The Humans (9 page)

ERIK

     
(Smiling)

Wow, you can't let that go, / can you?

DEIRDRE

Well tell me what you dreamed / and I'll drop it . . .

ERIK

Well you're assuming I saw something specific when she was just / —it wasn't like that, okay?

BRIGID

Wait wait “she”?—so you
do
remember something specific / about your dream—

Rich, help me out here . . .

RICHARD

     
(Teasing)

Sorry, man, I tell Brigid my dreams all the time . . .

BRIGID

Yes you do, / all of them . . .

ERIK

. . . there's not much to . . .

BRIGID

Tell us . . . come on, Big Guy . . .

ERIK

. . . a coupla nights I've had this [recurring dream] . . .

. . . there'll be a, a woman . . .

BRIGID

Uh-huh . . . and . . .

ERIK

     
(Trying to remember)

. . . her back's to me . . . or maybe . . .

. . . something happens where . . .

. . . her head turns, and

I can see that her face is all . . . [messed up]

ERIK

. . . her skin's stretched over her eyes and her mouth . . .

BRIGID

Ewww . . .

DEIRDRE

She's got no face?

ERIK

. . . just skin where her eyes and mouth should be, / you know—

BRIGID

Ewww—

ERIK

. . . yeah, skin over the holes in her ears, over everything . . .

A
thud
from above. Everyone jumps—

ERIK

Whoa, / whoa, how's that for timing?

ERIK

No, you think she's sweating to the oldies up there? / No way . . .

DEIRDRE

I dunno, maybe, unless—oh wait, you know what it probably is? / I'm just realizing . . .

DEIRDRE

. . . it's the faceless lady, telling us to be quiet . . . / or maybe she wants some turkey . . .

In fact everyone has had just enough to drink that this starts to feel very funny.

DEIRDRE

     
(Fighting back laughter)

—but how would she eat the turkey? She's got no mouth . . .

Deirdre mimes a woman without a mouth trying to eat turkey.

It's so unfunny it's kind of funny. Eventually even Brigid laughs.

RICHARD

Tough crowd, Erik . . .

BRIGID

Finish telling us your—

ERIK

Oh right, like I'm gonna— / you had your chance—yeah
now
you're sorry . . . man, you see what I'm up against, Rich?

DEIRDRE

I'm sorry, I'm sorry . . . oh don't punish us I'm just being silly, I'm sorry . . . how does it end?

UPSTAIRS
:
Aimee calls from the top of the stairs.

AIMEE

     
(Calling down)

Should I ask the dinosaur upstairs to tread a little more softly?

BRIGID

Not unless you speak Cantonese . . . / just come down . . .

RICHARD

Erik you'll appreciate this . . . last week I dreamed I fell through an ice-cream cone made of grass and became a baby.

BRIGID

Okay, no no no, save your dreams for Christmas, we're almost ready to eat here . . .

     
(Calling up)

. . . Aimee! . . .

UPSTAIRS
:
From the apartment above them, the sound of running footsteps moving from one side of the room to the other. Aimee looks up. So does Erik. It's a bizarre noise—maybe the kind a tantrum-throwing toddler would make stomping about.

ERIK

Why don't I go up and ask her to just please / —just to please keep it down—

BRIGID

No, no these floors are so old, Dad—behold . . .

Brigid gets up, walks up the stairs.

RICHARD

The whole building groans at times . . . we have two sets of ear plugs.

UPSTAIRS
:
Aimee is responding to an e-mail on her phone. Brigid starts stomping around.

AIMEE

What are you doing?

BRIGID

Showing Dad how creeky the floors are . . .

ERIK

Okay . . . you don't have to do that!

Aimee starts jumping around with her. At a certain point the jumping and stomping become more about Aimee and Brigid releasing a lot of stress.

They recover. Brigid playfully collapses on the floor, a bit exhausted. Aimee moves closer to the window for reception.

BRIGID

     
(This has been on her mind)

Mom's been bringing up marriage—and the Mary statue?—we've been doing so good and today she's back to—

AIMEE

     
(Half-engaged with her e-mail)

Being here's just . . . making it more
real
for her, no?

BRIGID

No, I dunno, something's [not right] . . . I dunno . . .

AIMEE

     
(Finishing her e-mail)

. . . sorry—they even find me on holidays . . . it never ends . . .

     
(Putting her blackberry away)

. . . how's work for
you
? . . .

AIMEE

That's endearing . . .

BRIGID

I know . . . I dunno, we were happy without making it so official, so / . . . I dunno . . .

AIMEE

Yeah, well . . . Carol and I broke up because . . . we were unhappy?

. . . and now I'm [wondering] . . .

maybe loving someone long-term is more about . . .

deciding whether to go through life unhappy alone . . .

or unhappy with someone else?

BRIGID

Richard can draw up a list of reasons why your breakup was a good thing, if you want . . . / I can ask him to draft a very long list—

AIMEE

No, shuttup so . . . ugh: I need to have that surgery . . . / the one where they'll—

BRIGID

What? I thought you could put that off until your sixties or—

AIMEE

This test showed—it's just dysplasia which means . . . it's not cancer, but with colitis it'll become cancer if they don't take it out, so . . .

BRIGID

You'll lose the whole intestine?

AIMEE

It cures the disease, though, so . . . but . . . yeah . . . they make a hole in your abdomen so the waste can, you know . . .