A Gamble

            (LIZ and JO are at a casino.)

LIZ:  It’s all you’ve got.

JO:  I know.

LIZ:  It’s rent money.

JO:  I know, I know.

LIZ:  You’re being really reckless.

JO:  Wait, no, I’m not.  If the comet hits—

LIZ:  It might not though.

JO:  Yeah, but if it does—

LIZ:  Jo—

JO:  Liz—

LIZ:  It might not.

JO:  But if it does, who cares about the rent?

LIZ:  If you win, and then it does, what good is you winning?

JO:  Because I’ve never won anything and I really want to win something.  I want to feel like a winner before I die.

LIZ:  Then go buy a scratch ticket for a dollar.  Don’t spend your rent money.

JO:  Do you know that I have never done one careless thing in my entire life?  Never.  Now is the time to be careless.  After years of hearing people say ‘There’s only today, there’s only today’—Now there might really BE only today, and I’m supposed to—what?  Play it safe?

LIZ:  There is never JUST today.  You never know when today is it.  Even if this is it, you wouldn’t know that.  You’re never going to really know that.

JO:  But there’s a possibility.

LIZ:  Yes, there’s always a possibility.  There doesn’t have to be a comet for there to be a possibility, Jo.  People get hit by buses everyday.  But none of those people plan to get hit by buses.  None of us plan on today being it.  You can’t do that.  And you can’t do that now.  It’s irresponsible.

JO:  Liz, if I can’t be irresponsible now, when a piece of rock the size of Connecticut is hurtling towards Earth, then when CAN I be irresponsible?

LIZ:  You say that like there’s supposed to be some designated time when you’re allowed to act like an idiot?  You know when that time is?  When you’re a child.  When you don’t have rent to pay.  You had your time.

JO:  Yeah, and I wasted it.  Because I had a mom like you always standing over me saying ‘Be careful, be careful!’

LIZ:  Look, you do what you want.  But I’ve got my rent for this month, and if you don’t have yours, I can’t cover you.  My tips have sucked lately, and I’m not at the diner tonight, because I had to come here and make sure you weren’t throwing your entire life away at a roulette table.  Right now, two women who are way too old to be waitressing are manning an entire—

JO:  Oh stop, nobody’s at a diner tonight.  Look around you.  Everybody’s here.  Everybody’s taking risks!  It’s the time for it, Liz.  It really is.

LIZ:  What it is—is sad.

JO:  When did we become Mulder and Scully?  When did that happen?  Did I used to be like you or did you used to be like me, because I swear to God, we were not always this far apart from each other.

LIZ:  I’ve always been your anchor because you’ve always flown way too close to the flame, Jo.  That’s what this is.  That’s what this has always been.  And it’s okay.  A lot of friendships are like that.  But now you want to dive into the flame and you want me to watch and I can’t do that.

JO:  What if I win?

LIZ:  You’re not going to win.

JO:  Yeah, but what if I do?

LIZ:  You won’t.

JO:  How do you know that?

LIZ:  You said yourself you never—

JO:  But how do you know this time isn’t going to be—

LIZ:  Because you’re not a winner, okay?

            (A beat.  JO looks at her.  LIZ feels…)

LIZ:  I mean—neither of us are.  You or me.  We’re just not—and that’s not going to change because of now--because it would be really cool if it did.  It’s not going to just because it would be nice.  That’s not how it works.

JO:  I want to try.

LIZ:  And then what?

JO:  Then I’ll be one of those people who can say—I tried.  I’m sick of being the person who says ‘I never tried but look how mediocre my life is.  Things could be worse.’  Screw that.  I’m trying.

LIZ:  I can’t watch this.  I can’t watch you self-destruct.

JO:  You don’t have to watch it, but you also don’t have to put me back together if I fall apart.  That’s not your job.

LIZ:  I think it is.

JO:  Well, not anymore.  Things are changing, right?  I mean, they have to change.  The Universe is sending along a giant brick to our collective heads to ensure that we change, so—hey—let’s change.  Let’s not have me be the mess and you be the broom anymore, okay?  Sound good?

LIZ:  Why don’t you start by making a good decision right now?

JO:  Because I’m in a casino, and gambling is happening all around me, and the money feels heavy in my purse, but most of all—most of all, Liz—it’s the same reason people have been making bad decisions since the beginning of time.

LIZ:  Oh yeah?  What’s the reason?

JO:  Because I.  Feel.  Lucky.

            (A beat.)

LIZ:  Okay.

JO:  Okay?

LIZ:  Yeah, okay.

JO:  That’s it?

LIZ:  You have to win.

JO:  I’m going to try.

LIZ:  Nope.  No trying.  Win.  I’m serious.  Because now I need it.  Now I need you to win.

JO:  Liz—

LIZ:  You want to stop being the mess?  Fine.  But I want something too.  I want to start being the hopeful one.  I want to start believing in things.  Stupid as that sounds, it’s what I want.  So I need you to win for m as a sign that I can stop being the wet mop all the time and start having fun because good things happen to people like us.  I need a good thing to happen—to you or me, but I guess, in this case, you.  So you better win, Jo.  You’d better win.

            (A beat.)

JO:  When you put it like that, I kinda just want to go home.

LIZ:  Ha ha.

JO:  Something good has to happen before nothing good can ever happen again, right?  I mean, that just makes sense, doesn’t it?

LIZ:  Yeah.  It does.

JO:  So why not us?

LIZ:  Hey, even a broken clock is right twice a day.

JO:  Here’s hoping.

            (JO goes off to place a bet.  LIZ closes her eyes and says a prayer.)