Masterful Game

Carla: Thank you for that, Samuel.

Samuel: Listen, honey, this is the way of the world.

Carla: The way of the world? What does that mean?

Samuel: What it means, dear one, is that we have went as far as we can go with this situation. Do you see any point in continuing what we have endeavored to do for so long?

Carla: I assume you're attempting to speak around this issue as much as possible. I don't appreciate that.

Samuel: I am not.... and, I mean this, in my own inimitable way, speaking around any imagined issue you may personally be dreaming up.

Carla: A little fancy and free, are we, Sam? I am not, perhaps, the wisest woman under the sun, but I have had my share of life experiences. I have had the highs and the lows and the moans and the groans, the lifelessness. Have I dreamt of such things as suicide and apocalyptic sights and symbols and forthcomings? Of course. Haven't we all? This world is often such a place..

(Doorbell.)

Samuel: Hold that thought. An interruption has occurred. I promise you though as soon as I am through not allowing this visitor into our home, we shall continue this conversation in a way you will inevitably not approve of. But, since you're dissatisfied in general, that is of no importance, and is, most certainly, no surprise.

Carla: Why must you answer the door? I am speaking. Have you not been listening? Are you....

(Doorbell.)

Samuel: There it is. Do you hear? Someone must be there. You may answer if you wish. Who knows? It might be an old friend of yours. It could be one of our neighbors, whom we never speak to. Or it could be a stranger. Or, perhaps, one of our parents. Who might it be?

Carla: Let us answer together.

Samuel: Well, if you insist.

(They head towards the door.)

Samuel: You know, it must be done. There must be no more lollygagging. We must nip this in the bud. We must not falter or sit on our behinds a second more, but, what am I saying? I am prattling on and on as we....

(They are, by this point, standing idly at the door, still not allowing entrance to the ringer of the bell.)

Carla: Shall we admit them? Or shall we turn back and return to the conversation we're avoiding to have?

Samuel: We shall..... Would you rather I open the door or....

Carla: Let me look through the peephole, and see who it is.

Samuel: That is a lovely idea, my dearest, but we haven't a peephole.

Carla: You're insane. We do, indeed, have one.

(Goes to look out, and discovers..... there is no peephole.)

Carla: Oh. You are correct. That's new.

Samuel: Well....

Carla: I'll open

Samuel: Swell. And I shall close

Carla: No, I also will close, or, perhaps, he or she will close.

Samuel: We are the hosts. We must close.

Carla: No, being the hosts isn't what it used to be.

Samuel: Don't be a buffoon.

(From outside)

Howie: I can hear your damn inane arguing, just answer the damn door or I swear.....

(They both instantly answer the door. Howie walks in.)

Howie: I tell ya, the world ain't what it used to be. I am so beat. I have been on the road all day. It's tough out there. It's a rumble. It's a rat race. My friends, I am down for the count. I am Ko'ed. I am gonna be selling the farm soon. I just wish I knew where to go. I don't have an idea where to go or what to do. I tell ya, this country.... this country has went to the dogs. I am so alone, man. What are your names?

Carla: I am Carla.

Sam: I am Sam

Howie: Aghh, what good are names anyway? They're just a collection of letters. I mean, who cares? You seem like nice folks though. Although that whole argument about the peepholes, and who should answer the door, and then earlier I overheard you two loons talking about something insanelly cryptic. I mean, who talks that way? Could you imagine your dialogue in a play? Who would write that? Some Pinter or Ionesco wannabe? You guys know who those two dolts were?

Sam: I am more of a Sartre man myself.

Howie: You kidding me, pal? Sartre, was he that fool who wrote about "Hell being other people" I mean, how hard was that to figure out. I came out of the womb, knowing that all people would ever do is leave you with loneliness, despair, misery and hurt and sorrow and anguish and lovelessness and lovelornless. I have been over the entire globe. Well, at least two or three cities. I mean, you know, I haven't exactly had all that much time or opportunity.

