And Now Tomorrow

(NICKI walks out of her house.  MIRA is already standing on her lawn looking up.)

NICKI:  Mira?

MIRA:  We made it, Nicki.

NICKI:  What do you mean?

MIRA:  It’s morning.  No comet.  We made it.

NICKI:  Honey—

MIRA:  I couldn’t sleep.  I put the kids to bed, and I waited for them to fall asleep.  I told them everything would be all right, but then I couldn’t sleep.  I was so worried.  But we made it.  We did it.  It’s a miracle.

NICKI:  It’s coming tomorrow.

(A moment.)

MIRA:  What?

NICKI:  The comet.  It’s coming tomorrow.

MIRA:  No it’s coming tonight.  Last night.  They said so.  They said it was coming last night and it’s morning, so we made it.  They were wrong.  Well, they said there was a chance it wouldn’t come, so they weren’t wrong, but they were—

NICKI:  It’s coming tomorrow.  They said it might, and it is.  It’s not an eighty percent chance anymore, it’s a ninety percent chance.  It’s—changed its trajectory or something, I don’t know.  It was on tv.

MIRA:  But…we made it.

NICKI:  Why don’t you come inside and I’ll make you breakfast?

(She goes to touch her, but MIRA pulls away.)

Dan’s going to work soon.  He still wants to go into the office.  He says there are…things to take care of.  And Vincent has a game.  They haven’t cancelled the game yet.  Maybe they won’t.  Life will go on until it won’t.  I heard somebody say that on the television.  I guess it’s becoming a mantra for a lot of people now:  Life will go on until it won’t.

MIRA:  I’m coming apart, Nicki.

NICKI:  That’s fine.  That’s okay.  Lots of people are.

MIRA:  But we still have time.  And I need to be okay for my kids until—

NICKI:  Send them over to my house for the day.  We’ll make cookies.  You can take a nap.  Then you’ll call, and I’ll send them back over.

MIRA:  I can’t sleep.

NICKI:  Where’s Christian?

MIRA:  Playing golf.  I packed him a lunch.  I said, ‘Go play golf.  We’re safe.’  I lied to my husband.

NICKI:  You didn’t know.

MIRA:  I would have told him to stay home.

NICKI:  I’m sure they have phones at the club.  You should call him.  Have him come home.

MIRA:  To do what?  Watch me fall to pieces?

NICKI:  You need to come inside.  Your house, my house, wherever, but you need to come inside.

MIRA:  I can’t go inside.  I was inside last night and I thought I was going to pass out.  I couldn’t breathe.  It was stunningly bad.  I need to stay outside.  I need to see what happens.

NICKI:  Mira, you’re not going to see a comet streaking across the sky like an airplane.  We might not see it at all.  It might be so fast or—I don’t know.  I don’t know what to expect, but I know that when it happens we should just be…leading our daily lives.  Doing banal things.  Enjoying our life, not freaking out on our front lawns.

MIRA:  Why?!?!  Because the neighbors will see?  Nicki, you are the neighbors.  The other neighbors are gone.  They took off last night.  I saw them.  I saw them go.  Some of them even offered to take me with them if I wanted.  Mrs. Tracy said I could even pack up the kids.  Just not Christian.  She never liked him very much.  But I stayed.  I had faith.  And I was rewarded.  And now it’s all for nothing.

NICKI:  It’s not for nothing.

MIRA:  What am I going to say when the kids wake up?  They thought they just had to make it to today.  That’s what we all thought.

NICKI:  Don’t tell them anything.  I’m not telling mine anything.  Why do you think Vincent’s so excited about his game that’s probably going to be cancelled or maybe it won’t be?

(A moment.)

MIRA:  You’re not going to—

NICKI:  Doctors in Asia don’t tell their elderly patients things are really bad when they’re really bad, because they believe it only makes their declines accelerate.  I always thought that was unfair, but now I see the merit in it.  Why ruin someone’s last few moments on earth by giving them the impossible responsibility of savoring them in a way no human being really can?  I’d rather they just eat bacon, you know?  Bacon and eggs and read the paper and get ready for soccer.  I mean, what else is there?  Sky-diving?

MIRA:  With no parachute.  Catch the comet on the way down and ride it all the way into the ground.

NICKI:  That’s an option, sure.

MIRA:  I’m not really going crazy, you know.  I just want to go crazy to make this whole thing go down easier.  I envy the insane right now.  I’d love nothing more than to be a bag lady living in a mailbox downtown.

NICKI:  That’s an offensive portrait, but I’ll forgive you because you’re upset.

MIRA:  I’m such a bitch, Nicki.  I’ve been a bitch for so long.  And I’m an awful mother.

NICKI:  Don’t be—

MIRA:  Nicki, you’re so much better than I am.  At all of it.  Being a mother, being a wife—

NICKI:  You don’t mean that.

MIRA:  Who doesn’t mean a compliment?

NICKI:  Mira—

MIRA:  And now I have to go inside and not just be Mom, but be Super Mom?  It’s not possible.  It’s just not possible.

NICKI:  I can help.

MIRA:  You should have helped a long time ago.  Too late now.

(A moment.)

NICKI:  Let’s switch.

MIRA:  What?

NICKI:  Houses.  Just for today.

MIRA:  Nicki, just for today—

NICKI:  Just for today.  You go in my house.  Tell Dan your kids asked for the pancakes I make—the ones you have trouble with, so we thought it’d be fun to swap Moms.  He’ll think it’s cute.  Get Vincent ready for the game.  Smile, laugh, be happy—it’ll be easier when it’s someone else’s family.  I’ll do the same at your house.

MIRA:  But—

NICKI:  After a few hours, come out here with me and sit and we’ll talk.  Maybe we can swap for dinner too.  If you want to.

MIRA:  I…

NICKI:  Okay?

(A moment.)

MIRA:  Okay.

NICKI:  Good.  Go get cleaned up.  I’ll start breakfast for your kids.

MIRA:  Nicki?

NICKI:  Yes?

MIRA:  Thank you.

NICKI:  Guess I wasn’t too late after all.

MIRA:  Maybe not.

(NICKI exits.  MIRA looks up again, and breathes.)