A Short Play
Characters
Sally
Nicole
Setting
A coffee shop, morning
“Hell is yourself and the only redemption is when a person
puts himself aside to feel deeply for another person.”
~Tennessee Williams
Two old friends are meeting to discuss Paul. Paul is very close to one of them, and has grown distant from the other due to Paul’s past actions.
(A coffee shop in the morning where Sally and Nicole are in the middle of a conversation.)
NICOLE
But he’s doing all right?
SALLY
Oh, he’s doing great.
NICOLE
I love that. I love to hear that.
SALLY
You know, the years—the thing about the years—
NICOLE
They go by.
SALLY
Exactly. They go by. You can’t stop ’em.
NICOLE
And it’s been a few—
SALLY
It’s been five years, Nicole. Do you believe that? Five years.
NICOLE
You know, I just want to say, and I really should be saying this to Paul, but I’ll say it to you too. I’ll say it to anybody that, well, I can’t say I’ll say it to you too,’ because I haven’t said it to Paul yet, but I’m going to…
SALLY
You’re…?
NICOLE
What I was going to say was… Well, I should just—
SALLY
Just go ahead and—
NICOLE
I think it was a big deal about nothing.
(She leans in and whispers the “nothing.”)
I really do, Sally. And I’m not afraid to say it. I think it was a lot of
(Whispers again.)
Nothing.
SALLY
Nicole—
(She leans in as well.)
I think a lot of people feel that way.
NICOLE
Oh, I know they do. I’ve had—well, I shouldn’t go into specifics, but I’ve had people tell me they—
SALLY
Same here. It’s so ridiculous how everybody is scared to come right out and say it. It’s a lot of nothing.
NICOLE
And when I think of how I didn’t stand up for him the way I should have. I’m so disappointed in myself. I’ll be honest with you about that. I’m really disappointed in myself.
SALLY
But, you know, that’s how it was with a lot of people, Nicole. A lot of people—not just you. At least you’re—you’re a big enough person to say—
(Whispers.)
I was wrong.
(She takes a sip of her coffee.)
A lot of people are sticking to their guns, because, yeah, they’re embarrassed. They know the whole thing with Paul was nothing, but they’re ashamed of how they acted and ashamed of some of the horrible things they said online—never in person, mind you, no, never, only online, the bravery of the keyboard, so to speak—and now, it’s been a few years, and we can all agree it was overblown and bombastic and—and—and, yeah, a lot of nothing—
NICOLE
A lot of nothing at all, and I’ll shout that from the rooftops.
SALLY
So would I. So would I, absolutely. But some people think, well, I said those things and I might as well stick by them, because I bet Paul wouldn’t forgive me anyway if I had the guts to apologize. And the crazy thing is—and this just goes to show you that they don’t know him at all, but the crazy thing is—he would forgive them, Nicole. He really would.
NICOLE
That doesn’t surprise me.
SALLY
Not that Paul and I talk about this, mind you, because it’s very painful for him. It’s, well, it’s traumatic.
NICOLE
It would have to be.
SALLY
I’ve never seen him cry, but it wouldn’t surprise me. It wouldn’t surprise me one bit if he cries over all this.
NICOLE
Still? After five years?
SALLY
It wouldn’t surprise me, Nicole.
NICOLE
You know, I was at a party last week—
SALLY
Whose party?
NICOLE
Uh, I don’t know if I feel comfortable—
SALLY
Oh.
NICOLE
Just because—well, at the party, someone—someone made a comment about, uh, because they know that—well, they know that you and I still talk—
SALLY
It was Nadine, wasn’t it?
NICOLE
What? Uh—
SALLY
Nadine’s party. It’s fine. I know Nadine has parties. She’s always had parties, and I was never invited. Even before everything that happened with Paul, you know, happened. She’s never liked me. It’s got nothing to do with Paul or that Paul and I are…so anything she said—
NICOLE
It wasn’t so much something she said, but someone else at the party—
SALLY
One of her snotty friends?
NICOLE
I don’t know—
SALLY
I’m sorry. Go on, go on.
NICOLE
If this is upsetting—
SALLY
Why would it upset me? It’s not about me. It’s about Paul. That’s who it’s about, Nicole. If they’re talking about me, it’s really about him, even if they never say his name. They probably wouldn’t say his name, because they can’t, because they’re cowards. Except for Nadine, because she and I have our own thing that existed, as I said, long before Paul, but in some circumstances, her bringing me up would still be about Paul. It’s all crazy. It’s craziness. A bunch of grown-ups stuck on the same thing after five years.
NICOLE
I agree. I totally agree.
