from This World We Know

from This World We Know | Scenes 1 & 2

The field behind the family home. A large juniper tree. Gnarled. Braided. The corner edge of the house, with a small bit of roof appearing. A picnic table.

1976 for JUNIOR and LOTTIE. The present for NEIL and CHARLOTTE.

Question marks are often purposefully omitted, calling for the line to be delivered in a flat, non-inquiring way.

Scenes should flow from one into the other with little to no break in the action. The director should attempt to have all characters active on stage as much as possible, but not in a way that upstages the scene being played.

All four actors remain on stage for the entire play.

(JUNIOR, in a faded army jacket, sits on the picnic tabletop anxiously biting his nails. LOTTIE glares at him. She firmly holds a child’s stuffed Tweety bird.)

LOTTIE You want me to thank you!

JUNIOR No. I’m just saying if it weren’t for me—

LOTTIE Everything would be better. So go!

JUNIOR No.

LOTTIE Get out!

JUNIOR You’re not letting me explain.

LOTTIE Because I don’t want to hear it.

JUNIOR Lottie, I’ve been worried sick.

LOTTIE Poor baby.

JUNIOR Just tell me nothing’s broken.

LOTTIE You think he just got a papercut?

JUNIOR Shit. Shit.

(JUNIOR gets agitated, unconsciously begins unbuttoning and buttoning the pockets on his jacket.)

LOTTIE What the hell were you doing up there?

JUNIOR Was he scared?

LOTTIE Answer me.

JUNIOR Is he okay now?

LOTTIE (slapping his hands) Would you quit with the fucking buttons and tell me why you had Trevor on the roof?

JUNIOR It was his idea.

LOTTIE That’s your excuse?

JUNIOR It’s the truth.

LOTTIE So it’s his fault.

JUNIOR Yes. I mean, no.

LOTTIE You’re blaming a five-year-old.

JUNIOR I’m not blaming anybody. It’s no one’s fault.

LOTTIE Un-fucking-believable.

JUNIOR But he asked.

LOTTIE Trevor always asks to drive the car as well, but do I let him?

JUNIOR You have to be sixteen.

LOTTIE I know that! I’m talking about your stupid logic.

JUNIOR I wouldn’t let him drive a car.

LOTTIE Who else was here?

JUNIOR What?

LOTTIE That hippie, what’s his name? Louis? Lee?

JUNIOR Lee’s in Chicago.

LOTTIE Then Tara? Is that what’s going on?

JUNIOR I haven’t seen her since—

LOTTIE You toss him on the roof so you and Tara can go screw for old time’s sake?

JUNIOR I didn’t toss anybody!

LOTTIE Oh my god, you didn’t strand him up there, did you? You put him up there then took the ladder down?

JUNIOR No. Tara wasn’t here. No one was.

LOTTIE Don’t you know he’s afraid of heights?

JUNIOR Yes.

LOTTIE You forced him anyway?

JUNIOR Lottie, I didn’t force anybody. It was his idea.

JUNIOR Can I please see him?

LOTTIE No. No way.

JUNIOR But I really should.

LOTTIE What did he say?

JUNIOR When?

LOTTIE When he supposedly had this brilliant idea.

JUNIOR He said, let’s go on the roof.

LOTTIE Out of the blue.

JUNIOR Yes.

LOTTIE Just like that.

JUNIOR Yes.

LOTTIE And you said.

JUNIOR OK.

LOTTIE Easy as that.

JUNIOR Yes. So can I please see him, or is Mom still there?

LOTTIE She wants to kill you.

JUNIOR What’s new.

LOTTIE And so do I.

(checks watch)

LOTTIE (cont’d) You’ve got five minutes to explain yourself.

JUNIOR Why?

LOTTIE Because I am his goddamn mother and you owe me an explanation.

JUNIOR No, I know that. I mean . . . why five minutes?

LOTTIE Because I only came home to get Tweety. Because I’m going back to the hospital to comfort my injured son. And because if you don’t, I’m calling the police.

(A moment.)

JUNIOR It was an accident.

LOTTIE Like everything else in your life.

JUNIOR Lottie, this isn’t about me.

LOTTIE It’s always about you.

JUNIOR I feel awful.

LOTTIE I’m waiting.

JUNIOR I mean it. I feel sick. Horrible.

LOTTIE Were you high?

JUNIOR Just at the chimney.

