Embrace Arms by Linda Evans

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CHARACTERS

EATON TATE: female, about 35

BLAKE, her Sergeant father

AJ, Blake's brother

WHITNEY GOMEZ, coordinator

Simple set; Two weeks

ACT I SCENE 1

BLAKE'S HOSPITAL ROOM

EATON arrives, struggling with her suitcase and board games. BLAKE, wearing street clothes, is on the floor on his knees next to the hospital bed

BLAKE: Eaton!

EATON: How are you, Dad? Let me help you.

BLAKE: No thanks. (a beat)I'm great! But look at you!

EATON: I don't feel good.

BLAKE: You're gray. Nausea?

EATON: Yes.(pause)Dad, get up.

BLAKE: Lie down. You don't look good.

EATON: I don't have time. I'm late and don't know why. I was early at the airport.

BLAKE: You stopped by the house.

EATON: Yes! The cab wouldn't wait. I couldn't find Tiddleewinks. So I caught a bus.

BLAKE: It's in the closet. Everything is shoved way back deep.

EATON: I found Twister.

BLAKE: Good! Let's see.

EATON: Dad, you're on the floor.

BLAKE: I found my pill but this is better. Let's play! Give me a pillow. SHE removes her jacket and places it under BLAKE'S knees.

BLAKE: Get a game out. Where's the spinner? That dad blasted thing with a pointer. Play! (GRUNTING as he gets up. HE gets the TWISTER game)

BLAKE: Good! This is the life.

EATON: She called me about the psychological profile. Whitney, the transplant coordinator. She'll walk right in and see you.

HE spreads out the TWISTER mat. BLAKE GRUNTS and PUFFS as he gets down on the floor again to play.

BLAKE: Get down here.

(SHE joins HIM on the floor. HE spins and begins the TWISTER game play in real time: IF spinner lands on YELLOW HAND, HE shouts out “Yellow” placing his hand on YELLOW and so forth)

BLAKE: What time is it?

EATON: Almost five.

BLAKE: I was telling that transplanting gal ....

EATON: She's a person. Not a gal. Whitney!

BLAKE: ...that Whitney person, 'Normally, the parent helps the child'. Spin!

SHE spins. BLAKE takes his turn in game play, shouting out the name of the colors. BOTH are twisting their legs and legs. EATON is having fun.

EATON: Where's your wallet?

BLAKE: They took my wallet.

EATON: Normally, parents do the giving. But I'm grown and you're weak. No leaning on things for support. Let's go!

BLAKE: We play for keeps. The one who does not fall, gets 'everything'.

EATON: Everything? Move!

BLAKE: I'm dying. And I feel great! Look at me.

BOTH resume game play, spinning, twisting and calling out colors. HE struggles.

EATON: It's not the same. It's not the same as games when you're six years old.(BOTH sit on the mat exhausted) Glitter. Yellow. It's on your forehead and your hair.

BLAKE: Those kids on the surgery floor make get well cards for the transplant patients. Imagine that! Glitter goes everywhere.

EATON: We should do something back to them. Nice.

BLAKE: Okay! Sweet little kids. You should see them. Something big. Like it matters.

HE puts one foot on the mat and holds onto the bed and gets up)

EATON: No, Dad! Cheating. In regular Twister you can't hold on to anything.

BLAKE: Get up here.

EATON: Who wins?

BLAKE: You win.

EATON: Everything? Your '74 Pontiac Grand Prix?

BLAKE: Who else would I give it to?

SHE gets up from the TWISTER mat happy.

EATON: I found the woolly hat. Army thing.

BLAKE: The Woolly Walleye. A Colonel One Eye from Cornell gave that to me. That was only one of my many touches with greatness. There's nobody military here.

EATON: Sergeant Tate's old comedy night? Let's go up and down the halls. Pull privates into the hallways and bring them to laughter.

BLAKE(laughing): Maybe in a Vet Hospital. (pause)Everybody here is too sick for comedy night. I've lost my following, Eaton.

EATON: Did you say right after you made those comedy skits, you were promoted to Staff Sergeant?

BLAKE: The commander said he could see something, like something big in me! Opportunity makes you rise to the top. Always be ready. Prepare, Eaton. Always. Be ready!

EATON(reading a medical pamphlet):'Weakness. Irritation.' Are you sure you have kidney disease? You're not a fake are you?

BLAKE(renewed, to the floor):Spin! Let's go.

EATON: Dad, I didn't mean anything.

BLAKE: What? Just do it. Get into motion. You're getting back at me.

EATON: For all those times you never played with me when I was a child and alone and grieving for my mother and you wouldn't play with me?

BLAKE: Yes!

EATON: That is not what this is. Spin!

BLAKE: I was tired then, like I'm tired now.

EATON: Should we stop?

BLAKE: No! Put your whole hand on this YELLOW. With conviction.

