by Nakkiah Lui
I’m going to have big Black babies. And they’re going to know about their culture and their history because it’s what both their parents are. You can all talk as much as you like, but what’s the point of a thought if it stops with you?
And it’s going to stop with you, Charlotte, if you don’t stop fucking White men – like Francis. I’m sorry, but it will.
CHARLOTTE You really think that?
ROSE Yes!
CHARLOTTE You stupid bitch.
CHARLOTTE picks up a handful of food. ROSE picks up a handful of food too. They have a Mexican standoff.
ROSE I know you are, but what am I?
CHARLOTTE A bitch.
ROSE Come on. Do it, Char. I dare you. This will be like Mother’s Day 2006 all over again.
JOAN You promised no more fighting after that Mother’s Day in 2006!
MARIE What happened on Mother’s Day 2006?
SONNY We can’t ever go back to Marigold Yum Cha again. None of us.
ROSE Do it, Charlotte! DO IT!
DENNISON How does it feel, Ray?
RAY What?
DENNISON To see everything you’ve created, your entire legacy, go up in smoke? Bit like your career, wouldn’t you say? Or can’t you answer without your wife?
ROSE Do it!
RAY charges at DENNISON, CHARLOTTE pelts ROSE with food. A food fight erupts and DENNISON and RAY wrestle in the remains of lunch. JOAN is screaming at everyone to stop, SONNY is praying and MARIE calmly tops up her champagne and basks in the chaos.
JOAN Watch the crystal!
NARRATOR
The word “family” is derived from the Latin term familia. It is a group of people affiliated by birth or by affinity and shared kinship.
That’s all.
This lot don’t know it yet, and they might not look it …
But they are a family.
A phone starts ringing. Amid the chaos, SONNY starts searching for it. He finally finds it and answers.
SONNY Hi. Yeah, good thanks.
Sorry … I can’t hear you.
I can’t hear you, you’ll have to speak up!
You have the results?
Sorry?
I’m what?!
What?! I’M NOT ABORIGINAL?!
SONNY’s revelation silences the room. Everyone stops and looks at him. He hangs up the phone.
SONNY I’m not Aboriginal … The show. They said my DNA results show that I’m … I’m Tongan? I’m Tongan.
ROSE How?
SONNY My dad … isn’t Aboriginal …
ROSE You mean your mum isn’t Aboriginal?
SONNY They’re telling me Dad wasn’t either.
ROSE Sonny, you can’t be Tongan.
SONNY Rose, I’m Tongan.
ROSE You were the Aboriginal captain of the Wallabies, for God’s sake! Aboriginal! We are meant to be the Aboriginal Kim and Kanye. Beyoncé and Jay Z.
When this goes to air …
Oh, shit. This will be on TV.
People are going to see this.
Everyone’s going to know.
SONNY Rose, darling, God has a plan /
ROSE / Fuck God’s plan! What about my plan!? What about our family?! What about our beautiful, Black babies?
ROSE storms out. SONNY goes to follow.
JOAN It’s probably best you don’t.
JOAN follows ROSE out.
RAY Come on, Sonny. Let’s get some air.
RAY leads SONNY out. CHARLOTTE is left standing with the SMITHS. There is an awkward silence.
CHARLOTTE Well … thank you so much for coming to my family’s holiday home this festive season … Marie and Dennison.
MARIE Thank you so much for having us.
CHARLOTTE It’s been a very … full time so far. I should let you have some time … to yourselves … to be … by yourselves. Goodbye.
CHARLOTTE makes a swift yet awkward exit.
DENNISON Bloody family time? I need to get some air from this bloody humpee. I’m going to go sit in the car. Where are the keys? Marie, where’d I put the keys? Marie?
MARIE I’m sure you’ll figure it out, Dennison.
DENNISON mumbles on the way out. MARIE sits with a drink by herself for a few moments. She seems very calm. She checks her phone. After a while, FRANCIS walks in. He pours himself a drink and sits down next to his mum.
