by David Auburn
HOGAN: Can I borrow a glass?
VERONICA: It’s your cabin.
(He goes, gets a glass, returns.)
HOGAN: You want some?
VERONICA: No.
(Beat.)
HOGAN: Okay then. I guess that’s it. I won’t be around here in the morning, so good luck and take care and all that.
(He starts to go.)
VERONICA: Hogan.
You should give that money back.
HOGAN: What money?
VERONICA: The money your brother said you took from them.
HOGAN: What?
VERONICA: You heard me.
HOGAN: It’s bullshit.
VERONICA: Uh-huh.
HOGAN: It’s Debbie. She makes up these accusations. She hates me. You know, you’ve talked to her.
VERONICA: He said it was a lot. Like five thousand dollars?
HOGAN: (Dismissive sound.)
VERONICA: That sounds serious to me.
HOGAN: It isn’t true!
VERONICA: It’s not my problem either way. But it sounds like something you better work out.
HOGAN: I will.
VERONICA: Okay.
(Beat.)
HOGAN: It’s not true, though. My brother, he’s basically a good kid. We used to be close before he got married. It’s her. She poisons him. It’s sad is what it is.
VERONICA: You got a record already. Don’t be stupid.
HOGAN: I don’t have a record. Is that what he told you?
(She looks at him.)
It wasn’t anything bad. Jeez. Don’t look at me like that.
VERONICA: What was it?
(Beat.)
HOGAN: Check-kiting.
VERONICA: What’s that?
HOGAN: Writing bad checks, basically.
VERONICA: You do it?
HOGAN: I guess I did. I mean, they proved it in court. It wasn’t exactly intentional. I’m not some criminal mastermind. I have trouble keeping track of my net worth sometimes. It was more sloppiness than anything else.
VERONICA: How long were you …
HOGAN: Fourteen months. You know, that’s probably the thing with my brother. He’s like me: bad at keeping track of stuff, a little disorganized, never balances his checkbook … Debbie probably noticed some kind of problem with their checking account or something, some little discrepancy, and in her mind, Oh, we’re a little short this month, plus convicted check-kiting brother-in-law I’ve never liked, therefore inevitably equals … she jumps to the obvious, or should I say most convenient, conclusion. I bet you anything that’s what’s going on here. Yeah?
VERONICA: Sure, maybe.
HOGAN: Maybe?
I would never. Not from my own family.
VERONICA: Okay.
HOGAN: You don’t believe me.
(Beat. She looks away.)
Fine. Don’t believe me, then. I don’t give a shit …
(He grabs his glass and starts to go. The glass slips out of his hand and breaks.)
Goddamn it.
VERONICA: It’s all right, I got it.
(He tries to clean it up.)
HOGAN: Ow. Shit.
VERONICA: What happened? You cut your hand?
HOGAN: It’s fine.
VERONICA: Stop. You’re bleeding.
HOGAN: I’m okay. Never mind.
VERONICA: You got a big piece of glass sticking out of your hand. Let me look at that.
HOGAN: Leave me alone. Don’t worry about it.
VERONICA: Let me do this. Hold still, you idiot.
(She removes the glass.)
HOGAN: Ow!
VERONICA: Hush. Just stay there.
(She exits. He holds his T-shirt against his bloody hand. She returns with her bag.)
Come here. Sit down. Sit down, I said.
(He sits. She starts to treat and bandage his hand.)
Your hands ain’t too clean.
You ain’t too clean. When’s the last time you did your laundry?
HOGAN: Maybe I should just go outside, jump in the water.
VERONICA: Nah, you don’t want to do that. It’s getting chilly.
Just maybe get yourself a shower and change your clothes, you been sleeping in that truck too much. That truck doesn’t look too clean either. I’ll let you take a shower here if you need to.
(Beat.)
HOGAN: You must really think I’m a piece of shit, huh?
(Beat.)
VERONICA: At least you rented to me.
HOGAN: You were the only one responded to the ad.
