After
Recipient of Kennedy Center
David Mark Cohen Playwriting Award 2005
by Ed Stevens
4233 22nd Avenue South
St. Petersburg, FL 33711
(727) 327-3396
estevens3@tampabay.rr.com
Representation:
Ann Farber
Farber Literary Agency
14 E. 75th St.
New York, NY 10021
212-861-7075
The characters and incidents portrayed and the names used herein are
fictitious and any resemblance to the names, character, or
history of any person is coincidental and unintentional.
2005 Ed Stevens
SUMMARY:
A young couple who live near the former site of the World Trade Center deal with change in the wake of September 11. One leaves soon after the attacks, while the other joins the Ground Zero volunteer efforts. At their reunion, they discover that the incident has so changed their outlooks, values and goals that their relationship is in question. After was inspired by a series of interviews with Ground Zero volunteers and neighborhood residents.
CHARACTERS:
JESSE: A working actor from a sheltered Midwestern background; protective and levelheaded but a bit of a joker.
SHANNON: A fashion designer, sophisticated and intellectual; edginess and assertiveness mask underlying vulnerability.
SETTING:
New York City, October 2001. The living room of Jesse and Shannon’s small apartment in lower Manhattan. Exits lead to the entry hallway, the kitchen and the bedroom. A large window once provided a view of the Twin Towers. Scenes also occur in a friend’s apartment in Brooklyn and an office at the World Trade Center.
After is a series of scenes moving forward in time from October 7 to October 11, 2001, interspersed with flashbacks moving backwards in time from September 14, 2001.
OCTOBER 7
(Lights come up on Shannon at her computer keyboard, holding a framed photograph. A key is heard in the lock. Surprised, Shannon looks at the door with relief and then, resolute, replaces the photo and turns back to the keyboard.)
JESSE
(almost bursting in, dropping his luggage)
You all right?
SHANNON
I’m fine.
(Jesse crosses quickly and embraces Shannon, who does not respond.)
JESSE
That’s all?
(She shrugs.)
JESSE
Kiss me.
(They kiss.)
JESSE
Better.
(pause)
You sure you’re okay?
SHANNON
(still chilly)
I’m fine, Jesse.
JESSE
I was worried. Couldn’t reach you since Wednesday.
SHANNON
Haven’t been here much.
JESSE
Thought you were gonna stay in Brooklyn.
SHANNON
The power came on last week.
JESSE
Can’t believe you came back here alone.
SHANNON
This is my home.
JESSE
Our home, Shannon. Wow.
(pause)
Had dinner yet?
SHANNON
No.
JESSE
I’ll make you something.
(Jesse heads for the kitchen.)
SHANNON
Not much in there.
JESSE
You know I work wonders with leftovers.
(from the kitchen:)
There’s like nothing here. It looks like Mahatma Gandi’s refrigerator.
SHANNON
Told you.
JESSE
(returning)
You have lunch?
SHANNON
No.
JESSE
When’d you eat last?
SHANNON
Don’t remember. Yesterday.
JESSE
Can’t go without eating.
SHANNON
You don’t have to baby me. Didn’t think you’d be back so soon.
JESSE
Been almost three weeks. I missed you, Strawberry.
(pause)
You’re mad.
SHANNON
Not mad.
JESSE
Didn’t sound mad when I called.
SHANNON
I’m not mad. Just tired. How was Nebraska?
JESSE
Great. Clean. Is it safe to be here?
SHANNON
Safe as anywhere else right now.
JESSE
No, the dust. The air -- God knows what.
SHANNON
Jesse, I haven’t been sitting around worrying about the air. I’ve been out there.
JESSE
You still volunteering?
SHANNON
Mostly the firehouses now.
JESSE
Mom said you have a lot of guts.
SHANNON
What does your mother know?
JESSE
She means well.
SHANNON
Thinks I’m passing out lemonade and finger sandwiches.
JESSE
Shannon…
SHANNON
Tell her I was driving around distributing body bags.
JESSE
She doesn’t have to know every detail.
SHANNON
Guts to her - going shopping without a fresh coat of nail polish.
JESSE
All right, Shannon! They don’t know what it was like for us.
SHANNON
For us?
JESSE
You’re not gonna let it go, are you?
SHANNON
Told you, I’m not mad.
JESSE
(going to the window)
It’s calmed down out there. The GI Joes and the tank thing are gone. How far down can you go?
SHANNON
Blocked off at Chambers.
JESSE
Can’t believe they’re gone. Come home from rehearsal or after my shift, always some lights on. Working late at night, don’t they have a life? Would they have worked so late if...
(pause)
You meet the families?
SHANNON
I don’t want to talk about it.
JESSE
Not even to me? Okay. I can’t get over all the faces. Missing posters on every space: fences, telephone poles, subway walls. ‘Til you see the faces, it’s like all you saw was a TV movie, special effects. People’s faces everywhere, missing people, missed by people. And the most amazing thing is the respect: no one puts their poster over anyone else’s face.
(pause)
And so quiet. Even the cabs are silent. Usually not a millisecond the light changes and they’re leaning on the horn. The cab driver from the airport had a sign, “I’m an American Sikh.” You know, the turban guys?
SHANNON
Yeah.
JESSE
Dad still thinks they’re Moslems.
SHANNON
Your father, I like. Says what’s on his mind.
JESSE
He still talks about the bathrobe you made him. Braggs he’s the only guy in Nebraska with a New York designer original.
SHANNON
Denim suits him.
JESSE
He said it’s been too long since he’s seen you. He put up a flagpole up in the front yard. Everyone so supportive. You wouldn’t believe the flags everywhere.
SHANNON
That’s support?
JESSE
Bumper stickers, signs “we will never forget.”
SHANNON
Everyone’s jumping on the bandwagon. This need to out-grieve each other: “Let’s put a flag on the SUV.”
JESSE
It’s different outside.
SHANNON
What do they know about this?
JESSE
They’re not being disrespectful.
SHANNON
No? Seen the tourists snapping pictures? It’s just a hole in the ground, go home! Street vendors with Twin Tower paperweights? Who buys this shit? Not New Yorkers.
JESSE
History. They want a piece of it.
SHANNON
They were selling videos of the people jumping!
JESSE
Don’t act like it’s my fault.
SHANNON
Didn’t say that.
JESSE
Dammit, wrap me in barbed wire! Yell at me! Anything but this chill you’re giving off.
