RICARDO. Does your father still cry?
JUDY. No, but I never hear him laugh.
RICARDO. My mother and father need me. We moved to Grand Island to try to give my sister a better life. She’s so messed up and the medical bills are more than my parents can handle. If I don’t help them—
JUDY. What will happen if you leave?
RICARDO. My sister might die.
JUDY. That’s not your decision, Ricardo. That’s the will of God. From what I gather, your sister has been in pain for a long time.
RICARDO. It wasn’t her fault. (Beat.) My father was driving and he was fighting with my mother and it happened so fast, they didn’t have time — my sister was thrown from the car and she’s never been the same. We came here because life was quiet and my grandparents got us a house but nothing seems to help. I work as much as I can and it doesn’t seem to matter. Nothing matters anymore.
JUDY. Derek needs you and you’re good for him. Nobody’s ever wanted him. Not even his own mother, God rest her soul. Britney is too busy with her six hundred boyfriends and each one of them is worse than the last. Nathan is a monster.
RICARDO. You think I should go?
JUDY. I’m going home, Ricardo.
RICARDO. What about your truck driver?
JUDY. Maybe Rosie is right. Maybe I’m just a ridiculous woman. We both know there’s a storm coming tonight. I don’t want to get stuck in the middle of it. I’d rather be at home, with my father. He needs me.
RICARDO. You’re giving up? You said he was coming back.
JUDY. I’ve been promised that before and each time I wanted to believe it, but I can’t and I don’t anymore.
RICARDO. I think he’ll be back, Judy.
JUDY. No, he won’t. But that’s all right. I won’t stop laughing. (Beat.) No matter what. (She exits.)
(Ricardo, alone, picks up the road map. He unfolds it and starts to trace a route to San Diego with his finger.
Lights fade to black.)
ACT ONE: SCENE TWO
(As the lights come up, the diner is empty. A half an hour has passed. The radio is on.)
RADIO ANNOUNCER. Well, folks, the storm hasn’t hit quite yet, but I’m told that when it does, we might get blown right off the map. They say we have a chance of flash floods tonight. By tomorrow morning, though, everything should be cleared up. They say blue skies are in the forecast.
(Music begins to play.
A few moments pass before BRITNEY, a simple woman in her late twenties, enters in a hurry. She is frightened. She is wearing a blouse that is ripped. It is evident she has been crying. There is a visible bruise on her left arm. She goes behind the counter, hides.
Immediately, NATHAN enters. He is in his thirties and is exceptionally handsome, physically intimidating. He’s the ultimate bad boy. He turns the radio off.
Silence.
Nathan stands in the middle of the restaurant, waiting and listening.)
NATHAN. I know you’re in here. You can’t hide from me. (He listens closely and hears faint crying. He goes behind the counter and pulls Britney out of her hiding place by her hair.) What did I tell you, huh? Think you can fucking outsmart me?
BRITNEY. You’re crazy.
NATHAN. Give me the keys.
BRITNEY. I don’t have them.
NATHAN. (He strikes her. She collides with a table and knocks over a chair. She ends up on the floor, on all fours.) Give me the fucking keys!
BRITNEY. You were supposed to be the perfect man.
NATHAN. Did you hear me?!
BRITNEY. I wanted to be your wife.
NATHAN. I’m not fucking around anymore. Give me the keys.
BRITNEY. I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you. (She stands.) But I would rather die! (She lunges at him, shoving him, striking him. They struggle violently.)
ROSIE. (She enters from the kitchen carrying a bus tray of silverware. At the sight of the struggle, she yells and throws the tray on the floor, trying to create a distraction.) Nathan, get out!
NATHAN. (Still struggling:) Stay out of this, Rosie!
ROSIE. I said get the fuck out. Ain’t putting up with your bullshit tonight. Let go of her!
NATHAN. (He throws Britney down. She hits the ground and crawls away from Nathan quickly. She ends up near the kitchen door, terrified.) Tell her to give me my keys.
ROSIE. (To Britney:) Do you have his keys?
BRITNEY. (She holds them up with a trembling hand. The keys rattle lightly.) Don’t give ‘em to him. Please, Rosie. I don’t have anywhere to go.
ROSIE. The hell you don’t. (She takes the keys and goes to the main entrance of the diner. She opens the door and hurls the keys out into the parking lot.) Here’s your keys, Nathan! You show back up here again tonight, I’m calling the sheriff and you know he’s been waiting three years to kick your ass. Now, get the fuck out before I kill you myself.
NATHAN. (Slow; creepy:) Rosie, Rosie, Rosie. Got a pocketful of… (He touches her, suggestively. She slaps his hand away.) Ashes fall. They hit the ground.
ROSIE. I told you to leave, pig face.
NATHAN. Think you’re pretty tough now, don’t you?
ROSIE. I can take care of myself. I always have.
NATHAN. Since when? Since Della hired that idiot to protect you when you’re alone here at nights? Believe me. If I wanted you again, he couldn’t stop me. He isn’t even here right now. I saw him down at the bus depot, taking food to Britney’s faggot brother.
ROSIE. I should have put your ass back in jail.
NATHAN. But you didn’t. And you wanna know why you didn’t? Because you liked it.
ROSIE. You make me sick, you dumb bastard.
NATHAN. Sweet, sweet, Rosie. So young. So tough. You weren’t too tough that night, were you? (Beat.) You didn’t even fight me off.
ROSIE. (She goes to the telephone on the counter and dials a number.) I should have done this a long time ago.
NATHAN. (Approaching her:) What are you doing?
ROSIE. Calling the sheriff. Telling him to throw your crazy ass back in jail where you fucking belong.
NATHAN. You gonna tell him what we did? Hell, Rosie, I’m a good man. Everybody in town thinks the world of Britney. She’s the best cashier at Grady’s. You know that. You tell the sheriff what we did and by tomorrow morning everyone in Grand Island will know what a filthy little whore you are. My God, you practically begged me for it.
ROSIE. You fucking liar! (She slams the phone against the side of Nathan’s head. He recoils and yells in pain.) I told you to get out!
NATHAN. I should fucking kill you!
ROSIE. You already tried that once, remember?
NATHAN. Mark my word—
ROSIE. Your word means nothing to me. I want you out and if you know what’s good for you—
NATHAN. Just remember, sweet Rosie, you’re the one who declared the war.
ROSIE. Go fight yourself, Nathan. I’m through. You’re insane and I hope someone kills you for what you’ve done to the women in Grand Island.
NATHAN. (Sinister:) I’ll kill your Grandmother.
ROSIE. (Beat.) I’ll kill her first.
NATHAN. (To Britney:) You stay here with this bitch and you ain’t coming home.