ATHENA

by Gracie Gardner
CHARACTERS

Athena
Mary Wallace
Jamie

/ is an interruption

*** is a time jump

A note on fight choreography: the movement in this show is high energy, and fast-moving. Every
time they fence, these performers need to work, it’s a deep squat, and fast movement back and forth.
e actors should be sweating and out of breath at the end of each point. e fencing is meant to be
a merging of action and spectacle, we’re watching them exert their bodies to their limits.

Resist the urge to get cute, these women are blunt.

2
 e Fencer’s Club in Midtown NY. It’s fall, 2018. It’s a regional foil tournament. Two
sixteen-year-olds, Mary Wallace and Athena, are in the middle of the final point of a match. Athena
wins, and lets out a victory scream. Mary Wallace, visibly upset, removes her mask and shakes
hands with Athena.

ATHENA
Good bout.

MARY WALLACE (voice cracking)

Good bout.

ATHENA
You did good.

Athena o ers her a hug and Mary Wallace accepts.

MARY WALLACE
Thanks, but I kind of choked.

ATHENA
You got tired. That’s just stamina.

MARY WALLACE
“Cool,” “okay.”

ATHENA
Are those your parents?

MARY WALLACE
Yeah.

ATHENA
Look, they brought you flowers.

MARY WALLACE (voice cracking again)

They always do.

ATHENA
Hey, hey, it’s okay.

MARY WALLACE
We drove in from New Jersey.

3
ATHENA
It’s not a qualifier.

MARY WALLACE
It a ects the seed order.

ATHENA
You have lots of time.

MARY WALLACE
I just don’t want to let them down.

ATHENA
I cry all the time. Sometimes, after I lose? I’ll bump into a random person on the street, on
purpose. And I won’t say sorry.

MARY WALLACE
Um... Okay. Well. Nice to meet you.

ATHENA
Can I ask you something?

MARY WALLACE
Sure?

ATHENA
I need a training partner.

MARY WALLACE
Oh, no thanks.

ATHENA
Can I ask why not?

MARY WALLACE
I just don’t think it’s a good idea.

ATHENA
But we’re well matched.

MARY WALLACE

4
You just destroyed me. I think this is the first time I’m experiencing the feeling of
“humiliation.”

ATHENA
We can get better together.

MARY WALLACE
I don’t see how. You’re better than I am. You’re way better.

ATHENA
That could have gone a di erent way.

MARY WALLACE
Absolutely not. There was a moment during this bout where I thought I should just give up
fencing, and, and become a nun or something.

ATHENA
Do you have a training partner?

MARY WALLACE
… No.

ATHENA
Then why wouldn’t you want to train with me?

MARY WALLACE
Because I’m a sore loser.

ATHENA
You would be a sore loser if you didn’t practice with me just because you lost.

MARY WALLACE
I train at home.

ATHENA
With what?

MARY WALLACE
My wall.

ATHENA
That’s impressive that you’re this good with just you and your wall.

5
MARY WALLACE
There’s a lot you can do with a wall. People don’t know.

ATHENA
It can’t hit back.

MARY WALLACE
That’s true.

ATHENA
I’m here every day. You should come if you want.

MARY WALLACE
I don’t live in the city.

ATHENA
How far are you?

MARY WALLACE
Teaneck.

ATHENA
Take the train!

MARY WALLACE
I don’t even know you.

ATHENA
What’s your name?

MARY WALLACE
Mary Wallace.

ATHENA
You’re one of those first and last name people?

MARY WALLACE
No, it’s a double name. Two words, one name. Mary Wallace.

6
ATHENA
It’s nice to meet you Mary Wallace. I’m Athena.

MARY WALLACE
You go by your last name?

ATHENA
It’s my Fencing Name.

MARY WALLACE
People do that?

ATHENA
People should.

MARY WALLACE
Why Athena?

ATHENA
I just identify with her story I guess.

MARY WALLACE (joking)

Why, you have, like, a weird relationship with your dad?

ATHENA (it’s not funny)

That’s really funny. I guess just like the goddess of strategic warfare and all that.

MARY WALLACE
Right.

ATHENA
Yeah.

MARY WALLACE
What’s your real name?

ATHENA

7
I’m not telling you.

MARY WALLACE
Seriously?

ATHENA
It’s private.

MARY WALLACE
I respect that. You’re here every day?

ATHENA
E.F.D. baby!

MARY WALLACE
You come after school?

ATHENA
Til ten o’clock.

Mary Wallace thinks about it.

MARY WALLACE
Do you always scream like that? When you win a point?

ATHENA
Only if I’ve earned it.

***

Mary Wallace is at the Fencer’s Club for her first practice session with Athena.

ATHENA
I eat eggs.

MARY WALLACE
I drink protein.

8
ATHENA
I watch tapes.

MARY WALLACE
I make notes.

ATHENA
I mentally catalogue my mistakes.

MARY WALLACE
I fixate on mine.

ATHENA
I don’t drink soda.

MARY WALLACE
I don’t smoke.

ATHENA
My dad does.

MARY WALLACE
I hold my breath when I walk by smokers.

ATHENA
I inhale second hand smoke.

MARY WALLACE
That’s not good for stamina.

ATHENA
It’s not my fault.

MARY WALLACE
I meditate.

ATHENA
I don’t shave.

MARY WALLACE
Why?

ATHENA

9
Saves time.

MARY WALLACE
I run every morning.

ATHENA
I lift.

MARY WALLACE
You lift?

ATHENA
Yeah I lift.

MARY WALLACE
Maybe I should lift.

ATHENA
I lift.

MARY WALLACE
How much do you lift?

ATHENA
145.

MARY WALLACE
Do you go to the gym?

ATHENA
Equinox.

MARY WALLACE
You go to Equinox?

ATHENA
Yeah.

MARY WALLACE

10
I thought Equinox was for sex pests and rich moms.

ATHENA
Goals. Rich moms, I mean.

MARY WALLACE
I’ve got tiny adductors.

ATHENA
That’s just leg press.

MARY WALLACE
Really?

ATHENA
That’s just leg press.

MARY WALLACE
Then I will leg press.

ATHENA
I study on the train.

MARY WALLACE
I download my school books as audio files, then I listen to them while I run.

ATHENA
That’s a good idea.

MARY WALLACE
I use a humidifier.

ATHENA
I use a dehumidifier.

MARY WALLACE
I go on my trampoline every day.

11
ATHENA
Wait why?

MARY WALLACE (showing o her quads)

For my quads.

ATHENA
But you run.

MARY WALLACE
Yeah but I like the trampoline.

ATHENA
What if it rains?

MARY WALLACE
I go on the trampoline.

ATHENA
What if it snows?

MARY WALLACE
I go on the trampoline.

ATHENA
What if there’s a pile of snow on top, two feet high?

MARY WALLACE
I push the snow o and I go on the trampoline.

ATHENA
I use a stress ball.

MARY WALLACE
I carry around an ergonomic seat.

12
ATHENA
I re-wrap the tip of my foil every day.

MARY WALLACE
That tape is expensive.

ATHENA
It keeps my blade smooth.

MARY WALLACE
I only re-wrap before a competition.

ATHENA
I do lifts.

MARY WALLACE
I do chair.

ATHENA
I do chair.

ey do chair, back to back.

MARY WALLACE
I take Marine Biology.

ATHENA
What does that do?

MARY WALLACE
It’s my passion, I feel that honoring passion invites passion into all areas of life.

ATHENA
That’s great.

MARY WALLACE
We stare into the sea for hours.

13
ATHENA
I love science. It’s so easy. Everything lines up. I take forensics.

MARY WALLACE
Cool.

ATHENA
I wanna be a human rights lawyer.

MARY WALLACE
I eat complex carbs for lunch.

ATHENA
I eat Wendy’s Chili for dinner.

MARY WALLACE
Oh, yuck-oh.

ATHENA
I’m not proud of it. It just ends up happening after practice. My dad gets tubs of Wendy’s chili,
puts em in the freezer, and I’ve subsisted on that for years.

MARY WALLACE
I make something I call a jelly burger.

ATHENA
What is that?

MARY WALLACE
You put hamburger in the microwave and then you put jelly on it.

ATHENA
I make hot cheese spaghetti.

MARY WALLACE
What is that?

14
ATHENA
It’s where you put a string cheese in the microwave and heat it up and then it becomes a
stringy puddle and you eat it with a fork.

MARY WALLACE
I eat bananas -

ATHENA
That’s not weird.

MARY WALLACE
I wasn’t done, I eat bananas cut up using kitchen scissors when the skin is still on? And then I
squeeze the banana out the middle.

ATHENA
I put raisins on a banana. Take a bite of banana, put a raisin on there, take a raisin banana bite.

MARY WALLACE
I wear foam in my shoes -

ATHENA
I do too! I got these shoes with the round backs that are better for advancing, but I got them a
little big because I thought I would keep growing. And I know I’m probably done, but I keep
them out of some superstition that if I throw them away I’m definitely done.

MARY WALLACE
I assumed I was gonna get taller too.

ATHENA
You could be taller.

MARY WALLACE
What do you mean I could be taller? I’m done growing.

ATHENA
It would be great for you if you were taller.

15
MARY WALLACE
Of course it would be great, but it’s not happening.

ey squat.

ATHENA
I wake up at five to lift.

MARY WALLACE
I sleep in.

ATHENA
That’s not good for your fascia.

MARY WALLACE
Fascia? Isn’t that some GOOP thing?

ATHENA
Yeah but it’s also real, it’s what holds all your organs together, it’s what ligaments are made of,
if you lie still for too long, if you sleep in? Your fascia gets stuck together and can make you
more susceptible to injury.

MARY WALLACE
Too bad, I sleep in until the very last possible moment. I try to make it so that I can get as much
sleep as possible every night.

ATHENA
Wow you love sleeping.

MARY WALLACE
More than almost anything. If I don’t get enough sleep I go insane.

ATHENA
I can’t sleep.

