GARY (picking up the wine bottle)
More wine?
LORI
I’m good.
ALEX
Gary, maybe you should—
GARY (pouring the rest of the bottle into his glass)
I’m fine.
ALEX (turning to Lori)
We have not had the best experience so far.
LORI
Are you thinking ours is good?
ALEX
No, that’s not what I’m saying. But at least yours didn’t get started.
LORI
What do you mean?
JENNIFER (understanding immediately)
Oh gosh! (she looks to Gary who isn’t really engaging in the conversation) Oh, I’m so sorry.
LORI
What? What are you sorry about?
JENNIFER
Lori, please. Show some respect.
LORI
I’d be happy to show whatever they need if I knew what happened. (to Alex) What happened?
(Alex looks across the table at Gary who nods but doesn’t really engage with the conversation for the duration of Alex’s next speech. He just kind of stares off into space.)
ALEX
Like I said before, Gary’s the one who really wanted to have a baby. He wanted it to be his biological child.
LORI
But I thought you said it was your sperm.
ALEX
That’s what we’re doing now.
LORI
I’m so confused.
ALEX
Gary and I spent about a year searching for a surrogate mother to carry the child. We worked through one of these agencies we found online. It was almost a joke at first. I mean we literally typed in “finding a surrogate mother” and up came like four different websites and we just clicked on the first one. We registered, went through all of the paperwork and evaluations and checks, and then started the process of reviewing potential candidates. We finally found a surrogate with my skin tone and hair color, because we wanted the baby to look like both of us somehow, and we flew out to Nevada to meet her.
JENNIFER
Nevada?
ALEX
Yeah, once you register and state your preferences, the surrogate can be anywhere. I mean think about it. None of us have to be there while the baby is developing.
JENNIFER
Got it.
ALEX
So we met her. We liked her. She had done this before for three other couples, two of them gay, and we felt like she was the right kind of match. We checked her references—
LORI
Your surrogate had references?
ALEX
Yeah. We were hiring her to carry our child, so we checked her references.
LORI
I never would have thought about it.
ALEX
Her references checked out, so we made the second appointment to fly to Nevada so Gary could provide the sperm. That was last year around this time. We flew out on a Thursday, Gary provided the sample on Friday morning, we spent the weekend getting to know the surrogate a bit more, flew back, and a week later, we got the call that she was pregnant.
JENNIFER
First try?
ALEX
First try. Like I said, she’d done it three times before, and apparently she’s quite fertile.
LORI
I’ll say. Cheers to you Gary.
ALEX
So the pregnancy was going well. First trimester tests came back fine. We flew out to see her—
JENNIFER
What’s her name?
GARY (looks up from his glass)
Kerry
ALEX
We flew out to see Kerry, and she looked great. Flew back, things continued to be fine. We started to look for another apartment, cause we thought this one would be too small. We needed another room for the baby. Comes time for the second trimester tests, and Gary asks that they make sure to check for Hurler Syndrome in this screening.
LORI
What’s Hurler Syndrome?
(Alex looks at Gary, who doesn’t answer.)
ALEX
Uh, it’s a rare genetic disorder. Severe. Most kids with it don’t survive past the age of 10.
JENNIFER
Dear God.
ALEX
Heart disease, hearing loss, progressive lung disease, progressive mental disability—
GARY
Alex…?
ALEX
Sorry. Uh…suffice it to say, it’s unpleasant. For the parents, for the child.
LORI
And how did you know to test for this? I’ve never even heard of it.
ALEX
Gary had a cousin who had it. He lived to the age of 7. Gary was 15 when he died, so he saw the whole thing from birth to when little Jack died.
GARY
It was awful…
LORI
So you guys tested and the baby was positive for this, this Hurlers Syndrome? Is that what happened?
ALEX
Yes.
(There’s silence.)
JENNIFER
So what did you do?
ALEX
Well, obviously we don’t have the baby.
JENNIFER
But did she carry the baby to term?
GARY
No, Jennifer, Kerry did not carry the baby to term.
JENNIFER
Did she miscarry? Can the syndrome end in miscarriage?
(Gary and Alex look at each other.)
ALEX
She did not miscarry.
JENNIFER
Then what happened to the baby?
GARY
We terminated the pregnancy.
(Jennifer is clearly shaken by this news. She gets up from the table and moves away from the group. Lori doesn’t even notice.)
LORI
Oh my God. Oh my God, I am so sorry. We are so sorry. Here I am talking like my life is awful, and you two had to-- My God…
ALEX
It’s alright. How were you supposed to know?
