The Padded Room of Love

I wrote this as a play about two friends of mine.  The class I wrote it for dismissed it as unrealistic.  Most of this is factual and in fact ver batem quotes.

Characters:

DAVID, a graduate student living in a large apartment paid for through his cushy government job.  Aged in his late 20’s.

JACK, an unemployed young man, friend of David, who is always stopping by the apartment and hanging out.  Is currently dating Anna when he can afford it.  Age 20.

ANNA, Jack’s ostensible girlfriend, has money through her well off parents, with whom she lives.  Goes to community college and is also close friends with DAVID, and stops by the apartment often as well, most often with Jack.  Aged early 20’s.

ACT I

Setting:

David’s apartment living room, the present.

David is sitting in a chair in the living room, reading.  Jack knocks, enters without waiting for a reply, and sits down too.

JACK

[sighing] Well, David, I did it.  I talked to her.

DAVID

What do you mean “her?”  Did what to who?

JACK

I talked to Anna.  I told her it wasn’t working.

DAVID

[incredulous] Jack.  Why the fuck did you do that?

JACK

Yeah.  I told her I just couldn’t do it anymore.

DAVID

But why?  That’s like… Really sad, man.

JACK

[sighing] Yeah I know.  I mean she’s a good girl and all, it’s just that, I mean, I just don’t have feelings for her like I thought I did.  I think I’ve fallen in love with someone else.

DAVID

Someone else?  Like who?

JACK

Well, don’t tell anyone but…  You remember Mary?

DAVID

[stammering, incredulous] Um… That one girl from Scotland?  The one who’s pictures you’re always liking? The super emo looking one?  The 16-year-old one?  I know you’re just kidding me.  I know this just a prank, because you are not that fucking stupid.

JACK

Yeah I know, I know… Me and her just have a lot in common, you know?  And she’s not emo!

DAVID

Ok, Goth. Whatever.

JACK

 She’s just like, alt.  She only dresses that way to look cool.

DAVID

Cool? [shouting] She looks like a necromancer, out of a video game!

JACK

Yeah! Like the one in Guild Wars!  Isn’t that cool?

DAVID

[Shaking his head] I can’t believe I’m hearing this.  This is crazy.  You’re crazy.  She’s a fucking kid.

JACK

Yeahhhh… Yeah…  I know…  But I mean, she’ll be 17 in like, 2 months.  We just have so much in common.  We both like Marilyn Manson a lot and, um…

DAVID

This is insane.  Is this because you haven’t been sleeping well?  I mean I know you haven’t slept in like a couple of days or something.  I think you need to rest on this.

JACK

Yeah that’s what was keeping me up.  For a while I thought I really liked Anna, and it was so much easier to be with her.  But when she was over here this last weekend, this all hit me.

DAVID

What hit you?  That you’d decided you’d made too many rational, reasonable choices in your life?  That it was better to chase a bird in the bush rather than be content with the perfectly fine one in your hand?

JACK

Mary told me she liked me and stuff, and at first I was like “I think you’re a great girl, but you’re a bit too young for me,” but the more I talked to her, the more I couldn’t help falling in love with her.

DAVID

What? Over Facebook?  You’re in love with this image you’ve created of her in your mind.  You don’t really know her.  She, too, likes an image that she’s created of you, not the real you.  She’s as clueless as you are.

JACK

She’s like, really mature for her age though.  I mean, I’m only 20 and she’ll be 17 in a few months.  I mean it isn’t that bad.

DAVID

Isn’t that bad?  If you were 30 and she was 26, it would be completely different.  But it isn’t.  A 16-year-old girl is going through a lot of changes.  She’s going to be very different in a year, more so in 2, and still more by the time she’s 20.

JACK

 I’m going to visit her later this year.  I’ve been saving up and I’ll stay with my cousin Danny.  I’ve always wanted to see Scotland!

DAVID

With what money?  You have no job.  You know why Anna was so great? Because she seemed to love you, despite you never getting anything for her, despite you never having money for her, despite you never being able to take her out.  She never judged you for your poverty.  All that aside, how the fuck are you going to pay for a trip to the UK, which is absurdly expensive anyway?

JACK

I’m going to use my tax return.

