AN OFFICE
A Psychologist’s office. There is a single entrance into the room with a bay window that lets in some light. The walls are painted old navy with three inches of white skirting. The stained wooden floor is covered with a contemporary-styled square area rug. Two white leather single seat chairs with blue cushions are on either side of a grey couch. A wooden book case is set against the wall, stage left with various books. A wooden table with a lamp on stage right. Two abstract paintings line the walls.
(It’s late afternoon. ANGELA is brought into the office of Dr Adams. She is offered a seat.)
SECRETARY
Mrs Prescod, make yourself comfortable. The Dr will be with you shortly.
(She opts to sit on the couch but the Secretary signals for her to sit on the patient’s chair at the Doctor’s desk. She moves to sit at the desk. She glances at the Doctor’s desk and plays with items like a child, knocking over things, which makes noise. She hurriedly fixes the items back neatly and tries to compose herself. She glances at her rose gold MK watch then at the door. No one has been alerted by the noise. She crosses her legs and turns open the Doctor’s chair to face her, then rehearses what she’s going to say.)
ANGELA
Dr Adams! Good afternoon, my name is Angela Prescod. I am thirty years old. I have been married for two years. I don’t have any children. I work at the Ministry of Tourism as a human resource manager. I am here because my husband thinks I have a drinking problem. I don’t have a drinking problem. I have only passed out once, just that one time, and he’s obviously overreacting. I had but one bottle of Lamothe Parrot. It was the week we were doing evaluations at work, it was pretty hectic and I wanted to unwind a bit….
…I told him I had worked through my lunch hour and forgot I didn’t eat.
(She nods confidently, looks at her watch and goes to the door. She presses her ear to the door then composes herself.)
OK, let’s try this again…. Hi, Dr Adams! How are you? So nice of you to agree to meet with me.
(Her phone rings.)
Hi, Joseph! . . . OK, but now is not a good time, I can’t talk now. I’m in the Doctor’s office waiting…. No! No! Joseph, I’m not pregnant, I just needed to see the Doctor about something. Let me call you later. Hotel Casa Maya?… OK, I will make my way by taxi. See you when I get there…. Yes, see you.
(Kisses)
Ooops! Joseph, did you say the 25th? I won’t be able to do that, I just remembered that I have something very, very important on the 25th . . . . I can’t tell you now, I’ll call you later.
(The door opens and the Secretary enters.)
SECRETARY
Mrs Prescod, the doctor will be with you shortly.
(The Secretary leaves.)
ANGELA
Joseph, the secretary has just walked in, I got to go…. Yes Joseph, I’m fine, I will call you later…. Me, too.
(She ends the call and rushes to the door. She takes her phone and places it into her bag, takes up her bag and goes towards the door. When she gets to the door she turns around and starts over.)
Hi, Dr Adams! So nice of you to agree to see me. I had to take off early from work today and I am really tired. Is there any way we can reschedule for an earlier time next week, say, Tuesday? I don’t know what to do. I have this relationship with this man, that I know I have to stop but I don’t want to. Sex with him feels right, but sex with my husband does not.
(She gives a hysterical laugh and composes herself. She sits on one of the single seat chairs. Wanting something to occupy her time she takes out a half-eaten pack of chocolate out of her bag, breaks off piece and eats. After a few seconds, she glances at her watch. She is a bit uneasy; the Doctor still hasn’t arrived. She goes to her bag and takes out a piece of tissue and wipes the corners of her eyes.)
I’ve been feeling a bit down lately. I’m here because I think my drinking is affecting my marriage. I have all these deadlines at work which I have not met, I try to put in over-time, and by the time I get home I’m drained….
…It’s hard to talk to Marlon, because he hears me but doesn’t really listen. I am not an alcoholic, I only drink red wine. After a long day at work, all I need is a nice warm bath and some quiet time, is that too much to ask for? But he wants to make love. I don’t mind if it’s just plain sex, you know, something quick, but he wants all this foreplay.
(Goes to her handbag)
I can’t make love when I’m tired.
(Takes a compact and lipstick from her bag.)
I love my husband and want my marriage to work, but sometimes I feel as though my marriage is a chore.