MARY WALLACE

16
I love sleep. I love BED.

ATHENA
Garbage trucks in the park go by my window every night just as I’m trying to go to sleep.
“Guuuuuhh guhchunkchunkchunk.” Right under my window and inevitably, there’s some
extremely loud man screaming.

MARY WALLACE
I love sleeping when it’s snowing out. I love sleeping when it rains.

ATHENA
I can never hear what he’s screaming about. I hope he’s okay.

MARY WALLACE
Sometimes there’s this big friendly goose that walks around and honks as I’m waking up in my
warm bed /

ATHENA
We get it! You’re really good at sleeping!

MARY WALLACE
Oh my god.

ATHENA
I can’t sleep AT ALL, so.

MARY WALLACE
Have you / talked to a doctor?

ATHENA
Yes I’ve talked to a doctor.

MARY WALLACE
You have insomnia?

ATHENA
Yeah that’s literally what “not sleeping” means.

17
MARY WALLACE
What’s that like?

ATHENA
It hurts! It hurts my head. It feels like I’m never really awake.

MARY WALLACE
I’m sorry.

ATHENA
Thank you.

MARY WALLACE
… I like winning.

ATHENA
Yeah me too.

MARY WALLACE
I LOVE TO WIN.

ATHENA
I love knowing for a moment that I’m objectively better than someone else. I spend so much
time comparing myself to other people and when I win I can rest in the bliss of knowing that I
am truly better, even if it’s at this archaic sport. Maybe that’s why sports exist?

MARY WALLACE
I don’t think so, I think sports exist so our bones don’t disintegrate. And to create a sense of
camaraderie. To deal with failure with grace. To sharpen the mind’s connection to the body.

ATHENA
Now I feel like you’re a nicer person than I am!

MARY WALLACE
I probably am! You take out your frustration by bumping into random people on the street.

18
ATHENA
Don’t judge me for that, I told you that with care!

MARY WALLACE
I’m just reflecting back at you what you’ve told me.

ATHENA
Do you think I’m a mean person because of that?

MARY WALLACE
No, but I’m worried you just want to fence me because I’m not as good as you.

ATHENA
WHOA that’s not true at all.

MARY WALLACE
Do you feel bad for me?

ATHENA
I think you’re really good!

MARY WALLACE
OR -- because I’m not as good as you, practicing with me will provide you with validation, and
neither of us will improve but your confidence will spike so you’ll feel better?

ATHENA
That is so cynical!

MARY WALLACE
I just can’t figure out why you want to spend time with me.

ATHENA
You honestly sound so insecure.

MARY WALLACE
Sorry this is where my mind goes.

19
ATHENA
Maybe you’re not as nice a person because that’s where your mind goes.

MARY WALLACE
Maybe! I don’t know!

ATHENA
I’m not using you to bolster my ego or something.

MARY WALLACE
Sorry that was weird. I’m too direct! My mom says I’m too direct! This isa socially stressful
situation for me to be in.

ATHENA
Am I stressing you out?

MARY WALLACE
I just don’t know what I’m supposed to be doing. Do we talk the whole time?

ATHENA
We don’t have to.

MARY WALLACE
Practicing alone, I could just practice. There wasn’t this whole social element.

ATHENA
We don’t have to talk.

MARY WALLACE
That seems even weirder.

ATHENA
Do you not want to meet up again?

MARY WALLACE
Do you not want to meet up again? Because I’m so insecure?

20
ATHENA
I want to meet up again. What’s the real problem here?

MARY WALLACE
I’m just worried we would become friends?

ATHENA
So?

MARY WALLACE
We’re gonna constantly come up against each other.

ATHENA
How do you think the Mannings got so good? The DiMaggios? Venus and Serena? They were
close. They could practice a ton. And they improved together.

MARY WALLACE
These are all siblings…

ATHENA
Yeah.

MARY WALLACE
You can’t be friends with a sibling.

ATHENA
I guess.

MARY WALLACE
It’s also a long commute. From school, to home, to here, to home.

ATHENA
Just come straight after school.

MARY WALLACE
I’m not bringing a sword to school.

21
ATHENA
It’s not a sword.

MARY WALLACE
Plus I’d spend so much of high school commuting if I came here every day.

ATHENA
You will for the rest of your life, why not start junior year?

MARY WALLACE
That’s depressing.

ATHENA
That’s capitalism.

MARY WALLACE
I’d have to ask my parents if I make this a regular thing.

ATHENA
Ask your parents. Ask your parents!

MARY WALLACE
They’ll probably say yes. They trust me a lot.

ATHENA
It’s not a big deal if they say no or if you don’t want to. I can ask someone else.

MARY WALLACE
Don’t ask someone else. Let me ask them?

ATHENA
When do you think you’ll know by?

MARY WALLACE
… When I ask them.

ATHENA

22
Which is when?

MARY WALLACE
Tonight.

ATHENA
Okay, so I’ll hold o on asking anyone until tonight.

MARY WALLACE
Are you going to ask someone else to be your partner between tonight and tomorrow?

ATHENA
Yeah, I don’t know. If something comes up. There are a lot of fencers here.

MARY WALLACE
Why are you trying to create leverage? I want to do this. You don’t have to manipulate me.

ATHENA
Whoa whoa whoa.

MARY WALLACE
What? You’re obviously trying to manipulate me.

ATHENA
I’m creating a healthy boundary.

MARY WALLACE
No, you’re trying to make it seem like this opportunity is fleeting or something. Like a car
salesman.

ATHENA
Giving someone a time frame is not manipulative.

MARY WALLACE
I want to do this, okay? And I know you wanted me to do this because you asked me. So don’t
get all freaky. You have to trust me. But you have to tell me your actual name.

23
ATHENA
Why?

MARY WALLACE
Because my dad was like, “WHAT’S HER LAST NAME?”

ATHENA
Come ON.

MARY WALLACE
I told him that’s your whole name. And he was like, “Just Athena? Like Cher?” And I was like,
“Yeah, like Cher.” And he was like, “You’re sixteen years old, if you wanted to practice fencing
with Cher I would ask her last name too.”

ATHENA
Doubtful.

MARY WALLACE
He almost didn’t let me come.

ATHENA
Ridiculous.

MARY WALLACE
What if I fell into the sewers of New York and the last place they knew I went was to practice
with a girl named “Athena” with no last name?

ATHENA
What, like, a Ninja Turtle?

MARY WALLACE
Just tell me your real name!

ATHENA
I like having a mythical context!

MARY WALLACE

24
I don’t understand that, and my parents definitely don’t either.

ATHENA
Make up a name!

MARY WALLACE
I don’t lie to my parents.

ATHENA
That’s what being an adult is! Successfully learning to deceive your providers!

MARY WALLACE
I’m close with them. You can ask someone else if that’s easier.

ATHENA
It’s not some crazy thing. It’s like a wrestler or a racehorse.

MARY WALLACE
I hear you. I know how you feel. I wish I was courageous enough to call myself whatever I
wanted. Like Picabo Street.

ATHENA
I think that’s her real name.

MARY WALLACE
Oh is it?

ATHENA
What would you call yourself?

MARY WALLACE
Athena. I would want your name.

ATHENA
Huh.

MARY WALLACE

25
But I can’t pull stu like that o . My whole goal is for people to encounter me and be like…
“She seems normal.” That’s all I want. And I get that that’s not who you are. But if you tell me
your real name, I will never say it. I will put it out of my mind once I communicate it to my
parents. It’s just something I need to know so we can keep doing this.

ATHENA
If I tell you, you have to come here every day.

MARY WALLACE
I wanna do that. I wanna get better.

***

ey’re sparring. Athena draws back her weapon, and lands it with a loud whack on Mary Wallace’s
upper arm, Mary Wallace drops her foils.

MARY WALLACE
OW. That’s not okay!

ATHENA
I didn’t do anything wrong.

MARY WALLACE
That is so rude!

ATHENA
It’s a legitimate move.

MARY WALLACE
Says who?

ATHENA
The judge at nationals last year.

MARY WALLACE
What precedence is there for that?

26
ATHENA
It’s my move.

MARY WALLACE
It hurts.

ATHENA
Someone else did it to me that’s how I learned it. But they did it by mistake.

MARY WALLACE
Oh my god you, like, dented my VEINS, what did you DO?

ATHENA
Can we keep going?

MARY WALLACE (with her jacket pulled down, showing her bare upper arm)
Look at this.

ATHENA
I don’t see anything.

MARY WALLACE
I can tell it’s going to bruise.

ATHENA
Your chest protector doesn’t have boobs in it. Mine has boobs built into it. Where do my boobs
go in that?

MARY WALLACE
I don’t know, they reconfigure.

ATHENA
It looks uncomfortable.

MARY WALLACE
The plastic boobs just slow you down. They just guide someone’s blade right to a hit. It’s like
having the bumpers up in bowling.

27
ATHENA
I guess they do.

MARY WALLACE
Yeah. These? Made for a little boy. Just slides right o . You should get one.

ATHENA
Where did you even get that?

MARY WALLACE
Craigslist. From some like thirteen-year-old Little Lord Fauntleroy in Montclair who decided
to take up crew instead.

ATHENA
No wonder your stu looks so weird. Is all your gear from Craigslist?

MARY WALLACE
I scored the shoes in the lost and found.

ATHENA
Here?

MARY WALLACE
They’re nice! Where did you get your stu ?

ATHENA
I got a kit from AF.

MARY WALLACE
Fancy.

ATHENA
I like my weird pokey boob armor. It makes me feel like Wonder Woman.

MARY WALLACE
I mean Wonder Woman was an Amazon, so it’s not like she would have boobs anyway.

28
ATHENA
Why wouldn’t she have boobs?

MARY WALLACE
The Amazons cut them o so they could do archery better.

ATHENA
How do you know this?

MARY WALLACE
The Gloria Steinem book. The name -- a, mazon, it means without breasts.

ATHENA
Ohhhh. A-mazos. Not a-”mazon.” Mazos means breasts in Classical Greek.

