A COMMON SITUATION

A COMMON SITUATION:
A power play in one act

By A.E. Bayne

Characters

ELEANOR
a bright, headstrong, twenty-something young woman with an undiagnosed medical condition

ROSIE
Eleanor’s mother, a fifty-something woman who has recently retired and is suffering from ‘empty nest’ syndrome

SETTING:
The foyer and living room of Rosie’s house. Upstage left is the foyer, which runs the length of the stage to downstage left. The living room covers the remaining ¾ of the stage from upstage right to downstage right. Décor is typical middle class American. A long sofa, two club chairs, a coffee table, and a smaller side table are placed for conversation center stage. Entrance to the room is downstage left from the foyer.

AT RISE:
ELEANOR is staying at her mother’s house while visiting town. She has just returned from a routine gynecological exam that has revealed some abnormalities. She walks swiftly through the door from the foyer into the living room where ROSIE sits on the sofa reading a fashion magazine. ELEANOR tosses her purse onto the far club chair and sinks into the empty chair at center stage. She fixes her gaze at the table in front of her. ROSIE drops the magazine into her lap and stares quizzically at ELEANOR, waiting.

ELEANOR:
[Looking up to meet ROSIE’s gaze] What?

ROSIE:
[Leaning forward] Well, what’d he say?

ELEANOR:
[Waving her hand at ELEANOR dismissively] Everything’s fine. He said my blood work looks good, but there might be a slight thickening of the walls down there [points to her lap].

ROSIE stares at ELEANOR, concerned and expectant. ELEANOR continues to slump in the chair, fixated on the table in front of her.

ROSIE
[Tossing the magazine onto the center of the coffee table] Thickening of the walls? What is thickening of the walls?

ELEANOR
[Shaken from her contemplation] Huh? Nothing; you know, just something going on. I don’t wanna talk about it.

ELEANOR reaches for the magazine, then slouches back in her chair, propping the magazine on her chest to cover her face and block ROSIE from her sight.

ROSIE
[Sitting up tall on her edge of her chair and peering over the top of the magazine] Well I do. What did the doctor say?

ELEANOR
[Flipping a page, irritated] He said the walls are thick. That’s all.

ROSIE
[Standing and pacing upstage] Well, what are they going to do about it? What does it mean? They must have told you what that means!

ELEANOR
[Flips another page of the magazine, more irritated] I’m supposed to go back next Friday. I don’t want to talk about it anymore, mother, [gritting her teeth] okay?

ROSIE
[Undeterred and ignoring ELEANOR’s request, ROSIE turns quickly to face her.] What’re they gonna do on Friday?

ELEANOR
[Throws the magazine to the table and stands abruptly, rigid, with fists clenched at her sides, and howls] God!

ELEANOR turns and walks quickly to the door to the foyer. ROSIE follows and reaches for her shoulder as ELEANOR takes the doorknob in her hand.

ROSIE
[ROSIE drops her hand before touching ELEANOR’s shoulder and says softly] What are they doing?

ELEANOR
[Seems to be counting to stave off her anger, she lets her hand drop, and then spinning on heel she shouts] A DNC, okay, a DNC. That’s what they’re gonna do.

ELEANOR paces to downstage right, folds her arms tightly and stares toward the back of the theater/audience.

ROSIE
[Echoes ELEANOR’s last words] A DNC.

ELEANOR
[Turns to face ROSIE and throws hands to her sides, fingers wide] Yes, okay?

ROSIE
[Hugs her left arm with her right hand, muttering] Hmmm.

ELEANOR
Fine. [Satisfied, she walks back to the chair and sits down, slouching into it.]

There is silence for a moment. ROSIE drifts back to her chair, and ELEANOR picks up her purse and begins to look through it.

ROSIE
[Tentatively] And that will tell them if it’s cancer?

ELEANOR
[Pulling out her cell phone] I guess.

ROSIE
[Eagerly] What if it’s cancer?

ELEANOR
[Pulling out a make-up bag and pen] Then it’s cancer.

ROSIE
[Voice rising, frantic] I mean, what would they do?

ELEANOR
[She throws the next item from her purse, a change purse, angrily at her mother.] I…don’t…know! Why won’t you leave me alone?”

ROSIE’s hands fly to her face and she shrieks.