FRANCIS What’s going on here?
MARIE Well … I … I don’t even know. Sonny’s Tongan.
FRANCIS Sonny? He’s not Aboriginal?
MARIE I guess not. To be honest, he does look Tongan. I don’t understand how nobody realised.
FRANCIS Mum, I saw you on Tinder when we were in London.
MARIE Play something for me. You always played so beautifully.
FRANCIS Mum.
MARIE Please?
FRANCIS Why does Dad hate me?
MARIE He doesn’t hate you.
FRANCIS He doesn’t love me.
MARIE He does.
FRANCIS He couldn’t say it.
MARIE He doesn’t know how to. Trust me, I know.
FRANCIS He has made a pretty clear decision.
MARIE It was an empty threat.
FRANCIS He hasn’t cancelled my trust?
MARIE No.
FRANCIS Then why did he say all that?
MARIE He hasn’t, but that doesn’t mean that he won’t. But really, Francis, you shouldn’t live on your trust.
FRANCIS What do you mean?
MARIE I think you should take your father’s threat as advice. You should find some financial independence.
FRANCIS I don’t think you understand how hard that / is.
MARIE / You don’t think I understand how hard it is? I completely understand how hard it is to not have money. But you can’t base your decisions on what is easy, Francis.
FRANCIS You’re staying with Dad for the money, aren’t you?
MARIE And, unfortunately now, because I’m rather fond of him. Your father and I have both made decisions based around money. Mine, my marriage. Your father, his career, and with that came the sacrifice of many things: love, empathy, kindness.
FRANCIS But when you say that, you say it like there was never any of that in your life. Like we were never a family, like you never loved Dad or me.
MARIE Not at all. I love you very much. But if I had been braver earlier in my life, it may have been different. I was scared.
I never lived the life I wanted because if I left Dennison, I would have nothing. So I stayed. And now … now I don’t know what life could have been like if I had been brave. Francis, don’t make the mistake I did.
FRANCIS gives his mother a kiss. He goes back to playing the cello. JOAN walks in. She sits and listens with MARIE. FRANCIS eventually stops and lays down his bow.
JOAN You play beautifully, Francis.
FRANCIS Thank you.
MARIE Francis, give us a moment.
FRANCIS leaves. JOAN gets out a cigarette and opens a window. She starts to smoke.
JOAN Despite all this, it’s been nice seeing you again, Marie.
MARIE I like you.
JOAN I know. But.
Well, what can I say?
MARIE Not much.
JOAN I’m flattered.
MARIE Have you ever thought what life would have been like if you made the opposite decision to every one you’ve ever made?
JOAN Yes, I have.
MARIE Are you happy?
JOAN As much as anyone could be. Are you?
MARIE As much as I ever will be. How did we end up with these awful men?
JOAN Ray wasn’t always awful. He isn’t most of the time. Most of the time he’s just Ray.
That’s why I’ll always love him.
MARIE Can I kiss you?
JOAN Go on, then.
JOAN and MARIE start to kiss. DENNISON walks in.
DENNISON What the fuck?
RAY walks into the room with the virtual reality headset on his head, just as J
OAN and MARIE break apart.
DENNISON Oh, my fucking God!
RAY What’s going on? (takes off his headset) Oh.
JOAN I can explain!
MARIE It’s exactly what it looked like, Dennison.
RAY A bit late in the game for this, isn’t it, Joan?
DENNISON Oh, my God. The list was right!
MARIE What?
DENNISON You’re cheating on me! I knew it!
I googled “How to know if your partner is cheating on you” and this list came up.
A list with the top seven signs. I read them and you did every one. You were on your phone all the time, you were always changing your passwords on the computer, you started dressing / nicer—
MARIE / For God’s sake, Dennison!
DENNISON You were cheating on me! All this time!
With Joan!
JOAN What?
MARIE Yes, Dennison, I’m cheating on you. But not with Joan.