VERONICA: Well, this wasn’t the only house I looked at. I came up the week before and saw another place nicer. A lot nicer. But the sweet old lady who owned it took a look at me coming up the driveway and said, You’re too late, dear, it’s just been rented.
HOGAN: You gotta expect that kind of thing, I guess.
VERONICA: I expected it from you. I nearly got right back on the bus when I saw you the first time.
(She finishes.)
Better?
HOGAN: Yeah. You’re very good.
VERONICA: Well, thank you very much.
(She cleans up the broken glass.)
I sewed a man’s finger back on once. Whole tip of his finger. His knife slipped chopping lettuce, he said. There were no doctors around, I put it back on for him. Fifteen minutes. He walked out of there, went back to his restaurant where he worked or wherever. I thought, I just put a man’s finger back on his hand.
(She throws out the glass. She returns.)
HOGAN: Why’d they fire you?
(Beat.)
VERONICA: I wasn’t what I said I was.
HOGAN: What are you?
VERONICA: I’m a nurse.
HOGAN: That’s what you said you were.
VERONICA: I said I was a nurse practitioner.
HOGAN: Oh yeah.
I’m still not that clear on the difference, to be honest.
VERONICA: Well there’s like a thirty-thousand-dollar-a-year difference.
HOGAN: Okay, that I get.
So you exaggerated a little bit, I don’t care.
VERONICA: The hospital cared.
(Beat.)
HOGAN: Oh. You told them—
VERONICA: You know, you’re like Sherlock Holmes. You’re a fuckin’ genius.
HOGAN: Sorry.
(Beat.)
VERONICA: When my husband passed I’d done all the work for that degree except one year.
The summer after he died I’d take the kids out sometimes to the beach or someplace? But that’s just for the day. And it’s a long day, and everybody gets cranky, you’re all exhausted and sandy on the train coming home, and the kids start fighting, and then you’re just back in your apartment and somebody’s got to make dinner … It’s almost worse than when you left that morning. It’s like you never went anywhere.
So when I saw that hospital job opened up … that perfect job I knew I could do as well as anybody … probably better …
HOGAN: You tweaked your résumé a little bit.
VERONICA: I submitted a false transcript. I lied about my credentials.
HOGAN: Huh.
(Beat.)
It’s actually pretty impressive.
(She glares.)
I mean, to pull that off.
VERONICA: I didn’t pull it off, that’s the point!
HOGAN: You did for a while. How’d you get caught?
VERONICA: Another nurse in my department wrote a few too many prescriptions for her “friends.” After she got arrested they went and did an extra background check on everybody.
HOGAN: And they spotted your little creative whatever.
VERONICA: Now I’m probably even gonna lose my regular RN license. I have to go before a review board. I had to beg to get to do that.
That’s why they called. The other day. That’s why I had to walk down the road. To beg for a chance to beg the board to keep my license.
(Beat.)
HOGAN: Well, I c
an see why you had to walk down the road to deal with that.
VERONICA: I still can’t believe I left the kids swimming, I felt so bad afterward I wanted to …
(Beat.)
So I don’t think you’re a—what you said. But listen. If you made a mistake, and there’s any way to correct it … you should really try and correct it.
HOGAN: I didn’t take their damn money!
VERONICA: Hogan.
HOGAN: What do I have to do to convince you?
VERONICA: I’m just trying to help you is all.
HOGAN: Sounds like you’re the one who needs help. Just ’cause you’re walking around with a guilty conscience doesn’t mean you have to start lecturing me—
VERONICA: All right, forget I said anything.
HOGAN: I mean it’s my family, for God’s sake.
VERONICA: All right! I’m sorry. Okay?
HOGAN: Okay.
(Beat.)
Anyway, back to your thing. Here’s my opinion:
VERONICA: I didn’t ask for your—
HOGAN: I really don’t think you should blame yourself. Okay yes, you screwed up. But it could have been a lot worse.
VERONICA: How?
HOGAN: Did you say you knew how to do something you didn’t know how to do, kill a patient or something?
VERONICA: No.
HOGAN: All right. So that’s a major plus right there. That’s huge.
