Issue 8 • Winter 2003 • Featured Writer • Drama
Linda EisensteinScene 6Scene 6
JOEY reenters. MARLA is still on the floor. She is breathing fairly calmly now. She is doing a pretty good imitation of a statue of Buddha.
JOEY
Okay. I got upset. I said things that were...I'm sorry. Okay? You're an adult. You certainly have the right to practice whatever, whatever, what is it you're doing?
MARLA
My devotional practice.
JOEY
To practice whatever devotional practice you want.
MARLA
Yes I do.
JOEY
No matter how weird or peculiar it may look to me at first. You have the right...
MARLA
to remain silent. (giggles) Sorry.
JOEY
You can sit there and joke.
MARLA
Sorry.
JOEY
I'm making this apology, and you joke.
MARLA
It's a bad habit I have.
JOEY
Yes it is. Nevertheless. That is partially the point. It's your life. I can't change you, you can't change me. We agreed to this long ago.
MARLA
Yes we did.
JOEY
So you can do what you want. But I don't have to like it, do I?
MARLA
No, you don't.
JOEY
You do things that I don't like --
MARLA
like joking when you're trying to be serious --
JOEY
I do things you don't like --
MARLA
plenty of things --
JOEY
I work late,
MARLA
and you swear too much, and you're always mad!
JOEY
Yes, I'm mad a lot,
MARLA
but it's your constitutional right.
JOEY
Yes it is. It actually is in my constitution. It's the way I'm constituted, I can't help it, you've always known what I'm like.
MARLA
Yes, I know.
JOEY
And I know you don't always like these things about me, but you live with me anyway.
MARLA
Yes, that's true.
JOEY
So I am going to give you the benefit of the doubt, Marla.
MARLA
You are.
JOEY
Live and let live.
MARLA
Thank you.
JOEY
And I am going to try to curb my natural paranoia and not assume that you are doing this in order to torment and torture me. I am going to try not to assume that it is some kind of passive-aggressive vengeance you are taking upon me for my habits, that it is not some spiteful version of "turnabout is fair play" that is motivating you.
MARLA
That's very nice of you, Joey.
JOEY
Thank you.
MARLA
It's a very big step for you.
JOEY
Yes it is.
MARLA
I really appreciate this.
JOEY
But I don't like it, okay! I don't have to like it.
MARLA
No, you certainly don't.
JOEY
Good.
MARLA
Would you like some salsa and chips?
JOEY
God, yes. I'm starving.
MARLA pulls over the tray of salsa and chips. Throughout the next dialogue they settle in and chomp on the salsa and chips.
MARLA
Here.
JOEY
You can crawl around in here all you want. And I am going to try to deal with it in my own way.
MARLA
What way?
JOEY
I don't actually know. (a beat, as they chomp) I'll probably just try to ignore it a good deal of the time.
MARLA
Okay with me.
JOEY
These are surprisingly good.
MARLA
For low-fat chips, I agree.
JOEY
Are there any more?
MARLA
Over in the bag.
MARLA gets up and prostrates her way over and back with the bag of chips while JOEY speaks.
JOEY
It's surprising what you can get used to. I mean, six months ago you'd never have had these in the house and I never would've eaten them either.
MARLA
True.
JOEY
So change is possible. It creeps up on you, incrementally.
MARLA
Uh-huh.
JOEY
I mean, I had a girlfriend once who smoked these nasty little cigars with the wooden tips.
MARLA
Yukko.
JOEY
I never liked it, she was always fumbling around for matches at inappropriate moments, I hated the smell on her clothes and in my car, but it was part of her -- so eventually I accepted it.
MARLA
But you're not still with her. (a beat)
JOEY
True. Perhaps that wasn't the most uplifting example. (a beat)
MARLA
Did her smoking have something to do with your breaking
up?
JOEY
No. Not exactly. But come to think of it, it was kind of symbolic of the relationship. It bothered me that she would continue to do something that she knew I hated so much. It seemed...pretty selfish. And kind of self-destructive to boot.
MARLA
So because she wouldn't change, you left her.
JOEY
I didn't say that.
MARLA
It was...implied.
JOEY
Well, her behavior was self-destructive in more than one way.
MARLA
Ah.
JOEY
Smoking was just one part. We certainly both knew it was bad for her.
MARLA
Well. Then it doesn't apply. Because I've already told you how much good my practice has already done for me.
JOEY
Huh.
MARLA
Really.
JOEY
Benefit of the doubt.
MARLA
I mean, people don't leave people when they change for the better, do they?
JOEY
I guess not.
MARLA
I mean, that wouldn't make sense.
JOEY
It's just that...well, you never really know what's being set in motion. When someone really begins to change.
A long uncomfortable pause.
MARLA
I love you a lot, Joey.
JOEY
Yes. Yes, I think you do.
MARLA
And you love me.
JOEY
Yes, Marla, I do. (a beat) God help us both.
Lights dim, to a spot on MARLA.
Next Page:
Scene 7 (page 8 of 10 pages)
All Pages: See the entire play on one page
Table of Contents: Marla's Devotion
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Linda Eisenstein's plays and musicals have had over 100 productions throughout the world. Her award-winning plays include Three the Hard Way, The Names of the Beast, Marla's Devotion, Discordia, Star Wares: The Next Generation, and Rehearsing Cyrano. Her plays and monologues have been published by Dramatic Publishing and appear in anthologies by Smith & Kraus, Heinemann, Penguin, and Vintage Books. Her poetry and fiction have appeared in Blithe House Quarterly, Kalliope, Whiskey Island, and Anything That Moves. She lives in Cleveland, Ohio.
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