1151_ASC_Apart_COVER

APART
Anna Bennetts
 APART
© Anna Bennetts 2004

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 APART
By Anna Bennetts

JANE: A woman in her 20s-40s, dressed smartly in a conservative business suit

JESS: A woman in her 20s-40s dressed casually in bike gear
WAITER: Male or female

LIGHTS UP:

JANE SITS NERVOUSLY IN A CAFÉ WAITING FOR SOMEONE TO ARRIVE. SHE

RETRIEVES A HAIR-CLIP WHICH SPORTS A BLUE FLOWER FROM HER
POCKET WHICH SHE LOOKS AT, THINKS ABOUT PUTTING IN HER HAIR,
CHANGES HER MIND AND PUTS BACK IN HER POCKET.

JESS ENTERS CARRYING A BIKE HELMET AND APPROACHES JANE

JESS
Are you Jane?

JANE STANDS AND THEY SHAKE HANDS AND REGARD EACH OTHER

JANE
You must be Jess.

JESS
Yes

JANE
You’re not what I expected.

JESS
I thought your skin would be lighter.

JANE
I thought your hair would be lighter.

JESS
You said you’d wear a blue flower in your hair.

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 JANE RETRIEVES A BLUE FLOWER HAIR HAIR-CLIP FROM HER POCKET
AND PUTS IT ON THE TABLE

JANE
I was so nervous, I forgot to put it on.
(BEAT) So, you work in the city?

JESS
Yeah, I’m a courier.

JANE
On a push-bike?

JESS
Yeah.

JANE
That’s a really dangerous job. I’m a risk assessor – my company
doesn’t insure people like you.
(BEAT) Your email was so brief, I didn’t know what to expect.

JESS
I didn’t want to say too much till I met you.

PAUSE

JESS AND JANE

I come here for lunch all the time … Oh!

JANE
It’s a wonder I haven’t seen you.

JESS
You probably have but you can’t remember.

JANE
I never forget a face.

THE WAITER ARRIVES TO TAKE THEIR ORDER

WAITER
What can I get you?

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 JANE AND JESS
Soy flat white

JANE
Lactose …

JESS
…intolerant.

WAITER SCRIBBLES DOWN THE ORDER AND EXITS

PAUSE

JESS
So, are you married?

JANE
No…

JESS
Me neither.

JANE
Do you have a boyfriend?

JESS
Of sorts…

JANE
What does that mean?

JESS
Well, there’s this guy I work with…

JANE
Sounds interesting, tell me more…

JESS
It’s not serious

JANE
Why not?

JESS
He’s not big on commitment.

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 JANE
God, aren’t they pathetic!

JESS
Who?

JANE
Men.

JESS
No.

JANE
But doesn’t that hurt – you know, that he doesn’t want to commit
to you?

JESS
It’s not about me.

JANE
Well what’s it about then?

JESS
I don’t know, it could be about anything.
(BEAT) Who says I want commitment?

PAUSE

JANE
Have you always been a courier?

JESS
Nah, I used to drive trucks

JANE
What, big ones?

JESS
Ah, yeah…trucks usually are…

JANE
A truck driver, how… unique

JESS
Its a bit more interesting that sitting at a desk all day

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 JANE
You’ve done that as well have you?

JESS
Nah, I wouldn’t touch a desk job with a ten-foot pole

JANE (defensive)
I quite like my job and it pays well …

JESS
Well good for you

JANE
…and at least I don’t have to worry about getting hit by a car!

JESS
No, the only risk in your job would be dying of boredom!

JANE IS TAKEN ABACK.

JANE AND JESS

You’re quite rude!
(PAUSE) Well you started it!

THEY’RE BOTH SHOCKED.

JANE
I don’t see how…

ENTER THE WAITER BRINGS THEIR COFFEES ALONG WITH TWO

SERVIETTES.

WAITER
Here you go, ladies.

WAITER EXITS.
JESS TAKES A DRINK,
JANE PICKS UP HER SERVIETTE AND DABS THE SPILT COFFEE ON HER OWN
AND JESS’S SAUCER.

JESS
What are you doing?

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 JANE
It’ll spill on our clothes.

JESS
Okay.

PAUSE – JESS REGARDS JANE INTENTLY

JESS
You look a lot like a photo I have of Maureen.

JANE
Yeah, everyone says I’m the spitting image of her at my age.

JESS
What about now?

JANE
I hope not, she’ll be sixty soon… Hey you could come to her
sixtieth, I’m organizing a big party and-

JESS
No thanks.

JANE
Oh come on! She’s so excited I’m seeing you today, she really
wants to see you …

JESS
I told you I’m not going to see her.

