New York

A Stage Play by krissyb

1950s Mississippi. Boy and girl in their early 20s. Big city boy, small town girl.

Int. scene - description

1950s, Mississippi. KATIE, in her early 20s, sits on a bench center stage. She is wearing a short, summer dress and is engrossed in a book. MIKE, also in his early 20s, enters, wearing a rumpled oxford with his sleeves rolled up and slacks - he has clearly been traveling all day. He carries a briefcase.

MIKE

Katie?

KATIE

(Turning around) Mike?

MIKE

Katie Chandler.

KATIE

(Standing) What are you doing down here?

MIKE

What do you mean?

KATE

I though you were a big, fancy, New York man now.

MIKE

(Laughing) I’m down here for a couple of weeks on vacation.

KATIE

Oh! If I’d known, I’d have done something.

MIKE

So, you really didn’t know?

KATIE

Nope.

MIKE 

So that’s why you’re hanging around my front porch?

KATIE

Your front porch! I’m hanging round my backyard.

MIKE

(Flirtatiously competitive and slowly inching towards KATIE) Are you now?

KATIE

(Mimicking his tone) I am.

MIKE

Is that so...

KATIE

It is.

They both laugh as MIKE is now nose-to-nose with KATIE.

MIKE

(Taking a few steps away and glancing at the bench KATIE is sitting on) We never did figure out who put this bench here.

KATIE

Well I certainly didn’t.

MIKE

It’s been here as long as I can remember. And you spent so much time out here I thought you’d have a full-blown garden by now.

KATIE

(Playfully) I don’t spend that much time out here... I just like the view.

MIKE

Like hell you do. (Leaning over KATIE’s shoulder and pointing offstage) You got a perfect view of my window from here.

KATIE

Huh. I suppose you do.

MIKE

What do you mean you suppose... you knew that.

KAITE 

(Looking up at MIKE) And how would I have known that?

MIKE

Cause you use to come over here in the evenings and sit and read, and we’d end up talking... me from my window, and you on this bench. (Beat.) Don’t you remember anything from when we were little, Ms. Chandler?

KATIE

That was a long while ago.

MIKE

Yeah, but you gotta remember.

KATIE

(Smiling) I do. (Pause.) Your mama wouldn’t let you go out after dinner.

MIKE

Yeah, she always made me stay inside and do my work. (He laughs) And you still turned out the smart one.

KATIE

What do you mean?

MIKE

Well I spent all that time working while you were out here reading, and you still graduated first in our class.

KATIE

Dumb luck.

MIKE

Then it was the smartest dumb luck I’ve ever seen. Face it Katie, you were just born smarter than the rest of us.

KATIE

Well I wouldn’t say that.

MIKE

I would. I just did. (Leaning over and saying it into her ear) It’s true. (He begins to wander off, getting lost in his own thoughts and taking in his “new” surroundings.)

KATIE

(Breaking the silence) So how’s fancy New York?

MIKE

Not all that fancy.

KATIE

Your fancy new clothes say something different.

MIKE

Oh, they’re just for work.

KATIE

Well if you’re dressing so nice, you must be working someplace fancy.

MIKE

Nah, it’s not all that.

KATIE

If you say so.

MIKE

What are you still doing around here, anyways?

KATIE

What do you mean?

MIKE

Why are you still hanging around this town?

KATIE

(Turning colder) Never saw a reason to leave I guess.

MIKE

 What do you mean you never saw a reason to leave? For a smart girl like you, there’s a thousand reasons. How about Harvard, Yale, hell, Oxford? Those seem like three damn good reasons to me.

KATIE

Where’s all this coming from?

MIKE

I don’t know, just seeing you out here, still sittin’ on this same bench...

KATIE

Well what of it?

MIKE

I guess I just saw somethin’ different... you know, more than this for you.

KATIE

What’s that supposed to mean?

MIKE

I just... I always saw you doing better than this.

KATIE

Better than this? Better than what?

MIKE

(Hesitating) Better than this bench, this same old bench. Better than this tiny town. Better than all of this.

KATIE

What do mean better? There’s nothing wrong with this.

MIKE

I know that, that’s not what I’m saying...

KATIE

Well then what are you saying?

MIKE 

I just... I always thought that you’d get out of here, and go on... you know, to do bigger and brighter things. Just, I don’t know, better.

KATIE

Excuse me I am fine with my choices.

MIKE

I didn’t mean that I-

KATIE 

What? What did you mean? (Beat.) Yeah, that’s exactly what you meant and we both know it.

MIKE

Look, Katie I’m sorry I just... I always thought you’d do better in life than I did, and here I am coming home from New York, and you’re still reading on the same bench you did 15 years ago. Even you gotta admit, you ain’t moving fast.

KATIE

I’m sorry, is there a problem with that?

MIKE

Well, didn’t you ever wanna be someplace other than here?

KATIE

 What the hell kinda question is that?

MIKE

 What do mean? That’s a straight-forward question, Katie. (Pause.) Didn’t you ever wanna just get out of this town? Come on Katie, you can tell me.

KATIE

Ok, fine. So what. Maybe I did. What does it matter?

MIKE

 Well it matters if you’re not happy, Katie. It matters if you’re not doing all that you wanna do. It matters if there’s some dream of yours you’re not following. Katie what is it? You can tell me (sits next to KATIE). You can tell me anything.

KATIE

I don’t know... I guess I did see myself doing something.

MIKE

So why don’t you get out there and do it?

KATIE

I just.... I can’t.

MIKE

Well why the hell not?

KATIE

I just can’t, ok?

MIKE

If you’ll just tell me why, I’ll leave you alone.

KATIE

It’s nothing.

MIKE

Oh, come on Katie, we both know that’s not the truth. Why didn’t you ever come up north? (Beat.) Didn’t your sister? Whatever happened to her?

