Toronto, Mississippi

by Joan MacLeod

  Listen. (singing)

  Are you lonesome tonight? Do you miss me tonight?

  Basically I think all of that is a load of shit. I sing that sort of thing fourteen times a night, on stage or rocking inside the arms of some woman. You wanna know the truth, man? Every time I sing it, 1 believe the whole thing entirely. Like I keep saying, I don’t take requests.

  Blackout.

  Scene Four

  A few days later, MADDIE and JHANA are going through JHANA’s report from the workshop.

  MADDIE:

  The top part says they’re recommending you do another term at the workshop, that advancement seems premature. In other words, you screwed up and aren’t going anywhere. The bottom part breaks everything down and explains why – poor attitude, inconsistent work habits, frequenting washroom as much as ten times in a single morning, distracting other workers … What are you doing in the bathroom all day?

  KING enters.

  JHANA:

  Nothing.

  MADDIE:

  I asked you a question. What are you doing in the bathroom all day?

  JHANA:

  Periods. You’re sore in your stomach Mum. Twice.

  KING:

  Maybe I shouldn’t be here.

  MADDIE:

  This is exactly when you should be here. If you have cramps you take a blue pill.

  JHANA:

  A football.

  MADDIE:

  A blue pill shaped like a football.

  JHANA:

  They’re in her purse?

  MADDIE:

  What are you doing in the bathroom all day?

  JHANA:

  What are you doing in the bathroom all day?

  KING:

  Maybe she doesn’t understand the question Maddie.

  MADDIE:

  This isn’t a joke, Jhana. Are you in there by yourself?

  JHANA:

  Maybe.

  MADDIE:

  This is a job. An honest-to-God grown up job. You’re not a little school girl or –

  JHANA:

  You’re not allowed.

  MADDIE:

  I know you’re not. You’re not allowed to slack off or spend the day sitting on the lid of the toilet.

  JHANA:

  You! You’re not allowed to know. Bill said.

  KING:

  What’s he got to do with this?

  JHANA:

  I’m trying! Counting four, opening the bags –

  MADDIE:

  What are you going to do if you don’t make it at the workshop, Jhana? Have you thought about that?

  JHANA:

  Yes.

  MADDIE:

  Good. Fill me in. What are you going to do for a living?

  JHANA:

  So? I don’t care.

  MADDIE:

  What’s the big plan?

  JHANA:

  (hugging KING) Helping Daddy. Helping Dad.

  MADDIE:

  How is it you’re going to help? Carry his guitar?

  JHANA:

  Okay.

  MADDIE:

  Stay up all night with the roadies and sleep until noon?

  KING:

  Madelaine.

  JHANA:

  Okay!

  MADDIE:

  Jesus, Jhani.

  JHANA:

  I’m singing! See? I’m singing beside Daddy.

  MADDIE:

  Good Christ.

  JHANA:

  (singing) Love her tender, love her tender –

  MADDIE:

  ME tender. ME! You don’t know the right words. And you have to sing the whole song right through. Those are things you can’t do. Those things aren’t possible for you.

  JHANA:

  Love HER ME tender. ME!

  MADDIE:

  What do you think King? Has she got the job?

  KING:

  Come on Maddie. Get off her back.

  JHANA:

  Andrew likes it. Andrew loves my singing.

  MADDIE:

  Andrew is very disappointed in you right now.

  JHANA:

  He loves me.

  MADDIE:

  He’s given you one chance after another this month. If he wasn’t so new at it he wouldn’t be anywhere near this patient.

  JHANA:

  Andrew loves me.

  MADDIE:

  Andrew is your boss.

  JHANA:

  He’s my boyfriend.

  MADDIE:

  He’s your supervisor. Quit the nonsense.

  JHANA:

  He loves me.

  MADDIE:

  He is someone that you work for. It has nothing to do with boyfriends or any of that. It has to do with you screwing up at work.

  JHANA:

  Shut up! Make her shut up!

  MADDIE:

  And you’re following him around all day. Why are you doing that?

  JHANA:

  He hates you Mum! Andrew hates you!

  MADDIE:

  Sitting in his car. Is that true?

  JHANA:

  Andrew hates you! And Daddy! Daddy hates you! And me! Hate you, hate you!

  MADDIE:

  Go up to your room until you cool down. Until you can talk decently.

  JHANA:

  You’re going to the workshop! You’re hating it more and you’re not allowed Mum. Nobody’s allowed. (picking up her coat and heading for the door)

  MADDIE:

  Where do you think you’re going?

  JHANA:

  Where do you think you’re going? You Mum!

  MADDIE:

  I want you back in here and –

  JHANA:

  You MUM! YOU’RE NOT ALLOWED!

  JHANA exits out the front door.

  MADDIE:

  You know how when she’s mad she sort of goose steps but keeps her head down low? I’ll bet she’s doing that now. Curtains are parting. Someone’s saying it’s that girl out there. What do they call her? Probably just retarded.

  KING:

  Special. Isn’t that the latest?

  MADDIE:

  Naw, just social workers say that, teachers.