MARY WALLACE
Oh, whoops, sorry, I don’t go to a New York City prep school, I don’t know Classical Greek. The
most useful language.

ATHENA
Whatever.

MARY WALLACE
I just like reading about this stu . It’s very metal.

ATHENA
You like metal?

MARY WALLACE
Yes.

ATHENA
Like what?

MARY WALLACE
Pantera.

29
ATHENA
Oh. My ex ex liked them.

MARY WALLACE
What’s an ex ex?

ATHENA
Like the guy I dated before my ex boyfriend.

MARY WALLACE
I thought that was still just an ex.

ATHENA
I guess I feel like being pedantic is sort of neutralizing.

MARY WALLACE
Nah. Honestly? It sounds like you’re bragging about how many boyfriends you’ve had.

ATHENA
I think it would only come o that way to someone who's never had a boyfriend.

MARY WALLACE
Cool story.

ATHENA
Oh. Sorry.

MARY WALLACE
It’s fine.

ATHENA
Maybe it seems like I was kind of trying to be a jerk just now, but I really wasn’t.

MARY WALLACE
No I know.

30
ATHENA
I don’t do that kind of thing. I’m a good person. Really. I’m good.

MARY WALLACE
I know.

Another day. ey’re wrapping their blades.

ATHENA
Do you want to play questions?

MARY WALLACE
What is that?

ATHENA
You just ask each other questions.

MARY WALLACE
That’s it?

ATHENA
Yeah.

MARY WALLACE
That’s all there is to the game “questions” -- you just ask questions?

ATHENA
Yeah.

MARY WALLACE
That’s such a low bar for what a game is.

ATHENA
It’s fun! You get to ask really probing horrible questions and the other person has to answer.

MARY WALLACE
Are you one of those people who saw Princess Bride and decided you wanted to fence?

31
ATHENA
Are you playing the game?

MARY WALLACE
No, I’m trying to change the topic.

ATHENA
Fine. Okay no I’ve never seen that movie. But -- I do like Game of Thrones.

MARY WALLACE
Bleh. I think it’s unwatchable.

ATHENA
Oh, so you don’t like badass women getting what they want?

MARY WALLACE
Ew. I hate… That.

ATHENA
What?

MARY WALLACE (nasally AOC voice)

“Badass women.”

ATHENA
What’s wrong with that?

MARY WALLACE
For one… It just makes me think of a bad… Ass… Like a horrible butt. Like a long, flappy butt.

ATHENA
Jesus.

MARY WALLACE
And I don’t like the way that sounds. It doesn’t mean anything. I just hate it. It’s just nothing
language. And especially because… Most of the women on that show are terribly abused.

32
ATHENA
Um, Khaleesi is extremely powerful.

MARY WALLACE
With her, I guess it seems like nepotism to me… You know? People getting what they want
when they were born into a line of power seems easy I guess regardless of gender? I dunno.
This language makes my skin crawl. It reminds me of tote bags with trite little sayings and
buttons and all the sad little ephemera of meaningless e ort.

ATHENA
What about “uncompromised women?” Means the same thing.

MARY WALLACE
That sounds like a polite 1950s term for someone who’s had an abortion.

ATHENA
Are you like… Reading internet stu all the time?

MARY WALLACE
What do you mean?

ATHENA
I think you’re reading too much about feminism stu and your head has gotten... Stuck up your
own ass or something. Maybe you’re spending too much time online. I feel like you’re not
forming your own opinions. I feel like you’re being overcome by some amorphous cloud of
nonsense.

MARY WALLACE
These are my thoughts! This is my process!

ATHENA
You sound like an article that doesn’t know what it’s talking about. I’m serious! Those articles
are written to make you mad. Trust me. I know about this stu from my dad. The only way
they make money anymore is by harvesting your pain, and they’re more than happy to make
up new ways for you to feel bad about yourself. It’s the oldest trick in the book. Just watch

33
CSPAN and fiction, and form your own opinions. I love watching Arya. I get a gut feeling, I feel
hopeful.

MARY WALLACE
When… When she’s killing people you mean?

ATHENA
That’s the show, dude! That’s the show. It’s a pretend world, so yeah. I get psyched when bad
people die because it’s not real life and it’s cathartic to imagine. Come on. Read good stu .
Read Kurt Vonnegut and Ralph Ellison. Like… Stop it.

MARY WALLACE
No! I’m not gonna stop it because I don’t even know what’s right. I’m figuring it out!

ATHENA
Like what? What don’t you know?

MARY WALLACE
Because I don’t feel like I know what I’m feeling until I hear someone else articulate it and I feel
a sense of recognition.

ATHENA
It’s okay to like something that’s bad. You don’t have to feel what someone else feels.

MARY WALLACE
It doesn’t feel okay.

ATHENA
It is! It’s fine. I watch 9/11 videos all the time.

MARY WALLACE
What? What do you mean 9/11 videos? What is a 9/11 video? Like a truther thing?

ATHENA
No, no, just videos of the towers getting hit, people standing of rooftops, watching them fall.

MARY WALLACE

34
Why?

ATHENA
I don’t know. I feel compelled to. I’ve come to terms with it because those images were a big
part of my childhood… It’s something that strangely makes me feel comfortable. I like watching
them. That’s okay.

MARY WALLACE
Whoa.

ATHENA
You need a valve. You need a place to get that shit out. You have to get it out or you actually do
bad stu .

MARY WALLACE
Sometimes I think I meet people who seem kind of perfect. You know? I think there are people
who don’t have any bad thoughts?

ATHENA
They don’t exist. I promise. Look at all the priests. Like… I promise. I promise.

MARY WALLACE
Who told you about this?

ATHENA
My therapist. People make money o distracting you and telling you you’re doing things
wrong.

MARY WALLACE
Maybe I should see a therapist.

ATHENA
… We’re getting along really well.

MARY WALLACE
What?

35
ATHENA
We are. We’re getting along really well.

MARY WALLACE
Who says that?

ATHENA
We’re like, speeding right along at a nice clip.

MARY WALLACE
I guess it would just be cool if you didn’t say that.

ATHENA
You were thinking it.

MARY WALLACE
I was thinking you have terrible taste.

ATHENA
I don’t have terrible taste. I have no taste.

MARY WALLACE
Oh come on.

ATHENA
It’s true. I don’t like music. In general. It’s embarrassing.

MARY WALLACE
You’re from the city.

ATHENA
What does that have to do with anything?

MARY WALLACE
You’re culturally oversaturated so you think it’s fun and cool to not have taste.

ATHENA

36
This is me, baby haha! No but really, this is uh, this is the real me.

MARY WALLACE
Music is embarrassing?

ATHENA
Absolutely!

MARY WALLACE
What does that even mean?

ATHENA
Like one note folds and dips into the other, it’s so intimate and vile.

MARY WALLACE
What!

ATHENA
I don’t even like things like doorbells or long subway slowdowns, like “eeEEE” -- the musicality
is just… A LOT.

MARY WALLACE
That’s nonsense.

ATHENA
I’m not trying to be antagonistic, I just -- I go to someone’s house, they put on music -- it’s like
okay, we’re in a mood now.

MARY WALLACE
I always put on music.

ATHENA
If you like that, then great.

MARY WALLACE
Can you like… Not sing or something?

37
ATHENA
You think I have a grudge?

MARY WALLACE
Uh huh.

ATHENA
Against music?

MARY WALLACE
Do you play an instrument?

ATHENA
I’ve been trying to learn guitar for like ten years.

MARY WALLACE
And?

ATHENA
The strings are too close together and my fingers are too big and too short.

MARY WALLACE
That’s not real.

ATHENA
It is! My fingers can’t speed around like that, it’s unnatural.

MARY WALLACE
Neither can anyone’s, that’s why there’s scales. Did you practice?

ATHENA
Probably not enough.

MARY WALLACE
There you go.

ATHENA

38
Okay but I did practice some, and it was clear I didn’t have any kind of natural talent. Like I
don’t have to study, I just read things once and then it’s in there. I don’t know why people have
to study. Like… It’s easy.

MARY WALLACE
Oh okay. So you give up on things if you’re not immediately good at them?

ATHENA
No, but if it seems like I have no ability whatsoever, that’s discouraging obviously.

MARY WALLACE
I hear that fingers thing all the time, but the thing is: hands don’t normally do that. It’s
something you have to learn.

ATHENA
What do you, like, play classical guitar? ... Oh do you?

MARY WALLACE
Yeah I play classical guitar.

ATHENA
That’s sweet. I love that. I’m very jealous.

MARY WALLACE
You hate music.

ATHENA
But that’s not really music, like no one enjoys that, right?

MARY WALLACE
Yeah I guess.

ATHENA
I mean do you like it?

MARY WALLACE
I like making my parents happy.

39
ATHENA
Is that why you fence?

MARY WALLACE
I want to get recruited.

ATHENA
You’d have to be top ten to get recruited.

MARY WALLACE
Around there.

ATHENA
Did your parents sign you up?

MARY WALLACE
They thought it would be good for scholarships.

ATHENA
Why would you need a scholarship?

MARY WALLACE
What?

ATHENA
Why would you need a scholarship?

MARY WALLACE
To pay… for college?

ATHENA
But your parents can pay for college.

MARY WALLACE
No… They can’t.

40
ATHENA
What’s wrong with them?

MARY WALLACE
Nothing’s wrong with them!

ATHENA
I just think parents should pay for college.

MARY WALLACE
Well my parents aren’t paying for college. Are yours?

ATHENA
Yeah my dad is paying for my college. He said he’d pay for law school too.

MARY WALLACE
Of course he is. You go to Dalton.

ATHENA
So?

MARY WALLACE
I go to public school.

ATHENA
Lots of rich people go to public school, Mary Wallace. It doesn’t mean their parents don’t pay
for college.

MARY WALLACE
Well, mine can’t.

ATHENA
Why not?

MARY WALLACE
We don’t have the money.

41
ATHENA
… But you have orthodontia.

MARY WALLACE
Do you think I’m like… super rich or something?

