Scene 2 The next morning. Claire, stylish, attractive, drinks coffee from a mug, She has brought bagels and fruit out to the porch on a tray, She notices the champagne bottle lying on the floor. She picks it up and sets it ona table, Catherine enters. Her hair is wet from a shower. CLAIRE. Better. Much. CATHERINE. Thanks. CLAIRE. Feel better? CATHERINE. Yeah. CLAIRE. You look a million times better. Have some coffee. CATHERINE. Okay. CLAIRE. How do you take it? CATHERINE. Black. CLAIRE. Have a little milk. (She pours.) Want a banana? It’s a good thing I brought food: There was nothing in the house. CATHERINE. I’ve been meaning to go shopping. CLAIRE. Have a bagel. CATHERINE. No. I hate breakfast. (Beat, 2 CLAIRE. You didn’t put on the dress. CATHERINE. Didn’ really feel like it. CLAIRE. Don’t you want to try it on? See if it fits? CATHERINE. I'll put it on later. (Beat.) CLAIRE. If you want to dry your hair T have a hair drier. CATHERINE. Nah. CLAIRE. . Did you use that conditioner I brought you? CATHERINE. No, shit, I forgot. CLAIRE. It’s my favorite. You'll love it, Katie. | want you to try it. CATHERINE. ’ll use it next time. CLAIRE. You'll like it. It has jojoba. CATHERINE. What is “jojoba”? CLAIRE. Ii’s something they put in for healthy hair.CATHERINE. Hair is dead. CLAIRE. What? CATHERINE. It’s dead tissue. You can’t make it “healthy.” CLAIRE. Whatever, it’s something that’s good for your hair. CATHERINE. What, a chemical? CLAIRE. No, it’s organic. ERINE. Well it can be organic and still be a chemical. I don't know what it is. aven't you ever heard of organic chemistry? RE. It makes my hair feel, look, and smell good, That's the extent of my information about it. You might like it if you decide to use it. CATHERINE. Thanks, I'll try it. CLAIRE. Good. If the dress doesn’t fit we can go downtown and exchange it. CATHERINE. Okay. CLAIRE. I'll take you to lunch. CATHERINE. Great. CLAIRE. Maybe Sunday before I go back. Do you need any- thing? CATHERINE. Like clothes? CLAIRE. Or anything. While I'm here. CATHERINE. Nah, I’m cool. (Beat.) CLAIRE. I thought we'd have some people over tonight. If you're feeling okay. CATHERINE. I’m feeling okay, Claire, stop saying that. CLAIRE. You don’t have any plans? CATHERINE. No. CLAIRE. I ordered some food. Wine, beer. CATHERINE. We are burying Dad this afternoon. CLAIRE. I think it will be all right. Anyone who's been to the funeral and wants to come over for something to eat, can. And it's the only time I can see any old Chicago friends, It'll be nice. It’s a funeral but we don't have to be completely grim about it. If ie’s okay with you. CATHERINE. Yes, sure. CLAIRE. It’s been a stressful time, It would be good to relax in.a low-key way. 22Mitch says hi. CATHERINE. Hi, Mitch. CLAIRE. He’s really sorry he couldn’t come. CATHERINE. Yeah, he’s gonna miss all the fun. CLAIRE. He wanted to see you. He sends his love. I told him you'd see him soon enough. We're getting married. CATHERINE. No shit. CLAIRE. Yes! We just decided. CATHERINE. Yikes. CLAIRE. Yes! CATHERINE. When? CLAIRE. January. CATHERINE. Huh. CLAIRE. We're not going to do a huge thing. His folks are gone too. Just City Hall, then a big dinner at our favorite restaurant for all our friends. And you, of course, I hope you'll be in the wedding. CATHERINE. Yeah, Of course. Congratulations, Claire, I'm really happy for you. CLAIRE. Thanks, me too. We just decided it was time. His job is great. I just got promoted ... CATHERINE. Huh. CLAIRE. You will come? CATHERINE. Yes, sure. January? I mean I don’t have to check my calendar or anything. Sure. CLAIRE. That makes me very happy. (Beat.) How are you? CATHERINE. Okay. CLAIRE. How are you feeling about everything? CATHERINE. About “everything”? CLAIRE. About Dad. CATHERINE. What about him? CLAIRE. How are you feeling about his death? Are you all