Aftercare Instructions

  “I remember you.”

  Well, that’s positive, but it was only yesterday so I should hope she would remember me.

  “I was at the funeral,” she says.

  I’m sorry. I’m sorry. What? I’ve only ever been to one funeral. When I was fifteen.

  “I never forget faces,” she says to me. “And I watched you that whole day.”

  A lot of his old friends were there. I kept to myself. There was a great divide between family and old friends. Like opposite sides of the battlefield.

  “That’s impossible.”

  “Nothing is impossible, Genesis Johnson. Nothing is coincidence.”

  She reminds me right now of the Ghost of Christmas Past. Like she will guide me through the Village and show me my parents’ life here. Without children.

  “You knew my dad?” How could I have randomly walked into this piece of his world? This piece of his secret world? He knows this woman with the fiery hair? How? I try to look at the insides of her arms. To see if she has the marks he used to have. The bruises and holes I never understood. But her sleeves are long.

  “Sorry to throw you off. I knew it had to be you yesterday. You didn’t know where you were? Who we were?”

  I shake my head. “No. I came with my friend, Seth.”

  She nods slowly. “Okay.”

  That’s all she says, then turns to leave. I want to stop her but I don’t know what I would stop her for. Answers? Apparently when you start ripping the patches off, more questions flood your way. And this coincidence is too much. This is too much, like I’ve been guided into this by my dead father, and I don’t believe in that kind of thing. Would Peter say this is God? He tried to explain God to me and I never got it. I never felt it.

  Now it’s 4:23 p.m. and still no Seth.

  Maybe I should have looked. Then I wouldn’t have to face that woman again. I could just go back home and not worry about Seth and not worry about the curveballs I seem to constantly be thrown.

  Chime.

  Not Seth.

  Then my phone vibrates.

  Seth: So sorry! L train sux. Walking from train. Meet at theater?

  I take a sip of the tea. Perfect and creamy. Finally.

  I text back: See you there.

  ACT II

  SCENE 9

  (This scene takes place in Peter’s bedroom. Lights rise to GENESIS and PETER in bed, under the covers and not clothed.)

  PETER

  I’m going to marry you someday, Genesis Johnson.

  GENESIS

  Make an honest woman out of me?

  PETER

  That could be tricky.

  GENESIS

  Oh, stop.

  PETER

  I really love you. I love this.

  GENESIS

  That’s because we’re having sex now.

  PETER

  No, I’m serious. I never knew it could feel like this.

  GENESIS

  My point exactly.

  (He pushes her playfully. Then they have a quiet moment.)

  PETER

  You’re my forever girl.

  GENESIS

  What does that mean?

  PETER

  That I’m sure I’m going to love you forever. You’re going to become the same thing as forever. My forever girl.

  GENESIS

  That’s so cheesy.

  PETER

  But you like it.

  GENESIS

  Duh.

  (They kiss.)

  PETER

  See? You’re definitely my forever.

  GENESIS

  That’s a long time.

  PETER

  Nothing I can’t handle.

  GENESIS

  Does your mom like me, Peter?

  PETER

  Where did that come from?

  GENESIS

  I don’t know. I feel like I’m trying. I went to church with you.

  PETER

  Mom is not the easiest person.

  GENESIS

  You’re telling me.

  PETER

  She just has unshakable morals.

  GENESIS

  And I’m immoral?

  PETER

  That’s a strong word.

  GENESIS

  She imagined someone different for you?

  PETER

  Gen, I love my mother, but she doesn’t get to choose who I’m with.

  GENESIS

  She knows about my dad, obviously.

  PETER

  Yes.

  GENESIS

  And she probably thinks I’m a drug addict or something.

  PETER

  She doesn’t think you’re a drug addict.

  (Beat)

  You know she works with addicts at the Asbury Park Hope Center? Well, volunteers.

  GENESIS

  She does?

  PETER

  Yes.

  GENESIS

  What does she do there?

