The worst party ever
Lindsay (pointing to painting): This painting reminds me of a woman, a beautiful head strong woman who�s fighting desperately, almost choking for air. But it�s no use, she�s doomed. She�s been hurt, betrayed. (Everyone is interested in this except for Emily and Troy) Lindsay: Destroyed by the very man who has claimed to love her. I call this painting� �Joanna�. (Suddenly, Troy�s hand squeezes onto his champagne glass and the pressure breaks the glass. The shattered glass explode and the glass falls onto the floor, startling Nora and Emily.) Nora: Oh, Troy! (Lindsay stares at Troy as his hand slowly opens up to reveal glass pierced into his flesh with blood emerging from his skin. He glares at her with pain and hate and all Lindsay has left is to smile.) (Next scene. There�s more blood pouring out of his hand.) Nora: My God, Troy, you�re bleeding. (she softly puts her palm under his hand) Troy: I�d better go take care of this hand. Nora: I�ll come with you. Troy: No, you stay here. Nora: Troy--- Troy: I SAID I can handle it. (Troy, breathing in an afraid and shaky manner, walks away.) Emily: I�ll go with him. (she takes Nora�s hand) Nora: But--- Emily: Get that woman out of here! (Should�ve done that sooner) I�ll make sure that Troy�s okay. (Emily walks off and Larry walks up to her.) Larry: What upset Troy so much? Nora: Lindsay Rappaport, who else? Larry: Nora, I�m really sorry. I should�ve never let her done that. Nora: Please, true to form, Lindsay Rappaport ruins another celebration. Larry: I knew she had a grudge against you and Troy but I had no idea she would crash the reception. (Think again) Nora: She�ll do anything for attention. Anything, she�s just eating it up, now. Larry: I�ll put a stop to that--- Nora: No, Larry, please. Can I just handle it my own way? Really. Larry: (he nods) Nora: Thanks. (Claire approaches Nora) Claire: Hey, is Troy alright? (Uh, no? There�s glass in his blood thanks to that Tora-wannabe, he�s not fine.) Nora: Uh, no. The party�s over, could you just tell everybody that they should go? Claire: Nora, this party has been thrown in his honor. Nora: His hand is cut, the party IS over. Would you mind just getting these people out of here? Please. (Claire announces) Claire: Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you so much for taking time out of your very important day to come and celebrate with us but DeVil Biss grant or not, it�s time to get back to work. Thanks. (Sam grabs Lindsay.) Sam: What are you up to, Lindsay? Lindsay: What do you mean? All I did was make a sizeable donation. Listen, that painting �Joanna� is worth a lot of money. Sam: You wouldn�t give Nora and Troy a quarter for a phone call. What are you doing? Lindsay: Why is it that you always think the worst of me? (Because you are.) Sam: Experience. (Damn straight!) Lindsay: Well, I�m changing (*sarcastically* Yeah, uh-huh) and I�m showing that by donating a valuable piece of art to celebrate the good work that Dr. MacIver is doing here. Sam: You may be able to convince other people that you have changed, Lindsay, but I�ve known you too long. Lindsay: Don�t want to give me the benefit of the doubt, huh, Sam? Sam: I�m afraid I can�t. Lindsay: Not even for the sake of our children? Sam: I�m warning you whatever you�re doing� don�t. (Nora walks up to Lindsay and Lindsay feels her presence. She turns around, completely unthreatened.) Nora: You�re gonna� pay for this, Lindsay. (We hope so.) (Lindsay just stares at her, consuming the power she has at the moment. Commercials.) (Troy is pacing back and forth as he�s wrapping a white bandage around his palm. He exhales slowly and Emily walks in.) Emily: Are you okay? (she sets a comforting hand on his shoulder. He grinds his teeth but doesn�t make eye contact. Slowly, he speaks.) Troy: How does she know about Joanna? (Eerie piano music plays as he slowly makes eye contact with her.) Hmm? ( He waits for an answer but Emily is too petrified to answer back. We get the feelings and emotions as if he was Colin looking at his next prey. He startles us by slamming his fist onto the hospital table and he exclaims) HOW DOES LINDSAY KNOW ABOUT MY DEAD WIFE!!!! Lindsay: Pay for what? I didn�t do anything. Nora: You don�t call pulling this little stunt �anything�? Lindsay: I just donated a valuable piece of art to the clinic. Nora: (Nora has real attitude here and starts waving her index finger around.) No, you marched in here in the middle of a reception for Troy and began playing your little mind games. Lindsay: I think the patients that come to this clinic deserve to see something beautiful like �Joanna�. Nora: You think that people who are sick want to see a painting that�s depressing? Lindsay: Depressing? Nora: You said yourself it�s a portrait of a doomed woman. Lindsay: It�s art, Nora, abstract art. But I don�t think that you would understand that Nora. Nora: I understand a lot more than you think I do, Lindsay. Lindsay: (chuckles softly) I just think that poor forgotten Joanna belongs here. Nora: And as far as �valuable� I bet you weren�t able to find anyone to buy this piece of sh---art.