanted to move, either.
Man 1- She didn't want to move until I told her I wanted to get out of Virginia and head back home to Florida. Then she became hell-bent on moving to New York.
Man 2- I see.
Man 1- I think she saw it with an opportunist's eye.
Man 2- What can you really say to that?
Man 1- Sorry. Anyways, then the lying became a bit more obnoxious... Like promising to close the living room windows at night when she was done watching television or reading. We got awful bugs for a while. Stink bugs by the thousands, it seemed.
Man 2- That sounds pretty innocent. Maybe she forgot.
Man 1- I thought that too, the first few times. Later it became apparent that she did it on purpose to get a rise out of me.
Man 2- So what did you do about it?
Man 1- I bolted the windows shut.
Man 2- You didn't?
Man 1- Try one.
Man 2- (laughing) I don't' suppose she took kindly to that?
Man 1- She bought a deadlock for the refrigerator in the kitchen and left a note that said since I never did any of the cooking the kitchen was now officially hers and that I had to store my things in the fridge out in the garage.
Man 2- Things tend to escalate without proper communication.
Man 1- I'm tired of communicating with her. It's a headache. Half of what she says is true, half is an exaggeration, and the other half is a lie.
Man 2- That's three halves.
Man 1- See what I mean? Headache.
Man 2- I still don't see why you guys couldn't work this out.
Man 1- Then I caught her with another man.

They sit in silence for a minute. Man 1 finishes his cigarette and leaves the butt in an ash-tray on the coffee table.

Man 2- Who was he?
Man 1- It's unimportant.
Man 2- To me that'd be pretty damn important.
Man 1- It's unimportant. The "who" is unimportant...
Man 2- I suppose you're going to tell me it's the "why" that's important next.
Man 1- No.
Man 2- Oh.
Man 1- She told me she was going to New York for a week to visit her family. Said she would be leaving Monday morning and be back sometime Sunday night. She packed some of her things and left.
(Man 1 pauses to light another cigarette before continuing.)

Man 1- So Thursday night comes along and I don't have any appointments for Friday. I go out for a drink.
Man 2- YOU? You went to a bar?
Man 1- I know, out of character, but I was bored and lonely so hey, don't judge.
Man 2- Please tell me it wasn't one of those flashy bars downtown, with the bright lights in the windows and the super dim lights inside.
Man 1- Don't forget the absurdly high bar-stools.
Man 2- (trying not to laugh) Oh no.
Man 1- Yeah. So anyways... I'm at this bar, completely inebriated mind you, sitting by myself what feels like six or seven feet off the ground, when all of a sudden I see my wife walk in with this group of people.
Man 2- So what happened?
Man 1- Well, I finished my drink and left.
Man 2- So you think you caught her with another man?
Man 1- No.
Man 2- Were there men in the group.
Man 1- Yeah.
Man 2- I would have said something.
Man 1- I didn't want her to think I was stalking her.
Man 2- She said she was in New York.
Man 1- What could I have possibly been doing at a bar, in her mind?
Man 2- Fair enough. Were you trying to meet women?
Man 1- I wasn't trying to, but I wasn't going to reject a conversation... not that any women would have started one with me anyways. I was pretty drunk.
Man 2- So what makes you think you caught her with another man?
Man 1- As I was paying my tab she walked over to juke box.
Man 2- Oh man, you went to William's?
Man 1- Yeah. I know. I know... Anyways. She's picking out a song and one of the guys from their group follows her over there and stands right behind her leaning with his arms around her and his hands on the jukebox, like a half hug from behind or something. I see him lean in to her like he's asking her a question and then she leans back into him and he wraps his arms around her and gives her a big hug.
Man 2- Oh...
Man 1- I was willing to forgive that. Maybe he was an old friend.
Man 2- But that's not all that happened.
Man 1- They kissed and went back to sit down with their friends.
Man 2- I see.
Man 1- But that's just a kiss. I tried not to get too upset as I finished paying my tab and started walking towards the door.
Man 2- I thought you didn't want her to see you.
Man 1- I wasn't hiding from her, I just would have preferred if she hadn't seen me.
Man 2- So she saw you?
Man 1- No. As I get to the door I saw an old friend of mine walking north up Main Street, you know, towards the pavilion. Anyways, I waved him down and asked him if he wanted to get a drink with me... Long story short, I'm back in William's sitting six or seven feet of the ground taking double shots of Jameson chasing it down with Pabst out of the can.
Man 2- Yikes.
Man 1- I was fairly hung over Friday.
Man 2- So she didn't see you? How long were you two there?
Man 1- Well, my friend and I drank and spoke, or rather yelled, for about an hour and a half.
Man 2- And she didn't see you?
Man 1- If she did she didn't come up and say hi.
Man 2- The fact that you stayed is kind of passive aggressive.
Man 1- I was there first, and that's where my friend wanted to drink. He has a thing for the bartender there.
Man 2- Oh.
Man 1- I need a drink, do you want anything?
Man 2- What have you got?
Man 1- Pabst and Jameson.
Man 2- Jesus, really?
Man 1- Water?
Man 2- Jameson.
Man 1- Good Man! (spoken as though the man is good, not the situation.)

