Middle of Yesterday

THE MIDDLE OF
YESTERDAY
By
Ken Jones
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THE MIDDLE OF YESTERDAY
A D R A MA I N T W O A C T S
By Ken Jones
Copyright © MM by Kenneth W. Jones
All Rights Reserved
Heuer Publishing LLC, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
ISBN: 978-1-61588-102-4
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By Ken Jones
CAST OF CHARACTERS
(FOUR MEN, THREE WOMEN)
KILBY FLEMING ................A man in his eighties. Kilby is suffering from

Alzheimer’s Disease. He is desperately trying to
decipher the past from the present. He was once a man
full of piss and vinegar, but he has now fallen prey to
confusion. (644 lines)
STEPHEN FLEMING...........A man in his late forties or early fifties. Stephen is
rm for l Kilby’s son. He is a staunch, hardworking

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businessman. The past and its events prevent him from
getting too close to anyone especially his father. (325
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lines)
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NURSE..................................A registered Naval nurse. She is tough but

compassionate. She deals with Alzheimer patients
an every day, and she struggles to keep a smile on her
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face. (220 lines)
LEANNA ..............................The memory of Kilby’s wife. She appears to Kilby as

though she were still in the 1940’s. She is beautiful,
understanding, but ultimately beaten by Fate. (231
lines)
YOUNG STEPHEN ..............The memory of Stephen in his late teens. He is also

captured in the early forties. He is a teenager trying to
break away from his strict father. (9 lines)
LACY....................................The memory of Kilby’s daughter. She is a young

teenage girl captured in the mid-1930’s. She died a
young girl in a car crash, and she never had the chance
to experience life. She dreams of heroes and ballerinas.
(79 lines)
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BY KEN JONES
SOLDIER..............................The memory of Kilby himself. Dressed in the uniform

of a Chief Warrant Officer of the U.S.N., the soldier
appears to Kilby like a physical manifestation of his
conscience. (72 lines)
The action of the play occurs in the early 1990’s at a Naval Hospital in Virginia and
also in the mind of Kilby Fleming.
SYNOPSIS OF SCENES
ACT ONE: The scenes flow between the mind of Kilby and a Naval Hospital.
ACT TWO: Same as ACT ONE, a day later.
EPILOGUE: Same location. Three days later.
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SETTING
A large willow tree sweeps from stage left over the playing area. From the branches
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of the tree, hang items from the past and from Kilby’s memory: children’s skates, a
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garden hoe, a mechanic’s wrench, a coke bottle, a phonograph, a guitar, a rifle, a

military helmet, a bean pot, a crutch, and other odds and ends. The tree and the items
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are muted in color, faded, lost in time.
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Beneath the tree branches are various small levels representing planes within his
brain. The largest of the levels is the hospital room in the present. A hospital bed,
reclining chair, and hospital cart represent the room. NOTE: The people of the
memories should freely move in and out of the action of the play. Lights can add to
the distortion of space and angles when the present turns to past.
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ACT ONE, SCENE 1
KILBY, an elderly man, is sitting in a blue-recliner hospital chair. A

steel guitar is resting on his lap. HE is staring at his right hand as if he
were trying to will it to play the instrument. Slowly, his left hand begins
to move the steel bar up and down the neck of the guitar in definite
patterns. In short, his left hand is moving through a song, but his right
hand is unable to join in. This painful war of the mind begins to show
in body tremors. KILBY, flushed, begins gasping for air. His right hand
falls to the guitar as though someone has cut the supporting cables.
KILBY: Huh! (Gasp.) Plu - - (Gasp.) plu - - (Gasp.) plu! (HE

sucks air into his lungs as though he were suffocating.) Huh
(Gasp.) huh (Gasp.) huh! Plu - - (Gasp.) plu - - (Gasp.) plu!
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(More air.) Please!! Huh (Gasp.) huh (Gasp.) huh! (HE begins
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to pant.) Please! (Gasp.) Play! (Gasp.) huh (Gasp.) Play!
(Gasp.) Play! (His breathing becomes more irregular.) Why - -
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(Gasp.) - - I - - (Gasp.) - - play? (HE strums the strings with
his right hand.) Make - - (Gasp.) huh (Gasp.) - - please - -
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KILBY gulps for air, and then slouches forward in his chair. The
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scene moves into KILBY’S mind. LEANNA enters. SHE is a young
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woman dressed in a flowing dress of the early 1940’s. SHE is

KILBY’S memory of his wife.
LEANNA: Kilby! Don’t feel alone.

KILBY: What?
LEANNA: Kilby.
KILBY: Yes.
LEANNA: You’re not all that you’ve got.
KILBY: No?
LEANNA: Not when we’re together.
KILBY: Together.
LEANNA: Don’t feel alone.
KILBY: I do.
LEANNA: Remember - -
KILBY: - - I can’t.
LEANNA: Try.
KILBY: I get lost.
LEANNA: Winding and twisting.
KILBY: - - up and down - -
LEANNA: - - and all around!
KILBY: My thoughts move further and further away. Leaving me.
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BY KEN JONES
KILBY: No.
LEANNA: Think of the days - -
KILBY: - - oh, I do - -
LEANNA: - - and all the nights.
KILBY: Oh, I remember.
LEANNA: The river?
KILBY: I remember.
LEANNA: The shore.
KILBY: Yes.
LEANNA: Hear it running?
KILBY: No.
LEANNA: Then listen - - it goes on and on and on - -
KILBY: I think I hear it.
LEANNA: Listen to it flow away from the things that we’ve done.
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KILBY: Yes.
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LEANNA: Follow it.
KILBY: I can remember.
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LEANNA: Kilby, you’re not alone - - I’m here.
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KILBY: I can see - -

LEANNA: Remembering the old willow tree.
KILBY: Yes, it seems so bent, so sad.
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LEANNA: The dog in the field.

KILBY: When I was a kid.
LEANNA: Hoot owls on winter nights.
KILBY: Outside my window.
LEANNA: You were a soldier.
KILBY: The navy.
LEANNA: So handsome in your uniform.
KILBY: You thought so - -
LEANNA: And that’s what matters.
KILBY: I loved coming home.
LEANNA: Play a song.
KILBY: I try to play.
LEANNA: But we’re together, Kilby.
KILBY: You’re right.
LEANNA: Listen to the river and play me a song.
KILBY lowers his hand to the guitar and gently, a song emerges. A
simple song, RED RIVER VALLEY. LEANNA moves swaying back
and forth around the room.
WON’T YOU THINK OF THE VALLEY YOU’RE LEAVING

OH, HOW LONELY HOW SAD IT WILL BE
5
OH, THINK OF THE FOND HEART YOU’RE BREAKING

AND THE GRIEF YOU ARE CAUSING ME TO SEE.
KILBY: I can play

LEANNA: You always could.
KILBY: Then why do I feel so lost?
KILBY: Leanna, I don’t know what to do.
LEANNA: Dance with me.
KILBY: What if I can’t remember how?
LEANNA: You’re with me. You’ll remember. I promise.
KILBY rises. He places his guitar on the chair. HE moves to LEANNA.

Music is heard. They begin to dance.
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KILBY: Nothing is the same.
LEANNA: Should it be?
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KILBY: I’m always falling and I can never grab a hold of anything.
Jesus, I just want to hold on for a moment. A thought. A word. It
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passes by so quickly. I can hear. I can see. But it’s always

moving by me.
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LEANNA: You’re dancing.
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KILBY: I’m with you.

LEANNA: That’s the way it should be.
KILBY: But you’re not always here. There are too many times when
I’m alone. Moving around inside a huge, empty space. You’re
gone. People are gone. Sometimes even I’m gone.
LEANNA: When you’re in this place, you should feel free. No
worries. No concerns. For the first time in your life, you have
nothing to weigh you down. No thoughts. No memories.
KILBY: But soon the memories come, and they move by so quickly.
And they surround me and push me and push me - - until I’m to
the edge. It’s either over the side and fall, or I’ll suffocate.
LEANNA: Take a deep breath.
KILBY: I’ll suffocate. (Then LEANNA begins to move off-stage.)
LEANNA: Breathe. Breathe. (KILBY gasps!)
KILBY: I have to jump. I can’t breathe. I’m too crowded! (KILBY
sits in the chair. HE moves the guitar onto his lap.) Huh (Gasp.)
huh (Gasp.) huh (Gasp.) plu (Gasp.) plu! (The scene is back
to reality. LEANNA has disappeared. KILBY is still supporting the
guitar on his lap. His hands are hovering just above the strings.)
Huh (Gasp.) wha! Wha (Gasp.) what? (HE lowers his hands to
the keys and begins to play. However, the gentle song of before
is not heard, only the strumming of someone who cannot
6
BY KEN JONES
remember how to play. HE stops.) Remember. (HE tries again,

but again he fails.) Why - -I - -play? (HE holds his arms in the air,
staring at them.) I - - (Gasp.) - - I - - (HE sits quietly.)
ACT ONE, SCENE 2
STEPHEN, KILBY’S son, enters. STEPHEN is in his mid-fifties. HE

is a successful businessman living stressfully but happily in the world.
STEPHEN: Pop.
KILBY: Play.
STEPHEN: Pop, it’s me. Stephen.
KILBY: Play.
STEPHEN: You’ve been playing some music?
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KILBY: Stephen, listen to this song.
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STEPHEN: All right. Entertain me. (KILBY does not move.) Pop,
are you going to play me a song?
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KILBY: The river.
STEPHEN: What about the river?
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KILBY: Got to go to the river.

STEPHEN: Why don’t we go to the river another day? Let’s just stay
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at the hospital for now.
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KILBY: Hoot owls.

STEPHEN: No! I pay good money for you to be here, and I will not
have hoot owls in your room.
KILBY: My window.
STEPHEN: Feathers in the operating room. I won’t have it.
KILBY: Where’s the dog?
STEPHEN: What dog, Pop? We never had a dog.
KILBY: On the farm. Had plenty of dogs.
STEPHEN: When you were a kid, your father had dogs, but you
never let us have a dog.
KILBY: Feed the dogs.
STEPHEN: All right, Dad. I’ll feed the dogs. Here Fido, Rover! Eat
your bones. There you go, Pop. The dogs have been fed.
KILBY: Stephen.
STEPHEN: Yeah, Pop, it’s me.
KILBY: Where have you been?
STEPHEN: At work. That’s where I always am when I’m not visiting
you.
KILBY: How was school?
STEPHEN: I graduated forty years ago.
KILBY: You’re late.
7
STEPHEN: Oh, I’m so sorry. I should just quit my job and live here
with you?
KILBY: I can’t play.
STEPHEN: All right. Then let’s put the guitar away.
KILBY: Let’s put the guitar away.
STEPHEN: Oh, no. Why don’t we put the guitar away?
KILBY: Let’s put the guitar away.
STEPHEN: How many times can we repeat the same thing?
KILBY: Many times.
STEPHEN: That’s right, Pop. (STEPHEN lifts the guitar off of
KILBY’S lap and places it in the case.) You look good today. Did
they give you your medicine?
KILBY: Didn’t want it.
STEPHEN: But you took it.
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KILBY: Forced me.
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STEPHEN: The nurse?
KILBY: Nazis.
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STEPHEN: Pop, you can’t call the nurses Nazis. None of them will
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want to help you.

KILBY: Too many pills.
STEPHEN: You need those pills. Don’t you? (Silence.) Don’t you?
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KILBY: They have mustaches.
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STEPHEN: Who?
KILBY: The Nazis.
STEPHEN: The nurses do not have mustaches. I’ve seen your
nurses. They’re very nice looking.
KILBY: Disguises. They wait for me to turn my back. I know these
kinds of people.
STEPHEN: You’re out of your mind.
KILBY: It’s the pills.
STEPHEN: It’s not the pills. Now you’re going to take your medicine,
and I don’t want to hear anymore about it.
KILBY: I was on the Omaha when we saw this freighter.
STEPHEN: Broken record.
KILBY: The captain told the radioman to hail the vessel, but they
didn’t respond.
STEPHEN: And they were flying the British insignia.
KILBY: Under British colors.
STEPHEN: Pop, I’ve heard the story.
KILBY: Finally the code came in, but it was a week old - -
STEPHEN: - - The Captain said, “We’re moving in―”
KILBY: - - The freighter started to run - -
STEPHEN: - - but you caught up.
8
BY KEN JONES
KILBY: The demolition team boarded the ship - -

STEPHEN: - - and stopped the self-destruct mechanism.
KILBY: What?
STEPHEN: And your ship had captured the first German warship of
World War II.
KILBY: I was in the Navy. Do you remember?
STEPHEN: Yes.
KILBY: The Navy kept me busy.
STEPHEN: The Navy kept you away from me. That’s what I
remember.
KILBY: Maybe I should have retired early.
STEPHEN: It’s too late to worry about that now.
KILBY: You wrote me that letter.
STEPHEN: I wrote you many letters.
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KILBY: You said I was never there for you.
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STEPHEN: Pop, those days are in the past. Why don’t you get in
bed?
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KILBY: Stephen?
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STEPHEN: Come on. Into bed. (STEPHEN helps KILBY into the
bed. The NURSE enters.)
NURSE: Hello, Stephen.
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STEPHEN: How are you?
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NURSE: You’re here early today.

