Adam

Seconds later. The music on the tape recorder is still playing, but the phone in the kitchen has begun to ring.

JANE: I’ll get it, Barbara. (She starts to go) Anyone need anything? Tim knows this piece. Some day you should hear him sing.

       (She goes off. They listen.)

BARBARA (To Tim): You know this?

       (They listen. Then Tim suddenly sings and sings well:)

TIM (Sings):

             In einem Bächlein helle,

             Da schoss in froher Eil

             Die launische Forelle

             Vorüber wei en Pfeil.

       (The others are taken aback.)

       I trained as a singer. I do musicals . . . I’m an actor and a singer . . . It’s the Trout. It’s well known.

       (Jane returns.)

JANE (Entering): It’s Adam.

MARIAN (Over this): I’m not here. (She stands to go off to her bedroom)

JANE: Don’t run away. He’s just on the phone. He’s going to the concert. He just wants to let you know that. He wants to know if that’s okay.

       (Marian doesn’t say anything. The music on the tape recorder plays.)

       Is that okay? (To Tim) Were you just singing— (As she waits for a response) He says everyone’s going. (To Barbara) What else is on the program tonight?

BARBARA: A group of kids playing fiddles. You know—Suzuki. They’re cute. They wear little red bandanas. A few other singing groups. It’s very—community. My students put this together.

TIM: Did they.

JANE: Marian, what do I say? He’s asking.

RICHARD (Suddenly standing): Let me talk to him . . .

MARIAN: No, Richard!

BARBARA: Please—

RICHARD: For Christ sake, Marian—you paid for most of that house. You built his fucking lawn business. And now you’re in Barbara’s bedroom? And she’s in her fucking basement?!

MARIAN (Yelling): No, Richard, no!

RICHARD (Over this): Where are we—the Middle East? Stand up for yourself. If you can’t, that’s where a brother comes in. (He heads off)

MARIAN: Richard!! (Looks at the others) What’s he going to do?

       (Barbara shuts off the tape recorder. The music stops.

            Benjamin has passed Richard on his way in.)

JANE: Enjoy your cigarette, Uncle? You know those are bad for you. Why start smoking now?

BENJAMIN: I’ve always smoked.

JANE: No, you haven’t.

BENJAMIN: I remember always smoking.

JANE (Half to herself): We remember what we want to remember . . .

BARBARA (To Benjamin): Sit down. You haven’t finished your dinner. Marian, could you pass the potatoes and—

       (Marian suddenly gets up.)

MARIAN (Heads for her bedroom, stops): I asked Richard not to talk to him . . . Why can’t he listen?! (She hurries off)

BENJAMIN (To Tim): I started smoking when I was twelve years old.

TIM: That’s a really long time.

BARBARA (To Jane): She saw Adam at church this morning. He didn’t used to go to church, that’s what she said.

JANE: What’s he doing—stalking her? (To Tim) Adam said all these really nasty things to her. Blamed her. I don’t think I’ve told you everything.

BARBARA: Sorry, Tim.

TIM: I’m fine. It must have been just awful.

JANE (To Barbara): I don’t care if Adam was upset. What he said to her was unforgivable.

BARBARA: Evan was his daughter too. What’s worse than losing a child? I don’t know.

TIM: I can’t imagine anything worse.

BARBARA: See, even Tim—

TIM: “Even—”?

JANE: That doesn’t justify what he said to her.

BENJAMIN (Confused): What?

JANE: We’re talking about Evan’s—“accident,” Uncle. He blames our sister.

BENJAMIN: For what?

JANE: For not answering her fucking phone! Marian didn’t hear her phone. And so she’s to blame . . . Never mind, Uncle. It’s all in the past. It’s done. Forget it.

BENJAMIN (Eating, to Barbara): What did Adam say?

BARBARA: Nothing, Uncle—

BENJAMIN: I don’t understand.

JANE: Adam found Marian’s cell, Uncle, in her purse. And there were some messages—

BARBARA: Three.

JANE: —from Evan, that she hadn’t listened to. So she didn’t hear her phone in her purse? Big fucking deal, Adam. (To Tim) He acted like a complete asshole to her. “Why the fuck didn’t you answer your phone?” Like she killed her daughter!

BARBARA: Jane—

JANE: That’s what Marian heard! I don’t want to see him tonight. I don’t ever want to see the son of a bitch. (To Tim) How many times do I not hear my phone? It’s not like she did it on fucking purpose?

BARBARA: She did.

JANE: Did what?

BARBARA: Not answer when Evan called. On “fucking purpose.”

JANE: I don’t understand. That’s not what you told me when—

BARBARA: They’d had a fight that morning. Evan and Marian. So she wasn’t answering Evan’s calls.

       (Jane is taken aback by this.)

       I didn’t know this either until about a month ago. I haven’t seen you in a month—

JANE: On purpose?—

BARBARA: They’d had a fight. Not an uncommon thing between the two of them. You know that. Mothers and daughters, I guess. Some are more difficult than others. And so that day, she had decided she wouldn’t answer Evan’s calls. So it’s not that she didn’t hear them, like we first thought.

            That’s why Adam . . . When she told him. I suppose he—got angry. Understandable. Isn’t it? All this just came out one night—when we were still sharing my bedroom. She needed to talk . . .

       (Silence.)

       She chose—not to answer her daughter.

JANE: Well, they’d had a fight.

BARBARA: And then she killed herself. Why? (Shrugs) Anyway, I agree, Adam shouldn’t have said half of what he said. It wasn’t fair. And he knows that now. He’s apologized to me—a hundred times. She won’t talk to him. He keeps trying. (Gestures toward the kitchen and the phone call, shrugs) Poor man. I’ve told them both that their daughter had many problems. I had her in high school . . . They’d done their damnedest. But they’re not going to listen to me.

JANE: No.

BARBARA: They’re just going to beat themselves up.

       (Richard returns.)

RICHARD (Entering): He’s going to give her some money. A monthly check—the bastard didn’t say how much.

BARBARA: She won’t take it, Richard.

RICHARD: It’s her goddamn money . . . Do you know how many years she kept his stupid lawn business afloat?

JANE: Richard, Barbara was just—

BARBARA: Don’t.

RICHARD: What?

JANE: Nothing.

RICHARD (Hesitates, then): She could get herself an apartment.

BARBARA: She doesn’t want an—

RICHARD: What about you?

BARBARA: She’s welcome here. I like having her here.

RICHARD (Sitting, to Jane): On the phone she keeps complaining about what it’s like living with Marian.

BARBARA: I mouth off. Don’t take me seriously—

JANE (To Barbara): You do?

BARBARA: I don’t mean it—

RICHARD: We can imagine what it must be like. (To Jane) Can’t we?

JANE: I couldn’t live with Marian.

BARBARA: It’s just fine. The house is big enough.

RICHARD: It isn’t, Barbara. (Getting up) Where is she?

BARBARA: Stay in here, Richard.

       (He looks at her, then sits back down.)

RICHARD (To Jane): He tried to give me all this bullshit about—how I just didn’t understand.

JANE: Maybe you don’t.

RICHARD: What do you mean? Of course I understand. I told him, I damn well understand. She’s my sister. (Starts to stand again)

BARBARA: Stay in here. She’ll come back when she’s ready. You know Marian.

       (He sits back down.)

       And Richard, maybe she doesn’t want you to help her. Maybe she needs to do this herself. Let’s leave her alone.

       (Richard looks at her.)

       Eat some more. We made too much.

       (The lights fade.)