Young Writers Society

Below

Michael stands completely still stage right. He is angry and depressed, and he is staring down in front of his feet. After a few seconds, Paul comes onstage left, perhaps climbing on from the front row of the audience. He dusts himself off, and then notices Michael. All dialogue should be conducted at a level slightly above normal speech, the characters are communicating from the tops of two opposite apartment buildings.

Paul: (embarrassed) Hey! (no response) Hey! (He tries for a third time) Hey you! I’m-

Michael: Can’t you see that I’m trying to have a moment here?

Paul: Oh. Sorry. (pause) It’s just that I was up here too, and I thought it was weird… (He stops, and decides to say something different.) Nice weather we’re having isn’t it?

Michael: (indulging him) It’s very nice. The right temperature too.

Paul: Yes, it really is. And the sky is so blue.

Michael: Very blue.

There is a pause as both look up at the sky. Then finally Paul looks down.

Paul: We’re very high up.

Michael: Definitely.

Paul: I mean, (he steals a furtive glance at the street below) really high up. If you fell it would really hurt.

Michael: You’d be dead.

Paul: Yeah, you would. (pause) And the breeze is really light, but really nice.

Michael: Yeah it is.

There’s another pause. More awkward then the first.

Paul: Why are you up here?

Michael: Why do you want to know? Why are you up here?

Paul: Just… getting some fresh air. And you?

Michael: I’m gonna jump.

Paul: Oh.

Michael: I’m going to leap off this building. And fall for 2.3 seconds until I meet the sidewalk.

Paul: Oh. (long pause) I was going to jump too.

Michael: I thought so. (another pause) What’s your reason?

Paul: Well, nothing’s been going right for me since… well… since forever. But last week I got fired from my job. It wasn’t pleasant. And then, two days ago my girlfriend brought me to her house to tell me that… well that she was married and that she felt really bad about misleading me and really bad about her husband, but that she was going back to him. It wasn’t pleasant either. Then, there was that fire several weeks ago, and my apartment was threatened and the department completely washed it out to protect it. Well, the wind changed and the fire never got near it, and a lot of my stuff was destroyed. And then, this morning, my car got pushed into the river… from the parking lot no less. It wasn’t very pleasant… the accident I mean. The car was nice. And relatively new. And I thought; well, now you’re gonna have to call a taxi and pay a fortune to get back home and when you get there, you’ll still be single and everything is still wet. Why not stay here? Why not never leave?

Michael: So you’re gonna jump.

Paul: Yep. Sooner or later.

Michael: (laughs) Well don’t you wanna know why I’m here? Wanna know if I can top you?

Paul: Go ahead.

Michael: I got fired recently too. At the, at the last minute, my higher up cut me. I was the last person to go. So I left. And went home. And there, my wife told me she had been having an affair with another guy. She spouted some bs about wanting me back, and I saw right through it, and called my lawyer to sue for divorce. Well, turns out that divorce costs a fortune too, and if that didn’t make matters worse, my house was actually in that fire, and so I was actually told all of this in a crappy one room motel room that we had rented. So then, the final straw was me ramming a car in the parking lot this morning, and I’ll have to pay a fortune for that too. What color was your car?

Paul: (in disbelief) Copper.

Michael: Yep, that was yours. How much do I owe you?

Paul: You totaled my car! I can’t believe it.

Michael: (somewhat to himself) Make every man a king, for every single day…

Michael pulls out his wallet and extracts his credit card. He throws it across to Paul, but it doesn’t fly well and lands short, perhaps falling off the stage apron. Both watch it fall.

Michael: (yelling down to the person who presumably picked up the card) Don’t return it! Cash it quick!

Paul: I can’t believe it. I want Sarah back.

Michael: Who?

Paul: My girlfriend. Or, my ex-girlfriend. Sarah.

Michael: My wife was named Sarah. She had long black hair, and green eyes. Five foot ten.

Paul: Um… this is interesting. That sounds a lot like…

Michael: (picking up a rock or a loose piece of roof and throwing it, this time, he hits Paul, or comes very close) You bastard!

Paul: Hey, watch it! (another missile sails by) Hey, stop that, I didn’t know she was married. (He picks up something from his roof and throws it back. They continue to exchange rocks.)

