RICARDO. You never answered my question.
ROSIE. Yeah, I got big plans tonight.
RICARDO. You’re gonna go home alone like you always do.
ROSIE. You just don’t know, Ricardo. I’m so sick and tired of this place. I’d love to set it on fire and watch it burn to the ground. (Beat.) You got any matches on you, hot boy? It gets to a person after a while. It crawls all over me like a rash. Like poison fucking ivy. (Beat.) How in the hell did I get stuck in Nebraska?
RICARDO. You were born here.
ROSIE. But you weren’t. I’ll never figure out why the hell you stay.
RICARDO. Same reason you do. There’s no place like home.
ROSIE. Hey, there’s better places to go than this God forsaken shit hole. (She rips open a package of crackers.)
RICARDO. How would you know? You’ve never even been outside of Nebraska.
ROSIE. (Shoving crackers into her mouth:) So! I’ve been to Lincoln. And me and my grandmother went to Omaha last summer. She had to go see a specialist for her rheumatism.
RICARDO. You hate that old woman.
ROSIE. She’s lazy.
RICARDO. Be nice. She lets you live with her for free.
ROSIE. Someone has to take care of her.
RICARDO. Is she still obsessed with aliens?
ROSIE. She swears the mother ship is coming for her any day now. (Beat.) I just wish the fuckers would hurry up and get here and take her away.
RICARDO. There’s a storm coming tonight.
ROSIE. You bet your ass there is. Maybe you and your psycho lover boy will get blown away in a tornado. Or better yet, maybe the two of you can hitch a ride with my grandmother and fly off to Saturn where you all belong.
RICARDO. (Aside:) God willing.
(JUDY, a petite and timid woman in her early thirties, enters.)
ROSIE. (To Judy:) Don’t you have anything else better to do?
JUDY. (Nervous; tearfuclass="underline" ) It’s been a week. I can’t take it anymore.
ROSIE. He isn’t coming back.
JUDY. Yes, he is. He promised.
ROSIE. Tell her Ricardo.
RICARDO. What do you want me to tell her?
ROSIE. That all he wanted was a piece of lonely ass and as soon as she gave it up, he hit the road and he ain’t coming back.
RICARDO. Judy, are you hungry?
JUDY. (Only to Ricardo:) I haven’t been able to eat much. I’m nervous all the time. My hands are shaking. My heart is rattled. I can’t even concentrate. Ricardo, do you think I’ve gone mad?
ROSIE. He’s a truck driver that you spent a night with in a sleazy motel. Get over it.
JUDY. It wasn’t like that, Rosie. You wouldn’t know because you hate the world and you’ve never been in love.
ROSIE. (Angered:) I have so been in love, for your information. (She glances quickly at Ricardo, then:) There are things about me that you don’t know. I got secrets and I’m taking ‘em with me to the grave. (She returns to the task of painting her nails.)
JUDY. Well, you just keep quiet about him. He’ll be back here and he’ll prove you wrong.
ROSIE. Suit yourself, loser. Sit here all night and wait for him. I have big plans.
RICARDO. (Intervening:) Let me get you something to drink, Judy.
JUDY. Just water. With a slice of lemon. My throat is dry. Must be from the wind.
RICARDO. It’s supposed to be a bad storm.
ROSIE. (She messes up on a fingernaiclass="underline" ) Shit!
JUDY. (To Ricardo:) You believe me, don’t you, Ricardo? He’ll be back, won’t he?
RICARDO. I hope so.
JUDY. Rosie’s always talking nonsense.
(Rosie flips Judy off, without a second thought.)
RICARDO. She can’t stand to see anyone happy because she’s so miserable.
ROSIE. (She snaps her fingers.) Um, hi! I’m still here. I can hear all your bullshit. I’m not deaf. It’s like a funeral around here. Everyone’s all sad and cry babying like the end of the fucking world is coming. Jesus, people, lighten up and quit your bitching. It wears on a person after a while.
JUDY. (Gathers her courage, stands, and then:) You’re a hateful, mean person, Rosie, and I’ve never liked you.
ROSIE. (She stands and slinks over to Judy.) Is that supposed to hurt? Judy, you’re an idiot and you’ve always been an idiot. Just because some lowlife dirty trucker paid you some attention, you sit here every night like a ghost waiting for some fantasy to come true. Well, guess what? He got what he wanted and he’s probably a thousand miles away from here by now. Which is exactly where I should be.
RICARDO. (To Rosie:) You’re not going anywhere.
JUDY. Except to hell. You will, Rosie, because you don’t have any compassion and you never go to church.
ROSIE. I have to take care of my grandmother and she doesn’t like to go out much.
RICARDO. She’s a prisoner.
(Ricardo exits to the kitchen. Judy sits at a table, the closest one to the entrance.)
JUDY. What time is it?
ROSIE. Time for you to shut the fuck up and go home. (Beat.) I don’t know. It’s after six. What difference does it make?
JUDY. He was going to Tulsa. He asked me if I wanted to go and I have no idea why I didn’t say yes. I’ve never been to Tulsa before. I should have packed up a few clothes and some cheese sandwiches and went with him. I’m sure Tulsa is a nice place. Anywhere would be beautiful with him. I could have looked at the road map and guided us there while he drove the big rig and we could have stopped off in places — places like this and had chili burgers and banana milkshakes and taken souvenir pictures with one of those disposable cameras. And at night, we would have made love. It would have felt right. To leave and just go and be with him and watch him drive and sleep beside him and see someplace new, even if it was only Tulsa. (Beat.) I bet the sunsets are gorgeous there. Real rich and beautiful. Like one of those desert paintings with the cactus in them. You know the kind that looks like someplace you swear you’ve been before, but you can’t quite remember? Not like Grand Island. Not like this town. I will remember this place for the rest of my life. Every inch of it is burned into my mind like a flaming postcard. Oh, I would have loved it. Just to be out on the road with him. Going somewhere. Getting away from it all. Feeling the sun on my arms and the wicked wind on my face as I crossed the Nebraska state line. Every inch of road getting me further and further and further away. (Pauses.) My God, I would have held his hand all the way to Tulsa.
ROSIE. You’re a ridiculous woman going on and on about a man you met once and spent less than twenty-four hours with. He’s gone, Judy. He was just passing through. You were just a road side attraction to him. A free carnival ride.
RICARDO. (He returns with a glass of water for Judy.) Maybe we should close up, Rosie. The storm is supposed to be one of the worst of its kind in twelve years.