Rough Draft

The Same As Every Day

SCENE: A large room filled with people. There are an assortment of chairs and couches spread throughout as people sit and talk. There is a TV in the background playing a soap opera. A woman, ALICE, is sitting in an armchair next to an elderly man, CHUCK.

ALICE

(smiling, but with worry in her eyes)

Have you been outside yet today, grandad?

CHUCK

(smiling)

Oh yeah. I went down to the lake this morning. Caught a fish this big!

Chuck holds his arms two feet apart to show the size of his fish.

ALICE

(nodding)

Wow! Too bad Danny wasn’t with you. He would have loved that.

CHUCK

(Looking confused)

Your brother was there. How else do you think these old arms could reel in such a catch?

ALICE

(Her fist tightens against her leg)

Right, I forgot. 

CHUCK

(Smiling happily)

Got to take the fish to grandmum. God, that woman sure knows how to fry up a catfish!

ALICE

(Voice strained and eyes sad)

Yeah, I-

A nurse wearing purple scrubs interrupts, a thin smile stretched across her face. 

NURSE

Alice, it’s so good to see you. Can I talk to you for just a moment?

Alice glances at her grandfather before nodding and standing from her chair to follow the nurse a few feet away. 

NURSE

(voice hushed, looking concerned)

He’s getting worse. 

ALICE

(voice also quiet, sad)

I can see that. Does he even know where he is?

NURSE

He hasn’t had a lucid moment that I’ve seen for…. nearly a week, I think. But you know that, dear. You’re here every day, nearly all day.

ALICE

(upset)

He’s my grandad. And with grandmum gone and my brother on tour in Iraq… and mom and dad… I can’t just let him sit here all day by himself! He needs me, he needs to see a familiar face everyday to help anchor him in the present. When I was a little girl, do you know what he used to tell me? We’d be walking down along the beach, watching the sun spray color over the ocean and my brother would be up ahead of us, trying to fall in a tide pool. Grandad would point over the sea and tell me stories of all the men he met in the Navy. I was just a kid, gosh I couldn’t have been older than eight, and instead of spinning lies about mermaids and Poseidon he told me old war stories and described to me the inside of a submarine. He’s a grounded man. He needs this, he needs me. 

(long pause)

NURSE

(looking surprised)

I didn’t know he had such an impact on your life. 

ALICE

He’s my family. He is my life. 

NURSE

Do you even exist outside of this place, Alice?

(pause)

ALICE

I don’t know anymore. 

(NURSE exits, watching ALICE with concern as she goes. ALICE returns to CHUCK)

CHUCK

Where are Tony and Laura?

ALICE

My parents, grandad? They’re, well, they uh- They’re off on vacation again. In Mexico. 

CHUCK

Never understood why someone’d want to vacation somewhere they can’t even drink the runnin’ water. When I was in the Navy, we sure as hell didn’t call that a vacation. 

ALICE

I know, grandad. They like to see the Aztec ruins, remember? Mom and dad always make sure to bring you back some souvenir from them. 

CHUCK

Tell ‘em to sail through mine infested waters. Bring me back a souvenir of that. 

ALICE

(smiling)

Not everyone can be as badass as you. 

CHUCK

You got that right, cupcake. Now go get grandmum, we have to get that catfish cooked up for dinner. 

ALICE

(looking nervous)

Grandmum isn’t here either she, uh, went out to the store. 

CHUCK

(glaring)

Well, why the hell is everyone gone? What about Danny. I was just with him a few hours ago, where did he go?

ALICE

(growing more nervous)

My brother left. Had to get home to feed the dogs. Remember Scout and Toby? 

CHUCK

(looking confused)

Didn’t… didn’t Scout and Toby… aren’t they gone?

ALICE

(now extremely nervous and fidgeting)

S-scout and Toby, y-yeah. They… they’re gone.

CHUCK

(strangely calm)

And Tony and Laura… they’re not in Mexico. They got in an accident.

ALICE

(starting to cry)

Yes, they’re in the hospital still, grandad. 

CHUCK

(quietly)

Coma.

ALICE

(crying)

Yes! Grandad, do you know where you are? Do you know what’s going on?

ALICE leaps across her chair and pulls him into a hug, crying into his shoulder.

ALICE (cont’d) 

(quietly)

I’ve missed you so much.

CHUCK

(suddenly angry, scared)

Who the hell are you? Get off!

CHUCK shoves ALICE off of him and she lands on the floor. He stands from his chair,  angry and confused.

CHUCK (cont’d)

Where the hell am I? 

ALICE

Calm down, grandad. You’re in a nursing home, everything is okay.

CHUCK

Who are you? I don’t know who you are. Someone get me out of here! Where’s my wife- Julia! Julia!

The NURSE runs back in, holding a needle in one hand.

NURSE

(placing a hand on CHUCKS shoulder to try and calm him)

Mr. Radensky, please calm down. Everything is okay.

CHUCK

Everything is not okay. You let me out of this place, right now!

CHUCK shoves the NURSE and she stumbles back, nearly falling.

NURSE

(Yelling)

Can I get some help over here, please!

Two men appear and grab CHUCK by his shoulders, holding him still. The NURSE comes forward slowly, looking sad as she sticks him with the long needle. 

The NURSE turns and helps ALICE off the floor, where she has been silently crying as she watched. 

ALICE

(hysterical)

What did you do to him?? He was starting to remember, everything was okay!

NURSE

Dear, that was not okay. The brief lucidity he experienced triggered an episode. He didn’t even know who you were. 

ALICE

He did, though! He did, for a moment. I know he did. 

NURSE

(quietly)

You need to let him calm down a bit. Go to the cafeteria, get something to eat, and I’ll come find you when you can see him again.

