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ER
"Happy New Year"
Part One
(It’s New Year’s Eve. Mark is sitting in the doctor’s lounge at a table, writing some notes. He is
facing the door and looks up when he hears the door open. Doug enters and Mark smiles.)
Mark: Hey, Doug. How’s things?
Doug: Oh, you know, same as usual. What you up to?
Mark: I’m just writing some notes up. You’re in early.
Doug: Yeah, couldn’t sleep.
(Doug takes off his coat as he walks past the table and a piece of paper falls on the floor. Mark
picks it up while Doug, not knowing he’s dropped it, walks to the coffee machine. Mark starts to
read the piece of paper.)
Mark: You’re gonna give her this?
(Doug turns around and looks over to Mark, puzzled.)
Doug: Give who, what?
(Mark waves the paper in the air)
Mark: Are you gonna give this letter to Carol?
Doug: Where did you get that?
(Doug takes a cup of coffee and walks back over to Mark, before sitting down in the chair
opposite him.)
Mark: You dropped it when you took your coat off... So?... Answer the
question.
Doug: You think I’m THAT crazy!
Mark: What’s so crazy about it? Doug, this letter’s beautiful. You should show
it to her.
Doug: And lose her as one of my best friends? I don’t think so. You know how
she feels about me, Mark. It’s never gonna happen. You can only bring the
subject up so many times, before the other person just blows and shuts you out
of their life completely.
Mark: Carol wouldn’t do that and you know it... Anyway, when have you
brought the subject up? I’ve never seen you bring it up.
(Doug takes a sip from his coffee.)
Doug: That’s because you were never there when I did. It was a couple of years
ago. I never stopped bugging her. I even thought I’d lost her as a friend at one
point. That’s why I’m not risking it again.
Mark: A couple of YEARS ago? Doug, that was ages ago, before you stopped
drinking and sleeping with women you didn’t even know the names of. THAT
was before Nadine Wilkes.
(Doug looks up at Mark)
Doug: Thanks for reminding me, buddy. You sure know how to cheer a friend
up.
Mark: That’s what I’m trying to do. Doug you’ve changed. I know that. YOU
know that, but more importantly, CAROL knows that. Anyway, why did you
write it, if you weren’t going to give her it?
Doug: I told you, I couldn’t sleep last night. I just couldn’t stop thinking about
her. All the time, all these thoughts going around in my head. I had to let them
out somewhere.
Mark: So, what made you think of writing her a letter?
Doug: My therapist told me, whenever I get depressed or hurt or frustrated, I
had to write my feelings down in a letter directed to whoever it was, who made
me feel that way in the first place.
Mark (smiling): So, how many undelivered letters have you got for me?
Doug (chuckles): Too many to count, my friend.
(The door opens quickly and Carter bursts in.)
Carter: Hey! We need you. A guy’s just come in with several gunshot wounds.
There’s blood spilling out everywhere, man.
(Doug and Mark drop everything, quickly get up, and run out of the doctor’s lounge. We follow as
they leave the room and nearly bump into Carol on her way in. She dodges out of the way.)
Carol: Whoa, slow down. Where’s the fire?
Mark (shouting as he runs down the hall): Sorry Carol, gunshot wound just
come in.
Carol (shouting): Need any help?
Mark (still shouting): No, I think we got it.
(Carol enters the doctor’s lounge and stops. She sighs.)
Carol (to herself): Man, this place is a mess.
(She takes off her coat and hangs in on a chair. She goes over to the coffee machine, fixes herself a
coffee and then places it on the side. She walks over to the chair were Mark was sat and starts to
pick up his coat and scarf that’s dropped to the floor.)
Carol: Mark Green, you’ve really got to start cleaning up after yourself.
(She hangs his coat on the back of the chair and then starts to sort through the papers on the table.
She stops.)
Carol: Nah, better not. Mark’ll kill me... I will move THIS though.
(She picks up the plastic coffee cup that Doug left, half empty. As she does, her eyes wander onto
a piece of paper that has her name on it. She looks around to see if anybody is watching her and
then picks up the piece of paper. ‘Dear Carol’, she reads.)
Carol: Oh well. It IS addressed to me.
(She puts the coffee cup back down and walks over to the couch. She sits down and puts her feet
up. She reads the letter but we can hear Doug’s voice saying the words as she reads them.)
It reads:
Dear Carol,
As I’m sitting here writing this letter, all I can think about is you. I’m thinking
what you’re doing, who you’re with, what you’re wearing, what perfume you
have on. I’m thinking about your beautiful face, your soft black curly hair and
how your eyes light up when you smile. I’m thinking about your voice and how
it sends a shiver down my spine, every time I hear you speak. I’m thinking
about when I touch you, how I long to hold you close. I’m thinking about what
it’s like to kiss you and how you make me feel so alive whenever I’m near you.
I’m thinking of what it’s like to make love to you and how I want to be a part of
you, forever. Carol, I know I’ve made mistakes in the past, but I’ve learned
from them. I’ve learned that I can’t treat people the way I used to and expect to
get away with it. I’ve learned that I need to respect myself more as a person and
believe in myself more. But, more importantly, I’ve learned that I can’t live
without you. I need you in my life, Carol. I want you in my life more than
anything. I want to grow old with you. I want to have children with you. Carol, I
love you, more than anything else in the world and I want a chance to prove to
you that I’ve changed. I can never go back to my old ways again, not now. Not
now that I’ve seen how much our friendship has grown. You’re my best friend,
Carol. I’ve always loved you and I always will.
Yours forever, Doug.
(Carol looked up from the paper, trying to take in what she’d just read. Tears were falling down
her cheeks. She didn’t know what to think. She felt confused. She heard some people talking in the
corridor and wiped away her tears, before folding up the piece of paper and placing it in her
pocket. Mark walks in and she stands up.)
Mark: He didn’t make it.
Carol: Who?
Mark: The gunshot victim... Carol? Are you okay?
Carol: Yeah, I’m fine. If you need me, I’ll be checking the supplies.
(Mark shouts to her as she walks quickly out the door.)
Mark: Carol, that was done yester...
(Mark shrugs and sits back down at the table. He suddenly remembers the letter and starts going
through his papers looking for it. He stops and looks back up at the door slowly, remembering who
the last person in the room was. He takes off his glasses and starts rubbing his eyes.)
Mark: I’m dead. Doug’s gonna kill me.
(The door opens and Doug pops his head round the corner.)
Doug: Mark? Will you get rid of that letter for me?
Mark: Already have, Doug. Already have.
END OF SCENE ONE