Short Vignette

CHRIS:
“What’s wrong with this one?”
LISA:
“It’s too mushy, Chris.” Matter of factly
CHRIS:
“Mushy?” wtf.
LISA:
“Yes, It’s love this and love that. It reads like a bad hallmark card.”
CHRIS:
“I thought it was one of the better ones.”
LISA:
“Well, look it’s not all bad. You’ve got the emotions you want down, so now we can just work on making them a little…-”
CHRIS:
“Less Mushy.”
LISA:
“I was gonna say: overly sentimental”Pause.
CHRIS:
“Lisa, what about this one?”
LISA:
“It’s too long.”
CHRIS:
“It’s only five sentences!”
LISA:
“Yeah, but it feels long, like you don’t know what you’re trying to say. You need to cut to the point quicker.”
CHRIS:
“ Cut to the point? It’s an obit, Lisa, not a term paper.”
LISA:
“Fine.”
Pause.
CHRIS:
“Well, how does this sound: ‘New Orleans has been his home now for ____ years, made so by those closest to him, who remained a shining beacon to the end.’
Pause.
LISA:
“What are you trying to say?”
CHRIS:
“Huh?”
LISA:
“What is the point of that line?”
CHRIS:
“just to say that even though New Orleans wasn’t his home, it is now because of his friends, they make it feel like home.”
LISA:
“Ok, then why do you need that last part?”
CHRIS:
“To show just how much they mean to him?”
LISA:
“You get that across before that part, and besides you’ve got a few more parts to do that.”
CHRIS:
“ok.” Pause. “so cut that last part.”
CHRIS:
“Next: ‘He did not measure his life by awards or positions but by his friends. And in that he was a Prince.’”
LISA:
“Why use ‘Prince’?”
CHRIS:
“It was from Freshman English when we had to read the Prince and the Pauper.”
LISA:
“It seems a little… I don’t know, too deep? Maybe for once having a more straightforward line. Like: ‘He lived a full and satisfying life’”
CHRIS:
“’not because of positions or awards but-’”
LISA:
“’positions earned or awards received’ sounds… more full?”
CHRIS:
“ok.” Pause. “’But by those closest to him, with them he could have been a.. pauper, and still the richest man in the world.’”
LISA:
“That sounds a lot better.”
CHRIS:
“Now the last part: ” ‘he is carried on by his friends and family counted as one and the same in his heart, and by his girlfriend who he loved until the end.’?”
LISA:
“Flatterer.”
CHRIS:
smile. “Yeah, so?”
LISA:
“That last part isn’t necessary, it sounds.. forced.”
CHRIS:
“But I want it in there.”
LISA:
“Chris. You don’t need it.”
CHRIS:
“Fine. But what if I change it to: ‘by his friends and family counted as one and the same in his heart, and always.’”
LISA:
“That sounds good.”
LISA:
“What about the last part? About donations or flowers? Whose taking care of that? It just seems… sad, when they ask for donations instead of flowers.”
CHRIS:
“yeah, I know, that’s why I’ve asked my parents to just ask for flowers.”
Pause.
CHRIS:
“So, I guess let’s go over this one more time?”
PAUSE.
LISA:
quiet
“I can’t.”
CHRIS:
“What?” can’t hear her.
LISA:
“I can’t.” pause. “I can’t, Chris.”
CHRIS:
“Can’t what? I don’t-“ baffled
LISA:
“Can’t do it again.”
CHRIS:
“Do? Oh.” Understands what she means literally, wants her to explain more.
Pause.
LISA:
“I can’t keep lying to myself! Telling myself this is someone else’s!”
holds up paper. “It’s yours, Chris! We’re writing your obituary!”
CHRIS:
Pause.
LISA:
“I can’t go over it again. I can’t hear your parents telling me what happened; I can’t hear myself telling it to the others. I see you lying in that coffin. I can’t see myself without…”
CHRIS:
“shush”
LISA:
“Don’t you see how Sick this is!! I’m helping to write my boyfriend’s obituary!”
Pause.
LISA:
“Why do you need to do this!? Why, Chris? Do you not want your parents to write it!? Is that it?”
CHRIS:
“no.”
LISA:
“Do you want it to sound good!?”
CHRIS:
shakes head.
LISA:
“Explain to everyone why you lied!?”
CHRIS:
“No.”
LISA:
“Then why!? I don’t understand! I thought I could do it, but I can’t! Make me understand!”
PAUSE.
CHRIS:
“You don’t get it.”
LISA:
“No, I don’t, Chris. Explain it to me. Please!?”Pause.
CHRIS:
“Lisa. I don’t know when I’m going to die. Soon is all the doctors can say.” Bitter“ Soon. But I don’t know the day, don’t know the hour. Maybe I’m with my family or maybe I’m with our friends. But maybe not. Maybe I’m not able to say all the things I want to say.” Pause.“All the goodbyes I want.”Pause.
CHRIS:
stronger “This way I can. This way I can make sure everything that need to get said, gets said.” Pause.“This way I can be sure my friends know how just how much I love them.”Pause.
LISA:
“But why me, Chris? Why can’t you tell Xander or Matt? They’ve known you the longest, get them to help…”
CHRIS:
“I. need. you, Lisa.”Pause.“Because you know me better than anyone else. You know what I am trying to say. You know the feelings behind them. How much they all mean to me. How important my family, Diana & _____, are to me.”Fear.“You can make sure I say all the things I need to say. And…”
PAUSE.
LISA:
“I’m sorry, Chris.” Pause. “Why don’t we go over it again?”
CHRIS:
“There’s… oh.”Pause. “I’m afraid, Lisa. I’m afraid I won’t get the chance to say good-bye and this scrap of paper with some chicken scratches is all my friends will have, that somehow they are supposed to understand from this.”“Just how much they mean to me. How much my life was made better by them.”
PAUSE.
LISA:
“I understand.”
Pause.
LISA:
“I love you.”
BLACK OUT
LISA:
“Christopher Bartholomew Thompson, 19, of New Orleans, LA, passed from this life on Thursday May 16th, 2000”Chris was born on September 3, 1980 in Shreveport, LA, to Peter and Marianne Thompson. New Orleans has been is home now for _____ years made so by those closest to him. Chris lived a full and satisfying life not because of positions earned or awards received but those around him. With them he could have been a pauper and still the richest man in the world.Christopher is carried on by his friends and family, counted as one and the same in his heart and always.Flowers in remembrance of Chris can be brought to the church. There will be a reception after the funeral.”