Act 2: Scene 1
INT. BACK CORNER BOOTH OF RESTAURANT
AGNES
You’ve seen the testing. He just can’t make healthy decisions. He’s going to end up in a lot of trouble. You’ve seen the recommendation of the neurologist.
RICHARD
Yes, I’ve seen the test results. I’ve read them all. Every one since he was born. He’s had several different labels. No one knows what’s up with him. There is no definitive agreement between any of them.
AGNES
You mean outside from the fact that he always gets into very bad situations. . . . And, you have to stop giving him money. He can’t handle money.
RICHARD
Do you want to sue for guardianship? Because, that’s were you’re heading, isn’t it?
AGNES
No. You know I can’t do that. My situation with Jack and work won’t allow it. Besides, you seem to have a way with him.
RICHARD
So you want me to take the freedom of life away from him? I’m not sure I want to do that.
AGNES Even if it means that he will die if left to his own dangerously flawed judgement?
RICHARD
You’re pushing. There might be other ways without taking away all of his ability for self determination. You need to do what you need to do and I will do what I have to. You know that we never agreed about anything when it came to the boys. That’s why we divorced. It’s clear that we are just going to argue, yell and get mad. We’re done for now. Miss, could I have the check, please?
VOICE OF MARLO
In a culture overstimulated with visual and auditory input, silence is painful. It is like being pelted with small pellets of hail flung on a strong wind in your face. You just want to cover up and run, but here in the ambiance of a fine restaurant of warm wood grains and soft lighting you must sit with dignity and wait at the mercy of the waitress for the check. This is why Richard saves most of his last cup of coffee for the check. Notice how Agnes just stares at him with calm reserve.
Act 2: Scene 2
INT. COLE AND RICHARD ON RICAHRD’S JOB SITE
COLE So how long do you think this work will take?
RICHARD A couple of weeks. Less since you’re here helping.
COLE Willis has another evaluation scheduled.
RICHARD
Old houses! They’re never square. Building new houses is easier. Everything is square until the house settles. As the years move on and the house gets a little damage here, a little there, it all starts to get out of sync. Kind of like people, huh?
COLE Guess so.
RICHARD
We’re going to have to cut this sheet on an angle to accommodate the sloping down toward the front. Looks like we have a little bubble in the middle as well.
COLE How long did you say this was going to take?
RICHARD Longer, now.
COLE I’m worried about Willis.
RICHARD How so?
COLE What’s going to happen to him? What does it mean if he’s put under guardianship?
RICHARD
It means that he can’t make any decisions for himself. His guardian will make all of his important decisions. Willis would have input. He could tell his guardian what his wishes were, but, in the end, his guardian decides everything — where he lives, what to buy, and who he can see if the guardian believes that the relationship would be detrimental or helpful to Willis.
COLE Are you going to be Willis’s guardian?
RICHARD
I don’t know. That is a large responsibility. The part that bothers me is that Willis will no longer be held responsible for his actions. His guardian makes all of the decisions so Willis has no responsibilities. Additionally, if the court decides that he is unable to make correct decisions, correct judgements; then, when he does something wrong, it will be argued that he cannot be held accountable for doing that which is wrong. I don’t know. Is he really that incapable?
COLE
I don’t know. I know he does need help. He really does get himself into bad situations. He hangs with the wrong sort of people. In English class, we had to read Of Mice and Men by John Steinbok. It made me think of Willis, especially when George shot Lennie. I would hate to be in that sort of position with Willis. If he’s totally incapable of making the right choices and he’s under some one’s guardianship, then to be perfectly safe, the guardian should put him under lock and key.
RICHARD
Guardianship is not that extreme. Willis still has rights. If he feels that the guardian is acting unfairly or unjustly, then he can get a lawyer and argue his case in court.
COLE
Ok. But what happens if Willis does something that is really wrong. What if he hurts someone? What if he commits a crime? If he is declared incapable of making the right judgement call, what happens to him? Does he go to jail? What about the poor person that he victimizes? If it’s a really bad act, those who have been hurt will want revenge.
