| Scene 10 Tom's apartment, early morning. Tom, dressed in night clothes, is sitting at his desk writing, we hear his thoughts as though he were speaking them. Tom: A passion for life is one thing that keeps many of us alive. Of course, in order to be passionate about life, life has to offer some good fortune from time to time. All too often I hear people proclaim how little life has offered them, and it reminds me of a cliche: people rarely know what they have until they lose it. Take, for example Jesus and the twelve disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane, or I suppose it was 11 disciples....Well, anyway, according to the gospels Jesus goes away to pray and returns to find his closest friends asleep. This happens twice. One must assume that, had they known of his coming death, they wouldn't have fallen asleep so easily. So, with the risk of sounding trite, perhaps the secret to being passionate about life is having your eyes open to see it. Tom finishes and closes his notebook. He yawns, stretches his arms and falls asleep at his desk. Christine enters in white bathrobe, just waking. Christine: Tommy? Are you out here? She sees him at his desk, walks over and strokes his hair. Whispers in his ear. Christine: Hey sleepy head, wake up! Open your eyes and wake up! Tom: Oh, what? Yeah, yeah I was just resting my eyes. Chrsitine: Sure you were. What were you doing out here? Tom: I woke up early and thought I ought to do something productive. Christine: Sleep well then? He stands, puts his arms around her and kisses her. Tom: Ever since you decided to be a permanent guest, I've been sleeping very well. Christine: (kiss) Want some breakfast? Tom: Only if you're offering to make it. Christine: It'll cost ya...(walking to the kitchen. There is a knock at the door, Christine answers it to find Gabe.) Good morning Gabriel. Gabe: As always. Didn't check your mail yesterday, did you, Tom? Tom: Oh, no, I forgot. Gabe: I know, that's why I brought it with me. Tom: (taking the mail and sifting through it) What would I do without you? Christine, there's something here for you. (hands her an envelope) Christine: It's from the mission agency... Tom: Probably about your request for information on local churches. Christine: No, they aren't associated with American ministries. They want me to come back. Tom: What? Christine: There's some kind of emergency in Mali, they want me to come help as soon as I can. Oh, wow... Tom: But...you don't have to, right? I mean you can refuse, right? You're staying home now, right? Chrsitine is silent. Gabe: Well...I see a "private chat" time coming up, so I'll see you guys later. exits Tom: Chrsitine, you...you're staying here, right? Chritine: Tommy, I can't. Tom: No, no, you can. You told me you were done out there. You told we were going to stay together now. Chrsitine: We will be together! There's nothing to keep you from coming with me. Tom: To Mali? My life is here Christine! This is my home, this is where I want to spend my life. Here. Christine: This isn't your life, this is just a place. These are just things, our lives are each other. You and me, in Mali or in New York. Tom: I can't believe you're doing this, again. I mean you come back after three years, back where you should be, and you're just crusading off after ten weeks? And without me? What about what I want? Or did you just come back to pick me up? Come back long enough to hook me and carry me back? Christine: You know that's not true. Tom: Then why the hell did you come back at all, huh? Why come back long enough to make me think you'd actually stay this time? Christine: I thought I was staying too! But things don't always turn out the way we want them to, you know that. God obviously has different plans for me. Tom: How convenient it must be to not have to make any choices. Just fall back on the good old "God's plan" excuse. Christine: What's that supposed to mean? Tom: You know damn well what it means. Christine: Please don't swear... Tom: You're constantly putting your life on hold for "god's will," but how can you know what God's will really is? How can you be sure its not for you to stay here and live like a normal person for once, to get married and have a family like real people? Christine: And who says I can't do that? Who says WE can't do that? We can still have all of that, just somewhere else. Tom: Like Mali? Oh that's a great place for a family! "Watch out for terrorists and angry refugees sweetie!" I don't even know where Mali is! Chrsitine: God can make anything work if we have faith! There are people in the world who need my help, OUR help. I have to do what I can to... Tom: There will always be someone to help! You can't save the whole goddamn world! Christine: And each person makes a difference! Don't you see that? There are so many people all over the world that need guidance, and I need to start somewhere, that somewhere is Mali. Tom: Mali? People in Mali? Take a look around you! You're in New York City! You want to help people? You want to save someone? Tom walks to window and throws open the curtains, gesturing to the city outside. There you go! Eight million plus spiritually fuckin' diseased people! A whole damned Babylon full of pagans and whores, all waiting for your divine guidance. Why travel overseas when you have all the sins of the world ten fold right here? Christine: Because there are already enough people here to handle that. There's a within two miles of any given point in the city. There's no soup kitchen where I am going, no churches, nothing easy like there is here. These people live in constant poverty, without contact to the outside world, uneducated, and... Tom: And they're more inportant to you than me. Christine: That's not true. Tom: The stay here and help me! Give me guidance! Show me that God really gives a damn about me! Christine: Maybe it's time for you to show God that you give a damn about him. Tom: No...no. No you don't understand. God owes me, alright? I have done more than enough for god, and I have given more my fair share to this world. I am done giving and I am done sacrificing. Its God's time to give, and my time to get, I exist to receive now. At the very least I am owed a normal life with the woman I love in a city of my choosing. Christine: Are you listening to what you're saying? How could you be so arrogant as to say that God owes you anything? Look what you have! You live in the lap of luxury everyday. You don't even have to go to work, while people down the street are starving. How can you be so self absorbed, so self righteous? Why don't you try letting go of this simple pride and realize that you're forever indebted to God for everything you've been blessed with? Tom: It's all for nothing if you leave me again. Christine: Am I leaving? Or are you just staying behind? |