Waiting for Barbara Eden

"I miss Albuquerque."
"You've said that."
"I really miss it."
"You say it all the time."
"I ache for it."
"It was...you know...not great."
"The people--"
"That's what I mean."
"The people weren't great."
"No."
"But the place itself."
"Yeah, I guess."
"I'd kill for Albuquerque."
"Take another pillow."

. . . . .

"I love it in here."
"So much fabric."
"I could nap."
"So nap."
"No! It's Friday."
"I don't feel tired at all."
"You can't nap on Friday."
"I feel so awake."
"Do you think she's with a guy?"
"Ask her when she comes."
"Maybe I will nap."
"So nap."
"Maybe I will."
"I'll wait."
"Let me know if she comes."
"I don't mind waiting alone."

. . . . .

"You used to look at me differently."
"Oh yeah?"
"Like I was cute."
"You are cute."
"Yeah."
"I don't look at you differently."
"You look like you're bored."
"I'm not bored."
"Okay."
"I mean I'm bored right now."
"Why?"
"Because we're waiting."
"We've been waiting."
"Exactly."
"We could--"
"What?"
"Never mind."
"No, what could we--"
"Are you kidding?"
"Oh."
"So...no?"
"Not in the mood."
"Okay."
"Just--she's coming. You know?"
"Yeah."
"Why start and then?"
"Never mind."

. . . . .

"I miss the pool."
"The pool and the bar."
"The bar?"
"We used to go."
"You and me?"
"No. Us."
"Ohhh, you mean your friends."
"Yeah."
"I never went."
"No, yeah, I forgot."
"You never invited me."
"Tricky Situation."
"Not really."
"That was the name of the bar--Tricky Situation."
"Weird."
"Amazing bar."
"I probably wouldn't have gone anyway."
"Take a pillow."

. . . . .

"Can you see what's going on outside?"
"Nothing, I bet."
"The windows are hard to see through."
"They're not windows."
"They're glass."
"Just because something's made of glass; it doesn't mean it's a window."
"I think I hear something."
"If you heard something it would be coming from the ceiling, not the glass."
"I hear it everywhere."
"It's probably people talking."
"It sounds louder."
"I don't hear it."
"It's deafening."
"I don't hear anything."

. . . . .

"Do you want to dance?"
"There's no music."
"We can dance anyway."
"Why would we do that?"
"Because we can. Because no one else is here."
"Huh."
"So...no?"
"No, I don't want to."
"Why didn't you just say that?"
"I was looking for a better answer."
"There's never a better answer. There's just the answer."
"I disagree."
"Fine."
"Take a pillow."

. . . . .

"I used to crave you."
"That's weird."
"I think you find honesty weird."
"I do. I do think it's weird."
"To be honest?"
"To just spout off whatever you're thinking."
"So better to just talk inside your own head all the time?"
"Not everyone is interested in everything."
"I am. I'm interested in everything."
"One day you'll learn something and you won't be so interested."
"Like what?"
"Something."
"Is that what happened to you?"
"Huh?"
"Did you find out something that made you not want to know anything?"
"Yeah, kinda."
"What was it?"
"It wasn't really something I learned. It was just something that happened."
"Okay."
"Somebody was cruel to me."
"Oh."
"It was the first time."
"The--"
"The first time someone is cruel to you it changes you. It changes who you're going to be. It just...it changes you."
"Oh. So that's what happened?"
"It was a long time ago. It's like it never even happened anymore. That's the hard part. That it feels like I was always this way. Like it's how I was made."
"Oh."

. . . . .

"Do you think she's coming?"
"She has to eventually."
"Yeah."
"So we'll wait."
"Maybe she'll stay a long time."
"We'll see."
"I feel like each time she goes away; it's for longer. And every time she comes back--"
"Yeah, I know."
"I feel like I'm anticipating her leaving before she even comes back."
"Just have the moment."
"I can't."
"Just have it."
"I can't."
"Just. Be in the present."
"I can't."
"Why?"
"Because the future's weighing down on it. It's bruising it. That's why."
"Take a pillow."

. . . . .

"I miss Albuquerque."
"I know."
"Do you?"
"I can't tell."
"What do you mean?"
"I miss so much that it's hard to see what's sitting in the spots where the missing isn't and what's a part of the missing and what's not and what's part of it and what's not and what's there and what's not there and things move and how do you know anything?"
"I know what's in those spots."
"What spots?"
"The spots in the missing."
"Albuquerque, right?"
"And you. Sometimes. Sometimes you're in those spots."
"But I can move. I can move out of those spots."
"Yeah, I guess you can."

. . . . .

"Is she coming?"
"Why are you asking me that?"
"Because."
"Because?"
"Because I think you know."
"I think you know too."
"So say it."
"You say it first."
"What difference does it make?"
"I don't know. What difference does it make?"
"Is she?"
"I don't know."
"You said--"
"I said 'I think you know.'"
"But--"
"That's all I said!"
"IS SHE COMING?"
"YOU ALREADY KNOW!"
"SO SAY IT!"
"ENOUGH!"

..."Enough"