Grasp
Emily Scali
Blacksburg, Virginia, USA

Untitle scene
Garosh Galosh
San Jose, CA, USA

(Night. A desert somewhere outside Vegas. The sound of a convertible pulling over, “Backstage Sally” by Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers playing. A door opens, shuts, followed closely by another. Lights come up on Felix and Juliette.)

FELIX
(Turned around, urinating.)

You gotta pee too?

(Looks over his shoulder at JULIETTE. She lights a cigarette.)

Oh.

JULIETTE
Naw, I’m just gonna watch you.

(Leans on FELIX, one arm around his waist, chin on his shoulder. Turns her head, exhaling a
long plume of smoke, then returns her gaze to the sky with FELIX. They are silent.)

FELIX
Beautiful.

JULIETTE
Breathtaking.

FELIX
(Enunciating each word slowly and deliberately.)

The hand of God.

JULIETTE
Profound. As always, baby.

(FELIX zips his fly. Leaning forward, JULIETTE drops the cigarette into the puddle of urine. They both watch it slowly extinguish.)

FELIX
How’d you sleep?

JULIETTE
I dreamt.

FELIX
Yeah. I watched you dream. Almost crashed the car. Your brother would kill me. So tell me ‘bout it.

JULIETTE
I’m sitting at a table in a very cozy place. Private booth, live jazz, atmosphere, and all that. And I’m with the love of my life.

(Sarcastic.)

Oh, and you were there too.

(Chuckles.)

And we’re havin’ drinks and our lips are touching and our hands and our faces…and our tongues…

(She casts a sidelong glance at him, smiling.)

And I take a delightfully long sip as your hand creeps up my dress. Then---well…hotel room key, do not disturb sign---you know.

FELIX
Ooh. That establishment---it wouldn’t happen to be in Vegas, would it?

JULIETTE
Most likely.

FELIX
You are one hell of a woman.

JULIETTE
I know.

FELIX
Right there. That right there, is sexy. That’s what makes you so “persuasive,” Jules. Confidence is irresistible.

JULIETTE
(Wistfully.)

Any man I want is mine. I’m a raven-haired Marilyn Monroe. I have the world at my finger-tips.

FELIX
(Looking down at the ground, smiling, sighing.)

Yeah.

(Partially to himself.)

The raven-haired phantom of my dreams.

(Looks up at the sky.)

Isn’t the desert sky great? The sky goes on forever without a single disruption. You ain’t in a hurry to get to Vegas are you?

(Lays down on a flat rock, folding his arms beneath his head.)

JULIETTE
Not if you aren‘t, soul mate.

(Smiles down at FELIX before taking a seat beside him.)

FELIX
Let’s talk. We’ll start with the first star in Ursa Major’s handle. That will be one topic and each star will be a different topic.

(Thinks for a moment.)

I love you.

JULIETTE
Wow.

(Exhales audibly.)

You know…I wanna get my head around you so bad. You’re so--- The way you think, the way you talk, the way you see things. If there is a God, he’s inside your head, Felix.

FELIX
Oh?

JULIETTE
I like to think that when we kiss, I’m a part of your vision. I can’t explain it worth shit, but---you know…a part of your eyes, your mind. A part of the way you see the world.

FELIX
(Smiling smugly.)

If you insist.

JULIETTE
Okay, next star. Its your turn.

FELIX
(Contemplating.)

What are we? I mean…we share an apartment, we share out thoughts and secrets, sometimes we even share a toothbrush---

(Laughs.)

---we have sex, we go out to bars together, we drive each other’s relatives to and from the airport, we point out and ridicule each other’s little defects.

(Juliette looks away.)

Are we lovers? Are we friends with really really good benefits? Are we some kind of anomaly? I’m trying to get my head around that.

JULIETTE
(Lays down, puts her head on his stomach, draws herself closer against him, and pulls his arm around her.)

Yeah, well, I may have the world at my finger-tips, but you have it fully in your grasp, you know that?

FELIX
(Strokes her hair.)

What’re you thinking?

JULIETTE
Of…when your parents died and…your eyes were deep with grief, but you smiled at me---and there was nothing in the world that could erase that smile from that moment.

FELIX
Was that another star, or is it your turn now?

JULIETTE
No, baby. That was my answer to your question. Its my turn.

(Traces the sand on the rock with one finger, thinking.)

I brought some flowers to your parents’ graves the other day. I didn’t tell you. I didn’t know what kind of flowers are appropriate for that kinda thing. I brought them calla lilies.

FELIX
Perfect. Calla lilies are lovely flowers.

JULIETTE
I saw the cacti you left them. That’s very cute. You even named them. The small one Asterix, and the big one Obelix.

(Laughs.)

FELIX
To keep them company.

JULIETTE
Cute. Unique choice of plant. Little blooms were beginning to sprout on them. Bright red.

FELIX
Oh really? I thought they’d be dead by now. Too much water. It had been pretty rainy lately.

JULIETTE
Yeah it started raining. While I was there. But I didn’t want to leave. I just stood there and laughed at Asterix and Obelix, and thought about Stephen and my mother. I got soaked.

FELIX
Ah I remember. That’s when you came home, drenched…and crying. I got you in the shower and---

(Chuckles.)

---well, I guess we had sex that day huh?

JULIETTE
(Laughs.)

It was great.

FELIX
You looked so beautiful soaked to the bone like that.

(Laughs.)

Standing there with your hair plastered against your face. Crying into my shoulder. It was like recovering a lost limb.

(Silence.)

You know…sometimes when people lose a limb, they report having the sensation of a “phantom limb” where the lost limb used to be.

JULIETTE
(Laughs.)

You‘re so random.

FELIX
Yeah. I guess that’s another star. Is it my turn yet?

JULIETTE
Nuh-uh, baby. I’m not done. I went to visit my step-father---Stephen---in the hospital. Its so bad. We played chess. I told him it’d be a shame to see him go.

(Laughs.)

Told him I didn’t mind being called his oldest, or that his perverted friends always checked me out and talked about me behind my back. I didn’t cry. But I didn’t pretend to “hope for the best.”

FELIX
He‘d made his peace, I think. Not that I have any kinda authority in the matter.

(Rubs her shoulder reassuringly.)

JULIETTE
I think you do.

FELIX
Hm?

JULIETTE
I don‘t know how you can still see me as the strong, confident person you say I am.

FELIX
Of course you are, Jules. You’re damn sexy. That means you’re confident. Because confidence is sexy. You see how that logic works?

(They laugh.)

JULIETTE
I didn‘t even cry at the hospital. With Stephen. But I broke down and cried in front of you that day. I don’t know how you can still see me person you say I am.

FELIX
Alright well, now its my turn.

(Points at an arbitrary point in the sky.)

The next star: “ditto.”

(Silence. JULIETTE looks up at him questioningly.)

JULIETTE
Ditto?

FELIX
Ditto.

(Smiles contently into the sky.)

JULIETTE
Okay, and what exactly does that mean, buddy?

(She jabs him with an index finger.)

FELIX
I don’t know how you can see me as the whatever it is you see me as.

(They both gaze up at the sky silently.)

JULIETTE
I saw you bow your head in solemn reverence…but acceptance…at your parents‘ funeral. And you know what else? When I took a closer look, I could see that you were smiling. Now either you are a heartless son of a bitch, or else you know something I don’t. I don’t know what it is. But I know you aren’t heartless. I’ve been there myself. There. That’s my star. I think we’ve used up the Big Dipper.

FELIX
No we haven’t. I said Ursa Major, which contains a lot more stars than we’ll probably have topics for. Besides, even the constellation that we recognize as the Big Dipper is itself made up of seven stars. And we’ve only done like, what, five?

JULIETTE
Technicalities, baby.

FELIX
(Grinning.)

Jules. I love you.

JULIETTE
I love you too, Felix.

FELIX
Yeah.

JULIETTE
Tell me about it.

FELIX
My raven-haired phantom.

(A pause.)

I dream about you, you know?

JULIETTE
(Frowning into his shirt.)

I don‘t believe you.

FELIX
(Brushes her hair out of her face.)

I do.

(Shrugs.)

And its always so cold in the mornings, in bed, alone---waking with the memory of warmth.

JULIETTE
We sleep together all the time.

FELIX
Yeah. But where are you the rest of the time?

(He pulls her hands up above her head, spreading her fingers out, gazing through them at the stars.)

Maybe I just don’t know what we are. You haunt me in my dreams---and when I‘m awake.

(Bends her hand back, kissing her palm as her fingers curl underneath his chin. Then she pulls her arms back.)

JULIETTE
(Gets up onto her knees, bracing herself with one hand on his chest, the other interlocked with his. Leans in and kisses him. Hovers over him, silent, searching his face for a response.)

You once said: “life is but a dream.”

(FELIX narrows his eyes questioningly, then looks off into the distance beyond JULIETTE as the recognition of something comes to his face. She straightens up, turns around, takes a few steps, and lights up a cigarette.)

FELIX
Yes. I did say that.

(Folds his arms back under his head.)

Alright. One star left.

(Perks his head up to see if JULIETTE has anything to say. She exhales a long plume of smoke.)

I’ll finish it, then.

(He becomes silent in thought.)

JULIETTE
(Shudders visibly.)

It’s getting cold.

(Turns towards FELIX.)

You’re not cold?

FELIX
I won’t be if you come back here and lay down with me.

(His gaze remains fixed on the sky. JULIETTE grinds the cigarette into the ground with one foot, holding herself, slightly hunched. She looks towards the car.)

JULIETTE
I think we should go soon.

FELIX
But the desert---the sky---so beautiful.

JULIETTE
Its getting cold.

(She sits down, her hip against his side, holding herself, looking towards the car. FELIX wraps an arm around her waist.)

FELIX
It’s a flower in your hair.

JULIETTE
What?

FELIX
So beautiful. The desert, the desert sky. It complements your eyes, Jules.

(JULIETTE questions him with her eyes, arching an eyebrow in scrutiny.)

It makes me want you so much.

(He kisses her hand, then turns his head away for a moment. Her hand lingers there, trembling slightly.)

JULIETTE
Let‘s go, Felix.

(She tugs on his arm, he doesn’t budge.)

FELIX
Not yet, Jules. We still have one star.

JULIETTE
Baby, its cold and I---

(A distraught look comes over her face, she lowers her head onto his chest. They are silent for some time until the sound of her sobbing steadily grows more audible.)

---we didn’t come here to gamble or to have a good time, Felix.

FELIX
No, no we didn’t.

JULIETTE
Stephen’s gone. And we came here to get my mother. Everything’s falling apart.

FELIX
Everything will be fine, Jules.

JULIETTE
You‘re so sweet, Felix. But you don’t have to say that. I’m sorry I dragged you into this.

FELIX
I don‘t think you understand. I was a necessary part of all of this. I---

(He pauses, his expression serious in contemplation.)

---the desert, the Big Dipper, the stars, the conversation, the doubt, and myself…all a necessary part of it.

(He is now smiling reassuringly as JULIETTE looks up at him.)

Remember that poem by Robert Browning?

JULIETTE
No.

FELIX
“God’s in His heaven--all’s right with the world!”

JULIETTE
(After a moment of silence, she inches up, until her face rests on his neck.)

Once, again, you’ve lost me, baby.

FELIX
This is what I wanted to tell you. The final star.

(He digs around in his pants pocket and produces a napkin, which he hands to JULIETTE to wipe her tears. He kisses her on the forehead and sighs, gazing out into the distance.)

That dream. About you. it’s a recurring type thing, you know. I’m in a room, filled to the beams with moonlight, and I can feel you everywhere. But I can’t touch you or feel your warmth or see you or anything. I just kneel there with a solemn look on my face---because I know that that is the extent to which I can have you. Odd dream huh?

JULIETTE
Is that it?

FELIX
No. Every time I feel like there‘s more and more of a sense of…destiny. And when I wake up, you’re usually not there. Eventually, I realized that the solemn look on my face is actually a look of repose. And when I think about it, I can make out the faint semblance of a smile.

JULIETTE
(Looking into his face.)

What kind of a smile?

FELIX
You tell me.

JULIETTE
The kind I saw you with at your parents‘ funeral.

FELIX
Yeah. That’s the one.

(They are both silent.)

JULIETTE
I love you, baby.

(They kiss. Lights dim, sound of car engine starting, car tires driving over a gravelly road.)

End scene.

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