EATON: Stop!

BLAKE: SHOOTS AND LADDERS! Spin. (a beat)I thought you would fight back.

EATON: I want to feel the moment. I was so excited when I found out. I'm an exact match. Dad, I'm giving you my kidney.

BLAKE: You don't have to.

EATON: It's like we're a family. You and me…and we can pretend there's all kinds of other people.

BLAKE: We haven't seen each other in two years, kid. I put that monkey on your back.

EATON (going through his things): This thing is a nice card!

BLAKE: Cee Cee.

EATON: I thought….

BLAKE: Yes. She's gone. Wife number 2.

EATON: With a card, that means she's thinking of you. Because cards give energy.

BLAKE: But look here!

EATON: What is it?

BLAKE: She puts her lipstick on something…I think it's my behind.

EATON: This is not good. This is something you should not be looking at. We tear this up and put it somewhere. In a caldron. And we have a good-riddance ceremony for…

BLAKE: Cee Cee. I liked her.

EATON: Negative energy. We get rid of it. No war. No bad stuff. It's love. Love. Songs of love. And old late night comedies of love and old love stories of love….

BLAKE: I'm glad you came, kid.

EATON: Well, you certainly need me. The truth? By now….

BLAKE: What…?

EATON: I thought you'd have control of this.

BLAKE: Spin!

EATON: It's only two divorces. We invite people into our houses…and bed chambers who want us to thrive.

BLAKE: I'm cutting all ties with Cee Cee. I will never get married again!

EATON: Good. Neither will I. Regrets?

BLAKE (maybe sung):'A few. Not enough to mention.' You never did get married.

EATON: I never smoked either but I know it will kill me. 'Attraction. Repulsion'.

BLAKE: What?

EATON: My dissertation. My doctorate. Sounds simple. Easy. Doesn't it. Repulsion. Attraction. All the time, anything and everything is coming to and pushing way.

BLAKE: At the same time?

EATON: No. That would be what? Stagnation! Every cell in your body is screaming about the poisons building up in those kidneys. Look at your hands.

BLAKE: Yellow.

EATON: Rusty brown. Ochre. Your skin is screaming. Why aren't you?

BLAKE: I am! I'm screaming. I can't get their attention.

EATON: Loud!

BOTH SCREAMING

BLAKE: Stop it! You'll get us put in a loony bin. Dag Nabbit, Eaton! Quiet!

EATON: (grabbing at the pillow)You promised a good fight! Sit up! You're fading away. No, Dad. Give it to me.

BLAKE: (to block her) It's here. I worked and worked for what? (the pillow) This thing!

EATON: This thing says you're a quitter.

BLAKE: I never made a million dollars.

EATON: This thing. It's a fat white flag, Dad. It spells retreat. Give it to me.

BLAKE (lying down on the bed holding the pillow): I will not give up the ship. I will not!

EATON: I know you. This is worry. (a beat) Is it worry?

BLAKE: Do I look worried? (pause)Thank you, Eaton, for the kidney and the visit.

EATON: Don't worry.

BLAKE: This is not a visit. This is a death vigil. This is my hospital and I'm a sick man.

EATON: I feel better since we played the games.

BLAKE: I'm dying. You'd better get used to it.

EATON: Listen one dog gone minute, The operation will proceed as planned. . I am here!

BLAKE: It's a waste of taxpayer's money.

EATON: Fear! I see fear!(grabs the buzzer on the wire) Nurses! This is Sergeant Blake Tate's daughter.

HE scrambles taking it from HER. EATON grabs hard for it but misses.

BLAKE: (calling)Nurse! I don't want that transplant. Who do I call to cancel orders.

EATON:(calling, brightly into the microphone on wire) Hi! I am the daughter living donor. Hi! It's time for me to talk with the transplant coordinator. Yes. Whitney Gomez. Thank you? Thank you! (getting her bag together, ready to EXIT) (to BLAKE) See how I did that! Straight. Direct. It's a fight to the finish, Dad. Start fighting!

EATON EXITS

SCENE 2

WHITNEY'S OFFICE

WHITNEY and EATON greet.

WHITNEY: Whitney Gomez. Transplant Coordinator. I tie up all split ends! Mr. Tate is scheduled for surgery tomorrow morning. (reading)Blood types, a match. Okay. Okay. Since lab tests were done months ago, we like to do them again. Colds or viruses?

EATON: I feel fine.

WHITNEY: Terrific! That nasty Big-R, rejection, is always a worry. We don't want to introduce germs to your Father's system, do you?

EATON: Whitney, my Father is in there, quiet as a titmouse. He should be bellowing, boiling over with rage. He is not my Father!

PAUSE

WHITNEY: I know the titmouse. Stout bill. Big black eyes. Sits on my porch from time to time. So! (a beat)Let's begin. Mr. Tate has end stage renal disease. His fights are quiet now, cell by cell.

