Act Two, Scene Seven
Lights fade in on patio, all sit gathered around on patio, raining.
Deborah:
Have you ever read Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte? Its about a man named Heathcliff who is brought into this family at a young age and adopted, but he's basically a servant because he's lower class, or family origin unknown. But, the daughter, Catherine befriends him and as they grow up together, they sort of fall in love. But, due to societal pressures or something she marries someone else, and then shortly after that she dies.
Matthew:
Sounds tragic.
Deborah:
Yeah, but anyway right before she gets married she is talking to this maid, Nell, I think and the maid asks her how she can marry someone else if she loves Heathcliff, how she can stand to be separated from him. And she, Catherine, explains that she will never be separated because she and Heathcliff are one, she says after this long dramatic monologue, "if all else fails and he survives, I should still continue to be." I, kind of, always felt akin to that story, you know.
Matthew: W
hy is that?
Deborah:
I don't know why, actually. It just, kind of, hits me in the heart. It makes sense. I read a lot, always have.
Matthew:
That's cool.
Deborah:
Do you like to read?
Matthew:
Of course. You said you were reading The Hitchhiker's series?
Deborah:
Yeah, I just finished.
Matthew:
What'd you think?
Deborah:
Hilarious. Except I found something odd.
Matthew:
What's that?
Deborah:
The restaurant at the end of the universe, which this cafe is named after--
Matthew:
What about it?
Deborah:
That's where they watched the Universe end, explode, sort of.
Matthew:
So?
Deborah:
What's that say about this place?
Matthew:
That, maybe, we'll watch the end of the universe from this place?
Deborah:
And then, what?
Matthew:
Who knows?
Ray:
Will you two stop flirting already? Can't a guy get some service around here?
Matthew:
All right, lawn gnome. I'll be right back, okay?
(She nods, Matthew exits into cafe, Deborah looks outward into audience, thinks.)
James:
So about the book?
Deborah:
The book?
James:
The one you were just talking about--
Deborah:
Oh, Wuthering Heights?
James:
Yeah. Why do you think it hits you like that?
Deborah:
I guess, I just feel like Catherine, you know.
James:
Like how?
Deborah:
Trapped...somehow.
Ray:
Trapped?
Deborah:
Yeah, trapped. By what others think of you, what you can and can't do, what you should do with your life, love.
Ray:
That is...trapped. You'll find your way to, let it go.
Deborah:
Oh yeah, how?
Ray:
Well, first, the end isn't always such a horrible thing.
Deborah:
Yeah, but its still hard, you know, still hurts.
Ray:
Pain is necessary.
(silence, thunder.)
Thomas:
Dramatic.
Deborah:
Beautiful though.
Shaggy:
But deadly.
James:
What do you mean by 'love'?
Deborah:
What?
James:
How does love trap you?
Deborah:
What is it anyway? How do you know when you feel it?
James:
You just do, really. Why?
Ray:
You love Matt?
Deborah:
I think so, but--
(after a moment, quietly.)
That's not the only issue.
Ray:
What is?
Deborah:
What if you find yourself falling for...can you fall in love with two people at once?
Ray:
Who says you can't?
James:
(to Shaggy)
What do you mean, deadly? Lightning?
Shaggy:
Toxins in the air. Falling through the rain.
Thomas:
Oh God, is nothing safe?
Ray:
You are so young, Deborah.
Deborah:
What's that supposed to mean?
Ray:
But, you'll figure it out, in the end.
Deborah:
In the end?
(Lightning. Shaggy starts counting quietly.)
James:
So, you think you are in love with two people?
Deborah:
I think so.
James:
Does Matt know?
Deborah:
Well, I haven't said.
James:
Why not?
Deborah:
Because I don't know how the other person feels.
James:
Would that make a difference?
Deborah:
(after a moment)
Yes.
(Thunder, louder.)
Shaggy:
Three miles away.
Thomas:
Better get inside.
(All exit save Shaggy.)
Shaggy:
So, this is how it ends? With a bang after all? The end of the universe?
(Lights out.)
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