STEPHEN: I won’t be able to come this evening. I have a dinner
meeting.
NURSE: That means Kilby will start getting angry at about six
o’clock.
STEPHEN: I was hoping if I came earlier he wouldn’t get so upset. I
mean it’s not that easy to come here every day. Traffic is always
bad. I usually end up leaving work early. Parking is a problem. I
would be here if I could. But my Dad cannot expect me to be here
every day. That’s just not fair.
NURSE: I don’t think he expects it. He probably won’t even
remember.
STEPHEN: Probably not.
NURSE: And how is he today?
STEPHEN: Same.
NURSE: We’ve been trying some new medication that his doctor
recommended. Your father doesn’t like our new nurse - -George.
STEPHEN: That makes sense. He was talking about a mustache.
NURSE: Kilby seems to prefer the ladies.
KILBY: He tried to pull my teeth out.
NURSE: Really.
9
STEPHEN: Pop!
KILBY: My teeth.
NURSE: Well, I’ll tell George not to pull your teeth out.
STEPHEN: I’m sorry. Pop, I get very embarrassed when you say
these things. The nurses are very nice to you. Aren’t they? Don’t
they get you your snacks? Didn’t they find your guitar picks last
week when you lost them?
NURSE: We know he doesn’t mean it. He can’t help it. Can you,
Mr. Fleming?
KILBY: I don’t trust a one of you!
STEPHEN: I took him to McDonalds on Saturday so he could get his
McMuffin, and he took the table apart while I was in the restroom.
NURSE: Did he put it back together?
STEPHEN: Are you kidding? He not only put it back together, but he
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gave the manager tips on how to improve it.
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NURSE: At least he was able to remember how to put it back
together.
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STEPHEN: He thinks he’s working on a ‘65 Buick Le Sabre.
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KILBY: Best car on the road.

NURSE: I believe you, Kilby.
KILBY: Bad garage. No tools.
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STEPHEN: Dad, you were in a restaurant.
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KILBY: Restaurant.
STEPHEN: McDonalds.
KILBY: Saturday? Today’s Saturday?
STEPHEN: No, Pop. Today is not Saturday.
KILBY: But you said it was Saturday.
STEPHEN: No, you said it was Saturday.
KILBY: I heard you.
NURSE: Speaking of this Saturday, the doctor is going to run some
tests.
STEPHEN: More tests?
NURSE: He wants to see how much further along Kilby is. He’d like
to know at what pace the disease is moving.
KILBY: You said it.
STEPHEN: But he’ll never get better. Right?
NURSE: That’s right.
KILBY: Clear as a bell.
STEPHEN: What’s the point? Why more tests?
KILBY: Saturday.
NURSE: With Alzheimer’s, the progression of the disease is often
affected by the medication. The Doctor hopes to slow down the
10
BY KEN JONES
degeneration. He’s trying to help your father hold on to a little

more.
KILBY: Leanna?
STEPHEN: Wait a minute, Dad.
NURSE: We hope the new medication is slowing down the memory
loss, but truthfully, I’ve seen so many patients - -Well, it doesn’t
usually improve. Some do - - some don’t.
STEPHEN: I think he’s worse. He can only speak in fragments.
Pieces of sentences.
NURSE: But he still remembers Saturdays.
KILBY: Leanna.
STEPHEN: Leanna is not here, Pop.
NURSE: Kilby, do you feel like talking?
KILBY: Stephen.
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NURSE: I’m going to ask Stephen to step outside.
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KILBY: Leanna, where’s Stephen?
STEPHEN: Pop, Mom’s not here. She’s gone. Remember?
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KILBY: Remember.
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STEPHEN: Mom died. (KILBY lies back on the bed.) Are you all
right? (Silence.)
NURSE: He’ll be all right. I just want to talk with him. See how
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coherent he is today. We want to see if he can answer the
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questions with the same answers he gave last week.

STEPHEN: I’ll be outside.
NURSE: Don’t worry.
STEPHEN: I just wish I knew what he was thinking.
NURSE: We all do.
STEPHEN: If I could just see inside his head - -what keeps him
going. Does he remember the faces that go with the names?
NURSE: I think he does.
STEPHEN: You’re going to be okay, Dad? (Silence.) Okay. I’m
outside.
(STEPHEN exits.)
NURSE: Kilby. (Silence.) Kilby.
KILBY: Got to go.
NURSE: Go where, Kilby?
KILBY: McMuffin.
NURSE: Not today. Today we’re going to talk.
KILBY: Our demolition crew boarded the ship - - to disconnect the
self-destruct mechanism.
NURSE: Self-destruct?
KILBY: We had captured the first German warship of the war.
NURSE: World War II?
11
KILBY: America had been neutral.

NURSE: Kilby, I’m confused.
KILBY: Are you sick?
NURSE: I’m lost.
KILBY: What?
NURSE: I’m lost, Kilby.
KILBY: We’re lost. (LEANNA, KILBY’S wife, enters. SHE is only a
memory. The NURSE cannot see or hear her.)
LEANNA: Honey!
NURSE: I don’t know what you’re talking about anymore.
LEANNA: Too much time.
KILBY: Retirement.
NURSE: That’s not what I wanted to know.
KILBY: Why?
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NURSE: Kilby, please, try to concentrate this time.
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LEANNA: Leave the garden be and eat your lunch.
KILBY: Lunch time. Isn’t it lunch time?
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NURSE: You just ate breakfast. Are you hungry?
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LEANNA: Wash up outside.

KILBY: Lunch time.
NURSE: Kilby, you just ate. ALL right. (Pause.) All right?
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KILBY: Yes.
NURSE: Now, do you know where you are?
LEANNA: Don’t forget, you have an appointment.
KILBY: At the hospital.
NURSE: Exactly. That’s correct.
KILBY: Yes.
NURSE: All right, Kilby. Why don’t you tell me about the Navy?
(YOUNG STEPHEN enters. This is a memory of KILBY’S son at
seventeen.)
YOUNG STEPHEN: Dad, you’re not leaving again?
KILBY: The Navy tells me what to do.
NURSE: And you did it?
KILBY: I had to do it. Orders.
YOUNG STEPHEN: Don’t order me around!
KILBY: Stephen!
NURSE: Your son.
KILBY: Yes!
NURSE: Stephen wanted you to stay home?
KILBY: Yes.
YOUNG STEPHEN: We had to follow you.
KILBY: Leanna wanted to follow me.
NURSE: During the war?
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BY KEN JONES
KILBY: When my ship would come in, she wanted to be there.

YOUNG STEPHEN: We had to follow!
LEANNA: Now, Stephen - -
KILBY: They didn’t have to move around so much,
LEANNA: - - I want to be there when your father comes home.
KILBY: Leanna insisted.
LEANNA: I insist.
NURSE: It’s perfectly understandable.
YOUNG STEPHEN: She was only a little girl.
KILBY: She was our baby.
NURSE: Who?
KILBY: Lacy.
NURSE: You have a daughter, too?
LEANNA: Kilby, I’m driving there to meet you!
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KILBY: Don’t come. It’s too far to drive.
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LEANNA: I insist.
NURSE: Driving from where?
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KILBY: San Diego to North Carolina.
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NURSE: That’s a long trip.

KILBY: Too long.
YOUNG STEPHEN: You made us drive all that way!
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KILBY: I didn’t want you - -

LEANNA: C’mon, kids, we’re going to meet your father in Carolina.
KILBY: The roads were so bad back then.
NURSE: Is this during the war?
KILBY: Yes.
YOUNG STEPHEN: Mom, why can’t we live in one place for more
than a month?
LEANNA: Your father wants to share his leave with us.
KILBY: I loved her.
NURSE: Your wife?
KILBY: Leanna.
LEANNA: I love you, too. The operator says we have to hang up - -
KILBY: I loved them.
LEANNA: - - so we have to say, ‘good-bye.’
KILBY: Good-bye.
YOUNG STEPHEN: I tried to hold on to her.
KILBY: It wasn’t your fault.
LEANNA: Is there something in our lane?
KILBY: The roads are so bad in the country.
NURSE: Kilby.
LEANNA: I think that something’s in our lane!
13
KILBY: She was so tiny. (LACY, KILBY’S daughter, enters. SHE is

a young girl dressed in a wrinkled, yellow dress.)
LACY: (SHE sings.) AMAZING GRACE! HOW SWEET THE
SOUND - -
KILBY: The funeral is at the old house.
LACY: - - THAT SAVED A WRETCH LIKE ME!
NURSE: Kilby, I’m lost.
YOUNG STEPHEN: If you hadn’t made us - - (YOUNG STEPHEN
exits.)
LACY: I ONCE WAS LOST - -
KILBY: Lacy, I’m sorry.
LACY: - - BUT NOW AM FOUND - -
NURSE: Kilby, help me out.
KILBY: Leanna forgave me.
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LACY: WAS BLIND - -
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LEANNA: Kilby, leave that garden be!
LACY: - - BUT NOW I SEE. (LACY exits.)
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NURSE: I don’t know what you’re talking about!
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KILBY: Retirement.
NURSE: No. We were not talking about your retirement!
LEANNA: Too much time. (SHE exits.)
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NURSE: Let’s try to really concentrate this time. All right?
Pe
KILBY: All right.

NURSE: Ready?
KILBY: Yes.
NURSE: All right, Kilby. Where are you?
KILBY: Hospital?
NURSE: Great.
KILBY: Great.
NURSE: Do you know why you’re here?
KILBY: I must be sick.
NURSE: Do you feel sick?
KILBY: Do I look sick?
NURSE: You look great.
KILBY: I look awful.
NURSE: Well, does anything hurt?
KILBY: Darn near everything hurts when you’re my age.
NURSE: Anything specific?
KILBY: My shoulder’s achin’ a bit.
NURSE: Let me see. (SHE examines KILBY’S shoulder.) How high
can you raise it?
KILBY: High enough to wash the dish - -but not enough to put it
away.
14
BY KEN JONES
NURSE: Did you fall on this shoulder, Kilby?

KILBY: Yes.
NURSE: When?
KILBY: More times than I want to recall.
NURSE: Well, it could be a tear in the muscle or a tendon. We’ll
have to get some x-rays and have the doctor look at it.
KILBY: The first time I fell I was in the Army.
NURSE: I thought you were in the navy?
KILBY: I spent two years in the Army learning I wanted to be in the
navy.
NURSE: I see. Well, I’m going to tell the doctor about your shoulder.
KILBY: 1922. I was just sixteen.
NURSE: Will you be all right in here while I’m gone?
KILBY: The second time I fell on it - -
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NURSE: I’m going to step outside for a few minutes, Kilby.
rfo ot sa
KILBY: Outside?
NURSE: Yes.
ce
KILBY: Don’t leave the door open. You’ll let the cold air in. (The
pe N ru
NURSE exits. KILBY is confused for a moment. HE climbs from

the bed.) I’m outside. (LEANNA is heard.)
LEANNA: Lunch.
an
KILBY: I’m in the middle of lunch!
Pe
LEANNA: Well, I’m in the middle of lunch.

KILBY: Leanna, can you bring it out here? I’m trying to work.
LEANNA: I can, but I don’t want to.
KILBY: I’ve got to finish this car. (HE slides beneath the bed as if it
were an automobile.) Damn! I never will get used to these foreign
cars. I should have told Mrs. Crawley that I just don’t work on
foreign cars. This thing isn’t worth the metal it’s made of.
(LEANNA enters carrying a dish towel.)
LEANNA: What would you like to drink?
KILBY: Depends on what we’re having?
LEANNA: Left-over ham, pole beans, fried potatoes and cornbread.
KILBY: Coca-Cola.
LEANNA: Bottle or glass?
KILBY: Just give me the bottle.
LEANNA: Please.
KILBY: What?
LEANNA: You could throw in a please every once in a while.
KILBY: Please.
LEANNA: Your welcome.
KILBY: Where the hell is Stephen? He’s never home when I need
him.
15
LEANNA: School.
KILBY: It’s darn near two o’clock.
LEANNA: He doesn’t get out until three.
KILBY: I thought he got out at two?
LEANNA: Wrong city. Wrong state. Wrong school.
KILBY: Really?
LEANNA: Losing your memory at such a young age. How sad.
KILBY: Well, I seem to remember a Coca-Cola that I was promised.
LEANNA: I’ll get it for you.
KILBY: Could you hand me a crescent wrench?
LEANNA: What does it look like?
KILBY: Like a crescent wrench! Never mind. I’ll get it myself.
LEANNA exits. KILBY gets to his feet and starts going through the
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tools and instruments. The NURSE enters.
rfo ot sa
NURSE: Kilby!
ce
KILBY: What?
pe N ru
NURSE: Don’t touch those!

KILBY: I need it.
NURSE: You’re lucky you didn’t cut yourself. It’s my fault. I should
an
never have left those in here with you.
Pe
KILBY: I needed a crescent wrench.

