Guest of the Guest

October 11th, 2020

Starring: Jana (female, early 30’s), Julian (male, early 30’s)

Night.  Jana (driver) and Julian (passenger) are in the car, driving home.  They’re moderately dressed up.  A few moments of silence before:

JULIAN

I know you’re gonna strike down this defense with a molten fury

But he had no sense of humor

JANA

I warned you though.  I warned you in our pre walk-in overview that he wasn’t a funny kind of guy.

JULIAN

You said he was “a tad rigid.”

JANA

And when your flat Earth joke bombed during the soup course, I figured you’d take the hint.

JULIAN

I assumed everyone in the room was too smart to believe that.

JANA

He’s my boss.  I know who he is at work, but who knows who he is at home?  Did you see my face when he opened the door in a Hawaiian shirt?

JULIAN

He did smirk at the joke.

JANA

He was being polite.  He felt sorry for you.

JULIAN

You told me to play up the boyish charm, I played up the boyish charm.

JANA

It took out all the air in the room.

JULIAN

Nobody else was taking any.  I was doing everyone a service.  Your colleague—whateverhisname—

JANA

Ellis—

JULIAN

Ellis talked like seven times the whole night!  And his wife, she pretty much didn’t say a damn thing until we brought up the Mexico resort story.  Like...they left us out to dry!  Someone had to engage somehow!

JANA

It wasn’t your place.

JULIAN

Why?

JANA

You’re the guest of the guest.  

JULIAN

So if I’m just the plus one, I have to sit around with my legs crossed and hear the pins drop?

JANA

If you want me to have a job and help pay your grad school?

Yeah.  Yeah you do.

They drive in silence, until they hit a red light.  Jana looks over to Julian:

JANA

He’s not gonna fire me.

He’s just gonna judge the hell out of me.

JULIAN

So let him.  He doesn’t get to pay you based on the person you decide to spend your life with.  

Plus, we know what we have.

I mean...

Don’t we?

JANA

Of course we do.

The light changes to green.

END OF PLAY

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Nurturer’s Manifesto