(Steve and Claire are in a hospital waiting room. Claire looks really beat up. Tired. Like she’s been through it. Her eyes are puffy. Steve is sitting next to her. His left hand is wrapped in a bloodied t-shirt, and his glasses have taped back together with duct tape so that he can wear them. The two of them together are a sad sight. Claire sighs heavily, reaches into her bag and takes out a small flask. She unscrews the cap and takes a swig. Steve is mortified.)
STEVE
You know, it is only (he looks at his watch) 10:30 in the morning.
CLAIRE
And? (she takes another drink)
STEVE
What are you doing drinking at 10:30 in the morning?
CLAIRE
I always drink something at 10:30 in the morning. Coffee, water, bloody mary—
STEVE
Fine, but that’s whiskey and we’re in a hospital, Claire.
CLAIRE
Again I say, “And?”
STEVE
“And” our sister is in the psych ward because she tried to kill me a couple of hours ago, and now you’re sitting here drinking out of a flask for all the world to see.
CLAIRE
We’re the only ones in here, Steve. That’s the delight of emergency rooms in small towns at this time of the morning. They tend to be quiet. Except for ladies in labor, of which there are none in sight. What a blessing. (She drinks again, finishing what’s in the flask.) Damn! (She caps the flask and puts it away.)
STEVE
You smell like a homeless person.
CLAIRE
Do you know what a homeless person smells like?
STEVE
You smell like what I imagine one smells like. Like alcohol.
CLAIRE (with some alcohol-induced swagger)
Oh, lighten up, Stevie. I had a long and unpleasant night, made only more so when your call came in.
STEVE
Don’t call me Stevie. I hate that.
CLAIRE
Why ever would you say that, Stevie? You used to love it when you were little.
STEVE
Not true, Claire, and I'm not little anymore.
CLAIRE
Are you going to get all rambunctious now too? Should I call the nurses to take you upstairs? Do you want the bed next to Julia?
STEVE
It’s not funny. Stop making jokes about it. She had no idea what she was doing.
CLAIRE
Tell that to your hand, baby brother. She did a real number on you.
STEVE
I should have never tried to wake her up. I woke up and she was thrashing around in bed, yelling out for mom and dad. I heard her yelling but I thought it was part of this dream I was having about when we were little, and she was doing that flip-over-the-traveling-bars trick she liked to do. In the dream Uncle Steve and Aunt Jenny came up the driveway while she was doing the trick, and she started yelling for mom and dad. Then Uncle Steve picked her up and started twirling her around, and he did that thing where he carried her around in the palm of his hand, like underneath her dress, and—
CLAIRE
Steve—
STEVE
And then all of the sudden I was awake and she was thrashing around and I went to try and calm her down and I touched her, tried to shake her awake, and she freaked out, she totally freaked, and she sat up, eyes open, but not really seeing me, and she grabbed the scissors from the side of the bed and started stabbing up me. It was awful and then she hit my hand and I started bleeding everywhere, but I grabbed her and tried to get her to calm down. And she finally calmed down, but she kept telling me to stop singing. She was totally out of it, Claire. That’s when I called 9-1-1. She just lay in the bed, rolling back and forth, telling me to stop singing. It was like I wasn’t really there or something. Every few seconds she would stop rolling around, look right at me, and not see me. Like she was looking through me or something. When the ambulance guys got there, she started yelling again, telling them to get back in the box and leave her alone. And they had to strap her onto the gurney and restrain her. It was so awful.
CLAIRE
You’re lucky she only nicked your hand with those scissors.
(They are silent for a moment. Just sitting in the memory of that story.)
STEVE
What’s wrong with her, Claire?
CLAIRE
I don’t know.
STEVE
She’s distant and upset since Mom and Dad died—
CLAIRE
We’re all upset, Steve.
STEVE
It’s like she doesn’t want to talk about them.
CLAIRE
Well, maybe she doesn’t.
STEVE
But how can she be that way? Our parents were killed in a car accident.
CLAIRE
Six months ago.
STEVE
And?
CLAIRE
And why are you still stuck in it, Steve? They’re gone. You have to deal with it. We all have to deal with it. We are dealing with it.
STEVE
How are you dealing with it? Drinking?
CLAIRE (ignoring his last comment)
We are going through their belongings, getting the house ready for sale, making sure we all have things to remember them by—
STEVE
We buried them six months ago, and we’re already divvying up their stuff—
CLAIRE
What do you think we should be doing? I didn’t want to be the executor, but that’s what they wrote in the will. I thought you got asked to do that before someone just made you the executor, but not Mom and Dad. Oh no. They just did it.
STEVE
You’re the oldest, Claire, that’s you’re job.
CLAIRE
What if I didn’t want the job?
STEVE
You and Julia are always putting them down. You show no gratitude or compassion or anything towards our parents. (forgetting where he is) THEY WERE KILLED IN A CAR ACCIDENT! BY A DRUNK DRIVER!
CLAIRE
KEEP YOUR VOICE DOWN! (looking around to see if anyone is coming) Don’t you think I remember it clear as day? We sat right here in this emergency room and found out what happened.
STEVE
And Julia didn’t come until the next day.
CLAIRE
She lives in another state, Steve. She couldn’t get a flight in any earlier. She got here as fast as she could.
STEVE
She could've driven. Or taken the train. It’s only seven hours.
CLAIRE
Steve, listen to me. I don’t know how you can’t figure this out. You and Julia are fraternal twins. You’re supposed to have all of this sixth sense bullshit where you know stuff about each other, but yours must be on mute or something. You're clueless when it comes to this person you shared a womb with for 9 months.
STEVE
What are you talking about?
CLAIRE
You have no idea why Julia is the way she is? Why she stays away from here? Why she’s up in the psych ward? Did you ever pay attention when we were little?
STEVE
Of course I paid attention. What are you talking about?
CLAIRE
I don’t think you did. I don’t think you paid attention to any of it. You didn’t have to. It was easy enough to just ignore it.
STEVE
OK, you’ve completely lost me. What the hell are you talking about?
CLAIRE
I’m talking about Uncle Steve and Aunt Jenny and Christmases year after year after year.
STEVE
Yeah, so what? They came every year. Stayed with us. It was fun.
CLAIRE
For you.
STEVE
And for you. You and Aunt Jenny are still close.
CLAIRE
Somewhat.
STEVE
And Uncle Steve-- … well, he—uh. Well, that was a real loss.
CLAIRE
For you.
STEVE
For all of us. Aunt Jenny. Mom and Dad. You, me, Julia. He loved Julia so much.
(Claire just looks at Steve.)
STEVE
What? What’d I say?
(Claire is silent for a moment. She collects herself. Prepares to say something. Stops. Looks down at her bag. Looks at Steve again. Turns away. Cries out. Stifles it. Starts to cry. Silently but fully.)
STEVE
What? Claire, what’s happening? (she can’t respond) Claire? He loved her. He loved all of us. Uncle Steve loved all of us.
(Claire finally collects herself. Looks at Steve.)
CLAIRE
He did love all of us, Steve. But he loved Julia a little too much.
(Steve looks at Claire like he doesn’t understand. Lights shift. End of scene.)