NURSE: Don’t have one here. I usually just tighten peoples’ bolts by
hand.
KILBY: Coke.
NURSE: Coke?
KILBY: My Coca-Cola.
NURSE: Sure. We can arrange that. Do you want it in the can or a
cup?
KILBY: I told you already.
NURSE: Fine. We’ll get you a can. And I’ll just take these outta here.
SHE gathers up the instruments and exits. LEANNA enters.
LEANNA: Out of Coca-Cola.

KILBY: Stephen.
LEANNA: The boy can drink more cola than a person should be
allowed. He loves the stuff.
KILBY: He’ll be home soon. I need him here.
LEANNA: Half-an-hour.
KILBY: I want him to help.
LEANNA: He’s too young.
16
BY KEN JONES
KILBY: You’re never too young to learn. He needs to know how to fix
a car. He needs to be able to work on an engine.
LEANNA: He loses interest so quickly.
KILBY: He needs help. There are priorities in life. I was taught that
by my father early on - -
LEANNA: With a strap.
KILBY: You’re damn right with a strap. I knew what was waiting for
me at the other end of a bad decision.
LEANNA: And that made you a better person.
KILBY: It made me a person with priorities.
LEANNA: Let him grow up.
KILBY: And then it will be too late.
LEANNA: Kilby, where do you get these ideas?
KILBY: From growing up.
rm for l
LEANNA: So you’re all grown up, and now it’s your turn to inflict your
rfo ot sa
knowledge on your son.
KILBY: Exactly.
ce
LEANNA: What happened to the fun?
pe N ru
KILBY: I left it in the war. You don’t have time to play in a boiler
room. You don’t have time to think. Keep the pressure up. Check
the batteries. Keep the turbines clear. (Pause.) I want to have
an
fun. I really do, but I know that in a couple of weeks I’ll be back out
Pe
there. And it’s better if I don’t have the memory - -then I don’t
know what I’m missing. (LEANNA moves to him.)
LEANNA: I know what you’re missing.
KILBY: I have to work.
LEANNA: Come here.
KILBY: In the garage?
LEANNA: Right here with the oil stains.
KILBY: Leanna!
LEANNA: More room.
KILBY: On Mrs. Crawley’s car?
LEANNA: Like she hasn’t done it here herself?
KILBY: She’s ninety-two!
LEANNA: What a woman!
KILBY: What if Stephen comes home?
LEANNA: Keep the steam up!
KILBY: Leanna!
LEANNA: Keep those turbines clear! (HE gently takes her face in
his hands.)
KILBY: You’re the most alive person I know. I envy you.
LEANNA: I love you.
KILBY: Nothing will keep you down for long.
17
LEANNA: Now you’re talking, sailor.

KILBY: I love you so much.
LEANNA: Incoming! (She kisses him.) You’d better get below deck.
KILBY: What if our son comes home?
LEANNA: He won’t. Now climb up here. (THEY fall back on the
table.)
KILBY: Mrs. Crawley would die.
LEANNA: I love foreign cars. (As their passion builds, they slip off
the table.) Kilby!
KILBY: Damn.
LEANNA: Are you all right?
KILBY: No.
LEANNA: (Laughing.) I guess I swept you off your feet.
KILBY: Right on to my ass!
rm for l
LEANNA: I’m sorry I’m laughing, but you look silly down there.
rfo ot sa
KILBY: Well, I think I’m dying.
LEANNA: You’re not dying.
ce
KILBY: My shoulder.
pe N ru
LEANNA: Can you move it?

KILBY: Well I think push ups are out of the question.
LEANNA: Is it broken?
an
KILBY: I don’t know.
Pe
LEANNA: Move it.

KILBY: It hurts! I can’t move it! It hurts!
NURSE enters.
NURSE: Oh my Lord! It’s going to be all right.

KILBY: I can’t move it.
NURSE: Don’t. Just leave it be.
LEANNA: I suppose the mood has been broken?
KILBY: Definitely broken.
NURSE: Now, I don’t think so, but we’ll x-ray it to be safe.
KILBY: Where’s Stephen? Why is he never here when I need him?
NURSE: He’s waiting.
KILBY: When he gets home, he’ll help me up.
LEANNA: I’ll help you up.
NURSE: I’m going to need some help!
KILBY: Stephen! (Older STEPHEN enters.)
STEPHEN: Dad!
NURSE: Can you help me lift him up?
LEANNA: I’ll help you up.
KILBY: Get away.
18
BY KEN JONES
LEANNA: Then I’ll get some ice. (LEANNA exits.)

STEPHEN: What happened?
KILBY: Ice.
STEPHEN: Dad, you didn’t fall on the ice. Now what the hell
happened?
NURSE: His legs must have given out on him. It could be a
combination of medicines. He just won’t stay in this bed.
KILBY: My shoulder.
STEPHEN: How is it?
NURSE: Nothing feels broken. I’ll get a doctor to make sure. (THEY
help KILBY back into bed.) He was just telling me about his
shoulder, and then he goes and falls on it.
STEPHEN: See. This is why - -
NURSE: - - he’s here?
rm for l
STEPHEN: I can’t take care of him at home.
rfo ot sa
NURSE: Well, by the looks of things, we’re not doing much better
here.
ce
STEPHEN: My wife can’t watch over him all the time.
pe N ru
NURSE: You can’t be upset about putting him in here.

STEPHEN: He’s like a kid.
NURSE: Don’t worry. We’ll take care of him - - and a lot better than
an
you’ve seen today.
Pe
KILBY: What happened?

NURSE: Did you roll out of bed, Kilby?
KILBY: Mrs. Crawley’s going to be fightin’ mad.
STEPHEN: Crawley?
KILBY: Couldn’t fix that damn foreign car of hers.
STEPHEN: Old lady Crawley’s been dead for twenty years.
NURSE: We’ll need a complete series. I’ll call down the doctor.
STEPHEN: Years ago he fell on the same shoulder. He was
working on a car, and he slipped in the garage. He had to wait
until I got home to help him up. My mother couldn’t move him.
Wouldn’t you know it? I was late that day, and he was furious. He
gave me hell. Acted like it was my fault that he had fallen in the
first place.
NURSE: Why don’t you go on back to work. We’re going to be
keeping your dad busy for the rest of the afternoon.
KILBY: I heard that.
STEPHEN: He’ll be all right?
KILBY: A few more needles. Another quart of blood. A garden hose
up my Mr. Willy. I’ll be fine.
NURSE: Kilby, we do those things for your own good.
KILBY: What?
19
NURSE: Don’t be telling your son here that we’re treating you badly.
KILBY: (Confused.) No. I don’t know - -
NURSE: Okay. Well, I’ll leave you two alone, and when you leave I’ll
get someone to watch over him.
STEPHEN: Thanks.
NURSE: And don’t get too upset with him. He doesn’t know he’s
causing any trouble.
STEPHEN: Causing trouble is not a new thing for my dad.
NURSE: Old habits.
SHE exits.
STEPHEN: Well, Pop, you’re a mess. Falling out of bed. Talking to

people who have been dead for years. Why? What happened to
rm for l
the man who for twenty-four hours a day had an opinion on
rfo ot sa
everything. Don’t pump the gas on a new car before turning the
ignition. You’ll flood it. Don’t use credit cards. Never saw sense in
ce
using credit. Never had problems. A dollar bill pays for a dollars
worth of stuff. Save the coffee grinds. Put them in the baggie by
pe N ru
the sink. Good for the garden. Don’t let the water run while you’re
doing the dishes. You’ll drain the state. (Pause.) God, I actually
an
miss it. I miss your Listerined breath breathing down on my
Pe
shoulder. Watching my every move. Caring - - worrying about me

so much that you never had time to just stop and talk about - -
whatever. Lord, how could I miss that?
KILBY: Stephen?
STEPHEN: Yeah, Pop?
KILBY: My shoulder hurts.
STEPHEN: You fell on it, Pop. You fell on your bad shoulder.
KILBY: Stephen?
STEPHEN: I’m still here.
KILBY: My shoulder hurts.
STEPHEN: Try not to think about it.
KILBY: But I’ve got to think about something.
STEPHEN: Good point. (Silence.)
KILBY: How’s Susie?
STEPHEN: I imagine she’s fine.
KILBY: Don’t even know how your own wife is doing?
STEPHEN: My wife is not Susie, Pop. I went out with Susie in junior
high school. Once. To a dance. I haven’t seen her in 40 years.
KILBY: How is she?
STEPHEN: If you mean Maggie, my wife, then she’s fine.
KILBY: I always liked her.
20
BY KEN JONES
STEPHEN: Then it would be really nice if you didn’t call her by the
names of all my old girlfriends.
KILBY: You didn’t have that many.
STEPHEN: Well, you’ve managed to remember one important fact.
KILBY: Is Susie coming over today?
STEPHEN: Maggie is coming to see you tomorrow, and she is
bringing you a sweet potato pie.
KILBY: Where is she?
STEPHEN: At home. Her father’s been sick too. She’s going to talk
with her sister about putting him into a home.
KILBY: That’s sad.
STEPHEN: Yes - - it is.
KILBY: Poor old guy.
STEPHEN: Yep.
rm for l
KILBY: Don’t put me in a home.
rfo ot sa
STEPHEN: No. I’ll leave you right here.
KILBY: It’s a good home.
ce
STEPHEN: You bet.
pe N ru
KILBY: A fine house. Leanna loves that kitchen.

STEPHEN: I know, pop.
KILBY: Plenty of room.
an
STEPHEN: It’s a lovely kitchen.
Pe
KILBY: Designed it myself.

STEPHEN: I was there. Remember?
KILBY: You helped me lay down the foundation.
STEPHEN: It took a long time.
KILBY: It was a strong foundation.
STEPHEN: That’s what you wanted. One that would hold up no
matter what.
KILBY: No matter what!
STEPHEN: Most miserable summer of my teenage life.
KILBY: We finished it - - together.
STEPHEN: I had managed to hit every one of my fingers with the
hammer before we finished that house.
KILBY: And when we were done - -
STEPHEN: - - we went for barbecue.
KILBY: I remember that.
STEPHEN: It’s funny that you do.
KILBY: Shredded pork barbecue.
STEPHEN: On a thick bun.
KILBY: And cole slaw - -
STEPHEN AND KILBY: - - piled to the sky! (THEY laugh.)
21
KILBY: You could barely hold your sandwich with all those
bandages on your fingers.
STEPHEN: We had a good time that day. You gave me a beer. My
first beer.
KILBY: We talked.
STEPHEN: Actually, we didn’t talk very much, but on that day, it
didn’t matter.
KILBY: Stephen?
STEPHEN: Yeah, Pop?
KILBY: Susie - - I mean Maggie - -
STEPHEN: Pop.
KILBY: Tell her I love sweet potato pie. (There is a long silence.
STEPHEN removes a tiny wooden ring box.)
STEPHEN: I brought you a present.
rm for l
KILBY: A beer?
rfo ot sa
STEPHEN: No, but I will next time if you want one. I brought you
Mom’s ring box.
ce
KILBY: Leanna’s?
pe N ru
STEPHEN: The one you made for her.

KILBY: That’s a long time ago.
STEPHEN: You mentioned it last week, so I thought you might like to
an
have it.
Pe
KILBY: I made that box.

STEPHEN: I know. So here it is. You need to hold onto it. Don’t lose
it. (KILBY takes the box.)
KILBY: Stephen.
STEPHEN: I’ve got to go. I need to go. I won’t be back tonight. I’m
sorry, but I have a business dinner. My boss is in town, and well,
he wants to talk. There might be some changes in the air. Who
can say with business today?
KILBY: Steve.
STEPHEN: Do you hear me? I won’t be back tonight. You’ll have to
eat your dinner by yourself.
KILBY: Stevie - -
STEPHEN: Maybe they’ll let you eat in the dining room. You could sit
with some of your friends.
KILBY: My friends are old.
STEPHEN: Yes. That’s true.
KILBY: They don’t have any idea of what they’re talking about - -
STEPHEN: Imagine that.
KILBY: I don’t want to eat in the mess hall.
STEPHEN: I know you don’t like the dining room, but I just thought
you might like the company.
22
BY KEN JONES
KILBY: Everyone talks about the same things.

