NOVEMBER PLAYWRITING CHALLENGE

November 9 and 10 (It was a busy weekend, and got written in two days!): 

Inspiration: The first lines are from the song “Tiny Love” by MIKA

“It’s not a sunrise over canyons shaped like hearts

It isn’t bursting into song in Central Park…

It’s a ‘still-there-Monday-morning’ kind of love”

SCENE 

(We’re in a house in disarray. It is obviously in the midst of being packed up. DAVID sits at the kitchen table, trying to enjoy his breakfast with his morning paper. He’s a jolly 70-ish. His peace is being interrupted by his wife FIONA and his adult daughter TERRIE gossiping loudly as they enter the room with bubble wrap and a few items to wrap up.)

TERRIE

I can’t believe she’s getting divorced…again. What is this the second one?

FIONA

The third!

TERRIE

No wonder we never had our class reunion, she must have been busy between husbands. 

FIONA

And her poor mother!

TERRIE

At least I had the good sense to stick with one marriage before coming out as a lesbian.

FIONA

I’ll tell you, I’m happy you get to be who you are but if one more person telling me about how much they love Chappel Roan I may go nuts.

TERRIE

Do you know who Chappel Roan is?

FIONA

Of course I do…it’s a magazine right.

TERRIE

…Sure. Hi Dad! 

(She kisses him on the cheek)

How’s my favorite man in the whole wide world.

DAVID

Hello my darling girls. How’s the packing?

FIONA

It’s going, how’s your “man cave” going.

DAVID

It’s not a cave it’s an office. And I have all the books sorted so I think I’m on a good track.

TERRIE

I can’t believe in less than 2 weeks the only home I’ve known will no longer be ours. It’s wild.

FIONA

It’s time. We’re not getting any younger Terrie, we want to go to an over 55 complex and not have to shovel snow or mow the lawn.

DAVID

And who knows I’m an older gentleman with a full head of hair. Men die first, don’t forget I’ll be a real catch to all the women in their bridge games. Who knows what kind of trouble I can get into.

FIONA

Not on your life, you’re all mine. 

(She kisses him.)

I’ll fight anyone who tries to take you from me. 

TERRIE

I can’t believe how sweet the two of you are to each other after all these years. You really give me something to believe in.

DAVID

It’s always been her, she’s the woman of my life. 

FIONA

What about your hot high school girlfriend.

TERRIE

Wait how have I never heard about her?

FIONA

She was in the same class as your father. She was gorgeous. Legs up to here, the most beautiful skin.

TERRIE

Wow mom, you’re practically salivating. Are you sure you’re not a lesbian?

FIONA

I’ll consult the Chappel Roan. 

DAVID

She was pretty.

TERRIE

What happened? How have I never heard of her?

FIONA

She left school to become a model in Paris.

TERRIE

Wow so she was like…super hot. What was her name?

FIONA

Lina.

DAVID

I always thought we’d keep in touch but I guess that’s not what the universe wanted. Your mother and I started dating less than 3 months after she left and the rest,  you can say, is history. 

FIONA

Her loss is my gain. 

TERRIE

Well I’ll let you lovebirds have your house while you still have it. I have to go do errands and get back to work. I’ll be back on Thursday when the moving truck gets here. And will you please call me if you need to move anything heavy. I don’t need either of you breaking a hip.

FIONA

Alright honey, we’ll see you then. 

(She leaves.)

Oh you won’t believe what I found when Terrie and I were cleaning out the desk in the attic. Look at this. It’s all cards we kept from our wedding. 

(She sits down at the table with the cards.)

This one is from your Aunt Tillie, God you remember how she somehow made the electric slide seductive when she danced?

DAVID

Oh and this one is from Sal, nothing says “best man” like sleeping with your sister at the reception. That didn’t do wonders for our friendship. 

FIONA

My mother wrote in this one “It’s not too late to find one of The Beatles to marry. Run if you still have feelings for Ringo.”

DAVID

She was always so supportive.

FIONA

Wait what’s this? This looks like an unopened envelope, it was sent through the mail. It was postmarked one week before out wedding. It’s addressed to you.

DAVID

That’s curious. 

(He opens the envelope. He reads.)

Oh my God.

FIONA

What is it?

DAVID

It’s from Lina. 

FIONA

What?

DAVID

She wrote me a letter asking me to reconsider our wedding.

FIONA

Are you serious? I she serious?

DAVID

Seems like it. She even included a plane ticket to Rome, where she was shooting for a magazine at the time. She asked me to come join her. To save myself from, what did she call it? 

(Reading)

“A mundane life in this mundane town. You’ll be wasting your life there, there’s so much more to see.”  Well what do you think of that?

FIONA

I know what I think of that, I think it stinks. Do you wish you did it?

DAVID

Of course not but it’s quite a shock.

FIONA

(Taking her phone out of her pocket.)

I’m going to find this woman and give her a piece of my mind. Oh…it looks like she died last yer?

DAVID

Really? 

FIONA

Look it’s her obituary. She became a fashion editor. Wow, there are photos of her house…houses…in Ibiza, in Porto. Everywhere in Europe it looks like.

DAVID

May I see?

(He takes her phone.)

It’s like looking into another possible life…one I didn’t ever know about.

FIONA

(in tears)

I suppose it makes all this look like a corny Norman Rockwell painting or something.

DAVID

Fiona, that’s not what I’m saying and you know it. It just makes you think.

FIONA

Makes you think you made a mistake. 

DAVID

(He closes the phone.)

Not for a second. I can wonder momentarily what might have been but in the end, it’s you. It was always you and it will always be you.

(He takes her hand.)

Now can we go sit on our front porch swing and not talk about it again?

FIONA

I suppose so.

DAVID

I may ask for you to speak in a French accent for a bit though.

FIONA

DAVID!

DAVID

I’m kidding. You’re stuck with me for life, kid. 

(They walk out hand in hand.)

END