Mary E. Williams

Things I Am Still Unsure About

Dylan Harbison

the value of small talk the intentions of my lover whether I enjoy the taste of coffee

the sound of my voice the face I make sleeping

exactly how my eyes light up when I talk about art

which direction the earth is spinning

how time only accelerates how to make it stop

if math even exists if anyone knows anything at all

when it was that my parents stopped loving each other

how I picked my lovers if I ever loved them and if not why I kept trying

how to use chopsticks how to bury a ghost how to lie through my teeth

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The Sale

Mary E. Williams

INT. LIVING ROOM Dingy living room of what is obviously a run-down house in a rundown neighborhood. The walls will have a random crack alongside aged children’s drawings and cloudy family photos. Piles of old mail and bills litter the floor and table by the door and spill out of the brown milk crate by the doormat. A mustard yellow corduroy couch sits in the center of the room with an old-school, thick television with antennae sitting in front of it. The living room opens up to a small kitchen on the far end and a stairway is situated in front of the front door. Carpet lines the floors, wrinkling and bunching like a fresh-fallen snow. Brown wood paneling lines the walls uniformly. Front door opens, banging into an already formed dent in the entryway wall. Enter LAUREN, dressed in an untucked flannel shirt and work pants with many pockets. She stands in the threshold breathing heavily with her hand still on the knob, creating a silhouette against the light from outside. Slamming the door, she bends down to rifle through the crate by the entrance. ALEX is sprawled on the couch in a tank top and sweatpants with one pant leg rolled up to accommodate a bulky plaster cast. The leg is balanced on the arm rest opposite the one her head is resting against. She has to crane her neck backwards to see LAUREN by the door and then quickly returns her eyes to the blizzard-like TV screen to her left.

ALEX: Well, how does it feel to do good big sister deeds instead of teaching a thirteen year old how to pick pockets for fun? How did Claudia like the construction crew?

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LAUREN: (still crouched, looking through the crate) Where’s the bat?

I swear…

ALEX: Hey. (looking over the edge of the couch toward LAUREN) Did you drop Claud off or what?

LAUREN: (flustered, distracted, now loudly looking through the coat closet under the stairs) Um, well, something happened. ALEX: (sighing, shifting on the couch) Tell me now while Mother’s out. Said she was selling something of hers. So, she’ll be gone for another half hour maybe. LAUREN: Aha! (pulls a baseball bat from the closet) ALEX: (getting up from the couch, grunting) What are you— dammit— where’s my other crutch? LAUREN: Here. (scoops up a crutch from under the couch and throws it to ALEX, who fumbles to catch it) ALEX: Wait! Jesus. (hobbles toward the door, blocking it) LAUREN returns from the kitchen with the bat in one hand and a paring

knife in the other.

LAUREN: Move.

ALEX: No.

LAUREN: C’mon, Alex, this is important. ALEX: Will you just tell me what the hell happened? (looks down at the knife in LAUREN’s hand and breathes out a laugh before looking back at LAUREN) Plus, if you’re trying to use that knife on anybody, it won’t work. It’s pathetic. They both look down at the knife and LAUREN scoffs and stuffs it in a pants pocket. LAUREN: Look, I was taking Claud to the work site like you said to,

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and I must not’ve been watching good enough because, next thing I know, those guys from down the street— you know, the ones that sell Special K under the uptown bridge— they were behind us. LAUREN begins to pace through the living room. She tucks the bat under

her arm to gesticulate. LAUREN: They-they threw Claud’s hard hat in the harbor. And then they took her toolbox and hit me over the head with it. Look. (leans over, presenting the top of her head to ALEX) ALEX: Damn. (touches the pooling patch of red mixing with random patches of hair) LAUREN: Ow! God. Stop. (yanks her head away) ALEX: (voice edged with restrained concern) What happened to Claud?

LAUREN stops pacing and looks at ALEX and then quickly down at the

floor. ALEX leans forward on her crutches and finds LAUREN’s eyes.

ALEX: (strictly) What happened to Claudia, Lauren? If she doesn’t show with a paycheck, we’re in the dark for the weekend, and you know who will be up my ass about it? Yes. Mother. LAUREN: Why do you think I got the bat? They took her. (breaks eye contact and rubs the side of her face with her free hand) ALEX: What do you mean? LAUREN: (frustrated) What do you mean, "what do I mean?" They. Took. Her. (starts pacing again) Those bastards from down the street. They knocked me out and then when I came to, she was

gone. ALEX: (leaning against the banister) Are you sure? I mean this is—

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LAUREN: Yes, I’m sure. She was there and then she wasn’t, Alex! Where else would she be?

ALEX: Could she have just gone straight to the work site? I mean, she wouldn’t have wanted to be late, even if it meant leaving you there.

LAUREN: Do you think I’m that much of an idiot? I went straight to the worksite once I came to. The guys there said she never showed up. I checked up and down the street. I checked here. I checked everywhere she would be. She’s not there. (LAUREN’s volume rises as she becomes more desperate) It was her first day of her first ever job, Alex. She wouldn’t have just flaked. That’s not like her. She knows we’re counting on her since you’re out of commission (gestures toward ALEX’s casted leg) after that welding accident busted your leg. She’s gone. They took her. ALEX: Well, why would they want to take her? This doesn’t make

sense.