JANE
But she’s-

JESS
I said the deal was I see you only, or forget it…

JANE
Okay, but the thing is…

JESS
Just drop it.

JANE
Fine.

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 THEY DRINK THEIR COFFEE IN SILENCE

JANE
I’m sorry, but I really don’t understand why you won’t see her.

JESS
What’s not to understand?

JANE
I think it’s a bit selfish.

JESS
Well excuse me!

JANE
Why on earth would you not want to meet your own mother?

JESS
Why would I want to meet a mother who abandoned me?

JANE
What?

JESS
Why would I want to see-

JANE
Yes, I heard you, but she didn’t abandon you.

JESS
Yes she did.

JANE
No she didn’t.

JESS
Yes she did.

JANE
Oh right… That’s what Derek told you.

JESS
Yeah…

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 JANE
Well it’s not true.

JESS
Yes it is.

JANE
No its not but I guess he had to make something up… he could
hardly tell you the ugly truth.

JESS
Meaning?

JANE
That he stole you.

JESS
Come again?

JANE
He stole you …

JESS
That’s not what happened.

JANE
Yes it is.

JESS
How would you know?

JANE
I know.

JESS
He came home from work one night...

JANE
He stole you out of the hospital…

JESS
… and she’d cleared off…

JANE
… she’d just given birth…

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 JESS
…she’d taken you with her…

JANE
… you were undersize …

JESS
…she left me behind…

JANE
… in ICU….

JESS
… she left a note…

JANE
… there were complications …

JESS
…she wrote she was sorry …

JANE
…she was very ill…

JESS
… she couldn’t cope…

JANE
… the bastard ripped you away …

JESS
… she only wanted one…

JANE
… away from us…

JESS
… she’d been sleeping around…

JANE
No!

BEAT.

JESS
She was seeing someone else.

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 JANE
He’s poisoned your mind against her…

JESS
She’s poisoned your mind against him!

JANE IS UPSET AND RETRIEVES A CIGARETTE FROM HER HANDBAG, SHE

CONTINUALLY TRIES TO LIGHT IT BUT THE LIGHTER DOESN’T WORK

JESS
You smoke.

JANE
Only when I’m upset.

BEAT.

JESS
Dad was left by himself…

JANE
No

JESS
…to look after a baby on his own.

JANE
You’ve got it wrong

JESS
Jane

JANE
It’s not true

JESS
Jane

JANE
You don’t know what you’re on about

JESS
Jane!

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© 2004 Anna Bennetts
 JANE
This fucking lighter!

JESS
Jane!!

JANE
What?

JESS
It’s no smoking here.

JANE SLAMS THE LIGHTER AND CIGARETTE DOWN IN FRUSTRATION

JANE
It’s all lies!

JESS
Maybe what she told you is all lies.

PAUSE.

JANE
It’s not just what she told me. It’s what I saw.

JESS
Yeah, right

JANE
I saw her face in the photos when she was young, before
she had us, how different she looked, the joy in her eyes.

JESS
So?

JANE
I’ve lived with her sadness, the nightmares, the drinking.

JESS
That doesn’t prove anything …

JANE
Her anxieties, her fear that she’d lose me too, that someone would
come and take me away in the middle of the night.

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 JESS
Oh poor Maureen.

JANE
The way she’s clung to me…

JESS
Yeah, well maybe it was guilt

JANE
It wasn’t guilt, it was grief. She’s suffered for what that bastard
did. (BEAT) She’s mourned the loss of you her whole life

BEAT.

JESS
Why didn’t she look for me?

JANE
What?

JESS
Why didn’t she look for me?

JANE
She did!

JESS
No she didn’t.

JANE
Yes she did, and she kept finding you, but as soon as she would,
he’d move on … get in his car and take you interstate

JESS
I … I don’t think so.

JANE
Well it’s true.

JESS
He wouldn’t have done that.

JANE
Poor mum, every time she thought she’d found you it’d all end in
tears

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 JESS
I think I’d remember that, don’t you?
(PAUSE) Besides, I’ve been back in Perth for three years.

JANE
So?

JESS
She could easily have found me.

JANE
Thirty years later!? What do you expect – that she’d just go on and
on banging her head against a wall?

JESS
Why not, if she was so sad about losing me?

JANE
She burnt out.

JESS
Yeah right.

JANE
Her heart broke and it kept breaking over and over again every
time she thought she’d found you and it came to nothing.

JESS
If I had a daughter I loved, I’d never stop looking for her.

BEAT. JANE REGARDS JESS

JANE
You think you’re very clever don’t you?

JESS
I just know what I know.