STEPHEN: At least, they’re talking.
KILBY: Crappin’ and dyin’. That’s all I hear.
STEPHEN: Mr. Jenkins just had half his colon taken out. Give him a
break, Pop.
KILBY: Crappin’ and dyin’ is what you want to hear about while
you’re eating your dinner?
STEPHEN: No.
KILBY: I didn’t think so.
STEPHEN: There’s Miss Peterson.
KILBY: No.
STEPHEN: She’s nice.
KILBY: She’s after my money.
STEPHEN: She’s 97, blind and in a wheelchair. What would she
rm for l
want with anyone’s money?
rfo ot sa
KILBY: She doesn’t need that wheelchair.
STEPHEN: Now how do you know that?
ce
KILBY: And I’ve seen her looking up at the clock. She ain’t blind.
pe N ru
STEPHEN: Dad! She has palsy in her neck. Her head is permanently
aimed that way. She isn’t looking at the clock.
KILBY: Drop a few dollars on the floor and watch a not-so-blind
an
woman jump out of that wheelchair.
Pe
STEPHEN: Good idea. I’ll try to ensnare a few widows before I leave
tonight. Fine. Eat alone in your room. But I will not be back here
for dinner! (STEPHEN moves to the exit.)
KILBY: I can order up two meals.
STEPHEN: Dad, I won’t be back.
KILBY: Collard greens? Butter beans? Fresh from the garden.
STEPHEN: Good bye.
KILBY: Are you leaving?
STEPHEN: I told you.
KILBY: Go home.
STEPHEN: Good idea.
KILBY: Look in my closet.
STEPHEN: Your closet?
KILBY: My uniform.
STEPHEN: Your uniform is in the attic.
KILBY: No. My uniform is in my closet.
STEPHEN: It hasn’t been in you’re closet since Truman was
President.
KILBY: Stephen bring me my uniform.
STEPHEN: What?
KILBY: My uniform.
23
STEPHEN: Why do you want it?

KILBY: I need it for the funeral.
STEPHEN: Whose funeral?
KILBY: Mine.
STEPHEN: Dad!
KILBY: I need to wear it. When I’m buried.
STEPHEN: You’re not dying.
KILBY: Bring the uniform.
STEPHEN: All right, pop.
STEPHEN exits.
KILBY: STEPHEN! Stephen! Steve! (KILBY seems upset.) Steve

(Gasp.) Steve (Gasp.) Stephen! (KILBY breathes heavily. HE
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sits for a moment looking at the wooden box.)
rfo ot sa
LEANNA’S memory enters. SHE is dressed in a simple summer
ce
dress.
pe N ru
LEANNA: What’s the matter, Kilby? You’re as red as a beet.

KILBY: What do you mean?
an
LEANNA: Your face is flushed.
Pe
KILBY: Well - -
LEANNA: You seem nervous.
KILBY: I am with the prettiest girl in North Carolina.
LEANNA: I don’t think there is a reason to be nervous.
KILBY: I do. (The NURSE enters. SHE is carrying a small food
tray.)
NURSE: I’m back.
KILBY: I see you brought a picnic lunch.
LEANNA: For us.
NURSE: A little yogurt and crackers. Ain’t much of a picnic.
LEANNA: Is there something that’s upsetting you?
KILBY: Let’s eat.
NURSE: Now it’s just a snack. Something to hold you over until the
doctor sees you.
LEANNA: If you’d rather eat than talk with me, Kilby Fleming, than
that’s just fine.
KILBY: Leanna, I’d rather talk than eat - -
NURSE: Now, Kilby, I’m not Leanna.
LEANNA: Why do I put up with you?
KILBY: I’m sorry.
24
BY KEN JONES
NURSE: Oh that’s all right. I know you have a lot of notions floating
up there in your brain. It’s hard to remember a name or two.
KILBY: I have something to give you.
NURSE: You do?
LEANNA: You do?
KILBY: I made it.
LEANNA: You made it?
NURSE: For me?
KILBY: Who else would I make things for? (KILBY places the
wooden box on the table.)
LEANNA: It’s beautiful.
NURSE: Are you sure you want to give this to me? It looks like it
might be something old and full of memories.
KILBY: I carved it from the limb of a very special tree.
rm for l
LEANNA: Our tree?!
rfo ot sa
NURSE: Kilby, you need to keep this.
KILBY: It’s a jewelry box.
ce
NURSE: It’s lovely.
pe N ru
KILBY: Open it.

LEANNA: Doesn’t look like it could hold much.
KILBY: It doesn’t need to hold much.
an
NURSE: Oh, I know that.
Pe
KILBY: Open it. (The NURSE opens the box. LEANNA takes out a
ring, but the NURSE sees nothing.)
NURSE: It’s a lovely box.
LEANNA: Oh, Kilby - -
KILBY: Do you like it?
NURSE: Kilby - -
KILBY: It’s my mother’s ring. Her wedding ring.
NURSE: Mr. Fleming there’s nothing in this box, so I hope you didn’t
go and lose a family treasure.
LEANNA: I can’t believe it.
KILBY: She gave me the ring for my wife.
LEANNA: Marriage?
NURSE: It’s a lovely box, Kilby, but if there was a ring, and I get
blamed for losing it - -
KILBY: Say, “yes.”
NURSE: I can’t keep it. I think you are confused. Now you take this
back and eat your snack.
LEANNA: Yes. I’ll marry you.
NURSE: I know this box is important to you. Somewhere in your
past.
LEANNA: How did you know that I would say, “yes”?
25
KILBY: I just knew you would.

NURSE: You need to keep this box, Kilby.
LEANNA: You think you know me so well.
KILBY: Not as well as I’d like to.
NURSE: You’re a sweet old man.
LEANNA: There will be plenty of time - -
LEANNA exits.
KILBY: Leanna.
NURSE: Who is Leanna?
KILBY: Where is she?
NURSE: Leanna isn’t here, Kilby.
KILBY: Tell Leanna not to come.
rm for l
NURSE: All right. If I see a Leanna, I’ll tell her not to come.
rfo ot sa
KILBY: Too long.
NURSE: What?
ce
KILBY: Too long a drive.
pe N ru
NURSE: Eat your snack.

KILBY: San Diego.
NURSE: San Diego?
an
KILBY: Tell her not to come.
Pe
NURSE: Kilby, would you like to take a nap?

KILBY: Stay awake.
NURSE: Don’t worry. I’ll wake you when it’s time for your x-rays.
KILBY: She’s too tired to drive all that way. Tell her not to come.
NURSE: I think a nap will do you good.
KILBY: Blame.
NURSE: Can you close your eyes?
KILBY: He won’t forgive me.
NURSE: Close your eyes. Rest. You’ll feel better.
KILBY: I’m tired.
NURSE: I’ll take this food away, and you get some sleep.
KILBY: Sleep.
NURSE: That’s right. The more sleep you get, the better you’ll be.
(The NURSE places the safety rails on the bed.) This will keep
you from rolling out of bed.
KILBY: Falling.
NURSE: I’ll be back in an about an hour.
KILBY: I keep falling.
NURSE: Have a good nap, Kilby.
KILBY: Lacy.
NURSE: That’s right. You talk to all your friends in your dreams.
26
BY KEN JONES
SHE turns off the lights and exits. LACY, KILBY’S young daughter
enters.
LACY: Daddy. (SHE climbs into bed.) When will Mama be coming
home?
KILBY: Soon.
LACY: Stephen told me that she had to bury her sister.
KILBY: Yes.
LACY: But why does mama have to do the burying?
KILBY: Well, she’s not actually diggin’ the hole. She’s just there for
the funeral
LACY: Oh. (Pause.) Why didn’t we go with her?
KILBY: It’s very far and very expensive.
rm for l
LACY: But I want to go to a funeral.
rfo ot sa
KILBY: Why?
LACY: To see a real live dead person. Stephen says you really get
ce
to see them.
pe N ru
KILBY: Well - -
LACY: Can you touch them?
KILBY: I don’t know why you’d want to! Now why don’t you go back
an
to your bed.
Pe
LACY: I can’t sleep.

KILBY: You’re not trying.
LACY: I am trying, but Stephen is snoring.
KILBY: Just tell him to roll over on his side.
LACY: I don’t think that’s going to work. I’ve already stuffed a blanket
in his mouth, and that didn’t do a thing.
KILBY: All right. you can lie here for a little while. Just ‘til you get
sleepy.
LACY: Okay.
KILBY: All right.
LACY: Just ‘til mama gets home.
KILBY: We’ll see.
LACY: If you talked to me, I’d probably fall asleep.
KILBY: Well, I’m glad to know that I’m such an interesting person.
LACY: A story. Tell me one of your stories.
KILBY: A story?
LACY: Yes.
KILBY: Any story?
LACY: The one about the white-tailed deer.
KILBY: Can’t we do a different story? Just this once.
LACY: No.
27
KILBY: Yes, ma’am.

LACY: Deep, deep in the forest of the Dismal Swamp - -
KILBY: - - lived two tribes of Indians. The Shee-waws and the Paw-
nee. Now the Shee-waws hated the Paw-nees, and they were
always fightin’ with each other.
LACY: And their braves fought the wars - - like when you go away.
KILBY: Yes. (Pause.) Now in the camp of the Shee-waws lived a
beautiful Indian maiden named White Doe. She was the most
beautiful girl in the entire tribe.
LACY: And all the young men wanted to marry her - -
KILBY: - - but she didn’t want to marry anyone.
LACY: I don’t blame her.
KILBY: You might change your mind one day.
LACY: I don’t think so.
rm for l
KILBY: Well, one day White Doe was collecting berries in the
rfo ot sa
swamp when she came upon a wounded brave from the tribe of
the paw-nees. Now it’s the law of the Shee-waws that no one
ce
should ever help a Paw-nee, but White Doe felt so sorry for the
young man.
pe N ru
LACY: And she took care of him. Bringing him food and water every
day, until he was well.
an
KILBY: During this time, she fell in love with the warrior, and they
Pe
were secretly married.

LACY: But the Chief of the Shee-waws discovered them and shot
the warrior through the heart with an arrow.
KILBY: White Doe was so heart-broken that she wouldn’t eat or
drink for many days - -
LACY: And she died by the grave of her lover, the Indian brave.
KILBY: The old timers of the swamp say that a willow tree grew from
the warrior’s grave - - from the tears of White Doe. The stump of
that old willow tree is still there on the banks of Lake Drummond.
LACY: And every year - -
KILBY: - - at midnight on the anniversary of their marriage, a white-
tailed deer stands next to that tree stump - -
LACY: - - through the night - -
KILBY: - - until the morning light of dawn touches them both.
(Silence.) Are you sleepy now?
LACY: No. I’m hungry.
KILBY: Lacy. (She climbs from the bed.)
LACY: One cookie, and then I’ll be fast asleep. (She exits.)
KILBY: Just one. And no Coca-Cola!
KILBY closes his eyes. He is lit only the light slipping through the
closed blinds. A DREAM. During the following dream the actors
28
BY KEN JONES
represent an OWL, a SOLDIER, a TREE, a DOG, and a DOLL.

SUGGESTION: LEANNA plays the OWL; LACY plays the DOLL;
YOUNG STEPHEN portrays the DOG; STEPHEN should play the
TREE; and SOLDIER portrays himself.
KILBY: Who’s there?

OWL: Who?
KILBY: I can hear you - -
TREE: - - I know - -
KILBY: - - but I can’t see you.
SOLDIER: Can you see yourself?
KILBY: It’s too dark.
TREE: For you.
KILBY: Let me in.
rm for l
OWL: We can’t.
rfo ot sa
KILBY: You must!
OWL: We can’t.
ce
KILBY: I want to play.
pe N ru
DOG: Playing is for children. (KILBY stands on the bed.)

KILBY: Let me in!
DOLL: You don’t love us.
an
KILBY: Let me in!
Pe
DOLL: You don’t love us anymore.

OWL: We need some music.
DOLL We can’t let you in.
DOG: You were a good friend.
KILBY: I am still your friend.
SOLDIER: My friend?
KILBY: Always.
SOLDIER: You were never my friend.
OWL: Listen for the river.
KILBY: That is not true.
SOLDIER: You were my master. My general. My admiral.
KILBY: I loved you.
SOLDIER: You never could. You never loved yourself.
DOLL: Loved?
KILBY: Yes.
DOLL: But you don’t love us now?
KILBY: Of course, I do. Let me in.
OWL: We cannot. Don’t persist.
KILBY: I must.
SOLDIER: It’s not brave to cry.
KILBY: I am not brave.
29
DOLL: But you once were.

OWL: I am here with you.
KILBY: Too long ago.
DOLL: So brave.
KILBY: Let me in.
DOG: Will you be my friend?
KILBY: I am your friend.
DOG: But you went away.
KILBY: I had to go.
DOLL: You forgot us.
KILBY: Never.
OWL: Sing a song.
SOLDIER: Deserted your post.
KILBY: Not true.
rm for l
OWL: You’ve passed away.
rfo ot sa
KILBY: No. Let me in.
OWL: You have left our time to us.
ce
KILBY: That was a mistake.
pe N ru
SOLDIER: No mistakes.
KILBY: I need to come back.
OWL: Go back.
an
Pe
DOLL: To dance - -
DOG: - - and play - -
SOLDIER: - - and fight.
KILBY: Let me in.
TREE: Are you sure you want to come back?
OWL: To the past.
KILBY: Not you.
TREE: The dreams were so close to the nightmares.
KILBY: Why are you here?
TREE: The child is buried beneath my branches.
OWL: The tree is so sad.
KILBY: You are always here.
TREE: Of course.
OWL: He can’t come back.
TREE: He won’t. He is afraid.
SOLDIER: Now… but there was a time. Nations shook with fear.
Waves washed over Navies with a sweep of his hand. I was his
favorite, and I ruled for him.
KILBY: Will you help me now?
SOLDIER: I fight for you - - by you.
TREE: No one can help you.
DOLL: I would, if I could.
30
BY KEN JONES
KILBY: Thank you.