With lots of people.
JOAN Excuse me, I’m going to wash my mouth now.
DENNISON You’re staying here! You’re all staying here.
What do you mean, lots of people?
MARIE I have been very unhappy and unfulfilled for many years, Dennison.
After immense googling and research, I have come to the realisation that I am Queer.
DENNISON You’re a gay?
MARIE No, I’m Queer. It’s different.
DENNISON How?
MARIE It’s less binary.
DENNISON What do you mean, less binary?
MARIE Queer doesn’t make assumptions about who you are or who you love. I’m polyamorous, and I identify as Queer.
DENNISON When did you plan to tell me this?
MARIE I was going to wait till New Year, but it’s better you find out now.
DENNISON You’ve broken my heart.
MARIE No, I haven’t.
DENNISON Yes, you have!
MARIE No, I haven’t.
DENNISON Yes, you have!
MARIE You don’t have a heart.
DENNISON I did, and you broke it! I love you!
We’re bonded by the sanctimonious ties of marriage!
MARIE You only married me because you had to, Dennison. Because it was easy.
DENNISON Marriage with you was not easy.
MARIE Don’t give me that shit.
DENNISON Well, it isn’t now! Are you sleeping with people too?
Are you?
MARIE It depends what you mean by “sleeping”.
DENNISON Sleeping! Slept! Had intercourse! Sex! Have you?
MARIE I haven’t had penetrative sex with anyone yet. But I’ve made love other ways. Yes.
Really, why is it such a surprise to you? You haven’t touched me in years.
DENNISON You haven’t touched me!
RAY Penetrative sex?
JOAN You know … In the, you know …
RAY Oh.
DENNISON All these years to just get a divorce.
MARIE We don’t have to divorce. I had no plan to divorce you after I came out.
We’ll just stay together like we always have.
And we can just see other people.
DENNISON See other people? Like sluts? Great, we’ll be a pair of old sluts. Just slutting around together.
MARIE This is not a joke, Dennison. I’m not a joke. You deserve the truth and I deserve a shot at having a life.
At feeling lust and being lusted over.
We deserve to live, Dennison. And even if you don’t choose to, I want to.
I want to know who I am and what I like and what feels good. I want to know myself.
DENNISON It’s Christmas, Marie! It’s Christmas! And I catch you making out with Ray Gibson’s wife?
Well, guess what, Marie! I can kiss lots of people too!
See how you like it now, Marie!
DENNISON tries to kiss JOAN, but is slow in his tears.
JOAN Dennison – please.
RAY Come on, mate. Come on.
DENNISON I can live and try stuff too!
As RAY pulls DENNISON away, DENNISON tries to kiss RAY.
RAY Hey! Look out! Stop that!
RAY pushes him away and DENNISON falls to the floor, sobbing.
JOAN You take care of that. How about we go find the children?
MARIE Get it together, Dennison. I gave you everything you ever wanted. I gave you a life. Don’t make me feel bad for wanting one of my own. And for chrissakes, it’s Marie.
JOAN and MARIE leave.
RAY Come on, mate. Really, don’t cry. You’ll be fine. In fact, a lot of men wish they were in your position.
DENNISON I love her. I do.
RAY I’m sure you do.
DENNISON Everyone hates me.
RAY No, they don’t.
DENNISON Yes, they do. My son hates me, my wife hates me.
RAY They don’t hate you. That’s how families act. We all do. Being selfish with how we think everyone should behave. You should be used to it by now, Dennison. We were politicians.
DENNISON You hate me.
RAY Dennison … Dennison … I don’t hate you.
DENNISON You’re lying.
RAY I’m not lying.
DENNISON You don’t hate me?
RAY I don’t.
DENNISON You really mean that?
RAY … Yeah. I guess.
DENNISON It’s not that she’s Queer. It’s just … nobody telling me anything. That I’m not part of their lives. That’s what hurts.
Because I know it’s my fault.
