*Previously published by Heuer/Brooklyn Publishing. by: Erik Meixelsperger Characters: Setting: A brief synopsis: “One of the keys to happiness is a bad memory.” (LIGHTS UP on MARK. He is outside smoking a cigarette. ANNE Enters.) Anne Mark… (No answer) Anne Mark. Mark Yeah? Anne We’re about to get started. Mark I think we can wait a few more minutes. Anne We’ve already waited long enough. Mark We can wait a few more minutes. Anne Are you sure? Mark Anne! (Pause) Anne Okay… (Pause.) Do you really think you should be smoking? Mark No. Anne Yeah, me neither. (ANNE takes a drag of his cigarette.) Mark You look nice. Anne Thank you. So do you. Mark I feel weird. I hate wearing black. Anne I know. Especially when it’s this sunny out. Mark Yeah. Better than snow, I guess. Anne Yeah. (Pause) Mark I hate this. Anne I know. Mark I really do. Anne Don’t. Mark We shouldn’t even be here. Anne Stop it. Mark I just don’t see… Anne I don’t either, but we can’t do this right now, you know that. Mark Okay. (Putting his cigarette out and pulling out another one.) Do you want one? Anne No. Mark, we have to get in there. Mark I’m just smoking one more. We can wait a little bit longer. Anne We can’t keep delaying it. Mark I’m not delaying it, I just want to smoke one more. Anne Fine. (Pause) Mark I’m sorry. I’m not trying to fight with you. Anne Okay. Mark Anne, I’m not. I’m just a little… Anne Mark, just finish the cigarette. Mark You’re more than welcome to go in there without me. (Beat) I can’t stand it in there anyway. It’d be even worse if people were actually here. Anne Don’t be like that. Mark We’re lucky the priest even showed up. Anne Okay, why don’t you just stay out here then and come in when you’re ready? Mark Thank you. Anne You know, this isn’t easy for me either. I know that you have extra baggage along with this but do you think that I’m not feeling the exact same shit that you are feeling? Mark You have no idea what I am feeling. Anne Yes, I do. There isn’t a second that goes by that I don’t blame myself for what happened. Or think that our boy wouldn’t be lying in there if only I had done something. Mark Our boy is in there because of his own actions. Anne I’m sure that’s the easy way to look at it. Mark How else do you look at it? Anne You’re such a chicken shit. Mark Oh, you think so? Anne Yes, Mark because I honestly can’t even begin to think of a reason as to how you can just sit there feeling so blameless. We had just as much to do with this. He was our responsibility. Mark He was a grown man! Anne He was 18! He was a boy. Mark He could have come to us. Anne Then why didn’t he? (Pause) Anne Why didn’t he, Mark? Because that’s honestly the biggest question that I’ve been asking myself. What did we do? Mark We didn’t do anything, he just.. Anne No! Don’t you dare keep putting this blame on him. Mark How can you not blame him? Anne How can you blame him? Mark Go inside. (Pause) Mark I’ll be in there in a minute and we can get this over with. Anne Don’t bother. You’re such a fucking coward. Mark Right. Anne You are, Mark. Mark Okay. Anne You’re a coward! Mark Whatever. Anne No, look at me… I can point fingers too. Mark Anne, what else can I say? Anne You should be sticking up for him. Mark How in the fuck do you stick up for something like that? Anne He’s you’re son! Mark Yeah, I’m sure that’s the easy way to look at it. Anne That’s the only way to look at it. Mark There’s no way to forget it. Even if I try to. The media is constantly reminding us. Other parents can’t even look at us. Every time I turn on the goddamn news or my computer, I am constantly reminded! I’m not even allowed to go back to work yet. Anne They just asked you to take some time. Mark No, they told me to take some time. (Beat) Anne What do you want to do, Mark? What’s the right way to handle this situation? Just blame him? Call him a psycho, just like everyone else. A lunatic, faggot, asshole, terrorist…. Is that what we should be doing? Or should we just try to remember the good parts of our son and celebrate those. To be honest… I’m terrified of burying him. I’m scared to death that after we bury him, tomorrow someone might come in and destroy his tombstone. I’m scared to death that people are going to come after me. Or you. I’m terrified. But I’m willing to take on whatever burden comes along with this because he was my son and although I do not agree with the choices that he made in his life, he is still my son and nothing in this world can make me turn my back on him, especially not now, when he needs us most. Mark I can’t do that. I wish I could but it’s not that easy for me. Anne It’s not supposed to be easy. Mark Yes, it should. He was my son too. I should be able to think the same things that you’re thinking right now but I’m not. Instead, I hate him and I’m so angry with him because he never even came to us. Anne Maybe he did. I don’t know. Maybe he did and we just didn’t know it. (Beat) Mark I gave him the gun…. (Pause) Mark It was mine… I didn’t know he was depressed, I just thought he was going through a rough patch, so I wanted to give him something. I remember when my dad gave me my first gun and it… I don’t know… I was happy. It meant something to me. I thought that it would do the same for him. But, then I saw the news and I mean…. Twelve students, my God. I was praying that he wasn’t one of them. And then I saw what he had done and I hated him. I still do. I feel like he betrayed me. Anne Mark… Mark He was a good kid. He was never a bully. Yeah, he got pushed around quite a bit but he was always the first one to forgive someone. He never held grudges. I guess he got that from you. Anne No, he definitely got that from you. Mark Yeah, I’m sure. Anne Mark, I’m still mad at you for giving Cody away… Mark Would you let that go already? Anne No.. Mark And I didn’t give him away, I just said that so you wouldn’t get mad. Anne You didn’t give him away? Mark Do you really think I would just sell a beta fish because he annoys me? (They share a smile) Anne What happened? Mark You don’t want to know… Anne Yes, I do! Tell me… (A moment) Mark I was cleaning his bowl in the sink and accidently dropped him the garbage disposal…. Anne What? Mark Yup… Anne Oh my god! Mark For the rest of that week, I was terrified whenever you dropped a spoon in there, that his head would suddenly pop out. (The share a laugh) Anne My God, and you made me tell him that Cody died! Mark Well he did die! (Smile. A moment) Mark God, he was such a good kid. Anne He was. (Beat) Mark I really hate this suit. (They smile.) Anne You look great. (Pause) Mark What do we do from here? Anne Forgive him. Mark I can’t. Anne You already have…. (Pause) You just didn’t know it. Mark Then why am I still angry? Anne Maybe he isn’t the one you had to forgive. I’ll be inside. (ANNE goes inside and MARK is now alone. He takes a moment to himself.) Mark Yeah, maybe… (Lights fade to black. End of Play) Erik Meixelsperger is a professional actor, writer, fight choreographer, and teacher from the Kansas City area. Currently, he is the head of the BFA Acting Program at Drake University. He completed his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting at the University of Minnesota Duluth, where he was a two-time Irene Ryan Regional Finalist in the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF), as well as a National Finalist in the Gary Garrison Ten-Minute Play Competition for his play Fishbowl.
Fishbowl
Anne: A mother coping with child’s death. 51.
Mark: An unforgiving father. 47.
Outside of a funeral home.
1m/1f. A grieving couple mourns the loss of their son under unimaginable circumstances that have become all too familiar.
Rita Mae BrownAbout the Author
