Episode 30

Life Goes On
PART 1

1 CASEY APARTMENT—LATE AFTERNOON

2 Sitting in the kitchen are Brendan, Anne, Rebecca, and Kevin. The apartment has been cleaned up.
3 Everyone is still in his or her funeral clothes. Anne and Brendan are looking at a family album.
4 Rebecca has two stacks of cards in front of her. One stack is sympathy cards. The other is blank thank-
you
5 notes. She is opening the sympathy cards and writing responses.
6 There is a knock at the door.
7 KEVIN I’ll get it.
8 Rebecca has opened a card from a friend of the family.
9 REBECCA ‘Dear Rebecca and Kevin. We are very sorry to hear of your father’s passing. If
10 there’s anything we can do, please let us know. We have made a donation to the
11 American Heart Association in memory of your father. You are in our prayers.
12 With warm wishes, the O’Neils.’
13 BRENDAN It’s probably better than sending flowers. A donation will do some good.
14 Rebecca puts this card in the pile of cards she’s responded to, and she writes a thank-you note. Kevin
returns
15 with a casserole dish in his hands.
16 KEVIN That was Mrs. Peterson. She dropped this casserole off for us.
17 REBECCA That was very nice of her. She’s always been a considerate neighbor. . . You
18 might as well put that in the fridge.
19 Kevin puts the dish into the refrigerator.
20 KEVIN I’m going to change.
21 REBECCA Kevin, do you want to look at some of these cards?
22 Kevin leaves the room without answering her.
23 ANNE I feel so sorry for Kevin. Is he always this quiet?
24 REBECCA No, he’s usually talkative, so enthusiastic...
25 BRENDAN He hardly knew his mother.. . and now his father’s gone. . . It’s hard to lose
26 both parents when you’re so young.
27 ANNEHow old is Kevin?
28 REBECCA Almost eighteen.
29 ANNEDoes he know what he’s gonna do?
30 Rebecca pauses.
31 REBECCA I don’t think he has a clue. He doesn’t like to plan very much.
32 ANNE Well, what about you? You’re going back to school, aren’t you?
33 REBECCA Well, I’d. . . like to, but I feel responsible for Kevin. I can’t leave him here
34 alone. . . and we have a lot of bills to pay. . . Oh, this note is from my
35 godmother. I was staying with her in San Francisco. I’ll have to let her know
36 soon whether or not I’ll be back.
37 BRENDAN Hon, we should talk about how we can help.
38 REBECCA Oh, you’ve already been helpful, Uncle Brendan.
39 BRENDAN I feel bad that Patrick and I didn’t come to a reconciliation sooner.
40 REBECCA It’s been so good to have you here. I don’t know how I would have gotten
41 through all of this without you.
42 ANNE(to Rebecca) Well, you must be exhausted. Now, is there anything else we can do
43 before we go back to the hotel?
44 REBECCA No, but thanks for asking.
45 ANNE Well, we’ll talk tomorrow.
46 BRENDAN I’ll call you in the morning.

PART 2

47 STREET MURAL—THE NEXT DAY, LATE AFTERNOON

48 Rebecca and Kevin walk through Central Square, past a large wall mural that shows different ethnic
people
49 from the area. They talk as they walk.
50 REBECCA This mural is new, isn’t it? Wow, this neighborhood sure is changing.
51 KEVIN Yeah...
52 REBECCA Key, you’ve been so quiet. Are you all right? You miss Dad, don’t you?
53 KEVIN I don’t know. It just doesn’t feel real, yet. It’s like. . . it’s like he just went away
54 for the weekend.
55 REBECCA Yeah… but he’s not coming back.
56 KEVIN No kidding. . . What would I do without a big sister to tell me everything?
57 REBECCA Sorry. (long pause) Have you thought about what you’re gonna do?
58 KEVIN (cutting in) Sure. First, I’m gonna become a millionaire… Then I’m getting...
59 REBECCA I’m serious. . . We both have to decide what we’re gonna do.
60 KEVIN You know what you’re gonna do. . . You’re going back to college in California...
61 Aren’t you?
62 REBECCA I’m not sure. I can’t leave you here alone.
63 KEVIN Here we go again. . . Big sister butts in. . . Why not? Remember, I’m almost eighteen. I have
a job, an apartment...
65 REBECCA Can you afford the rent on the apartment?
66 KEVIN (shrugs) I don’t know. . . How much is it?
67 Rebecca realizes that Kevin doesn’t understand much about money or paying bills.
68 KEVIN I’m hardworking. I’ll get a second job if I have to. You should go back to San
69 Francisco.
70 REBECCA I don’t know if I can right now.
71 KEVIN Why not? (pause) Because of me?
72 REBECCA Because of a lot of things…Dad said he wanted you to go to college… get a
73 degree.
74 KEVIN Maybe I don’t want to go to college. I just got out of school. Anyway, how can
75 we afford it?
76 REBECCA Kevin! You have to get an education so that you can make a living. Don’t let the
77 cost stop you. We’ll get you a student loan or financial aid, or something.
78 KEVIN Beck, go back to San Francisco. You don’t have to take care of me anymore. I’m
79 not a baby…and you’re not my mother.
80 REBECCA I know you’re not a baby, but you’re my brother. And you’re the only real family I
81 have right now. (pause) Could I persuade you to come back to San Francisco
82 with me?
83 KEVIN Get serious! Why the heck would I do that?
84 REBECCA I am serious! We both have to figure out what we’re gonna do. . . together...
85 and soon. . . Let’s get a pizza. . . We’ll take it home. We’ll write down all our
86 options and decide then. What do you say?
87 KEVIN I suppose so...

PART 3
88 CASEY APARTMENT—NIGHT
89 Rebecca and Kevin sit at the kitchen table going over a pile of bills.
90 KEVIN How much do the bills add up to?
91 REBECCA I don’t know yet. Not all the doctor and hospital bills are covered by the HMO...
92 And the funeral alone cost four thousand.
93 KEVIN It cost how much... ? Four thousand dollars?
94 Rebecca looks up.
95 REBECCA You know you’re supposed to get some money from Dad’s disability policy...
96 because you’re under eighteen.
97 KEVIN That’s good, but I won’t be seventeen for long. How much is in the savings
98 account?
99 She looks at a well-worn bank book.
100 REBECCA Not much.. . just a few hundred dollars.
101 KEVIN What about his insurance policy?
102 REBECCA What insurance?
103 KEVIN I don’t know. He used to talk about his insurance. I guess he had some
104 insurance policy.
105 REBECCA He never mentioned it to me. I don’t think he liked to talk about things like
106 that. Where would it be?
107 KEVIN In his room?

108 DAD’S ROOM

109 Rebecca and Kevin enter Dad’s bedroom. Rebecca looks around.
110 REBECCA It makes me sad to come in here.
111 Kevin turns on a light. Rebecca and Kevin open the drawers and look through them.
112 KEVIN These shirts must be twenty years old.
113 REBECCA Maybe that’s what he meant when he said ‘Waste not, want not’ . . . We could
114 give some things to the Salvation Army.
115 Kevin finds a box with a photo and miscellaneous papers in it.
116 KEVIN Look at this...
117 REBECCA Open it...
118 KEVIN Some papers. . . a photo.. . our cousins in Ireland. Someday I’d like to go to
119 Ireland.
120 REBECCA They look like you, don’t they? Everyone says I looked like Mom’s side of the
121 family.
122 We see a family photo.