Dying Alone
by Jacob Juntunen
For Meghann
(MA and PA stand on a rectangle block; they hold a white sheet hanging down over their bodies. YOUNG WOMAN and YOUNG MAN sit facing each other, each reading a book. WOMAN and MAN lie in each other’s arms leaning against the block that MA and PA stand on, forming the peak of a triangle with YOUNG WOMAN and YOUNG MAN’s seats. Only YOUNG WOMAN can hear MA and PA.)
MA
They’re naked mole rats, blind, digging these tunnels, these networks, that they think matter— to what? To get to a desk faster? To move zeros and ones in a space that doesn’t exist?
PA
But there are real accomplishments. She can move from one end of the city to the other while reading. For a couple bucks.
YOUNG WOMAN
It’s just a subway, Pa.
(YOUNG MAN hears the YOUNG WOMAN and looks up from his book.)
YOUNG MAN
Um…
(YOUNG WOMAN is embarrassed. Both go back to reading)
MA
“It’s just a subway.” That’s how they are. What about the way the light rushes in through the window on the express? She passes the 33rd Street mosaics everyday, and does she notice them?
PA
There’s a weed growing in the cracks between the sidewalk in front of her apartment that has these delicate little white flowers, and she stepped on it today. I’ll be amazed if she visits Central Park once this spring.
YOUNG WOMAN
The park’s way on the other side of town.
YOUNG MAN
Um. Yeah. You’re right.
YOUNG WOMAN
Sorry, it’s, um, my parents?
YOUNG MAN
Right! Sorry. Didn’t see the, um, Bluetooth.
YOUNG WOMAN
It’s cool.
MA
What’s wrong? You can’t have a conversation?
PA
You want to die alone?
YOUNG WOMAN
Of course I don’t want to die alone.
YOUNG MAN
They sound like my parents.
YOUNG WOMAN
I’m not actually talking to— Well— They actually passed away…
YOUNG MAN
Oh, sorry.
YOUNG WOMAN
I just. You know. Hear them? I mean, not really. Not crazy-like. Just. Um. It hasn’t been long?
YOUNG MAN
How did they die?
YOUNG WOMAN
Car accident.
YOUNG MAN
Christ, sorry. None of my business—
YOUNG WOMAN
No, it’s fine, actually—
YOUNG MAN
Sorry.
MAN
I’m sorry.
WOMAN
Oh, honey. Don’t be. It happens to everybody. I love you no matter what.
MA
We were lucky.
PA
Bam! No pain.
MA
But I guess she’s determined to die by herself—
YOUNG WOMAN
No I’m not!
YOUNG MAN
Um…
YOUNG WOMAN
No I’m not… seeing that you’re reading the same book as me.
YOUNG MAN
Oh. Yeah. How about that?
YOUNG WOMAN
How many people have Dostoevsky on the train?
YOUNG MAN
At least two.
(Pause)
MA
You can’t think of anything interesting to say about an 800-page book?
MAN
I just never thought it would happen to me so young.
WOMAN
It’s just your body.
MAN
A pretty intimate betrayal of the body, don’t you think?
YOUNG WOMAN
Have you read it before?
MA
There you go!
YOUNG MAN
It’s my third time. You?
YOUNG WOMAN
First time.
YOUNG MAN
There’s this final speech. It’s. Well. I don’t know why anyone bothers to write anymore. There’s nothing left to say. Not after this novel’s funeral oration.
YOUNG WOMAN
You on your way to work?
YOUNG MAN
Isn’t everybody?
YOUNG WOMAN
Can you blow it off?
YOUNG MAN
To do what?
YOUNG WOMAN
Take a walk in the park? The trees are blooming.
PA
That’s my girl!
YOUNG MAN
Uh. Yeah. I could do that.
YOUNG WOMAN
Let’s get off at the next stop and catch a cab. Huh?
(YOUNG MAN and YOUNG WOMAN toss their books upstage towards MAN and WOMAN and run off)
MAN
My body’s eating itself, all these cells going berserk that even radiation can’t kill, and I’m so sorry—
WOMAN
It’s okay. I know you can’t help it.
MAN
Promise me you’ll marry someone else—
WOMAN
No one will compare to you.
MAN
But I don’t want you to die alone.
WOMAN
I won’t.
MAN
But if you never marry someone else, who’s going to wrap their arms around you—
WOMAN
Come on. Just sit back. I’ll read to you.
MAN
I don’t know why we kept two copies of that book all these years.
WOMAN
Just relax. Let me read you the end:
(WOMAN picks up one of the books tossed upstage by the YOUNG MAN and YOUNG WOMAN)
WOMAN
“And so let us, each one of us, remember him as long as we live.”
(As WOMAN reads, MAN gets up and joins MA and PA on the block, all three holding the sheet)
WOMAN
“And whether you are absorbed in the most important pursuits, reaching out for the highest honors, or struck down by the cruelest griefs, always remember how good it felt when we were together, united by a good and decent feeling, which made us, while we all loved this boy, better people, probably, than we would otherwise have been.”
(He’s gone. She looks down as if the body is still there. The MAN, MA and PA bend down and wrap the sheet around her. They stand back up, looking down on her.)
WOMAN
(to the MAN’s body, which she alone sees on the floor) Don’t you see? I could never die alone after being with you.
Read full lengths by Jacob Juntunen here!
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