Standing in the Garden

(Lights come up on a junkyard. A four door car sits CR. The front end of the car tilts awkwardly downstage, sitting on the frame. The door is hanging open on its hinges. MOLLY is sitting in the car, slumped over the steering wheel, asleep. The missing wheel is laying DC, part of the broken axle still jutting from it awkwardly. KATE enters from SR.)

Kate
(Curt and determined.)
Of all days to have to come down here . . . . Come on, Molly.
(Shakes Molly.)
Molly, wake up. I’m taking you home.

Molly
Wha’? What are you doing here?

Kate
I’m here to take you home Molly.

Molly
Can’t go home.
(Reaches for ignition. Keys aren’t there)

Kate
I know, Charlie told me. That’s why I’m here Kate, to drive you home.

Molly
Charlie? Who the fuck is Charlie?

Kate
The guy that owns the junkyard—he goes to our church, Molly.

Molly
Can’t leave the car here.

Kate
It’s been taken care of Molly. Charlie said Dad can come by later and clean out the car. He won’t scrap it till Dad has a chance to come down here.

Molly
(Anxious.)
Did you call John?

Kate
(Pause.)
No. Dad’s working. That’s why Charlie called me. Come on. My car is parked up by the gate.
Molly
(Presses her forehead against the steering wheel. Awkward silence.)
Why are you here Kate?

Kate
(Looks at her watch.)
Oh for the love of . . .
(Opens the back door of Molly’s car, grabs her purse and slams the door.)
Molly, let’s GO!

Molly
Whatcha doin’ with my bag?

Kate
(Gratingly.)
I am carrying it for you. Now get out of the car so we can go home.

Molly
I don’t wanna leave the car.

Kate
Frankly, I don’t care what it is that you would like to do.

Molly
Who you think your talkin’ to?

Kate
You, Molly. You. Please, can we go now?
(Molly starts digging through the backseat.)
What are you looking for?

Molly
(Ignores Kate.)

Kate
I’ve got your bag right here, Molly. I have your things. Let’s go!

Molly
Jus’ . . . jus’ wait a minute.

Kate
What are you doing?

Molly
Nothin’. Not . . . I’m not doin’ anything. Where’s my bag?

Kate
I’ve GOT your bag right here.

Molly
Give it t’ me.
(Kate hesitates a moment then dumps the contents of the bag onto the hood of the car).
Wha’ . . . what’re ya doin’?!

Kate
(Holds up a prescription bottle and reads it.)
Fuck, Molly. You know, I had hoped that maybe . . . just maybe I might be wrong this time. Just once I’d like to be wrong about you . . . about this. But God forbid you keep your shit together for a change.

Molly
Fuck you.

Kate
How long do you think my father is going to put up with your stupidity? How far did you have to drive to get this one? Albany? Newark? Trenton? How many doctors and pharmacies does Dad have to call and warn about you? How do you expect us to help you if you keep circumventing everything we’re trying to do?

Molly
Oh yeah. You gonna help me? How’re you gonna help me? You don’t know a fuckin’ thing about me! So how d’ya plan on helpin’ me?

Kate
(Starts digging through briefcase and pulls out a cell phone.)
You know what? Dad can deal with this. He’s the one that decided to marry you, not me.

Molly
No! Wait! You’re right. Don’t have to call John! You’re right.

Kate
Whatever.
(Tosses her cell phone back in her briefcase and starts putting Molly’s things back in her purse.)

Molly
Kate . . . Katie sweetie. Maybe . . . maybe you could drop me off at the hospital instead. My . . . my back is hurting. I think it’s from the accident.


Kate
Why didn’t you have Charlie call an ambulance?

Molly
I . . . look. Maybe just give me a Vicodin. Just one. You hold onto the rest.

Kate
(Looks at the pill bottle in her hand. Turns around and throws it off SL.)

Molly
Fuck! Goddamn you! I need those!
(Tries to climb out of the car but stumbles into the mud.)

Kate
(Sarcastically.)
Right. Those are EXACTLY what you need. Get up. You’re going home.

Molly
Oh that’s right. You think you know what I need an’ what I don’t. You think you know everything. You and your shiny diploma and your perfect hair and your perfect job in your perfect fuckin’ world. Everyone thinks you’re so goddamn perfect! God I hate you.
(Tries to stand up and fails.)

Kate
Well at least that’s something we’re both agreed on.
(Starts dialing her cell phone.)

Molly
Sure. Go ahead. Run and tell “daddy” how much of a fuck up I am. Tell him I ran my car into a ditch cuz I was high . . .