LOTTIE Jesus. Not how high up. Were you high. When you were up there. With him.

JUNIOR No. God no.

(She gets in his face, smells.)

JUNIOR (cont’d) I just lit up, a little while ago.

LOTTIE You asshole.

JUNIOR I swear. Only after you all left. Because I’ve been stuck here, you know? Worried sick. I mean, like, actually throwing up sick.

LOTTIE Well, good thing you were able to calm your nerves while we were all in the ambulance.

JUNIOR You should have let me come with you.

LOTTIE I should have paid for a goddamn babysitter.

JUNIOR You’re mad.

LOTTIE You think?

JUNIOR I don’t blame you.

LOTTIE No one’s ever to blame with you!

JUNIOR I just, was trying so hard, you know?

LOTTIE To what.

JUNIOR Hearing him all Uncle Junior and all. And besides, it was that third-grader.

LOTTIE What?

JUNIOR Some kid told our Trevor that Santa was bullshit.

LOTTIE Junior, what are you talking about?

JUNIOR A kid said Santa was a lie, but I told him that third-grader was the one full of fucking bullshit.

LOTTIE You said that.

JUNIOR Yeah.

LOTTIE To Trevor.

JUNIOR Yeah.

(Beat.)

You mean the fucking bullshit part? Maybe. All I’m saying is, if that bully wasn’t teasing our little Trevor, none of this would have happened.

LOTTIE So it’s not your fault.

JUNIOR No.

LOTTIE It’s another kid’s fault.

JUNIOR Yeah.

LOTTIE Who you never met.

JUNIOR I was just looking out for our little Trevor.

LOTTIE He’s my Trevor. Not ours. Mine.

JUNIOR I was just trying be a good uncle. And I told Trevor I could prove it.

LOTTIE By going up on the roof.

JUNIOR Yeah.

LOTTIE So it was your idea.

JUNIOR Yeah. Wait.

LOTTIE So you lied.

JUNIOR No. I’m saying, I told him he’s real.

LOTTIE Who.

JUNIOR Santa Claus.

LOTTIE What the hell does Santa Claus have to do with anything?

JUNIOR He has everything to do with everything!

LOTTIE It’s not even Halloween yet.

JUNIOR Old Mrs. Lambert never even takes hers down. Her Christmas lights are up all year long.

LOTTIE Who cares about Mrs. Lambert?

JUNIOR She’s your friend.

LOTTIE She’s Mom’s friend, and what does it matter?

JUNIOR I’m just saying, it’s not too early to hang lights, is all. Plus we had to look down the chimney.

LOTTIE Why?

JUNIOR Jesus, Lottie, do I have to explain everything?

LOTTIE Yes!

JUNIOR To show him that it’s large enough, you know?

LOTTIE No, I don’t know, Junior. Large enough for what?

JUNIOR Santa. His bag. The toys.

LOTTIE I can’t believe my son . . . Jesus Christ, Trevor almost broke his neck because his stupid uncle was trying to prove Santa could fit down the chimney.

JUNIOR Don’t call me stupid.

LOTTIE Then what.

JUNIOR I didn’t think it through.

LOTTIE I call that stupid.

JUNIOR I’m admitting, Lottie.

LOTTIE All you’ve admitted is that it’s not your fault. It’s some kid, some third-grader, you’ve never met. It’s all his fault.

JUNIOR That’s right.

LOTTIE He says Santa’s not real, so my son’s got to look down the chimney.

JUNIOR Yes.

LOTTIE Thank God it wasn’t the Easter bunny, or the tooth fairy. What then, would you have made him climb a bridge?

JUNIOR What’s a bridge got to do with the Easter bunny?

LOTTIE You’re not getting it.

JUNIOR And the tooth fairy’s not real.

LOTTIE I know that! I’m trying to . . . Jesus, did it occur to you to just go inside, to the fireplace, and look up?

JUNIOR Why?

LOTTIE Take a flashlight. Just have Trevor look up the chimney and say, see? He can fit. That’s all.

(Beat. It hadn’t occurred to him.)

JUNIOR But that’s not the entrance.

LOTTIE Jesus. The roof?

JUNIOR I just wanted him to tell that kid to go fuck himself.

LOTTIE You told him to say that?

JUNIOR Not exactly.

LOTTIE Because that’s all I need. All the St. Anthony’s parents calling me asking why their kindergartners are now all telling them to go fuck themselves.

