1 July 2015

PROMPT:   "Why don’t you trust me?” (The answer is a lie)

Allison Gregory, playwright


Becky, 17, angry stands over Rand, 48, who sits calmly.
BECKY
Why don’t you trust me?
RAND
It’s not that I don’t trust you... I don’t, but that’s not it.
Silence.  Rand smiles.
BECKY
Very funny, Rand.
RAND
Sorry.
BECKY
You don’t trust me.
RAND
Dear...
BECKY
Don’t call me dear.
RAND
Becky, You have... issues.
BECKY
I know I have issues!
RAND
Then why don’t you do something about them.
BECKY
I am doing something about them!  I go to therapy once a week!
RAND
What about medication?
BECKY
I don’t need medication!
RAND
Becky, you know that you are... prickly.
BECKY
I know.
RAND
Do you want to be successful?
BECKY
Of course!
RAND
If people are afraid of you, if they don’t like you...
BECKY
I’m not taking medication!
RAND
Ok.  You’re seventeen.  You get to make that decision.
BECKY
I don’t need medication!
Silence.
RAND
You’ve talked to me about your anxiety...
BECKY
(growing quieter)
I... I know.
RAND
Do you like being... anxious?
BECKY
No!  I hate it!
Silence.
RAND
If you weren’t so anxious, you might not be so prickly.
Silence.
BECKY
You know what they did to me.
Silence.
RAND
I remember.
BECKY
I wet the bed every night.
RAND
I know.
BECKY
I hardly remember the first six months I lived here.
RAND
I know.
BECKY
I was fat!
RAND
I know.  I don’t want you to be like that, but that was years ago and you were practically forced to take those meds.
BECKY
Practically?!
RAND
But medication, carefully administered with your complete permission and approval... could make a difference.
Silence.
BECKY
I can quit if I don’t like it?
RAND
Of course.
Silence.
BECKY
I want to talk to my therapist.
RAND
I think you should.
Silence.
BECKY
I’ll think about it.
End of play.