  PETER

  Faith-based recovery and care.

  GENESIS

  Why didn’t you ever tell me this?

  PETER

  I don’t know. You never really asked.

  (GENESIS considers this.)

  PETER (CONTINUED)

  Believe it or not, she just wants to help people.

  GENESIS

  Why doesn’t she work?

  PETER

  She used to.

  GENESIS

  What did she do?

  PETER

  She was a pediatric nurse.

  GENESIS

  Oh. Why did she stop?

  PETER

  Because she had children. And my dad made enough to support the family.

  GENESIS

  Does she know we’re having sex?

  PETER

  No.

  GENESIS

  She probably wishes you were with someone more like Vanessa.

  PETER

  Stop it, Gen.

  GENESIS

  We’re obviously serious.

  PETER

  Forever is pretty serious.

  GENESIS

  I’m serious.

  PETER

  Don’t forget, you are corrupting her oldest son.

  GENESIS

  I’m not doing anything you don’t want to do.

  PETER

  I know that. And that’s what’s most important.

  GENESIS

  I can’t believe you let me corrupt you in your own house.

  PETER

  The coast was clear.

  (They start kissing. Sound of a garage door. PETER jumps out of bed.)

  PETER

  Shit! Shitshitshitshit. She’s home early.

  (GENESIS gathers her clothes. What she can find, anyway.)

  PETER

  Hurry, Genesis. This is really bad.

  GENESIS

  I am. I’m going as fast as I can.

  (But she can’t find her shirt. PETER is freaking out.)

  MRS. SAGE

  (Voice approaching)

  Peter? Are you home?

  (Panicked faces)

  (Blackout.)

  RESULTS

  Seth sits on the black metal steps leading up to the bar. His face is wrapped in a plaid scarf like a bandit and his hair spills out on either side. He stands when he sees me, and I meet him on the first step. I wonder if I’m supposed to hug him or kiss him on the cheek or what.

  I don’t do anything.

  “It’s not up yet.” He points to the door.

  Toby the Hoodlum shows up next.

  “Nervous?” he asks.

  Is that what this feeling is? Nerves? I just shrug, and he smiles. My mouth tastes like honey.

  Fire Lady appears next—if she’s not just a figment of my imagination. Her stare is so strong, I can feel it in my eye sockets. I really do think she can see right into the deepest parts of me. She’s seen me in a past life.

  Seth looks at her and then to me, as
if he’s trying to decipher this signal between us, this foreign language.

  She takes one step up and lights a thin cigarette.

  “What was that?” Seth asks.

  “What?”

  “The way she just looked at you. Seemed like you were locked in some weird ESP shit there.”

  “Oh, I ran into her at the coffee shop.”

  “And?”

  I step down onto the sidewalk.

  “And she asked if I wanted to know the results.”

  “AND?”

  Seth jumps down to meet me there.

  “I said no. That I wanted to wait.”

  “You are bonkers, girl.”

  We look up and watch her take a long pull. There is extra smoke with the cold in the air. She smashes the cigarette slowly between two sharpened fingernails and the lit cherry top falls to the metal step. Then she removes that same piece of paper from her bag, tapes it to the door, and walks inside.

  Seth doesn’t hesitate; he runs up to the door. I don’t want to push through the crowd, so I hang back and wait. Just for a moment. Toby gives me a thumbs-up on his way down. I don’t know if that is for him or for me.

  Seth bounces back toward me, and I try to read his face. “Aren’t you going to look?”

  What the hell am I doing here? I wonder if it’s obvious I’m shaking. The wildest thing is I wasn’t even this scared when I went to the clinic. And I think maybe I should have been. But the fact that Peter isn’t here. That he hasn’t been in touch. That I’m trying to open myself up right now solidifies that I made the right decision for myself. If he can abandon me so easily when things are difficult, then how were we ever supposed to raise a child anyway? But that’s not what is important right now. Right now I have to move one foot in front of the other and read the list and see if I really am turning in a new direction. If I really can move forward on my own.

