Into the Dark

By Debbie Lamedman

Written for THE WALKING PLAYS, a new collection of short plays suitable for outdoor and
audio podcast performance.

Debbie Lamedman
503-781-1211
debbielamedman@gmail.com

©2021 by Debbie Lamedman All rights reserved

Characters

ELEANOR 30s-mid 40s, Caucasian female

MAN IN CAR 30s-mid 40s, Caucasian male

Time
Late January 2021, 1:00 AM

Place
A residential neighborhood in SE Portland, Oregon

Into the Dark 2

At Rise: Late January 2021. One o’clock in the morning. There is a soft drizzle coming down.
The streetlights reflect the wet streets and haze in the air.
ELEANOR is walking her dog, Maggie. She breathes methodically. Deliberately. Breathing in
and out letting big puffs of air out all at once.
A large SUV drives alongside of her. Slowly. It stops when she stops. It moves when she moves.
She does not outwardly give her attention to it, but she is nervous.

ELEANOR
(To the Dog)
C’mon girl. No more dilly-dallying, okay? Let’s go home. Let’s get warm.

ELEANOR & Maggie walk on.

SUV pulls up next to them. The passenger window rolls down. ELEANOR ignores it.

MAN IN CAR
Hey!

ELEANOR ignores him.

MAN IN CAR
Hey!

ELEANOR continues to ignore. Urges Maggie to walk a little faster. Car continues to drive
alongside them.

ELEANOR
Come on, girl. This way. Come on.

MAN IN CAR
Let me talk to you.

ELEANOR
Stop following us.

MAN IN CAR
I’m not following you. I’m going this way.

ELEANOR
Go faster, then.

MAN IN CAR
It’s raining. Let me take you home.

ELEANOR
We’re fine. Go away!

Into the Dark 3

 MAN IN CAR
It’s so late. Why are you out here so late?

ELEANOR ignores him.

MAN IN CAR
The dog is getting soaked. Nothing worse than smelling wet dog. (He laughs)

ELEANOR continues walking. MAN in CAR continues to drive alongside her.

MAN IN CAR
Aren’t you worried about walking alone at this hour?

(Pause)

ELEANOR
(She responds without looking at him.)
I’m not alone.

MAN IN CAR laughs.

MAN IN CAR
(Sarcastic)
Oh right. You have your big, furry, vicious dog to protect you.

ELEANOR ignores him.

MAN IN CAR
What will the dog do? Lick the mugger to death?

ELEANOR
You’d be surprised what she’s capable of.

MAN IN CAR
Mm hmm.

ELEANOR continues to walk, picking up the pace.

ELEANOR
Come on, girl. This way. Come on, Mags.

MAN IN CAR
This is getting ridiculous. Just let me give you a lift. It’s not safe walking at this hour.

ELEANOR
You would know.

Into the Dark 4

(Beat)

MAN IN CAR
El…

ELEANOR stops and looks at MAN IN CAR. MAN stops the car.

MAN IN CAR
Get in. Please?

ELEANOR
I’m not going anywhere with you. Leave me alone.

MAN IN CAR
I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.

ELEANOR
What exactly are you sorry for?

MAN IN CAR
I hurt you. I didn’t mean too.

ELEANOR
It doesn’t matter.

MAN IN CAR
Of course, it matters.

ELEANOR
You illuminated certain things. It’s better this way.

MAN IN CAR
I was going to explain everything to you, eventually. I didn’t want you to find out like this.

ELEANOR
Well, cat’s outta the bag, as they say.

MAN IN CAR
What can I do to make it right?

(Beat)

ELEANOR
You want to help me?

Into the Dark 5

 MAN IN CAR
Absolutely. What can I do?

ELEANOR
Stop following me! And go find someplace else to sleep tonight.

ELEANOR starts walking again. MAN continues to drive alongside her.

MAN IN CAR
Oh, come on! You can’t be that mad!

ELEANOR
Oh, I am that mad!

MAN IN CAR
Where am I supposed to go?

ELEANOR
That’s your problem.

MAN IN CAR
It doesn’t change anything, so what’s the point?

ELEANOR
It changes everything. Tomorrow, you can come and get your stuff. Your essentials. And then I
want you gone.

MAN IN CAR
Just like that.

ELEANOR
Oh, yeah.

MAN IN CAR
I think you’re being unreasonable.

ELEANOR
Am I?

MAN IN CAR
I didn’t mean what I said.

ELEANOR
And yet, you said it. The words are out there…I heard them…I can’t unhear them.

(Beat)

Into the Dark 6

 MAN IN CAR
El…you can’t throw me out of the house in the middle of a pandemic.

ELEANOR
(Scoffs)
So, now you’re worried about the pandemic? What a hypocrite!

MAN IN CAR
I’ve always been worried about it.

ELEANOR
Is that so?

MAN IN CAR
But you have to live your life!

ELEANOR
This is our life. This is everybody’s life. We all have to live with this. We can’t act like
everything is normal because it’s not.

MAN IN CAR
It’s just not as bad as you think. Out in the world, I mean.

ELEANOR
Are you kidding me? Do you watch the news? Do you actually realize what’s going on?

MAN IN CAR
Here we go…

ELEANOR
Thank God I never married you!

MAN IN CAR
You’re thanking God now? That’s a switch.

ELEANOR
I am stunned. Devastated. How could I have been living with you this entire time and not know
who you were?

MAN IN CAR
Because you’re selfish. Your needs were met and that’s all you cared about.

ELEANOR
You made me believe you were someone you’re not! You gaslighted me!