And you probably really needed to, right? Or you wouldn’t have done it. You almost had the degree, right? The last year of school was probably bullshit anyway, just papers and exams and stuff, you want to move things along, you roll the dice a little bit. That’s completely understandable! I mean it wasn’t very intelligent but it’s understandable. Plus with the whole dead husband thing, I mean come on!
And you’re a good mother, hell, you’re a great mother. You want to take good care of your kids. You want to be able to give them nice vacations, get them swimming in a goddamn lake in the sunshine instead of indoors for once. Don’t beat yourself up about it.
VERONICA: No?
HOGAN: No. You’ll be all right. Don’t worry. It’s all gonna work out, you’ll see.
VERONICA: Maybe. Maybe it won’t.
HOGAN: Well, you know what they say. Bad luck runs in streaks. You know, one domino falls and then another one and then another one and another one. Bip, bip, bip, bip, bip. But eventually they have to stop, right?
(Beat.)
You know, when I got divorced—
VERONICA: I really don’t want to hear it.
HOGAN: Okay.
(Beat.)
You want to go outside, shoot at some stuff?
(She stares at him.)
I’ve got a rifle in the truck. We can set up some bottles and cans on the road, blow off steam. I do it when I’m fed up sometimes. It’s surprisingly relaxing.
(Beat.)
VERONICA: You know, I think I would really enjoy that right now.
HOGAN: Really?
VERONICA: You know what would make it even more fun?
HOGAN: What?
VERONICA: Blindfolds.
(He stares at her.)
HOGAN: You’re messing with me.
(She laughs.)
Okay.
(Beat.)
What are you going to do? When you go back.
VERONICA: I don’t know. I don’t know what’s going to happen.
(Beat. He drinks. He tentatively puts a hand on her thigh.)
You’re kidding, right?
(He removes it.)
HOGAN: Right.
I’d better go.
(He gets up, goes to the door.)
VERONICA: What are you gonna do? After we leave?
HOGAN: No real plans.
I’ll manage.
He waves, exits, goes out to the truck.
The motor starts. Lights shine into the cabin for a moment, then swing away. It’s dark again and quiet.
Beat.
She picks up the bird book. She presses one of the buttons. A birdcall. She presses it again.
Fade.
SCENE 5
January. The cabin looks uninhabited. Bottles, other rubbish. VERONICA appears outside. She knocks. No answer. Tentatively comes in. She has a couple of take-out bags.
VERONICA: Hogan? Hogan?
(She looks around. She sets the bags down. While her back is turned HOGAN enters, bleary.)
HOGAN: I heard your voice. I thought I was dreaming.
VERONICA: I knocked. You didn’t answer.
HOGAN: I was napping.
(Beat.)
VERONICA: I brought you some coffee.
HOGAN: I don’t drink coffee. I’m a tea drinker.
VERONICA: Oh.
(Tentative.) Well, there’s some doughnuts too. And I got a couple butter rolls, in case you’re hungry. And a fruit salad.
HOGAN: A fruit salad?
VERONICA: Yes. Are you hungry at all?
HOGAN: What are you doing here?
VERONICA: I have a …
(Resets.) I came to see how you were doing.
HOGAN: I’m fine.
VERONICA: You want me to put that heater on?
HOGAN: It’s broken. I’ve been meaning to replace it.
VERONICA: You don’t look fine.
HOGAN: You woke me up. What do you want?
VERONICA: Look, I’m not sure how to …
(Beat.)
I got your envelope.
(He says nothing. She digs in her handbag.)
I got this envelope sent to my house. Did you send it? I haven’t seen you or talked to you for six months and this comes, no return address, no note, just cash. Forty-five hundred dollars cash money. Sent through the mail.
HOGAN: So?
VERONICA: Did you send it?
HOGAN: Yes.
VERONICA: Why?
HOGAN: I thought you could use it. Given your situation.
(Beat.)
VERONICA: I called here. The phone is, once again, disconnected. I called your brother—
HOGAN: Oh jeez, why?
VERONICA: Because I’m looking for you to find out what’s going on with this!