Carla: What have you been doing?

Howie: Oh, you know, working..... reading..... playacting..... avoiding intimacy.... I have this silly fear of rejection, which, as you know, is ridiculous since that's all life is! I tell ya... I just want....

Samuel: Well, ummm, do you have a name?

Howie: I'm Howie, jackass. I already told you that.... Does anyone

Samuel: You never

Carla: Nice to meet you, Howie...

Samuel: Yes, I suppose you did. What's the use?

Howie: So, how long you folks been getting it on?

Samuel: I assure you we don't answer questions directly. We prefer to be as vague as possible.

Howie: I hear ya. When my wife died. Let me tell ya, that was a b***h. I didn't love the woman, no. I didn't shed one damn tear about her. She was just gone. Got the cancer, ya know, I forget what kind. I prefer to forget because at the end of it all, it doesn't much matter, ya know? She struggled and suffered with it for months and months, it's possible it was even for years and years. We had some kids...

Carla: We have a child

Howie: Yeah, well, I don't have much use for my kids. They're gone. I haven't seen them in a long time. Anyway, I was discussing the old lady, right? Well,

Samuel: I was married to a woman before I married Carla. We had three daughters. One of which lived. The younger two both drowned. It was a rough go of. I didn't weep either about the loss of my babies. They were three at the time. I was in the boat with them when they fell in, I jumped in after them, but I couldn't rescue them. It was heartbreaking, but I found myself very numb and I felt totally gone and.... there was nothing to explain. I began to doubt many things. I wanted to knock everyone out. I wanted to kill. I wanted to become savage and make everyone as miserable as I was, but how can you do that? And how would you go about doing it? And what good would it do? I found myself in a lonmg-lasting funk. I walked around, without feeling, without being, without...... I was... totally and utterly and wholly and totally and utterly and wholly.... I wanted to be gone forever. I wanted to erase myself from the book of life. I diodn't want to be a part of all this.... of this..... would you refer to it as a decrepitude or...

Carla: Samuel, what happened was most unfortunate, but what good is focusing on the distant past?

Samuel: I suppose you're right. Put it in a box, and be sure to never open the box again. Lose it, by all means. Forget about your loves.

Howie: Yeah, that's a touching story. I wish I could lose my kids, but they refuse to die. Don't worry, I never tried killing them, but who doesn't?" We all consider it. Yeah, your situation sucked, Sammy boy, but that's the cycle of life. We're put here to suffer and let me tell ya I have suffered. Just today I found myself at the grocery store I reached for the last package of Twinkies and this fat b***h....

Carla: As I said, we have a child

Howie: Hey, I am suffering here...

Carla: I know, Howard

Howie: Howie.... Get it right

Carla: Yes, Howie. Our child is.... She is not... She is....

Samuel: She's elsewhere. This is the daughter Carla and I have together. My surviving daughter from my previous marriage

Howie: Hey, what happened to your first old lady anyway?

Carl;a: A suicide, of course

Howie: Oh, yeah, let me tell ya something about suicide.... I think about it....

Carla: Our story, first...

Howie: Hey, what aboutr my twinkie story....

Carla: Focus, Howie

Howie: Fine

Carla: The daughter we have together.....

Samuel: The surving daughter from my first wife is around, but she wants nothing to do with me. She thinks I failed her by allowing her younger sisters to drown. I did no such thing, of course, but....

Howie: Yeah, man, that's a b***h.

Carla: Anyway, our daughter is in a home. She is.... She's....

Samuel: Terminal, to say the least.

carla: Yes..... Samuel wishes to.... Certain things have come to light which.... make it apparent that we must... make certain, life-changing choices which could, without a shadow of a doubt, become most....

Howie: Yeah, I hear ya, so my Twinkie story....

Samuel: Needless to say, it's.... I've lost two, well, three, but, as hard and as painful and as....

Carla: Sam, how about you just.... You know I can't have any more, I... just... want

Samuel: Want? This has become a.... Life is.... Want? You want... you're sitting here... you're... you're.... you want... you expect that somehow we get what we want... it's.. it's..