JUNIOR You’re not listening.

LOTTIE Since when do you even care?

(He is about to answer, stops himself, flustered. Buttons and unbuttons his jacket pockets, nervously.

LOTTIE crosses to the Juniper tree, places her finger on her temples, crushesdown. Takes a deep breath.)

LOTTIE (cont’d) Junior?

(She turns, sees him holding out a $2 bill that he pulled from his pocket.)

LOTTIE (cont’d) What’s that.

JUNIOR Two-dollar bill.

LOTTIE For what.

JUNIOR Trevor.

LOTTIE That’s supposed to make him feel better.

JUNIOR It was. Not better, but, you know . . . I was planning on giving it to him. After dinner. As a surprise.

LOTTIE He’s not coming home for dinner. Junior? You’re not going to be here either.

JUNIOR They’re reissuing them, for the bicentennial, you know?

LOTTIE Did you hear what I said?

JUNIOR I went up to the bank especially to get this one.

LOTTIE I’m going back to the hospital now, and when Mom gets home, you need to be gone.

JUNIOR Made the teller go through a whole stack so I could pick the crispest. For him.

LOTTIE I will call the police.

JUNIOR I never had a Christmas with him before, Lottie.

LOTTIE Do you hear me? I will press charges.

JUNIOR If this was going to be the first, I just wanted it to still be, you know, a real one. You know?

LOTTIE You were planning on sticking around? To December?

JUNIOR I am. Yeah.

(Beat.)

I mean. I was.

(Beat.)

Is that not cool?

LOTTIE No. Junior. It’s not cool.

(A moment. She stares him down, unrelenting. He becomes agitated, but tries to remain composed.)

JUNIOR Good thing the tree broke his fall.

LOTTIE Junior, the tree didn’t break his fall. It broke his wrist. His tailbone. And nearly his skull.

(He can’t respond. A long moment.)

JUNIOR Which one?

(She regards him oddly.)

JUNIOR (cont’d) Which wrist.

LOTTIE Jesus. I’m done.

JUNIOR (earnestly) I bet her muffins were good. Huh? Mrs. Lambert make those muffins she always makes at her fundraisers?

LOTTIE Have a nice life, Junior.

(She turns to exit.)

JUNIOR It was an accident.

LOTTIE (erupting) Which part. The part where you accidentally helped him up the ladder even though Mom and I said . . . even though Mom and I explicitly said do not let Trevor up on the ladder?

JUNIOR Lottie.

LOTTIE Or the part where you accidentally took him up onto the roof.

JUNIOR Just listen.

LOTTIE Or when you apparently . . . sorry, accidentally lifted him up on the chimney.

JUNIOR I had him by the hand the whole time.

LOTTIE The whole time.

JUNIOR I had him by the hand, and then he was just . . .

LOTTIE

(Beat.)

Jesus. Did you push him?

JUNIOR What?

LOTTIE I said, did you push him?

(She approaches, searches his expression.)

LOTTIE (cont’d) Did you push Trevor off the roof?

JUNIOR How can you even ask me that.

LOTTIE Simple. Did. You. Push him.

JUNIOR

(Beat.)

No. Lottie. I did not.

(Her eyes do not relent. Long, difficult moment.)

JUNIOR (cont’d) Why?

(Beat.)

Did he say something?

(The juniper tree sways gently. The wind chimes sound. Lights shift.)

(CHARLOTTE, dressed in flowing, layered clothes, sitting beneath the juniper tree, eyes closed, meditating. NEIL, dark suit and tie, stands at a distance, finishing a cigarette.)

NEIL I should go.

(A moment. She opens her eyes.)

CHARLOTTE We’re all that’s left?

NEIL Trevor’s driving Mrs. Lambert home. How is that woman still alive?

CHARLOTTE She’s a Catholic school teacher. They never die.

NEIL Or miss a funeral.

CHARLOTTE She looks the same, doesn’t she?

NEIL Who?

CHARLOTTE Mrs. Lambert. That wig. The lipstick.

NEIL I guess.

CHARLOTTE We should all take such pride in our appearance, especially at ninety-one.

(A moment. She eyes him.)

CHARLOTTE (cont’d) You look good, by the way, Junior. If I hadn’t already told you.

NEIL I go by Neil now. Long time, actually. And you hadn’t.

CHARLOTTE Well. You do. Look good, that is.

