THE WRITER is completing the rough draft of a story. At this point the character of RUPERT has returned to his lover CYNTHIA after being away at war.
RUPERT: Cynthia. My love. You’ve changed.
CYNTHIA: Changed, my dearest? I haven’t changed – I have stayed just as you remembered me. It’s you who have changed.
RUPERT: I suppose I have. The war …
CYNTHIA: I know.
RUPERT: What do you know?! Wait – I’m sorry … I was wounded, did I tell you that? How have I changed?
CYNTHIA: In little ways.
RUPERT: It was in the Google …
CYNTHIA: What?
RUPERT: Where I was wounded.
CYNTHIA: Oh? And where is that … exactly … where …?
RUPERT: About a hundred miles north of Paris.
CYNTHIA: Oh. And … I mean … where does it hurt?
(THE WRITER types.)
RUPERT: In my head.
(THE WRITER types.)
In my arm.
(THE WRITER types.)
In a place I can’t show you at the moment.
CYNTHIA: Oh dear.
RUPERT: Oh dear?
CYNTHIA: I’m sorry you were wounded.
RUPERT: I was wounded?
CYNTHIA: That’s what you just said.
RUPERT: I did?
CYNTHIA: You don’t remember?
RUPERT: Remember what?
CYNTHIA: Being wounded.
RUPERT: I was wounded?
CYNTHIA: In the Google.
RUPERT: A hundred miles north of Paris.
CYNTHIA: Yes!
RUPERT: I don’t remember.
CYNTHIA: Nothing? Anything?
RUPERT: It comes and goes. Did I tell you I was wounded?
CYNTHIA: Yes. Beside that, what do you remember?
RUPERT: Clean slate. Nothing.
CYNTHIA: Oh.
RUPERT: Why is that?
CYNTHIA: How should I know?
RUPERT: It bothers you, doesn’t it? We know each other, and it bothers you I don’t remember.
CYNTHIA: The important thing is that you get better.
RUPERT: We’ve known each other a long time? We’ve known each other a short time? We do know each other.
(CYNTHIA stares it Rupert,)
Oh-h-h …
CYNTHIA: What?
RUPERT: We … know, that is, KNOW … and uh, that is, YOU … and you know that … I don’t … I mean I DO, I really do, but I don’t … know … that I do … know. Is this making any sense to you at all?
CYNTHIA: I’m trying.
RUPERT: So I was thinking … that is, you know, I was thinking …
CYNTHIA: What?
RUPERT: I was thinking, I mean – it occurred to me that, if maybe, maybe we were to uh, that is, if we … knew each other … a little … maybe my memory would come back. Maybe. You know – I think that doing things that are familiar to me … might … it was just a thought.
CYNTHIA: Do you really think that would help?
RUPERT: Cross my heart!
CYNTHIA: I don’t know what to say.
RUPERT: I understand.
CYNTHIA: If you really think that would help …
RUPERT: I do! I do!
THE WRITER: Rupert hesitated, wondering if now was the time …
RUPERT: No no no. Hesitation – bad thing. Bad. Mind your own business!
THE WRITER: … wondering if now was the time to tell her …
RUPERT: Tomorrow! I’ll tell her tomorrow! Promise!
THE WRITER: ... the time to tell her his terrible secret ...
RUPERT: Later tonight. I’ll tell her tonight. Later.
THE WRITER: … this terrible secret he had been keeping …
RUPERT: Fifteen minutes! Please!
THE WRITER: … a secret he could no longer keep alone. A secret he must share with …
RUPERT: Alright! Alright! So what’s this big deal secret? And make it quick.
THE WRITER: Approaching Cynthia, he takes her tenderly in his arms …
RUPERT: That part’s good.
THE WRITER: Looking deep into her eyes, he says …
RUPERT: Darling, there’s something I have to tell you.
CYNTHIA: What is that, my dearest?
RUPERT: I have no idea. What?
THE WRITER: I have an incurable disease.
RUPERT: I’ve got a very bad cold. (HE coughs once.)
THE WRITER: I have a wife and three children in another town.
RUPERT: I have relatives in Outer Mongolia.
CYNTHIA: You do?
RUPERT: So it seems.
CYNTHIA: We’ll have to go visit them sometime.
RUPERT: Yeah sure.
THE WRITER: I’m actually gay.
RUPERT: I’m actually ga … ga …very happy to be here.
On my own, with all of my falls.
10 years ago
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