SHANNON
I’m sorry, Jesse. I don’t know what I’m saying.
JESSE
I knew you’d be this mad, I wouldn’t have gone.
SHANNON
I’m not...Yeah, I’m mad. Not just you. Everything.
JESSE
It’s okay, Strawberry.
SHANNON
I’m glad you’re back, Bear. It’s been...You don’t want to hear it all.
JESSE
Tell me. How many times have you listened to my “I-just-blew-another-audition-and-what-makes-me-think-I-can-be-an-actor,” that whole routine?
SHANNON
To talk about it all, it’s...I can’t...
JESSE
(with a Dr. Freud accent:)
De patient must be villing to talk. Ve cannot cure de patient vithout she is villing to talk!
SHANNON
I don’t want to play group therapy, Doctor.
JESSE
Den ve vill have to perform a revolutionary derapeutic dechnique!
SHANNON
What?
JESSE
Grope therapy!
(He tickles her mercilessly.)
SHANNON
No, no! Stop, stop! Okay!
JESSE
De patient is now villing to talk?
SHANNON
All right, all right.
JESSE
So it was bad down there.
SHANNON
Bad.
(pause)
And wonderful.
JESSE
How so?
SHANNON
People lining up to give blood. Donations pouring into the relief centers, food, clothes. Oh, I did the Vicks runs.
JESSE
Vicks?
SHANNON
Vapo Rub. The smell.
JESSE
God.
SHANNON
And hand lotion. Not on the disaster supply list. So I call drug stores and they say sure, clean out the shelves. You told me this would happen in New York, I’d say chaos. But we pulled together. I look around me, people who are good. Everywhere.
JESSE
I like this “We-Are-the-World Shannon.”
SHANNON
Now don’t patronize me, Jesse.
JESSE
I love you. Come here.
(Jesse embraces Shannon, who returns the embrace. He kisses her.)
How about we, ah...
(Shannon pulls away gently.)
SHANNON
Let’s get something to eat.
JESSE
Now?
SHANNON
Guess I am hungry. We could get some takeout.
JESSE
Okay. If you really want to, right now. We’ll go out. Where?
SHANNON
I don’t know.
JESSE
Can you bring me down there?
SHANNON
If I know the cops on the barricade.
(They leave.)
OCTOBER 7, EVENING
(Jesse and Shannon are finishing takeout food.)
JESSE
It’s peaceful down there, almost serene. People whispering as they pass one another, as they go about the work. Just the sound of the machines, hauling...what’s left. Car-size chunks of concrete. Humongous masses of metal all twisted like some giant hand took them and...More?
SHANNON
No thanks.
JESSE
Not bad. The one around the corner hasn’t reopened yet?
SHANNON
Nothing around here has.
JESSE
Tomorrow I’ll clean the kitchen and shop. Cook some real food.
SHANNON
That’ll be nice.
JESSE
It’s like a war zone. Oh. This nightmare I used to have when I was a kid.
SHANNON
What do you get nightmares about in Nebraska?
JESSE
Tornados. Funnel clouds all summer. This dream, one of them sucks everything up. Not nice and neat like Dorothy. Houses, trees, all flung in a pile so high I can’t see the top. Nothing I can do to put things back where they belong.
(pause)
JESSE
(continued)
I can’t get my head around it. How quiet it is down there. When the workers shout across to each other, it’s like a curse in church. Can you believe that cross thing?
SHANNON
Frankly, no.
JESSE
Maybe it means something.
SHANNON
It means out of all the pieces of rubble, people found one that suits them.
JESSE
My sister-in-law said her prayer group’s concentrating on here.
SHANNON
She thinks those people weren’t praying? I don’t care if Mother Teresa was on those planes, they still would have hit.
JESSE
I’m with you on that one. Do we have to talk religion?
SHANNON
The other day, this woman on the train? Waited ‘til the doors closed and then starts in. It’s our fault not being in touch with Jesus, the gays and the other sinners, on and on. Waits until we’re trapped, how sad is that? Fucking terrorist assault, no different than the others.
JESSE
You really have to stop riding the subway.
SHANNON
They say money’s the root of all evil. Organized religion!
JESSE
Thank you, professor.
SHANNON
I hate it when you do that.
JESSE
What?
SHANNON
Make fun of me.
JESSE
“Professor?” What’s wrong with that?
SHANNON
Whenever I get serious about something…
JESSE
You lecture. It’s cute.
SHANNON
Cute?
JESSE
I mean, it’s good. It’s...instructive. But also cute. All right, I’m sorry.
(pause)
Did I tell you my father had a religious epiphany last year?
SHANNON
Your father? I can’t believe that.
JESSE
Whenever he got up at night, he thought God was turning on the light for him.
SHANNON
What?
JESSE
Turns out he was peeing in the oven.
SHANNON
Oh, God.
JESSE
Exactly! Come on, laugh! You can do it.
SHANNON
It’s not very funny.
JESSE
See, he got up to go...
SHANNON
I get it.
JESSE
So he’s standing at the oven...just picture it.
SHANNON
Your father...
JESSE
In the denim bathrobe.
SHANNON
Standing there...Oh my God!
(She laughs.)
JESSE
Thank you.
SHANNON
You total fool. How is he?
JESSE
Talking about retiring next year. Mom wants more time with him. The business and my brother’s kids, they hardly see each other. They’d love to see more of you, too.
SHANNON
What are you doing tomorrow?
JESSE
Go by the SAG office, the restaurant. See if there’s any work.
(pause)
I’d like to think it meant something, if not religion.
SHANNON
People are different. I’m different.
JESSE
Sounds so clichéd: “I have perspective on what’s important.” Have we really changed?
SHANNON
It brought people together.
JESSE
How?
SHANNON
I worked side by side with all kinds of people. A little’s rubbed off on everyone here.
JESSE
Shouldn’t take people to die for New Yorkers to learn to say “excuse me.” It’s not gonna last.
SHANNON
Now who’s cynical?
JESSE
People are saying hello now, but when will it go back to business as usual? You think it will last?
SHANNON
For me it will.
JESSE
Just when I have you figured out, you surprise me. God, I miss talking to you like this. You know, stuff besides kids and football.
SHANNON
Me, too.
JESSE
It’s late. The flight tired me out, all that security stuff.
You tired?