LORI
Why didn’t you say anything about this when we met before? We talked about so many things that night. So many life and death things.
ALEX
Uh, well, Gary and I don’t really talk about it. We decided after it happened that it is a very private matter, and we agreed that it wasn’t something that we wanted to share with anyone. It’s a little different now, because we’re starting over. With my sperm. And plus you’re trying too, so it seems like the right moment to share the story.
GARY
I still want a child, but I just feel better that Alex is fathering the baby. I can’t go through that again.
ALEX
We’re trying to work with the same surrogate, so she and I are both going through tests right now to see if there’s anything else we should be aware of in terms of our genetic histories.
LORI (to Gary)
But didn’t you do that already?
GARY
I did. But Hurler Syndrome isn’t something that genetics test necessarily look for unless you request it specifically. I knew I was a carrier, so I requested it. Kerry had no idea she was carrying it. All of her other pregnancies have been fine. She’s carried for three other people, and she has a child of her own.
LORI (to Jennifer)
We really need to check this out.
(Jennifer does not answer.)
ALEX
There’re so many possible genetic diseases, it’s really hard to know anything for sure. We’re just so relieved that there’s a test at all.
LORI
Have we gotten all the genetic information on these three donors that we’re looking at?
JENNIFER
I don’t know.
LORI
I’ll make the call on Monday morning.
JENNIFER
I just don’t understand.
LORI
Honey, it happens. To lots of couples. It’s just good that Gary knew to ask for the test so that they didn’t—
JENNIFER
How could you terminate the pregnancy? I mean, how could you do that?
LORI
Jen, I think you should—
ALEX
What are you talking about?
JENNIFER
How you could you just terminate the pregnancy like that?
GARY
Look, Jennifer, I don’t think that’s a very fair question given what we knew—
ALEX
How could you even ask that question? Do you think we just came to some easy decision about this? Like Gary called me up and said, “Oh, our baby’s going to have massive physical and mental disabilities. Let’s just trash that one and start over.” Is that what you think we did?
JENNIFER
I didn’t say that. I just don’t understand how you simply aborted the child. Those tests are predictors, not conclusive.
LORI
If they’re not conclusive then why do them?
JENNIFER
Because they can help you prepare for the child.
ALEX
How does anyone prepare for a child with that many problems?
JENNIFER
I don’t know that, but I do know that I wouldn’t terminate the child.
LORI
How can you say that?
JENNIFER
I just know I wouldn’t do it. It’s wrong.
ALEX
Please don’t start with a holier than thou position on this now too. You really piss me off with this attitude.
JENNIFER
Is my attitude “holier than thou” because you don’t agree with it? Is that it?
LORI
Jennifer, stop it.
JENNIFER
No, I want to know. Is that why? Because you don’t agree with my position?
GARY
I think what Alex is trying to say is that the decision was an awful one for us to make, the most difficult one I ever made, and it’s been very upsetting for all of us.
JENNIFER
What did Kerry want to do?
ALEX
Kerry was in complete agreement with the decision. It’s why we’re trying with her again. And if she wasn’t in complete agreement, she was working for us. We hired her to carry the baby.
JENNIFER
Yeah, but it was her egg, right?
GARY
Yes, which is why we included her in the decision-making process.
JENNIFER
That’s very big of you. To include the mother of the child.
GARY
Our contract with her made it clear that she signed away the right to the child long before the baby was even conceived.
JENNIFER
I don’t believe that’s possible. That a mother would willingly do that.
ALEX
See? There it is again! That attitude that you’re better. Why do entitled little rich girls always have this kind of attitude?
JENNIFER
It’s pretty ironic that you’re calling me an entitled rich girl when you and your partner are the ones who just terminated a pregnancy because the child might have a genetic disorder. How is that not entitled?
GARY
JENNIFER! The fetus tested positive for the disease. Kerry was a carrier and she didn’t even know it! Two carriers can generate a positive human being, and that’s what happened. Are you really saying that she should have carried the child to term? Do you really believe that?
LORI
Jen, I think we should go.
JENNIFER
No, we’re not going anywhere. I wanted to go a long time ago, and you made me stay, so now we’re finishing this. (to Gary) Yes, she should have had the baby, positive test or not.
ALEX
That’s very easy for you to say. You have no experience with this.
JENNIFER
I don’t need any experience. I have my faith, and that’s what I use to make my decisions.