DAVID

That is not income.  That is a one-time bonus.  That is something you would be far better off squirreling away for unanticipated expenses.  Not… Blowing it on trips to visit teenage girls in fucking Scotland.

JACK

I’ll be staying with Danny, remember?  I’ll save a ton of money.

DAVID

That’s not a real solution.  This is crazy, and not in the funny, cool way.  This sort of thing works out in books and stupid rom-com movies.  Not so much in real life.

JACK

Yeah, I know.  I’d laugh at myself too in your shoes.  But she’s literally perfect for me.  Like if I made a check list about all the things I’d like in a person, she would fill every box.  I don't think I’ll ever meet a cute, intelligent, Marilyn Manson loving, guitar playing, brilliant artist and singer with super long hair that collects exotic animals.

DAVID

 [sputtering angrily] That’s your fucking checklist?  That’s the ideal woman? Long hair and loves Manson?  Likes snakes?

JACK

The only thing that bothers me is the age difference which - she teases me about constantly. [laughs]

DAVID

You know why its bothering you? That’s your fucking conscience, pleading in vain for you to start loving sanity more than teenagers.   How would you even do this?  You go to Scotland once, then what? Gonna have a long distance relationship from here to there?  What is your end game on this? What plan of action could you have?

JACK

Well, she’ll probably be coming here for art school in like a year and then we’ll see what happens.

DAVID

This is madness.  Not cool Sparta madness, just the batshit crazy kind.  I’ll talk to you later man.  You need to go and do some thinking and get some sleep.  This is just insane.

David gets up exits the room.  The scene ends, and Jack leaves as well.

ACT II

Setting: David’s apartment, the day after Act I.

David is sitting in the living room reading, when Anna and Jack knock and walk in.

DAVID

 [surprised] Well, uh, hi.  I wasn’t exactly expecting to see you two… together.

ANNA

 [laughing] Yeah, can you believe it?  This guy wants to break up with me.

Anna and Jack sit down next to each other on the couch.

DAVID

Um.  You seem to be taking that rather well.

ANNA

Yeah.  I kind of already knew he was into someone else, and so I didn’t take it too seriously.

DAVID

 [incredulous] So you just kept kind of quasi-dating anyway?   

JACK

[laughing] yeah I guess so!

DAVID

And that seems normal and fine to you?

ANNA

We’re just friends.  I actually support him in this.

DAVID

You what?  Is this like your way of getting revenge?  Encouraging this lunacy?

ANNA

No! I really think it might work out or something.  They seem to like each other.

DAVID

So he’s not only gone insane, but you have too?  I feel like I’m in the looney bin listening to two crazies in straightjackets telling me that up is down, and that the sky is red. 

Anna and Jack laugh together.

DAVID

I’m glad you find it so… amusing.  I don’t know whether to laugh or cry listening to this nonsense.  Maybe it’s good that there’s no screaming or hitting each other, but this is just bizarre.

JACK

Eh, we’ll see what happens, you know?

DAVID

What happens is you guys drag out this farce while you pretend to love her, and then in a year she realizes that you’re not what she thought you were, or vice versa, and you go your separate ways.

JACK

[laughing] Yeah man, maybe.  Shit’s weird.  Hey, we’re going to go catch a flick, see you later.

DAVID

You’re going on a date?  I feel like I’m the only one around here who isn’t huffing paint.

Laughing, Anna and Jack leave.  The scene ends.

ACT III

Setting: A large public park

David and Anna are walking together on the path through a park.

DAVID

So it’s been a dramatic couple of days.

ANNA

Yeah, I mean I knew this was coming.  I already knew he liked her better.

DAVID

So um... Why put up with it?  I mean that seems a little absurd to stick around with him in the face of that.  It’s not like you guys even dated that long.

ANNA

[shrugging] I don’t know.  We talked and I told him I’ll be there anyway if she doesn’t work out, and since he’s got like a year left until she’ll get here anyway.

DAVID

[incredulous] Wait so… you’ve basically told him you’re ok with being the side chick while he pines after another woman?  Do you realize how you sound?

ANNA

[looking away] Yeah, I know.  It’s just that I mean, it might be the best I can get.