LAUREN: How should I know? Why does it matter anyway? We’re here gossiping like a bunch of old ladies when we should be out there getting Claud back. Move. LAUREN shoves ALEX on the shoulder, but she doesn’t move.

ALEX: What are you gonna do? Bat the neighbors to death until they tell you where she is? You’ll just pass out from that cut on your head. Sit.

LAUREN stares ALEX down but then softens and shuffles to the couch, sitting down and placing the bat across her lap. ALEX clunks her way to the kitchen and returns with a rag in her mouth and a sewing kit banging against the crutch in one hand. ALEX: (muffled) Lean back.

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LAUREN: (looks back and then lurches to her feet) Oh, hell no. (holds the bat loosely in one hand in a swinging position, while backing away from the couch with one hand in front of her in the defensive position) No way! Get away from me! ALEX: (places the sewing kit on the back of the couch) It needs stiches, Laur. (snapping on vinyl gloves) LAUREN: Like hell it does.

ALEX: Sit back down, so I can do this.

LAUREN: No.

ALEX: (exasperated) Do you want to find Claudia or not? LAUREN: (mumbling quietly) Of course I do. ALEX: Then sit. (pats the back of the couch with a gloved hand) LAUREN: (slowly lowers the bat’s end to the ground and drags it as she returns to the couch) Hurry. ALEX: We need to call together a search party or something. (talking while she threads a needle with fishing twine that she has rummaged through the box to find) I know you said you looked everywhere, but we need to look harder. And then we’ll get the boys together and start busting in doors. We’ll find those guys and get her back, I promise. Now, bite down on this. ALEX hands the rag to LAUREN who takes it in one hand and inspects it as though it is crawling with bugs. She opens her mouth and clamps down on the rag and closes her eyes, grasping at the bat that has returned to her lap. ALEX reaches down to her side and produces an unopened bottle of vodka that she unscrews with a loud snap. LAUREN’s eyes flap open momentarily, but then shut again and her brows lower.

ALEX holds the open bottle above LAUREN’s head.

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ALEX: On three, you’ll feel a sting. One. Two. (pours a good amount of the liquid over LAUREN’s head) LAUREN: (yells around the cloth, muffled) Jesus! That was only two! ALEX: Disinfected. Now, this shouldn’t hurt too bad. ALEX is about to plunge the needle into LAUREN’s skin when the door is flung open with a loud slap. Enter MOTHER wearing dress pants and a moth-eaten mink stole, carrying a brick of cash. ALEX’s attention turns toward the door and her hand slips as she pricks LAUREN with the nee-

dle. LAUREN cries out as the pointed object punctures mangled skin. ALEX: God, shit. Sorry! Sorry, Laur. (grabs the needle and quickly snatches the rag from LAUREN’s mouth, placing it over the gash on her head)

MOTHER: (halfheartedly, distractedly leafing through the cash as she walks through the door) Hey there, girls. ALEX: (looks toward MOTHER and then quickly looks again when she sees the cash) Where did that come from? MOTHER: I told you I was going out to make a sale, and I did nothing short of that. Once again, it’s thanks to me that we have any source of income in this house. (flips the end of her stole over her shoulder as she walks past ALEX and LAUREN) ALEX: (looking over MOTHER’s shoulder, standing tiptoed) What did you sell? That looks like a good 5k. MOTHER: (snatching the brick closer to her chest) Don’t worry about it. (continues toward the kitchen)

ALEX: (turns back to LAUREN, quietly) We cannot tell her about Claud. Not yet. LAUREN: Well, then what the hell am I supposed to say about this?

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(gesturing to head) ALEX: Just don’t say anything. She won’t notice. Clanging glass sounds from the kitchen as MOTHER pours a tumbler full

of gin. LAUREN: We have to say something at some point. ALEX: Shh! (leans back to look into the kitchen and then leans back towards LAUREN) Let me deal with it. (as she lifts the rag to look at LAUREN’s head, her mouth forms an O and she blows out a steady stream of air) I think you need to go to the clinic. LAUREN: (shakily) I think you’re right. LAUREN leans forward and pulls herself up from the couch, still holding the rag to her head. She opens the door but stops when she realizes

ALEX is following behind her on her crutches. LAUREN: Hey, I don’t think— ALEX: I’m coming with you. (she holds LAUREN by the arm supportively as she starts to sway a little like a scarecrow in the wind) I’ll be fine. (turning toward the kitchen as MOTHER audibly refills her glass) Mother, we’re running an errand. MOTHER: (strides through the living room toward the stairs with her tumbler) Oh, before you go, I guess I should tell you this now. Claudia had a job opportunity come up. It’s much better than that shitty construction job (her face wrinkles in disgust) you tried to pass on to her, Lauren. I encouraged her to take it. Housing for the job is provided, but unfortunately, it’s out of town. (waves her hand passively) I’m just so proud of her though. (smiling and clapping her free hand against the tumbler as her cheap rings clink against the glass) She’s going to be the best breadwinner this house has seen ever since your poor father. (moves her free hand to make the sign of the cross)

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