Howie: Yeah, I wanted those twinkies and this fat b***h had the gall...

Carla: But, Samuel, I know it sounds selfish and delusional and I'm possessing unrealistic expectations, and I'm making demands that can never, ever be... I don't know, it's just

Samuel: Don't sit here and talk about want. Think about what... it's just,.... you're... it's not... this is unfeasible and hurtful and where's the love, where's the devotuion..... I know it's threre, but, don't you think this.... do you think I want her to... to,..... I don't wanna cut it... I don't want it to be over or to expirte.... I love her and want her as I wanted the others, but sometimes, things just... they go awry

Howie: Yeah, like the twinkies.... i mean, this fat b***h, and i'm talkking....

Carla: (The tears have begun, they may or may never cease.) Do you..... but it's just...

Samuel: This is why... we do not discuss... why we do not... why we talk around, as you say, as you infer, these are things that should not be spoken.... these are things that are unfair but they are, and, they will... they willl... who0 am i, who are you, who are any of us.... we try to live these lives... we try to be free of regrets and we want love and we want justice and we want devotion and adorataion, we want the happy family, we want the cars, we want shelter, and yet, certain times, things come to pass, things come to be, and where are we? we're like howie in the twinkie aisle it's....

Howie: It's the snack aisle! The twinkie aisle! A whole aisle dedicated to twinkies! This was at Walmart! Not Twinkiemart! Do ya honestly think, had this been a total aisle composed merely of twinkies I would have had to reach for the last opne? How fat and pathetioc do you find this country to be? I'mj, ya know, I've been on the road, and I've driven pass house after house, but none of them spoke to me, so I come in here and you give me some spiel about all these lost daughters... and now this soon to be lost one, and ya want what? sympathy? pity? compassion? understanding? what is it? there's nothing to want anymore. you've been through it all, seen it all, we all have. it's hard enough just to live. let's not f**k around with prospering or happy endings, or..... Come on, folks, life's f*****g pain. I'm out. I feel for ya, but there's nothing anyone can do for any of us, we're on our own. I thought this was gonna be the palce I was meanty for, but this place.,.. you folks are shut up and alien and gone, just gone, ya gotta just live, you can't worry about the wants and mighta beens. See ya.

(He leaves.)

Samuel: Was that sense?

Carla: What are we...

Samuel: We haven't visited in months. Let's see her tomorrow. Let us compose ourselves and..... we must... we shall.... we're gonig to have to find something... figure out something that will..... we can't pray about it, we just have to..... We have to do something that..... we have to talk.... we have to...

Carla: You love me, don't you?

Samuel: Of course

Carla: Finally a direct answer. An actual piece of communication. No more doubts, throw away the fears...

Samuel: It's not that easy... it's so much more

Carla: Shhh.. Kiss me.

(They kiss.)

(An actual moment is shared. Smiles are exchanged.)

Samuel: When will things be...

Carla: I don;t know, you don't know, no one knows, this is.... it's an... I don't wanna lose her, you don't...

Samuel: Yeah, it's hard. It's.... Why can;t....

Carla: Tomorrow....

Samuel: We have so much thinking and....

(Howie re-enters, doesn't bother knocking)

Howie: So, I mighta been a little hard there. As I said, things have happened with me. The twinkies, yeah, okay, that sucked and all, but, there are...

(Samuel embraces Howie.)

Howie: What...? (Hugs back.)

(Four girls enter.)

Four girls in unison: Hello, Mom and Dad...

Samuel: Hello, girls.

Carla: Girls....

Howie: Oh, hey, girls, who are..... (Realization) Wait..... (Notices who they look like.) Wait....... there's no.....

Samuel: It was.... an inner torment, an inner

Carla: it was....

Howie: So,

(The girls have taken their seats on the couch. Most likely, they have no ideas about these stories that are told about them.)

Howie: This is a game... of...