HOGAN: You didn’t tell them—
VERONICA: I just asked to speak with you.
HOGAN: I don’t know why you went to all the trouble. That’s what the money was for, to make things a little easier.
VERONICA: You really thought I’d keep it?
HOGAN: Why not?
VERONICA: It’s the money you took from your brother.
HOGAN: Not all of it. I kept five hundred for myself.
VERONICA: It’s stolen.
HOGAN: No, it’s missing. The only way they’d know it was stolen was if you showed up on their doorstep like an idiot and tried to give it back to them.
VERONICA: I didn’t try to give it back. I only talked to them on the phone. We didn’t discuss it at all.
HOGAN: Good. Keep it.
VERONICA: You know I can’t.
(She sets it down.)
HOGAN: You find another job?
VERONICA: Not yet.
HOGAN: So don’t you need it? What about your kids?
VERONICA: They’re—we’re getting a little help right now.
HOGAN: From who?
VERONICA: Hogan. Just listen to me and let me do this. All right? Your brother said they’ve been trying to reach you but you won’t talk to them.
He said he’s driven out here and you won’t come to the door.
HOGAN: I probably wasn’t home.
VERONICA: He said one time you pulled a gun on him.
HOGAN: Oh, that is ridiculous.
VERONICA: He said you came to the door with your shotgun.
HOGAN: I don’t have a shotgun. I have a rifle.
VERONICA: Whatever.
HOGAN: There’s a difference. He should know that. It belonged to our dad. It’s a 1940s Remington. It’s a collector’s item. I might have been holding it when I ca
me out but it’s just because he was pounding on the door saying he was gonna kick it in.
VERONICA: All right, whatever. I don’t care about that. The point is they’re worried about you.
HOGAN: Right.
VERONICA: They are. You think I wanted to get involved with this? I wouldn’t be up here if they hadn’t begged me to give you a message.
HOGAN: Why you?
VERONICA: He said there isn’t anybody else. Your wife didn’t want to get involved, and your daughter just started—
HOGAN: All right, never mind.
VERONICA: Your daughter just started school, they don’t want her upset—
HOGAN: I don’t want anybody talking to my daughter.
VERONICA: They know that! That’s why when I called they asked me—
HOGAN: Why the hell did they think I’d listen to you?
VERONICA: That’s what I said. He said, You’re his friend, aren’t you?
HOGAN: What’d you say?
VERONICA: No, not exactly. But I said I’d try.
HOGAN: Try what?
(Beat.)
VERONICA: You can go back there, they said. They—just hear me out now. They asked me to tell you that they’ll take you in. At least for a while. Let bygones be bygones. Till you can get things sorted out a little bit. Debbie agrees.
HOGAN: You’ve got to be kidding me.
VERONICA: It was her idea, I think. It sounded like she talked your brother into it. She told me. She said, Please try to convince him.
HOGAN: Debbie said that.
VERONICA: Yes.
HOGAN: That’s why you came all the way up here? To deliver this “message”?
VERONICA: Well, like I said, they were very concerned.
HOGAN: (Dismissive sound.)
VERONICA: I’ll tell you what. I’ll drive over there with you tonight if you want. Help you pack up whatever you need here. If there is anything. You shouldn’t be staying here now anyway, it’s freezing.
HOGAN: It’s fine once you get the heater on.
VERONICA: The heater’s broken, you said.
I can’t be here all night, Hogan. I’d like to get home and put my kids to bed.
Maybe just let me take you over there so you can talk to them yourself?
HOGAN: I got nothing to say to them.
VERONICA: What would it hurt to stay a couple nights?
HOGAN: If you think I’m leaving here you’re crazy.
VERONICA: Just till you can get yourself together a little bit.
HOGAN: I don’t need to get myself together!
VERONICA: Look around.
HOGAN: No. You don’t—somehow you have got the wrong idea here. I’m fine, all right? I’m perfectly fine. I know the place could use some straightening up, I’ve been meaning to get to that but I’ve been busy, and—you really didn’t need to come up here. I don’t need any help.