(He adjusts the buttons on his suit. She waits, pulls her hair behind her ear, but he says nothing.

He takes out his cell phone, checks a message.

A moment.)

CHARLOTTE (cont’d) Got rid of mine.

(He looks up.)

CHARLOTTE (cont’d) My phone. Cell phone.

NEIL Ah.

CHARLOTTE Tossed it. On purpose. Tied me down.

NEIL To what.

CHARLOTTE Everything. I have a phone at the house, of course. I’m not a hermit, for heaven’s sake. For emergencies, you know.

(Awkward beat.)

And I can talk to Marlene on the computer, if you can believe it. There’s a camera, a little dot on the top, of the monitor, and it’s a camera. You look into it, and she can see me. And I can see her. In Denver. Course, she mostly holds up Barbies, makes them prance back and forth like they’re on TV, or a runway, but still . . . Nice for her to see her Grammie.

(Beat.)

I read her stories. Fairy tales. She likes those. At night. Before bed. I can hold up the pictures. To the computer.

(Beat.)

It would have been nice for you to meet her, but, you know, bringing a five-year-old to a funeral. And Trevor’s wife too. Would be nice for you to meet her. She’s a great mom. Really . . . She’s great.

(Long beat.)

Can’t believe my baby’s turning forty.

NEIL It happens.

CHARLOTTE Blink of an eye.

(Beat.)

So. Do you have it?

NEIL What.

CHARLOTTE A camera. On your computer.

NEIL (re: cell phone) I can barely figure out this thing.

CHARLOTTE I know. I got rid of mine.

(Beat.)

But I said that. Didn’t I.

(He takes a long drag on his cigarette.)

CHARLOTTE (cont’d) Work busy?

NEIL Steady.

CHARLOTTE How many now?

NEIL Fourteen.

CHARLOTTE That’s a lot of employees.

NEIL Others are bigger.

CHARLOTTE Others are smaller, too, I’m sure. Still department stores? Malls?

NEIL Warehouses, mostly. Construction sites. Parking lots. Some empty commercial buildings.

CHARLOTTE Why would you need a guard at an empty building?

NEIL Vandalism. Homeless playing house.

CHARLOTTE So you just sit and watch an empty building all night?

NEIL Not me.

CHARLOTTE But someone.

NEIL Yeah.

CHARLOTTE That’s good. I mean, good it’s not you.

NEIL Done it plenty. Not bad work.

CHARLOTTE Not saying it’s bad. Just, I imagine, lonely.

NEIL Keeps me busy.

CHARLOTTE That’s good. Busy is good. Helps the process.

(off his look)

Recovery.

NEIL

(Beat.)

Right.

(A moment.)

CHARLOTTE Did you get those books I sent?

NEIL Hmm?

CHARLOTTE The books.

NEIL Oh. Those.

CHARLOTTE

(Beat.)

And?

NEIL Never was much of a reader.

CHARLOTTE I didn’t know if that had, I don’t know, changed.

NEIL It hasn’t.

CHARLOTTE But if it does . . . If you decide to, then, those are good ones. They come highly recommended.

(Beat.)

Highly.

NEIL

(Beat.)

I should get going.

CHARLOTTE Already?

NEIL Was there something else?

CHARLOTTE I thought you were going to be around. For a while.

NEIL What for.

CHARLOTTE It’s been a long time, is all. I thought . . .

NEIL What.

CHARLOTTE Just thought . . . different, I guess. I thought it would be different.

NEIL It is what it is. That’s all.

CHARLOTTE But I was planning on telling you . . . I want to say to you . . .

NEIL Don’t.

CHARLOTTE No. I have to.

NEIL Really, Lottie. You don’t.

(She closes her eyes, breathes deep, recites.)

CHARLOTTE Hurt people hurt people.

(She opens her eyes. He looks at her.)

NEIL

(Beat.)

Okay then.

CHARLOTTE I’m taking a workshop in radical acceptance.

NEIL Radical what?

CHARLOTTE Acceptance.

NEIL Ah.

CHARLOTTE That’s my mantra. We each have to memorize one. Recite it. Every day. That one’s mine.

NEIL Okay.

CHARLOTTE There are twelve.

NEIL Mantras?

CHARLOTTE Participants. Acceptors, actually. That’s what we call each other.

NEIL (slight chuckle) So you’re adjusting to life in Sedona?

CHARLOTTE

(Beat.)

Junior, are you making fun of me?