  KING:

  Well that accounts for half the neighbourhood.

  MADDIE:

  Simple. People still say that, I’ll bet.

  KING:

  People aren’t that out of it, Maddie. Everyone has a cousin or someone who is –

  MADDIE:

  Not everyone has a daughter.

  KING:

  Hey. She’s mine too. My family. My little girl.

  MADDIE:

  Do you think I’m too awful to her? I should go out there. She’s probably ripping up the neighbour’s lawn or something. Taking off like this? That’s something she just started this year because she knows it makes me crazy.

  KING:

  She’s okay. Just let her cool off.

  MADDIE

  When I was a kid there was a boy that lived near us in this orange house. I think he had cerebral palsy but really handicapped. Even their house looked different. The colour seemed too bright. You know how when you go away for a while then when you come back everything looks different? Their house looked like that all the time. Sort of charged up but dead – all at once.

  KING:

  Slow down now, Madelaine.

  MADDIE:

  This is my house. People look at my house that way –

  KING:

  You’re always so hard on yourself.

  MADDIE:

  My home. I was shitty to her just now. I’ve got to find her.

  KING:

  Talk to me. Tell me about your day and –

  MADDIE:

  That guy died didn’t he? Wade. Remember the guy who sang Elvis all night up in Whitehorse?

  KING:

  Hit by a truck.

  MADDIE:

  Jhana’s great in traffic. It took forever to learn but even on the side streets, not a car around
for miles. She’s checking it out thoroughly from the curb, looking both ways … I’m going to find her.

  KING:

  You walked her to school until she was fifteen. It’s not right, you hanging on like that.

  MADDIE:

  And now she’s eighteen and I want to hold on more than ever, protect her from all of them. You bet.

  KING:

  You think everyone is some kind of rapist?

  MADDIE:

  I think it’s worse than that. I think everyone out there thinks Jhana’s doing just fine.

  KING:

  Weren’t you going to get her into a group home?

  MADDIE:

  You’re as bad as the rest.

  KING:

  So Jhana’s gonna live with you until you’re both old and gray. Great Madelaine, you two seem to get along real well.

  MADDIE:

  Her name’s on a list for supervised apartments. Okay?

  MADDIE tries to leave, but KING keeps her back.

  KING:

  No. Not okay.

  MADDIE:

  Don’t tell me –

  KING:

  She’s mine too –

  MADDIE:

  Part time. Between shows and women and –

  KING:

  Look. I’m not here to fight with anyone.

  MADDIE:

  Then you deal with her. You get her keyed up to make lunch, go to the workshop, do up her buttons right, keep her hair clean, her hands off the men on the bus –

  KING:

  I ask how your day is and you tell me about her.

  MADDIE:

  What time is it?

  KING:

  It’s like you’ve disappeared.

  MADDIE:

  What is it you want from me? I don’t know why you stayed on this week if it was just to –

  KING:

  I want to come home.

  MADDIE:

  Yeah right. Then you get to leave again.

  KING:

  I’m talking about staying. Leaving is not part of the picture.

  MADDIE:

  Are you sure?

  KING:

  No … Let her go stomping around and make the whole fucking neighbourhood crazy.

  MADDIE:

  I get scared there isn’t anything left inside that’s just me.

  KING:

  Bring me home Maddie.

  MADDIE:

  I don’t even know how to remember things that are all mine. That happened before she was born. Did it change you that way?

  KING:

  I guess so.

  MADDIE:

  Right inside? That happened to you too?

  KING:

  I don’t know. I don’t examine it all to death the way you do. The way she is has nothing to do with you.

  MADDIE:

  We made her life –

  KING:

  It has to do with oxygen being cut off at birth. That has nothing to do with either of us.

  MADDIE:

  How can that be true –

  KING:

  Don’t do this.

  MADDIE:

  If I could’ve held her inside longer, maybe she’d have been stronger –

  KING:

  We’ve been over this a thousand times. It doesn’t make sense to keep –

  MADDIE:

  Nobody, King, is ever allowed to talk to me about what makes sense.

  Scene Five

  The next morning, JHANA and BILL are at the table.

  JHANA:

  She killed me.

  BILL:

  Who did?

  JHANA:

  Mum killed me.

  BILL:

  If your mum killed you, you wouldn’t be here to tell me about it. You’d be dead.

  JHANA:

  Princie’s dead.

  BILL:

  But not Jhana. You just got in trouble last night for riding around for three hours on the Woodbine Bus.

  JHANA:

  It’s funny, right?

  BILL:

  Not really. And talking to people you don’t know about your troubles isn’t such a great idea either. The bus driver that phoned last night –

  JHANA:

  I hate him.

  BILL:

  He was a nice guy, Jhani. He got worried. We all did.

  JHANA:

  Be Andrew please. Be Andrew.

  BILL:

  You have to change your thinking about Andrew. I didn’t realize he was, you know … your boss.