RICHARD
Probably, it will be much like everyone else. If it is decided that he is a danger to others he would have to be confined, probably under lock and key, but not in a prison, probably in a psych hospital. It’s complicated – like rehabbing and maintaining a very old house that has been worked on over many decades by various individuals of vastly different levels of building skills and financial assets. That’s why some new owners gut the building and go from there. Some buy the old house because of the location. These folks simply demolish the house and build what they want.
COLE Willis is not a house.
RICHARD No. He’s not.
Act 2: Scene 3
INT. AGNES AND COLE HAVING LUNCH IN MALL EATERY
AGNES We found some nice items this morning.
COLE
Yea. Thanks. The shirts are nice. I really like the pants. Those pockets on the legs are really handy for me. I hate putting things in my back pockets. I’d like to have all of my pants in this style.
AGNES
Well, I don’t think you will be able to find suit pants in that style.
COLE I don’t need a suit. What would I wear a suit for? I’m a casual kind of a guy.
VOICE OF MARLO
Notice how Agnes looks at him like she looks at his father with a calm, unshakable stare, as if she is quietly waiting patiently for him to come to his senses. Do you think Cole feels her eyes as he exclusively focuses on eating his food. At seventeen he knows that his high school years are coming to a close. See how she attentively watches. She feels that he needs to make preparations but he is stalling.
AGNES So, how’s school going?
COLE Fine. Grades are good.
AGNES Have you decided upon any colleges yet?
COLE
Not yet. I’m not sure what I want to do? I think I’m going to have to go to a university that has plenty of options for different majors. The first two years I’ll just sample around to try to find what I like.
AGNES
So you haven’t decided on a career, yet? You know you are really good in mathematics. Math doesn’t come easy for many people. You are lucky in that way. There are plenty of very good jobs for someone like yourself with excellent math skills.
COLE
I know. And banking is a good profession for you. It works for you. But I don’t know…
AGNES
If economics isn’t your field, how about one of the sciences? You love lab work and discovering things?
VOICE OF MARLO
The food at this eatery is quite good, but Agnes is drinking her coffee more than eating her food. Perhaps multitasking is not her forte. However, her observations are laser sharp. Maybe this occasion calls for more undivided attention?
AGNES
You know the longer you take to make your plan for the future, the more time is lost taking the right steps to advance that future. A well planned education gets you into the market place faster and at a higher entry level so you can accrue better work experience faster. Your lifetime earnings will increase greatly.
COLE That makes perfect sense, Mom. I’ll see what I can do.
VOICE OF MARLO
Silence in a busy eatery is not the silence of the sweat lodge, nor the silence of the back booth of a fine restaurant. The area has many little swirls of various configurations of individuals coming and going : friends walking and talking, passing in and out of the matrix of tables; people hovering over menu bulletin boards deciding what to order; small children taking direction from mothers and fathers; workers cleaning up debris left by previous consumers, and so forth. Not speaking does not achieve silence in this situation, but Agnes’ pensive stare is so practiced that she knows it will cut through all the environmental competition for attention. She waits for Cole.
COLE
You know I am good with numbers and your logic is understandable and on the mark… but there is something that just doesn’t feel right. I haven’t figured it out yet. I just don’t want to commit to that direction just now. But your advice is very sound. You’re a good mother and I’m trying to be a good son.
VOICE OF MARLO
There is much in a smile. Sometimes something outwardly expressed in genuine warmness; sometimes something hidden behind calculating minds; sometimes simply the fondness of what is being viewed. Over her cup of coffee, that she sips with delight, she smiles.
AGNES You are a good son. Don’t worry. There’s still plenty of time.
VOICE OF MARLO
A purposeful pause is also as noteworthy as a smile and Agnes knows the effect of timing her pause to let the conversation, completed thus far, settle just far enough away to be disconnected but not forgotten.
AGNES You know, you’re much like your father.
VOICE OF MARLO
It’s a surgical moment. Cole looks up from his food and directly into her eyes with love in his heart radiating from his face.
COLE Thanks.
AGNES
Should we go and just look at suits? We should at least measure you for one in case we have to buy one on short notice due to some type of emergency… like a fancy party that some pretty girl might want to attend.