Man 1 prepares the drinks on stage and brings them back into the living room.

Man 1- (holding his double shot of jameson up) If the ocean were whiskey and I were a duck, I'd swim to the bottom and never come up.
Man 2- Cheers.

Man 1- (after their shot) That's good stuff.
Man 2- You always were a Jameson type of guy weren't you.
Man 1- Meh, virtue needs some cheaper thrills.
Man 2- What's that supposed to mean?
Man 1- It means I wish I could have more fun without drinking.
Man 2- I thought that was a Calvin and Hobbes quote.
Man 1- It is.
Man 2- Pretty sure Calvin didn't drink.
Man 1- Meh.

Man 1 retrieves the bottle and brings it back into the living room and proceeds to pour another round of shots.

Man 1- Anyways, we're at this god awful bar listening to 80's Hair Metal and rehashing the "glory days" when- oh, shit (he spills a bit of his beer down his shirt)
Man 2- I'll get you a paper towel, where are they?
Man 1- No, don't worry, might as well keep this honest.
Man 2- I'm sorry?
Man 1- Authentic. Might as well make this an authentic retelling.
Man 2- I guess "fairly hung over" was a bit of an understatement then.
Man 1- I consider my lack of tolerance a blessing, actually. In any case, we're rehashing the "glory days" when my friend asks me about my wife and starts telling the story about the day she and I got married.
Man 2- He was there?
Man 1- Very, very, old friend. Yeah. It was a nice ceremony. Low key, understated class, few in attendance.
Man 2- That's hard to believe knowing her now. I figured she would have wanted a rather extravagant wedding, at least as far as attendance. She has a lot of friends.
Man 1- She was different then, so was I, to be honest.
Man 2- Hm... So he started telling the story about how you two met? I don't think I ever heard that story, actually.
Man 1- I don't have much of a mind to tell you at the moment.

(There's another pause in the conversation as Man 1 takes a moment to examine his beer dampened shirt and light another cigarette.)

Man 2- Screw it, let me get one of those.
Man 1- Nah, you quit.
Man 2- I won't sit here while you chain smoke and drool into your shirt entirely sober. Pass me that Jameson and a smoke.
Man 1- It's your life. Let me change my shirt while you're doing that, (mumbles incoherently just loud enough to be heard but not understood as he steps off-stage.)
Man 1 (Yelling from off stage)- "Have I ever told you about our wedding?"





Act II coming soon.





Short story by Phill
Read 906 times
Written on 2013-10-15 at 04:57

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Itching to see this performed live, Phill.
Also got the idea for a minimalist, experimental theatre treatment, on a revolving stage (preferably) to move between sets and change props with ease.
Lol. Sorz, just got excited.
2013-10-15


josephus The PoetBay support member heart!
Great beginning. Looking forward to further "acts" . One question..."meh"?
2013-10-15