SHANNON
Not yet. I want to get on the computer awhile.
JESSE
Oh. Okay. I guess I’ll go to bed alone. Don’t stay up too late.
(pause)
I miss you. You know.
SHANNON
Give me some time, okay?
TRANSITION:
FLASHBACK SEPTEMBER 14, 2001, TV NEWS COVERAGE
NEWS ANNOUNCER ONE AT GROUND ZERO:
This is Doug Baumer on September 14. Firemen tell me today’s heavy rain is a bad thing, that the water will mix with the ash and cause such an increase in weight that the rubble pile could spill down on the rescue workers...
NEWS ANNOUNCER TWO:
...some authorities say the rain is a good thing, that it will settle the dust and smoke and allow the rescuers to see more clearly as they pursue their mission...
FLASHBACK SEPTEMBER 14, 2001
(A friend’s apartment in Brooklyn Heights. Jesse is watching television news. Shannon enters sooty and disheveled.)
JESSE
Where the hell have you been? I was worried sick.
SHANNON
At the Javits, the convention center. It was a zoo when I got there.
JESSE
You could have called.
SHANNON
I tried. Phone didn’t work.
JESSE
I didn’t know what to think.
(Jesse goes to Shannon.)
SHANNON
Sorry, I’m a mess. Let me clean up.
(Shannon goes into the bathroom and continues from there.)
JESSE
What happened at the Javits?
SHANNON
God, rooms and rooms of supplies to get organized. Donated food coming in from all over. We set up a food line for the people coming off shift. So much to do.
(Shannon comes back in and puts on fresh clothes.)
SHANNON
What are you doing?
JESSE
Sitting here.
SHANNON
How long you going to sit here?
JESSE
Movie work’s shut down. No one’s shooting anything.
SHANNON
At least get out.
JESSE
Don’t want to go anywhere. You took the subway?
SHANNON
All over Hell’s kingdom, since the 2 and the 3 are still out.
JESSE
How was it?
SHANNON
Pin-drop silence. Kids not dissing each other, no homeless people speeches. Everyone looks Arabic. One guy is sweating and sweating. I’m thinking, I’d be sweating too if I was going to blow up the place. Not like me. This Indian woman gets up quick, walks over. Leaves her package on the seat. Asks me about the F train. I keep my eye on that package. Guy with a bicycle is blocking the doorway to the next car. One point it stops for no apparent reason and it hits me, I’VE GOT TO GET THE HELL OFF THIS TRAIN!
JESSE
I’ll make dinner
SHANNON
I can’t, Jesse. Have to head back.
JESSE
Why are you doing this?
SHANNON
I have to do something.
JESSE
Can’t you stay tonight?
SHANNON
They need me.
JESSE
I need you too.
SHANNON
Oh, did Mitchell call back?
JESSE
Yeah. No one’s heard from them.
SHANNON
Oh, no.
JESSE
Only a few were in that early.
SHANNON
Julie from Accounting…
JESSE
The girl you hung around with.
SHANNON
She was always early. Did he say...
JESSE
I’m sorry.
SHANNON
Oh shit. Oh, Jesus, I never called her back.
JESSE
It’s all right.
SHANNON
No, I got busy. Supposed to go out for her birthday, and I didn’t get around to...
JESSE
Shannon, that was two years ago.
SHANNON
I sent her a fucking e-mail card.
JESSE
It’s not your fault. Not like you could have called and said “hey, don’t go to work tomorrow.”
SHANNON
Could have been a better friend.
JESSE
Nothing you could have done. Understand? Nothing.
SHANNON
I guess not.
JESSE
Stay?
SHANNON
Awhile.
JESSE
The night?
SHANNON
Won’t do any good for me to sit here and fall apart.
JESSE
All right. When are you through?
SHANNON
I don’t know.
JESSE
When do we get back to our real life?
SHANNON
A warm room, and it’s peaceful – none of this seems real. Tonight I ran around with a bio-hazard bag collecting gloves. That’s what’s real right now.
JESSE
(pause)
The airports reopened this morning.
SHANNON
Yeah?
JESSE
Mom’s a mess, she wants me to come home. We can get a flight next week.
SHANNON
I can’t. Still too much to do.
JESSE
Nothing I can do here. I can help Mom with some landscaping.
SHANNON
Landscaping?
JESSE
I’m not like you. I feel like I’m falling apart. I miss my family. If something had happened to us...
SHANNON
But something has happened to us, don’t you see?
JESSE
I need some time with them, to feel normal for a little while. It won’t be long.
SHANNON
Do what you need to do.
JESSE
Come with me.
SHANNON
Your mother and I would be at each other’s throats in an hour.
JESSE
You’ll stay here out here in Brooklyn, right?
SHANNON
Guess so.
JESSE
I don’t want to worry about you.
OCTOBER 8
(Shannon is on the telephone. Jesse, offstage, is cleaning in the kitchen.)
SHANNON
Thanks. Tell Peter hello for me. Hang in there, huh?
(Shannon hangs up the telephone. Offstage, Jesse knocks over some pots, making a loud racket. Shannon jumps.)
SHANNON
Jesus!
JESSE
(entering, wearing a dust mask and carrying a pot)
Sorry. Went to pull one off the top shelf.
SHANNON
Give me a little warning! Don’t you have anything else to do besides tear up the kitchen!? Sorry, I’m still...
JESSE
I know. Guy in the bank yesterday dropped a briefcase, this lady actually screamed. Look, I got everything washed. Can start cooking again.
SHANNON
Great.
JESSE
You should have a mask on while I’m cleaning.
SHANNON
Breathing it for a month. Nothing’s happened to me.
JESSE
Right, nothing to worry about. Only lung damage, cancer, mutated DNA.
SHANNON
I feel fine. And I’m not passing my DNA along any time soon.
JESSE
You never know.
SHANNON
What?
JESSE
Nothing. So how’s Peter and Ingrid?
SHANNON
Got some of the cleanup done. They can only go back a couple hours at a time.
JESSE
Hard to believe Cedar Street’s even standing, right across the street from it.
SHANNON
They said the place was a foot deep in debris. Glass, file folders, invoices. A computer in the middle of the living room. They didn’t own a computer.
JESSE
They need help?
SHANNON
Need to have hazard suits and respirators.
JESSE
They ever find the cats?
SHANNON
No.
(Shannon starts up the computer.)
JESSE
Want some lunch?
