Play for Today

Opens in waiting room, sound of phones ringing in back ground, people talking in hushed tones, occasionally names said in background as other patients are called, but quietly, so its not obvious where they are, just that its a waiting room.
Two women sit next to each other, one about 17, the other about 28, similar looking, but with a noticeable age gap, so that the older female looks like the younger girl in a few years. They are dressed similarly in easy clothes – morning after baggies.

Mom: You'd better turn your phone off, you can't have it ringing in here.
Girl: Why? There's no signs saying turn it off.
Mom: Well trust me, you can't have it on. It interferes with the machines or something, stops the scanners working or makes them give false readings or something.
Girl: OK, but remind me turn it on again afterwards, i want to see if Johnny calls.
Mom:Did you see Johnny at the party?
Girl: No we'd had a bit of a row. He kept telling me he loved me and that he wanted to be with me but when I asked him to bring some of my stuff over to his flat he went spare, he don't know what he wants.
Mom: No man does.
Girl: He thinks he can have his cake and eat it but he can't.
Mom: No he can't.
Girl: His flat always stinks anyway. He never cleans anything up!
Mom: They're all the same. Has he got a job yet?
Girl: If he thinks I'm going to come over there and clean up after him, he's wrong. He's not got over that cold from last month so he's got signed off on the sick.
Mom: On the sick? For a cold? Men.
Girl: He used to go to school with the guy at the DSS so he gets what ever cash he can when he goes in there. Gets cheap fags off of him and all.
Mom: Your Dad was on the sick for twelve years before I met him. There was nothing wrong with him you know. Oh the days we used to have together! With the money from the unions he got we made a tidy packet. And he was always in a good mood when he came back, not like when he went to DSS or even to work God help him, though he avoided that if he could, he would always come back from work fuming, glowing bright red as if he'd been bottling it all up all day.
Girl: He hated work didn't he? Grandad used to say he felt like they'd robbed a day from him rather than paying him.
Mom: It was the same at the DSS, he'd come back like two hours had been wrenched from his life. But when he came back from the union meetings he was always whistling and smiling. Always the same tune. I forget it no, but was always the same tune. I used to think he was sleeping with that union woman the amount of cash he got.
Girl: Isn't it weird how when two people lie in bed together sex just seems like the natural thing to do? As if god had put everything in the right place.
Mom: I don't think gods got anything to do with it. Unless gods a man who wants to get his own way all the time. Your father used to say he was watching at night. Used to scare me shitless.
Girl: Watching at night? You mean when you..
Mom: He used to say, god's everywhere, you know. He can see everything. No point being shy. And he wasn't was he, your father. Maybe he should a been. Then I might not have seen him with that Sarah from round the corner.
A RECORDED MESSAGE PLAYS. A MOBILE PHONE ANSWERPHONE MESSAGE. A MALE VOICE RESPONDS.

Phone: The person you are trying to call is busy. Please try again later, or leave a message after the tone. To re-record your message at any time press 3.
Boy: Hello? Is this Becky? Its Dave. From last night? I had really good time. I thought we really ... connected you know? If you want to meet up, or have a chat, give me a call back. Er...Bye.
Phone:The person you are trying to call is busy. Please try again later, or leave a message after the tone. To re-record your message at any time press 3.
Boy: Hi Becky. It's Dave again. If this is even Becky. Did you give me a fake number? Is your name even Becky? Look, I can't stop thinking about you, about us. About some of the stuff we talked about last night. I was pretty wasted, so I might have been talking bollocks i don't know, but i really enjoyed it. I haven't had i night like that before, a night that was so....
PHONE BEEPS AND GOES SILENT.

BACK TO THE WAITING ROOM:

