Dennis Lehane - Coronado

DOCTOR We’re not special.

PATIENT I know. I know.

DOCTOR None of us.

PATIENT I do. I know that now.

DOCTOR Do you?

PATIENT Hey, I’m still getting my head around it, but…

[ Beat. ]

How long since your wife left you?

DOCTOR I never said my wife left me.

PATIENT How long?

DOCTOR She kicked me out six months ago. She… met someone.

PATIENT You let me believe I knew where you lived.

DOCTOR Well, I do. She doesn’t.

PATIENT So she’s not the perfect wife?

DOCTOR She was never even a very good wife. But I was never even a very good husband. I love her, though.

PATIENT Go back to her.

DOCTOR We don’t work. I mean, I mean, there’s what you want and what you can do. And in between? The world fucking waits to take its bites.

PATIENT Didn’t you know that going in?

DOCTOR Who knows that, going in? I knew the odds were a bit against us. I knew we didn’t really… align. But what do you do with the love? Put it on a shelf?

PATIENT Apparently, you do.

DOCTOR Yes. Apparently.

PATIENT Why’d you sleep with me?

DOCTOR Because I was an asshole.

[ Chuckles. Shrugs. ]

Because pain does that.

PATIENT It does, huh?

DOCTOR I’m sorry. Broke-down, lost-heart sorry.

[ Beat. She smiles. She takes his face in her hands. ]

PATIENT I want to give you something.

DOCTOR No. No. This ends.

PATIENT It’s not that. It’s not that. Trust me. Can you trust me?

DOCTOR Not really.

PATIENT Just this once. Pretty please?

DOCTOR Okay, but—

PATIENT Shush. Close your eyes.

[ He does. Long beat. She kisses each eyelid once. She steps back. His eyes remain closed for a beat. He opens them. He stares at her and she at him. ]

DOCTOR Thank you.

PATIENT Thank you. You probably can’t be a husband, but be a father. Okay?

[ She takes several steps backward. ]

DOCTOR What about you?

PATIENT Oh, yeah. That.

[ She smiles and give him a bow. She waves and exits. ]

Lights gradually up on BOBBY’S FATHER, his head barely above the grave now. BOBBY perches above the hole.

BOBBY’S FATHER I can’t fucking…

BOBBY Keep digging.

BOBBY’S FATHER Give me a break.

BOBBY Hard, huh?

BOBBY’S FATHER Look, she’s down here. Isn’t that enough? I admitted it. You asked, I answered. What’s the point?

BOBBY Keep digging.

BOBBY’S FATHER But what’s the fucking point?

BOBBY Put your back into it. Use a little elbow grease. Dig, bitch. Dig.

[ BOBBY’S FATHER goes back to digging as GWEN enters. She sits behind Bobby, wraps her arms around him. ]

GWEN Know what would be cool? If — if, if, if, if — all goes wrong? I put it in me.

BOBBY Don’t even talk ab—

GWEN Just saying. If I swallowed it or inserted it or… what else?

BOBBY You give it to him. You don’t get clever. ’Member?

GWEN The first time I saw you? Here? I swear I thought I’d lose my fucking mind if I couldn’t do this…

[ GWEN tongues his neck. ]

Where’s your father now?

BOBBY Far away.

GWEN Where’s your life now?

BOBBY Far away.

GWEN Good. Gotta pee.

BOBBY Don’t go.

GWEN Just going to the grass.

BOBBY Don’t.

[ GWEN leaves him, exits. BOBBY’S FATHER hits something with the shovel. Looks up. ]

BOBBY Throw the shovel back up.

[ BOBBY’S FATHER tosses the shovel out of the grave. ]

BOBBY’S FATHER You know, your mother and I used to come here and get ourselves some—

BOBBY Time to whip Mom out, is it?

BOBBY’S FATHER Get ourselves some cotton candy and ride the teacups and—

BOBBY What was her name again?

BOBBY’S FATHER

— just feel the night. You know? You know how that feels so good, the night on you? Like to make you crazy that soft, soft touch.

[ BOBBY peers into the grave. ]

BOBBY What’d you do with her clothes?

[ BOBBY’S FATHER looks down into the grave. ]

BOBBY’S FATHER Burned ’em.

BOBBY I mean, why’d you take ’em off in the first place?

[ BOBBY’S FATHER shrugs. ]

BOBBY Look at her.

BOBBY’S FATHER I’m looking.

BOBBY No. Look real close.

BOBBY’S FATHER I see the bones.

BOBBY Look closer. Where her stomach used to be. That general area.

[ BOBBY’S FATHER looks. ]

BOBBY’S FATHER Well, I’ll be damned.

[ BOBBY hits his father in the head with the shovel. ]

BOBBY’S FATHER Now hold on—

[ BOBBY hits him again. And again. And one more time. ]

WILL and GINA in the parking lot.

WILL It’s a pretty color.

GINA Are you flirting with me?

WILL No, I just like the color. I like the blouse. I like…

GINA What?

WILL Huh? Nothing. I just…

GINA Hey, you ever?

WILL What?

GINA Not want to get in your car?

WILL Yeah.

GINA When?

WILL Now. I don’t want to move.

GINA I know.

WILL I love that color.

GINA Thank you.

WILL It, um, suits you.

GINA What suits you, Will?

WILL You.

[ WILL touches her chin with his fingers. GINA backs away. ]

GINA I’m married.

[ WILL shrugs. ]

WILL You. You do, Gina.

GINA Oh God.

WILL Oh Something.

BOBBY finishes filling in the grave. He stands in pale, weak moonlight and removes his baseball cap to wipe his brow.

BOBBY I wish… I wish… I wish I’d taken a picture of you. Just one. Just once.

[ GWEN enters from the darkness. ]

GWEN You don’t need a picture.

BOBBY Yes. Yes, I do.

GWEN No, baby, you don’t. You’re good.

BOBBY Enough?

GWEN Enough. Yeah. You’re good enough.

BOBBY I’m not. I’m not.

[ GWEN approaches until she’s an inch from him and BOBBY recoils from the pain. Her lips pass a hairsbreadth from his ear. ]

GWEN You are. You are.

[ GWEN fades into the dark. BOBBY covers his face with his baseball cap. Long beat. BOBBY removes the cap from his face and places it on his head. He tosses the shovel into the darkness. He takes several breaths. He notices a bench and goes to it. He sits. He pulls his cap tighter down his forehead. Music slowly filters into the scene as the light around him grows enough to reveal—

He sits in a bar booth. A waitress emerges from the darkness. It is not the WAITRESS we’ve seen before. It’s GINA/PATIENT and she looks weary from a long night. ]

GINA Solo?

BOBBY Huh?

GINA Just you tonight, sweetie?

BOBBY Just me.

GINA What can I get you?

BOBBY Take a Bud and a shot of Beam.

GINA Right back.

[ BOBBY splays his hands out in front of him and studies them. He removes his cap and runs a hand through his hair. GINA emerges from the dark as he rubs his face and leans back against the booth. GINA cocks her head, recognizing something in his movements, the jut of his jaw, his eyes. She looks at the tray in her hand. She looks at him. BOBBY turns his head and notices her. He smiles. She approaches. ]

BOBBY New?

GINA New?

BOBBY Here. You’re new here.

GINA Um, yeah. Yeah. Yes, I am.

[ She places his drinks on the table. ]

BOBBY What happened to V?

GINA V?

BOBBY Videlia. She was the waitress here for, like, centuries.

GINA Oh, she met a man. You know. True love. Moved all the way to Coronado, way I hear it. He’s a musician.