DOLL: We danced in the moonlight.
KILBY: We could dance again.
OWL: You cannot!
KILBY: We can.
DOLL: In your arms. My feet on top of yours. Carrying me through
the air. Lifting me like a cloud.
TREE: He is afraid.
OWL: He’s old.
KILBY: No!
TREE: He is tired.
OWL: But the music he makes - -
KILBY: Friend.
DOG: I waited.
rm for l
KILBY: Life distracted me from what was important.
rfo ot sa
DOG: I waited for so long.
KILBY: School. Marriage. Work. War. Children.
ce
DOG: I am too old to play.
pe N ru
TREE: And so is he.

KILBY: Why did I leave my friends?
TREE: Me?
an
Pe
KILBY: Not you.

TREE: Beside your window - -I stood. Faithfully.
KILBY: Frightening me.
TREE: The wind blew my branches against the glass.
KILBY: You did it on purpose!
TREE: Why so angry?
KILBY: I want to come back! Go back!
OWL: You cannot!
KILBY: Why?
SOLDIER: The war is over.
KILBY: Help.
DOLL: The music stops.
OWL: He cannot remember how to play!
KILBY: The pain - -
DOG: It is time.
KILBY: My chest!
TREE: So much fear.
KILBY: So much!
OWL: You cannot come here.
ALL CHARACTERS exit except for LEANNA. Removing the mask,

she reveals herself to KILBY.
31
KILBY: Summer goes and winter comes and after spring is the fall.
LEANNA: Why don’t you say it? I know you think I did it.
KILBY: The evening sun sinks.
LEANNA: Are you happy now? I’m not getting back up! Finally, life is
holding me down!
KILBY: The river flows in the east.
LEANNA: Talk!
KILBY: Never see the face of youth.
LEANNA: Talk to me!
KILBY: Your hair turns white soon enough.
LEANNA: Remember Kilby? Do you remember? Her hair? Her
eyes? Her voice?
KILBY: I reckon I could fetch to mind some kind of a story.
rm for l
LEANNA: Stories - - ?
rfo ot sa
KILBY: Hear that?
LEANNA: She’s gone.
ce
KILBY: The wind’s a whippin’ through the raised knees of the
pe N ru
cypress trees - -speakin’ with a voice deep and hollow!

LEANNA: Beneath the tree.
KILBY: Kind and cruel.
an
LEANNA: I put her beneath that tree.
Pe
KILBY: Huntin’ with my Pa. All my brothers. Dogs barkin’ like crazy.
LEANNA: I saw her die! You didn’t! You didn’t have to, but I did!
KILBY: Sweepin’ over the trees heavy like a fog - -
LEANNA: I heard her pain.
KILBY: Callin’ like the howl of a wild animal!
LEANNA: Can you hear her?
KILBY: Pa’s up ahead. Stay behind with the boys!
LEANNA: I hear her all the time. Day and night. Calling to me! I hear
my baby. My little girl.
KILBY: The lights and noises grow with the darkness as the dead
rise from their graves.
LEANNA: So - -you don’t have to condemn me - -I’ve done that to
myself.
KILBY: The stars reach down and touch the earth on the same spot.
LEANNA: Touch me!
KILBY: I try.
LEANNA: Love me again!
KILBY: I do.
LEANNA: Don’t blame me anymore. Hold me!
KILBY: I’m falling, and I wake up.
LEANNA: I’m falling, and I’ll never wake up. I’ll always keep falling.
32
BY KEN JONES
KILBY: It’s so hard to forget.

LEANNA: Falling!
KILBY: I lose my balance, and I’m - -
LEANNA: - - Falling.
KILBY: Who’s calling me?
LEANNA: Falling!
KILBY loses his balance and tumbles off the bed. HE lies still in a
heap on the floor. LEANNA exits. The NURSE enters turning on the
lights.
NURSE: Kilby! (She rushes to him.) Oh, my God! Don’t move - -

don’t - - ! You’ll be all right. Just don’t move! (She rushes from
the room to get help.)
rm for l
rfo ot sa
Lights fade on ACT ONE.
ce
ACT TWO, SCENE 1
pe N ru
The hospital room is dark except for the glow of a night-light. KILBY is
asleep in his bed. His head is bandaged, and HE is restrained by
an
leather straps around his wrists and chest. The SOLDIER is sitting at
Pe
the foot of the bed. The SOLDIER is wearing the dress uniform of a
Naval Chief Warrant Officer complete with medals and campaign
ribbons of both the European and Pacific campaigns of WWII. KILBY
opens his eyes and sees the SOLDIER.
KILBY: Full steam. Turbines grinding and axles rotating. Full steam.
Right down the middle of the channel. Remember?
SOLDIER: There we were in the Leyte Gulf. First to go through.
Jesus! It must have been a hundred and twenty, degrees in the
boiler room. A hundred and twenty! Remember?
KILBY: (KILBY tries to sit up, but he cannot.) Seal her up! We might
take a hit! Seal her up! Cool as a cucumber. Checking the
pressure. Greasing the rods. Keeping the boys working! Keep ‘em
busy, and they won’t have time to think! No time to think. No time
to be afraid. No time to think. Remember? (KILBY pulls against
his restraints.)
SOLDIER: Jesus! We didn’t even sweat. A hundred and twenty
degrees. Shells landing outside the hull. Explosions. Vibrations.
Sound. Chaos. We didn’t even sweat. No time to think. Keep the
ship moving forward. Those were our orders, and for that moment,
that was our life. Nothing else. No family. No friends. No
33
memories. Nothing. Just keep the ship moving forward. Jesus! Do

you remember? (KILBY coughs.)
KILBY/SOLDIER: Bam! Right through the plates like it was paper.
Bam! Half in and half out!
KILBY: Stuck in the side of the ship like an arrow stuck through the
skin of a beast! Everyone frozen. Staring at the torpedo. Waiting.
Waiting to die. Looking at it. Frozen. Do you remember that?
SOLDIER: Not us. No, sir. We didn’t freeze. We didn’t care whether
it was going to explode or not. Alone. Alone pushing it outside the
skin. Back against the nose. Pushing. Pop! It was gone! Patch the
hole. We didn’t even pause. Patch the hole! Jesus! That was
something. You must remember that?
KILBY: I remember.
SOLDIER: We didn’t even mention it.
rm for l
KILBY: I did my job.
rfo ot sa
SOLDIER: Come on. We saved the U.S.S. Braine!
KILBY: That was our - -my job.
ce
SOLDIER: Ship 630. U.S.S. Braine. First ship through the Leyte
Gulf.
pe N ru
KILBY: It was a destroyer.

SOLDIER: No emotion.
an
KILBY: No time to think.
Pe
SOLDIER: Pop! Right outside the hull. Jesus! It was fantastic.

KILBY: It hurt.
SOLDIER: Double hernia.
KILBY: I could barely walk.
SOLDIER: A half-ton torpedo is no piece of cake.
KILBY: We were in the hospital - - I was in the - -
SOLDIER: Damn hero.
KILBY: I couldn’t move m’ legs.
SOLDIER: Double hernia.
KILBY: They shipped me home.
SOLDIER: Well deserved.
SOLDIER: I miss it.
KILBY: I miss them.
SOLDIER: A hundred and twenty degrees, and we didn’t even notice
it.
KILBY: It was hot. Mammy met me with the old car. North Carolina
was so hot.
SOLDIER: I miss it? Constantly on the edge.
KILBY: I remember the ride home. Too bumpy. That old truck had
hard seats. I couldn’t get comfortable.
34
BY KEN JONES
SOLDIER: The guns would fire. The big guns. Two or three miles
out. Shelling the beaches. The whole ship shook.
KILBY: Mammy took me back to the old house. It still looked the
same. My brother, Jake, had added a room for Mammy on the
north end, but it was still the same. Mammy still got up at dawn
and started the fire. She was old, but she still got up and started
that fire.
SOLDIER: Don’t you miss it?
KILBY: Sometimes. Sitting on the porch. Nothing else to do. Rocking
and waiting. The hole was still there from when Pappy fell through.
Remember that? Before he died? Fell through the porch up to his
knees. He raised his fist up to the Lord and said, “Goddamnit,
Lord! Why do you punish me? Why don’t you just hit me with
lightening and get it over with! Goddamnit!” Mammy was crying
rm for l
and begging the Lord for forgiveness at the same time.
rfo ot sa
SOLDIER: ChestfuI of medals.
KILBY: Mammy loved to brag about those medals.
ce
SOLDIER: Jesus! More ribbons and medals than tinsel on a
Christmas tree.
pe N ru
KILBY: I had to go down to the General Store to call Leanna.

Mammy didn’t have a phone. She was afraid someone she didn’t
an
like might call up and want to come over.
Pe
SOLDIER: A two month leave. Two months.

KILBY: I got through, but Leanna had already left. Packed up the
kids in the car and took off. I wanted to tell her not to come. It was
too far. I could have taken the train to San Diego.
SOLDIER: That’s a long drive.
KILBY: San Diego to Carolina was just too far. The roads were bad.
The car was old.
SOLDIER: The ships.
KILBY: I miss them. (The SOLDIER disappears in to the shadows.)
SOLDIER: I miss those days.
The NURSE turns on the lights as she enters. KILBY is awake. The
SOLDIER is gone, but hanging on the outside of the closet door is the
same uniform that the SOLDIER had been wearing. The uniform is
wrapped in a plastic bag and has obviously just been dry-cleaned.
NURSE: Kilby?
KILBY: Too far.
NURSE: Too far?
KILBY: Too far.
NURSE: You mean the fall?
KILBY: Dangerous.
35
NURSE: I know. You could have really hurt yourself. Lucky for you
that your old thick skull broke your fall.
NURSE: Well, you’re not going to be walking anywhere for quite a
while. The doctor is worried that you might have a concussion.
KILBY: Mammy.
NURSE: Who’s Mammy?
KILBY: Pushed it out.
NURSE: Pushed it out?
KILBY: I had to push it out.
NURSE: Just use your bedpan. Can you do that?
KILBY: One room. Nothing’s changed.
NURSE: Still the same old room.
KILBY: Nothing’s new.
rm for l
NURSE: Well, this uniform is new.
rfo ot sa
KILBY: Mammy loves the medals.
NURSE: There are quite a few on here. Did you win all these
ce
medals?
pe N ru
KILBY: Did my job.

NURSE: Do you remember what they were for?
KILBY: Did my job.
an
NURSE: Well, Kilby they certainly are pretty.
Pe
KILBY: Pretty.
NURSE: Yes, very pretty. (LACY’S memory enters.)
LACY: Papa.
KILBY: Lacy.
NURSE: You’ve called me a lot of names, but this is a new one.
LACY: Papa.
KILBY: What?
LACY: Mama says you’re leaving.
KILBY: I’ve got to leave.
NURSE: Not today.
LACY: I hate it when you leave.
KILBY: So do I.
NURSE: How does you head feel?
LACY: Do we have to move again?
KILBY: No.
NURSE: No?
KILBY: I think we’ll stay in San Diego for a while.
NURSE: You’re thinking about San Diego?
KILBY: Yes.
NURSE: You must have really loved it there.
LACY: Mama will want to move.
36
BY KEN JONES
NURSE: You’re always mentioning it.

KILBY: Your mother is trying to keep us together.
NURSE: I wish you could hear me, Kilby.
LACY: Why do we have to move?
KILBY: We won’t move this time.
NURSE: No. You’ll be able to stay right here.
LACY: I miss you, Papa.
KILBY: I miss you, too.
NURSE: That’s nice.
KILBY: I want you to have this little wooden box.
NURSE: Mr. Fleming, I’m not going to take this box.
LACY: That’s mama’s ring box.
KILBY: We’ve talked, and we want you to have it.
NURSE: You keep it.
rm for l
LACY: Really? But you made it for Mama.
rfo ot sa
KILBY: She wants you to have it.
NURSE: Mr. Fleming, I’m going to leave the box here on the table,
ce
but thank you for offering it. (The NURSE takes the small jewelry
pe N ru
box and places it on the table.) You sleep.
The NURSE exits.

an
Pe
LACY: I love you, Papa.

KILBY: I love you, Lacy.
LACY: I wish you didn’t have to go off.
KILBY: One day we’ll all be together. You, me, Stephen and your
Mother. All together. No more war.
LACY: Stephen will be so happy.
KILBY: Stephen deserves to be happy. (YOUNG STEPHEN enters.
HE is wearing a high school jacket.)
LACY: Stephen. Papa says we won’t have to move.
YOUNG STEPHEN: Sure.
LACY: He means it. He really means it.
YOUNG STEPHEN: We’ll move. You’ll see.
LACY: No.
YOUNG STEPHEN: He always says we won’t move again. Maine.
New York. Boston. Norfolk. Los Angeles. Hollywood. San
Francisco. He always says the same thing.
KILBY: Stephen, I don’t like that kind of talk.
YOUNG STEPHEN: It’s the truth. When you call, Mama loads us into
the car, and there we go. It doesn’t matter when or where. There
we go.
KILBY: Your mother makes the decisions.
37
YOUNG STEPHEN: Mama does anything you say.