Mom: So who was this guy last night.
Girl: Who?
Mom: They guy. The reason we're at the clinic again. You said Johnny stayed in.
Girl: Yeah Johnny stayed in alright.
Mom: (waiting, becoming impatient) So who was he? Was it that guy from the pub the other night? You looked pretty close to him. He was a good looking guy.
Girl: No, he went back to Iraq, he was from the army.
Mom: I might have guessed with arms like that. He looked like he could strangle a bear. I always wanted your dad to have arms like that.
Girl: Yeah he was fit. But he had funny twitch in his eye, he said he'd been hit in training. Probably had that gulf war syndrome.
Mom: So who was this guy?
Girl: What guy?
Mom: The guy at the party! Who was he? I hope he wasn't one of Johnny's friends again.
Girl: Yeah don't worry I learnt that lesson already. Chris still can't walk properly you know. Won't even talk to me in the street. He was just some guy.
Mom: Oh I see, just some guy. Most of the time its best just to leave them at that.
Girl: He wasn't like any of the others though, I felt really relaxed. He kept asking me questions about myself.
Mom: Sounds like a weirdo.
Girl:About my life and how things had happened, why things had turned out the way they had.
Mom:(Distracted) What was that guys name?
Girl: How there was a reason for they way i felt about things.
Mom: (Distracted) He was one of your dads friends.
Girl: How i reacted to things in a set way.
Mom: (Still distracted) I met him while your dad was away on a job.
Girl:Kept asking about my parents, where they were from, how my dad used to talk to me and stuff.
Mom: (Distracted) A right weirdo.
Girl: Said he wouldn't treat me like that. Said he'd always be honest. I was upset you know, crying and shit. It was like after dad left. It all came out. I must of looked a state. Didn't care though, did he.
Mom: (Almost to herself) He was called Johnny too. Theres always one. Or two I guess.
Girl: He wasn't a weirdo!

A RECORDED MESSAGE PLAYS. A MOBILE PHONE ANSWERPHONE MESSAGE. A MALE VOICE RESPONDS.

Phone: The person you are trying to call is busy. Please try again later, or leave a message after the tone. To re-record your message at any time press 3.

Boy: Hi Becky. It's me again. My phone ran out of battery, not sure if you got my last message. I'm sorry if I sound a bit weird. I can't stop thinking about you that's all. I know its only been a couple of days but its like everywhere i look I see you. I chased a girl through the station earlier cos i thought it looked like you. I was shouting and everything, trying to get you to stop. Turned out it wasn't you. Must have given the girl a bit of a shock. I been thinking that's all, about some of the stuff we talked about, about how honesty is so important and communication. That's why I'm phoning you and telling you all this. The other night, it was so good. It felt so right. Did it feel like that for you? I think it did. You seemed to know how i felt. I can't stop thinking about you. I'm having conversations with you in my head all the time. I'm thinking 'what would Becky think about this? What would Becky do in this situation? Would Becky want to do this too?' and I'm sure you would. I know you would. Sorry if this sounds a bit much, its just, I've got a hunch you know what i mean. I think your feeling this way too, god, i hope you are, you must be, you must! Call me back? Answer the phone? Maybe your busy. Maybe this is too much. Too much. No, just busy, that's all. I'll call you again in a bit.

BACK TO THE WAITING ROOM:
Girl: I just want to forget it.
Mom: Well was it just like with Johnny?
Girl: It was different, he was different. I'm with Johnny now.
Mom:The time you spend with people is important.
Girl: I'm with Johnny now.
Mom:Your Dad was a nice guy to spend time with. He was a great listener. Never said a word when i wanted to talk. And I'd talk about anything. He'd just let me carry right on for hours.
Girl:He was a good listener. And he agreed with with a lot of what i said. And asked 'why do you think that is' a lot as well. Johnny never asks questions. Apart from the obvious.
Mom: Mind, your Dad never said a great deal to anyone about anything. Took me full few days to realise he'd gone when he had.
Girl:When he spoke it was beautiful. The things he said were like a love letter, carefully composed with due though and consideration, almost over wrought but at the same time seeming sporadic, impulsive...


Mom: Reflexive, rehearsed, like lines they'd said a hundred a times before. Enough to make you feel worthless.

Both Pause

Mom: I miss him sometimes. Not often, but sometimes.
Girl: We lay together for hours. That how it seemed. Part of thought 'it's going to get light soon' and part of me didn't want it to get light. 'We were like sardines' I said to him, lying so close, not moving.
'like corpses' he said. I said 'charming' i mean, not very romantic is it? Not what a girl wants to hear after, well you know, after. He put his hand on my stomach, and it felt comforting and i remember thinking, not really about him doing it, but just remembering that he did it, as it if was significant in some way. And then i was late the next week and its all could think about, him, his hand on my stomach and how comforting it was, it was a bit breezy in the room, the window must have been open cos the smoke from my fag kept drifting across, not straight up like it does at home, and his hand was so warm, almost like i could feel the blood pumping through it, I felt like i should say something, as if we were both waiting for my answer to some unspoken question, but i didn't know what to say. It wasn't love. Sometimes you say 'I love you' without thinking about it, but it wasn't love. I didn't have the words to describe it. Then i must have drifted off. When i woke up he was asleep so i slipped out.