THE SETUP
Byron, unconscious, is laid up in a hospital bed, probably for the last time.
Vincent, Byron’s best friend, and Gabby, Vincent’s long-term girlfriend and another good friend of Byron’s, have come to visit.
Gabby still holds onto her faith, while Vincent grows more and more estranged from religion, convinced that God is allowing his friend to die.
(though Byron is physically present in this part of the scene, he has no lines, so the scene could be done with only two people, making reference to someone lying in a hospital bed that actually doesn’t have anyone lying there.)
(This scene is part of a larger three-person scene that is also available for viewing: “Wishing On A Plane” and Gabby’s story about meeting Byron for the first time is also pulled out as a monologue post titled “Ticket to the Wedding”)
“Still, if you’ve gotta trust your life to a plane, there are worse places to land than a city called Providence.”
The sound of an airplane flying by overhead is heard as —
Emphasis shifts to a pool of light with BYRON lying in the hospital bed. GABBY walks over and sits by the bed, reading to him.
VINCENT appears on the edge of the pool of light, listening.
GABBY
And neither the angels in heaven above
Nor the demons down under the sea
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabelle Lee.
VINCENT
That’s nice.
GABBY
Edgar Allen Poe, can you believe it?
(gestures to BYRON)
A poetry nut. One of the many things we have in common.
Another plane flies by.
VINCENT
Must be comforting for him. Being near the airport. Planes going by.
GABBY
Sometimes you can see them from his window. Especially at night like this. At times they move so slowly, I mistake them for stars.
VINCENT looks out the unseen window.
VINCENT
I wish I may, I wish I might —
GABBY
I don’t think it works if you wish on a plane.
VINCENT
At this point, I’ll try anything.
GABBY
You could always pray.
VINCENT
Now you’d know I was desperate if that happened, wouldn’t you?
GABBY
At this point —
VINCENT
I’ll leave that to you.
GABBY
OK.
VINCENT
I’m glad you’re here.
(Pause.)
GABBY
He sold me a ticket to my brother’s wedding.
VINCENT
Your family charges admission?
GABBY
One way to pay for it.
No, I mean a plane ticket.
I walked up to his station and said I needed a ticket to Providence, Rhode Island. And he said, “Oh, you don’t want to go there.” He was quite insistent. There was no line, he had time to kill, so he was just jerking me around. I had to get moving so I told him about the wedding just to speed things along. Before I know it, we’re laying out my entire family history, including my brother Jake’s failed first marriage, which is quite frankly none of this ticket pusher’s business, but pretty soon we’re exchanging names and phone numbers and of course he’s gay — my luck — but never fear, he says, he knows this great straight guy named Vincent that I absolutely have to meet when I get back from — ick — Rhode Island. “Still, if you’ve gotta trust your life to a plane, there are worse places to land than a city called Providence.”
Just the way he talked about you, I knew I was done for.
GABBY takes BYRON’s hand. VINCENT turns to the unseen window as another plane is heard flying over. VINCENT stands, looking out into the darkness surrounding them.
VINCENT
And neither the angels in heaven above
Nor the demons down under the sea —
Sound of the plane flying by, as BYRON, GABBY and VINCENT fade into the darkness.
(photo: 1996 production by The Early Stage (Minneapolis, MN); Renee Werbowski as Gabby, Eriq Nelson as Vincent)
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