  I’m trying so hard to control my nerves, but even my blood is shaking.

  “Go, Genesis. You won’t be disappointed. I’m serious.”

  I walk up the steps to the cast list. This is what it looks like to me:

  Gljlkjdsglkj

  Lwkejt & GJGJGOJJOSOSJD by FJFJLSL Q Mandojsjdo

  Skljdglik

  Lskdgjel Wskjdlj

  Egvjljl

  Fljsdioncklskldfjklhncjskjgfkdjsglvk

  Gakjvnjen

  Blahblah BLAH

  Gjldkdkdk

  Qtosofkslfjdkl;lsdk;flsdk;vldksv;kv mlkcxnm lkcxnlkvnsdlkvlkdjvlkdvslkdnvlknvkzsnvlsndvlknsdlknvlskdnvlksndvkldnv mc,mneljivjv

  Until I can focus my eyes and make sense of the letters. And I find this:

  Gwendolyn

  Genesis Johnson

  Who is Gwendolyn? I think I say that out loud. Maybe not.

  Holy shit.

  I’m totally cast in this play.

  HOLY SHIT.

  I’M TOTALLY CAST IN THIS PLAY.

  I don’t know if I should scream with joy or burst into tears. Seth doesn’t wait for me to come back down the steps. He runs up and hugs me.

  As I’m smashed up into him he says, “Congratulations, Gwendolyn.”

  I didn’t see his name on there. But I didn’t see anything, until my eyes could focus. “Were you? Did you?”

  “You’re looking at an esteemed member of the ensemble.”

  “Seth, yes! We did it!”

  We did. I did. But how in the hell am I supposed to do this?

  “Let’s go get some food. I’m starving!” he says.

  I’m not hungry in the slightest. But that’s okay. I read the note underneath the cast list saying the first read-through of the script is Monday night, 7:30 p.m., at the bar. The first read-through. I see the other teenage-looking girl from the audition. She shrinks a little when she looks, then turns to me.

  “What part did you get?”

  “Gwendolyn.”

  “Lucky.”

  “You?”

  She shakes her head.

  I still don’t know whether to scream or cry. But I’m ready to do all of it.

  * * *

  “I can’t believe this. Casper Maguire. Casper fucking Maguire. This is so awesome.”

  Seth breaks crackers into his lentil soup. I’m looking at my grilled cheese sandwich. He’s talking and I’m floating. I still don’t know anything about Casper Maguire. I still can’t believe what Fire Lady told me. I used to try to imagine what my dad’s life was like here. When he’d leave us, I would make myself feel better by imagining this magical place. Now, I’m in it. I’m deep in it. On one hand, I’m kind of flipped out to now have a glimpse into what he was doing over here. On the other hand, whatever he was up to ended up killing him, so there’s that.

  I wonder if Fire Lady knows my mom.

  I really want to tell Peter. Just to see his reaction. But he doesn’t deserve to know.

  “Thank you, Seth.”

  “You did the work. You took the leap.”

  “Seriously, I’m really excited about this.”

  “Get ready for some serious crazy, my friend.”

  “I want it.”

  “Yeah you do.”

  “I do.”

  When we finish eating, he says, “Let’s celebrate.”

  As he says this, and as we move to leave the restaurant, my phone starts to ring off the hook. Text after text after text from Rose. I try not to look but they are piling on top of me.

  SOS

  I need you

  Please come here now

  I can’t believe I’m such an idiot

  Why did I ever think I could date Will Fontaine?

  HE’S A CHEATING LYING LOSER!!!!

  I’m getting all of this while Seth is picking up the tab and then hailing a cab for us.

  As soon as we’re in the backseat, the phone rings. Rose. I ignore it.

  Seth tells the cabdriver his address, but the driver says he doesn’t know his way around Brooklyn so we’ll have to direct him.

