Supertitle: BIRTH
MICHAEL and VERA, in the hospital. The room is white, pristine, clean. VERA is in labor. She has three hospital blankets on her. MICHAEL drinks coffee.
VERA. Iâm so cold.
MICHAEL. Iâm sorry.
VERA. Are there any more?
MICHAEL. Blankets? I donât think so.
MICHAEL takes off his sweater and puts it on her.
VERA. I donât get it. All this, and Iâm shaking. Are you cold?
MICHAEL. No. (A beat.) I think itâs âcause your bodyâs in shock. Like when someone dies in a movie? They get cold and shake, too.
VERA. Am I⊠Am I dying?
MICHAEL. Of course not.
VERA. Why would you fucking say that?
MICHAEL. I just â
VERA. SHUT UP!
A flood of light, a âwhite-upâ as opposed to a âblackoutâ.
Things have quickly shifted. VERA squats, leaning on a chair. MICHAEL, in a corner, looks at his phone.
VERA grunts.
MICHAEL. Sorry.
A beat. VERA grunts again. He puts the phone away.
VERA. Tell me.
MICHAEL. They just called Indiana, Kentucky, and Vermont.
VERA. What â ?
MICHAEL. Vermont for her. Indiana and Kentucky for him.
A contraction:
VERA. No no no no no no â
MICHAEL. Breathe. Breathe.
VERA. What if â she loses?
MICHAEL. She wonât. You just have to think about breathing right now â
VERA. But what if she does?
MICHAEL. She wonât.
VERA. Promise?
MICHAEL. I promise.
The NURSE enters. She connects a machine to VERA.
NURSE. This is so we can monitor the contractions, and this is so we can monitor the babyâs heartbeat. Did you say you wanted an epidural or â
VERA. No.
NURSE. Okay. If you change your mind â
VERA. I wonât.
NURSE. Okay. Iâll be back / in about twenty minutes
VERA (holding the NURSEâs hand for dear life). Donât leave. You canât leave me.
NURSE. I will be right back.
She attempts to pry her hand out of VERAâs. Finally she exits.
VERA. I. I. Michael.
MICHAEL. Iâm so sorry.
He approaches her. The contraction comes and goes.
VERA. Oh my god.
MICHAEL. Youâre doing great.
He tries to hold her hand, like the NURSE just did.
VERA. DONâT TOUCH ME.
White-up.
The drugs! I want the drugs!
MICHAEL. Sheâs coming. Sheâs going to be here as soon as she can.
VERA. Itâs like. Itâs like my bones⊠are shattering.
MICHAEL. Vee, sheâs in the ER with a woman whoâs hemorrhaging.
VERA. I donât care. Let her die. I canât do this.
MICHAEL. Yes you can.
VERA. What â happened? What â states?
MICHAEL. West Virginia and South Carolina. Both for him.
Either because a contraction is starting or because this news makes her unhappy â itâs unclear which â
VERA. FUUUUCK!
White-up. A shift. VERA is not able to talk. MICHAEL reads from his phone as she grits her teeth and makes animal sounds.
MICHAEL. Alabama, Trump. Connecticut, Delaware, Clinton. DC, Clinton. Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Clinton. Mississippi, Trump. New Jersey, Rhode Island, Clinton. Tennessee, Trump. Arkansas, Trump.
White-up. A shift. VERA sits on the edge of the bed.
Sheâs here! The anesthesiologist is here, Vee.
The ANESTHESIOLOGIST enters with a very large needle â and keeps walking, and walking, until the needle is so enormous that it fills up the entire room. She sticks it in VERAâs back.
ANESTHESIOLOGIST. I need you to tell me when you feel the cold. Not that you feel the contact⊠But if you feel that this is cold. Okay?
The ANESTHESIOLOGIST moves a piece of gauze around VERAâs thighs.
Here?
VERA. Yes.
ANESTHESIOLOGIST. Here?
VERA. Yes.
ANESTHESIOLOGIST. Here?
VERA. Yes.
The ANESTHESIOLOGIST hands her a clicker.
ANESTHESIOLOGIST. You can press this every fifteen minutes. Donât worry about timing it. You can click all you want, itâs blocked. It wonât give you another dose until fifteen minutes are up. See?
Click click click click. Each click is amplified; a distinctive, non-naturalistic noise.
VERA. Okay.
White-up. Things have shifted. The ANESTHESIOLOGIST disappears. VERA lies on the bed.
MICHAEL. Okay. He got Kansas,
She clicks. The click is loud, distinctive, amplified.
Louisiana,
She clicks.
Nebraska,
She clicks.
The Dakotas,
Click, click.
Texas,
Click.
Wyoming,
Click.
She got New York.
White-up.
The DOCTOR and NURSE stand by the bed.
DOCTOR. Okay, itâs time to push. You canât click anymore, itâs disconnected.
The NURSE pries the clicker from her hand.
You have to focus. Okay? Did they teach you how to push?
VERA looks blankly at the DOCTOR.
Do you know if you prefer to hold your breath and push, or slowly exhale as you push? Did they go over that? In your birthing class?
VERA. We didnât⊠We were going toâŠ
MICHAEL. We were planning on doing that next week. This is a month early. We thought we had more time.
NURSE. Thatâs exactly why you start preparing early. With a geriatric pregnancy, thereâs no such thing as overprepared. (A beat.) You can take a deep breath and then hold it, and push, like this â (Demonstrates.) Or you blow as you push. Softly. Like this â pffffffffffff â (Demonstrates.) Do you want to try them both? See which one you like best?
VERA tries them both.
VERA. I think I like the blowing one.
NURSE. Great. Fantastic.
DOCTOR. Babyâs coming nicely. Four big pushes and weâll be done here.
NURSE. When you feel a contraction coming, thatâs when you take a breath, then push through the contraction.
VERA. Okay.
Everyone gets into position. VERA pushes. She pushes again. And again. She starts to make a low, sustained grunt â and looks to the NURSE and DOCTOR for help. Head down, both the DOCTOR and NURSE are checking their phones. Her grunt abruptly stops, as â
Ohio â
DOCTOR. Florida â
NURSE. It looks like Pennsylvania â
DOCTOR. The numbers from Wisconsin â
VERA. What do you mean Wiscâ ? (To MICHAEL.) Wisconsin?! Wisconsin?! Thatâs on you.
NURSE. Just push, please.
VERA. Did they call it yet?
NURSE. You have to focus. The babyâs heart rate â
VERA. Did she win?
MICHAEL. UmmmâŠ
NURSE. Okay. Here comes the head â
MICHAEL. Oh my god. A head.
VERA. Did? Did?
NURS...