Scene 1
Slide: August 9, 2001
A bar. Patricia works behind the bar. Stephen sits, with soda. Two Young Businessmen sit a few stools away, looking up at stock quotes on the television. Stephen is smoking.
STEPHEN: And he said, âOoh, you donât want to be a caretaker.â
PATRICIA: Oh. Of course.
STEPHEN: And I thoughtâI mean, the guyâs missing a leg, what? . . .
PATRICIA: Of course you did.
STEPHEN: And he knew the facts.
PATRICIA: What are the facts exactly?
(Patricia listens while filling pretzel bowls.)
STEPHEN: Well. When I moved in, I just noticedâa family. There was a womanâand there was a manâand a kidânot a kidâmaybe eighteen. So one day the woman disappearsâI never see her again, and the fatherâwhen I see / him next
YOUNG BUSINESSMAN 1: One more round here, Patricia.
(Patricia pours two whiskeys.)
dp n="8" folio="238" ?PATRICIA (Nodding to TV, pouring drinks): You guys losing money today?
YOUNG BUSINESSMAN 2: Youâre a loser if youâre losing / money
YOUNG BUSINESSMAN 1: You gotta be crazy to lose money in this market.
YOUNG BUSINESSMAN 2 (Nodding toward Stephen): Whatâs your boyfriendâs name?
PATRICIA (Laughs, gives whiskeys to men): Here you go. (Goes back to Stephen, keeps refilling pretzel bowls) So the woman disappears. S
TEPHEN: Right. And then, the man, the father, he has no leg suddenly. I see him, he has no leg below the knee.
(The bar phone rings. Patricia answers.)
PATRICIA: Hello?
YOUNG BUSINESSMAN 1 (To Patricia): Ah, thatâs your boyfriend.
YOUNG BUSINESSMAN 2 (To Stephen): She have a boyfriend? She never tells us.
PATRICIA: Okay. (Hangs up)
YOUNG BUSINESSMAN 2: You ready to invest yet, Patricia?
PATRICIA: Iâm already in the stock marketâit goes up, I get good tips, if it goes down I know itâs gonna be a bad day.
YOUNG BUSINESSMAN 1: Youâre lucky Bush got in.
PATRICIA: Right, yeah, thank God.
YOUNG BUSINESSMAN 1: More money for you!
YOUNG BUSINESSMAN 2 : Three-hundred-dollar tax refund, what is that, how many tips is that? How many drinks you have to serve to get that?
(Patricia goes back to Stephen. The men laugh.)
PATRICIA: Okay, so.
STEPHEN: AnywayâI canât tell for sure but I think the kid, I think the kid is dealing drugs out of the apartment, because I see people go in there during the dayâwhite peopleâso thatâs the / situation basically.
YOUNG BUSINESSMAN 1 (Regarding the TV): Bingo. I told / you
YOUNG BUSINESSMAN 2: Yeah, yeah, itâll drop, just / watch
YOUNG BUSINESSMAN 1: I donât / think so
STEPHEN: Anywayâthe fatherâknocks on my door maybe once a week and asks me for cigarettes, and I give him a few. This has never seemed to bother Tylerâuntilâ
dp n="9" folio="239" ?(The phone rings. Patricia answers it.)
PATRICIA: Hello?
YOUNG BUSINESSMAN 2 (To Stephen): What do you do?
STEPHEN:âIâm a writer.
YOUNG BUSINESSMAN 1: Oh yeah? A screenwriter?
STEPHEN: No, not a / screenwriter
YOUNG BUSINESSMAN 2 : You should write a story about us. Iâm / serious
YOUNG BUSINESSMAN 1 : Yeah, this guyâs life is screwed up, let me / tell you
YOUNG BUSINESSMAN 2 :âTwo guys, one of them gets laid all the time, the other one canât / get laid
STEPHEN (Amiably): Maybe I will.
PATRICIA: Okay, gotcha.
(Patricia hangs up and goes to Stephen, starts drying glasses.)
Sorry. This has never seemed to bother Tyler âuntilââ
STEPHEN :âThe other night. So the father knocks on my door. He needs to go to the deli. Itâs raining outside and heâs afraid his crutches will slip. He tells me if he falls on his legâthe amputated leg, the remaining part of itâheâll be in really bad trouble. So I help himâI go with himâto the deli. And as weâre walking, he starts talking. Telling me heâs worked his whole life, he canât work anymore, heâs on Social Security . . . Anyway, so he buys his stuff, I help him back up to his apartmentâthe end. And I tell Tyler this, I tell him this, and his response isâand this is his instinctive responseââOooh, be careful, you donât want to become a caretaker.â
PATRICIA: I see. (Beat; sincerely) Do you love this person?
STEPHEN: Do I love him? Yeahâyeah. I do. I really / do. (Stephenâs cell phone rings. He checks the number, answers) Hey sweets. Nothing, just stopped by to see Patricia. Yeah? Okay. Okay great. Bye. (He hangs up)
PATRICIA: Itâs funnyâbecause from what youâve told me about him, heâs been taken care of.
STEPHEN: What?
PATRICIA: Was that him by the way?
STEPHEN: Yeah.
PATRICIA: You told me that he has a trust fund. Heâs never had to worry about money.
dp n="10" folio="240" ?STEPHEN: Right?
PATRICIA: Heâs been taken care of. So why was he threatened by your taking care of someone?
STEPHEN: Ohâright. Hunh. (Beat)âIt made me think about empathy.
(Patricia clears Stephenâs empty soda, wipes down the bar.)
PATRICIA: Uh-huh?
STEPHEN: Justâwhat it is. How it comes to be. On an individual level, a societal level . . . how do you imagine other people, their livesâwhether itâs someone you love or someone you donâtâa strangerâI should get going, weâre âclubbingâ tonight. âI guess itâs really a small thing to get so worked up about. P
ATRICIA: No itâs not. (Beat) I meanâthe way you spoke of it, it doesnât sound like a small thing to you.
STEPHEN (Lightly): Yeah. Okay. Iâll see you soon.
(Stephen puts down money for his soda.)
PATRICIA: Shut up.
(Stephen laughs and takes his money back. He goes.)
YOUNG BUSINESSMAN 1 (To Patricia): Blah blah blah, Jesus that guy can talk.âIs he gay, that guy?
PATRICIA (Teasingly): What do you think?
YOUNG BUSINESSMAN 2 (To 1): I told you he was.
YOUNG BUSINESSMAN 1: Heâs a writer like you, / huh?
YOUNG BUSINESSMAN 2:âYou know Patricia, thereâs this whole trend of attractive women hanging around gay guys, I saw a thing about it on TV.
PATRICIA (Laughing): Is that so? This is a trend now?
(The men rise, take out money, preparing to go.)
YOUNG BUSINESSMAN 2: Yeah, but itâs not healthy, theyâre afraid of real men, theyâve been hurt too many times, so they take comfort in gay men. But itâs bad, youâre / cutting off fromâ
dp n="11" folio="241" ?YOUNG BUSINESSMAN 1:âDonât listen to this / guy, Patricia.
YOUNG BUSINESSMAN 2: What? Itâs just an / observation.
PATRICIA: I actually have a boyfriend, but thank you for your concern.
YOUNG BUSINESSMAN 2: You do. Truth is out.âThatâs a lucky guy. Whatâs his name?
PATRICIA: Frank.
YOUNG BUSINESSMAN 2: Whatâs he do?
PATRICIA: Heâs a chef.
YOUNG BUSINESSMAN 2: A chef? What kind of money do chefs make?
YOUNG BUSINE...