A Lesser Man
Scene:
The interior dingy sports bar, bereft of any privacy.
There is an implied cacophony. All
that can be seen is the bar, a door, and a singular table nearly offstage.
At the bar, are a boy and a girl who sit with their backs to the
audience. A girl, of approximately
eighteen years, with long, curly, strawberry-blonde hair, wearing a light jacket
and skirt, sits on a barstool next to a taller boy, of approximately the same
age. His hair is dark brown, and
shortly cropped. He wears a plain
white oxford shirt, and khaki pants. The
two sit at the bar facing the audience without a word.
Each glance at one another dartingly, yet they are careful not to make
eye contact. A tension between them can be felt in the atmosphere of the stage.
DILLON
I hate this damn
city.
MAX
No you don’t. (beat) I mean, do
you really hate the city, or just that your brother lives here?
DILLON
They’re
inseparable to me. Carter lives
here, and every sound, every image, every blast of cold air laced with the
stench of sin and sex reminds me how much I hate it here. I hate my brother, and
I hate this place. (beat)
MAX
Dillon
you’re always so poetic and melodramatic. You talk like you’re writing a
novel.
DILLON
Yes
well…Are you sure you want to eat here?
I mean, I know it’s late, but we could always find somewhere else.
(beat) It’s kinda impersonal don’t you think?
Can’t we go somewhere where we could / just be…
MAX
/
It’s almost
DILLON
So.
(beat) I just want to/ be…
MAX
/
I haven’t seen you for three weeks: three
weeks where I didn’t know whether you were alive or…(beat) or (beat) well
you know. I missed you… (long beat) All I’m saying is that I don’t care
what I eat, so long as it’s with you. (beat) And beside, you were too
pre-occupied with your dirty shirt to go anywhere else.
DILLON
What’s
that? (beat) Oh, right my shirt.
I’ve still got remnants of my flight from Ignotus on there. I’ve
washed it three times, but these stains just won’t come out. Oh
well. I hate the city, but it doesn’t even compare to the hatred I have for
that school. I couldn’t put enough
space between myself and Ignotus. But you were still there…
MAX
But
I left, to be here, to be with you. (beat) What’s wrong Dillon? I mean, other
than… well…everything.
DILLON
Nothing’s
wrong. (beat) I just hate this place. It’s
so damn cold. I can’t feel myself
here.
MAX
I
know you… (beat)…Dillon, what did Carter say to you that’s got you so
flustered?
DILLON
I
only came here to escape Ignotus, right? It’s
not like this was my first choice, to be away from one person I’m closest to. I
needed a place to stay, a place to sort things out.
I couldn’t go to my parents, ‘cause they would ask too many
questions, questions that I didn’t have answers for yet.
I came here, to Carter, because he’s so damn selfish that he wouldn’t
ask a thing. I figured that at worst
I could expect apathy. (beat) But the way he treated me. (beat)
He called me a coward for leaving that school.
(beat) A coward! (beat) I
didn’t leave ‘cause I was scared. I left because my best friend did a
fucking swan dive onto the front steps. I left because nobody seemed surprised,
nobody seemed to care. I left
because I couldn’t look anyone in the face, without wanting to scream at their
indifference. I couldn’t look at
any of them, and they just stared at me. They
were so blind to what the hell was happening all around them.
That school robbed me of my oldest friend, and nearly robbed me of you. I
can never forgive them; I can never go back.
MAX
I
know why you left Dillon. You don’t have to explain yourself to me, and
nobody’s asking you to go back. Hell, you’re the reason I left. (beat) Well,
you and everything else.
DILLON
I
know. (beat) It’s just that…
(long beat)
MAX
What?
DILLON
Nothing.
MAX
What?
DILLON
I
just hated that I couldn’t be with you, or take you with me. (beat) I mean,
you were the only one I could talk to, and I couldn’t bring myself to drag you
into this hell. I didn’t want to
come here; I just wanted to be with you. (beat) I just missed you. (long
beat) And Colby too. He was one of
the only decent people at Ignotus…(beat) other than you, that is. (beat)
I wish I had gotten to know him better before I left.
I saw his eyes when he saw Jacob lying there, cold and lifeless. They
were guilty. I don’t know why.