ALEX
Oh, don’t start with the God stuff with me now too. How are you even a lesbian with all of this God stuff rolling around?
JENNIFER
That’s exactly what I meant before. You call me an entitled rich girl because I don’t believe the same things you do, which is so typical of you so-called gay liberals. You all LOVE to make people think you’re open to everyone’s viewpoint and everyone’s experience. “I’m so liberal. Anything goes. Everybody has a right. Fair is fair.” Until somebody disagrees with you or believes something that has some tradition behind it, and then you dismiss us as crazy or conservative or I don’t know what. I’m sick of it.
LORI
Jen—
JENNIFER
I am. I put up with the same kind of condescending attitude from your lefty family and all your lesbian friends. I’m so tired of pretending to agree with all of you. I think you’re a bunch of hypocrites who ALSO come from privilege, but you just like to pretend that you’re oppressed and play these victim games. The real victim is that child you aborted.
GARY
I can’t believe that after we’ve opened up our house to you, invited you to our table, you’re insinuating that we aborted our child like we were killing a house fly. You have no idea how difficult that decision was for us. I carried the ultrasound pictures around in my wallet. It was my screensaver picture at work. We were in contract for a new apartment, and we’d already picked out names. For a boy. Kerry was carrying a boy. And yes, even with all that, we made the decision to terminate the pregnancy. At four months. Do you have any idea how difficult it was going to be to raise a child with that many special needs? DO YOU?
JENNIFER
All I know is that God only gives you something that He knows you can handle. That’s what my grandmother told my aunt when she found out she was having twins a month before she was due. And my aunt believed it and everyone turned out just fine.
GARY
Well, that’s great for your grandmother and your aunt and you, but I don’t believe in God, so that advice doesn’t help me with anything. I saw my cousin Jack deteriorate for seven years. He was a beautiful little baby, and then around nine months he just started changing. His face and body started to grow differently, his development slowed way down. He never walked or even crawled. He was confined to a bed for all of those seven years. And I watched my aunt and uncle struggle every single day after they realized that his condition was permanent and would only get worse. It was awful. When he finally died, my aunt and uncle made it through one more year together and then they divorced. The marriage didn’t survive the illness either. We didn’t want that. We still don’t want that.
ALEX
And if we had to do it all over again we’d make the same decision.
JENNIFER
Unbelievable. That you have so little respect for the life of a child.
GARY
It’s really best if you go. I’ve tried my best to be polite and hospitable, and you’ve ceased to offer me the same level of respect. You talk about people being judgmental.
(Jennifer gets up, gathers her things, and goes to the door. She turns to Lori.)
JENNIFER
Lori, you heard what he said. Get your things and let’s go.
LORI
I can’t believe that the evening ended this way. And I can’t believe that I’m only now finding this out about you.
JENNIFER
What? That I believe in the sanctity of the life of a child?
LORI
That and how rigid you are about it. You’ve never said things like this before.
JENNIFER
I’ve been saying these things all along, you just don’t listen.
LORI
I would never think that you’d be that insensitive to someone else’s experience. Someone else’s pain.
JENNIFER
Insensitive to someone else’s pain. Anyone in this room besides me sensitive to the pain of that child? These two clearly weren’t and their surrogate wasn’t either. Now are you telling me that you can’t understand that too?
LORI
Knowing all that Gary knew about this disease and how it would have changed their lives to have this child, not to mention how much suffering the child would have had, you’re telling me that they should’ve still had the child?
JENNIFER
None of us has any way of knowing what that child’s life would have been like. God is the only one who knows that. Science can predict, but it’s not all knowing.
LORI
I really thought I knew you after all this time, but you’re like a stranger right now. It’s like when we walked through that door, you turned into a stranger.
JENNIFER
I’m not a stranger, Lori. Maybe you’re finally hearing me because of who we’re with. You’re listening differently. I don’t know why you’ve ignored what I had to say all this time, but you have.
LORI
Well, I’m not sure I like what I’m hearing.
JENNIFER
I haven’t liked what I’ve been hearing for a long time, but love is about more than liking what you hear.
(Lori looks at Jennifer. Jennifer turns away and opens the door and exits the apartment. Lori looks at Alex and Gary and then rushes to gather her things. She moves towards the open apartment door and stops, turning back to the men.)
LORI
Thanks.
(Lori turns and exits the apartment, shutting the door behind her, but we don’t know where she’s going. Is she going after Jennifer or is she going after something new. Gary and Alex are left staring at the closed door as the lights fade to black. END OF PLAY)