EATON: Poison is filling up his mouth. He can barely speak.

WHITNEY: But I see flashes of promise! I am so enthralled with your Father that I have put him into my thesis. I am putting my cookies on him. He is Mr. Average Fighting Man Joe.(pause) Let's get down to it. Reviewing your scores.

EATON: Above average! When you lump us together we rise to the top.

WHITNEY: Good! I see you sent back an incomplete Psychological Profile Test. Any reason?

EATON: I'm lucky to have my mouth on straight. My hat. Gone. I lost my hat on the airplane.

WHITNEY(reading): Eaton P. Tate, PhD. Ah, you teach.

EATON: UCLA.

WHITNEY: No small potatoes. You should be back in two weeks.

EATON: Five days. I thought, 5 days.

WHITNEY: Something tells me you didn't do your homework.

EATON: No time.

WHITNEY: Take time. We all own the same 24 hours. (a beat) Perhaps, not.(flips through the file) The Psychological Profile. Let's go!(reading)'Are you close?'(ready to notate)

EATON: He's my Father.

WHITNEY: Yes. But are you close? My Dad and I enjoyed many hours taking still photography of birds.

EATON: Blake lives in Indiana. I live in Los Angeles. I do come here. Family reunions.

WHITNEY: When you were a child, were you close?

EATON: When?

WHITNEY: Child hood.

EATON: By what age?

WHITNEY: All right. Is there a picture of your family in your purse?

EATON: No, not really.

WHITNEY(writing): Thank you for your cooperation. (a beat) Joyful childhood?

EATON: Why not.

WHITNEY: Describe it.

EATON: Never boring. Blake is never boring.

WHITNEY: What stands out in your mind?

EATON: Terrific birthday cakes. Lots of singing.

WHITNEY: Close your eyes and think of Blake's house.

EATON: He's remarried.

WHITNEY: Keep looking with your eyes closed. What do you see?

EATON: There's lots of pictures. There's no pictures of me. (WHITNEY writes furiously)That man in there can't tell negative from a positive which means he can't tell good from evil which means he can't tell hell from salvation and you want him to go to surgery? Drop him on the floor if you have to. Wake him up. Make him want to live.

WHITNEY: Okay. I'm with you, Eaton. You are the kind of relative donor we like to see! So you are the cherry pit that fell, not far from the tree. Blake is difficult and you are….

EATON: Right. (a beat) A pit.

WHITNEY: Terrific! Don't 'Lollygag' Mr. Tate. Replace fear with rage! Rugged Individualism.

EATON: Yes. Very solid American Joe.

WHITNEY: And you are very solid American…?

EATON: Joe-ette!

WHITNEY: Good! I can make a graphic out of that. My thesis advisor started out in Art History, you know the type. Do you like being the cherry pit?

EATON: When I'm not around.

WHITNEY: And you're not around very much.

EATON: It's a long way to Indiana. (long pause)Unless you get the phone call.

WHITNEY: Good! The phone call. Is that how you found out?

EATON: (doing BLAKE impression, having fun with it):'Get in here, kid. Or you won't have me to push around anymore.' Something like the press and Dick Nixon.

WHITNEY: What do you mean?

EATON: Someday Dad and I will be sitting around a fire when this is all done and he'll say, 'Finally! You made something of your life. You gave me your kidney.'

PAUSE

WHITNEY: Is that funny? Does he think you've done nothing with your life? My master's thesis is just that! Examples of family coercion that get unhappy outcomes, and then the donor sues the hospital.

EATON: Woe! You wait a minute! No one ever said anything about suing.

WHITNEY: This is a complication! (pause) It gets cleared with the psychiatrist on call and then…Legal.

EATON: Because of your thesis?

WHITNEY: Because of family coercion. I said too much. (a beat) How does your family do this to me!

EATON (barrowing time): Surgery is set for tomorrow morning. Oh! Okay! You tell Blake. He'll blow this floor to kingdom come.

WHITNEY: You didn't feel out the profile.

EATON: Change that! Push it through! Blake is…. I had sprouts of celery. I was going to throw them away. Out. But…watch this. I…put them in a dry martini glass. Put in water. That water disappeared into all of it. Overnight! And that morning…when I looked at it, it was green! Pale, skinny wilty, that yellowy white celery turns green. Now! Tell me, where did that chlorophyll come from? Life. New life came into it!

PAUSE

WHITNEY: We do have AJ!

EATON: Uncle AJ? Why is he here?

WHITNEY: A willing participant. He's been eager from the start. And he lives near by.

EATON: Big Al's gas station.

WHITNEY: I find that interesting and complex. Sometimes it's nice to have two in waiting. (a beat) 6PM. Good.

EATON: What about me? AJ is yet another tree. I am the pit!

Running time 90 minutes

[end of extract]

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