SHANNON
No, thanks.
JESSE
Gonna work on the new collection?
SHANNON
No. I thought you were going by the SAG office.
JESSE
I’ll go tomorrow. You’re not designing something for me, are you? Another surprise suit maybe?
SHANNON
Uh Uh.
JESSE
So what are you doing on the computer?
SHANNON
I’m not having an online affair, if that’s what you’re worried about.
JESSE
No, I wasn’t thinking that at all. I just wondered.
SHANNON
Don’t worry. There’s no one else.
JESSE
I wasn’t accusing you.
SHANNON
I should hope not.
JESSE
What’s that supposed to mean?
SHANNON
I’m not the one who...never mind. You really want to see what I’m doing on here?
JESSE
Hello, yes.
SHANNON
All right. People see this like a passing thing you have to get over. There’s a web site for how to change the subject. “We’re trying to move on.” “My therapist said not to dwell on it.” It’s not passing.
JESSE
Okay.
SHANNON
Down there, I’m thinking, this will be over soon and I’ll get on with my life. But when we closed the Javits, I was...empty.
JESSE
You have to get on with your life.
SHANNON
I tried to sit here and do the ten things at once I used to, and I couldn’t do one thing.
JESSE
What about your clients?
SHANNON
Got another designer to take care of them.
JESSE
You were finally making some real money.
SHANNON
I want to live my life on purpose, know what I mean?
JESSE
Okay.
SHANNON
Like, what can I do in my little life to...honor this...the people in the office.
JESSE
So what are you working on?
SHANNON
(indicating computer screen:)
Look. It’s the Noguchi.
JESSE
The sculpture. The giant red nut.
SHANNON
So where is it?
JESSE
Was down in the plaza in front of...
SHANNON
Right. And now?
JESSE
Don’t know.
SHANNON
No one does. Here’s the Calder, the “boomerangs.” His grandson brought flyers to the site, like a missing person. Everyone thought he was crazy.
JESSE
Not surprised.
SHANNON
They found pieces of it.
JESSE
You’re gonna help find the art?
SHANNON
Jesse, this corporate gallery had 300 Rodins. Not findable. No one even knows how much is lost.
JESSE
What does it matter with...
SHANNON
Four thousand people gone?
JESSE
They’re saying thirty-five hundred now.
SHANNON
Exactly! We need to know what’s lost.
JESSE
What’s art compared to lives?
SHANNON
Someone’s vision, someone’s sweat...it is their lives. All that’s left.
JESSE
Worrying about old pieces of art...
SHANNON
Look.
JESSE
The statue, the guy with the briefcase. Looked so real when you walked by. He’s gone?
SHANNON
Still there. Covered with flowers and letters.
JESSE
I get it.
(posing like a sculpture.)
Look, I’m art! Save me!
SHANNON
Jesus, I’m serious about this!
JESSE
I was only making a joke.
SHANNON
Not funny. So you think what I’m doing is a joke, huh? Laughable. Better I just sit around and do nothing like you.
JESSE
It’s a joke, for Chrissake! Don’t you have any fucking sense of humor left?
SHANNON
Guess not.
JESSE
I’m going out to take some pictures. I’ll pick up some wine for Anne’s tomorrow. Look, I’m sorry I made a joke about something so important to you, okay?
(Jesse exits. Shannon paces, in conflict about a decision.)
OCTOBER 9
(Shannon and Jesse enter, arguing heatedly.)
SHANNON
You didn’t have to be rude to Anne.
JESSE
“Just a matter of time given US policy”?
SHANNON
She’s European.
JESSE
And we have no business in Afghanistan.
SHANNON
I don’t see what bombing the shit out of them is accomplishing.
JESSE
Flush him out.
SHANNON
Please, think for one moment he’s still there?
JESSE
We’ll have him soon. We have to show them we’re not going to stand for terrorism.
SHANNON
And war’s the answer?
JESSE
With all those people dead, how can you still be anti-war?
SHANNON
How can you be pro? Think Bin Laden gives a fuck about the people we’re killing? It’s revenge, pure and simple.
JESSE
Justice.
SHANNON
When will justice be served? As many die as the attacks? You’re so hot on this so-called war, why don’t you join the fucking army?
JESSE
That what you want? Maybe I will.
SHANNON
Bet you actually would.
JESSE
What’s wrong with that? Your dad was military.
SHANNON
Don’t bring my father into this!
JESSE
Sorry.
SHANNON
Don’t ever bring my father up!
JESSE
Okay, okay. Let’s calm down. Sometimes, I don’t think you like me.
SHANNON
I don’t always like your views. I wonder if it’s really you talking, or some macho American jingoism.
JESSE
What’s wrong with being an American?
SHANNON
Does it mean you have to be a moron?
JESSE
All right! Can we get off the soapboxes? God, I hate fighting with you. What’s happening to us? Maybe all this war talk is stupid, but we need to do something. Can’t just sit.
SHANNON
Then do something. Do something. Grieve, at least.
JESSE
I don’t know what to do. I just want to live our life, the things we used to do. I came back, hoping it would be all over. I want it to go away.
SHANNON
Maybe the best thing to come out of this. Opening our sheltered eyes.
JESSE
You make it sound like we had it coming.
SHANNON
Maybe time our spoiled-rotten-kid society got a taste of how the world lives.
JESSE
Why should we feel guilty about being sheltered?
SHANNON
Let the rest of the world go to hell.
JESSE
You know, not everyone’s as enlightened as you are, professor. We’re doing the best we can.
SHANNON
Yeah. I’m going to bed.
JESSE
As in ‘come with me to bed, Jesse’ or as in ‘why don’t you sleep out here on the couch, Jesse’?
SHANNON
Good night.
JESSE
I’m trying to be real patient here. Are you avoiding me?
SHANNON
I’m not feeling comfortable yet.
JESSE
Well, I’m not feeling too comfortable either, if you know what I mean. The least you can do is...All right. Never mind. I’m fine out here. Good night.
(Shannon goes into the bedroom. Jesse tries to get comfortable on the couch.)
TRANSITION: FLASHBACK, SEPTEMBER 12 TV NEWS COVERAGE
INTERVIEWER:
The day after, desperately holding on to scraps of hope and fighting to maintain composure, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives tell anyone who'll listen about who they're looking for.
WOMAN:
If anybody sees him or knows anything his name is Andrew Stern....