� (Now, I didn�t add the shi---art; it was clearly either Nora�s character to do that or Hillary B. Smith got into the character a little too much. We all know here what she was about to say but whether or not it was intentional, we don�t know. I promise I did not add this but you can go back to your tapes.) Lindsay: I just think that Joanna should hang on the wall here so that Troy can see her every day. Nora: Oh, and I bet you do. And I know why. Because I know who Joanna is. (Lindsay looks surprised and as if she wanted to say something yet she let Nora go on. This continues to a Natalie-Jen-Christian scene.) Troy: Somehow, Lindsay found out about Joanna. Emily: Calm down, Troy. There is no way--- Troy: No way?! Emily: No way for her to know--- Troy: No way? No way? (Troy is all panicky and spitting as he talks because he feels so unbelievably frightened and cornered. His eyebrow crease and he�s pointing his index finger at her.) She just held up a painting and said it was a woman gasping for air. She called it �Joanna�! She knows! Emily: Look! It has to be some kind of coincidence! (She�s clearly scared and she begins to stutter on her words) The�some�a weird one! She--- Troy: Just think! Okay? Did you say anything to anyone about Joanna. Emily: No! I didn�t! Troy: Well you must have because I know I didn�t! Emily: Look, I made you a promise! I would�ve told you if I slipped. Troy: Yeah, well someone did. (He turned around and continued to bandage his hand.) Emily: You�re gonna� make that worse, let me help you--- (He elbows her and yells) Troy: There�s no time! (he turns around and he�s completely in her face; his nose scrunches up when he�s yelling) What if Lindsay DOES know? What if Lindsay is telling Nora now! Lindsay: You know who Joanna is? Nora: Yes, I do. She�s you. You think you�re the woman in the painting. Lindsay: Well, that�s an interesting thought. Nora: No, you march in here for Troy, in the middle of a reception, with your bogus art, you know, with your piece of trash here, and you claim it�s a woman, a portrait of a woman who�s destroyed by a man that she loves. I mean, who do you think you�re fooling, Lindsay? Lindsay: (There�s so much laughter in her eyes.) You�re wrong, Nora. Nora: No, no, this was Troy�s day! His big day! And you just had to come in here and ruin it. You had to come in here and ruin it by making it all about you; all about you and your so-called broken heart. You�re so jealous of him, you�re so jealous of his success, of his happiness with me? Lindsay: (she�s confused and she laughs) Yeah, that must be it. Nora: No, it IS it. You had to turn it around and make you the victim of the whole situation. I don�t understand how you can keep making yourself a victim when everything bad that happens to you in your life is your own fault! Lindsay: And you�re innocent. Nora: (walking around the painting) And you come and bring this piece of--- of garbage here and you don�t even have the guts to stand up and admit that you think it�s you! I mean, Lindsay--- don�t you even understand that you�re more pathetic than your imaginary friend �Joanna�! (She�s more pathetic than Roxanne Balsom, sorry to say. At least Roxanne has a life and admits she�s a dumb blonde.) Lindsay: So you think (giggles) that I�m Joanna? Nora: No, honey. YOU think that you�re Joanna. Lindsay: �No, no Nora: No? Lindsay: No, I don�t. But I�ll be really happy to tell you who Joanna is. (Next Scene) Nora: Okay, Lindsay. If you�re not Joanna, then who is? How many other helpless lonely victims do you know? (Stress LONELY) Lindsay: Oh, Nora--- (He walks in with Emily by his side.) Troy: Leave her alone, Lindsay. Nora: Troy? Lindsay: Tell her. Troy: What was she just telling you? Lindsay: I was just telling her that I�m not the woman in the painting. I�m not Joanna. Nora: Sure� Lindsay: Oh, you don�t believe me? (Looks at Troy) You believe me, don�t you Troy? (He stares at her with hatred, as usual. Episode ends. Continues with TAKE GOOD CARE OF JOANNA)
