four thirty. I’m taking Penelope to the vet.
EDDIE: Okay.
TROY: G’night.
ISABELLE: Bye.
EDDIE: Bye.
(Troy begins to leave, Isabelle follows.)
TROY (To Isabelle): You coming home with me tonight?
ISABELLE: You’re disgusting.
(Troy and Isabelle exit.)
MAX: You okay?
EDDIE: Yeah. (Pause) Thanks, Max.
(Pause.)
MAX: Are you sure you don’t want a hit? It’s a really mellow strain, it’s called Alaskan Thunderfuck but it’s not / like—
EDDIE: No, I—. I’m fine.
(Max puts the pipe away, gathers his things, and stands up.)
MAX: I’ll see you tomorrow?
EDDIE: Yeah.
(Max exits. Eddie watches him leave.)
Scene Three
The following day, around eleven A.M. The lights are off.
The lights snap on and Eddie enters, keys in hand. He crosses the stage, heading toward the back.
After a moment, Troy enters from another part of the restaurant, obviously having just woken up. He looks to where Eddie exited, then slowly starts to creep toward the exit. Eddie reenters, startled when he sees Troy.
EDDIE: OH—
TROY: I’m sorry. I’m sorry.
EDDIE: What are you / doing?
TROY: I’m sorry, okay, you got me. I—planned on waking up a few hours ago—
EDDIE: You slept here?
TROY: Look, I—Tammy and I got into it last night, and I left, and I—didn’t feel like shelling out for a hotel. I was gonna leave before you got here, take a shower after Tammy went off to work, and—anyway, just. Sorry. (Pause) Look, I don’t need to shower, let me just change and I’ll—
EDDIE: No, you—go home, take a shower, I’ll open, it’s okay. (Pause) Listen, if this happens again, don’t sleep here, just—. You know where I live.
TROY: C’mon.
EDDIE: Seriously. (Pause) Are you guys— . . . You doing okay?
TROY: It’s fine, it’s—whatever. Don’t get married. (Pause) Yesterday at lunch Tammy decided to have her first drink in four months, and I told her that if she started drinking again then I—. Anyway.
EDDIE: Oh.
TROY: It’ll be fine, we’ve been here before, this isn’t the first time she— . . . Hell, we’ve been together for nineteen years, we’re not going anywhere. (Pause) We’re—fine. I love her, she loves me. We just fight.
(Tammy enters with Becky in tow.)
Woah, / what’s—?
TAMMY: I need you to take Becky. Hi, Eddie.
TROY: Wait what?!
TAMMY: Just don’t—. It’s just for a few hours. She got suspended for the rest of the week. I can get off work but not until three.
TROY (To Becky): What happened?
BECKY: I was just / telling—
TAMMY: That matters?!
TROY: Can’t you just leave her at home?
TAMMY (Soft): I told you Doctor Kendall said we shouldn’t leave her alone / when—
BECKY: I can hear you.
TROY: Well what am I supposed to do with her?!
TAMMY: I don’t know, Troy! Figure it out! I had to get off of work early, you can deal with this.
TROY: Fine, whatever. I was going to go home to take a shower and change clothes, but I guess that’s not happening.
TAMMY: You didn’t shower?
TROY: Did you want me to pay for a hotel? Do you have an extra / fifty bucks?
EDDIE: Listen, Troy—go home, take a shower, change clothes. I can stay with Becky.
(Pause.)
TROY: You sure?
EDDIE: I can open by myself. It’s fine, I’ll handle it.
(Pause.)
TROY: Jesus, Eddie, I’m sorry. Thank you.
TAMMY: Thank you Eddie. (To Becky) Don’t—just—don’t—
(Tammy and Troy exit. Becky and Eddie stand for a moment, unsure of what to do. Finally Becky sits down at a table and pulls a book out of her bag, starts reading.)
EDDIE: Would you—do you want something to eat? Some / soup, or—
BECKY: No.
(Pause.)
EDDIE: Breadsticks?
BECKY: No.
EDDIE: Okay, sorry, I—. I’ll be, uh.
(Pause. Eddie starts to head back to the kitchen.)
BECKY: Look I’m not trying to be rude but I just think that you’re part of the problem.
(Eddie turns to her.)
EDDIE: Oh. What problem?
BECKY: Like “the problem.”
EDDIE: Oh, okay. (Pause) I still don’t think I / understand—
BECKY: I don’t want to eat your food because places like this are killing everyone. You’re spraying pesticides on our crops and injecting our animals with antibiotics and making people fat and contributing to genocide.
EDDIE: Oh. (Pause) I brought some fruit with my lunch?
(Pause.)
BECKY: No. (Pause) Thank you.
(Silence. Eddie moves
