PARENTHOOD.pdf

7/29/2019 PARENTHOOD.pdf

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PARENTHOOD

Zachary Dansie

Zachary Dansie

(801) 750-2565Herriman High School


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Cast of Characters

EMMA BUNDREN: a seventeen year old girl

CECELIA BUNDREN: Emmas pregnant twenty-fiveyear old sister

Scene

The living room of the Bundren family home


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SCENE ONE

(The curtains open. The cheap lights illuminate aliving room furnished fashionably a decade ago; it

has fallen from favor and care as of late. EMMA,dressed in no makeup and clothes she would neverwear in public on any other day, enters from aswinging door on right, talking on her cellphone.)

EMMA-at any moment. Yeah, but shes about to pop any daynow, shes not going to rush. I think her husband hadto take the car, and she didnt want him to suspectanything. My dad? Oh, are you kidding, he wouldprobably crap a baseball bat if I told him. Yeah- ohmy god, hes calling, Ill talk to you in a sec.

(changes calls)Hello? What is it? Theres no threes? Okay why areyou telling me, just get three of the skinny ones, hecan count. Yeah, they melt all over the cake becauseyou dont put them in the freezer first. Dad, hestwo-hes three, hes not going to care. Uh, Imleaving right now actually. The project is duetomorrow, my group has to get it done tonight. Im notgoing to miss anything, Ill probably be back beforeyou are. Dont-Dad. Dad. Dad. Im hanging upnow. Dad. Okay I love you see you in two hoursbye-love-you.

(She hangs up and quietly curses. She

moves backwards to sit on the couch,inserting her phone in a pocket, butstops when she catches her eye onsomething near the empty, ashenfireplace next to the right door. Shewalks to it, and looks at a few of thepictures framed at the top. One of themis an old family photo, set in the same,yet better-looking living room: EMMAsits at her fathers feet, which arenext to those of of the pregnant Bundrenmother, and CECELIA stands behind theparents, grinning spectacularly. EMMAthen peers at the adjacent picture. Itis a black and white portrait of hergaunt mother smiling awkwardly butfamiliarly. She looks for a longtime. A mail slot on a large door onthe left opens. A newspaper under acouple of envelopes comes through, andplops to the ground. EMMA manages to


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break her glance at her mother as shewalks to the door. She picks everythingup, and inspects the letters, one byone. After passing one or two, sherecognizes the calligraphic chickenscratch that resembles her name on one

of the envelopes. She turns it overquickly, as if to begin opening it, butshe stops herself, and turns it backover, to regard the envelope as awhole. When her curiosity fades, shecomes upon the next envelope, which isexactly the same as the one addressed toher. Finally, she registers something,and drops all of the other mail onto theground. She walks slowly to the couch,regarding the two letters almostanxiously. She reaches the couch, sitsdown on it without looking, and

hesitantly opens one of the envelopes.Upon wrenching out a medium-sized cardwith flowery-imprinted borders, herinquisitive, neutral expression crumblesto a look of melancholy anddisbelief. Moments later, gorgeous,brimming-with-pregnancy, CECELIA hobblesthrough the left unlocked door.)

CECELIAOh, god, Im late, Im so sorry-

EMMA

Its fine.

CECELIAIf youre late because of me-

EMMANo, you really are fine.

CECELIA(beat)

Oh. Did you, are you not-

EMMANo. Were still going.

CECELIAOh. Well, I got a bus ticket for you.

EMMAThanks.


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CECELIAWhats it called? The...clinic?

EMMAThe double u-

CECELIA-arr pee?

(beat)Weird.

EMMAWhy is that weird?

CECELIAI dont know. Womens reproduction, and youre-

EMMASeventeen.

CECELIANo, I mean-

EMMASo when am I old enough to be a woman?

CECELIAYou know what I meant. Is he coming?

EMMAHe?

CECELIA(moment of candid thought)

Never mind.

EMMAYou mean the special someone?

CECELIAWe dont have time to worry about him, we need to go.

EMMAHe doesnt...know.

CECELIAWhat?

EMMAI didnt-he probably wouldnt take it that well.


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CECELIAHe wouldnt-? Whatever. Lets go. Tell me everythingon the way.

EMMAWhy did you send two?

CECELIA(beat)

What?

EMMAWhy did-why did you even send one?

CECELIAWhat are you talking about?

EMMAThe invitation, the baby shower.

CECELIAIm not, my friend is sending them out.

EMMAIs she stupid?

