at a crowded bar
EDDIE (late 30’s) gruff around the edges, slams into STACEY (50’s) just as she’s about to take a sip of a drink.
The force of the impact knocks the drink right out of her hand.
eddie
Ah Jeez. Sorry. Sorry about that. What a mess. That guy back there…
stacey
It’s all right. It’s all right. I’m fine.
eddie
I really didn’t mean to uhm…
stacey
It was a gin and tonic. Light on the tonic.
eddie
O.K. Sure. Sure. Least I could do.
(to the Bartender)
The lady will have a tonic.
stacey
(to the Bartender)
With gin.
eddie
(to the Bartender)
Give us a minute.
(to Stacey)
Come on. Take a deep breath. You don’t want to do this.
stacey
Do I know you?
eddie
Yeah, I’m a friend of Bill’s.
stacey
What the hell are you talking about?
eddie
I’m talking about taking the 13th step here.
stacey
(gesturing thumb over her shoulder)
Where you…
eddie
Yeah, I saw you leave the meeting. You looked a little…shaky.
stacey
So, you followed me here!
eddie
Well, yeah. Kinda. I know where you’re coming from.
stacey
Ah, Jesus…I’ve got a stalker.
eddie
It was just a block.
stacey
There’s no excuse for following a woman ever. Regardless of geography.
eddie
What do you say you grab a seat over there while I wrestle us two tonics from the bar? After that you’re free to do whatever the hell you want. I swear. I’ll back off.
stacey
O.K. But I’d rather do coke.
EDDIE
Coke, too?
STACEY
Coke and ice.
eddie
Good clean choice. It’ll be my pleasure.
Eddie leaves comes back a moment later with two drinks.
stacey
Thanks. I’m Stacey and you are…?
eddie
Eddie, Eddie Fabiano. Does the name ring a bell? Stacey? Cuz I could swear I’ve met you somewhere before.
stacey
Look, let me be perfectly frank with you here, Eddie. I’m on a razor’s edge. Ever have a day like that? Like God himself is squeezing the life out of you.
eddie
Oh, yeah sure. I’ve been fucked over more ways than Sunday.
stacey
Is that a real expression? What does that mean exactly?
eddie
I have no idea.
stacey
Because Sunday is usually like…
eddie
And yet, that’s how fucked over I’ve been in my life.
stacey
I see.
eddie
It’s good to talk about things. Get it off your chest.
stacey
I’m not much of a talker, Eddie. Never have been. I wish I was. But, talking just doesn’t do it for me.
eddie
You should try it. For me it all started back in high school. Like this day when I came home from school…and there…on the table… waiting for me like a death sentence —
stacey
Ah Eddie. Eddie! Eddie! If you really want to help me YOU need to dial back the black. Weather. TV. Movies…Sports? You look like a sports man.
eddie
You bet I am. Big Cardinals’ man from way back. Even if they did break my heart this year.
stacey
See? That’s a good sign. I’m from St. Louis.
eddie
Didn’t I say you look familiar? That must be it. St. Louis. What did you do there, Stacey?
stacey
Oh, I taught.
eddie
High School?
stacey
Lucky guess.
eddie
English?
stacey
That’s a real sweet way of saying that I must make you weak in the knees.
eddie
Oh shit! Fuck me. Excuse me…ahm…O.K. How about this…Out of the night that covers me…dark as the pit from pole to pole…I thank whatever Gods may be…
stacey
For my unconquerable soul. Invictus! I taught that. Made my students memorize it.
eddie
Yup. And I still remember it.
stacey
Ah-ha.
(draining her glass)
Well, thanks for the coke.
eddie
What do you say to me buying us another round? Talk about times back in ol’ St. Louey. Best place to get the blues, don’tcha think, Miss Holder?
stacey
Oh my Lord. Lordy me.
eddie
Lawrenceville High? Class of ’88?
stacey
Mmmm…I have no memory of you, Eddie. Don’t take it personally because I was (whistles)…three sheets to the wind, most days. But, I must have done right by you, cuz here you are. Able to recite Inviticus.
eddie
Actually…
stacey
Don’t like the sound of that.
eddie
You failed me. In my Junior year. You failed me cuz I didn’t hand in three homeworks. No letter home. No nothing. Just a fuckin’ F. For three homeworks. Three fuckin’ homeworks.
stacey
Ah-ha. Well, now that you got that off your chest…
eddie
(making a fist)
I could…I could just…
stacey
Woah…how long ago are we talkin’ about? How many years back are we going?
eddie
Yesterday. It was fuckin’ yesterday.
stacey
Very good. Poetic immediacy. Someone taught you that. Maybe it was me.
eddie
Here’s another piece of immediacy. There’s a direct link between that F and where I am now. And none of it is good.
stacey
O.K. O.K. So, you followed me here to make me aware of the fact that I ruined your life.
eddie
No! There you go again, selling me short. Everyone is always selling me short. My Dad. The Lieutenant. You.
stacey
But here, right now, in this moment we know it really comes down to me.
eddie
I thought you should know.
stacey
And you bear no responsibility?
eddie
If by no responsibility you mean was it my fault that my father went ballistic and sent me to Military Academy and from there, well…let’s just say at that point my life went into free-fall. So, no. That wasn’t my fault. Do not put the blame on me.
stacey
Clearly, I owe you an apology. I’m sorry. I’m sorry I messed up your life. I’m making amends. Eddie look at me…I’m opening my heart up to you and asking you to please accept my apology.
eddie
I don’t want some bogus Fourth Step. That summer I was signed up to go to Alaska Song Camp. It was a really big deal in my life. I mean fuckin’ huge. I was gonna stand at the edge of the world. Touch aurora borealis. Catch salmon twice as long as my arm.
stacey
Hang on. You wrote an essay about that. I remember you now. You usually sat near the back by the window. The dreamer’s corner.
Eddie
O.K. so yeah, I was a dreamer. I had big dreams. Big fuckin’ dreams that you squashed when you —
stacey
Yeah, I get it. So, you went to Military Academy and then what?
eddie
Now, you’re toying with me.
stacey
No, I’m not. Today is a horrible day. Meeting you just makes it that much richer.
eddie
Skip it. Never mind.
stacey
Talk or buy me a drink.
eddie
Don’t tempt me.
stacey
You know somebody once told me that coincidence is God’s way of hiding his hand.
eddie
Heavy.
stacey
Maybe it’s that we can handle a drink now. Both of us are feeling strong. Angry. What if we do a little experiment?
Eddie
Sure. It’s worked so well in the past. Did you know that poem Invict…uhm…
stacey
Invictus.
eddie
Right. That’s what Timothy McVeigh recited right before they threw the switch.
stacey
And therefore, what? It’s tainted? Not true? In the fell clutch of circumstance…I have not winced nor cried aloud…
eddie
(overlapping)
It all starts with that bullshit they teach you in school.
stacey
Under the bludgeonings of chance…My head is bloody, but unbowed.
eddie
(overlapping)
Dream on, sister.
stacey
Beyond this place of wrath and tears…
eddie
More romantic bullshit.
stacey
Looms but the Horror of the shade…
And yet the menace of the years…Finds, and shall find, me unafraid…Come on Eddie. What comes next?
Eddie joins in despite himself.
eddie
It matters not how strait the gate, how charged with punishment the scroll…
Stacey/eddie
I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul.
stacey
What do you say we go get a cup of coffee?
FADE OUT