5.13.2007: The Mother’s Day Play

The Guy on stage. There’s a lot of stuff everywhere (which is often how The Guy’s life space looks – lots of stuff everywhere).

The Mom appears.

THE MOM
Cody…

THE GUY
Mom. You can’t call me Cody in this. I’m “The Guy” when I’m in this.

THE MOM
You’re Cody. Don’t argue with your mother.

THE GUY
Yes, ma’am.

THE MOM
This place is a mess.

THE GUY
I know. I’ve been busy.

THE MOM
Still, you could pick up after yourself.

THE GUY
Have I ever been very good at keeping a place neat?

THE MOM
No. You and your brother, both.

THE GUY
We’re creative people. We don’t have time to clean up.

The Mom gives The Guy a dirty look.

THE MOM
So…

THE GUY
So you wanna know why you’re here?

THE MOM
Yes.

THE GUY
It’s sort of your Mother’s Day present.

THE MOM
This?

THE GUY
Yeah. Because I was trying to think of something to get you, but nothing ever seemed like something that meant anything. And I wanted to get you something that would let you know how much you mean to me and not just that you’re worth spending some money on perfume or something from Bath and Body Works. You know?

THE MOM
Well thank you.

THE GUY
Plus, I could probably never say what I’m about to say to you in real life because I’d make it sound awkward and dumb.

So…
here goes.

I’m really happy in my life right now.
I’ve got a lot of really great things in it,
and the last year has been a year of big changes,

but this is the best time in my life so far.

and everything I’ve gotten was made possible because of you.
because of the time you took with me when I was little,
the care and attention and encouragement
and all the pushing you did,
all the high expectations,
everything you gave me made this day possible.

You’ll never know how valuable those things have been.

When I look at my life,
in every little corner of it,
I can see some mark you left behind.

You’re somewhere in everything I am.

And I always think of that when something good happens to me.
because when something good happens to me,
it, in some way, happens to you.
I get to do that for you.

Every good thing that’s mine is also yours.

I love the life you built for me.
And I love you.

It’s why I do what I do.

A pause.

THE GUY (cont.)
(and tell Dad I don’t think he didn’t do anything. But it’s Mother’s Day, so the play has be about Mothers, so he’ll just have to get over it and he’ll get his on Father’s Day).

No more words are exchanged. It’s not the kind of relationship that uses lots of words. The Guy does the only thing he can do in this moment to show The Mom he means every word he says.

He starts to clean up the space.

The lights go down.