*****
MEETING POINT-Version 1 (Unaware)
THE PLAY
CAST: 2 male, 1 female
-BOB, casually dressed, age 40’s
-HITCH, casually dressed, age 40’s
-SUE, casually dressed, age 40’s
BACKDROP: Outdoors. Fine summer day, public park with trees.
PROPS: A wide park bench, facing to audience, newspaper, car horn.
TIME: Pre-lunch.
-----
BOB (relaxed, is sitting at one end of the park bench reading a newspaper.)
HITCH (enters stage left and plops down on the other end of the bench. Within a few seconds HITCH starts yawning and stretching.)
BOB (becomes totally distracted from his reading, folds it up, and places it on his lap.)
BOB. Sounds like you should be having a sleep
HITCH (turns slowly in Bob’s direction, over-exaggeratedly squints his eyes and yawns again.)
HITCH. You are so right there.
BOB. Your yawning’s catching. Makes me feel sleepy. Did you have a heavy night, or just a bad sleeping pattern?
HITCH. A really heavy night with a boss I worked for over 20 years ago. Before I shifted away.
BOB. So, you’ve come out to get some fresh air?
HITCH. Not really. He’s taking me out for lunch. Probably end up doing the same silly stuff again. Until last night, I hadn’t seen him, or even been back since leaving.
BOB. Sounds like he enjoys a drink.
HITCH. A little bit, not too much really. But anything in a skirt is in danger. He’s more of a sex maniac than an alcoholic.
BOB. Often the way. People with a strong sex drive are often successful in business.
HITCH. (yawning again)
This guy was successful enough. Started his own business, made it boom.
BOB. So, you’re in the sun to recharge your batteries?
HITCH. No. I’m staying in the motel just over there.
(He thrusts a finger in the direction of a nearby motel.)
He’s picking me up in a few minutes. I said I’d meet him outside, so taking the extra time to pick up a few rays; you know, rejuvenate. What about you?
BOB. I’m staying in the same motel actually. I’m just waiting for an old flame, from before I was married. She’s picking me up. I hope I can recognize her. People change a lot in 25 years.
HITCH. Sounds like you’re divorced too.
BOB. Aren’t we all? 15 years divorced for me.
HITCH. Only five years for me.
(A car horn toots in the near distance. Both men strain to look at the source of the sound to identify the driver.)
BOB. Not mine.
HITCH. Nor mine.
BOB. It seems strange. Often people talk about the circle of life. It seems to happen in so many ways.
HITCH. You mean me meeting my old boss, and you meeting an old girlfriend?
BOB. Exactly. She’s really just an old friend. As much as I would’ve liked to, we never got up to any hanky-panky.
HITCH. Yeah.
(He traces a large circle in the air).
I suppose it is a circle. Sort of returning to the same starting point. But you and I are two different circles. But we’re only linked by a common park bench and a motel, aren’t we?
BOB. Yeah. Maybe so. Maybe I’m being too philosophic. Maybe it’s also a test to see if we’ve learnt anything about human nature and ourselves from where the circle started.
(Both sit silently for a few seconds.)
HITCH. Maybe you’re right. Yeah. Definitely right. I guess some people are co-travellers in your circle for a while. Some don’t even know it.
BOB. Saying it like that, it’s often called the social circle. So; seeing your old boss then?
(BOB draws a big circle in the air).
Learnt anything more about yourself or others since then?
HITCH. Learnt a lot of things from him. Learnt that I wouldn’t trust him around any woman I was dating. Even though we worked together he tried it out on my wife. But she quickly told him where to go.
BOB. That makes it a bit close to the circle of friends.
HITCH. Close? He used to have it so close he was even screwing his sister-in-law.
BOB. What? His brother’s wife?
HITCH. No. His wife had a younger brother, so her younger brother was his brother-in-law. The brother-in-law had a girlfriend who he eventually married after she became pregnant. It was the honorable thing to do in those days. We all wondered who the real father of the baby was.
BOB. Hell. She musta been busy. How’d she manage to get the time for
two of them?
HITCH. It was nothing complicated. The brother-in-law was out of town for a year, Monday to Friday doing a study course, so the boss used to pick her up Monday to Friday after her work five nights a week, and get it off.
(A car horn toots. Both men sit forward and look in the direction of the sound.)
BOB. Not mine.
HITCH. Not mine.
BOB. Sounds like he was a real bastard. Must’ve been expensive getting a motel for an hour or so.
HITCH. As a matter of fact, no. Here’s the real sick thing. He used to take her to his mother-in-law’s house. She was a widow. After they arrived, the mother-in-law would leave and go out grocery shopping for an hour. When she’d get back, they’d always be gone.