ATHENA
Of course you’re rich. You do fencing.

MARY WALLACE
Uh. Nope.

ATHENA
Are you… in denial? Are you one of those people are like, “I’m not rich! I wear hand-me-downs!
Boo hoo!”

MARY WALLACE
I feel like you’re always trying to figure me out. Like you’re suspicious of me.

ATHENA
I’m just getting to know you, this is fun. I like how nervous you’re getting. Look, you’re
sweating!

MARY WALLACE
My parents care about me a lot. I have a lot of nice things! Obviously I do. But we’re not fancy.
My parents are high school teachers. They share a car. I’ve had a job since I was fourteen. I
have to pay for college.

ATHENA
Someone call social services! This young girl is being forced to babysit for her neighbors!

MARY WALLACE
You don’t have a job!

ATHENA
I had an internship this summer.

42
MARY WALLACE
You have a Canada Goose coat!

ATHENA
What else am I gonna wear?

MARY WALLACE
A coat that’s not a thousand dollars?

ATHENA
It’s COLD! I mean, so what, your parents share a car. That’s normal. Parents are supposed to pay
for college! Like… That’s their main role.

MARY WALLACE
Uh… I think it’s more like, giving love, and support, and a ection.

ATHENA
Okay, why don’t you just… date your parents?

MARY WALLACE
Yuck!

ATHENA
You’re obsessed with them.

MARY WALLACE
They’re a big part of my life.

ATHENA
Blehgh.

MARY WALLACE
Okay, enough. I don’t like this.

ATHENA
“I don’t like this.”

43
MARY WALLACE
Seriously!

ATHENA
I mean like… My dad is a journalist. We’re not super rich either.

MARY WALLACE
...Are you seeeerious? My parents are high school teachers… And… I wasn’t gonna say this… But I
Googled your dad.

ATHENA
How did you Google my dad?

MARY WALLACE
Because I thought… Maybe you have an alias because you have a famous parent, so I looked up
your last name. I couldn’t help myself. The internet was right there.

ATHENA
That is so invasive!

MARY WALLACE
He has a best selling book. Okay? He’s not some bohemian reporter. He’s a writer for the paper of
record.

ATHENA
That book was very niche.

MARY WALLACE
But do you see what I mean?

ATHENA
Not really.

MARY WALLACE
Okay so we’ve established I do fencing because my mom and dad are bad parents and can’t pay
$200,000 for me to not read some James Joyce… Why do you do fencing?

44
ATHENA
I needed a sport for college apps and I hate being on a team.

MARY WALLACE
You hate being on a team?

ATHENA
I hate being a team player. I hate teamwork. I hate trying to “do things together.”

MARY WALLACE
Wow. My least favorite part of fencing is that it’s not a team.

ATHENA
You don’t want to be on a team. There’s all these dynamics and drama that aren’t about
anything. Like my sister was in an acapella group in college? Fighting, constantly. Hysteria.
And these people are making guitar sounds with their mouths for fun. So yeah. I love a solo
sport. But I got prescribed, initially.

MARY WALLACE
What do you mean?

ATHENA
Like by a shrink.

MARY WALLACE
Like you have A.D.D.?

ATHENA
I don’t have A.D.D.

MARY WALLACE
De…pressed? Anxious?

ATHENA
“Adjustment disorder.”

MARY WALLACE

45
Oh. What is that?

ATHENA
...I don’t know, exactly. The therapist said, “I’m writing that you have Adjustment Disorder so if
you ever decide to run for o ce you won’t have any problems.” So maybe it’s a euphemism.

MARY WALLACE
What does it feel like?

ATHENA
I’m better now.

MARY WALLACE
Okay.

ATHENA
Fencing really helps.

MARY WALLACE
What were you adjusting to?

ATHENA
I guess it’s hard for me to make friends. It’s hard for me to start conversations. The therapist
taught me a bunch of coping mechanisms, which I tried out with people at school. One of them
was, “Start a conversation by telling someone something exciting about yourself,” and I did
that and then this one girl immediately called me self-involved. And then the therapist said to
try asking people questions about themselves and this other girl was like, “Why are you
interrogating me?” And then I realized the people I go to school with just kind of suck.

MARY WALLACE
You don’t have any friends at school?

ATHENA
I had that one. But after my mom moved to Fort Collins we stopped being friends. Apparently I
became “hard to be around” or something. The therapist said fencing might be a good way for
me to socialize because the sport is a “self-selecting group of emotionally intense women.”

46
MARY WALLACE
...When did your mom move?

ATHENA
Oh that’s not a big deal.

MARY WALLACE
That sounds hard.

ATHENA
It’s fine.

MARY WALLACE
Do you ever see her?

ATHENA
No.

MARY WALLACE
Do you want to?

ATHENA
No! She’s mean.

MARY WALLACE
Why is she mean?

ATHENA
“Why is she mean?” I don’t know. She has some personality flaw or something. She can’t say
anything nice.

MARY WALLACE
Like what would she do?

ATHENA
She’s careless with her words, I guess. Like, I won this national science competition or
whatever, and I had to go accept this award, and I was embarrassed getting it because being

47
the center of attention is painful for me for some reason, and I guess I was a little awkward
walking on the stage, and when I saw my mom after she was like, “Why were you being such a
little retard up there?”

MARY WALLACE
Oh god.

ATHENA
Whatever. She just cares a lot what other people think.

MARY WALLACE
...Did she move away... for work?

ATHENA
Uh! She said she needed space from my dad. I guess his career kind of took o and hers didn’t.
It was kind of painful for her. She did a residency out there and I guess she liked it better
“because of the altitude” or something. She’s like, o the grid, like no cell phone, no internet.
She started painting… with the… pigments of the earth? I guess the dirt is di erent shades of
red out there. Um I guess she’s had some success with that? And she didn’t want to come back.
It’s been like three years now.

MARY WALLACE
… … What’s the altitude of Fort Collins?

ATHENA
Like 8,000 feet.

MARY WALLACE
What’s the altitude of New York?

ATHENA
...Thirty three.

MARY WALLACE
… Okay. Well. That’s legit.

48
ATHENA
...Right.

Mary Wallace opens the door to her bedroom, and yells down the stairs.

MARY WALLACE
MOM? I LOVE YOU SO MUCH. I’M SO GRATEFUL TO YOU. YOU KNOW THAT? I MEAN, I
SHOULD PAY YOU RENT FOR THE NINE MONTHS I LIVED IN YOUR STOMACH, YOU KNOW?
AND THEN YOU PUSHED ME OUT OF YOU, THAT’S CRAZY.

Mary Wallace listens to her mom.

MARY WALLACE (cont.)

NO I’M FINE, I’M JUST VERY GRATEFUL TO YOU FOR YOU KNOW… GETTING ME
ORTHODONTIA BECAUSE YOU KNOW THAT A SMILE IS HOW YOU TELL SOMEONE YOU’RE
LISTENING, AND FOR MAKING ME GO TO THE FENCER’S CLUB… AND FOR JUST BEING
HERE AND GETTING ME A NEW TRAMPOLINE AFTER I BROKE THE LAST ONE.

Mary Wallace listens to her mom.

MARY WALLACE (cont.)

NO DON’T LOCK THE DOOR I’M GONNA GO OUT ON THE TRAMP.

Mary Wallace listens.

MARY WALLACE (cont.)

I KNOW IT’S DARK OUT I’M CAREFUL! I’LL BE CAREFUL!

Athena is in her apartment, yelling through her door of her bedroom.

ATHENA
IT’S GROSS WHEN YOU SMOKE INSIDE OKAY, DAD? IT’S NOT THE NINETIES ANYMORE. I’M
TRAINING FOR NATIONALS AND I HAVE ASTHMA THAT’S FINALLY UNDER CONTROL AND
I’M JUST SAYING IT’D BE COOL, OKAY, IT’D ACTUALLY BE COOL IF YOU DIDN’T SMOKE
INSIDE. JUST LIKE GO ON THE SIDEWALK AND SMOKE, THAT WOULD ACTUALLY BE SO
GREAT, OKAY. LIKE THAT WOULD BE REALLY, REALLY CONSIDERATE.

49
She listens to her dad.

ATHENA (cont.)
I UNDERSTAND THAT YOU HAVE A DEADLINE, FATHER, I HAVE DEADLINES EVERY SINGLE
DAY. THEY’RE CALLED PAPERS, THEY’RE CALLED TESTS, OKAY? I UNDERSTAND THE
CONCEPT, I GRASP IT. I’M NOT SPEWING A SUBSTANCE INTO THE AIR THAT TRIGGERS A
MESSED UP REACTION FROM THE PERSON WHO LIVES WITH ME WHO HAPPENS TO BE MY
DAUGHTER.

She listens to her dad.

ATHENA (cont.)
YEAH IT’S YOUR APARTMENT. IT’S YOUR APARTMENT AND I’M VERY LUCKY TO BE LIVING
HERE BUT IT’S NOT MY FAULT YOU DECIDED NOT TO WEAR A CONDOM AND I SHOT OUT
OF YOU AND STARTED RUNNING AROUND OKAY? THAT’S NOT MY FAULT. I LIVE HERE TOO.
DEAL WITH IT.

She listens, he changes his tone.

ATHENA (cont.)
WHAT KIND?

She listens.

ATHENA (cont.)
MAC AND CHEESE SOUNDS GOOD.

***

Athena whacks Mary Wallace on the arm, Mary Wallace drops her blade, Athena’s buzzer goes o .

MARY WALLACE
You can’t do that anymore if you want to practice together.

ATHENA
Why not?

50
MARY WALLACE
My arm… Looks like a BEET. A ROOT VEGETABLE.

ATHENA
That’s the name of the game, baby.

MARY WALLACE
If we’re gonna practice together, you can’t do that anymore.

ATHENA
That’s not fair! It’s a part of my technique.

MARY WALLACE
Take it o the table.

ATHENA
Imagine if I told you that you couldn’t parry. How would you be able to isolate and remove a
central part of your strategy?