CECELIAWhat? No, shes not-

EMMAShe sent one to the younger sister and the deceasedmom.

CECELIAYoure kidding.

(EMMA shows her sister the twoenvelopes. CECELIA examines them,growing an embarrassed grimace.)

Oh my god, I just gave her my Facebook password. Andhow is Mom even still on there?

EMMA(pretending to disregard the subtlywounding last part)

Did we talk about anything on there?

CECELIAI dont, I dont think so.

EMMADid you tell anyone?


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CECELIAI didnt tell anyone, dont be so paranoid.

EMMAIm not, I just dont want people thinking Im doingthings when Im not.

CECELIA(beat)

Are you having second thoughts?

EMMANo.

CECELIAOkay. Fine. We need to go.

(She walks out the left door. EMMAlooks towards the fire place. She picksup the two baby shower invitations, and

carries them with her as she follows hersister. The lights dim with hermovements, reaching darkness just as shehas closed the door behind herself.)


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SCENE TWO(EMMA enters through the right door,holding a thick paper binder. Shepushes the door on the hinge, butdoesnt quite close it, before laying onthe couch, sighing in

exhaustion. Seconds later, CECELIAenters through the un-closed door, whichshe closes and locks while concernedlywatching EMMA.)

CECELIAIm so proud of you, Em. Theres some water bottles inthe fridge, do you want me to get you one?

EMMAWhat?

CECELIA

I got the followup scheduled on Saturday.

EMMAFollowup?

CECELIAYeah. Just to...make sure youre okay.

EMMA(almost interrogatively)

Why would you be proud of me?

CECELIA

Well, you went through that really well.

EMMAI have a headache.

CECELIAI got an Emergen-C packet for you, Ill fix it up.

(She exits into the left door. EMMAturns her face to the couch, so thatonly the back of her head is visible.)

EMMA(muffled)

Why are you still here?

CECELIA (O.S.)What?

(She enters, holding a cup full oforange water, which she offers to EMMA,who turns to fix a stare at her sister.)


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EMMAYou dont have to be here anymore.

CECELIAIm...Im just helping. And Dad told me to stay forthe little mans birthday cake.

EMMAHow do you know all this crap? Did you, did you readmy aftercare paper or something?

CECELIAIm just trying to take care of you.

EMMAOuch, Im cramping.

CECELIAAre you okay?

EMMA(staring at the orange water)

I feel sick. Dont feed me anything.

CECELIADo you, do you want anything? TV?

EMMA(quietly)

Why did I not know?

CECELIAWhat?

EMMAMom, why did I not know all this stuff?

(She ponders for a moment, then has asort of sudden revelatory moment.)

You knew.

CECELIAI- I knew what?

EMMAOh my god. You knew.

CECELIAWhat did I know?

EMMAI always thought about what would happen if she evergot pregnant again, I always had moments when I knewshe had a baby, but I never considered what she woulddo.


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CECELIAWhat are you talking about?

(EMMA realizes she has the paper binderin her hands, which she violently throwsright at her sister. CECELIA cries outas she dodges it (the orange waterspilling all over the place in the

process), but dozens of papers sailthrough the air and land in clumps onthe ground.)

What the hell is wrong with you? Why would you dothat?

(She dips down to pick up some of thesheets. She has a smallish pile whenshe comes across a certain sheet thatmakes her freeze.)

Where did you get this?(She holds up a doctors document whichhas a large picture of their mother inthe corner, a mirror image of EMMA.)

EMMAThey messed up. They gave it to me.

CECELIAWho gave you this?

EMMAThe, the office people, the secretaries, whatevertheyre called.

CECELIAWhy did you take these? Theyre not yours.

EMMAThen whose are they? She doesnt need them.

(beat)To think, what would have happened if they didntconfuse it. I would have no idea.

CECELIAThese arent your business!

EMMAThey gave it to me. I dont blame them, we look the

same.

CECELIAWhy did you not give them back?

EMMAI was surprised! Dont tell me you wouldnt be mindblown if the local abortion clinic had a novel aboutyour moms frequent visits.


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CECELIADont say that.

EMMAOh, you wouldnt understand, youre probably one of thesupporting characters. And Im not even included until

now.

CECELIADo you-do you know what youre saying?

EMMAJeez. I mean, you would have thought that using acondom would be more better for someone with bloodpressure issues than killing a fetus every nine months.

(CECELIA slaps her. Hard.)

CECELIADont you dare. Dont you dare.