BOB. You’re kidding me. Sounds like the mother musta been a real bitch too. What a sick mind. So, your boss got his rocks off mid-afternoon for free.
HITCH. Sure did. When she got pregnant, the silly brother-in-law presumed it was his, so he married her.
BOB. Well I suppose, if his brother-in-law was getting it five days out of seven, chances were low that it was the young fellas. No DNA testing in those days. But I guess he just believed his wife. I guess we were all stupidly naïve at that age.
HITCH. We were all naïve. But it doesn’t stop there. After they were married, the newly married couple stayed with the mother for about three months. While the son was at work, the mother-in-law used to phone our office and ask my boss to come around and keep her new daughter-in-law company while she went shopping. He used to happily oblige. I mean she couldn’t get any more pregnant could she?
BOB. This is starting to sound familiar.
HITCH. Yep. Eventually, she decided there was too much risk as the neighbours might talk, so she decided to call it quits. My boss didn’t want to, because she was such as easy mark. So she phoned her husband at his work while my boss was visiting there.
BOB. I wonder if he knew what was going on?
HITCH. He threatened to put my boss’s teeth down the back of his throat. So it ended then, except for the occasional rare quickie they’d have over the following years. But the boss hasn’t changed. If it wears a skirt, he’ll try and have it off.
BOB. Hell, I remember getting that call. I thought it was a once only visit. Just to confirm something, and we’re talking about the same people, is the ex-boss still with his wife?
HITCH. Hell no. She eventually caught him out sleeping with his secretary at a conference. He slept with most of them over the years.
BOB. That was so sad for my sister. All the years he’d been cheating, but finally a good ending. Pity it wasn’t years before.
HITCH. It took her 40 years of marriage, and she had only just started to suspect something. After she eventually caught him they went their separate ways. Then she heard from all sorts of people that he’d been doing it for 40 years. She felt ashamed, stupid and naïve, and thought that everyone had been laughing at her behind her back; which they were.
BOB. Understandable. And they were. Even I’d tried to warn her about him, but she always defended him. So I didn’t push the topic. I just didn’t realize at the beginning that his conquests included my ex-wife. But you have expanded my knowledge.
(A car horn sounds. They both sit forward.)
HITCH. Aha. Here’s my ride. Gotta
go.
(stands, turns, and shakes hands with Bob.)
Good chatting with you.
BOB. Likewise. Hell yes. And I recognize your driver. And chatting with you has been like an enlightening religious confirmation.
HITCH (exits stage right.)
BOB (watches him depart, then picks up his newspaper and continues reading.)
SUE (enters from stage left, unseen, stands behind Bob’s newspaper.)
SUE. Anything in the astrology columns about two old friends meeting?
BOB (quickly puts down his paper, and stands up.)
BOB. Hey. I was worried you weren’t going to turn up. Good to see you. Hell you’re lookin’ as good as ever.
SUE. Same here. Of course I was going to turn up. I wasn’t running late, I found a free parking spot nearby. When I arrived I saw you talking to your friend. I’ve been standing over there, behind a tree, watching you.
BOB. I don’t even know his name. But his boss used to be related to me.
SUE. I knew them both. If there’d been sexual harassment cases in those days when I worked for his boss and him, they would’ve both been behind bars. I only stayed a month because they were both trying it out on me.
BOB. Yeah. When this guy started telling me about it all, it took me a while for the pennies to drop before I realized who he was talking about. I got a lot of information and details that I didn’t have before. Now I know a lot more about what my ex-wife and brother-in-law were like. I guess in many ways it didn’t surprise me that my own mother was in on it. All I wanted to say to the guy was that I knew a lot of the background of the story which he didn’t know.
SUE. OK. It’s all history. Done and dusted. Whatcha wanna do for lunch?
BOB. (stepping back, looks Sue up and down.)
You’re still lookin’ as sexy as anyone I’ve ever met.
SUE. How come you never made a pass at me way back then?
BOB. Stupidity? No, shyness. I didn’t think you were interested.
SUE. I had the hots for you way back then. But I was also pretty inexperienced; then.
BOB. Wow. What are you suggesting?
SUE. Well. I’ve got free parking. So stop messing around. If you’ve got a big bed in the motel we can have room service every day throughout the long weekend. I’d like a bit of bubbly too. We’ve got a lot of catching up to do. And I’m damn sure you probably wouldn’t mind getting some revenge.
(SUE takes BOB’S hand; they look into each others eyes for a few seconds, and depart stage right.)
END