MARY WALLACE
If I knew it was actively hurting people, it wouldn’t be that hard.

ATHENA
This sport doesn’t feel good.

MARY WALLACE
No I know.

ATHENA
You get stabbed.

MARY WALLACE
Yeah I know.

ATHENA
I don’t know if your parents told you that when they signed you up.

51
MARY WALLACE
It shouldn’t have to hurt more than it needs to.

ATHENA
It doesn’t! It hurts just as much as it needs to be e ective.

MARY WALLACE
No one else does that move.

ATHENA
That’s because it’s brand new.

MARY WALLACE
I’m a postmodernist.

ATHENA
Oh / shuuut up.

MARY WALLACE
I don’t think anything is new especially not moves in a five hundred year old sport.

ATHENA
The Chamley-Watson. The flick.

MARY WALLACE
Banned, and made impossible by technology, respectively.

ATHENA
There are others.

MARY WALLACE
Name them.

ATHENA
The ref let me do it!

MARY WALLACE

52
What exactly happened?

ATHENA
I slashed her. She dropped her foil. I scored. The ref gave me the point.

MARY WALLACE
And that’s all?

ATHENA
That’s all.

MARY WALLACE
The ref didn’t ask you not to do that?

ATHENA
No.

MARY WALLACE
Did he ask any questions?

ATHENA
Well he was like, “What was that?” Because he’d never seen it before.

MARY WALLACE
And what did you say?

ATHENA
Well obviously I wasn’t like, “That’s my signature move.” Because I’m humble.

MARY WALLACE
So what did you say?

ATHENA
I don’t know. I explained.

MARY WALLACE
How did you explain?

53
ATHENA
I said it was a missed attack or something.

MARY WALLACE
OKAY.

ATHENA
I mean in the moment, it was.

MARY WALLACE
I think you’re just planning on using this strategy and saying that “nationals let you” until
you’re in front of a ref and instant playback, when you’ll drop it cause it’s too risky. So why
don’t you play me like I’m at the top?

ATHENA
What an INTRIGUING THEORY, Mary Wallace.

MARY WALLACE
ALSO I want my fighting arm intact! And my reputation.

ATHENA
What does that mean?

MARY WALLACE
I mean I like to keep myself on good standing with everyone. I don’t yell at refs. I’ve only asked
for two reviews, ever, and I got them both times. I wash my glove every week so it doesn’t
smell, I even wash my mask. I definitely don’t slash at people with unnecessary force. And I
don’t want to be associated with someone who does.

ATHENA
So this is about wanting to look perfect? Like you wanna be Audrey Hepburn? She’s not even
fun. Like Roman Holiday is just about a good haircut.

MARY WALLACE
I think you need to feel what it feels like.

54
ATHENA
You can’t do my move!

Mary Wallace abruptly attacks Athena, using her signature move as hard as she possibly can.
Athena drops her foil. She’s impressed, and it hurts.

ATHENA
That was really good. You really nailed it.

MARY WALLACE
Cool.

ATHENA
You think you’ll use that now?

MARY WALLACE
No, I think it’s not sustainable.

ATHENA
Okay.

MARY WALLACE
What do you think?

ATHENA
Um. Yeah. I get what you mean.

MARY WALLACE
Cool.

ATHENA
That doesn’t feel good. That makes sense.

MARY WALLACE
So no more of that slashing move?

ATHENA

55
I’m gonna… Yeah… Table that… For now.

MARY WALLACE
I admire that innovative attitude, though.

ATHENA
Thanks. I like to think of myself as an innovator.

MARY WALLACE
Then you are.

ATHENA
What are you doing after this?

MARY WALLACE
What?

ATHENA
In the city. What are you doing after this, Teaneck?

***

Dance music plays. Mary Wallace and Athena are at a club. ey are yelling over the music.

ATHENA
My sister’s the DJ.

MARY WALLACE
That’s so cool!

ATHENA
She sucks. I’m wearing her clothes. I hope she doesn’t see me.

MARY WALLACE
I thought you hated music.

ATHENA

56
Sure but I love the vibe.

MARY WALLACE
You love the VIBE!? What are you, thirty six years old?

ATHENA
Oh my god back o !

MARY WALLACE
I think someone stepped on my toe. I think it’s ruined.

ATHENA
Don’t be classist, this is general admission.

MARY WALLACE
I’ve never been to a concert before.

ATHENA
It’s not a concert, it’s a show.

MARY WALLACE
I could pretend to know what I’m doing for you but I’m not gonna do that.

ATHENA
We were lucky they didn’t card.

MARY WALLACE
You only have a card because of your sister. People with older siblings have an unfair
advantage in terms of everything.

ATHENA
You don’t have siblings?

MARY WALLACE
No I do, my brother’s ten years older. Henry.

ATHENA

57
Really!?

MARY WALLACE
He doesn’t count, he’s a virgin and he’s a Libertarian.

ATHENA
How do you know he’s a virgin?

MARY WALLACE
He told me.

ATHENA
Oh, gross.

MARY WALLACE
We talk about stu !

ATHENA
My sister is so mean. She once told me I’m plain.

MARY WALLACE
What?

ATHENA
She said I’m plain.

MARY WALLACE
What!?

ATHENA
Plain. Like: nothing. Like my body and face is nothing.

MARY WALLACE
That’s terrible.

ATHENA
I love her though, I mean she’s so fun.

58
 ey dance.

MARY WALLACE
I don’t know what my body is doing right now, I look DREADFUL.

ATHENA
Yeah.

MARY WALLACE
Everyone else looks so much better.

ATHENA
They’re drunk. You need to drink more.

MARY WALLACE
I should catch the bus back.

ATHENA
You know my sister? She was hit in the head by a random guy. From behind, with a brick. Just
walking down the street. She was salutatorian, and now she can’t remember the alphabet, so
she’s a DJ. Could happen anytime. You know? You should appreciate life.

Mary Wallace bounces around, thinking about this story.

MARY WALLACE
I mean tomorrow is Friday, which is basically the weekend. And I have perfect attendance so I
could “be sick” I guess.

***

We’re in a hospital, machines beep. Mary Wallace is unconscious. Athena finds Mary Wallace’s
phone in her pocket, uses Mary Wallace’s thumb to unlock it, scrolls through the phone and calls a
number.

ATHENA
Hi Henry? No - it’s not Mary Wallace /

59
She listens.

ATHENA (cont.)
Not exactly, she has um, food poisoning?

She listens.

ATHENA (cont.)
Mount Sinai.

She listens.

ATHENA (cont.)
I mean a little, we had a couple um, sips of alcohol, but that’s not /

She listens.

ATHENA (cont.)
My name? Uh /

She hangs up, puts the phone back, grabs her stu and leaves.

***

We’re at the fencing club.

MARY WALLACE
I’m so embarrassed.

ATHENA
I am so sorry.

MARY WALLACE
Why did you call Henry?

ATHENA

60
You don’t have “Mom” or “Dad” listed in your phone.

MARY WALLACE
I’m an adult. They’re listed as Corrinne and Bernard.

ATHENA
I shouldn’t have left you.

MARY WALLACE
You took me there. You did the right thing.

ATHENA
I got nervous. Your brother’s really intense. Like, he says the word “liability” a LOT.

MARY WALLACE
That’s Henry.

ATHENA
I just thought we could... I don’t know…

MARY WALLACE
What?

ATHENA
I don’t know! We spend a lot of time together, practicing, like… I felt like we should hang out
maybe outside of fencing.

MARY WALLACE
… ...Yeah.

ATHENA
Uh.

MARY WALLACE
And I totally overdid it and messed it all up.

61
ATHENA
No I feel like I weirdly pressured you.

MARY WALLACE
You didn’t. It was my fault.

ATHENA
Had you ever gone out drinking before?

MARY WALLACE
My grandma once legitimately spiked my eggnog.

ATHENA
Oh no, I thought... You seem cool.

MARY WALLACE
I’m not. I’m really not. But I did want to try and I should have told you.

ATHENA
I would have said to pace yourself more. I would have made you drink water.

MARY WALLACE
That would have been nice.

ATHENA
Are you feeling better?

MARY WALLACE
Sort of! I feel like a part of my stomach died maybe? And I’m feeling this residual sense of
shame for some reason? And yesterday I was feeling barfy so I went out on the trampoline for
air and one of the springs snapped o and hit me in the thumb so that hurts but yeah I’m not
feeling poisoned AT ALL anymore so that is GREAT.

ATHENA
You said you weren’t going to pretend.

MARY WALLACE

62
I thought I knew what I was doing. How hard can drinking be? You just drink!

ATHENA
Are you in trouble?

MARY WALLACE
I got grounded.

ATHENA
Dammnit.

MARY WALLACE
You didn’t tell Henry your name?

ATHENA
No. I was worried they wouldn’t let you come back.

MARY WALLACE
… Well they did. They want me to go to college.

ATHENA
Grounded. That’s so suburban. I don’t think my dad could enforce that if he wanted to.

MARY WALLACE
Yeah I just do homework and go to school and come here.

ATHENA
What else could you need?

MARY WALLACE (pissed)

… Right.

ATHENA
… We should take a pic together. For the ‘Gram.

MARY WALLACE
Why?

63
ATHENA
We don’t have any pics together.

MARY WALLACE
I look gross.

ATHENA
It’s a candid. For posterity.

MARY WALLACE
I don’t really post selfies.

ATHENA
But we’d both be in it.

MARY WALLACE
But the selfie angle, it’s just not my thing.

ATHENA
We can put it on a timer?

MARY WALLACE
My whole timeline is… Really curated, you know?

ATHENA
Your flow is not that… Coherent, to be honest.

MARY WALLACE
I kind of save posting for special occasions to generate goodwill for maximum likes.

ATHENA
You don’t have to post it.

MARY WALLACE
Okay.

64
ATHENA
I just want to.

MARY WALLACE
On your main?

ATHENA
I could do my main. Or finsta, stories, whatever.

