by Jeff Goode
copyright © 2008

 
(Enter DJIMON.)
DJIMON. Nomi?
JD. (startled) Jesus God! You scared the beChrist out of me. Knock before you come in a room.
DJIMON. Is something wrong?
NOMI. No, we're okay--I'm okay.
DJIMON. You've been in here a long time.
NOMI. I know. I'll be right out.
DJIMON. It's a beautiful day. You should come outside awhile. There's something I want you to see.
NOMI. I will.
JD. Aren't you going to introduce us?
DJIMON. Are you sure nothing's wrong?
JD. Hi, my name's J.D. Just in from the States. We're lovers. That's the polite word: Lovers. Not me and you. Her and me. Back in the States. Not anymore, of course. You're married, it's over. So you don't need to feel threatened, or emasculated having me here. It's over for me, anyway. I can't speak for her. Never could. She may still have feelings. Probably not, but she does have an awful lot of my letters.
(DJIMON does not react to JD.)
NOMI. I need some time, Djimon. That's all.
JD. (confused) Okay, what just happened?
DJIMON. I'm just worried about--
NOMI. Don't worry.
JD. What am I, invisible? Pretending you're in denial is not going to solve your problems.
DJIMON. So what are you doing in here?
NOMI. Just putting some things in order.
DJIMON. Can't it wait till later?
NOMI. I'm almost done. This is the last box.
DJIMON. All right. Well... If you need any help, let me know.
JD. Okay, this is creeping me out. What am I? A ghost?
NOMI. No, I'm fine.
JD. Oh my God, I am! I got so caught up, I forgot I'm not in Australia. I think about it all the time. But I'm not here. This is your life. The way I imagine it. So I imagine I'm here, because you can't stop thinking about me! You can't get me out of your head. Can you? (to DJIMON) But you and I have never met. So, of course, you're a dick. I'm nothing to you. This is fantastic. So, I'm sorry, I guess I owe you an apology. You are ugly and you have a stupid accent, and I apologize. And your hideous taste in menswear. I apologize for that, too.
NOMI. I picked out that outfit.
DJIMON. Yes. For my last birthday.
JD. Oh... Well--sure, the outfit. But on him?
DJIMON. I was waiting for the right occasion. And I couldn't think of one. So I thought... Well, why not today?
NOMI. It looks good.
DJIMON. Thank you.
JD. Oh, please! Might look good on me, though.
NOMI. Oh, please.
DJIMON. What?
NOMI. Nothing.
DJIMON. Are you sure there's nothing I can help with?
NOMI. Just boxing up some old letters from an old friend. This is the last one.
JD. I think we were slightly more than friends. And by "slightly", I mean, "Lovers!"
DJIMON. You mean, an old boyfriend?
JD. Lover!! Oh, what's the Ozzie word for it? Shagging. Snogging. Slap and tickle. Maybe that's British.
NOMI. I was just reading them over. To see if there's anything worth keeping.
DJIMON. Should I be jealous you're thinking about saving old love letters?
JD. Absolutely.
NOMI. Well, it's the letters more than the love. He was kind of a poet. Kind of. They might be valuable someday. After he's dead.
JD. Don't get your hopes up.
DJIMON. Some of these are from you.
NOMI. I always wrote him back. I never sent them. I just write them.
JD. Why not?
NOMI. It was just something to do while I was waiting.
DJIMON. Waiting for what?
JD. Were you waiting for me?
NOMI. I don't know. (to DJIMON) Waiting for you, I suppose.
JD. I wish I had known.
NOMI. Would you like to hear one?
DJIMON. Well... sure.
(NOMI takes a pink letter out of a pink envelope and reads.)
NOMI. "Your fingerprints are on my barest thoughts.
A faded caress that grazes the skin of my brain.
The voice I used to long for now a whisper of memory tangled in my hair.
Tickling my ears. Like you used to when you were gentle.