INTERVIEWER:
Do you know that he even made it to work yesterday?
WOMAN:
He did go to work yesterday. He was there very early, about 7:30, so he was definitely there; so if anybody knows anything, please, his wife and his mother and the rest of us are all waiting to hear...
FLASHBACK, SEPTEMBER 12
(The apartment in Brooklyn Heights. Jesse is glued to the television. Shannon enters and begins changing clothes.)
SHANNON
They say when we can go home?
JESSE
It’s a mess from 14th Street. You see anything from the pier?
SHANNON
Smoke. Giant clouds. Keeps coming.
JESSE
Saw it on TV.
SHANNON
God, they’re playing it over and over. How can you sit there watching it?
JESSE
Not much else on. Lot of people at the pier?
SHANNON
Half of Brooklyn, looks like.
JESSE
Everyone’s been calling.
SHANNON
Probably worried sick.
JESSE
Mom told them I’m all right. They all have a worst-case scenario.
SHANNON
Been five years since we worked there.
JESSE
Mostly they want to hear about it. Sick of talking. Reach your mother?
SHANNON
Tried again. The housekeeper said she was lying down. “Not herself.”
JESSE
Oh.
SHANNON
Hasn’t been “herself” in years.
JESSE
Mitchell called. You know, the corner office?
SHANNON
Are they…
JESSE
He left a few months ago. Hasn’t heard from anyone yet.
SHANNON
Jesus.
JESSE
You sleep?
SHANNON
Some. I wake you up? Tried to be quiet.
JESSE
Heard you go out.
SHANNON
We went to donate blood. They weren’t taking any more.
JESSE
This morning, there’s hundreds of cars unclaimed at the shuttle lots. Fifty thousand worked there…
SHANNON
Jesus.
(Shannon starts packing a few clothes.)
JESSE
…But most didn’t get to work yet. Maybe ten, twenty thousand. Could have been us. What are you doing?
SHANNON
Heard they need help at the Javits Center. Rescue staging area.
JESSE
How can anyone be alive?
SHANNON
There’s a thousand workers, they need backup.
JESSE
What kind?
SHANNON
Don’t know, but I can’t stay here and do nothing. Especially not any more TV. What are you going to do?
JESSE
I dunno. Stay here, I guess.
OCTOBER 9, MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT
(Jesse is asleep on the couch. The sound of a not-too-far-away explosion is heard. Shannon rushes in from the bedroom.)
JESSE
(rushing to the window)
The hell was that?
SHANNON
You see anything?
JESSE
No. Probably demolition at the site.
(Jesse unlocks the window.)
SHANNON
Don’t open it!
JESSE
Can’t see anything. Looks okay.
SHANNON
What if...
JESSE
(opening the window)
Listen.
SHANNON
What?
JESSE
Nothing. No sirens, no voices. It’s nothing.
SHANNON
I’ll put the TV on.
JESSE
Don’t. It’s nothing.
SHANNON
Want to be sure.
JESSE
We can’t keep getting up and turning on the TV every time we hear a noise.
SHANNON
What if...
JESSE
It’s going to be us, we won’t know. Okay?
SHANNON
Not okay.
JESSE
Let’s go to bed. Just to put my arms around you.
SHANNON
No.
JESSE
Shannon, do you want me to leave? I’ll go if that’s what you want. If you keep shutting me out like this.
SHANNON
(pause)
While you were gone. All I could think was, another attack happens, don’t want to be here by myself. If I’d even live through it. If not, how you would feel.
JESSE
You were worried about me?
SHANNON
Yeah.
JESSE
I’m sorry. Didn’t think you...You were off at the site. Hardly saw you.
SHANNON
I thought you were okay with it. That I didn’t have to worry about you. I didn’t expect you to run off.
JESSE
I needed to do something, anything, and it was the only thing I could think of. You were so wrapped up. Didn’t seem like you needed...
SHANNON
I do.
JESSE
Okay. That’s good. Me, too.
(They are in one another’s arms.)
JESSE
You know, it’s hard to keep up with you sometimes. I worry you’re gonna...
SHANNON
I do love you, Jesse. I’ve been a bitch.
JESSE
No.
SHANNON
I have. No reason for you to take the fallout. I’m sorry.
JESSE
It’s okay. Sometimes...
SHANNON
What?
JESSE
Sometimes I have doubts too. I get tired. Sometimes it’s like you’re just along for the ride. But it’s okay. I’m not going to desert you. I’m not your father.
SHANNON
I know.
JESSE
Remember that. Believe that.
SHANNON
Will you come to bed?
JESSE
Us? You and me together?
SHANNON
Yes. Please.
(They exit to the bedroom.)
FLASHBACK: SEPTEMBER 11, SHORTLY AFTER 10:00 AM
(The sound of the first Tower collapsing is heard. Jesse rushes in from outdoors and goes to the window, followed by Shannon out of breath.)
JESSE
Oh God, oh God. See how it just melted down?
SHANNON
You see anything?
JESSE
Smoke. Dark. Heading this way. Shut the bedroom.
(Shannon runs into the bedroom. Jesse shuts and locks the living room window quickly.)
SHANNON
(returning)
What can you see?
JESSE
Coming fast. Get down!
(Jesse pulls Shannon to the floor. A puff of dust blows in through the window frame. It is suddenly very quiet.)
SHANNON
Didn’t break. Think we’re okay?
JESSE
Stay here.
(Jesse approaches the window carefully.)
SHANNON
What can you see?
JESSE
Smoke. Papers. All these papers swirling around.
SHANNON
All those people. Oh my God, the office!
JESSE
The other one.
SHANNON
What?
JESSE
I bet it goes too.
SHANNON
We better get out.
JESSE
In that? Safer in here ‘til the smoke clears.
SHANNON
What if the other one…
JESSE
Some cops down there, I’ll ask.
SHANNON
Wait.
(Shannon goes into the kitchen and returns with a wet cloth. She ties it around Jesse’s face. He goes out and she goes to the window. He returns shortly.)
SHANNON
What did they say?
JESSE
They’re on notice to evacuate.
SHANNON
Holy shit.
JESSE
Maybe martial law.
SHANNON
We should leave.
JESSE
Might be toxic out there.
SHANNON
We should leave!
JESSE
Okay.
SHANNON
Wait.
(Shannon runs back into the kitchen.)