I wish I could have been there to tell him it was not his fault. I saw
your eyes too. I wanted to take you
with me, (beat) so I could be with you. So
I could comfort you and you me. I couldn’t bear to leave you there, but I
couldn’t find you. I looked but I
couldn’t find you, Max. (beat) I’m… I’m just… (beat) I’m starving.
MAX
Me
too.
DILLON
I
wonder what kind of food they have here.
MAX
I
don’t suppose it’ll be too good, but anything will be better than peanuts.
DILLON
I
can’t argue with that. (beat)
I mean would you look at this place.
(Both
survey the room.)
Everybody’s
here. Look over there. (beat)
(He
motions towards a booth in which five white-trash males sit.)
Their
homes have beaten down porches and wheels, but over there (beat)
(He
points to stage right at the BUSINESSMAN)
…are
men who live in the penthouses in the tallest buildings in the city, surrounded
by their golden world. I wonder how
many shots of cheap scotch it will take for those VP’s and managers to decide
that laying off a hundred men or so would make their Monday morning golf games
more interesting. They control so
much, yet they care only so far as it affects them personally.
MAX
Look
over there.
(She
points offstage, beyond where the BUSINESSMAN sits,
where
unseen a woman and a man talk amorously.)
He’s
wearing a ring, and she’s not even his wife. (beat) I mean, no man looks at
his wife like that. That’s not
love. You can’t look at someone
like that if you’re in love with them. That’s
lust; that’s pure, simple infatuation. (beat)
I wonder if she even cares that he’s lying to himself. I wonder if she even
knows about his true feelings.
(DILLON
doesn’t respond. He sits rigidly in his seat, and he stares
intently
towards the booth with the amorous man and woman.)
MAX
Dillon…Dillon!
What are you thinking about now?
DILLON
Them.
(beat)
(The
bartender, a young man of twenty five, walks slowly towards them.)
BARKEEP
What
can I get for you?
MAX
How’s
the food here?
BARKEEP
I’d
be lying if I said it was the best in the city, but it’s alright.
MAX
Well,
at least you’re honest. I’ll
have a hamburger, well done and all the way.
BARKEEP
(Turning
to DILLON)
And
you.
(DILLON
is pre-occupied with the couple in the booth)
MAX
He’ll
have the same, just no pickles, tomato, or mustard. It’s useless to try to
talk to him when he’s like this.
BARKEEP
It’ll
be right up.
(Exit
BARTENDER)
MAX
(Turning
to DILLON)
Dillon…(extra
long beat) Dillon, where are you. You’re so distant today. You’ve been so
far away. Christ, you left and didn’t say / anything...
DILLON
/
Jacob killed himself. What did you expect me to do?
I couldn’t stand listening to everyone say how cowardly he was, when
they were the god damn cowards who made him jump in the first place.
I mean who do they think they are?
MAX
I’m
sorry. I really am. But you seem to forget that I left too.
I’m here for the same reasons you are.
I know how much you’re hurting. I
can see it in your eyes. Dillon, I
know what they said. I was there.
When you called me yesterday, I had reason to leave all that behind.
I’m sorry you still are hurting so much. I’m just so relieved that
you’re here, and I’m here. (beat)
Let’s talk about something more pleasant.
DILLON
Alright.
MAX
(Looking
first at the black-tied businessmen, and then at
the
amorous couple, and then back again to the business men)
I
wonder how many of those men sit with those whores, lying to themselves,
thinking that their wives don’t know a thing…
(Visibly
struck again by what she just said,
DILLON
sits rigidly straight on his stool.)
MAX
You
alright?
DILLON
Yeah
(beat), I think I should call Colby...tell him I’m alright.
MAX
What?
(beat) Oh, that’s a good idea, I suppose.
(All
freeze, save DILLON. Lights Dim.
DILLON gets up
and
leaves MAX. He heads towards the
door, where a forgotten
pay
phone stands. DILLON looks towards MAX.)
DILLON
(He
picks up the phone, dials ten digits, and puts the receiver to his ear)
Colby.
Pick up the phone. (beat)
Dammit, pick up the phone. Hello.
Hello? Colby is that you?