(Closes compact and replaces it in the bag.)
Truth is I hate what he does.
(She takes out a pack of cigarettes.)
Last week he brings home this lacy, edible lingerie.
(Takes out a lighter from her bag.)
That man makes me put them on. He makes me lie on the bed, and then he starts to kiss me all about my body. He kisses my inner thigh, and at the moment his tongue starts to enter my vagina my entire body just shuts down, completely frozen. I must have been unresponsive for about a whole minute. When I caught myself, I was in tears. Marlon asked me what happened, and I told him I had no idea. I couldn’t tell him, I just couldn’t. I just hate when he kisses me like that there.
(She crushes the cigarettes in her hands.)
Uncle Carl, from the time I was little, would stay with us when he comes on vacation from sailing. And mommy and I would be very happy to have him home. He would put me on his lap and show me all the beautiful pictures of all the places in the world he had travelled to. He promised that when I grew up he would take me on the ship to see all those beautiful places.
And then, on my thirteenth birthday to be exact, he brought me a pretty pink lacy nightgown, which really was a negligee. He called me to his room and asked me to put it on. He said he had another surprise for me: he lifted me and placed me on his bed then he asked me to close my eyes. He and mom know I love surprises…. So I closed my eyes. And then I felt his lips, he kissed me from my feet to my inner thigh and then my vagina, and I didn’t know what to do so I just sat there with my eyes closed. Everything went quiet. It made my body tingle, then I felt him stop. And I opened my eyes.
When I looked at Uncle Carl, he was stone still and staring at the door. I turned and there she was, my mother, staring at me, motionless. I looked at her, frozen. After a few seconds she turned around, closed the door, leaned her head onto the door and cried and cried and cried.
At the sound of the door, Uncle Carl got up from between my thighs. I just sat there not knowing what to do. Uncle Carl went to her, but she walked past him and came straight to where I was on the bed and slapped me across my face. She was very angry, she dragged me off the bed, told me that I was a disgrace to my family and I felt I was a big woman. She made me take off the negligee. I looked at Uncle Carl, but he just stood in a corner quietly, he had turned his back to us. I put back on my clothes and mom watched me as I dressed. Then she sent me to my room.
The next morning when I woke up, I saw Uncle Carl packing. He came into the kitchen as I was making breakfast, and just as he was about to approach me, mom came into the room. They looked each other in the eye, then he turned, picked up his suitcase and left. She watched him from the window and cried as he went through the gate.
(She goes to her bag and takes out a canister and takes a swig.)
My mom took me to the clinic that day. I didn’t know where I was going at first, she just told me to get dressed and we left in a hurry. Throughout the entire journey, my mom never spoke to me.
I couldn’t remember the last time I went to clinic. When we got to the clinic, everyone was staring at me. I felt as though I had the letter A on my dress.
(Takes another swig.)
I don’t know what my mom said to the nurse, but I had to undress and she examined me. She was very rough, and she took two of her fingers and inserted them into my vagina. When she was finished, she called my mom into the room and told her that I was fine. Mom looked at the nurse and clasped her hands and cried. Again.
(She corks the bottle and replaces it in the bag.)
When we returned home, mom took me too my room and told me never to talk about this incident ever. She packed my things into a little suitcase.
(She takes a cigarette from the pack.)
Then she took the negligee…
(She takes out the lighter.)
…placed it in an old galvanised bucket, poured kerosene on it…
(She ignites the lighter.)
…and burnt it in the yard. That evening, we took a bus to Aunty Hilda’s house ten miles away. I stayed with her until my eighteenth birthday.
I never saw Uncle Carl again.
(She glances at her watch and is in disbelief that the Doctor still hasn’t arrived. She takes a fan out of her bag and fans herself. After a few seconds she checks her watch once more then goes to the door. She goes to the desk and takes a pen and writes on a notepad.)
Dr Adams, I’m sorry, but at this moment I really need to go home. We will have to reschedule for another time, I will make the appointment with your secretary.
Goodbye.
(Angela takes her handbag and leaves the office. Halfway to the door she pauses and returns to the desk. She writes in big letters on another page.)
HAVE A NICE DAY!
Angela.
(She leaves.)
THE END