right? CATHERINE. Yes, I am. CLAIRE. Honestly? CATHERINE. Yes. CLAIRE. I think in some ways it was the “right time.” If there is ever a right time. Do you know what you want to do now? 23CATHERINE. No. AIRE. Do you want to stay here? “ATHERINE. I don’t know. CLAIRE. Do you want to go back to school? CATHERINE. I haven't thought about it. CLAIRE, Well there’s a lot to think about. How do you feel? CATHERINE. Physically? Great. Except my hair seems kind of unhealthy, I wish there were something | could do about that. CLAIRE. Come on, Catherine. CATHERINE. What is the point of all these questions? (Beat,) CLAIRE. Katie, some policemen came by while you were in the shower, CATHERINE. Yeah? CLAIRE. They said they were “checking up” on things here. Seeing how everything was this morning. CATHERINE. (Neutral.) That was nice. CLAIRE. They told me they responded to a call last night and came to the house. CATHERINE. Yeah? CLAIRE. Did you call the police last night? CATHERINE. Yeah. CLAIRE. Why? CATHERINE. I thought the house was being robbed. CLAIRE. But it wasn’t. CATHERINE. No. I changed my mind. (Beat.) CLAIRE. First you call 911 with an emergency and then you hang up on them — CATHERINE. I didn’t really want them to come. CLAIRE. So why did you call? CATHERINE. I was trying to get this guy out of the house. CLAIRE. Who? CATHERINE. One of Dad’s students. CLAIRE. Dad hasn't had any students for years. CATHERINE. No, he WAS Dad’s student. Now he’s — he’s a mathematician. CLAIRE, Why was he in the house in the first place? CATHERINE. Well he’s been coming here to look at Dad’s note- 24books. CLAIRE. In che middle of the night? _ CATHERINE. It was late. I was waiting for him to finish and last night I thought he might have been stealing them. CLAIRE. Stealing the notebooks. CATHERINE. YES. So I told him to go. CLAIRE. Was he stealing them? CATHERINE. Yes. That’s why I called the police — CLAIRE. What is this man’s name? CATHERINE. Hal. Harold. Harold Dobbs. CLAIRE. The police said you were the only one here. CATHERINE. He left before they got here. CLAIRE. With the notebooks? CATHERINE. No, Claire, don’t be stupid, there are over a hun- dred notebooks. He was only stealing ONE, but he was stealing it so he could give it BACK to me, so J let him go so he could play with his band on the north side. CLAIRE. His band? CATHERINE. He was late. He wanted me to come with him but I was like Yeah, right. (Beat,) CLAIRE. (Gently) Is “Harold Dobbs” your boyfriend? CATHERINE. No! CLAIRE. “Are you sleeping with him? CATHERINE. What? Euughh! No! He's a math geek! CLAIRE. And he’s in a band? A rock band? CATHERINE. No a marching band. He plays trombone. Yes a rock band! CLAIRE. What is the name of his band? CATHERINE. How should I know? CLAIRE. “Harold Dobbs” didn’t tell you the name of his rock band? CATHERINE. No. I don’t know. Look in the paper. They were playing last night. They do a song called “Imaginary Number” that doesn’t exist. (Beat.) CLAIRE. I’m sorry, I’m just trying to understand: Is “Harold Dobbs’ — CATHERINE, Stop saying “Harold Dobbs.” CLAIRE, Is this .,, person... 25CATHERINE. HAROLD DOBBS EXISTS. CLAIRE. I’m sure he does. CATHERINE. He's a mathematician at the University of Chicago. Call the fucking math department. CLAIRE. Don't get upset. I’m just trying to understand! I mean if you found out some creepy grad student was trying to take some of Dad’s papers and you called the police I'd understand, and if you were out here partying, drinking with your boyfriend, I'd understand, But the two stories don’t go together. CATHERINE. Because you made up the “boyfriend” story. I was here ALONE — CLAIRE. Harold Dobbs wasn't here? CATHERINE. No, he — YES, he was here, but we weren't “partying”! CLAIRE. You weren't drinking with him? CATHERINE. No! CLAIRE. (She holds up the champagne bottle.) This was sitting