NEIL It’s Neil.

CHARLOTTE Okay, then, are you making fun of me, Neil? Because I am. Adjusting. Very well. Sedona is warm. Dry. Healing.

(Beat.)

Have you ever been? When you were, you know, out there?

NEIL No.

CHARLOTTE You should visit. Winters must be cold where you are.

NEIL I’ll think about it.

CHARLOTTE Really?

NEIL What are you doing with the house?

CHARLOTTE Here?

NEIL Yes.

CHARLOTTE She left it to Trevor.

NEIL Ah.

CHARLOTTE It’s what she wanted.

(Beat.)

Why. Did you think . . . Were you hoping that she would . . .

NEIL No. No, not at all.

CHARLOTTE Because I assumed . . .

NEIL I wouldn’t want it.

CHARLOTTE If this is awkward . . .

NEIL It’s not. I was just asking.

CHARLOTTE We all thought . . .

NEIL I was just asking.

(A moment.)

NEIL (cont’d) Good seeing you, Lottie.

(He turns.)

CHARLOTTE Wait. Junior.

(He keeps going.)

CHARLOTTE (cont’d) Neil.

(He stops.)

CHARLOTTE (cont’d) All afternoon, it’s like we’re these magnets. Turned the wrong way.

NEIL That’s not true.

CHARLOTTE Stop pretending.

NEIL I’m not the one who—

CHARLOTTE Just be honest with me. For once.

NEIL We don’t need to do this.

CHARLOTTE Every time I came into a room, you’d leave.

NEIL There were a lot of people.

CHARLOTTE No there weren’t.

NEIL Still.

CHARLOTTE I just, I’ve had this plan in my head. There’s so much I want to say to you.

NEIL Again. We don’t need to do this.

CHARLOTTE It’s important to me.

NEIL Another mantra?

CHARLOTTE No. I just . . . I would have really liked to have met her.

(Beat.)

Your wife.

(A moment.)

CHARLOTTE (cont’d) That’s all.

NEIL Okay.

CHARLOTTE That’s what I wanted to say.

NEIL You said it.

(He turns.)

CHARLOTTE I’m sure she was just . . .

NEIL (stopping) Just what.

CHARLOTTE When I heard, at first, I thought, how wonderful. After all these years. My brother’s finally getting married. And I was just . . .

(Beat.)

I was so sorry to hear. We all were.

NEIL You all?

CHARLOTTE But to be there for her. In her suffering. During her battle. What a gift.

NEIL

(Beat.)

A gift.

CHARLOTTE Yes. For both of you.

NEIL (clearing his throat) Tell Trevor I said goodbye.

CHARLOTTE Wait.

NEIL (snapping) What!

(A moment.)

CHARLOTTE Look at us.

NEIL Let’s just . . .

(Beat.)

Let it.

CHARLOTTE We can’t.

NEIL No. You can’t.

CHARLOTTE We’re running out of time.

NEIL I’m too old for this.

CHARLOTTE We’re too old for this. But we’re both here.

NEIL For our mother’s funeral. Which is over.

CHARLOTTE We should take advantage.

NEIL There’s been enough of that already.

CHARLOTTE I know it took a lot for you to come here.

NEIL How.

CHARLOTTE Trevor said you took a lot of convincing. But he did it.

NEIL Law school taught him well.

CHARLOTTE He’s very good at it. It’s his job.

NEIL He said it would mean a lot.

CHARLOTTE To us.

NEIL No. To him.

CHARLOTTE That’s the only reason you came?

NEIL I wanted to see—

CHARLOTTE I wanted to see you too. So many times. And you know, there were many times, many, that Mom wanted to see you.

NEIL You don’t have to say things like that.

CHARLOTTE It’s true. She did.

NEIL When.

CHARLOTTE A lot. Especially toward the end.

NEIL And what would she say, exactly?

CHARLOTTE That she wished, more than anything, to see you.

NEIL Her exact words?

CHARLOTTE

(Beat.)

I know she felt that way. Deep down. She felt it, even if she couldn’t articulate it. She didn’t really have a way with words.

NEIL But her fists, well . . .

CHARLOTTE I do not believe . . . I do not expect everyone to practice vipassana.

(off his look)

I cannot—could not—make mindfulness an expectation of her. She was simply incapable. And that is not her fault. And I have forgiven her. For that. For that shortcoming.

NEIL You’re a better person than me.