LACY: Stephen, don’t start the yelling.
YOUNG STEPHEN: I’ve never had a friend for more than three
months. I’ve never been in a school long enough to learn the
school songs.
KILBY: Well, there are some things in life that are more important
than football fight songs.
YOUNG STEPHEN: I know that. Dad I know what’s important! Being
there for your family! That’s something you wouldn’t know about!
KILBY: I will not have this kind of talk!
YOUNG STEPHEN: Why do other kids have dads?
LACY: We have a dad!
YOUNG STEPHEN: You might, Lacy, but I don’t have one! I haven’t
had a father for a long time!
rm for l
KILBY: Damnit! There is a war on! I am an officer in the Navy! I go
rfo ot sa
where they tell me to go!
YOUNG STEPHEN: Well, at least I have something in common with
ce
you, because I go where they tell me to go, too. Whether I want to
or not!
pe N ru
KILBY: You are my son! You will go where I tell you to go! You will
do what I tell you to do!
an
YOUNG STEPHEN: Follow orders?
Pe
KILBY: Lacy, go inside.

LACY: No more yelling. Please, Papa.
KILBY: Go inside. (LACY exits.) Stephen, you aren’t too big to get
a whipping.
YOUNG STEPHEN: No.
KILBY: I will not have you talking back to me!
YOUNG STEPHEN: I wish you were gone! (KILBY fumbles with his
leather restraining straps.)
KILBY: I am going to take this belt and give you a whipping.
YOUNG STEPHEN: I don’t care! Beat me! I will still want you gone!
(KILBY manages to get one of the straps undone.)
KILBY: Why can’t you be more like your sister? Why do you cause
me - -
YOUNG STEPHEN: - - Why do I cause so much trouble? That’s all I
hear! Broken record! Broken goddamn record! (YOUNG
STEPHEN exits. KILBY continues to struggle with his restraining
straps. The NURSE rushes into the room.)
NURSE: Mr. Fleming!
KILBY: I will not put up with this!
NURSE: Mr. Fleming, calm down!
KILBY: I will not have this!
38
BY KEN JONES
NURSE: Lie back!

KILBY: When I get this undone, you are going to get it!
NURSE: You’re going to hurt yourself! Now lie back down!
KILBY: When I get this undone - -
NURSE: I’ll have to sedate you! (The NURSE grabs a needle from
the table and draws the medicine into the syringe.)
KILBY: I will not have this!
NURSE: I’m sorry, Kilby, but we can’t have you hurting yourself
again.
KILBY: I cannot have my orders disobeyed!
NURSE: Kilby! Mr. Fleming! Hold still! (The NURSE finally injects
KILBY with a sedative.)
KILBY: Stephen!
NURSE: It’s all right! You’re going to be fine. Relax.
rm for l
KILBY: Stephen! Come back! Stephen!
rfo ot sa
NURSE: Calm down, Kilby. (Pause.) You’ll be asleep soon.
KILBY: Stephen! Get back in here! Stephen!
ce
NURSE: He didn’t come for dinner. Do you understand? (KILBY
pe N ru
struggles.) I knew this would happen. (KILBY begins to relax.)

Steve told me that he wouldn’t be here for dinner tonight. I should
have warned you. I’m sorry, Kilby. I know you love your dinner.
an
Dinner at six o’clock. Egg McMuffin on Saturday morning. Those
Pe
are your special times. (HE becomes groggy.)

KILBY: I feel so poorly.
NURSE: Your head injury - -
KILBY: I fell!
NURSE: The x-rays were fine. But we’re going to keep an extra eye
on you tonight. (Pause.) Go to sleep. (SHE turns off the lights as
SHE exits.)
ACT TWO, SCENE 2
DREAM SCENE. During the dream sequence, the actors approach

the audience speaking to them directly. KILBY is confined to his bed.
Lighting should isolate the following events. SOLDIER enters and
salutes.
SOLDIER: Kilby.
STEPHEN: Fleming, Chief Warrant Officer. Assigned to ship number
- six, three, zero, the U.S.S. Braine. Class: Destroyer. On
assignment: Pacific Campaign. Objective: Leyte Gulf. To provide
support for landing craft and to clear the main channel for the
battleships. (LEANNA enters.)
LEANNA: Kilby, I’m coming to meet you.
39
KILBY: No.
LEANNA: I have to.
KILBY: It’s too far. Too dangerous.
LEANNA: What if this is the last time?
KILBY: - - Leanna.
LEANNA: You never know! What if?
KILBY: I promised the kids.
LEANNA: The kids understand.
KILBY: Not Stephen. (YOUNG STEPHEN enters. HE is isolated
from LEANNA and KILBY.)
YOUNG STEPHEN: Why?
LEANNA: Stephen understands.
YOUNG STEPHEN: Why?
KILBY: He’ll never forgive me.
rm for l
LEANNA: He’s just a boy.
rfo ot sa
KILBY: I promised Lacy.
LEANNA: She misses you. She wants to know where her daddy is,
ce
and I don’t usually have an answer.
pe N ru
KILBY: Leanna, I really don’t think it’s a good idea.

LEANNA: Three months. We can have three months of
uninterrupted time together. I can be there in less than a week. I
an
don’t mind. The kids don’t mind. We want to be with you.
Pe
KILBY: I can barely move.

LEANNA: We’re coming. I don’t have the time to wait for you to be
better. I want to be there with you right now.
YOUNG STEPHEN: I knew he would make us move again.
LEANNA: Stephen!
YOUNG STEPHEN: I don’t want to see him.
LEANNA: He didn’t want us to come.
YOUNG STEPHEN: He calls, and we’re gone.
LEANNA: Well, I’m sorry you feel this way, but we’re going.
YOUNG STEPHEN: No.
LEANNA: Yes! (LACY enters. SHE is also isolated from the others.)
LACY: Is Papa going to be okay?
LEANNA: Yes, dear.
YOUNG STEPHEN: Lucky us.
KILBY: I didn’t want them to come all that way!
LEANNA: It was a long drive.
KILBY: Too far to drive.
YOUNG STEPHEN: The car was hot. Too hot.
LACY: Stephen, quit hitting me!
LEANNA: Stephen, stop that!
KILBY: I missed them.
40
BY KEN JONES
YOUNG STEPHEN: Lacy hit me, Mama.

LEANNA: I know that’s not true.
YOUNG STEPHEN: You always stand up for her.
LACY: Stephen is a sissy.
YOUNG STEPHEN: Shut-up!
LEANNA: Quiet!
LACY: Stephen is a sissy!
YOUNG STEPHEN: Shut up!
LEANNA: You young’uns are going to cause me to have an
accident.
KILBY: It was such a long trip.
LEANNA: San Diego to North Carolina.
YOUNG STEPHEN: I don’t want to sit on top of the suitcases.
LEANNA: There’s no room.
rm for l
LACY: Ha-ha-ha! I get to sit up front!
rfo ot sa
YOUNG STEPHEN: Shut up!
LEANNA: Lacy was going to take ballet lessons.
ce
LACY: Papa promised. If we moved to Carolina, I could take ballet
pe N ru
lessons.
YOUNG STEPHEN: I hate Carolina.
KILBY: Leanna and I are from Carolina.
an
LEANNA: Kilby grew up down the road a piece.
Pe
YOUNG STEPHEN: People will call us hicks.

LACY: Hicks don’t take ballet lessons.
KILBY: Tobacco was my family’s cash crop.
YOUNG STEPHEN: Can we stop and see the Grand Canyon?
LEANNA: We don’t have the time.
YOUNG STEPHEN: Why do we have to race to his side?
LEANNA: Stephen, he is your father.
LACY: Coca-Cola.
LEANNA: Stephen, do you want to stop?
YOUNG STEPHEN: Do we have time? I thought every minute
counted.
LEANNA: Don’t get smart with me.
LACY: Coca-Cola.
KILBY: It was a junk heap. I got it for fifty dollars from Old Man
Jenkins at his gas station. It wasn’t made for trips - - just for
runnin’ around town.
LEANNA: You’ll have to share.
YOUNG STEPHEN: Can’t I have my own? She always spits in the
bottle.
LEANNA: We don’t have enough money for another one.
LACY: Here, Stephen.
41
YOUNG STEPHEN: There are crackers floating in this Coca-Cola!

LACY: Whoops.
YOUNG STEPHEN: That is so disgusting. (LEANNA points.)
LEANNA: What’s that?
YOUNG STEPHEN: Mama!
LACY: Mama!
LEANNA: Is there something in the road?
YOUNG STEPHEN: Mama, look out!
KILBY: Look out!
LEANNA: There’s something in the road!
YOUNG STEPHEN: It’s a dog!
LACY: Don’t hit the dog!
LEANNA: We’ll go around.
YOUNG STEPHEN: Don’t hit the dog!
rm for l
LEANNA: We’ll go around! (The sound of a car crashing and
rfo ot sa
flipping is heard. A flash of headlights sweep across the
audience.)
ce
LACY: I want to be a ballerina. Mama says that after the war is over
pe N ru
people will have more time to go to the ballet, and there will be a
need for ballerinas. (SHE pauses.) Papa is in the Navy. He’s a
hero. We meet him when he comes home. Wherever home is at
an
the time. We travel a lot. Stephen, my brother, hates moving.
Pe

KILBY: They say she didn’t see the ditch.
KILBY: The car turned over and over - -
YOUNG STEPHEN: - and over and over - -
KILBY: And came to rest upside down. (LACY begins to sing.)
LACY: AMAZING GRACE, HOW SWEET THE SOUND - -
KILBY: Stephen was saved by the suitcases.
LEANNA: I killed her.
KILBY: Leanna, it wasn’t anyone’s fault.
YOUNG STEPHEN: (To KILBY.) It’s your fault!
KILBY: Stephen.
YOUNG STEPHEN: We had to come to see you.
KILBY: I didn’t want you to come!
Lights up on a small wooden box. This is LACY’S casket. It is a larger

duplicate of the tiny wooden jewelry box.
LEANNA: Do you - -?
KILBY: She’s gone.
LEANNA: Can she - - ?
42
BY KEN JONES
KILBY: She’s gone. No one’s fault.

LEANNA: Such a tiny box. It’s such a tiny box.
KILBY: Yes.
LEANNA: I put her in that box.
KILBY: No!
LEANNA: I drove into that ditch.
KILBY: No! Do you hear me? It is no one’s fault! It was an accident! I
have seen too many people die and too many people blamed!
There will be no more blame!
LEANNA: Can she - - ?
KILBY: No - -
LEANNA: Does she - - ?
KILBY: No - -
LEANNA: Stephen.
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KILBY: He’s standing by the willow. On the hill.
rfo ot sa
LEANNA: Stephen.
KILBY: He blames me.
ce
LEANNA: No blame. That’s what you said. Tell him. Convince him.
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KILBY: He won’t come down the hill. He Just stands by the tree. He
Just stands there looking sad. Looking angry. Looking at me. The
tree. The tree hangs over him. Hugging him. I should be hugging
an
him, but he won’t let me.
Pe
YOUNG STEPHEN: I will - -

KILBY: Stephen.
YOUNG STEPHEN: I will never - -
KILBY: Stephen.
YOUNG STEPHEN: I will never forgive you!
KILBY: Stephen!
YOUNG STEPHEN: I will never forgive you!
KILBY: Stephen! (Lights out on everyone.)
ACT TWO, SCENE 3
The morning light cuts through the closed blinds and illuminates
KILBY. HE is awake. STEPHEN is sitting in the recliner chair. A
McDonald’s bag is resting on his lap.
KILBY: Stephen! (Gasp.) STEPHEN! (Gasp.) STEPHEN!

STEPHEN: Pop, it’s all right. I’m here. I’m with you. I’m with you.
KILBY: Stephen?
STEPHEN: Yes. I’m here.
KILBY: Come down.
STEPHEN: From where?
43
KILBY: Come down the hill.