right here. Who were you drinking champagne with? (Catherine hesitates.) CATHERINE. With no one. CLAIRE. Are you sure? CATHERINE. Yes. (Beat.) CLAIRE. The police said you were abusive. They said you're lucky they didn’t haul you in. CATHERINE. These guys were assholes, Claire. They wouldn't go away. They wanted me to fill out a report ... CLAIRE. Were you abusive? CATHERINE. This one cop kept spitting on me when he talked. It was disgusting. CLAIRE. Did you use the word “dickhead”? CATHERINE. Oh I don’t remember. CLAIRE. Did you tell one cop .., to go fuck the other cop's mother? CATHERINE. NO. CLAIRE, That's what they said. CATHERINE. Not with that phrasing. CLAIRE. Did you strike one of them? CATHERINE. They were trying to come in the house! 26CLAIRE. Oh my God. CATHERINE. I might have pushed him a litle. CLAIRE. They said you were either drunk or disturbed, CATHERINE. They wanted to come in here and SEARCH MY HOUSE — CLAIRE. YOU called THEM. CATHERINE. Yes but I didn’t actually WANT them to come. But they did come and then they started acting like they owned the place — pushing me around, calling me “girly,” smirking at me, laughing: They were assholes. CLAIRE. These guys seemed perfectly nice. They were off-duty and they took the trouble to come back here at the end of their shift to check up on you. They were very polite. CATHERINE. Well people are nicer to you. (Beat.) CLAIRE. Katie. Would you like to come to New York? CATHERINE. Yes, I told you, I’ll come in January. CLAIRE. You could come sooner. We'd love to have you. You could stay with us. It'd be fun. CATHERINE. I don’t want to. CLAIRE. Mitch has become an excellent cook. It’s like his hobby now. He buys all these gadgets. Garlic press, olive oil sprayer ... Every night there’s something new. Delicious, wonderful meals. The other day he made vegetarian chili! : CATHERINE. What the fuck are you talking about? CLAIRE. Stay with us for a while. We would have so much fun. CATHERINE. Thanks, I’m okay here. CLAIRE. Chicago is dead. New York is so much more fun, you can't believe it. CATHERINE. The “fun” thing is really not where my focus is at the moment. CLAIRE. I think New York would be a really fun and ... safe ... place for you to — CATHERINE. I don’t need a safe place and I don’t want to have any fun! I’m perfectly fine here. CLAIRE. You look tired. I think you could use some downtime. CATHERINE. Downtime? CLAIRE, Katie, please, You've had a very hard time. CATHERINE. I’m PERFECTLY OKAY. 27CLAIRE. I think you're upset and exhausted. CATHERINE. I was FINE till you got here. CLAIRE. Yes, but you — HAL. (From off.) Catherine? CLAIRE. Who is that? (A beat. Hal enters.) HAL. Hey, I — (Catherine stands and points triumphantly at him.) CATHERINE. HAROLD DOBBS! HAL. (Confused.) Hi. CATHERINE. OKAY? I really don’t need this, Claire. I’m fine, you know, I’m totally fine, and then you swoop in here with these questions, and “Are you okay?” and your soothing tone of voice and “Oh, the poor policemen” — I think the police can handle themselves! — and bagels and bananas and jojoba and “Come to New York” and vegetarian chili, 1 mean it really pisses me off so just SAVE IT. (Beat.) CLAIRE. (Smoothly, to Hal.) ’'m Claire. Catherine's sister. HAL. Oh, hi. Hal. Nice to meet you. (Uncomfortable beat.) 1 ... hope it’s not too early. 1 was just going to try to get some work done before the uh — if uh, if ... CLAIRE. Yes! CATHERINE. Sure, okay. (Hal exits. A moment.) CLAIRE. That’s Harold Dobbs? CATHERINE. Yes. CLAIRE. He’s cute. CATHERINE. (Disgusted.) Eugh. CLAIRE. He’s a mathematician? CATHERINE. I think you owe me an apology, Claire. CLAIRE. We need to make some decisions. But I shouldn't have tried to start first thing in the morning. I don’t want an argument. (Beat.) Maybe Hal would like a bagel? (Catherine doesn’t take the hint. She exits.) Fade 28