  JHANA:

  Good evening Andrew and –

  BILL:

  Rule Number One: Don’t get hung up on the boss. Rule Number Two: Don’t fall for any guy who … doesn’t see the world in the same way you do. Right? Have you had breakfast yet? I’m starving.

  JHANA:

  Starving. I’m pretty, Bill.

  BILL:

  Yes you are. How about Smitty’s? Then maybe we can go along the Danforth and look for something for your mum. Sort of make up for last night.

  JHANA:

  He likes me.

  BILL:

  We can take the subway.

  JHANA:

  Andrew likes me and drying my face.

  BILL:

  I don’t doubt that for a minute but he doesn’t like to see you outside work or any of that. It isn’t possible. You ever tried kissing your elbow? (demonstrates) Can’t be done. No matter how hard you try. It’s impossible.

  JHANA:

  Liar Bill. Steffie’s hitting and Peter can’t get out of his chair … Andrew loves me.

  BILL:

  Look. These are the rules and they stink.

  JHANA:

  Stink.

  BILL:

  Fall in love with someone you work with or someone from your school –

  JHANA:

  No! No one likes you, Bill. No, no, no, no. No one. You said I’ll be kissing, I’ll be phoning Andrew –

  BILL:

  I made a mistake. Okay? Look, Steffie believes that Barry Manilow is going to ask her on a date. And everyone loves teasing Steffie about that. But at the same time you know Barry Manilow isn’t really going to take Steffie out anywhere. It’s sort of like that with you and Andrew or you and the guy next door, the man on the bus. It isn’t really going to happen. So you stick to the guys from your own turf. With Rory or Jason or those brothers with the big heads.

  JHANA:

  I am loving Andrew. Loving him now and you said … Pig.

  BILL:

  You got it, Jhana. Lots of those around but I didn’t invent any of it. In my world Barry Manilow would have to do time putting screws in a bag and you and Steffie would be on stage at Maple Leaf Gardens.

  JHANA:

  Bill?

  BILL:

  You’d sing, strut, tell your story. Everyone seeing you live for the first time.

  JHANA:

  I want a boyfriend.

  BILL:

  I still think that can happen.

  JHANA:

  Be Andrew. Please be Andrew.

  BILL:

  You be Jhana and I’ll be Bill.

  JHANA:

  Good evening and … Bill? Are you sad?

  BILL:

  Yes.

  JHANA:

  At me? Be mad at me, don’t.

  BILL:

  You are my favourite girl in the whole world. (putting his arms around JHANA) Did you know that? C’mon. Go put on something fancy. I’m taking you to Smitty’s for breakfast.

  JHANA:

  Kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss. Kiss her mouth, Bill.

  BILL:

  Naw, friends don’t do that. They keep clear of that sort of thing.

  JHANA:

  Do it tiny. Once.

  BILL kisses JHANA’s cheek.

  JHANA:

  Do it tiny again. Kiss her mouth, Bill. Kiss her bigger.

  BILL looks closely at JHANA. He turns her face toward him, holds her face for a long time,
then kisses her fully on the mouth. KING appears on the stairs.

  JHANA:

  Bigger.

  BILL:

  I can’t, sweetheart.

  KING:

  Don’t move.

  JHANA:

  My Daddy say Dad.

  KING:

  (coming downstairs) Stand up, Jhani. Get away from that couch. (to BILL) Get out.

  JHANA:

  Why?

  KING:

  (to JHANA) Go upstairs.

  JHANA:

  Going to Smitty’s me and Bill.

  KING:

  (to BILL) Get out.

  BILL:

  It isn’t like that –

  KING:

  Get the fuck out’

  BILL:

  I was just –

  JHANA:

  You can come Dad. Going to Smitty’s –

  KING:

  Jhana shut up.

  JHANA:

  Jhana shut up.

  KING:

  Don’t you ever come near my daughter again.

  BILL:

  This is my house too –

  JHANA:

  You’re kissing Bill?

  KING:

  (to ]HANA) Get up those stairs!

  BILL:

  I’ll go up your goddamned stairs.

  JHANA:

  I’ll go up your goddamned stairs.

  BILL:

  Hey Maddie!

  JHANA:

  Hey Maddie!

  BILL:

  (heading up stairs) I’m being evicted by a dead pop singer.

  MADDIE enters.

  KING:

  You’re pushing it, man.

  BILL:

  I’ve seen you. With both of them. You never get in close enough to be pushed.

  MADDIE:

  What’s going on?

  KING:

  He was all over Jhana.

  MADDIE:

  Are you okay?

  JHANA:

  We don’t tell people to shut up around here.

  MADDIE:

  What happened?

  KING:

  He’s been feeling her up.

  MADDIE:

  I don’t believe that.

  BILL:

  Fuck you.

  KING:

  I’m warning you, man –

  JHANA:

  Shut up, shut up!

  BILL heads for the door.

  JHANA:

  Can I come?

  BILL:

  This house is too small –

  JHANA:

  I’m small!

  KING:

  You said it.

  JHANA:

  I’ll be smaller. See?

  MADDIE:

  Look, if everyone would just –

  JHANA:

  Look at me!

  BILL: