ScriptWorks 30/60/90 - 20 August 2013

Prompt:
The first time I ....-Lynne Kaufman, playwright

Response:

RUTH, 36, pretty if overweight, wanders around the large king-sized bed preparing for sleep.
DAVID, 38, lies in bed waiting for his wife to lie down so he can get to sleep.

RUTH
Do you know what Jenny told me today?

DAVID
That she’s planning to run away from home and we should rent out her room?

RUTH
If only it were that simple.

Silence.  Finally.

DAVID
(with a sigh)
What did she tell you?

RUTH
That she kissed a boy.

DAVID
What? Where?

RUTH
Right on the lips.

Silence.  David shakes his head.

DAVID
You know what I meant.

RUTH
At lunch.

DAVID
At school?

Ruth nods.

DAVID
It was bound to happen.

RUTH
I was hoping she was a lesbian.

David sits up.

DAVID
You were not!

RUTH
There’d be so much less to worry about if she was a lesbian.

DAVID
Well, apparently she’s not a lesbian.

Silence.

DAVID
That Dwayne Simmons kid?

RUTH
No.

DAVID
No?!

RUTH
No.

DAVID
That’s the only boy she’s ever talked about!

RUTH
Well, apparently it’s not the only one she’s ever thought about.

DAVID
Who was it?

RUTH
Some kid named Carlos.

DAVID
Little punk.

RUTH
He’s not a little punk.  In fact, apparently after she kissed him, he hit her.

DAVID
Hit her?

RUTH
And ran off.

DAVID
Ran off?

RUTH
Crying.

DAVID
Good!

RUTH
Good?!  Or little girl’s first kiss ends with the boy crying and running away and you think that’s good?!

DAVID
Maybe it’ll slow the little floozie down.

RUTH
Floozie!  Who uses the word floozie anymore, and our daughter is not a floozie!

DAVID
I know!  It was just a joke.

Silence.

DAVID
But I still think it’s good.

RUTH
Why?

DAVID
Intimacy needs to be a mutual decision.  Whether your a boy or a girl, you don’t inflict it on the other party without some assurance that the other person reciprocates your feelings.

RUTH
Very deep, Professor.

Ruth finishes her preparation and gets in bed.

RUTH
I don’t remember you saying anything to me before you started groping me in the movie theater.

DAVID
I don’t remember you hitting me and running away crying either...
(he turns and takes Ruth’s face in his hands)
In fact, the first time we kissed, you were the one groping me.

RUTH
(giggling)
Oh, you...

They kiss.
Curtain.