KATIE

What?

MIKE

Your sister. Didn’t she go off to New York.

KATIE

I guess.

MIKE

Well, your smarter than she is, why didn’t you ever follow her?

KATIE

(Brushing him off) It’s a long story.

MIKE

(Sitting down on the bench) I got time.

KATIE

Oh sure, now all the fancy New York men have time for us southern girls.

MIKE

What are you talking about? (Beat.) Hey, if I hit a nerve I’m sorry, I didn’t mean anything by it, I was just wondering... (He starts to leave)

KATIE

No, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t’ve been so... I’m sorry... It’s just complicated.

MIKE

I’m not gonna push... but I’ll listen if you wanna talk about it.

KATIE

(Pause.) Yeah, she went up north.

MIKE

And...

KATIE

And we didn’t hear from her...

MIKE

Doesn’t sound like such a long story to me.

KATIE

(Continuing) For two years... Then one day, out of the blue, we get a letter from New York... from her.

MIKE

Two years?

KATIE

(She nods.) She said that she met some fancy New York guy and that they’re running away together. Yeah, running away... seemed to me like she already did that.

MIKE

So...

KATIE

So, they “ran away”. And we go another three months before we hear from her again. We were so happy just to be hearing from her. This time, she says she’s gonna have this New York’s guy’s baby. Mama just about died. First cause of the thought have having a grandchild, then cause she realized she probably wasn’t ever gonna see it. That really got her.

MIKE

So what did you do?

KATIE

Well, we went to write her back, but there wasn’t an address, so we just waited. We waited for another six months before we heard from her again. Part of me was excited for her having this baby, part of me was angry that she just ran away, party of me sad that I was never gonna meet it, and some other part of me half expected her to just show up one day on our front porch, baby in her arms. (Beat.) But that’s not what happened. Six months later we got a big fat envelope from this “husband” of hers. Divorce papers. You should’ve seen the look on mama’s face, I thought she was about ready to die, right there on the spot. This New York scumbag didn’t even have another address for her, so he had to go and look her home up and send it to her mama. (Answering the question she knows MIKE is going to ask,) So we hung on to them. We didn’t know what else to do. We didn’t know where to send them, or who to give them to... I think they’re still in mama’s drawer.

MIKE

Why’d you guys hang on to them?

KATIE

I don’t know. I guess we just didn’t know what else to do. I mean, we all hope she’s coming back, and she’ll probably want them when- if she does. (Beat.) But, you don’t care about all that.

MIKE

 Of course I do. Why wouldn’t I?

KATIE

I don’t know, I just figured you come back different from big, fancy New York. I hoped you didn’t, but a part of me was worried that you’d change up there, and come back like that scumbag.

MIKE

Now Katie, you know that’s not me.

KATIE

But, New York just seems like it changes people. I mean, look at you. You never would’ve dressed like that if you stayed here. You wouldn’t have gone around carrying that briefcase if you were working in town like me. If you hadn’t gotten that job in New York, it all would’ve been different.

MIKE

You know, Katie, there’s something about that that I should tell you.

KATIE

Well what is it?

MIKE

I didn’t get the job.

KATIE

(Standing) You what?

MIKE

I went up to New York, figuring I’d just get the job working at the law firm, but I didn’t. They said I was “under-qualified”.

KATIE

Oh.

MIKE

Yeah. So don’t painting me with that same “big fancy New York” brush, cause that ain’t me.

KATIE

I’m sorry Mike, if I’d know I never would’ve said all that stuff...

MIKE

It’s ok, Katie, you didn’t know, and I should’ve told you. (Beat.) Hey, you said you got a job in town, what are you doin’?

KATIE

Oh, I’m just writing for the local newspaper, nothing fancy.

MIKE 

At least you’re still writing.

KATIE

Yeah, I suppose so.

MIKE

Is that what you’d do in New York? Write? (Envisioning it in for her) Front page of the New York Times!

KATIE

Probably, but I told you, I’m not going to New York.

MIKE

Well, if that’s what you want, then why don’t you do it?

KATIE

 I already told you, I just, I couldn’t do that to mama... and why do you care so much about me joining you in big New York anyways?

MIKE

Well, I always figured that that’s how it would work out. You and me, together, wherever it was. It didn’t matter if it was New York or someplace else, I just always thought that you’d end up there, so that’s where I went.

KATIE

You went to New York for me?

MIKE

Well, I needed a job, but I hoped to God that you’d come too.

KATIE

Really?

MIKE 

Of course, Katie.

KATIE

 Mike, why didn’t you ever tell me that?

MIKE

Tell you what, that I’ve loved you since we were 13 years old? Hell, I didn’t even know what love was back then, but now, lookin’ back, I know that was love. It could’ve been anything else. Katie Chandler, I love you.

KATIE 

Oh my god, Mike, where’s this coming from?

MIKE 

What do you mean “where’s this coming from”? This is coming from this bench, when you would come here every night, and I wouldn’t get a lick a work done cause all I’d do is look out my window at the most beautiful girl in the world, reading right next to my porch. This is coming from every summer when you’d find some new guy, and all I’d do was try to prove to you that I was better than he was, so you’d finally see me as somethin’ more than just a neighbor and a friend. This is coming from the stacks of letters to you that I threw out in New York, cause I was too afraid to tell you the truth. And this is coming from the very bottom of my heart, because I love you, I truly do.

There is a long pause while the two exchange looks. MIKE’s expressions goes from hopeful to terrified as KATIE keeps silent. MIKE’s head falls and he stares at the ground, waiting for the silence to be broken.

KATIE

Mike? Don’t go back to New York, ok?

MIKE smiles and the two embrace. Blackout.