JESSE
(at the window)
Looks like the wind’s blowing east. Should try to head west of it and then uptown.
SHANNON
(returning with more wet cloths)
For the cops.
OCTOBER 10
(Jesse comes in with a packet of photos, goes to Shannon and they share a serious kiss.)
JESSE
Last night...oh, man.
SHANNON
Yeah.
JESSE
To finally...
SHANNON
Yeah. Me, too.
JESSE
I got the pictures back.
SHANNON
Great.
JESSE
What happened with the art people?
SHANNON
Finally got someone to meet with me next week.
JESSE
That’s wonderful.
SHANNON
They think I’m a nut case, of course. Thanks for asking.
JESSE
(noticing Shannon is getting ready to go out)
Firehouse again?
SHANNON
Told you this morning.
JESSE
Oh, yeah. Too bad, I was thinking we could catch the Czech movie.
SHANNON
Another time, okay? What happened with the restaurant?
JESSE
No business yet. Sit a minute. Look how Tom’s kids have grown.
(Jesse shows Shannon the pictures.)
SHANNON
Is that Tom Jr.?
JESSE
No, that’s Chris. This is Tom Jr.
SHANNON
So big. I saw them what, a year ago summer?
JESSE
He started kindergarten. This is them fishing. Kind of.
SHANNON
Tom’s a great dad.
JESSE
Would be great to see more of them, wouldn’t it?
SHANNON
Yeah. They’re nice kids.
JESSE
Here’s the new landscaping we put in.
SHANNON
You did the Japanese sand garden.
JESSE
I stole your design. Mom was skeptical, but she loves it. Got all the neighbors coming over. See, it’s not so primitive in Nebraska.
SHANNON
A yard.
JESSE
Would be nice to have our own someday, huh? Look, Union Square. Gotta send these to Dad. Told him about all the people hanging out right now. Said it sounded like his Vietnam protest rallies.
SHANNON
Your father did protest rallies?
JESSE
Who knew? My dad, a hippie.
SHANNON
Hard to imagine that.
JESSE
(He imagines his father as a hippie.)
Hey man, wanna turn on? Have a toke. Peace, man!
SHANNON
I do like your father, hippie or not.
JESSE
He always asks when you’re coming out again.
SHANNON
I really should get going.
JESSE
I know, the heros are waiting.
SHANNON
What’s that supposed to mean?
JESSE
Nothing. All right, a little jealous, I guess. What do you say to them?
SHANNON
I listen. Let them unload.
JESSE
Thought they had counselors.
SHANNON
Easier if you were down there.
JESSE
A shoulder to cry on?
SHANNON
They always say it’s the smoke. One guy, he’s talking about his buddy who was there on the 11th. Tears streaming down his face. And he’s sitting there telling me he wishes he could cry.
JESSE
What do you say?
SHANNON
What can you?
JESSE
(pause)
You never asked me about my trip.
SHANNON
Okay, tell me about your trip. What else did you do?
JESSE
Got winter clothes for Tom’s kids. Golf with Dad. Normal stuff like that.
SHANNON
Sounds nice.
JESSE
Was. Just life, quiet. Mostly. I told you they took me to Vegas. Kind of weird what happened. We went to the Stratosphere -- this tower, like a World’s Fair thing. Observation deck. My brother said we had to go up, show we’re not afraid.
SHANNON
Of course you went. Testosterone challenge.
JESSE
The king of dares. Get out of the elevator on the 108th floor. I can feel the tower sway and I lost it. I’m in a tall building and I...I can’t stay. I see what’s going on, but I can’t help it. I’m like, Tom, elevator now! Never in my life...I loved heights.
SHANNON
Why so surprising?
JESSE
I didn’t think it was having any kind of weird effect on me.
SHANNON
No?
JESSE
Not like I’m preoccupied or anything.
SHANNON
No.
JESSE
Not that you are.
SHANNON
Then what are you?
JESSE
What do you mean?
SHANNON
How come you’re not doing anything?
JESSE
There’s still no work.
SHANNON
You were always studying or scene classes or something.
JESSE
What’s the point?
SHANNON
The kid from the Midwest determined to work on Broadway?
JESSE
Why is it so important to you that I do something?
SHANNON
Because it used to be so important to you.
JESSE
Maybe I need something new.
SHANNON
What?
JESSE
I don’t know. Fresh challenge, a whole new...I don’t know.
SHANNON
Jesse…
JESSE
Yeah?
SHANNON
Nothing. I better go. Promised I’d make the memorial.
JESSE
Guess I’ll take a walk.
FLASHBACK, 1997
(Jesse and Shannon are inspecting the empty apartment. Drapes are pulled across the window.)
JESSE
(to the unseen realtor, who is in the entry hall:)
A month’s deposit, okay, meet you downstairs in a couple of minutes.
JESSE
(continued)
(to Shannon:)
Told you it was great. What do you think?
SHANNON
(heading for the window)
How’s the view?
JESSE
Just a minute, don’t pull the drapes yet.
SHANNON
It’s small.
JESSE
Great kitchen. And it’s bigger than Suzanne’s place.
SHANNON
Who is very much over us sleeping on her couch.
JESSE
We have privacy at my place.
SHANNON
The subway to Brooklyn at midnight? No, thanks.
JESSE
I can build shelves right here. Tell you I ran the set shop at school?
SHANNON
You did. I like the big one by the Tunnel better.
JESSE
Car exhaust? How about the so-called “sunny studio” on Eighth Avenue?
SHANNON
Nowhere for my desk.
(pause)
Think we’re doing the right thing?
JESSE
I love you and you like me a little, right, Strawberry?
SHANNON
What if we start fighting?
JESSE
We won’t. Look, you drag me to foreign movies and I don’t complain, and I drag you to Titanic. You complain a little, but you go. And I’m starting to like foreign movies.
SHANNON
It’s different living together. Stressful.
JESSE
We’re sharing a one-bedroom with two cats and a yoga teacher who’s up half the night chanting “Ommmm. Ommmm.” If we haven’t fought yet…
SHANNON
Only been a few months.
JESSE
“Ommmm.”
SHANNON
We hardly know each other.
JESSE
“Ommmmmmmm.”
SHANNON
Be serious.
JESSE
You’re meeting my parents next week.
SHANNON
They’re okay with this?
JESSE
They’re cool. They’re always supportive.
SHANNON
What if they hate me?
