What Happened to Tom by Peg Tittle

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This Play is the copyright of the Author and may not be performed, copied or sold without the Author's prior consent

With just a few exceptions, the entire play takes place in a
semi-private room of a health clinic. There are two beds: Tom is in
one, Simon is in the other. There is a dividing curtain between them,
with a split through which the tube/cord connecting them passes.
Until Dr. Anders draws back the curtain, Simon's side of the room is
in relative darkness.

Beside each man is a bank of monitoring equipment and an IV stand.

Between their beds is a bedside table on which stands a lamp, pitcher
of water, a glass, and a phone. (A second glass is on the table once
Simon wakes in Act Two.) The bedside table has a couple of drawers.
A phone book is in one of the drawers. There is a small plastic
garbage bag hanging on the knob of the top drawer. A television is
mounted in the upper corner of the room.

There is a door on one side, a window on the other. There is a chair
in the room, sometimes by the window, sometimes in the corner, and so
on.

ACT ONE

SCENE 1

Simon is unconscious and remains that way until the second act.

Tom is asleep, lying on his back. His hands are cuffed to the
bedrails, but the bedding initially hides this fact.

Gradually, Tom wakens, but his eyes remain closed; his expressions
indicate first, that he feels awful, and next, that he regrets
partying so hard last night.

Then his eyes open not with a sudden and full awareness, but
slowly, as if it's a struggle to gain consciousness, to gain
lucidity; his confused and uncertain expression reveals the awareness
that he wasn't partying last night was he?

He then becomes aware that he's not in his own bed. He's in what
looks like a hospital bed. He begins to get alarmed, more so because
he can't quite remember

He then looks to his right and sees the medical monitoring equipment
and IV stand. He jerks slightly, as if attempting to move, to sit up,
but the reflex travels no further than his chest.

Just as he opens his mouth to call "Nurse!" or something, Dr.
Anders strides in. She begins to check various monitors.

TOM: What happ

He breaks off as he focuses on her and recognizes her.

TOM: I remember you last night did we

He frowns that wouldn't explain why he's here.

TOM: We had a drink…

He grapples with his inability to remember, and then with the
implications of his inability to remember.

TOM: Did you put did you

He tries to wrap his head around the possibility of having been
slipped the so called 'date rape' drug and ?

DR. ANDERS: No.

She considers this more fully, then adds to her reply ambiguously
so it makes sense of our later discovery that she didn't rape him,
but in a way 'impregnated' him; she certainly did something to his
body without his consent.

DR. ANDERS: Not exactly.

TOM (continuing to struggle as awareness creeps back incrementally):
Wait a minute you're not a nurse you said you were a
doctor.

DR. ANDERS: I am a doctor.

TOM (with anxiety): What did you

He looks in vain at his body, completely covered by the bedding, then
appears to be trying to try to take an internal inventory. He begins
to panic, and struggles without success to sit up.

TOM: What did you take from me?

DR. ANDERS: Calm down. Relax. We didn't take anything.(pause) On
the contrary, we gave you

Tom's struggles have now disrupted the bedding so he, and we, see
that his wrists are cuffed to the bedrails.

TOM: What the hell why am I (becoming hysterical)
What the hell are you doing to me?

Dr. Anders calmly injects what is presumably a sedative into his IV
line. He slumps into unconsciousness.

Blackout.

SCENE 2

Tom is asleep, on his back, arms to the side under the covers, hands
visible and still tied to the bedrails. He awakes. And roars.

TOM: NURSE!! SOMEONE!! HELP!!

Dr. Anders walks in.

TOM: I demand that you undo these restraints.

DR. ANDERS: (mildly) Are you in a position to make demands?

Seething, he considers. And concedes.

TOM: I I'd like to see a lawyer.

DR. ANDERS: But you don't even know yet what

TOM: I know I'm here in this situation against my will. I
didn't agree to (he gestures vaguely with his head) whatever

DR. ANDERS: You were agreeable enough Friday night.

TOM: (through clenched teeth) Not to this.

She shrugs. Minor distinction.

He tries again.

TOM: I do not consent to this.

She nods, conceding. But as if she's won the point. She starts to
leave.

TOM: Wait a minute! You aren't going to undo these?

DR. ANDERS: Not yet. We're concerned you might hurt yourself.

TOM: Why would I

He suddenly sees that a tube, suggestive of an umbilical cord, leads
from his midsection out from under the covers to he looks at the
curtain and sees that the tube goes through it to to something.

TOM: Oh my god. What have you done? What have you done to me??

He becomes hysterical again. Dr. Anders administers a sedative again.
He falls back, helpless.

Blackout.

SCENE 3

Tom wakes to find Dr. Anders checking his monitoring equipment,
perhaps making some small adjustments.

TOM: Get away from me! If you ever touch me again without my
permission, I'll kill you!

Dr. Anders proceeds immediately to touch Tom, as she checks his pulse
and blood pressure.

DR. ANDERS: Look, there's really no need to be upset. The procedure
went very well.

She checks the tube in his side.

TOM: What procedure? What have you done to me?

She stops her examination now and gives Tom her full attention.

DR. ANDERS: Something wonderful. Tom, you're giving someone life.
(She pauses, then dramatically pulls back the curtain; Simon's side
is now lit.) Without you, Simon would die. (She nods at Simon, still
unconscious, lying in the bed.)
This is Simon. Simon Arture. Have you heard of him?

Tom is speechless with confusion and frustration.

DR. ANDERS: No? He's a world famous violinist. And he has he
had a fatal kidney disease. But now, thanks to you, he'll be
completely cured.

TOM: What are you talking about?

DR. ANDERS: It's a simple procedure really, I won't bother you
with the details. Basically, if the connection is maintained for nine
months, not only will the effects of the disease be reversed, the
disease itself will have disappeared. He'll live!

TOM: What connec (It suddenly occurs to him to follow the tube
from his midsection and he sees that it disappears under the
covers at Simon's mid section.) What kind of joke

DR. ANDERS: Oh I wouldn't kid around about something like this.

TOM: I'm (He suddenly backtracks to something she said.)
You expect me to stay like this for nine months? (he's livid)
No fucking way! (He struggles against the cuffs with all his post
surgery strength.) TAKE OFF THESE CUFFS!

She stands, arms folded, as he rages against the restraints.
Eventually, he's spent.

TOM: Please. Look, I understand you're trying to do something good
here, saving this guy's life and all, but I I can't be here
like this for nine months. I'll lose my job. (pause) This is
simply not something I'm prepared to do.
(He suddenly turns off the calm and rational approach and speaks now
in a tightly wound voice with barely concealed threat.) Take off
these cuffs!

DR. ANDERS: (totally not responding to his tone of voice or his
threat, which is, of course, completely empty)
I'm sorry, Tom, I can't do that. It's for your own good, really.
We're afraid you'll get hysterical

TOM: (getting hysterical) Hysterical?

DR. ANDERS: and disconnect.

TOM: You're damn right I will!

DR. ANDERS: (after a slight pause) Didn't you hear what I said? If
you disconnect, Simon will die. You'll be killing him. Are you a
murderer? Tom? Do you want to kill him?

Tom is silent. Then he breaks into a rage again, screaming. Dr.
Anders administers a sedative, Tom falls back into unconsciousness.

Blackout.

[end of extract]

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