From Little Seeds by Steve Daut

This Play is the copyright of the Author, and may not be performed, copied or sold without the Author's prior consent

ACT ONE

SCENE ONE

OPEN on dining room of Braxton home. Nicely appointed but not plush. ANNIE is center stage, meditating in a yoga position. There is a cabinet or chest of drawers, a dining table and chairs, with a catalogue on the table. The place is decorated with freshly cut flowers and flowering plants. A large spider plant is prominently displayed. Sound of car arriving, steps, and doors slamming.

BILL
(From offstage)
Hey, babe. I need a shower. Are you ready yet?
(Comes in door wearing a suit. Watches ANNIE for a moment)
What are you doing? I thought you'd be ready.
(No reaction from ANNIE)
We need to leave in- well, I guess we have a couple of hours.
ANNIE
Relax.
BILL
I need to shower.
(Waits)
This is black tie, you know.
ANNIE
Relax for a minute.
BILL
(Brief pause)
What are you doing?
ANNIE
Meditating. Dr. Singh wanted me to do something to relax.
BILL
Is everything OK?
ANNIE
(Stands up. Obviously pregnant.)
Yeah, fine. He just said I need to do something to relax.
BILL
(Comes over and puts his head on her belly, listens.)
Did he say anything else?
ANNIE
No.
BILL
Are you sure? Can I do something?
ANNIE
He just said I need to relax.
BILL
(Kisses her belly)
Well, Dr. Singh is the best.
ANNIE
Nothing but the best for little Natasha.
BILL
I think that name sounds so harsh. I really-
ANNIE
I think it makes her sound worldly and sophisticated, besides-
BILL
I just wish that- I don't know, that you'd let me in on the process. Most couples-
ANNIE
I promised Gamma-
BILL
Yeah, I know. When you were seven. Look, I don't want to violate your- family honor, but I just don't-
ANNIE
That's her name. Natasha.
BILL
OK, well I'm going nickname her. Um, Nasha- I'll call her Nasha. It sounds
more beautiful to me. A sweet little heart-breaker.
ANNIE
She's not going to break anybody's heart.
BILL
She may not mean to, but if she's anything like her mother-
ANNIE
What's that supposed to mean?
BILL
(Goes to her)
Just that men will fall hopelessly in love with her.
(They embrace)
ANNIE
It's never hopeless to fall in love.
BILL
It is if you can't have the thing you love.
ANNIE
Well, then, you don't have anything to worry about, do you?
(Starts making love to him)
BILL
Let me get- Oh, Jesus.
ANNIE
Shut up, you fool. Silly Bill.
BILL
But the baby-
ANNIE
Dr. Singh said it was OK-
BILL
He also told you to relax.
ANNIE
I can only relax if I get my proper dose of your medicine, Dr. Braxton.
BILL
Well, I guess we'd better follow Doctor's orders then.
ANNIE
(Undoing his tie)
Absolutely.
BILL
(Resisting)
Uh- can we at least go into-
ANNIE
What's wrong with right here?
BILL
The suit-
ANNIE
The hell with the suit.
(Pulling jacket off)
BILL
(Pushes her away)
What are you doing?
ANNIE
Raping you.
BILL
It's a thousand dollar suit!
ANNIE
And I'm a million dollar woman.
BILL
Be careful! I just got it back from the cleaners.
ANNIE
(Gets up)
Who cares about the suit?
BILL
What is wrong with you? Please, try to stay focused tonight, OK?
ANNIE
(Exuberant again. Very animated)
I want to celebrate! Let's go dancing!
BILL
Celebrate what?
ANNIE
Us! A family!
BILL
(Moves toward her)
You're right. The hell with the suit-
ANNIE
Back off, buster. I'm out of the mood now.
BILL
You can't back out now. I strung you along all this time just to fill your womb with my progeny. I'm building my immortal empire.
ANNIE
Well, your immortal empire is feeling a little restless right now.
BILL
What?
ANNIE
She's kicking around a little. She gets this way.
BILL
Is there something I should do?
ANNIE
No. She'll settle down. I just need to breathe a little.
BILL
We can celebrate after the dinner.
ANNIE
No I'll be fine in a second. Can we go dancing after dinner?
BILL
Absolutely.
ANNIE
All night long!
BILL
Well, I'm on call this weekend.
ANNIE
Just let them die! This is our life!
BILL
Besides, too much activity-
ANNIE
Oh, stop it. That's just an excuse so you can meet with your mistress-
BILL
Don't start that-
ANNIE
I mean your job, silly.
BILL
Honey, you know I can't just decide to-
ANNIE
Oh! Look!
(Gets the catalogue. Hands it to BILL)
BILL
You have been busy, haven't you?
ANNIE
See what I marked?
BILL
Wow. This is neat stuff. Expensive.
ANNIE
Nothing but the best.
BILL
You know what we can do. OK- yeah, see, they have a website. We can list all of these for the shower.
ANNIE
What do you mean?
BILL
So people can choose. You list the shower on the website and guests can choose from these items online.
ANNIE
But that's not- We don't need those.
BILL
I- Why did you mark them then?
ANNIE
Well, they're coming. I ordered them.
BILL
(Beat)
Which ones did you order?
ANNIE
All of them, Silly Bill.
BILL
All? But- There must be- There's thousands of dollars in stuff here!
ANNIE
Nothing but the best for Natasha.
BILL
You have to cancel the order.
ANNIE