Michael: (with menace) If I could come over to you…

Paul: (gives as good as he gets) If I could come over to you! Ha! You can insult me all you want from over there, but if I could look at you face to face. You smashed my car, you married my girlfriend!

Michael: You stole my wife, and you ruined my life!

They stop throwing things, if only to yell at each other better.

Paul: You know what I want to do to you? I wanna wring your goddamn neck!

Michael: I’m gonna make you pay for what you did to me!

Paul: I hope you’re satisfied!

Michael: I hope you’re satisfied!

There is a pause as they glare at each other. The tension ebbs between them as they realize how ridiculous, how comic the situation is. After a long pause, Paul starts to laugh.

Michael: What is so funny?

Paul: This. All of this is hilarious. Here we are. The people who would like to kill each other, so close and yet it’s impossible for us to reach each other. And here we are throwing stones and tiling. Before we jump. Before we leap off and fall 2.3 seconds and meet our end upon the pavement. What the hell are we doing throwing things at each other?

Michael: I’d love to have the satisfaction of pushing you off before me.

Paul: And so would I. And yet… that’s impossible.

Michael: (wearily) So what’s the point? Do we both jump at the same time or something?

Paul: (hesitantly) Don’t jump. Look man, Sarah loves you. I ought to know, she told me in many many words in the course of an evening. She was distraught when she told me, she felt awful. I was wondering why she didn’t jump, in the state she was in. I don’t think she ever loved me as much as she loved you man. I never felt what we had going was… permanent. But it hurt. I did love her. I didn’t know you got to her first.

Michael: I do love her. It’s just that, I felt betrayed. She’s a beautiful person.

Paul: (forlornly) I know.

Michael: (he takes a step forward and peers over the edge of the building) I don’t want to go back.

Paul: (almost unconvinced) You’ve got more to go back for then me I think. You’ve got a lot to go back for. You’ve got a caring wife. You’ll pull through. I think you’ll be able to get back on your feet sooner or later. Things will be better. You gotta know that man.

Michael: Perhaps. But that’s not saying much…

Paul: No. It isn’t. But I think I know. What did you do?

Michael: I’m a journalist. Long hours, unpredictable hours, you know… (lightening up for perhaps the first time) I had to report on the fire that destroyed my own apartment. It killed a lady in my building... … What are you?

Paul: I’m a meteorologist. I worked for the news, channel 5 at 10 in the morning. Never in front of the camera, just feeding the photogenic people their info…

Michael: (toeing the edge) It’s a beautiful day.

Paul: Yeah, it is.

Paul jumps. This should be obvious but not too blatant. He shouldn’t jump off the stage or make any kind of noise. I imagine him stepping forward and closing his eyes. Then slowly walking offstage.

Michael: (looking down) Oh god! I can’t believe it! (he steps back from the edge, repulsed) Oh that’s horrible! (He can’t stop staring) Oh god, he just calmly just… oh god! He just walked right over! Oh god, and there’s people all around. Oh it’s a mess, it’s all bloody oh god, oh god! (He backs up further stage left and falls into a seated position, grabbing his knees) Oh god, I don’t want to look like that, I don’t want to… I want to stay here, I don’t want to fall. Oh god. Oh god. Oh god.

He rushes offstage. Fade out.

Fin.

***

There are some rather serious problems with this play, and as I'm entering it in a NYSTEA (NewYorkSateTheaterEducatorsAssosiation) contest, I'd like to get some help in working out the kinks.

+ I think it's waaay to short, it feels rushed to me.

+ I don't think there's enough emotion coming through the script. Undoubtedly it will be more convincing onstage, but the more obvious it is in writing, the more obvious it will be onstage. This applies to the fight, and to the sense of loss.

+ Should Michael stay onstage at the end? Or should he leave?

+ Is Paul's jump both surprising but also the kind of event where everyone always says; "We should have known" or "If only we had seen the signs"?

Any suggestions for making this one respectable are greatly appreciated.

EDIT: This has been submitted, along with a good many revisions. Gadi will be please to know that I bulldozed that one line at the end, its only relevance is to the plot now. Thanks for your help!