MARY WALLACE
Um. I just kind of would prefer you not.

ATHENA
Okay. Just like… To have, then.

MARY WALLACE
… Fine.

Athena snaps a picture.

***

ey fence, Athena scores, whips o her mask and screams.

MARY WALLACE
You seem homeschooled when you scream like that.

ATHENA
You can’t say that to me.

MARY WALLACE
I just did.

ATHENA
Lots of people do it.

MARY WALLACE

65
Like scary people. Like a scary person with no self awareness does that next to me at qualifiers
and I’m like “yikes that girl is not fun.”

ATHENA
If you knew you could really scream, like you could really let it out after every point, you’d
fence better.

MARY WALLACE
That doesn’t make any sense. The only thing I’m really thinking about when I’m in a bout is
how I’m gonna win.

Mary Wallace scores.

ATHENA
Wouldn’t it feel great to scream there?

MARY WALLACE
Fencing is the most polite sport there is. I don’t think it’s right to scream at the person you’re
sparring.

ATHENA
Oh so it’s rude?

MARY WALLACE
Yeah, so it’s rude.

ATHENA
You can say it’s rude to hit you in the arm. I get that. But I can scream if I want to. I can raise
my incentive. I live in an apartment building. There’s no freaking… Open woods with babbling
streams. There’s no goose. I can scream here.

MARY WALLACE
I don’t… Go to the woods and scream.

ATHENA
You have space. You could if you wanted to.

66
MARY WALLACE
I know this sounds petty, but when you do that? It’s embarrassing.

ATHENA
I’m not embarrassed.

MARY WALLACE
No, I’m embarrassed.

ATHENA
Why?

MARY WALLACE
Sorry, but it really makes me stressed out that people think we’re… Weird screamers.

ATHENA
Who cares?

MARY WALLACE
I do.

ATHENA
Wow. It really bums me out that you’re that insecure.

MARY WALLACE
I’m not insecure!

ATHENA
It makes me a better fencer. It makes me better at practicing with you. If you don’t want to get
better because something I’m doing is embarrassing you in front of a bunch of strangers, yeah
that makes you pretty insecure.

***

A ton of papers fall on Mary Wallace. She’s doing her homework in her bedroom, listening to death
metal. Her home phone rings.

67
MARY WALLACE
Kerry residence, this is Mary Wallace.

ATHENA
What’s that terrible sound?

Mary Wallace turns down the music.

MARY WALLACE
Music.

ATHENA
Uh hi. Why aren’t you here?

MARY WALLACE
I have a test.

ATHENA
Why didn’t you tell me?

MARY WALLACE
Because you would convince me not to study, and you’re fine practicing alone for one day.

ATHENA
Screw your test.

MARY WALLACE
Take it for me.

ATHENA
Pay me.

MARY WALLACE
I gotta go!

ATHENA
What are you (MARY WALLACE: Nancy, fetch!) even studying?

68
Mary Wallace throws a dog toy for her pup.

MARY WALLACE
Calculus. Which I need to actually study for.

ATHENA
You’re super smart, (MARY WALLACE: Good girl.) you don’t need to study.

Nancy retrieves the dog toy.

MARY WALLACE
Yes I do have to study. I’m not like you, I can’t just read things and then they’re just in there
forever. I have to look at stu .

ATHENA
Can you please just come?

MARY WALLACE
No!

ATHENA
Mary Wallace, we have a deal.

MARY WALLACE
I can’t. It’s seven o’clock. I couldn’t be there til nine anyway.

ATHENA
I’ll stay.

MARY WALLACE
I wouldn’t get back until midnight.

ATHENA
You could stay with me!

MARY WALLACE

69
Then I’d have to go back to New Jersey in the morning!

ATHENA
I’d wake you up.

MARY WALLACE
Isn’t there someone there?

ATHENA
There’s no one for me to practice with.

MARY WALLACE
What about Shayna or Migdalia?

ATHENA
Shayna already left, and Migdalia’s trying sabre today.

MARY WALLACE
Oh, is she switching to sabre?

ATHENA
She might, she hits me in the mask enough to switch weapons and call it on purpose.

MARY WALLACE
That’d be great for us if she did.

ATHENA
I know, right? (Hi Mio! No I’m staying for a bit. You can leave my stu there.)

MARY WALLACE
Mio’s there?

ATHENA
Yeah.

MARY WALLACE
Maybe she can squeeze you in for a private?

70
ATHENA
My dad says we’re having “cash flow problems” so no.

MARY WALLACE
What about Jordana and CeeCee?

ATHENA
They suck! How dare you mention Jordana and CeeCee!

MARY WALLACE
Jordana’s fine!

ATHENA
I’m not practicing with some one-time epee girl who was held back a year at St. Ann’s.

MARY WALLACE
You’re such a snob!

ATHENA
I’m a tall snob!

MARY WALLACE
Also CeeCee is not bad.

ATHENA
She’s never come close to scoring a point on me.

MARY WALLACE
Not for long. She’s getting better.

ATHENA
Plus she smells like tape.

MARY WALLACE
I think that’s medical.

71
ATHENA
Mary Wallace? I’m serious. This is not cool. I need you to be here, unless you’re like… Dying.

MARY WALLACE
I’m always there!

ATHENA
Yeah but you’re not today. Are you icing me out because I called you insecure?

MARY WALLACE
….No.

ATHENA
Are you sure?

MARY WALLACE
I’ll be there next week.

ATHENA
Next week?

MARY WALLACE
I have to babysit tomorrow night.

ATHENA
I’ll pay you. I can pay you the money you would have made babysitting.

MARY WALLACE
What?

ATHENA
I can just give you money so you can come.

MARY WALLACE
I’ll be there next week.

ey meet at the Fencer’s Club. Athena applies Vaseline to her face.

72
MARY WALLACE
… Oh my god, what happened to your face?

ATHENA
It’s gross. Don’t look at it.

MARY WALLACE
It looks like it’s falling o .

ATHENA
It is.

MARY WALLACE
You look like a nuclear disaster victim.

ATHENA
Pretty close! I got put on Accutane.

MARY WALLACE
What?

ATHENA
Accutane.

MARY WALLACE
Ack-ya-whut?

ATHENA
ACK-YOU-TANE. Accutane. It’s for acne.

MARY WALLACE
When did this happen?

ATHENA
Last week. This is what happens when you miss practice.

73
MARY WALLACE
...I’m sorry.

ATHENA
It’s like going through puberty all over again.

MARY WALLACE
Did this happen when you went through puberty?

ATHENA
No, it’s just like a horrifying change to my body that I can’t control.

MARY WALLACE
I don’t understand. You don’t have acne.

ATHENA
You have no idea how much makeup I normally wear.

MARY WALLACE
I guess your face and your neck are usually two di erent colors.

ATHENA
Yeah that was to hide the freaking volcanic nightmare underneath.

MARY WALLACE
You know? I take birth / control for that.

ATHENA
Yeah I’m already on birth control.

MARY WALLACE
Oh.

ATHENA
So they put me on antibiotics for like weeks and that just… destroyed my whole colon area you
know? Like my butt.

74
MARY WALLACE
Oh god.

ATHENA
Yeah and then like these creams that wrecked and bleached my sheets this pinky yellow color.

MARY WALLACE
Woof.

ATHENA
And then, this is a fun story, I was wearing so much makeup at that point. And then last week I
was on the sidewalk, and this girl in my class Antonia was like, “Hi!” And hugged me. And she
was in this like WHITE PUFFY VEST and she guided my head to her shoulder and my face went
on her WHITE PUFFY VEST and then when I pulled away I had left this just MASSIVE just FACE
on her shoulder.

MARY WALLACE
Like the Shroud of Turin.

ATHENA
So then I was like… This is a bad situation. You know? Give me the good stu . So they were like
you have to be on two forms of birth control because if you get pregnant on this stu , your
babies can look like THIS. And then they showed me these GNARLY BABIES with crazy heads
and I was like this stu is not messing around. And now my face is falling o and my lips are
falling o but my skin looks TIGHT right? Like NO ACNE.

MARY WALLACE (not convinced)

Right, just like, large flakes sloughing o .

ATHENA
Right? That’s my oil glands shrivelling up and dying.

MARY WALLACE
Wow.

ATHENA
It’s amazing.

75
MARY WALLACE
I’ve got gross stu too. You just can’t see it. My palate expander really tears up the inside of my
mouth. Looks terrible in there.

ATHENA
Huh.

MARY WALLACE
You were on birth control before for your skin?

ATHENA
No it was for sex, but my doctor was like, we can tell your dad it’s for your skin because it also
is!

MARY WALLACE
Oh cool. So you, you’re like seeing someone?

ATHENA
I had sex with a Swedish cellist on a train. It was Amtrak, not the subway, there was a bathroom.
It rocked. And then I was like, I should probably invest in this a little more, get on the pill for
the future. But it hasn’t really been worth it, I’ve only done it a couple other times. The train
was definitely the best location.

MARY WALLACE
Does location matter in that kind of thing?

ATHENA
Does to me.

MARY WALLACE
That is so insane.

ATHENA
Don’t slut shame me!

76
MARY WALLACE
OH! NO!!!

ATHENA
Ha ha, I’m just kidding. I don’t care. So you just wanted birth control for skin?

MARY WALLACE
No yeah, good to, you know, invest also. Like um. Yeah.

ATHENA
Really responsible.

MARY WALLACE
Yeah I uh. I’d love a relationship.

ATHENA
Really?

MARY WALLACE
Yeah. I just -- yeah. I feel like I have a lot of love to give. And I wanna get it too. Like I want to
make handcrafted gifts and go on dates and sneak around. Do you?

ATHENA
I’m so busy, you know? I’m so busy. I don’t know. People get weird when they have boyfriends.

MARY WALLACE
They do?

ATHENA
I think it’s basically a kind of psychosis. Like gender psychosis.

MARY WALLACE
I’m more hopeful than that.