Kate
Molly, it’s pretty damn obvious here why you wrecked your car!

Molly
(Laugh)
God . . . you just stand there lookin’ down your nose at me. In your pretty little white suit and your high heels. You say you wanna help me, but you can’t even be bothered to help me up. Might get some mud on yourself.
(Tosses mud at Kate.)

Kate
Oh my god! I can’t believe you did that!
(Grabs tissues out of her briefcase and wipes feverishly at her suit.)

Molly
What’s the big deal, Katie? Who’s gonna recognize ya in here? Charlie?

Kate
This is a two hundred dollar suit!

Molly
Bet it matches your fancy car.

Kate
Look, I worked hard to get where I am and have what I have! I moved ten hours away from all my friends and my mom to go to Yale. I gave up everything and everyone I loved . . . worked 50 hours a week to pay for law school because nobody couldn help me. And now, I work 70 hours a week at the office to afford my “fancy car”. So do NOT turn this on me. It is not my fault that after 45 years you haven’t figured out how to cope with life. You just run and hide in your own little drug induced fantasies!

Molly
Right. Cuz I’m the only one that runs away! You. Pretendin’ you gave up so much. You run away just like everybody else.

Kate
(Nervously.)
What are you talking about?

Molly
Why Yale, Kate? If it was so far away?

Kate
What in the world are you talking about? Yale is one of the best schools . . .

Molly
Did any of your friends go there?

Kate
No, but . . .

Molly
And what about your mom? When was the last time you talked to her?


Kate
What are you getting at?


Molly
What are you hiding Kate?

Kate
Nothing. I have nothing to hide. I have a degree from a great school, a fantastic job . . .

Molly
How about your girlfriend?

Kate
What?

Molly
What’s her name? Amy isn’t it? You guys spend a lot of time together at L'Aubergine . . .

Kate
Amy is just a coworker. She’s a paralegal in my firm. Occasionally we decide to work over dinner rather than confined in the office . . . .

Molly
Is part of the job description to hold hands?

Kate
What are you doing? Following me around?

Molly
Let’s just say I heard it from a friend. Not everyone that goes to Narcotics Anonymous is broke. Some of them even have fancy cars like yours.

Kate
Who do you think you are to pass judgment on me?

Molly
Judgment? No. Damn, I don’t care who you fuck.

Kate
So what is this? Blackmail? Some sort of playground game? You won’t tell on me if I don’t tell on you?

Molly
No. I think you should tell.

Kate
On you?
Molly
Fuck no. On yourself.

Kate
And how am I supposed to do that? Should I call my mom first and tell her that she isn’t going to be having any grandkids but that’s okay because she will have wonderful daughter-in-law instead? Or should I take my dad out to brunch this Sunday after church and break the news to him first? “Hi dad. I just wanted to let you know that I won’t be going to heaven because I’m a carpet muncher.” Look. I’ve worked hard to keep it from them for this long. I’ve given up a lot for my privacy.

Molly
Even your relationship with your Dad.

Kate
(Pause.)
Dad and I get along fine. There’s no point in causing issues if they aren’t there.

Molly
And with your Mom . . .

Kate
You don’t even know my mom . . .

Molly
And your friends . . .

Kate
We were all leaving to go to college soon so there was a good chance I was going to lose them anyways. I just didn’t want to be the one left behind so I made sure I left first. What does it matter anyway? I have Amy . . .

Molly
And what does she think about the fact you throw away anyone that tries to love you?

Kate
I do not. And we don’t talk about my family. I don’t want to and Amy respects that.

Molly
So you’ve pushed her away, too, then.



Kate
What do you care anyways! Since when did you start giving a damn about me, Molly? When I got a hold of your stash?

Molly
Your dad loves you, Kate. I didn’t have that. My mom was drunk all the time . . . at first. Then her liver started to die. So instead she started poppin’ pills. I preferred that. Usually she’d just pass out somewhere and sleep for hours. At least then there was some peace in the house. My dad was too busy avoiding us and pretending everything was normal. They didn’t even notice when I started raiding the liquor cabinet or swiping Mom’s percocet. Not even sure why I did it really. Maybe I hoped I’d get caught and they’d have to pay attention to me. But I kept doing it. Pop a few pills . . . wash it down with a half a bottle of Grey Goose. I finally understood why she did it. That sleep . . . for hours everything just went away.

Kate
Am I supposed to feel sorry for you? “Poor Molly. Mommy and Daddy didn’t love her so she became a drug addict.”