DAVID

 [concerned] That’s insane.  You’re still young and beautiful and smart.  Even if you weren’t, there’s no reason for you to… degrade yourself like this.

ANNA

The thing is its still better than I’ve been treated in the past.  Like, I don’t want to give this up completely and just go back to being lonely.

DAVID

[shocked] But that’s crazy!  How on earth will you find any sort of happiness or genuine love with that mentality?  Why would you settle so low?

ANNA

 I don’t know.  It’s just what I’m used to.  He still talks affectionately to me when we’re in bed together, and it’s nice.

DAVID

[sputtering in surprise] Wait… You’re sleeping with him still?  So he ostensibly sets you aside to proclaim his love for this fucking girl he’s never met overseas, and still fucks you on the side?  That’s love?  That’s a relationship?  I’m not sure who’s getting the worse end of the stick, you or this other girl.  He obviously doesn’t care that much for her if he still warms his bed with you.

ANNA

 I know it sounds crazy, it’s just all I’ve had.

DAVID

 It breaks my heart to hear you say that.  You deserve better.  Everyone does.

ANNA

Do I really? What you say sounds so logical, but, deep down, I just don’t believe that.

DAVID

Then there’s your problem.  And until you do, you’ll never find something remotely satisfying.  This entire thing is a train wreck and you seem to be aware of that, yet you just continue on anyway?  I’m not sure which of you is more crazy.

ANNA

Yeah.  I don’t think they’ll last too long anyway, then he might come back.

DAVID

Of course it won’t.  It’s a ridiculous pipe dream and the odds are she’ll realize he’s not whatever image her teenage mind has constructed of him, and grow out of him, and probably fairly quickly.  When that happens, you would have to be afflicted with the worst sort of servility and defeat to take him back.  I can’t imagine what sort of self-esteem fail you’d have to have, to accept that state of affairs.

ANNA

[placing her hand on her abdomen] I know. I’m not stupid.  It’s just that I’m holding out hope that he changes his mind and sticks around when the baby comes.

DAVID

[eyes tightly closed in a wince as he stops walking] Oh Jesus Christ.

Scene ends.

Open Letter to Senator Cruz

This was written to Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) during the GOP primary, late may 2016.  It is reposted here as a matter of record.

Dear Senator Cruz, and whomever else is concerned with the current state of affairs,

I am writing this letter to express my opinion, and offer my advice for your consideration, regarding the current speculation regarding the potential of some sort of collaboration or rapprochement between you and Mr. Donald Trump. I am writing this also in case you are considering succumbing to the well-known pressure from the entrenched party elites to endorse Mr. Trump in the name of “unity” of a political party. I am writing as one who is also being surrounded by clamor to pay homage to a golden calf, and to embrace ideas that I have always opposed, and renounce other ideas that I have held in higher regard than any party or organization. I am writing this as an open letter as well, for any who may desire words to consider regarding what we, who have thought ourselves lifelong Christians and conservatives, ought to do, now that our party (or former party) has seen fit to anoint a man utterly repulsive to everything we stand for, as its presumptive nominee.

I am not a man of such prose and eloquence so as to fully capture all the reasons why acquiescence in this would be terrible, but I will attempt anyway. Perhaps I need only point to the example of Dr. Ben Carson, who has sullied himself with the naïve notion that lending his good name and character to a man of Mr. Trump’s stripe will somehow benefit him, or America, or anyone except Mr. Trump. What has since become of him? Has Mr. Trump apologized to him even once, even in private, for comparing him with a child molester?

If you agreed to a similar fate, you would utterly cease to know what stature and respect you currently command, even in your difficulties. You would fade from all respect both in the eyes of the principle and the eyes of politics, as you would cease to stand out. You would simply be merely another anonymous face in the crowd of sycophants at a king’s court. By failing to be distinct, or principled, and merging with the vast sea of those who are cynical and corrupt, you would fail to be noteworthy any further. In addition, you would be accepting him and all the base lies he has spewed about you (and still worse, your wife and father, among others).