ATHENA
All guys at our age, and probably at any age, like my dad even, are so sexist. Like it’s so global,
you know? It’s so insidious. It’s the air we breathe.

77
MARY WALLACE
I think my dad’s okay. He gave me Sister Outsider for Christmas.

ATHENA
They just say things that make girls feel crazy, and if they’re nice and thoughtful that’s even
worse because you’re supposed to feel grateful for that and those guys are usually
manipulative and disingenuous leeches just hoping to suck o like feminine power, you know?

MARY WALLACE
Sounds very second wave to me.

ATHENA
You don’t think the family unit is predatory?

MARY WALLACE
I think family is the people you choose to be with, and it doesn’t have to be that way.

ATHENA
Well, that’s easy if the family you choose is the family you have.

MARY WALLACE
Right, right, good call. But you can choose. Like some kids grow up on communes.

ATHENA
And have a thousand adults who care about them?

MARY WALLACE
Exactly.

ATHENA
Yeah that would be tight. But like, it’s like, more adults means more potential for
disappointment.

MARY WALLACE
Right.

78
ATHENA
I think that’s a lot harder than people give it credit for. There’s a reason people care so much
about families. Because it’s really hard to find another one. Like, did you know trees,
tree-parents? They can stretch out their roots and find their tree-kids, their seed-saplings and
care for them and share nutrients with them. Like… Since trees… It goes back!

MARY WALLACE
Really?

ATHENA
Yeah. Like a tree’s roots will bypass all of its neighbors who are dying from thirst and go right
to the one that came from them. Just like one little root-hand stretching across the forest.

MARY WALLACE
And what happens to all the other trees? The dying trees?

ATHENA
I don’t know.

Another day. ey’re not fencing. ey practicing footwork back and forth.

MARY WALLACE
So Catherine was like, “You can’t be on my N.O.S.B. team because you have a social hesitancy in
your voice.”

ATHENA
What does that mean?

MARY WALLACE
Right?

ATHENA
That’s rude.

MARY WALLACE
I was like, I know way more about marine life than all of you combined: A! B! I don’t like, I don’t
get distracted! Catherine knows Benny and Charlize both have no buzzer control. And C! I took

79
physics, (I’M SORRY!) as a SOPHOMORE. I’m there for the seismic portion, I’ve got the
bio-ecosystems down, I wear ballet flats every day. I’m born for this.

ATHENA
What is her problem?

MARY WALLACE
I wonder if it’s like, that I can’t hang out afterwards.

ATHENA
Are you still grounded?

MARY WALLACE
Yeah they won’t even let me practice driving so I can’t get my permit.

ATHENA
Who needs to drive?

MARY WALLACE
You live in Manhattan. Only people with huge dogs or musicians who play like the harp drive
cars here. For me, it means I have no independence.

ATHENA
Right.

MARY WALLACE
And I was like, “The worst part, Catherine? The worst part is that this is like my PASSION.
MARINE SCIENCE is what I want to DO with my LIFE!”

ATHENA
Why?

MARY WALLACE
Because it’s everything! It’s where we all came from! We all just gushed up out of the sea! The
human embryo has gills! We hiccup because we’re starved for water! WHALES ARE SEA DOGS!

ATHENA

80
They are?

MARY WALLACE
THAT’S WHY EVERYONE LOVES THEM! And CATHERINE is IN MY WAY!

ATHENA
You don’t need them!

MARY WALLACE
But I want to be on the team!

ATHENA
Who cares?

MARY WALLACE
I don’t have a team! I can’t chum it up. And the N.O.S.B. people are actually really cool.

ATHENA
They’re really cool?

MARY WALLACE
Honestly, yeah.

ATHENA
What makes them so cool?

MARY WALLACE
They put me at ease, you know? I feel comfortable around them. Before I was grounded, we
used to go to this one guy’s house and we would sit around playing Guitar Hero, eating chips,
and drinking water and it was really nice. They watch these amazing old movies, they’re always
talking about interesting things. No one’s trying to one-up each other like those insu erable
guys on the improv team pretending they came up with Mitch Hedberg jokes. We’re just like,
sitting around, on a cushy couch, like, yeah Taylor. You are nailing Cemetery Gates. And it’s like a
big warm hug.

ATHENA
You really think that’s cool?

81
MARY WALLACE
Yeah. Everything always feels like conflict, conflict, conflict, I just want to be with people who
I’m not in opposition to.

ATHENA
Okay.

MARY WALLACE
Sorry, but. You know. I feel very vulnerable being around you, because I am.

ATHENA (pissed)
Fine. Like… Do debate or something.

MARY WALLACE
Don’t take it personally.

ATHENA
You’re saying you don’t like being around me. Why would I take that personally?

MARY WALLACE
That’s not what I’m saying! It’s just that I can’t hang out with any of my friends because I’m still
grounded. And if I did that, I could actually see my friends. You don’t know what that’s like.

ATHENA
What do you mean any of your friends? What about me?

MARY WALLACE
That’s di erent.

ATHENA
How? How is that di erent?

MARY WALLACE
We’re… Performing a service for one another.

ATHENA

82
A service?

MARY WALLACE
You once o ered to pay me.

ATHENA
A loan!

MARY WALLACE
You didn’t mention it being a loan.

ATHENA
It would have been a loan.

MARY WALLACE
No it’s honestly great that it’s so transactional. We come here. We help each other out. We
leave.

ATHENA
That’s why I wanted to hang out more.

MARY WALLACE
And that was a disaster.

ATHENA
That’s not my fault!

MARY WALLACE (chuckling)

Alright.

ATHENA
How is that my fault?

MARY WALLACE
I’m not saying it’s your fault, it’s obviously not your fault. But you didn’t take care of me.

ATHENA

83
Take care of you?

MARY WALLACE
Yes.

ATHENA
I’m not here to take care of you.

MARY WALLACE
That’s obvious.

ATHENA
I didn’t think I had to nanny you.

MARY WALLACE
That’s not what I mean. I mean just, basic, looking out for one another.

ATHENA
You think you take care of me?

MARY WALLACE
I’ve tried to. In the past. I’ve tried to take care of your feelings, of your wellbeing. That’s what
friends do. But you didn’t reciprocate, so I gave up trying.

ATHENA
I’m sorry I tried to get to know you better.

MARY WALLACE
Honestly it didn’t even feel like that.

ATHENA
Okay, what did it feel like?

MARY WALLACE (she swings her foil around)

It just felt like this. It felt like more of this.

ATHENA

84
It’s not a big deal. People get drunk and sick all the time.

MARY WALLACE
You would not be able to understand why this is consequential for me.

ATHENA
Why not?

MARY WALLACE
Because you’re rich.

ATHENA
… You don’t know what my life is like.

MARY WALLACE
I’m sure I don’t. It’s just hard for me to trust you.

ATHENA
...I can take care. I can. You’d be surprised how much I can take care.

MARY WALLACE
...Okay.

ATHENA
I’m very good. I think people don’t realize that I’m deeply, very good.

MARY WALLACE
Okay. I’m just being honest. I think life is too chaotic to mistake manners for kindness.

ATHENA
I get that. And… I understand why you’re upset. I get why you think those people are cool. They
sound... normal and well-adjusted. Except that… They’re not letting you on for some stupid
reason. So they’re probably not as chill as you think they are.

MARY WALLACE
I still want to do it... For career reasons.

85
ATHENA
You’re in high school! You could get hit by a bus tomorrow. How much does your resume matter
when you’re hit by a bus? No one’s ever going to care about some Ocean Science Bowl you did
when you were sixteen. Catherine can take her little power trip right to hell and you can go be
the best scientist in the world! You can do anything! You’re a fencer!

***

Mary Wallace is at the orthodontist’s o ce, looking into a bright exam light, a cheek retractor in her
mouth.

MARY WALLACE (trying her best through the cheek retractor)

Yeah that’s okay. Oh no, that really hurts. That hurts a lot! Okay. No, yeah, school is fine. I’m a
junior. I’m fencing? I’m a fencer? A FENCER. A FENCER, I’M A FENCER.

***

Athena and Mary Wallace are sitting on the ledge of the piste, finishing o power bars.

MARY WALLACE
Your face looks worse.

ATHENA
It’s gonna be so worth it. When do you get your palate expander out?

MARY WALLACE
I ask her every time I go in. I have no idea.

ATHENA
I can’t imagine what you’d look like without it.

MARY WALLACE
Like, really really good probably. Like super hot and good.

ATHENA
It’s become like a part of your face.

86
MARY WALLACE
It makes my chin lower. You know? Lower. I’m worried it’ll be that way forever.

ATHENA
I don’t think it will.

MARY WALLACE
I’ve had it for nine months. They just keep expanding and expanding and expanding. Maybe I’ll
have it for college.

ATHENA
Do you know where you’re applying?

MARY WALLACE
Mary Wallace does not apply, Mary Wallace gets recruited.

ATHENA
Uh. My birthday’s coming up.

MARY WALLACE
When is it?

ATHENA
Next Saturday.

MARY WALLACE
Oh.

ATHENA
We should do something after qualifiers.

MARY WALLACE
Are you sure you’re gonna wanna…

ATHENA
See you after I destroy you?

MARY WALLACE
What if I destroy you?

87
ATHENA
Yeah I’m gonna wanna hang out.

MARY WALLACE
Okay.

ATHENA
Are you not gonna want to see me?

MARY WALLACE
Of course I will! I’m just worried.

ATHENA
You think you’ll be like, worked up?

MARY WALLACE
Yeah, I dunno… I’m not great when I don’t win. Like I’ve gotten pretty sulky after losing to
Henry at Risk.

ATHENA
Sulky!

MARY WALLACE
Yeah but I can be cool.

ATHENA
Okay.

MARY WALLACE
We just both have to qualify.

ATHENA
We will.

MARY WALLACE
We just both have to do extremely well so that we both qualify.

ATHENA
We’ll both get in.

88
MARY WALLACE
I don’t know!

ATHENA
Oh come on, yes you will.

MARY WALLACE
I don’t think so.