EMMAJesus Ceci, lighten up.

CECELIAThats not funny.

EMMAWhy didnt you tell me?

CECELIAThats not my decision. It never was.

EMMASo it doesnt matter if the little sister ever findsout why her mom abruptly gets skinny every so oftenafter "gaining weight".

CECELIAI dont have to tell you what was wrong with her.

EMMAI dont know, I guess I always thought preeclampsia orwhatever wasnt the only excuse for not having a kid.

CECELIASo when she had your little brother, she just happenedto have complications?

(She turns from her sister, flustered ather words.)

Youre making me upset.


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EMMAIm-Im making you upset? Ive been upset before youeven got here. You know whats upsetting? Thoseenvelopes you sent me!

CECELIA

(turns)I didnt send the baby shower invitations! If youdont want to go, no one is making you!

EMMAYou dont even get it! You dont even recognize them!

CECELIARecognize what?!

(EMMA angrily bursts from the couch tothe fireplace, where she struggles toopen the back of the portrait of theirmother. She finally peels it off, and

she reveals an envelope behind thepicture. She brings the envelope toCECELIA, and gives her the other two aswell. CECELIA takes them, inspectsthem, and realizes her mistake.)

How-how would I have known?

EMMADont tell me thats a coincidence.

CECELIAI didnt-I didnt send the funeral invitations either!

EMMAShe died three years ago, you can remember a littleboys birthday on the same day you cant recall whatyou did to commemorate your own mom.

(going back to the couch, away fromCECELIA)

Please just leave.

CECELIAGod, Im, Im sorry!

EMMAYou can take all the Plan Bs you bought for me too. Iam way too traumatized from this whole thing to everneed them ever again.

(CECELIA almost bursts into tears, but alook of alarm suddenly comes to herface. She clutches herself.)


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CECELIAOh-oh my god.

EMMAYou have no reason to be shocked by all of this.

CECELIA

(panicky)Em, Em, Im, Im sorry, Im-

(EMMA turns to look cynically at hersister, before recognizing the look onCECELIAs face. She rises.)

EMMAOh no, Im sorry I yelled at you-

CECELIAI, I think Im contracting.

EMMA

I shouldnt have made you feel bad. Im sorry, Ceci-

CECELIACall an ambulance!

(EMMA takes her phone out of her pocketand tremblingly dials something. As shewaits for an answer, she gently pushesCECELIA to sit on the couch.)

EMMAHello? My sister, shes about to have a kid.

CECELIA

It broke, it, the water-

EMMAHer water just broke. Oh god, youre kidding me,whats their number?

(She panickingly searches the livingroom for something to write with. Shefinds a pen under another chair, and shehurriedly scribbles numbers on her arm.)

Okay. Thank you. Yes, I-okay, Ill let her know yousaid that. Thank you, yeah, bye.

(She taps in a new number as fast as shecan as she talks to her sister.)

Im so sorry, I shouldnt have-

CECELIANo, Im sorry. I should have told you. I wouldnthave meant for you to find out like this.

(she gasps)Hurry!


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EMMAYeah, I-

(into phone)Hello? Yeah, Im at 78th Acorn, my- my sister is goinginto labor, her water just broke. Shes lying down onthe couch, right next to me, right now. Oh, good,

(to CECELIA)theyre just down the road

(back into phone)please hurry. Thank you, thank you thank you.

(hangs up)

CECELIAEm, she wanted them. She wanted more so bad.

EMMADont, dont strain yourself.

CECELIA

(between agitated breaths)I know that she had to have one more. I know it. AndIm-Im sorry I didnt ever tell you.

EMMA(hugs CECELIA)

I love you, thank you for helping me, Im the one whossorry.

CECELIANo, youre brave. I wouldnt-your mom isnt here, andI just have my husband, and you have to take care of alittle two- a little three year old, I wouldnt have

been able to do it. Youre so brave.

EMMAIm not. Im so dumb.

(beat)Youre the brave one. I made two stupid decisions, andyou made two good ones, you-

(a loud knock at the door)

CECELIAThats them. Im-Im going to miss my baby brothersbirthday cake.

(She begins to cry.)

EMMANo. You wont. Im going to call Dad, theyll bringit. Im going to call Dad, Im going to tell him, Imgoing to tell him everything.

(She looks at her sister, who contrivesa smile. They embrace. The left doorloudly opens, and the quickly dimming


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lights obscure the people entering theroom. Before anyone can reach thesisters, the stage is black.)

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