SALLY
But what—what was said? You can tell me. It’s fine. I’m not going to interrogate you. I’m not going to grill you, Nicole. Tell me or don’t tell. I don’t care, but you should tell me, because it’s the right thing to do. People talking like this—it’s—well, it’s disgusting.
(She lets out a long sigh.)
What did they say?
NICOLE
That they think he might try and, um, re-enter public life.
(A beat. SALLY begins to laugh. She laughs and laughs. Then she stops abruptly and looks at NICOLE.)
SALLY
Why do they think that?
NICOLE
It might be because so many—so many people—men—but also people—who were in a similar, um, predicament have tried to—
SALLY
Well, a lot of them are similar to Paul in that they were the targets of, you know, witch hunts.
NICOLE
Yes.
SALLY
Witch hunts. And now people are waking up. They’re waking up and they’re saying, ‘Why did all that happen? Why did we do this? Why did we say those terrible things?’
NICOLE
But he isn’t going to do it, right?
(A beat.)
SALLY
Do what?
NICOLE
Try to re-enter—?
SALLY
Why would he want to do that, Nicole? Why would he want to subject himself to something like that? To go back into the lions’ den? Would that make any sense? Tell me. Would it?
NICOLE
So, he’s not going to do it?
(A beat. SALLY makes a little “hmm” noise. She looks down. Her coffee cup is empty.)
SALLY
If he did—if he, you know, tried to, then—it would be brave of him, wouldn’t it? It would mean he was braver—
NICOLE
I don’t—I don’t think he should. It’s none of my business, but—
SALLY
Right.
NICOLE
—but I do think it would be a mistake.
(A beat.)
SALLY
So, let them win then?
NICOLE
I don’t think it’s—it’s not winning and losing.
SALLY
Oh, but it is. It is. They’ve won. Or they—they think they’ve won. But it’s like we said about time. As long as you’ve got time, things can—they can swing. They can swing back in the other direction. And that’s what’s happening. There’s a swing going on. A swing towards Paul. And what do you want Paul to do? Not go along with it? Not ride the swing?
NICOLE
What are you saying?
SALLY
Come on, Nicole. You want him to just roll over?
NICOLE
I thought he moved on?
SALLY
He has.
NICOLE
Then there’s no need to—
SALLY
But he hasn’t won.
(A beat.)
NICOLE
Sally, it’s not as though he did nothing. He did—
SALLY
I never said he—
NICOLE
It might have been less than what—
SALLY
Nicole, did I say he did nothing?
NICOLE
But now you’re—
SALLY
People murder people and then they get television shows. They go on Dancing with the Stars. They get podcast deals. And we all get over it. We accept it. Because Hollywood and the media and everybody decide that certain people are allowed to be forgiven. But not people like Paul. Not regular people. Not people like you and me. We don’t get to be forgiven.
NICOLE
What would I be forgiven for?
SALLY
I’m just saying as an example—
NICOLE
But I haven’t done anything like—
SALLY
Well, I don’t know what you’ve done, Nicole, but—
NICOLE
I’m telling you, Sally, I’ve never done anything like—
SALLY
Well, we’re women, aren’t we? I mean, aren’t we? Last time I checked.
(She lets out a laugh.)
NICOLE
I don’t see what you’re—
SALLY
We’re never going to get into trouble like the kind of trouble Paul got into, are we? No, we’re not. So, what do we do? We look down on him? Is that what we do, Nicole?
NICOLE
I wasn’t—
SALLY
I’ve forgiven him. I have.
NICOLE
I’m not sure—
(A beat.)
SALLY
What?
NICOLE
I’m not sure it’s for you to forgive.
(A moment.)
SALLY
This was nice, Nicole.
NICOLE
Sally, if you—
SALLY
I don’t have a lot of time to do this kind of thing anymore. That’s part of why I haven’t seen people, and they think it’s because I’ve, you know, dedicated my whole life to the redemption of Paul, but that’s not it. That’s not it at all. I just find that I don’t want to be around people anymore, because I know too much. Not about individual people, but about people in general. How people are. Once you know what people are capable of—
NICOLE
What about what Paul’s capable of?
(A beat.)
SALLY
I don’t worry about Paul hurting me. Paul could never hurt me. He’s the one who’s hurt. I worry about him, but I don’t worry about him in regards to me.
NICOLE
Good. I’m glad.
SALLY
I’ll tell him that you send along your, you know, your best wishes.
NICOLE
You can tell him you saw me. Tell him—tell him that you saw me.
SALLY
And that you wish him well.
NICOLE
Uh.
(A beat.)
I think I’d like to think about that now. If he’s going to try to—then, I think I’d like to leave it at—you saw me. Let’s just leave it at that. You saw me. Okay?
(A beat.)
SALLY
Okay.
(A beat.)
I see you.
(Lights fade.)
END OF PLAY