STEPHEN: What are you talking about?
KILBY: Come down.
STEPHEN: Pop, you’re not making any sense.
KILBY: The grass.
STEPHEN: Grass?
KILBY: The weeds are everywhere.
STEPHEN: Don’t worry, I’ll cut the grass.
KILBY: Don’t go - -
STEPHEN: That’s right. Don’t worry. (KILBY seems to calm down.)
Look. I brought you an Egg McMuffln. (HE unwraps the
sandwich.) Here you go. Sit up. (KILBY tries.) Jesus, they’ve got
you all tied up. Hold on. (KILBY struggles.) Stop moving. Don’t sit
up! Just wait until I undo these straps. Stop. Pop, Just wait a
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minute. There! (STEPHEN loosens the straps for KILBY.) Here’s
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your McMuffin. And here’s your coffee. (KILBY starts to eat the
McMuffin. STEPHEN sits on bed beside KILBY and periodically,
ce
gives KILBY a sip of the coffee.) Well, you gave everyone at
home quite a scare. What the hell did you do? A swan dive. You’re
pe N ru
amazing. Not a crack on that stubborn head of yours. (STEPHEN

wipes KILBY’S face with the napkin.)
an
Pe
My job is going pretty well. Believe it or not, but it looks like I might
be moving again. Jesus. I move the family around more than you
moved us. Why do I do it? I always said I would never move
again, and bam! I move every three years. Maybe I’ll retire early.
Why not? The kids are almost grown. I don’t know. What would
you do? (KILBY continues to eat.) Don’t worry. If we do move, I’ll
find a new home for you in whatever city I end up in. I swear. If
this job keeps it up, I’ll be moving in here with you very soon. Do
you want some more coffee? (KILBY drinks from the cup.) You
know, Pop. I can really understand a lot of what you had to do. It
all catches up with you when you get older. And what’s so
goddamn sad about the whole thing is that you do get older. Why
do we have to get older? I actually find myself wishing I were more
like my Father. You. I sometimes wish I was as strong as you
were. Mom, too. But you were so tough through so much that was
so bad. I really wish - - (STEPHEN helps KILBY get a piece of his
food into his mouth.) I saw an old friend of the family. Timmy? Do
you remember Timmy? You hated him. You said he would never
amount to anything. You were right, Pop. He’s divorced. He’s
poor. He’s miserable. He’s an idiot. Anyway. He asked about you.
I told him you were the same old ball of fire you always were. I felt
bad for lying, but I wanted him to always think of you that way. The
44
BY KEN JONES
way you were. When you were well. I sometimes have a hard time
remembering you that way.
The NURSE enters.
NURSE: McMuffin time?

STEPHEN: You bet.
NURSE: How’s he doing?
STEPHEN: All right, I suppose.
NURSE: Let’s see that head, Kilby. (The NURSE looks under the
bandage.) Fine. It was just a small bruise.
STEPHEN: He’s not talking very much today.
NURSE: That happens.
STEPHEN: Yeah?
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NURSE: Sometimes Alzheimer patients begin to implode. They turn
rfo ot sa
in on themselves.
STEPHEN: He can hear me, can’t he?
ce
NURSE: I think so.
pe N ru
STEPHEN: I think so, too.

NURSE: I’m afraid that his fall may have done more damage than we
can detect.
an
STEPHEN: So he’s not getting better.
Pe
NURSE: Steve, he won’t get better. In a sad way, that’s all I can
promise.
STEPHEN: I know.
NURSE: But he doesn’t feel any pain.
STEPHEN: You think?
NURSE: I hope.
STEPHEN: It must be depressing to be around these people all day
long. Always hearing the same old stories. No one getting better.
NURSE: I constantly get to see scientists, businessmen, war heroes,
you name it - - I see these people turn into infants. Helpless.
STEPHEN: Yeah.
NURSE: But it’s what I do.
KILBY: Won’t fly.
STEPHEN: What, Dad?
KILBY: Flew during the war. New Zealand to California.
NURSE: Is that right, Kilby?
KILBY: First saw an airplane when I was six years old. I jumped in a
ditch. Didn’t know what it was.
NURSE: That must have been a long time ago.
KILBY: I could see the man sitting in the front. North Carolina.
Jumped in a ditch.
45
STEPHEN: Even when he was still able to think straight, we couldn’t

get him to fly.
KILBY: Jumped in a ditch.
NURSE: Old habits.
STEPHEN: Because of that one bad episode in an airplane, he
never would even consider it.
KILBY: I had a crippled toe.
STEPHEN: When my mother was alive, they would drive for days. I
can remember when she had her heart surgery four months later
they’re driving.
KILBY: I had arthritis in that toe. Bent it up like a pretzel.
NURSE: What was your mother’s name?
STEPHEN: Leanna.
NURSE: Oh, he’s always talking to Leanna.
rm for l
KILBY: Couldn’t straighten that toe.
rfo ot sa
STEPHEN: She was a special lady. Moved my sister and I around
the country. We took trains, boats, cars. She fixed up attics and
ce
basements. Whatever she could afford for us to live in. She made
pe N ru
it a home. Backbone. She had plenty of backbone.

KILBY: Jumped in the ditch and a bee stung my crippled toe.
NURSE: He must hare really loved her.
an
STEPHEN: He did. He loved us all - -only recently did I realize just
Pe
how much.
KILBY: That bee nearly brought me to my knees but cured my toe.
It’s been right ever since.
STEPHEN: Pop, do you remember when Mother had her surgery?
KILBY: October eighth.
STEPHEN: He’s right. I can’t believe he remembers that.
KILBY: October eighth.
STEPHEN: Do remember when her birthday was?
KILBY: January sixteenth.
STEPHEN: He’s right again.
NURSE: I am still fascinated by what seems to hang in people’s
memories. Kilby, do you remember what year this is?
KILBY: I reckon
NURSE: What year is it now?
KILBY: January sixteenth.
STEPHEN: No, Dad, what year is it?
KILBY: I won’t fly in an airplane. Rather drive.
STEPHEN: Do you remember the year Mother died?
KILBY: Mother?
STEPHEN: Leanna. When did Leanna die?
KILBY: December. Very cold.
46
BY KEN JONES
STEPHEN: That’s right.

NURSE: Kilby, do you know who we are?
KILBY: I - -I - -have a crippled toe.
STEPHEN: It’s okay, Pop.
NURSE: Stephen, we’re going to be starting him on some new
medication.
STEPHEN: Will it help?
NURSE: It’s worth a shot.
KILBY: August thirteenth.
STEPHEN: What?
KILBY: August thirteenth.
NURSE: Any significance to that date?
STEPHEN: My sister died.
NURSE: I’m sorry.
rm for l
STEPHEN: It was awhile back. (The SOLDIER enters.)
rfo ot sa
SOLDIER: Stephen doesn’t have a scratch.
KILBY: Stephen is fine.
ce
STEPHEN: That’s right.
pe N ru
NURSE: Will you be back in tonight?

STEPHEN: I don’t think so.
SOLDIER: Car is a total loss.
an
Pe
KILBY: Pile of junk.

NURSE: That’s not very nice, Kilby.
SOLDIER: It’s a lonely place.
KILBY: Too lonely.
NURSE: I’ll make sure the nurse visits you a lot today, so you won’t
get too lonely.
SOLDIER: Why do cemeteries always look so sad?
STEPHEN: He’d like that.
NURSE: Stay as long as you can.
STEPHEN: I will.
SOLDIER: Wait. Let’s stay.
KILBY: Stay.
NURSE: Good-bye, Kilby.
SOLDIER: Good-bye, Lacy.
KILBY: Good-bye. (The NURSE exits.)
STEPHEN: So Pop, I guess I’ll go too.
KILBY: Stay here Stephen. (YOUNG STEPHEN steps onto stage.)
YOUNG STEPHEN: Why?
SOLDIER: We need to talk.
STEPHEN: I need to go.
KILBY: But - -
YOUNG STEPHEN: It’s too late to talk.
47
STEPHEN: I’ve got work at home.

KILBY: We need to get it out.
YOUNG STEPHEN: It’s done.
SOLDIER: You’re still here.
STEPHEN: Dad, I hardly spend any time with Maggie.
KILBY: We need - -
YOUNG STEPHEN: I shouldn’t be here.
SOLDIER: No! You should be here!
YOUNG STEPHEN: Lacy should be here!
KILBY: You both should be here!
STEPHEN: Maggie at home. She’s trying to keep the house
together. Our lives together.
SOLDIER: No one is to blame.
YOUNG STEPHEN: That’s easy.
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KILBY: What do you mean?
rfo ot sa
YOUNG STEPHEN: No blame. Easy way out.
STEPHEN: It means that since you’ve come here - -
ce
SOLDIER: Every event - -
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STEPHEN: - - we haven’t had much time to do things.

SOLDIER: - - every action does not need a reason.
KILBY: A solution.
an
Pe
STEPHEN: Solution?
YOUNG STEPHEN: You made us move.
STEPHEN: Putting you in here was not a solution.
KILBY: I - I didn’t want to move.
STEPHEN: But you’re sick, Dad. We need people who know how to
take care of you. We can’t - - couldn’t do it alone.
SOLDIER: Son, accidents happen. People die.
YOUNG STEPHEN: You didn’t die.
KILBY: Do you want me to die?
STEPHEN: Jesus, Pop, what the hell kind of question is that?
YOUNG STEPHEN: Sometimes. Sometimes I do.
SOLDIER: You’re not going to forgive me for this. Are you?
KILBY: Ever?
YOUNG STEPHEN: I suppose not.
STEPHEN: Dad, I hated having to move you to this home. I hate not
being able to take care of you. I owe you.
SOLDIER: No matter what I say.
YOUNG STEPHEN: There’s nothing to say. Lacy’s dead. I’m not
dead. You’re not dead. Mom’s not dead. Lacy’s dead.
KILBY: And I’m to blame.
STEPHEN: There’s no one to blame.
SOLDIER: No forgiving.
48
BY KEN JONES
YOUNG STEPHEN: No.

STEPHEN: It’s not your fault. You have a disease. It’s not your fault.
SOLDIER: Well, the blame has been placed. Now I guess we can
move on.
YOUNG STEPHEN: I guess we can.
KILBY: I guess we can move on.
STEPHEN: No, well - - if I move, you’ll move.
YOUNG STEPHEN: That’s it?
SOLDIER: You did it. You’ve blamed me, and I accept the blame.
KILBY: We have to carry on.
YOUNG STEPHEN: Carry on? I’m not one of your crew members! I
don’t carry on. I don’t have to take your orders.
SOLDIER: You’re still my son. Always my son.
STEPHEN: That’s right, Pop.
rm for l
YOUNG STEPHEN: Yeah, I’m still your son. Jesus, how could I ever
rfo ot sa
forget that!
(YOUNG STEPHEN runs off.)
ce
SOLDIER: Stephen!
pe N ru
KILBY: Stephen!
STEPHEN: What?
SOLDIER: That’s right! Run away! Run away! Don’t face it. Just run.
an
KILBY: You have to be brave.
Pe
STEPHEN: Pop, we’ve all been brave - -too many times.

SOLDIER: I will carry the blame! I don’t mind! I’ll face it! I’ll carry the
goddamned guilt, if that’s what you want!
STEPHEN: Why don’t you get some sleep? (The SOLDIER sits on
the counter near where the uniform is hung.)
SOLDIER: I don’t think I’ll ever sleep again.
KILBY: Never sleep.
STEPHEN: Would you like anything before I leave?
KILBY: Music.
STEPHEN: Can you play? Do you feel well enough?
KILBY: Music.
STEPHEN: All right. (STEPHEN crosses to the guitar.) Pop, did you
see? I brought your uniform?
KILBY: Medals.
STEPHEN: With all your medals. (STEPHEN places the guitar on
KILBY’S lap.) Here you go. Can you sit up?
KILBY: I’ll finish the song.
STEPHEN: First you have to start the song. (STEPHEN helps put
the picks on KILBY’S fingers.) Play away. Let’s hear it. (KILBY
sits there for a moment. Slowly, he begins to strum imaginary
strings in the air just above the guitar.) Pop, you’re not - - you’re
49
missing the strings. (MUSIC is heard only by KILBY and his

memories. The song is “RED RIVER VALLEY.”) Dad, you’re
missing the strings.
SOLDIER: (Begins to sing.)
FROM TRIS VALLEY THEY SAY YOU ARE GOING.
WE WILL MISS YOUR BRIGHT EYES AND SWEET SMILE,
FOR THEY SAY YOU ARE TAKING THE SUNSHINE,
THAT SURE BRIGHTENS OUR PATHWAY AWHILE.
LEANNA enters and sings with the SOLDIER.
STEPHEN: Dad, let me put the guitar away.

LEANNA/SOLDIER: WON’T YOU THINK OF THIS VALLEY
YOU’RE LEAVING.
rm for l
STEPHEN: Come on.
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LEANNA/SOLDIER: OH, HOW LONELY BOW SAD IT WILL BE,
PLEASE THINK OF THE FOND HEART YOU ARE BREAKING.
ce
STEPHEN: I’m going to leave.
LEANNA/SOLDIER: AND THE GRIEF YOU ARE FORCING ME TO
pe N ru
SEE. (STEPHEN grabs the guitar. LEANNA and SOLDIER stand

silently.)
an
KILBY: Please - - ?
Pe
STEPHEN: No. You’re not even trying to play. Now I’m going to put
the guitar away. When you feel better, you can try again.
KILBY: Forgive me.
STEPHEN: Don’t worry about it. But I have to leave.
KILBY: Steve - - forgive me.
STEPHEN: I have to go home. I’ll visit you tomorrow.
KILBY: Please - - (STEPHEN moves to the door.)
STEPHEN: No more trouble. If I hear from the nurse or the doctor
that you’ve been bad, no more McMuffins.
KILBY: Say you forgive. (STEPHEN turns off the light.)
STEPHEN: Take a nap. You’ll feel better. Good-bye, Pop.
(STEPHEN exits.)
ACT TWO, SCENE 4
KILBY: Plu - - (Gasp.) - -plu - - (Gasp.) - -please! (A11 of

KILBY’S memories enter. KILBY is lit by an eerie glow.) Steve - -
(Gasp.) - - Steve - - (Gasp.) - -Stephen!
LEANNA: He’s gone.
KILBY: No.
LEANNA: He’ll be back, dear.
KILBY: He hates me.
50
BY KEN JONES
LEANNA: He doesn’t hate you.