ALICE

(sad)

I’m not hungry.

NURSE

Go to the cafeteria. Tell the lady up front to give you something for your nerves, and I’ll come find you in a bit, okay?

ALICE agrees, looking reluctant.

ALICE walks into a large room filled with long, rectangular tables. There is a woman at the far end of the room standing behind a window cut into the wall. ALICE walks up to her.

ALICE

Hello. The nurse told me you could give me something to calm my nerves?

WOMAN

(smiling)

Ahhh, yes. Here you are, sweetie. 

The woman reaches below the window, out of sight of ALICE and the audience and produces a small paper cup with two pills in it. 

ALICE

(smiling sadly)

Thank you.

WOMAN

You come here every day, sweetie. I’m surprised you don’t need those more often. 

ALICE throws the pills back, swallowing thickly. She then goes to sit at the edge of one of the rectangular tables, where she is joined by SHELLY, a professional looking woman in her mid-thirties, wearing a suit. She has long brown hair and soft eyes.

SHELLY

(smiling brightly)

Hi, there.

ALICE

Oh, hi. Are you here visiting someone? I feel like I’ve seen you here before.

SHELLY

Yes, my grandmother is here. Just came out to get a breather. I saw what happened in the other room, are you okay?

ALICE

(shaking her head)

I don’t know. I just feel so… lonely.

SHELLY

I know how you feel. It’s a lot of work putting in so much time for the people we care about, and not getting anything back. 

ALICE

Yeah…

ALICE pauses, staring at SHELLY for a long moment.

ALICE

Are you sure we haven’t met here, before?

SHELLY

Oh, I’m sure we’ve seen each other. Like I said, I’m visiting my grandmother a lot. Anyways, are you feeling okay? About what just happened?

ALICE glances around the room suddenly, looking confused.

ALICE

(faintly)

I feel… I feel odd. 

The NURSE reappears, patting ALICE gently on the shoulder.

NURSE

You can come back now if you want, dear. Chuck is back in his room. 

ALICE looks up at the NURSE as if she can barely see her.

ALICE

Right… okay, yeah.

The NURSE leads ALICE away, leaving SHELLY sitting at the table. She watches them leave with a frown on her face.

They arrive at CHUCKS room. It is small, with nothing but a bed with the rails set up and a dresser in the corner. The dresser has rounded edges and there are no decorations at all in the room. The bed has white sheets and the walls of the room are also very white. CHUCK is lying in his bed, eyes open sleepily and wrists secured to the rails on the bed so he can’t move his arms.

ALICE

(concerned)

Why are his arms tied down?

NURSE

Just a precaution, dear. We don’t want him to hu- uh, fall out of the bed. We gave him some stuff earlier to calm him down though so he should be pretty tranquil. 

ALICE shuffles closer to the bed, gripping the railing and looking as if she’s about ready to fall over. 

ALICE

Grandad? You okay?

CHUCK

(voice barely discernable)

Not… your… grandad.

ALICE

(Looking at NURSE)

What’s wrong with him?

NURSE

I told you, just a mild sedative.

ALICE

(confused)

No, it’s not just that. You know what, I feel weird too. What is going on here? 

NURSE

(shifts nervously)

Dear, you’re fine. It’s probably just those nerve pills you took.

ALICE

(Presses her palms to her head as if trying to concentrate)

No, no it’s not that. It’s… something strange. That woman, in the cafeteria. Do you know her?

NURSE

(nervous)

Yes, I do. 

ALICE 

(voice quiet)

Do I know her, too?

The NURSE nods, looking sad. 

ALICE takes a few heavy steps forward before falling into the NURSE who catches her carefully. 

SCENE CHANGE

ALICE is lying in a white bed with white sheets, the rails set up around it. The room she is in is very white, with no decorations. The NURSE and SHELLY are standing over her as she sleeps. 

NURSE

Poor thing, she passed out right in my arms.

SHELLY

I wasn’t expecting this from her today. She’s been here for how long now? A year? And hasn’t had an episode since she met Chuck. It’s been at least eight months. 

NURSE

I think his episode triggered hers, really. I could tell she wasn’t right after he started yelling at her- she was insisting that he remembered her, that he could tell. I think she really knew that he couldn’t. That’s why I sent her off to get her pills, I had a feeling she was going to need them.

SHELLY

Is Chuck doing okay, by the way? These two really have been good for each other. Ever since Alice met him and listened to him talk on and on about his family, learning about each of them, she’s just been so happy. So happy to pretend she’s a part of it. I know it’s wrong of a doctor to condone such delusions, but after the life she’s had I kind of just want her to be happy. Is that wrong?

NURSE

Not at all, Doctor. I know how you feel. We all care for Alice, even though she doesn’t realize we’re all here to take care of her and not just her pseudo grandfather. 

SHELLY

The human mind really is amazing. To go through such lengths to tell itself a lie. But, with severe amnesia and psychosis, I suppose it’s not that much of a stretch. 

ALICE shifts in her bed, looking like she’s about ready to wake up.

SHELLY

I guess that’s my cue to leave, then. Let me know if you need anything later. 

SHELLY exits the room and ALICE wakes up, sitting up and looking around in confusion.

NURSE

Oh hello, dear! You were getting tired, and no wonder since you’re here every moment of the day. Anyway, we let you catch a nap in one of the unused patient beds. 

ALICE

(sleepy)

Oh, thank you. I appreciate it. How is grandad doing? Is he feeling better?

NURSE

He’s out in the main room, watching the TV. 

ALICE

I’ll go see him, then. Do you think he’s having a good day? I mean, does he seem to remember anything?

NURSE

He seems about the same as the ever, dear. About the same as every day.