To the Artist's Page                  To our home page

To B. Z. Niditch's previous piece     To B. Z. Niditch's next piece

Left Out in the Rain

TIME: 1975

PLACE: A large apartment in Cambridge, Massachusetts, simply furnished.

CHARACTERS:

Jason
Katie
(all about 30 years old) Sarah
Ted
(all about 30 years old)

SCENE I: Jason and Katie's apartment. They are sitting on the couch.

KATIE: Jay, I can't take it any longer. I want a child. I need to be a mother. I'm not getting any younger.

JASON: You make me feel guilty because I can't give you a child. The doctors said they couldn't be sure it was my problem, anyway.

KATIE: They're sure.

JASON: You know it makes me impotent sometimes when you keep bring it up.

KATIE: I'm not into good performances. You know that. That's your department.

JASON: You never complained before. But I feel there's something you're keeping from me.

KATIE: Do you remember Sarah, from school?

JASON: How could I forget her. I was seeing her when you and I met.

KATIE: You were seeing Sarah when I met you. In fact, I was so jealous of her, that I slept with her.

JASON: But why sleep with her?

KATIE: I don't know. I was jealous. I wanted to have what she had. So in order to be her equal, I slept with her.

JASON: You have a secret Sarah department.

JASON: I did love Sarah when I was with her. But it wasn't the same - not like you and I.

KATIE: I thought that if I could persuade you, and Sarah agreed, we could have had a menage a trois. Then maybe I could take you away from her.

JASON: Well, you did anyway. I've always wondered what happened to Sarah.

KATIE: So did I until last week. I ran into her in the Square. I brought her back here to talk.

JASON: To talk?

KATIE: And more. I slept with her.

JASON: So what's the point of all these revelations? Maybe you're still interested in a menage?

KATIE: Not that it would satisfy me, now.

JASON: Haven't I tried to satisfy you? I still think there's something else you're keeping from me. Isn't there, Kate.

Katie goes out and brings in identical beer mugs to the living room table. Jason looks at Katie in the mirror.

KATIE: I told Sarah how much I want a child. She called a few days ago to tell me she's found a guy to give me a child. He has good genes and he's healthy. And he told me he'd be glad to do me the favor.

JASON: And what am I supposed to do about it?

KATIE: You can't do anything about it. You know I've always believed in my own sexual politics and my own agenda.

JASON: I'm sure you and Sarah talked all about it.

KATIE: You'll soon find out. Sarah will be here soon. With Ted.

JASON: You want something to really kill our marriage? Well, you've found it, Katie. Couldn't we have talked about this first?

KATIE: I knew you'd never agree. I had to take matters into my own hands. JASON: And where am I supposed to go during the impregnation? Can I have Sarah while you have Ted?

KATIE: That's up to her.

JASON: Why did you spring this on me now?

KATIE: I had to be brave or I'd hate myself.

JASON: Couldn't you just have kept it to yourself?

KATIE: Then you'd always think the baby was yours.

JASON: So what's wrong with that?

Ted and Sarah knock on the door. They come in with wet umbrellas, and Katie takes their coats. Jason is having another beer.

KATIE: Hi, come on in. Sarah, you remember Jason.

SARAH: Hi, Jay. Long time no see. This is Ted.

JASON: The man of the hour.

TED: You remember me, don't you Jay.

JASON: No, I don't think I do.

TED: We shared a jail cell back in '68. After we were arrested outside the Pentagon for demonstrating against the war.

JASON: Ah, it all comes back to me now. How could I have forgotten.

TED: I've never forgotten how much you turned me on.

KATIE: Well, it looks like you've been keeping a secret, too, Jay. And Ted seems just the man we've been looking for.

JASON: This is wild. All of a sudden my wife springs this on me. She invites you two here from out of nowhere. What does she want from me? I'm going out for a walk.

KATIE: Do you want Sarah to go with you?

JASON: What's the matter with me - I can't leave. My wife might become pregnant.

TED: That can happen anywhere.

JASON: Oh, so you know the facts of life.

TED: I should, I'm a registered nurse.

JASON: I'd like to talk to Ted, but privately.

KATIE: Come on Sarah, lets let Ted and Jay get reacquainted. Katie and Sarah exit.

TED: It's so good to see you again, Jay. When Sarah introduced me to Katie, I didn't remember that you too had gotten married.

JASON: Ted, I'm real angry now. So you can cut out the sweet talk.

TED: You never minded the sweet talk in jail.

JASON: I had not no alternative.

TED: You could have refused. But no one refuses love, not even you. You know Jay, in some crazy way it seems right that I should be the father of your child. After all, I still do love you.

SCENE II: The guest bedroom. Jason and Sarah are sitting on the bed.