JESSE
They’ll love you. Mom said you sound interesting.
SHANNON
She did, huh?
JESSE
What are you afraid of?
SHANNON
Turning into my parents.
JESSE
Only thing in common was they both got married on the same day?
SHANNON
Cold war. Assasination with polite smiles. Jack Daniels for comfort.
JESSE
We’re not them. We’re us. In New York.
(going to window)
Ready for the view?
(Jesse opens the curtain.)
SHANNON
My God.
JESSE
Best view in town.
SHANNON
Never saw them from here.
JESSE
Okay, it’s hard to see, but count eleven floors up from that roof. See the windows on the end of the floor?
SHANNON
That was the office?
JESSE
Yup. Put the couch right here for the view?
SHANNON
What couch?
JESSE
The one we get with my first soap opera check.
SHANNON
You got it?
JESSE
Surprise: you’re looking at the new “tennis pro.” I start taping next week.
SHANNON
That’s great. I knew you’d get it.
JESSE
Come on, sit on our new couch.
SHANNON
Okay.
(They sit on the floor and contemplate the view.)
SHANNON
Almost worth not having the space.
JESSE
We’ll take it?
SHANNON
Guess you just have to jump at some point. Tigers or not.
JESSE
No tigers.
SHANNON
No tigers?
JESSE
I promise…
SHANNON
No promises. Okay, one.
JESSE
Name it.
SHANNON
No prisoners. We let go before that.
JESSE
“Ommmm.”
SHANNON
Jesse, I’m serious.
JESSE
We won’t have to.
(They kiss.)
OCTOBER 11
(Shannon is sacked out on the couch. Jesse enters from outdoors.)
JESSE
You all right?
SHANNON
Fine.
JESSE
You look like someone beat you with a dead puppy.
SHANNON
Not funny.
JESSE
Lighten up?
SHANNON
I’m too tired for fun and games.
JESSE
Okay, Shannon.
SHANNON
A worker tonight tells me a old woman came up to him and just handed him a pound cake. She said “Here you go” and walked away and he lost it. He’s the one organized the morgue. Won’t talk about the morgue, just the damn cake.
JESSE
You need to take some time.
SHANNON
Last night I’m in Midtown. Fire truck goes by. Some guy walking with a girl says, “Must be a free buffet.” The bitch starts giggling like he’s the most clever bastard. Wanted to knock his head off, but I was too tired to even say anything. It’s a month today.
JESSE
Yeah. Shannon?
SHANNON
What?
JESSE
Leave with me.
SHANNON
To where?
JESSE
Where life still makes sense.
SHANNON
You’re running away again!?
JESSE
I’ve been doing a lot of thinking. My brother and I will be partners in the business. Come with me.
SHANNON
The pictures, “everyone in Nebraska misses you.” I get it, you’ve been waiting all week to spring this on me. That’s the only reason you came back.
JESSE
I missed you. I want you there with me. We can start our own family.
SHANNON
You mean kids?
JESSE
We’d have the space. Why not?
SHANNON
Jesus. You got it all figured out. Run away and hide in some suburban fantasy.
JESSE
Things that matter. Things you can count on.
SHANNON
Have you missed the entire last month?
JESSE
Are you happy here?
SHANNON
At this moment I am not very happy here. Who is?
JESSE
See?
SHANNON
Here I feel real. How are you going to be happy not acting?
JESSE
There’s stuff in Nebraska.
SHANNON
Community theater?
JESSE
Look, I was happy as a starving actor, temping, waitering, whatever I had to do. But what’s the point when it could all end like that?
SHANNON
What about me? My work?
JESSE
You said you were giving it up.
SHANNON
Not to plant flowers in a subdivision. What about “If you leave, they’ve won?”
JESSE
The point of life is survival. You make choices to survive.
SHANNON
I’d rather live a life of some fear and apprehension than die of boredom.
JESSE
I don’t want to die for no reason.
SHANNON
I don’t want to live for no reason. What happened to “I’ll never desert you?”
JESSE
I want you to come with me.
SHANNON
This is blackmail.
JESSE
Just think about it.
SHANNON
There’s nothing to think about.
JESSE
You’ll have me there.
SHANNON
Are you going then?
JESSE
I don’t know. I was hoping you’d say yes.
SHANNON
You don’t know me even a little bit!
JESSE
You and me – isn’t that enough?
SHANNON
Things aren’t that simple anymore. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, too. I need something outside our own little world.
JESSE
But we lose sight of us, where are we?
SHANNON
I don’t have all the answers.
JESSE
We were happy before this. Why...
SHANNON
If you don’t know, I can’t...
JESSE
What?
SHANNON
Can’t. I can’t be in this anymore.
JESSE
What?!
SHANNON
You think you know someone. You know the everyday stuff. How they take their coffee. Sounds they make sleeping. Don’t really know them from that.
JESSE
I’m the same I always was.
SHANNON
That’s what I can’t deal with!
JESSE
What do you want from me!? Before all this, I was just a guy. And it was enough. Now, you expect me to be some hero or something.
SHANNON
I don’t want you to be a hero. Just not to be the same person as before.
JESSE
What’s wrong with being the same person?
SHANNON
Now it’s after. Things aren’t the same.
JESSE
I’m the same.
SHANNON
Are you? Then I can’t live with that person anymore!
JESSE
Now you’re blackmailing me! What the hell do you want me to do?
SHANNON
I don’t know! Not the same things you’ve been doing. Like running away!
JESSE
Don’t keep bringing that up!
SHANNON
‘That’ is the whole thing for me! I need someone I can depend on. Who can stick it out. You’re just like my father!
JESSE
Whoa. Boy, you really know where to aim. You’re right. I don’t know you even a little bit, anymore.
(Shannon is silent.)
All right. That’s it then. I’ll get a flight in the morning.
(He leaves.)
FLASHBACK: 1996
(Jesse and Shannon are chatting at Shannon’s desk on the 32nd floor of the North Tower.)
JESSE
Okay, so the Samurai...chased by a tiger. He comes to the edge of a cliff?
SHANNON
Jumps off and grabs a branch. Looks down...sees a bear climbing up the tree at him. Overhead the tiger.
JESSE
He sees a bush growing out the side of the cliff...with a big ripe strawberry on it. Yeah?
SHANNON
So what does he do?
JESSE
I don’t know, what does he do?