ATHENA
Migdalia and Shayna are gonna be in. Maybe a couple from MFC, one from FAW max, and then
us. And then there’s gonna be thirty crappy suburban girls, no o ense.

MARY WALLACE
That’s a lot of people who have to be crappy.

ATHENA
Say one girl from Bergen County is half decent, worst case scenario. Shayna’s failing Chemistry,
she might not even go to qualifiers.

MARY WALLACE
Let’s not wish ill upon her.

ATHENA
WHO ARE YOU? WISH ILL UPON HER? I’m not saying that.

MARY WALLACE
No I know.

ATHENA
I’m just SAYING.

MARY WALLACE
Right right. Yeah. I mean. It would change things.

ATHENA
You would feel better?

89
MARY WALLACE
Yeah.

ATHENA
You would hang out?

MARY WALLACE
Don’t murder her!

ATHENA
I wouldn’t murder her! But I have her number. I could like… Text her and be like, “You know...
Chemistry junior year… That’s the di erence.”

MARY WALLACE
What!

ATHENA
“For colleges.”

MARY WALLACE
No you’re not.

ATHENA
No, probably not.

MARY WALLACE
You’re thinking about it!

ATHENA
I really want you to come!

MARY WALLACE
How do you have her number?

ATHENA
I used to practice with her.

90
MARY WALLACE
Oh.

ATHENA
She’s too good, though, I wasn’t improving.

MARY WALLACE
What a dark secret.

ATHENA
Do you feel jealous?

MARY WALLACE
Kind of! Why are you composing a text? Don’t send her anything!

ATHENA
I’m just considering possibilities.

MARY WALLACE
Just say like: “are you going to go Saturday?”

ATHENA
Really?

Mary Wallace shrugs. Athena sends the text.

MARY WALLACE
She’s typing!

ATHENA
She’s always on her freaking phone.

e text goes through.

MARY WALLACE
Hm.

91
ATHENA
Damn.

MARY WALLACE
Say no!

ATHENA
She thinks I want to hang out afterwards.

MARY WALLACE
We shouldn’t have said anything.

ATHENA
Um.

MARY WALLACE
Just don’t say anything.

ATHENA
I’m just gonna tell her I am.

MARY WALLACE
Why? Just say nothing!

ATHENA
No I always respond. It’s gonna be obvious I’m trying to game something.

MARY WALLACE
Just tell her the truth.

ATHENA
...Yeah.

She types, sends a text. ey watch the phone.

MARY WALLACE

92
No immediate response. We could be waiting a while.

ATHENA
She’s typing.

Mary Wallace covers her eyes.

ATHENA (cont.)
She said, “Maybe I will see you there.”

***

It’s the qualifiers.

ATHENA
Shit.

MARY WALLACE
It’s okay.

ATHENA
Shit shit shit.

MARY WALLACE
It’s okay.

ATHENA
Dammit Shayna.

MARY WALLACE
It’s not Shayna’s fault.

ATHENA
If I hadn’t texted her we wouldn’t be in this like knockout round.

MARY WALLACE

93
I’m not gonna hate you if you win. I’m not gonna hate you if you win and then lose your next
round and you don’t qualify. I swear to god, I’m not gonna be mad.

ATHENA
You get mad about Risk!

MARY WALLACE
Forget that I said that.

ATHENA
You’re saying this now, but you don’t know how you’re gonna feel.

MARY WALLACE
Here are the possibilities: you win, then you win then next round, you go to Nationals, you get
recruited to like, Brown or something and then you become a lawyer.

ATHENA
I DON’T WANT TO BE A LAWYER I WANNA WORK IN ADVERTISING.

MARY WALLACE
You said that once!

ATHENA
Oh, right that’s true.

MARY WALLACE
Okay. In that scenario, I lose! I don’t go to nationals. I reconsider my options. I know I’m good.
I can send my tape out. I can invite coaches to see me practice. I have a lot of options.

ATHENA
No one gets recruited that way.

MARY WALLACE
Please don’t knock my backup strategy.

ATHENA
I don’t want to do this.

94
 eir buzzer goes: it’s time. Athena and Mary Wallace shake and salut. en -- they fence. We
watch the entire 15 point bout in real time. Mary Wallace wins. ey shake:

MARY WALLACE
What just happened?

ATHENA
You won.

MARY WALLACE
You went slow.

ATHENA
I did not.

MARY WALLACE
You went easy.

ATHENA
I did my best. You beat me.

MARY WALLACE
What just happened?

ATHENA
You fenced well. You won. I’m really proud of you.

MARY WALLACE
I saw you with my eyes. I saw you go slow.

ATHENA
You’re gonna have to fence again.

MARY WALLACE
Why did you do that?

95
ATHENA
I tripped up.

MARY WALLACE
You were so on your game.

ATHENA
I lost it.

MARY WALLACE
You meant to.

ATHENA
I messed up.

MARY WALLACE
What is wrong with you?

ATHENA
You’re just afraid of your own success.

MARY WALLACE
I’m enthralled by my own success, this doesn’t feel like that.

ATHENA
Mary Wallace, you won, it’s a big deal.

MARY WALLACE
It doesn’t feel to me like I won. You took that from me.

ATHENA
What did I take from you? You beat me!

MARY WALLACE
Maybe you knew you were going to lose? And you couldn’t deal with that, so you let me win so
you didn’t have to deal with the fact that you tried your best and failed?

96
ATHENA
Do you think I’m that much of an asshole?

MARY WALLACE
You went slow!

ATHENA
I think you’re scared that you beat me, and now you have to go up against Shayna, and you
might lose.

MARY WALLACE
No, I will crush Shayna. I’m not scared of my success and I’m not worried about beating
Shayna.

ATHENA
Then stop telling me I went easy on you! I don’t feel good right now!

MARY WALLACE
Why did I even say anything? I could have just ignored that you did that.

ATHENA
I don’t know, why did you say anything?

MARY WALLACE
Because you blew it! I spend five hours a day with you, I know when you’re blowing it.

ATHENA
If you want to believe that, if that makes you feel better about beating me then believe it.

MARY WALLACE
Did you think I wouldn’t be able to handle losing?

ATHENA
You’re making me feel so bad right now.

MARY WALLACE
I could have beaten you! I could have beaten you fairly. I was so close.

97
ATHENA
I’m sorry.

MARY WALLACE
You’ve altered a chain of events. I could go to nationals, get recruited, go to school, get a job
and it’s all tied back to this moment. Do you understand? You took all of that from me.

ATHENA
I didn’t take anything from you! I gave it to you.

Mary Wallace is up.

MARY WALLACE
...I have to fence.

Mary Wallace goes.

***

Later. Athena has taken o her fencing gear. Mary Wallace returns with a medal.

MARY WALLACE
It’s a guy on this.

ATHENA
Oh yeah.

MARY WALLACE
They can’t engrave a woman onto these?

ATHENA
The technology doesn’t exist.

MARY WALLACE
Right. … I’ve never been to Seattle before. Maybe I’ll go to the Space Needle. I dunno. All those
tall buildings with observation decks are kind of nauseating and disappointing.

98
ATHENA
I hope you win.

MARY WALLACE
I don’t think that’s realistic. But I think if I keep training as hard as I have I can do really well.

ATHENA
So, I’ll see you on Monday?

Mary Wallace looks at the medal.

MARY WALLACE
I don’t think that’s in the cards for us.

ATHENA
We could take a break?

MARY WALLACE
No. We’re not doing this anymore.

ATHENA
I don’t want to keep fencing if you’re not gonna do it.

MARY WALLACE
Then quit.

ATHENA
I get why you’re mad.

MARY WALLACE
Good.

ATHENA
What can I do to help? Is there anything I can do to help?

MARY WALLACE

99
If you’re gonna quit... I want your stu .

ATHENA
My gear?

MARY WALLACE
Yeah. I want your nice stu .

ATHENA
Fine. I don’t want it. I’ll just keep the lamé.

MARY WALLACE
I want that.

ATHENA
But it has my name on it.

MARY WALLACE
I want that too.

ATHENA
My name?

MARY WALLACE
Yeah. I want it all.

***

Another fencer takes Athena’s place: Jamie. Mary Wallace wears Athena’s lamé. ey’re sparring,
Mary Wallace scores, and screams.

JAMIE
Can you not do that?

MARY WALLACE
Do what?

100
JAMIE
That’s very distracting. When you scream? I’d love it if you didn’t.

MARY WALLACE
I’m not gonna do that.

JAMIE
What?

MARY WALLACE
I said I’m not gonna do that. I’m not gonna stop doing that just because it’s distracting to you.

JAMIE
C’mon, dude. Don’t be like that.

MARY WALLACE
How is it even distracting? I’ve already won at that point. Is it distracting to your sense of
failure?

JAMIE
It is, actually. I’m trying to store what just happened. I’m trying to record to memory exactly
where I went wrong, so I can remember it into the future. And your scream scatters all of those
memories.

MARY WALLACE
It’s allowed.

JAMIE
Lots of things are allowed, it doesn’t make them right.

MARY WALLACE
Haven’t you ever seen someone scream before?

JAMIE
In a bout? Only on TV.

MARY WALLACE

101
Okay. So my theory is, if you wanna get there, you behave like you are there.

JAMIE
I’ve always thought those people looked like such monsters.

MARY WALLACE
Would that be so bad?

JAMIE
Yeah.

MARY WALLACE
If they’re monsters? I mean, it works.

JAMIE
I’m just saying it makes me not want to fence you, you know? It makes me scared.

MARY WALLACE
That’s where you’re wrong.

JAMIE
You think I don’t feel scared?

MARY WALLACE
No, I understand that you feel that way, but you shouldn’t.

JAMIE
Why?

MARY WALLACE
I’m not hurting you.

JAMIE
That’s true.

MARY WALLACE
So it’s something I get to do. And I don’t care if it scares you. … We good?

102
JAMIE
I still hate it.

MARY WALLACE
Then hate it.

End of play.

103