SARAH: When you married Katie, I felt very angry, because you didn't tell me preferred her over me. Katie was my best friend, but still I had trouble accepting it. I still think I'm in love you.

JASON: This is too much. You come here with Ted to give Katie a child, and now you tell me you still find me so attractive that you'd sleep with me.

SARAH: I'd like to think that we're still friends, so why not be lovers again.

JASON: Once friends have sex, friendships are never the same.

SARAH: You can't make me believe that.

JASON: I'm not as good-looking as I used to be.

SARAH: You are to me. And to Ted. JASON: Why bring him into it?

SARAH: He has an obsession with you. He idolizes you. You represent a politically committed man. He could never make commitments. He'll tell you that. I promised him that I'd persuade you to sleep with him again. JASON: No, I can't -- not anymore.

SARAH: Then I can't sleep with you.

JASON: I'd feel disloyal to my wife. Sleeping with another woman, I can deal with, but not another man. I can't help it. Everyone's making conditions without consulting me.

SARAH: Do you still want me?

JASON: I'd be a fool to say no.

SCENE III: The bedroom. Ted and Katie are in bed together.

TED: Well, let's get on with it.

KATIE: Please try to make it romantic. Even if you don't mean it. Can you be romantic with a woman?

TED: I've had relations with only one other woman -- Sarah. Since doing time with Jason, I've never had someone I love.

KATIE: The fact that you had relations with my husband all those months in jail makes it easier for me to go through with this.

TED: If you want another guy to do it, or you want to have a baby through artificial insemination, that's O.K. I know you think there's a price you're going to have to pay. I'm doing you a favor.

KATIE: Sure. So you can have my husband. Call me "baby" like Jason does.

SCENE IV: The guest bedroom. Jay is in the bed. Ted enters.

JASON: So how is my wife?

TED: You ask her.

JASON: I can't believe you're going to be the father of my kid.

TED: I can't believe I'm here with you after all these years.

JASON: I suppose you're going to tell me the months we stayed in jail were the happiest of your life.

TED: Well, I fantasized about you all these years. Because I did love you. I know you put me down to the other guys.

JASON: You're acting like a blushing teenage girl.

TED: I felt betrayed when you didn't defend me to the other inmates.

JASON: They called both of us fags.

TED: But that didn't prevent you from being with me all those nights. You never refused me.

JASON: It was a first for me, Ted. I don't know if it could happen again.

TED: Then why did it seem so right?

JASON: How the hell do I know? I've tried to forget about it.

TED: I've never forgotten.

JASON: I feel weighed down, as if my balls are being played with.

TED: I hope tonight you haven't been spent by Sarah, and you've saved something for me. After all, I did your wife a favor.

JASON: Tell me, did you enjoy it? Or do you enjoy torturing me more?

TED: I've always wanted to call you, to see you again. Sarah has, too. But we didn't want to disrupt the perfect marriage.

JASON: So instead you built up this jail honeymoon of ours for some strange reason.

TED: For some reason, Jay, we all love the thing or the one we can't have.

JASON: I don't think I can go through this with you now. I mean, sex.

TED: After I gave you a child?

JASON: How do you know? Anything could happen in the next nine months. You should know, you're the nurse.

TED: Katie is excited about this. Don't spoil her illusion, if that's all it is. Maybe my love for you is the same.

JASON: Then why don't you try to forget me.

TED: I want you to believe that I'm better than any woman.

JASON: I can't handle this.

TED: I'll handle it all. Every bit of it.

JASON: I've probably lost my wife anyway -- to Sarah.

TED: Well, it's a rainy night. Let me know how you feel in the morning.

SCENE V: Next morning. All four are at the breakfast table.

TED: So what do you think?

JASON: One big happy family.

TED: I'm ready to move in.

JASON: Not so fast, man.

KATIE: I want Ted and Sarah both to move in.

JASON: I guess I'm out voted.

SARAH: Great. Let's give it a trial for nine months.

JASON: Trial is just the right word.

KATIE: We can all pool our resources and have the commune we dreamed of in the sixties.

JASON: We're living in a dream world.

TED: What's wrong with that?

SCENE VI: Nine months later. Katie has twins - a daughter named Sarah and a son Ted. All four are in the living room, along with the new babies.

JASON: Our one big family hit the jackpot. A daughter, Sarah and a son, Ted. Even a live-in nurse to naturally deliver them.

KATIE: Jason, I know it's been hard for you to get through this.

SARAH: Why? Everyone loves Jason.

TED: Sarah and I saw to it that Jay was happy for nine months.

JASON: So now I'm the big daddy.

TED: I knew Jason would come around.

JASON: I suppose I have the best of all worlds. Then why do I feel left out in the rain?

THE END

To the top of this page