Molly
Fuck no. All I’m saying is John is a good man Kate. He loves you. Don’t throw that away. You’re not like me.

Kate
(Pause.)
Look. Let’s just go home. You’ll feel better after you sober up.

Molly
Don’t you get it Kate! I don’t have a home anymore! We’re done. You don’t owe me anything. He kicked me out Kate. Said he couldn’t watch me kill myself anymore . . . that he loved me too much. And what did I do? Told him to go and fuck himself.

Kate
I . . . oh Christ.
(Leans against the car. Silence.)

Molly
This car is all I’ve got. Everything I own is tucked in that trunk . . . thousands of dollars in medical bills. Empty check books . . . I opened a separate account just to get a hold of a blank check book . . . so your father wouldn’t know. And they’re gone. All bad checks. And I wouldn’t care if I could just forget the look in John’s eyes. But I can’t! Every time I want to pop another pill I see his face—that accusing look in his eyes . . . and I just want to go to sleep and make everything go away so I down the pill . . . and another and another. But then I wake up and I see his face again . . .

Kate
Stop! Just . . . just stop for a minute.
(Silence.)
Look. We’ll get it straightened out. I’ll have Amy write out the paperwork. You relinquish everything to Dad . . . the house . . . the car . . . everything! Then you file for bankruptcy. That will eradicate the debt. We’ll get you into a detox then a rehab . . .

Molly
How the hell am I gonna pay for rehab?

Kate
(Pause.)
I’ll pay for it.

Molly
No.

Kate
What do you mean “no” . . .

Molly
You don’t owe me anything and I’m not taking charity.

Kate
It’s not charaity! You’re right! You’re not my stepmom anymore. In my mind you never really were. You were just my father’s wife. But Christ! I still don’t want to see you laid out in a ditch somewhere!

Molly
(Stands up.)
Look. I don’t want your pity. I don’t want your sympathy. I don’t want shit from you.

Kate
You think I’m doing this for you? You accuse me of pushing him away, but I love my father. And he loves you Molly. God only knows why. I’ve been trying to figure out why for years now. At first I thought it was because you were so unlike my mother, but that isn’t it. I see the way he looks at you Molly. You see disapproval, but I see pain. I think he thought he could save you . . . the real you. The one you’re trying to kill with all these fucking pills. The one who laughs at his corny jokes and doesn’t care how bald or how out of shape he gets. The one who drags him hiking through the mountains to pick blueberries. The one who dances at church like she’s at a Grateful Dead concert. And if you can’t see that then maybe you don’t deserve to have him!

Molly
Get away from me!

Kate
You say dad loves me . . . as if I didn’t know that? I can see it. You tell me I shouldn’t push him away, but what’s the worst that could happen? I’ll lose him but he’ll still love me. If he were ever to see the real me . . . I don’t want him to stop loving me because of who I really am! Because of something I can’t change! But you . . . you’re not really this thing you become when you start using. And instead of trying to clean up and face who you really are you run away. Why won’t you just try? There are ways to get around this! But you can’t if you try and do it by yourself . . .

Molly
You gonna take me through the twelve steps? Don’t give me any of that crap. You don’t have a fucking clue. It’s like the fucking devils is curled up inside you whispering shit in your head!

Kate
Well how am I supposed to know if you don’t tell anyone!

Molly
Christ! You see the way I am! What’s the point? You and your dad . . . you feel things! Me . . . I don’t want to feel things! You want me to face who I really am? I’m dead inside Kate! You want me to face that!

Kate
What choice do you have?

Molly
No choice.
(Pause.)
You have no idea Kate. Everyday it’s like being Eve standing in the Garden staring at that damn apple. And there’s that voice whispering at you. But Eve . . . she took a bite and it was over. Even if it was the wrong choice she made it and it was over. For me . . . fuck. There’s a whole fucking orchard . . . .

Kate
And you just keep falling and falling.

Molly
Heh. Yeah. Something like that.

(Silence.)

Kate
So you’re just gonna run away again?

Molly
Sometimes it looks like you’re running away. Eve could have run away . . . turned her back on that apple and just walked. Your dad made a choice. He’s walking too. It’s so easy to pick that apple Katie. To run away. I suggest you stop running and start walking.

Kate
Come home. We’ll talk with Dad . . . figure things out.

Molly
Your Dad can’t save me Kate. Neither can you.
(Holds out a hand for her bag.)

Kate
Where are you going to go?

Molly
(Looks toward SL.)
To stare down the devil.

(Fade to black.)