The Prospect (full script)

The Prospect

[Characters:

JAY

NATHAN]

JAY is seated alone in a stark room at a table with one chair. On the center of the table is a telephone. From the room it is apparent that JAY lives alone; there is chaos but not clutter. As the scene opens, Jay is tugging at the telephone chord. Though he addresses the audience, it should be clear that he is speaking to himself-- the way men accustomed to solitude tend to do when they believe no one is watching.

JAY

You know what I did today? No? You’ll never guess. I talked to her. Yeah, that’s right; to mother.

Mother on the phone and I could tell that she was drinking; don’t ask how but I just know, okay? Scotch and water. Little sips between sentences. Oh it was silent as a ghost but I could hear it. The ice must have melted cause it made no sound-- but I could feel those cubes click anyway. Little men with little hammers in my skull.

Do you know what she said to me? I can’t believe she had the nerve. She said, “Jay, Nathan is town, and you’re going to have him over.”

Seems a little presumptuous, huh? But she insisted. “Nathan’s your brother, Jay.” She said ‘brother’ the way religious people say ‘Jesus’. Said it like meant something special.

Brothers? What’s so special about brothers? I had four of them, always running around with their ding-dongs out, demanding things. And sisters, three of them. They had to get fierce since they were outnumbered. They were all teeth, the sisters. Teeth and claws and sass, like a little posse of cats.

There comes a knock on the door.

I gave in in the end though. Said he could come over. And that’ll be him now.

At a shout:

Come in!

The door opens. Enter NATHAN.

NATHAN

It’s been a while, brother.

JAY

Yes. It has.

NATHAN

You’re not going to give me a hug? Shake my hand? Stand to greet me?

It is clear that JAY will not. NATHAN smiles forgivingly and goes to the table, unbuttoning his coat in preparation of slinging it over the back of his chair. Only then does he realize that there is, in fact, no second chair at the table. JAY sees NATHAN notice this.

JAY

Sold it after I split with Mindy.

NATHAN

What?

JAY

The chair. Didn’t seem much point in keeping it around after she was gone.

NATHAN

What happened with Mindy?

JAY

She bored me.

Oh at first she was great, of course. So hot and so sweet. Body to die for. And she wore this perfume that smelled like cinnamon rolls...

But imagine having cinnamon rolls for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day for six months. Starts to seem disgusting. Starts to be the very worst taste in the world. And she had all these things that she wanted from me. Take me to the movies this, and tell me where you’re going that, and who’s that girl I saw you with? Shouldn’t it have been enough that she slept between my sheets and sat on my chair and didn’t pay a damn dime?

NATHAN

Well, I always thought she seemed like a lovely girl.

JAY

You can have her.

NATHAN

Nathan holds up his hand and waggles his ring finger.

I’m hitched, remember? Don’t need a girl, lovely or otherwise. Only thing I need right now’s a chair.

JAY

Like I said. Don’t have use for another chair anymore.

NATHAN

What about guests? You do have guests, don’t you?

JAY

Ain’t never had a guest felt I needed to have a chair for.

NATHAN

A wry laugh.

You haven’t changed a bit.

JAY

In some cultures, no one is allowed to sit in the presence of the King, did you know that?

NATHAN

And in others they aren’t allowed to stand.

JAY

That a fact?

NATHAN

Yeah.

Beat.

You remember how mom always used to sit on the couch, and have us stand in front of her, all eight of us, in a row?

JAY

Shortest to tallest. Used to love that.

NATHAN

Till Shane outgrew you.

JAY

Whatever, at least I didn’t have Shane’s problems. Shane had more constellations on his face than the milky fucking way. Never seen another boy got pimples that bad.

NATHAN

That seems a little bit beside the point.

JAY

Don’t go getting all protective now. Shane ain’t even here to need protecting. I’ll say whatever I want about him. Say whatever I want about you, too; but that’s different.

NATHAN

Shane’s your brother, Jay.

JAY

Why do people always got say that like it means something special?

NATHAN

It does.

JAY

Maybe to you.

NATHAN

To Shane, too. And the twins. Especially the twins.

JAY

And to mother, dearest, when she wants something from me.

NATHAN

I don’t see know you mean.

JAY

Bullshit. I call bullshit. You know exactly what I mean. Everyone does. You’re just saying that cause you know that the thing she wants from me this time has something to do with you.

NATHAN

You talked to her?

JAY

She called today.

NATHAN

What did she say?

JAY

Nothing much. That I had to play good boy and let you in when you came. She was drinking.

NATHAN

Taken aback.

She’s quit.

Beat.

What, don’t tell me she was slurring?

JAY

I could smell it on her breath.

NATHAN

What are you even talking about? You were on the phone, for fuck’s sake. You couldn’t smell anything.

JAY

I know, okay? Trust me. I know.

NATHAN

I trust mom, and if mom says she’s quit, she’s quit. No two ways about it.

JAY

A laugh. Manic-laugh. Hyena-laugh.

Nathan, that’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. And I’ve heard some pretty stupid things in my life, growing up with the lot of you. So don’t take that lightly.

NATHAN

You don’t need to be so bitter.

JAY

You don’t need to be so smug.