That gentle time upon which once we loved.
And now we linger longing. Now and then.
When the breeze is right, and the sun a little lower.
Not just yet. But soon. And always.
And only now and then."
DJIMON. That's nice. Why didn't you send it?
JD. Yes, why didn't you?
NOMI. Because he wouldn't have understood.
JD. No, I get it.
NOMI. He would have thought it meant something.
JD. It does mean something. You're not clever enough to make that up.
DJIMON. I think it means something.
NOMI. It does. But not what he thinks.
JD. What am I supposed to think? That's love. Right there in black and white. And pink. That's what you always withheld from me. You were waiting for me. But I was waiting for that. One word of encouragement that could have saved us.
DJIMON. So you wrote it and never sent it.
NOMI. It was more... therapeutic.
JD. Yeah, I'm having a whole catharsis just thinking about it.
DJIMON. Does he know about me?
NOMI. He does now. My mother sent him an invitation.
DJIMON. To our wedding? She's never going to like me, is she?
NOMI. She's never going to like Australia. You...? You might grow on her.
DJIMON. Do you miss your home?
NOMI. This is my home.
JD. How can you stand here and lie to him? You're like a perpetual tourist here. Why don't you tell him that? So much for a relationship built on trust. (To DJIMON) And you! Trying to pretend you're not threatened. That's not the only pink envelope in that box. Why am I the only one that sees you never got over me?
NOMI. Would you like to hear another one?
DJIMON. If it's okay with you.
JD. Read him one about how we fuck. Let him hear that. How you used to love to beg me to fill you up. See if he can take that with a straight face.
(NOMI opens another pink envelope and reads.)
NOMI. "Beloved. Here we are: Raw, naked, and new on this precipice trembling. The harrowing steeps on either side of this precarious moment. No other anchor. Adrift in each other's eyes. And the sustaining hunger that draws us. I am yours if you will be nothing more than forever mine."
DJIMON. That's nice.
JD. That's hot is what that is.
NOMI. Do you remember?
JD. Oh, I remember.
DJIMON. Of course, I remember.
JD. July 4th. Coast of Maine. You made me climb to the top of Mount Cadillac at three in the morning so we could be the first ones to see the ass crack of dawn. Did you think I'd forget?
DJIMON. You read that at our wedding.
JD. You what?
NOMI. (nods) I read it at our wedding.
DJIMON. I remember.
JD. You fucking whore... That was mine. That was our moment. You wrote that for me. Oh my God. And now it's part of this!? What kind of sick, twisted bitch are you trying to be?
NOMI. I wrote that in the heat of a moment that I hoped... that I wanted to last forever.
DJIMON. Thank you. It's beautiful.
JD. Don't thank her, she didn't do it for you. This is all for my benefit. What do you think you're doing? Trying to show me how balanced your love is? How you love us each in our own way? Or how shallow your affections are? How you used both of us alike? You think you're hurting me. But at least I could've seen this coming. He doesn't even know what hit him. When are you going to tell him that you swore a vow to love him the way you already loved someone else?
NOMI. I can't.
DJIMON. You can't...what? Remember?
JD. What were you thinking? Even if you could get over me now--which we both know is beyond impossible--your sweetest minute with him will be a constant reminder of what you lost on me. This fantastic embrace of everything you're trying to get rid of. Do you call my name when you make love to him? Not out loud, because that would be too obvious. But in here. In your heart. Am I still running through your mind? My fingers through your panties?
NOMI. I can't do this.
(NOMI runs out of the room in tears.)
JD. Yes! Run away again! That's the Nomi I know. Erase me, if you can, but we'll always have you running out on me. We'll always Australia!
© 2008 Jeff Goode - THIS SCRIPT IS COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL AND MAY NOT BE DOWNLOADED, TRANSMITTED, PRINTED OR PERFORMED WITHOUT THE EXPRESS PERMISSION OF THE AUTHOR