Mary Jane Sc 1

top of scene

And you know when the train stops underground, and you’re waiting, like okay, train traffic ahead or whatever, but there’s no announcement and after a while the engine cuts out and the lights dim and there’s this collective groan of: “Ohhhhhh no-”

Mm-hm.

And we had these kids in our car, these breakdancers- you know: “Showtime! What time is it? Showtime!” And they had already done their little- well not little, these guys were actually- I notice some people don’t watch, on principle, they bury their heads in their books or their phones, but I always feel like they’re kids, and I’m sorry, I can’t stand on my hands while the subway car is moving, so I admit it, I’m impressed-

Right.

So the train is stopped, and they had already done their- and I was the only person who had given them anything- sixty cents, or what was in my pocket, so they’re sort of seething, and the doors to the next cars are locked so they’re stuck, and they’re mad at us, they’re so mad-

Uh-huh. (1)

One of them says, really loudly, he says, “I’d be better off dancing in a forest!” Which I thought was so funny. “In a forest.” But we were stopped more than twenty minutes due to a sick passenger, they said.

That happened to me last week.

Uh-huh?

We were stopped, thirty, forty minutes?

Yeah?

He said it was someone under the train.

What?

Yeah, he finally came on, he said we’re delayed due to, uh, due to someone under the train.

It’s been draining slowly for a while…

Yup.

I guess I should’ve called you earlier.

It’s usually the bathroom sink.

Hm?

That gets clogged.

Right, because of the…

I might have to call the plumber.

Sorry, Ruthie.

Not your fault. Old pipes.

You want a Coke?

You alone here tonight?

Ronda called out sick.

Which one’s Ronda?

Um. Short hair?

Nose ring?

Nose ring?

Yeah. (1)

Oh no- Luisa. She moved to Florida.

I don’t think I met Ronda.

You want to meet her?

Yeah, she’s gonna be coming in and out of the building.

I’ll introduce you.

Florida.

You always lived here, Ruthie?

I’ve lived here since I was a teenager. Ran away from home.

Yeah?

Yeah. (2)

Why?

The usual reasons.

Do you have kids?

You seem to be someone who’s carrying a lot of tension in her body.

Really?

I’m partly inferring and partly it’s what I see in your body.

Okay.

You’re very nice… It’s just a thought. It might not be a useful thought.

No, it’s really-

Because that’s how my sister got cancer.

Oh.

Not to scare you… You don’t want non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Right.

She’s doing well. She’s NED, that means no evidence of disease.

Great.

They don’t say cancer-free, that’s not the right… They say NED, no evidence of disease. She’s doing well.

I’m so glad.

But chemo was…

Sure.

It’s poison. They dump poison in your veins… she could’ve just- A lot of people do.

Mm-hm.

I thought maybe I don’t have to get cancer first… It’s an offering. It’s just an offering.

Thank you.

You’re welcome. (brief pause.)

So you-

I do yoga, I swim at the Y, I get deep-tissue massage. But that’s just me. There are all different ways to…

Right.

But it’s the body. That’s what I’ve learned. Your trauma’s written in the cells of your body.

I feel… I feel…

Uh-huh? (2)

I feel pretty okay most of the time. I’m tired?

Sure.

But I think, I think sometimes when other people look at me- ha! People who know what’s going on in my-

Uh-huh. (3)

They’re like, whoa, but actually, being inside it? I don’t know, it’s not so… I think they’d be surprised.

As I said it was an offering.

Thank you.

What about the closet door, is that-?

Perfect. No problem since you fixed the-

Good.

I am very tired.

Well /

I used to be someone who treasured sleep, I cherished it. Before, if you had asked if there’s one thing I couldn’t do without, I would have said sleep. But…

But you adjust.

It’s amazing.

It is amazing. It is /

Yeah! The things that become just-

What they are.

When Alex was born, a friend of mine, she’s since moved to San Diego, her father was- anyway she had been through a lot of stuff, and when Alex was born, she said to me, “Mary Jane, you’ll still have good days and bad days.” And at the time I was like what kind of thing is that to say, I couldn’t understand it at all.

Your brain /

I mean it wasn’t a bad thing to say, it just wasn’t…

Great.

No, it wasn’t…

Timely.

No, uh… But anyway, now I think, what my friend said… now I think that was the best thing, maybe, that anybody said to me at that time, or the truest.

Uh-huh. Uh-huh. (Pause. Ruthie notices something.)

What?

You don’t, uh. You don’t have the window guards up.

I… oh. Sorry, Ruthie. I took them down. I’m sorry.

Just in here, or in the bedroom too?

It’s just that he loves looking out the windows, especially when he’s sick and I can’t take him outside? And it seems like such a small thing but the bars actually do bother him.

I understand. It’s just- it’s the law.

I know.

Even if he can’t climb up, I know that.

I know you know.

But I checked. I did check, and there are no exceptions for… for kids like Alex.

I just thought- you did your job, you installed them, you’re in the clear, it was me who took them down, and if anything happens- I can’t imagine how anything could- but I’ll take responsibility.

But now I saw it. I saw that they’re not in there.

Right, but… Right. I understand.

I mean I guess- I guess it’s possible I wouldn’t have noticed.

Yes! You were in here ten minutes before-

Let’s not talk about it. Let’s not talk about it anymore.

Okay. Can I just say that I admire your seriousness when it comes to your job. You’re an excellent superintendent. You’re easily the best superintendent I have ever had.