NATHAN

Offended.

Smug?

JAY

Or so sly.

NATHAN

Sly!?

JAY

What, you don’t know what I’m talking about?

NATHAN

Took the words right out of my mouth.

JAY

I’ll tell you what I’m talking about. I’m talking about you dropping by, chatting me up about Mindy and standing in a line and stuff like that like this is something we do, cause we’re brother’s or something, when in fact we both know perfectly well that we don’t do this, that we’re brothers by blood but not by practice, and that the only reason you’d be showing up at my house out of the blue--

Well, not exactly out of the blue. That’s not quite right, is it? Mama called ahead for you. But you know what I mean. As I was saying. Only reason you’d show up like this is cause you want something from me. We both know that. Only thing any of us don’t know is that I don’t know what it is you’re wanting. Might as well just tell me now, don’t you think?

NATHAN

Is that really what you think of me?

JAY

Remember when you used to want to be a prospector?

NATHAN

Don’t see what that has to do with anything.

JAY

You had that stupid little dowsing rod you would take all up and down the beach. You thought it worked like a metal detector or some shit. Like you could find buried treasure. You didn’t even know that dowsing rods are for water, not gold.

NATHAN

I was a kid.

JAY

Yeah, well, you ain’t a kid now.

NATHAN

What the hell’s that supposed to mean?

JAY

It’s the same damn thing, that’s all. You sniffing around the beach with that stick. You sniffing around my place for a chair. Prospecting is in your blood, brother. Only thing that brings you round is the thought of gold in the ground.

NATHAN

You’re wrong.

I don’t care about gold--

JAY

If it isn’t gold, it’s something else. Women, maybe? Mindy? That why you come by here? Looking for the--what did you say?-- the lovely lady?

NATHAN

I wasn’t done.

I don’t care about gold, money, women who aren’t my own, whatever you think. You’re wrong. I’d rather have water than gold. I’d rather have a stick than a metal detector. I’d rather have a brother than a lender.

JAY

Last time you came by--

NATHAN

Last time was different. My wife’s operation-- we couldn’t afford it on our own.

JAY

And the time before that--

NATHAN

Jay, please.

JAY

There you go again. Asking for a favor. Jay, please.

NATHAN

I’m not here to ask you for a favor.

JAY

Then what are you here for?

NATHAN

It’s--

I’m not sure I still have the heart to tell you anymore.

JAY

Oh come on, you can’t do that.

NATHAN

Why not?

JAY

It’s anticlimactic, for one thing.

NATHAN

That’s funny, coming from someone who didn’t seem to want anything to do with whatever I had to say.

JAY

Well. You’ve piqued my curiosity now.

NATHAN

You aren’t going to be happy to hear it.

JAY

Then it is a favor.

NATHAN

No, it’s-- it’s about mom.

JAY

Mom?

NATHAN

Yes.

JAY

You her errand boy? She send you to ask me a favor? That’s still asking for a favor, Nathan, even if it isn’t for you.

NATHAN

No. It’s not anything like that.

Beat.

She’s dying. It’s her liver.

A silence falls. JAY’s face freezes in shock. NATHAN goes to him, puts his hand on his shoulder. JAY roughly shrugs him off.

JAY

Don’t touch me.

NATHAN

I’m sorry.

JAY

What the hell you got to be sorry for?

JAY is visibly shaking.

Why didn’t mom tell me? I told you, I talked to her. I told you, she said you were coming. I told you, she was drinking. I told--

NATHAN

She wasn’t drinking. You don’t know that.

JAY

Why didn’t she tell me?

NATHAN

She said you’re too difficult for her to talk to.

JAY

She said that?

NATHAN

I said I think you’re okay.

JAY

She said that?

NATHAN

But after today, I don’t know what I’d say.

JAY

Why’d she go and make you tell me?

NATHAN

We’re brothers, she said.

JAY

Shit.

NATHAN

Yeah.

JAY

Still don’t see what’s supposed to be so damn great about brothers. Or mothers, for that matter.

NATHAN

You don’t have to be so cold. It’s okay to be sad. Hell, it’s even okay to cry, Jay.

Beat.

I know I have.

JAY

Every damn time you come here, you want something from me. I could give you money. I have. I’ve helped you. Not saying I didn’t resent it, but I did it anyway.

But not this. I can’t give you what you need now. I can’t give you what you’re asking for.

NATHAN

Nathan’s voice is breaking. His eyes are watering. It is clear that he is close to tears.

I’m not asking for anything. What do you think I’m asking for?

JAY

A brother.

Beat.

You want me to care. You want me to cry. I can’t. She was a sorry excuse for a mother. And I don’t need you or any the rest of our sisters or brothers. I’ve got my house, here. I’ve got my table. I’ve got my one chair. And that’s all I need. Don’t need guests coming by begging me to sit down.

NATHAN

Jay, please.

JAY

Nathan, please. Just stop. It’s time for you to go home.

A long, lonely beat. NATHAN begins to cry. JAY turns away, disgusted. At length, NATHAN swallows loudly, rubs his hands over his face, closes his coat, nods. He opens his mouth as if to speak, thinks better of it, and, eyes down, takes his leave.

Black out.