Not your damn machine, I…(beat) Colby, it’s Dillon. (beat) I’m
fine. (beat) I just wanted to let you know that I’m in the city with Max.
(beat) We’re (long beat) fine.
(Dillon
hangs up, and he covers his head with both hands.)
.
(When
DILLON stops talking, the ruddy-haired, middle-aged BUSINESSMAN
makes
his way over to MAX. With one hand
he holds a full glass of
cheap
liquor, and with the other he motions drunkenly to MAX.
DILLON
swiftly
makes his way over to MAX.)
DILLON
(Tapping
the man on the shoulder.)
Hey.
(beat) That’s my seat.
BUSINESSMAN
Hey
man, lllleave us alone. Can’t you
see we’re talking here?
DILLON
Yes,
well, that’s my seat.
BUSINESSMAN
Listen
buddy / I’m
DILLON
/
And that’s my girlfriend.
(MAX
shoots DILLON a quick glance.)
(Throwing
both hands in the air, consequently sloshing his drink on the floor,
the
BUSINESSMAN takes two steps away from the seat next to MAX,
and
says something unintelligible under his breath.)
DILLON
What
did you just say?
BUSINESSMAN
(Taking
two steps back from the seat)
I
said that’s fine…(beat)…your little whore wasn’t even my type.
(At
once DILLON hits the BUSINESSMAN in the jaw. The man falls to
the
ground, motionless. Without a word, MAX gets up from her stool, and
away
from the unconscious man. DILLON methodically steps over
the
unconscious man and returns to his seat.)
MAX
Dillon.
(long beat) Dillon!
(beat) Christ Dillon, what
just happened?
(The
BUSINESSMAN rises to his feet, takes one look at the
back
of DILLON and leaves the bar. The
air blowing in from the
open
door makes MAX pull her jacket tightly about her body.)
MAX
Dillon!
Dillon look at me! (extra long beat) Damn it Dillon, why won’t you stop
this and look at me!
(DILLON
turns around.)
MAX
Dillon,
what the hell just happened?
DILLON
I
guess I just lost it.
MAX
I’ve
never seen you so angry. I’ve
never even heard you raise your voice, and I sure as hell have never seen you
hit anyone.
DILLON
And
I never have.
MAX
Then
why now? Why him?
DILLON
Didn’t
you hear what he said?
MAX
No.
DILLON
You
know what? A thousand and one
thoughts: he was drunk; he didn’t mean it; he couldn’t mean it.
A thousand and one thoughts, and not a one crossed my mind. (beat) He
called you a whore, Max. A whore.
MAX
So
what? Like you said, he was drunk.
DILLON
So
what? SO WHAT? I don’t care if he
was possessed. He can’t say that to you...(beat) you, the most pure, most
perfect girl I’ve ever known. Where
the hell does he get off calling you that? (beat)
He can’t say…(beat) he just can’t say that. No
man’s ever going to say that about the girl I love…
MAX
What?
DILLON
(long
beat) I said no one’s going to (beat) say that to the girl I love.
MAX
You
love me?
DILLON
Yes.
MAX
(Embracing
DILLON)
You
love me?
DILLON
I
love you.
MAX
I
love you too.
DILLON
(Breaking
their embrace)
You
what?
MAX
I
love you, Dillon. I always have.
DILLON
You
do?
MAX
Of
course. (beat) Wasn’t it obvious? (beat) I was just so afraid to say anything.
(beat) I mean, what we had was
great, don’t get me wrong, but you have to understand (beat) I just wanted
something more.
DILLON
Me
too. (beat) I mean, I didn’t want to destroy what we had.
(beat) But it killed me each time I saw you, each time I talked to you.
I hated it. (beat) I
couldn’t talk to you without wondering what if. What
if I said that I loved you? What if
you said you didn’t? I couldn’t
go through the day without being near you, but then when I was, I couldn’t
look at you, because seeing you that close reminded me how far away you really
were. I know it sounds trite, but
it’s the truth. (beat) It tore me up inside, but I just…couldn’t say it.
MAX
(Reaching
for his hand)
Say
it again.
DILLON
I
love you Max.
(They
embrace and kiss passionately, and the lights go out.)