Jenna Lassen
Playwriting II
K. Aspengren
Hieroglyphs
(Lights up on a dimly-lit, nicely decorated bathroom.
There is a tub in the middle with a MAN soaking in it with his eyes closed,
trying to relax. A WOMAN enters wearing baggy, yellow pajama pants and a black
tank top. She examines herself in the mirror and seems content with her
reflection. She turns and looks at him. He cracks an eye and says nothing. She
picks up a bar of soap from the edge of the tub.)
WOMAN
Scoot forward a bit.
(He slowly complies,
moving forward and sloshing water around in the tub. She crawls in behind him
on her knees, fully clothed. She draws deliberate patterns on his skin with the
soap and then rests her chin against his back in silence.)
MAN
We have a very
strange relationship.
(She nods against his
back.)
WOMAN
I love you.
(He doesn’t reply for
a few moments.)
MAN
It’s cooling off.
(He grabs a towel for
his waist, scrubbing his head with another. He looks down at the woman, still
kneeling in the tub.)
What did you write?
WOMAN
Hieroglyphs.
(He looks at her,
hard, for a moment before exiting. She runs her hands through the water slowly,
before realizing something and calling out.)
I forgot you didn’t
like
(She waits for an
answer expectantly. After a few moments she stands and steps out of the tub,
clothing soaked, reproaching herself quietly.)
I should have used
English.
(She tosses the soap into
the tub, exiting. Lights fade.)
END