RAY You think you’re doing the right thing and then it turns out you have no idea what the right thing is.
DENNISON Did you ever think this is where we would end up?
RAY No. Not quite.
DENNISON Two old men with no relevance who don’t even understand their own families.
RAY Well, when you put it like that. But I didn’t think I’d have a virtual reality headset either. So you win some, you lose some.
DENNISON What if we lose Francis and Charlotte? Maybe I never even had Francis to begin with.
RAY I wasn’t the best father.
DENNISON Me neither.
RAY That’s what I was getting at. Dennison, if you love your son, you need to let him know.
DENNISON I don’t know how.
RAY You say it.
DENNISON Maybe we can make things better, get the kids back together. What about some kind of agreement … between us … over them.
RAY Like a … like a treaty?
DENNISON Like a treaty! How about we make a treaty!
RAY … That’s not a half bad idea.
DENNISON Bet you never thought you’d hear that word coming out of my mouth. Treaty. Treaty. Treaty.
RAY I sure didn’t.
DENNISON Where do we start?
RAY So: “We, Ray Gibson and Dennison Smith, the fathers of the respective parties, hereby give our permission … blah … blah … ”
DENNISON This remind you of something?
RAY Of the good old days?
DENNISON It does, doesn’t it? Making laws, disagreeing. Agreeing.
RAY Making change.
DENNISON Feels good.
RAY I’ll go get my iPad and we can write it up.
RAY and DENNISON shake hands. RAY exits. CHARLOTTE enters with some cake. DENNISON and CHARLOTTE look at each other. He pats the ground next to him. CHARLOTTE sits with DENNISON and they share cake and drink scotch.
DENNISON He had great hair, your father. A whole head of it.
CHARLOTTE A whole head of hair and a whole lot of lies.
DENNISON Don’t be so hard on your father. Do you love my son? Really love him?
CHARLOTTE Yes.
DENNISON Then why end it?
CHARLOTTE I thought he stood for more.
DENNISON He brought me here to your father’s house. He stands for things.
CHARLOTTE He tried to get out of it.
CHARLOTTE He just expected me to drop our dream in an instant.
DENNISON You know Francis isn’t a naturally gifted cellist?
CHARLOTTE What are you talking about? He’s brilliant!
DENNISON But he’s not naturally gifted. He technically doesn’t have the right hands. He worked hard. He practised every day as a child for hours on end.
Francis is not afraid of hard work.
Francis is afraid of becoming like me.
DENNISON and CHARLOTTE finish the cake. SONNY enters the room.
SONNY Have you seen my bible?
CHARLOTTE, DENNISON and SONNY search the room for the bible, tearing it apart. CHARLOTTE leaves.
DENNISON Found it, mate.
DENNISON hands SONNY the bible. SONNY sits with the bible and a drink. He opens it up and pulls out a picture of his dad.
DENNISON Is that your father?
FRANCIS walks in, playing his instrument.
FRANCIS Am I disturbing anything?
SONNY No, not really. Hey – can you play anything by Tupac?
FRANCIS Not really.
SONNY Okay.
FRANCIS I can play “You’re the Voice” by John Farnham.
SONNY I’ll be fine.
SONNY Everyone just said I had a touch of Chinaman or something far back. I wonder if my dad knew? I don’t know which is worse: that he didn’t know he wasn’t Aboriginal, or if he knew he was Tongan and lied? Lied to me my entire life?
FRANCIS What’s your favourite memory of your dad?
SONNY When he used to take me fishing. After church every Sunday. We’d go down to the river, just him and I, and talk for hours. Then we’d come home and cook up the fish for the mob.
FRANCIS Then does it matter if he knew or didn’t know? Nothing changes who your dad was, how he loved you and your family and your community.
RAY enters; he has been listening the entire time.
RAY So I have one Tongan and one White son.
SONNY Did you ever suspect?
RAY Honestly? Thought you might have had a touch of something.