JANE
When you see her you’ll understand.

JESS
I told you, I’m not going to see her.

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© 2004 Anna Bennetts
 JANE
Why are you so stubborn? Can’t you see that everything he’s told
you is a lie?

JESS
Oh right … and everything you’ve told me isn’t!

JANE
Oh come on, think about it? How many men lie?

JESS
I don’t know.

JANE
How many men abandon their families?

JESS
What, and women don’t?

JANE
What are the odds?

JESS
I don’t know but I do know that the only person I’ve ever been able
to rely on is my dad.

JANE
That’s pretty sad seeing he’s a criminal.

JESS
He is not!

JANE
He broke the law when he took you

JESS
Fairytale!

JANE
And not just that … he stole you from the hospital because mum
told him she was going to leave him and-

JESS
Nice!

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© 2004 Anna Bennetts
 JANE
Jess !… she was going to leave him was because he hit her.

JESS
No…

JANE
He beat her up when she was pregnant

JESS
That’s crap!!

BEAT

JANE
He’s a bully and a wife basher

JESS STANDS.

JESS
I’m not listening to this.

SHE STARTS TO WALK OFF.

REALISING SHE’S GONE TOO FAR, JANE IS DISTRAUGHT AND GOES AFTER
HER

JANE
Jess! Jess, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to say that,

JESS
Forget it, this was a mistake…

JANE BLOCKS HER PATH.

JANE
I shouldn’t have said that, I’m sorry

JESS
Look, I’d believe a lot of things about him but there is no way he’d
hit her…

JANE
I wasn’t going to-

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 JESS
He wouldn’t hurt a fly!

JANE
It’s just … after all she’s been through...

JESS
What about what I’ve been through?

JANE
I’m sorry. Please … come back and sit down.

JANE USHERS JESS BACK TO THE TABLE WHERE THEY FIND THE WAITER
BEGINNING TO CLEAR IT.

JANE
What are you doing?

WAITER
Back again are we?

JANE
Yes.

WAITER
Rightio.

WAITER EXITS. JANE AND JESS REMAIN STANDING.

JANE
Look, we can work this out.

JESS
We ran over a dog once, a little one …jack-russel cross…

JANE
I’m not scared of him anymore.

JESS
I was thirteen.

JANE
I mean, he must be an old man now.

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 JESS
We were in the middle of nowhere.

JANE
Sixty-five, sixty-six?

JESS
I don’t know what it was doing out there … it didn’t have a
collar…

JANE
Probably an old bag of bones.

JESS
It was half dead… and we had to put him out of his misery…

JANE
Who?

JESS
The dog!

JANE
Sorry…

JESS
What I’m saying is he couldn’t do it. I remember the look on his
face as he picked up a rock to hit it over the head…it was the first
time I saw him vulnerable … he was scared, terrified.

JANE
What about the poor dog?

JESS
Its life was about to slip away anyway… it was hardly
breathing…heart just a dull thud. But he couldn’t do it. I saw tears
in his eyes and then he broke down… he broke down crying…
(BEAT)
He was so soft he couldn’t even kill that poor suffering half dead
dog!

JANE
Oh.

JESS
I did it. I killed it.

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© 2004 Anna Bennetts
 JANE
You?

JESS
He couldn’t do it. I had to … I had no choice,
I had to grow up … take control.

JANE
Your point is?

JESS
My point is, he couldn’t.

JANE
So?

JESS
So, there is no way he could have hit Maureen, the guy couldn’t
even hurt a dog!

JANE
Well, some people can be kind to animals and cruel to humans…

JESS
Not Dad!

BEAT – WHILE THEY BOTH REFLECT.

JANE
Look, there is one way we can work this out

JESS
How?

JANE
We can go and see him … together

JESS
No.

JANE
He won’t be able to keep the lies up in front of me, I know the
truth

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 JESS
We can’t.

JANE
We can go and see him and just ask him straight up – tell us your
side of the story.

JESS
No we can’t, okay

JANE
If you won’t see mum it’s the only way.

JESS
We can’t!

JANE
Why are you so bloody stubborn?

JESS
He’s dead.

JANE’S LEGS GIVE WAY AND SHE SITS DOWN IN HER CHAIR, AS DOES JESS.

JESS
He passed away two years ago.

JANE
Derek’s … dead?

JESS
Yes

JANE
I don’t believe it

JESS
Prostate cancer.

JANE
Dead?

JESS
I was with him when he died. It was a slow, awful death, but I’m
glad I was there.

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 PAUSE

JANE
I don’t know what to say.

JESS
No

JANE
I’m … I’m…

JESS
Shocked.