If you carry on the fight, however, know that you will undoubtedly pay a heavy price. Successful in the election or not, be assured that Mr. Trump and the leadership of the Republican Party, the same establishment that Mr. Trump has railed against in feigned outrage, will seek to end your career and public service. You will, like the rest of us who have refused to prostrate ourselves before him, be called a traitor, a coward, a spoilsport, a poor loser, and a shill for Hillary Clinton. Do not be deterred! Some have said that it is time to bend our knee to their messiah, to accept his victory, and fall into line behind him, that he may bring forth his contradictory and vague utopia. Yet this I cannot do, as I know of only one messiah, and He has not walked among us for some two thousand years.

Even if they were to somehow take everything from you, leaving you naked in the gutter, you would have the one thing that no man can take without your consent: your dignity. With your dignity in place, you are still richer in spirit than any billionaire, and that is worth far more, as not even all the material wealth in the world can buy character, integrity, or a good legacy. Strip away a man’s façade, and you will see who he truly is, for richer or for poorer. What are you, truly? We can reasonably imagine what our present domestic enemies would look like, stripped of their trappings and status: vain, insecure, shallow, cowardly wretches, scheming and conniving with and against each other as they try to chase the prevailing wind. You, however, may show a different example to an America yearning for any kind of real leadership at all. So long as you stand with your spine straight, however persecuted, poor, and hated you may be, then you stand taller than even the highest mountain.

While it is true that Jeremiah, and what few faithful remained, could not alone prevent the fall of Jerusalem, and that his words were not heeded until the fated hour had already come to pass, and doom had already been decreed, he still stands shining through the ages as an example of faithful courage and fidelity to virtue. He was imprisoned and treated far worse than any of us ever were, for the crime of speaking the truth. How can we be any less than he? Was he spat upon less than us? Were his words derided as treason and folly any less?

Supposing we were to bend our knee to this man, what would necessarily follow? Are we then to acknowledge the bankruptcy of all our principles? Shall we admit to the whole world that we have no answer to a statist populism, the inbreeding of liberalism with incoherent anger? Are we to become Democrats, and our party one of essentially the same ideas masquerading in a patriotic guise, promoting the illusion of any distinction? Where then will arise the counterpoint to these foolish and emotional notions that are strangling America? Will that shining city on a hill that was founded centuries ago be allowed to become a hollow and dead husk, for want of good men to champion its cause? If Mr. Trump is considered an acceptable compromise of everything we have ever claimed to stand for, then who exactly is too far? Will the legacy of Lincoln, Reagan, and others, truly be forsaken?

If we are too cowardly to stand against the wind, then who can we count on to do so in the future? When the time comes for an even more abject surrender of whatever pitiful shreds are left, what example shall we leave them, if we demonstrate that at the crucial hour, we simpered quietly and obediently in pathetic moral weakness? Will we be looked upon as the men of Munich are, as the men of Vichy are: collaborators in our own debasement and destruction? Will they ask why there was not even one last besieged outpost of the values that the nation was built upon? Will they even know what those values are, if we allow our backs to sag now, our nerves to fail us, and meekly accept the easy wrong over the hard right?

It may be that God has already determined this to be an hour of testing and trial. Perhaps the likes of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and Donald Trump, and worse, are foreordained, and that their madness must come into the world, and, for a time, lead America into a dark wilderness. Woe to us, however, if we should aid and abet such malcontents with our silence and complacence! To paraphrase the immortal words of Martin Treptow: we must act as if the whole issue of the struggle depended on each of us alone. If the last public holdouts of decency, liberty, tradition, and faith sell out, then that cause will be dealt a debilitating blow from which it may not recover. Even if it does, we would all do well to recall the warning of Mordecai to Esther: that relief and succor may come even if we refuse this cup, but it will fail to absolve our guilt, nor cleanse the tiniest amount of our disgrace.

It is in light of these reflections that I prevail upon you to stay the course, to maintain the fight, to be the leader America needs, even if that does not bring you to the White House or other pinnacles of worldly power. While you must never succumb to the hubris that has become the hallmark of this interloper, I implore you to endeavor to be the last major voice of our American cause, especially if none other is able or willing to take that mantle or bear that wearisome burden. Even if the only person standing with you for our values, our principles, our basic American way of life, is me (and certainly I am not alone), then nevertheless stand you must!

-          Joshua Nybo