You don't love your daughter? She's part of your immortal empire.
BILL
Love and bankruptcy aren't the same thing.
ANNIE
You want immortality on the cheap?
BILL
I'm serious!
ANNIE
You're scaring me.
BILL
I'm not doing anything!
ANNIE
You're still scaring me.
BILL
Stop changing the subject. What were you thinking? We can't afford all this.
ANNIE
Of course we can. You can afford thousand dollar suits.
BILL
That's different.
ANNIE
Sure. It's for you instead of our daughter.
BILL
That's not fair.
ANNIE
We can afford it if we want to. We want her to have everything don't we? We love her, right?
BILL
How do you know these clothes will fit? You have no idea how big she's going to be.
ANNIE
I just know. A mother knows, you know?
BILL
Well, what if they don't fit?
ANNIE
If you look closely, Mr. Silly Man, you will see that everything I bought is all size non-specificus.
BILL
That's not a word.
ANNIE
It is now. I just made it.
BILL
Non-specificus?
ANNIE
Sounds Latin, doesn't it? I thought you'd be impressed.
BILL
I am. Very impressive.
ANNIE
I'm a doctor's wife, you know.
BILL
I suppose we can see what this stuff looks like. If it doesn't fit we can always send it back.
ANNIE
Of course we can.
BILL
So I probably need to clean out the junk room.
ANNIE
I wondered when you were going to realize that.
BILL
Oh, now I understand. You only got pregnant so I'd clean out my junk room. You've played me like a fiddle- Mommy.
ANNIE
I certainly have, Daddy. Mister knife-wielding high-society hot shit.
BILL
Scalpel-wielding.
ANNIE
I'll bet.
BILL
(Pause)
I have some good news.
ANNIE
Well, don't keep me in suspense.
BILL
The Bordons want us to sit at their table.
ANNIE
You're kidding.
BILL
No. Really.
ANNIE
You didn't say yes, did you?
BILL
Of course I did. You know what this means?
ANNIE
You're going to sit there talking about dissecting people all night.
BILL
It's not like that.
ANNIE
We'll be sitting there eating Beef Wellington, snap peas with holandaise sauce-
BILL
They don't put holandaise sauce on snap peas.
ANNIE
Well, of course they do. Why wouldn't they?
BILL
I guess they could. I'm just saying that they don't.
ANNIE
Whatever sauce. No sauce at all. Just when I'm about to stuff a pea in my mouth your boss will start telling you how he carefully cut somebody open and peeled back this layer to reveal the sick little organ.
BILL
He doesn't talk about work at a function like this.
ANNIE
Of course. You all do. You know how hard it is to swallow my meat in the middle of all that?
BILL
I'll try to distract him. I'll get him to talk about-
ANNIE
The Red Wings.
BILL
He's doesn't follow hockey. No one does any more.
ANNIE
Thank God for that.
BILL
Anyway, you know what this means?
ANNIE
That I'll be stuck with his snobby society wife? That you'll all be wearing surgical masks at the table?
BILL
There's money behind those masks. I wear one, too.
ANNIE
You don't have to do that, you know. You don't have to wear it everywhere you go.
BILL
He's singled me out. This is- position night. If he wants me to sit with him, he thinks I'm a brilliant up-and-comer.
ANNIE
I don't like those people. I didn't like them when I first met them, and the more I get to know them the less I like them.
BILL
I know. I understand, but- look, I don't want to sound too Machiavellian about it, but we need to impress them. At least try and be nice to them, OK?
ANNIE
OK, but I'm not required to like them, am I?
BILL
You could pretend, couldn't you? He's my boss, for God sakes.
ANNIE
Well, I don't like your boss, or his sweet little wife. Hormone-replacement Barbie.
BILL
(Laughs)
Cute. But I really think she's trying to help me advance my career.
ANNIE
She's a lunch lady. She builds her whole life around lunch with the other ladies. What does she know about living?
BILL
Don't be so hard on Stephanie. She's only-
ANNIE
Oh, Stephanie now?
BILL
She's kind of sad, really. She just wants you to respect her.
ANNIE
She wants me to worship her. Well, I'll let you do the groveling, if it's all the same to you.
BILL
If that's what it take to get the position, then I'll grovel. This is our chance to have what we've always deserved.
ANNIE
So you going to make a coup? Take over the department while everyone's looking?
BILL
It's about time, isn't it?
ANNIE
I don't see why you're in such a big hurry. Why not take some time to think about-
BILL
Aren't you tired of waiting, too? How long have we been talking about this? It's finally here. We're on the way.
ANNIE
To where?
BILL
Dreamland. Everything we've worked for. Come on. We need to get ready.
ANNIE
No. Wait. Something's wrong.
BILL
I know it takes getting used to, but it will be great. You'll see.
ANNIE
(Feeling her belly)
No. I mean- her. Something's wrong.
BILL
Wrong? What do you mean?
ANNIE
She's.
(Beat)
She's screaming. She's- I need to go to the hospital.
BILL
Are you sure?
ANNIE
Now! I need to go now!

[end of extract]

Price $7.99 Add to cart