ROSIE
[From behind her hands, slowly lowering them] Because I’m worried.

ELEANOR
[Sighing and stuffing the items back into her purse] You don’t need to worry; they don’t even know.

ROSIE
[Jumps up and begins pacing again] But I am. What if it’s cancer?

ELEANOR
[Directly] Then it’s cancer. I’d have to deal with it.

ROSIE
[Stops and looks piercingly at ELEANOR] I don’t know if I could deal with it though.

ELEANOR
[Throwing her hands up] Well, you’d have to, no getting around it. I would too.[She lets her hands fall to rest behind her head.]

ROSIE
[Her voice catches and her shoulders slump.] What if I couldn’t? I’d let you down.

ELEANOR
[With hands remaining behind her head, she says incredulously] You do what you gotta do, I guess.”

ROSIE
[Rising up, indignant] Don’t be that way; I’m trying to talk to you.”

ELEANOR
[Taking a different tact, reasoning with a purposefully calm voice] I just don’t want to talk about it. I need some time to process this. Can’t I have that? Can’t I just have that?

ROSIE
[Ignoring ELEANOR’s request] What can I do for you if you won’t talk to me?

ELEANOR
[Directly] Nothing.

ROSIE
[Approaching ELEANOR with her hands outstretched] I want to be there, do something.

ELEANOR
[Backing away slightly] There’s nothing to be done. We don’t even know.

ROSIE
[Reaching for ELEANOR and grabbing her shoulders] I can’t stand to think of it. What would I do?

ELEANOR
[Flinging ROSIE’s hands from her shoulders] You?

ROSIE
[Regrouping, sounding quiet and hurt] Without you, I mean?

ELEANOR
[Sighing with frustration and pushing past ROSIE to move back toward the chair] You’ve already got me in the ground and I don’t even know what’s going on. And you want to know why I don’t talk to you!

ROSIE
[Defeated] No, no, I’ll stop; I just worry.

ELEANOR
[Incredulous] So it’s about you.

ROSIE
[Embarrassed] No, no, it’s not. Stop, you’re making me feel horrible.

ELEANOR
[Satisfied] Exactly!

ROSIE
[Moving toward the sofa again, sitting down] You want me to feel bad?

ELEANOR
[ELEANOR sits down in the chair and stares at the table] Yes; I mean no. It’s just, it’s all about you. All the time. Even when I tell you I don’t want to talk about something that has only to do with me, you’re forcing me to talk about it because you feel bad. [Glancing up at ROSIE] Do you see that?”

ROSIE
[Stares at her hands] Yes…

ELEANOR
[Looks toward the audience] Well, okay.

ROSIE
[Looks up toward ELEANOR, tentatively] But…

ELEANOR
[Standing in a rage, screaming] No! No “but”, it’s mine, my problem, my issue, my worry.

ROSIE
[Standing also, spiteful] God, that’s just like you! You won’t let anyone get close.

ELEANOR
[Disgusted, she crosses her arms.] Whatever.

ROSIE
[Throws her hand out, exasperated] There you go; ‘whatever’ is right. [Angry] Why can’t I worry; why can’t I help or be involved?

ELEANOR
[Screaming] Because! You can’t!

ROSIE
[Sarcastically] Whoa, okay, okay…you’re so tough. [Crying] You know it would kill me if you have cancer.

ELEANOR
[ELEANOR pauses to stare at ROSIE, and then says with irony] No. It wouldn’t!

ROSIE
[Bashful, embarrassed] You know what I mean.

ELEANOR
[Sarcastically] I do; I know exactly what you mean.

ROSIE
[Blaming] You can be so cruel!

ELEANOR
[Shocked] Oh my god! I’m the one who might have a terminal disease and you are calling me cruel. That’s rich.

ROSIE
[Pointedly] Well, you can be. If you died, I can’t even think about it.

ELEANOR
[Throws her hands out] Again with the dying.

ROSIE
[Smartly] Well, if you’d tell me what they said maybe I wouldn’t have to imagine the worst.

ELEANOR
Hurumph.

ROSIE
Sigh.

FADE OUT:
ROSIE and ELEANOR turn from one another, ELEANOR with arms tightly folded and head thrust back in anger, and ROSIE hunched over with her face in her hands, sobbing.