ENOCH, getting restless, looks at the bouquet of red roses. ENOCH stands up, takes the flowers in his arms and starts to dance around the stone wall. ENOCH at first smiles and then becomes sad as the realization of what is lost occurs. ENOCH looks down the road again (stage left) and sits back down on the wall. ENOCH looks at his watch and puts his watch down. ENOCH looks at the ground. MR. B. begins to say something and MR. G. puts his hand up to stop him. ENOCH perks his head up and looks down the road.
ENOCH
(as if talking to a friend)
You know wall? I would’ve expected to see her drive by by now.
(looking down stage right)
She wouldn’t have driven by without stopping right?
(a beat)
Does she hate me that much?
ENOCH stops looking down the road and looks at the flowers. ENOCH stands up and puts the flowers down on the wall. ENOCH then turns and looks at the wall.
ENOCH (CONT’D)
I know you don’t understand what’s happening wall. Today is Bethany’s birthday. She’s supposed to drive by on her way to work. She works over there at the Anderson’s. Her mom and Mrs. Anderson work at the elementary school down the street. They’re both secretaries in the school office.
(puzzled)
Kinda makes me wonder why she needs a nanny over the summer. I thought secretaries get the summer off like the rest of the teachers.
(looking down the road)
Like the rest of the teachers…
(worried)
I wonder where she is? She should have driven past by now.
(hearing the wall)
What? No… Well yeah… OK. It’s possible. I did something really stupid last night. She might not have forgiven me but it shouldn’t matter. We have history. We loved each other once. Or… at least I think we did.
(sitting down)
We were together for three years… I guess if you add up all the times we broke up it was more like 28 months, but that’s still a long time. We said, “I love you” too each other. That’s not something you just throw away.
(standing up)
At least I wouldn’t have thought so…
(hearing the wall)
Hmmm? Yeah… She was my first love. I would love to say I was her first love too, but I know that’s not true. She dated a lot of other guys before me.
(a long beat)
You know she was my first girlfriend. I was so surprised when it happened. I’ve had tons of friends who were girls, but never a *girl* friend. People look at you differently when you’re dark in a sea of white. I heard that interracial relationships were hard, but I never thought of it that way. I just thought people were people, it shouldn’t be that difficult. My brother is the good looking one in the family. He always had girls fawning over him, but me … I was the eternal sidekick. The sidekick never has a relationship in the movies. They’re there for emotional support and that’s all. That was me … eternally emotional support. I never thought I would find someone to date, never mind someone as awesome as Bethany who wanted to to go out with me.
(pondering)
Go out… Go out. That seems like an antiquated idea. Maybe that’s what I am. An antiquated idea. Maybe… Possibly… Maybe my version of love is old fashioned. Is that possible? Can love be old fashioned? Is there a modern day sensibility for love?
(hearing the wall)
No. I don’t want to tell you what I did. I think it will taint your image of me. I know it taints my image of myself. All I can say is that it was really, really idiotic. No. It was psychotic. No. It was rather pathetic.
(collapsing)
Wall. I went from being in love, to being obsessive and crossed the line into mental insanity. I’m trying to grasp at straw here to hold onto something I don’t want to lose. She cared about me when i didn’t care about myself. How do you let go of something who you felt made you a better person? How?
(wistful)
I haven’t missed one of Bethany’s birthdays in 6 years. I’ll be dammed if I’m going to miss one now.
(lost in thought)
I never would have forgiven myself if I had.
(looking down the road)
I wonder where she is?
(looking at his watch)
It’s 10 O’clock. I hope she’s OK. I would hate for her to be sick on her birthday.
(sitting down)
I don’t think so, wall. If she’s at work then that means she would have driven 20 minutes out of the way to avoid me. I bet she’s just running late. I can wait a little longer.