Into the Dark 7

 MAN IN CAR
I have no idea what that means.

ELEANOR
Of course, you don’t.

MAN IN CAR
You’re making this all about you! As usual. When, in fact, it has nothing to do with you. That is
precisely why I never talked to you about these things. I don’t need to get into a fight with you
over my thoughts. My values.

ELEANOR
What values?

MAN IN CAR
How dare you, Eleanor?! I am a good man! I care about my fellow man. I care about this country
and what happens to it. And we do not need to live like this—locked down, unable to express our
points of view, oppressed. Afraid of a little cold—

ELEANOR
If you think it’s so terrible living this way, I suggest you move someplace else. Someplace far,
far away.

MAN IN CAR
You would like that, wouldn’t you?

ELEANOR
I don’t know why I never saw it before. I can’t believe how blind I’ve been.

MAN IN CAR
That’s how exactly how I feel about this country! We’ve all been blindsided.

ELEANOR
I’m talking about you! I have no idea who you are. I am truly flabbergasted. And I feel ashamed
that all this time you represent the type of person I despise! Five years, and you were hiding in
plain sight and I just didn’t see it.

MAN IN CAR
Because you’re in love with me.

ELEANOR
Was I? Was I ever in love with you?

MAN IN CAR
You know you were. You needed me.

Into the Dark 8

 ELEANOR
Well, I don’t need you now. (as if in a daze) Come on, Maggie. Let’s go home.

MAN IN CAR steps out of the car and moves towards her.

MAN IN CAR
Eleanor …

ELEANOR
I swear if you take one more step towards me, I will scream bloody murder. I will scream and
scream and scream till I wake the entire neighborhood. And then I’ll call 911 if someone hasn’t
already.

MAN IN CAR
Ah yes…your precious police department, who will come running to aid the damsel in distress.
Fat chance.

ELEANOR
If they don’t come, it’s because they’re busy dealing with people like you. You and your ilk!

MAN IN CAR
My what?

ELEANOR
Don’t tell me … you don’t know what that means either.

MAN IN CAR
No, I don’t.

ELEANOR
You worthless, uneducated piece of shit! Get away from me.

MAN IN CAR
And you, the elitist princess who thinks black lives matter and still supports the police that kill
them.

ELEANOR
I will not have this conversation with you. I will not. It’s bad enough to find out who you really
are in the middle of the night; finding out who you align yourself with, and all the hateful things
you said earlier tonight, but I will not stand on the street passing insults back and forth. I really
have nothing left to say to you.

(Beat)

ELEANOR begins walking again. MAN IN CAR watches her for a moment, then starts to walk
toward her.

Into the Dark 9

 MAN IN CAR
(Calling to her)
When we first met, one of the things I asked you was if you loved this country.

ELEANOR pauses, but doesn’t turn around.

ELEANOR
And what did I say?

MAN IN CAR
You said yes. Of course. America is the greatest country in the world. That’s what you said.

ELEANOR
That was five and a half years ago.

MAN IN CAR
So?

ELEANOR turns to face MAN IN CAR.

ELEANOR
The country was different then. You were very different then.

MAN IN CAR
Not so different, El. You just believed what you wanted to believe. You wanted to believe I was
someone I’m not. And I let you. Because I love you. And you—you were desperate not to be
alone.

(Beat)

ELEANOR
So much has changed …

MAN IN CAR
For the better.

ELEANOR
Oh my God.

MAN IN CAR
Why can’t you see it? Things changed for the better, and now they’re getting bad again, because
you people are putting up such a stink.

ELEANOR
“You people?”

Into the Dark 10

 MAN IN CAR
You know what I mean.

ELEANOR
When did you change so dramatically? When did you actually drink the Kool-Aid?

MAN IN CAR
I woke up. Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do? (using finger quotes) Be “woke?”

ELEANOR
(Softly)
You said Hitler had the right idea.

MAN IN CAR
In many ways, I think he did.

ELEANOR begins to back away slowly. She is starting to get emotional.

ELEANOR
Extermination?

MAN IN CAR
It’s not horrific if you look at the whole picture, El.

MAN IN CAR begins to walk toward her.

MAN IN CAR
Come on, El. We can get passed this. Let me come home.

(Beat. They both seem to be frozen in space.)

ELEANOR
(Whispering)
I’m a Jew.

MAN IN CAR
(Scoffs)
Not a real one. You just say that because your parents were.

ELEANOR
That’s what you think?

MAN IN CAR
Yeah.

Into the Dark 11

 ELEANOR
I think I’m gonna be sick.

MAN IN CAR
Then let me take you back to the house. You don’t want to puke in the road, do you?

MAN IN CAR takes a few steps toward ELEANOR.

ELEANOR
NO! No! Stay back. I don’t want to be with you now. Or ever. Please. Get in your car and drive
away and do not go to the house. I don’t care where you go, but that is not your home anymore.

MAN IN CAR
I think you need a few days to think it over, and in the meanti—

ELEANOR
(Interrupting)
I do not need a few days! This is over. You’re leaving. We are done. You understand?

(Beat)

MAN IN CAR starts backing away from ELEANOR.

MAN IN CAR
(Quiet)
Yeah. Sure. I understand.

ELEANOR turns and hurriedly walks away with Maggie, the dog. She is visibly shaken and
crying.

As she exits, MAN IN CAR continues to watch her. He gets back into his car.

MAN IN CAR
I could just kill you for that, you stupid bitch. I could just kill you…

END OF PLAY

Into the Dark 12