THE ASSOCIATE

Jill Cromwell

1500 Peachtree St Jackson MS, 39202 (919) 559-4846

ACT ONE, SCENE ONE (Open on a small office building. There is one desk center-stage, backed by a cubicle wall. There are the backs of two cubicle walls to either side of the desk. A man, DAVE TATE, sits at the desk; he is in his late twenties and wears a dress shirt and tie. He well kempt, but has a slight sense of disshelvedness to his style. DAVEs desk is littered with paper strewn at random. He has a desktop computer on one side, and a printer on the other. There are a few sports related knick-knacks on the desk as well.) (There is the sound of a bustling office, phones, copy machines, light chatter, etc., plays in the background.) (DAVE works, he looks busy, but not frantic. He fills out a form, occasionally chewing the end of his pen, contemplating.) (DAVE finishes the form.) DAVE (Sigh) (DAVE compares his finished form to one of the papers from his desk. He carefully checks one against the other, until he finds an error in his own form.) DAVE (CONTD) Damn. (DAVE crumples his paper into a wad. GARY, DAVEs co-worker, enters SL with a folder, which he is reading. He is a middle-aged man with thinning hair, but he is in decent shape. He crosses toward the cubicle SR of DAVE.)

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(DAVE takes the wad of paper and cocks his arm.) DAVE (CONTD) Hey, Gary, go long. (DAVE chucks the wad at GARY. GARY catches the wad and dramatically dunks it into a trash can beside DAVEs desk.) GARY Its good! The crowds going wild! (GARY raises his arms in victory and slowly pumps his fists while making a mock stadiumcheering sound.) GARY (CONTD) And, oh my god, theres women everywhere! (GARY makes the noise again and slowly flexes, winking to the invisible women.) (DAVE shakes his head, but smiles. He picks up another form.) DAVE M ake sure theyre legal. (GARY grabs one of DAVEs arms and raises it up in the air with his own.) GARY (Speaking to the invisible stadium) M y friend is married and lame! (DAVE tries to write despite the jostling.) DAVE My friend suffers from male pattern baldness.

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(GARY drops DAVEs arm and punches him good-naturedly. He laughs.) (GARY looks down into the trash can.) GARY Was that the M ercer form? (DAVE keeps writing.) DAVE Yup. (GARY nods and starts backing toward his cubicle.) GARY (grunts) Good luck. That little turd cost me two weekends of overtime. (DAVE looks up and shoots an are you serious look to GARY.) (GARY turns and exits into his cubicle.) (DAVE returns to his form, but after a moment of perplexion, tosses his pen on top of the form.) DAVE (Sigh) (DAVEs phone rings.) (DAVE picks it up on the second ring.) DAVE (CONTD) Hello, David Tate speaking... Oh, hey honey... No, no, Im not busy; whats up? ...Umhmm.

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(A beat. DAVE frowns and reclines in his chair. He pokes at a bobble head on his desk.) DAVE (CONTD) No- yeah, I thought we agreed we werent going to put her in private school this year. (A beat.) DAVE (CONTD) Yeah... Yeah, ok. Whatever makes sense to you dear. (Enter TIFFANY from the cubicle SL to DAVE. She is an attractive woman in her mid-twenties. She holds a folder. She walks just to the side of DAVEs desk, silently bidding for is attention.) (DAVE notices her after a beat, and sits up straight, in fear of disapproval; he obviously is not supposed to be on the phone. TIFFANY smiles and shakes her head, spreading her hands in a sign of truce.) DAVE (CONTD) No, honey, really, whatever you decide is fine. (TIFFANY holds out a folder to DAVE.) TIFFANY (Stage Whisper) M ercer. (DAVE frowns and leans in closer to TIFFANY shaking his head. He rests the receiver against his shoulder, away from his ear.) (TIFFANY also leans into DAVE, resting her hand on his desk; she is hovering a little closer than would be normal. She holds his eyes.)

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TIFFANY (CONTD) (Softly) Its the M ercer file. (DAVEs eyes grow.) DAVE (Stage whisper) Oh my god, really? (TIFFANY smiles and nods, she doesnt pull back, but holds up the folder. DAVE takes it.) (DAVE puts the phone back to his ear.) DAVE (CONTD) Yes, dear. (TIFFANY stands and turns to go.) (DAVE covers the receiver with his hand.) DAVE (CONTD) (Stage Whispered) Hey, hey! (TIFFANY turns back around.) DAVE (CONTD) (Stage whipser) Thanks. (She smiles and puts her finger to her lips. SHe winks. TIFFANY walk back to her cubicle, DAVE watching her.) (A beat.) DAVE (CONTD) Sorry, honey what were you saying?... Ok. Yeah, well I should probably get back to work... What? Oh, ok, yeah, go ahead and put her on.

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(DAVE leans forward on his desk, his face stretching into a big smile.) DAVE (CONTD) Hi sweetie, how is my big girl? ...Oh, ok. Yes, dogs are brown sometimes. No, we cant get you a doggie... Because the president likes my money even more than I do... No, nevermind Sweetheart... What?.. Oh no, babydoll, daddys in the office right now. I cant... No, I know its your favorite, but-.... Sweetie.. No... sweetie... (Sigh) Ok. (DAVES covers the receiver and checks all around him. He scans the halls, and then hunkers down a little, resigning himself.) DAVE (CONTD) (Sung, softly) The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, round and round. The wheels on the bus go round and round, all through the town (Enter DAVEs boss, a severe looking man in his late forties. He enters from OSR and walks up behind the oblivious DAVE.) DAVE (CONTD) The wipers on the bus(DAVE notices BOSS.) DAVE (CONTD) (Without pause, quickly) Well, you make a compelling argument, but Im afraid we cant accept at this time. (DAVE hangs up.) (A beat.) BOSS Interesting conversation. DAVE Yeah, yeah... You know, the boys over at Hasbro.

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(DAVE makes an eek face.) (BOSS is not impressed.) BOSS Do you have the M ercer file done. (DAVE freezes for a second, then stutters.) DAVE Uh, yes, yes I do, one second. (DAVE grabs TIFFANYs folder and holds it out.) (BOSS takes it and thumbs through it. He frowns, but is not angry.) (BOSS nods.) BOSS Not bad, seems to be decent. (BOSS plucks out a sticky-note and reads it.) BOSS (CONTD) Whos Tiffany and why am I supposed to call her? (DAVE snatches the note away.) DAVE Oh, thats nothing, uh, sticky-note to myself. I need to remember to call my wife. BOSS I thought your wifes name was M iranda. (A beat.) DAVE (Figuring it out as he goes along) It is. I mean I need to call Tiffany for my wife. Shes her... hair.. Person. But I already did that, so....

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(DAVE throws the sticky note away.) (BOSS shoots an are you kidding look.) (DAVE nods.) (BOSS shakes his head.) BOSS Get back to work Tate. (BOSS turns on his heel and exits SR.) DAVE (Calling out to BOSS) Right away. (DAVE gets back to the papers on his desk, arranging them. He pauses for a moment, and looks down into his trash can. He reaches in, and pulls out the note. He reads it, and smiles to himself. He checks around him and then tucks the note away into his desk drawer.) (Fade to black.)