KILBY: He blames me.
LEANNA: No.
KILBY: Maybe he’s right.
LEANNA: No. He’s not. He’s just hurt.
KILBY: He needs to get over it.
LEANNA: None of us will ever get over it.
KILBY: We have to move on.
LEANNA: I know we do, but we don’t have to forget.
KILBY: It’s more painful to remember.
LEANNA: We owe it to her. To remember.
KILBY: I don’t want to.
LEANNA: A little girl, our little girl is dead. No one to blame.
Circumstances. Maybe that’s true. It doesn’t matter but it does
rm for l
matter that we don’t forget her. She was a part of us. She will
rfo ot sa
always be a part of us. It has to be that way.
KILBY: I have to get dressed.
ce
LEANNA: Did you hear what I said?
pe N ru
KILBY: I have to report.

LEANNA: Did you hear what I said?
KILBY: I heard.
an
LEANNA: Some things will always hurt us.
Pe
KILBY: I know.
LEANNA: The war. The accident.
KILBY: You’re right.
LEANNA: Kilby, I don’t want you to bury this away inside.
KILBY: I won’t.
LEANNA: You already have.
KILBY: I haven’t.
LEANNA: You’ve never spoken of what goes on when you’re at sea.
I’ve never heard you say one thing about shipmates or friends.
Obviously, you’ve seen some horrible things.
KILBY: Leanna, I just want to forget it.
LEANNA: And you’re not burying things away? It’s going to eat you
up inside.
KILBY: It’s my way.
LEANNA: Two years. For two years we have pretended that the
accident never happened. Two years. I grieved by myself.
KILBY: That is not true!
LEANNA: You’re right. Stephen was there.
KILBY: Just because I don’t talk about it, doesn’t mean I haven’t
thought about it. I do. Over and over again. And I try to figure out
where…
51
LEANNA: - - to place the blame?

KILBY: Let’s forget it.
LEANNA: You can. I won’t.
KILBY: Let’s bury it.
LEANNA: Only when they bury me.
KILBY: I’m going to be late.
LEANNA: And the entire U.S. Navy will collapse when Chief Warrant
Officer Fleming shows up late.
KILBY: I don’t think we should be fighting now. I’m leaving for a long
time.
LEANNA: Yes, sir. Sorry, sir.
KILBY: Leanna.
LEANNA: Stephen just needs to hear you say that you’re as sorry as
he is - -that she’s dead.
rm for l
KILBY: He knows that.
rfo ot sa
LEANNA: No. No, he doesn’t.
KILBY: Well, he should. (LEANNA moves to exit.)
ce
LEANNA: I suppose we all should.
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SHE exits. KILBY crosses to the uniform which is still hung in the dry
cleaning plastic. HE places the uniform on the bed. The SOLDIER
an
Pe
stands at attention before KILBY as he dresses, serving as a

reflection. KILBY pulls the pants from beneath the plastic. HE steps
into the trousers. HIS hospital gown bunches up around his waist.
NOTE TO THE ACTOR: KILBY sees the image of the SOLDIER as
himself. KILBY fumbles with the jacket. HE can’t seem to get the
plastic off the jacket. Somehow he manages to get the hanger from
beneath the plastic, but it is obvious that he is becoming more and
more confused.
KILBY: I can’t - - I can’t - - (YOUNG STEPHEN enters.)

YOUNG STEPHEN: Mom said that you wanted to talk with me.
(KILBY is almost fighting with the jacket and the plastic.)
KILBY: Steve - - (Gasp.) - - Stephen.
YOUNG STEPHEN: Mom said that you and I should have a talk.
KILBY: I have to get dressed.
YOUNG STEPHEN: I told her that we have talked enough.
KILBY: This jacket - - is caught in this plastic.
YOUNG STEPHEN: I know how you feel.
KILBY: Steve can you help me
YOUNG STEPHEN: You wish it had been me, Pop.
KILBY: What?
YOUNG STEPHEN: You wish it had been me.
52
BY KEN JONES
KILBY: No! I just need to get dressed!

LACY: Papa, why are you getting dressed?
KILBY: I’m a little confused.
YOUNG STEPHEN: Me. Not her.
LACY: Are you leaving again?
SOLDIER: Crisp. You need to look crisp.
KILBY: Could someone help me with this?
LACY: Don’t leave again.
YOUNG STEPHEN: I suppose we will never agree - -
KILBY: - - No!
YOUNG STEPHEN: - - on anything.
LEANNA: Well - -I hope you’ve changed your mind.
KILBY: Do I look okay?
SOLDIER: Crisp.
rm for l
LEANNA: You’d better hurry.
rfo ot sa
LACY: Don’t leave.
YOUNG STEPHEN: I’ll see you.
ce
pe N ru
KILBY finally pulls the jacket over his head with the plastic still
attached. Desperately, HE tries to wiggle into the jacket, but as HE
does, he traps himself deeper in the plastic.
an
Pe
YOUNG STEPHEN: I’ve got to go!

KILBY: (Muffled from inside the plastic.) Stephen!
LEANNA: You look fine, Kilby.
SOLDIER: Crisp. Always the perfect officer.
LACY: Don’t go, Papa.
KILBY is now in trouble. HE has tangled himself up completely and

cannot breathe. During the next few moments, HE spins and
struggles to escape.
LEANNA: We need some music.

SOLDIER: Never bending. Always the soldier!
KILBY: Please!
LACY: The music stopped.
KILBY: Let me in!
LACY: If I could, I would.
YOUNG STEPHEN: I waited.
KILBY: Let me in!
YOUNG STEPHEN: Playing is for children.
LEANNA: We can’t.
53
SOLDIER: A hero! (The sound of a heartbeat is heard pounding

loudly.)
LEANNA: Listen for the river.
LACY: So brave.
KILBY: Not true!
SOLDIER: Don’t cry.
KILBY: Plu - - (Gasp.) - - plu - - (Gasp.) - - please! (The heartbeat
begins to slow down and become erratic.)
YOUNG STEPHEN: You went away.
KILBY: Play - - play - -
YOUNG STEPHEN: We can’t!
LEANNA: The tree - -
KILBY: Plu- (Gasp.) plu! (The heart is pounding, but it is slowing.)
LEANNA: - - is so sad. (KILBY falls to his knees.)
rm for l
LACY: The dance - -
rfo ot sa
LEANNA: The music - -
SOLDIER: The medals - -
ce
YOUNG STEPHEN: - - no more.
pe N ru
KILBY: Let me in!

YOUNG STEPHEN: No more.
LACY: No more.
an
LEANNA: No - - more. (The heartbeat stops abruptly. KILBY falls
Pe
forward. HE lies very still for a moment. The MEMORIES

disappear into the darkness. KILBY lies alone on the floor. HE is
dead. Lights out.)
EPILOGUE
The hospital room. Days later. The NURSE has just finished redoing
the bedding. STEPHEN enters carrying an American flag folded into
the proper triangular pattern. HE is returning from KILBY’S funeral.
NURSE: Stephen.
STEPHEN: Hello.
NURSE: I’m sorry.
STEPHEN: Me, too.
NURSE: I think he was a very nice man.
STEPHEN: Sometimes. He had his moments.
NURSE: Well, I’ll leave you alone.
STEPHEN: I was wondering if you might have come across a tiny
wooden box.
NURSE: (SHE crosses to the bed-stand and removes the box.) This
one?
54
BY KEN JONES
STEPHEN: Thank God. I was afraid it was lost forever.

NURSE: He once tried to give me that box.
STEPHEN: He did?
NURSE: I kinda knew that it was important.
STEPHEN: Just in memories.
NURSE: Was it yours?
STEPHEN: No. First it was my mother’s, and then he gave it to my
sister.
NURSE: I see.
STEPHEN: He actually made it, but it isn’t really that important.
NURSE: Things don’t have to be important to mean something to
someone.
STEPHEN: No. I suppose not. (SHE crosses to the door.)
NURSE: I’m sorry for the way - - well I wish it had happened
rm for l
differently.
rfo ot sa
STEPHEN: You couldn’t watch him every minute.
NURSE: No. I guess not.
ce
STEPHEN: He got into trouble all his life.
pe N ru
NURSE: He was just very confused. (SHE exits. STEPHEN sits on

the bed.)
STEPHEN: Well, Pop, all my life you seemed so big to me. Larger
an
than life. And then one day I noticed that you weren’t. You were a
Pe
normal size. Not a giant looking down on every move I made. That
day I realized you were an old man. Your pants were a little
baggy. Your sweater hung off your shoulders. Those hands - -
they suddenly looked so much smaller. (Pause.) You know that
on that day, I just wanted to talk with you. Ask you questions that I
never got to ask. Find out who you were. I wasn’t afraid of you
anymore. I wasn’t scared of what you might think of me. I was, for
the first time in my life, convinced that you loved me. And Pop,
when I finally went to you for the answers, after all those years,
you couldn’t even hear the questions. Your mind took you away
from me. I waited too long to tell you all I had inside. I waited too
long for you to tell me. The sad truth is that I waited and you
waited, but time didn’t wait. Time went on and took you with it.
(Pause.)
I’m going to miss the music. Those same five songs. Maybe God
will have some more sheet music. I’m sure you’ll have Heaven
straightened out in a week or so. (Pause.)
You did what you had to do. You did what you thought was best.
You made me who I am. Good and bad. And I love you very
much. (STEPHEN crosses to the door.) I’ll bring you an Egg
55
McMuffin when it’s my turn to come up there. (HE turns off the
lights. A glow illuminates the folded flag left behind on the chair.)
THE END
rm for l
rfo ot sa
ce
pe N ru
an
Pe
56
Pe
pe N ru
57
rfo ot sa
NOTES
BY KEN JONES
rm for l
an
ce
NOTES:

Middle of Yesterday

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Middle of Yesterday

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THE MIDDLE OF YESTERDAY

KILBY FLEMING ................A man in his eighties. Kilby is suffering from

STEPHEN FLEMING...........A man in his late forties or early fifties. Stephen is

rm for l Kilby’s son. He is a staunch, hardworking

NURSE..................................A registered Naval nurse. She is tough but

face. (220 lines)

LEANNA ..............................The memory of Kilby’s wife. She appears to Kilby as

YOUNG STEPHEN ..............The memory of Stephen in his late teens. He is also

LACY....................................The memory of Kilby’s daughter. She is a young

SOLDIER..............................The memory of Kilby himself. Dressed in the uniform

garden hoe, a mechanic’s wrench, a coke bottle, a phonograph, a guitar, a rifle, a

ACT ONE, SCENE 1

KILBY, an elderly man, is sitting in a blue-recliner hospital chair. A

KILBY: Huh! (Gasp.) Plu - - (Gasp.) plu - - (Gasp.) plu! (HE

woman dressed in a flowing dress of the early 1940’s. SHE is

LEANNA: Kilby! Don’t feel alone.

KILBY: I can see - -

LEANNA: The dog in the field.

WON’T YOU THINK OF THE VALLEY YOU’RE LEAVING

OH, THINK OF THE FOND HEART YOU’RE BREAKING

KILBY: I can play

KILBY rises. He places his guitar on the chair. HE moves to LEANNA.

passes by so quickly. I can hear. I can see. But it’s always

KILBY: I’m with you.

remember how to play. HE stops.) Remember. (HE tries again,

ACT ONE, SCENE 2

STEPHEN, KILBY’S son, enters. STEPHEN is in his mid-fifties. HE

KILBY: Got to go to the river.

KILBY: Hoot owls.

want to help you.

KILBY: The demolition team boarded the ship - -

NURSE: You’re here early today.

KILBY: Best car on the road.

degeneration. He’s trying to help your father hold on to a little

questions with the same answers he gave last week.

KILBY: America had been neutral.

LEANNA: Wash up outside.

KILBY: When my ship would come in, she wanted to be there.

NURSE: That’s a long trip.

KILBY: I didn’t want you - -

KILBY: She was so tiny. (LACY, KILBY’S daughter, enters. SHE is

KILBY: All right.

NURSE: Did you fall on this shoulder, Kilby?

NURSE exits. KILBY is confused for a moment. HE climbs from

LEANNA: Well, I’m in the middle of lunch.

NURSE: Don’t touch those!

KILBY: I needed a crescent wrench.

SHE gathers up the instruments and exits. LEANNA enters.

LEANNA: Out of Coca-Cola.

LEANNA: Now you’re talking, sailor.

LEANNA: Can you move it?

LEANNA: Move it.

NURSE: Oh my Lord! It’s going to be all right.

LEANNA: Then I’ll get some ice. (LEANNA exits.)

NURSE: You can’t be upset about putting him in here.

KILBY: What happened?

STEPHEN: Well, Pop, you’re a mess. Falling out of bed. Talking to

shoulder. Watching my every move. Caring - - worrying about me

KILBY: A fine house. Leanna loves that kitchen.

KILBY: Designed it myself.