CHARLOTTE I did it for myself. I couldn’t carry it around anymore. Everything she did. And didn’t do. I had to accept it. Accept her for her.

NEIL You two always did see eye to eye.

CHARLOTTE No we didn’t.

NEIL Could’ve fooled me.

CHARLOTTE Why do you say that?

NEIL It’s the truth.

CHARLOTTE No.

NEIL Really?

CHARLOTTE You always acted like she and I were in some kind of collusion against you.

(He stares at her.)

CHARLOTTE (cont’d) And I want to put an end to that as well.

CHARLOTTE (cont’d)

(Beat.)

I want my baby brother to know that I miss him.

(A moment. NEIL is about to let himself be open.)

CHARLOTTE (cont’d) And that I don’t blame him.

(He closes up again.)

CHARLOTTE (cont’d) In the same way I don’t blame her. I can’t. She was just trying the best she could, with what she could.

NEIL This is what you mean by radical exception?

CHARLOTTE Acceptance. Yes.

NEIL Well, whatever works. For you.

CHARLOTTE Try it.

NEIL I’m good.

CHARLOTTE I’d hate for you to leave feeling this way. Thinking Mom felt a certain way about you, or not, because whatever it was, that’s all Mom could do.

NEIL Still making excuses.

CHARLOTTE Admissions.

NEIL Of.

CHARLOTTE Who Mom was. Why she was who she was.

NEIL Good for you.

CHARLOTTE Good for us. This is good for us.

NEIL I came. Like I said.

CHARLOTTE And I can’t tell you how much that means to Trevor. And to me.

NEIL I wanted to see—

(prevents her from interrupting)

—to see for myself. Make sure it was true.

CHARLOTTE That she passed over?

(Beat.)

You think I would lie?

(A moment.)

NEIL I wanted to see her. Like that.

(Beat.)

But I hardly recognized her.

CHARLOTTE You’ve hardly seen her in thirty-five years. You’ve hardly seen anyone.

NEIL This may be hard for you to understand, Lottie, now that you’ve accepted her and everything, but that eighty-nine-year-old woman you buried today was your mother. You and me grew up under the same roof, with the same woman, but do not pretend she treated us the same.

CHARLOTTE I don’t pretend anything.

(He laughs, shakes his head.)

NEIL (off her look) I’m just being honest. Accept it.

CHARLOTTE You and Mom had a complicated relationship.

NEIL She hit. I bruised. Pretty simple.

CHARLOTTE It was a different time.

NEIL That’s your excuse?

CHARLOTTE I’m just saying, it was different.

NEIL It’s always a different time.

CHARLOTTE All parents spanked their children.

NEIL With switches?

CHARLOTTE Sometimes.

NEIL And wooden spoons? Coat hangers?

CHARLOTTE Unfortunately.

NEIL Belts?

CHARLOTTE I’m not excusing it.

NEIL Just accepting it. Like I had to.

CHARLOTTE Imagine what Grandma Eileen must have done to her. Or Grandpa Al. He was no softie. Imagine what Mom must have gone through. She only did what was done to her, and they . . . probably them too . . . and their parents.

NEIL So it’s a family tradition.

CHARLOTTE (snapping) NO!

(A moment.)

CHARLOTTE (cont’d)

(calming)

Hurt people hurt people.

NEIL Clever.

CHARLOTTE It is something I had to learn. I also had to learn not to blame her.

(Beat.)

And I don’t want you to blame her either, Neil.

NEIL Then who’s left?

CHARLOTTE

(Beat.)

They say, in the end, all you’ve got are your siblings.

NEIL They who?

CHARLOTTE People. Whoever said that. Someone.

NEIL That’s what you wanted to tell me?

CHARLOTTE Yes.

NEIL That someone, somewhere, said something like that?

CHARLOTTE Please don’t.

NEIL And here you are telling me you don’t blame me.

CHARLOTTE That’s right.

NEIL For what.

CHARLOTTE That’s my point. I blame you for nothing. Not anymore.

NEIL (with spite) Good for you, Lottie. I’m glad you finally got your fucking life together and tied up in a neat little bow.

(This wounds her perhaps more than he intended.)

CHARLOTTE I want you to do one thing for me. With me.

(Beat.)

Just this one thing.

(He stares at her.)

CHARLOTTE (cont’d) What do you say?

(The juniper tree sways gently. The wind chimes sound. Lights shift.)