SHANNON
Eats the strawberry, of course.
JESSE
Why did he run to a cliff? It’s a stupid thing to do.
SHANNON
He just does.
JESSE
Doesn’t make any sense.
SHANNON
Life doesn’t always make sense.
JESSE
‘Course it does.
SHANNON
You’re from where?
JESSE
Nebraska.
SHANNON
That explains it.
JESSE
What?
SHANNON
Your naiveté.
JESSE
(in a Cary Grant voice)
You New Yorkers are so articulate.
SHANNON
Okay, maybe you’re not as simple as I thought. But I’m originally from New Orleans.
JESSE
No accent.
SHANNON
Lived other places. Army brat.
JESSE
(Cary Grant again)
Thus your air of sophistication. Your elegantly offbeat taste.
SHANNON
Okay, okay! I take it back about Nebraska.
JESSE
You don’t like my naiveté.
SHANNON
Actually I like straightforward things.
JESSE
Like the giant red nut?
SHANNON
Nut?
JESSE
Down on the plaza. I go by, wonder who stole the bolt.
SHANNON
Oh, the Noguchi.
JESSE
The who?
SHANNON
Isamu Noguchi. Modernist sculptor.
JESSE
Thank you, professor. But it has no threads.
SHANNON
What?
JESSE
The nut. How do you get the bolt tight without threads?
SHANNON
Because it’s not a nut. It’s an abstract sculpture.
JESSE
Of a nut. So it should have threads.
SHANNON
You putting me on again?
JESSE
Someone with your adroit perception doesn’t know when she’s being put on?
SHANNON
All right! I concede, you are not naïve.
JESSE
Better than blasé.
SHANNON
I’m not blasé.
JESSE
Oh, Modernist sculptures on the street. We’re in a building a quarter mile high. Nothing to get excited about.
SHANNON
You’re here awhile, it’s not so impressive.
JESSE
Hope I’m not here that long. The agency sent me, my first job in New York, I couldn’t believe it. Got out of the subway – wow! Not just big, they undersize everything else. They asked me if I had a problem working here. I was like, are you kidding?
SHANNON
That little incident a couple of years ago?
JESSE
But nothing happened, right?
SHANNON
Right. So who or what brings you to New York?
JESSE
There’s no who. The what is, I came to be an actor.
SHANNON
I can see that. You have a kind of...charisma.
JESSE
Do I? Thanks. You had lunch?
SHANNON
Don’t eat lunch.
JESSE
Well, I wanted to stop by. My assignment ends tomorrow.
SHANNON
Good luck in the next one.
JESSE
Thanks.
SHANNON
Hope you get a big Broadway show.
JESSE
Hope you’re the next Donna Karan.
(Jesse starts to walk away and then returns, determined.)
JESSE
I wanted to talk to you before this, you know. And it’s not good to skip meals.
SHANNON
Uhhhh...
JESSE
If no blasé intellectuals have you booked already.
SHANNON
All right.
OCTOBER 12, 2001, DAWN
(The first light filters into the room. Jesse sits on the floor in front of the window, painting a sign. Shannon comes in.)
SHANNON
Hope you didn’t wait up for me.
JESSE
No. I’ve been thinking.
SHANNON
I’m too tired right now to get into this. When is your flight?
JESSE
Sit down. I want to talk to you.
SHANNON
There’s nothing else to discuss. Do we have to drag this out any longer?
JESSE
No, listen. Not about us. What I saw, you won’t believe it.
SHANNON
(noticing the sign)
What’s that?
JESSE
What I want to tell you. Sit.
(Shannon sits.)
JESSE
I was steaming when I left here last night. I walked and walked, I don’t know how long, until I wasn’t mad anymore. Just unbelievably tired. I sat at a bus stop, it was Second Avenue. All the empty dump trucks were going by, heading down here to the site. One after another after another, so many. I wondered what street they take back up, when they’re loaded. With the...what’s left. I had to find out. I walk west. Not Lexington or Park, too residential. Sixth and Eighth, too much traffic. West Side Highway. Of course.
SHANNON
A straight shot to the tunnels and the bridge.
JESSE
The landfills. Where it’s all going. I start walking down, West Side Highway’s all kinds of traffic. The National Guard, construction equipment, the dump trucks. I see a dozen or so people on the side of the Highway, holding out signs to the workers driving by. “Our Hearts are with You.” “Hero Highway.” “Thank You.” I talked to them, they’ve been out there the whole time. A teacher. A guy who comes all the way in from Long Island. All night, someone there. So the truck drivers...the trucks full of...so they’re not alone, you see? The trucks beep their horns, they wave. People out there like you, me. No one special. They say they’re going to be there until it’s over. Just holding the signs. A simple goddamned thing to do!
SHANNON
Not so simple.
JESSE
It is. It doesn’t take any guts or any brains. No moral issues to figure out. No need to take any kind of stand. To just say thank you and have it mean something. To do something. You know, they call themselves the Nuts. The Nuts on the Highway. I wonder who’s nuts.
SHANNON
You’re not doing this for me, are you?
JESSE
I would do anything for you. Anything that I know how to do. This, I have to do for me. But you could help me with the sign.
SHANNON
It’s beautiful.
JESSE
Sloppy. You’re the artist.
SHANNON
Not the sign.
JESSE
There was a motorcade came by. Some bodies they found yesterday.
SHANNON
Firefighters.
JESSE
Where you were tonight, right?
SHANNON
Yeah.
JESSE
I’m glad you were there for them. Was it bad?
SHANNON
Very bad.
JESSE
It’s all right.
SHANNON
I can’t do it anymore.
JESSE
You can.
SHANNON
It hurts so damn much.
JESSE
Worse not to feel anything.
SHANNON
Why the hell did it have to happen?
JESSE
I don’t know. That’s all I was asking myself. I wanted things back to normal again. I thought I couldn’t stand everything like it is. What I can’t stand is losing you.
SHANNON
Suppose it will ever be the same?
JESSE
Nothing is anyway, is it.
SHANNON
No.
(He goes to the window.)
JESSE
Sun’s coming up.
SHANNON
Like any other day.
(She joins him.)
JESSE
What month was it when it was just right, and we could see the sunrise reflecting in the Towers?
SHANNON
June or July, wasn’t it?
JESSE
I think so, Strawberry.
(Lights blaze to a brilliant sunrise and fade out.)