  Rose calls incessantly. I keep rejecting, but each time I feel like I’m stabbing her in the heart.

  “Looks like someone really wants to get in touch with you.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Just answer it. I don’t care.”

  So I do. Which I should have done immediately.

  “Where are you?” This is Rose now. On the phone. Her voice is shaky, but still demanding.

  “I’m in the city.”

  “The city? Oh.”

  “Are you okay?”

  “No, I’m not fucking okay and I need my best friend.”

  “What happened?”

  “It’s Will.”

  “What happened?”

  “I can’t trust anyone, I swear. Once you put out, I swear, everything changes.”

  “Oh, Rose.”

  “I need you right now. Please. I don’t ask much.”

  I look over at Seth, who is watching this whole exchange. I don’t want to leave him. I know I’m going to have to.

  “Are you with Delilah?”

  “No.”

  “Who then?”

  “No one.”

  “Bullshit. It’s that guy, isn’t it?”

  “Maybe.”

  “Let me talk to him.”

  “No way, Jose.”

  “Please. Just for a second.”

  I must be completely out of my mind because I hand the phone to Seth.

  “Hello?… Hi, Rose.… Mmhmm … oh, really?… No, that’s fine!… Okay.… Okay.… Okay.… Okay, bye.”

  He hangs up the phone and hands it to me.

  “What? She didn’t have anything else to say to me?” I ask.

  “No, but she sounds upset. You need to go.”

  “I know.”

  “What do you want to do about this cab?”

  “I wish you could come with me.”

  “Do you want me to?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then I will. Driver, to Point Shelley, New Jersey, please.”

  “Are you
out of your mind?”

  “Maybe.”

  “I cannot afford that.”

  “We’ll put it on my credit card. My congratulatory gift to you.”

  “Some celebration.”

  “Maybe it will be. I’ve never been to Point Shelley.”

  “Rose is going to kill me.”

  “That sounds like a possibility.”

  “Let’s just go to Port Authority.”

  The cabdriver is shifting around and trying to interrupt our conversation. “Excuse me? Excuse me? Where are you going? I don’t go to New Jersey.”

  “Please, sir. We’re having a family emergency. We have to get there as fast as possible.”

  They do some negotiating on the price and I sit like an idiot, sweating in my winter coat. I should not accept this gesture. It’s too much. And should Seth really have to deal with Rose’s drama?

  Just stop thinking, Genesis. Just let it happen. Because so far, ever since Peter left, things actually are making a little bit of sense.

  In the most senseless of ways.

  ACT II

  SCENE 10

  (This scene takes place at Genesis’s house. We hear sobbing in the darkness. Lights up to GENESIS and PETER entering her house, laughing, playful.)

  PETER

  And then Mr. Villarosa couldn’t say anything! There was no arguing after that. Another small victory for the common people of Point Shelley High.

  GENESIS

  Peter?

  PETER

  But Mitch Jennings started taking his side …

  GENESIS

  Peter?

  PETER

  What?

  GENESIS

  Do you hear something?

  (They stop.)

  (Muffled sobbing sounds)

  GENESIS

  Mom?

  PETER

  She’s not at work?

  (GENESIS exits, calling out to her mom.)

  GENESIS (FROM OFFSTAGE)

  Mom? Are you in there?

  (Pound. Pound. Pound.)

  Mom, open the door.

  (The sobbing stops. GENESIS rattles the door and pounds more.)

  Mom, what’s wrong? Let me in, please. Let me in.

  (During this, we watch PETER’s reaction. He doesn’t look concerned, but slightly annoyed, as if he’s grown tired of always dealing with this.)

  Mom?

  (Blackout.)

  CARRY ON WITH REGULAR ACTIVITIES WHEN READY

  You never notice how big the space in the middle of the backseat of a car is until you want to be closer to the person next to you. I want to fit my head right in that spot between Seth’s neck and shoulder, and watch the city lights twinkle across the river. That space is not only a wide river, but a force field I can’t penetrate.