ACT I
Scene One
Christmas Eve morning, 2004.
The Wyeth living room. There is a metal fireplace, one of those Scandinavian flying saucer types from the sixties, giving off a nice glow. Desert-French regency is the style, decorated for movie stars circa 1965, but somehow it still works, perhaps better now than it did in its time.
A game of mixed doubles has just ended. BROOKE WYETH, an attractive and dry woman, her oak-like father, LYMAN, who is sturdy in the way of old Californians of a particular type. Brookâs younger brother, TRIP, a bright, funny man, perhaps a decade her junior, and her mother, elegant and forthright and whip-smart POLLY. They are still tired, recovering from the game. In easy, good spirits.
Polly All I am saying Brooke is that I donât know how the hell you stand those East Coast winters, and in that little village of yours out there on the edge of the sea, itâs just, it really makes us worryâ
Brooke (laughing) Sag Harbor is really cozy, itâs quiet, itâs peaceful, my God, Iâve been here less than three hours and youâre starting in on me? About where I live?
Lyman What your mother is saying is that closer to homeâwe would love to have you closer to homeâ
Trip I canât believe youâre doing this. Mom, Dadâshe split. She gave up on California, last century. Itâs not in her blood.
Brooke It really is true, even when I was a little girl, I knew, I just knew I was going to live back east. I couldnât do thisâthis endless sunshineâthisâitâs soâpredictable!
Lyman But youâre a child of California, you grew up with beaches and orange grovesâ
Brooke And the weather that never changes. I need seasons to mark where I am. Last winter I was still pretty blue, as you know, but this odd thingâwhen spring started to just hintâthose crazy flowers popping up out of the snowâit matched where I was, I was coming out of it. My winter. I was popping up too.
A moment.
Polly I think you might have that thing where the winter is part of what makes you blue, really, have you ever thought of that?
Brooke I am fine, Iâmâis this what this trip is gonna be?
Trip Brooke. The house next door? Itâs for sale. They want us to have it. (mock horror) They want us here ALL THE TIME!
Trip pretends to be dying of poison gas. The parents grin. Brooke laughs.
Lyman Yes, we know we bore you two to tears. But . . . (beat) Brookie. What if there were another attack? Itâs a rather likely possibility, isnât it? Itâs only been a few years. Itâs only beenâI meanâ
Brooke (moaning) Here we go.
Trip No, no, no. Letâs not do this.
Polly You know, we still have friends in Washington, you wouldnât believe what they donât tell you. Well, we hear it, blood chilling. Arabs with all sorts of plans theyâre hatching, crazed Indian people withâ
Brooke I live in Eastern Long Island, not Times Square, and I refuse to live like some sort of terrifiedâ(beat) This is how you win at tennis, you agitate meâyou get me really justâimpossibly overheatedâ
Polly I have no idea what youâre talking about. If you have a lousy serve, you have a lousy serve, darling, and if all it takes to win is to tell you that I think this war is entirely justified, well then, you shouldnât be playing tennis.
Polly has a smile on her face. She is having fun, itâs light needling.
Brooke (grinning) Do you still own a revolver, dad?
Polly You know Iâm not cooking dinner? Weâre having Christmas Eve at the country club.
Brooke lets out a moan.
Trip Jesus, Mom, who has Christmas at a country club?
Brooke Jews is who has Christmas at a country club. Thatâs why God made country clubs, so half-goy hipsters and their aging parents donât have to cook.
Polly Oh, itâs terrific. Stone crab claws, Bloody Marys, chink food, and a mambo band. If you want to stand here slaving over a hot stove in the desert, be my guest. I canât face it anymore.
Brooke (smiling) Did you just say âchink foodâ? Cause Iâm still stuck back there.
Polly (laughing) Oh stop it! I donât have a bigoted bone in my body, youâre just so correct about everything, and if you canât joke in your own homeâyouâre soâI wanna know this; when did everyone get so damn sensitive about every last thing? When?
Brooke Uhm. Around the time you people started using words like âchinkâ in public, is when.
Lyman You donât like the Palm Springs Country Club? Is there anything about our lives you donât mind? Our politics, ourâ
Brooke (over him) That country club does not let inâ
Polly (over her) Yes they do. Yes they DO! That ended years ago! Stop it!
Brooke Do they? Mom? How manyâ
Polly ...