JANE
I spent my whole life fearing him… hating him… and now he’s
gone…

JESS
Yes.

JANE’S LONG HELD ANGER TOWARDS DEREK SPILLS OVER.

JANE
Derek you bastard, trust you to pull the escape routine again …

AS JANE BEGINS TO GET ANGRY, JESS TRIES TO CONTAIN HER EMOTIONS

JESS
Please…

JANE
Yeah … good at that aren’t you – disappear – run away –

JESS
Shut up!

JANE
…before I get the chance to tell you to your face what a useless
piece of shit you are.

JESS
That’s my father you’re talking about …

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 JANE
He’s my father too!

JESS
…and all I can do now is honour his memory, so would you just
shut up and at please let me do that.

JANE CONTAINS HER ANGER AND TRIES TO DIFFUSE THE SITUATION

JANE
Okay, okay, I’m sorry, I understand

JESS
No you don’t fucking understand – he was all I had in this
corroded world and he loved me – he loved me so much. He might
not have been the best father in the world all the time but he loved
me and he did his best for me ….and you didn’t even know him
…so how could you possibly understand?

JANE
I’m sorry.

JANE REACHES OUT TO TOUCH JESS BUT JESS SHAKES HER OFF

JESS
Don’t touch me!!…

BEAT.

JANE
You know, when I was younger I had this dream…I’m not sure if
it was a dream or a memory. It’s me and you and we’re in the
womb

JESS
You couldn’t possibly remember back then

JANE
Maybe it’s a dream…

JESS
I think so

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 JANE
You’ve always been smaller than me – that’s why you were in
ICU… and in the dream, I’m holding you in my arms and your
little head rests just here …

SHE TOUCHES HER CHEST

JANE
… and it fits… it fits so snugly… like we’re one little person. And
then I can hear your heart beat – badoom, badoom, badoom –

SOUND EFFECT OF A HEART-BEAT CAN BE USED HERE, SLOWLY FADING

UP AS JANE GOES DEEPER INTO HER REVERIE

JANE
... and it’s not just your heart beat, its mine too… And I put my
little hand on your little head and it feels so nice like that and so
warm and cozy.

BEAT. ABRUPTLY STOP HEART-BEAT SOUND EFFECT.

JANE
Then all of a sudden it’s freezing cold the light is blinding and I
can’t find you and I’m crying and screaming… and crying and
screaming ---

JESS
The birth.

JANE
It’s horrible.

JESS
It couldn’t be a memory.

JANE’S REVERIE IS BROKEN.

JANE
I guess not.

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 JESS
Most children can’t remember anything before the age of four

JANE
Oh …

JESS
I can’t remember anything from when I was little. My first
memory, I think I was about six.

JANE
And what was that?

JESS
Dad and I, driving somewhere in the car…

JANE
Ha! Old daddy-dearest hits the road again!

BEAT AS JESS DECIDES SHE’S SICK OF THIS

JESS
This really was a mistake.

SHE STANDS AND COLLECTS HER HELMET

JANE
Oh come on, Jess!

JESS STARTS TO WALK OFF.

JANE
I’m sorry.

JANE COLLECTS HER THINGS AND HURRIES BEHIND HER

JANE
Wait … wait!

JESS STOPS.

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 JANE
At least let me say goodbye.

JANE REACHES JESS.

JESS
Goodbye.

THEY SHAKE HANDS BUT THEN NEITHER ONE WANTS TO LET GO

JANE
It’s been good to meet you

JESS
You too.

THEIR EYES LOCK FOR A MOMENT AND THEN THEY HUG.

JESS’S HEAD FITS ON JANES CHEST, AND IT RESTS THERE, NEITHER
WANTING TO BREAK THE MOMENT.
CAN USE THE HEART-BEAT SOUND EFFECT HERE IF USED BEFORE.
SLOWLY JANE LIFTS HER HAND AND RESTS IT ON JESS’S HEAD.
FINALLY AFTER SOME TIME, THEY BREAK APART.

JANE
Tomorrow?

JESS
Here?

JANE
Same time.

JESS
Okay.

JANE
Okay, great.

JESS
Bye.

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 JANE
Bye.

JESS EXITS AND JANE SHOUTS AFTER HER

JANE
Take care, be careful on the road – watch the traffic… Always
assume the cars can’t see you!

JANE STANDS LOOKING OUT TO WHERE JESS HAS EXITED

SHE PUTS THE BLUE ROSE IN HER HAIR AND EXITS STEPPING LIGHTLY IN
THE OTHER DIRECTION

LIGHTS OUT.

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© 2004 Anna Bennetts