Unwell Season 5/Episode 12 - Remaining
by Bilal Dardai
A Roadmap
How the story will be told
Goodnight, Mt. Absalom.
Content Advisories for this episode can be found here.
Support Unwell and HartLife NFP on Patreon at www.patreon.com/hartlifenfp
This episode features: Clarisa Cherie Rios as Lily, Marsha Harman as Dot, Amelia Bethel as Marisol, Kat Hoil as Abbie, Pat King as Chester, Corrbette Pasko as Maureen, Clint Worthington as Russel, and Michael Turrentine as Wes.
Written by Bilal Dardai, sound design by Jeffrey Nils Gardner, directed by Jeffrey Nils Gardner, assistant director Lauren Grace Thompson, recording engineer Mel Ruder, associate producer Ani Enghdahl, “Goodnight Mt. Absalom” written and sung by Jessica Best, with piano by Eli Hamada McIlveen, Unwell theme written by Stephen Poon, produced by haydée r. souffrant, Unwell lead sound designer Eli Hamada McIlveen, Executive Producers Eleanor Hyde and Jeffrey Nils Gardner, by HartLife NFP.
===
AS IF IN THE DREAM. THE SOUND OF FLOORBOARDS AND WALL TIMBERS GENTLY CREAKING.
LILY: (NARRATING) Once upon a time there was a little
girl who was lost in the woods. Except she didn’t
realize she was lost. She thought the woods were
a place she had always been, and so it felt like
home to her. (BEAT) Yeah, nah. I’m not telling it
this way. (BEAT) Once there was a town in the
middle of Ohio named Mt. Absalom. Mt. Absalom
felt similar to most Midwestern towns...a small
and quiet community made of people whose families
had been there for generations and some who had
just arrived recently. It was a town of record
stores and ice cream shops, a town that loved the
night sky and put on a festival each year in
honor of the celery crop. It was also a town
filled with ghosts.
THE SOUND OF THE BOARDS AND
TIMBERS GROWS LOUDER AND MORE
VIOLENT AS FENWOOD TWISTS ITSELF
BACK INTO ITS ORIGINAL SHAPE, ONCE
AND FOR ALL.
LILY: (NARRATING) Until one day, when it wasn’t.
MARISOL AND DOT POUNDING AT A DOOR
AND CALLING THROUGH IT.
MARISOL: Lily?!
DOT: Lilybelle?!
MARISOL: Are you in there? Say something! Lily!
A WHIRLING RUSH OF AURAL FURY, CULMINATING IN A SUCKING IN OF THE WATER- AND A MASSIVE SIGH
THE SOUND OF LILY HEAVILY CLIMB THE STAIRS FROM THE
BASEMENT.
SILAS: “You truly think this is best? You truly think
this is best? Truly think this is best? Truly
this is best? Truly is best? Best? Truly? Best?
Truly? Best? Truly?”
THE POUNDING AT THE DOOR INTRUDES
AND OVERTAKES, AND THE ECHOES FADE
ENTIRELY TO NOTHING. THE HOUSE IS
ONLY A HOUSE.
DOT: Try again!
MARISOL: (PULLING AT DOORKNOB) It’s not...!
LILY: Mom?
DOT: Lily?
MARISOL: Are you alright?
LILY: I’m okay. Are you?
MARISOL: We’re fine. I think we’re fine. The house, it...
LILY: Hold on, I can barely hear...(PUSHING AT
DOOR)...just a little bit...stuck...move out of
the way. (THE DOOR BURSTS OPEN) There!
DOT: Oh thank heavens. Lily! Lily come here. (EMBRACES
HER) I was so afraid.
LILY: I know, Mom.
DOT: Don’t you ever, and I mean ever, disappear behind
a supernatural basement door again, do you hear
me?
LILY: Yes, Mom.
DOT: (HALF-LAUGHING AND CRYING) You can smoke pot and
go street racing and hang out at strip clubs all
you want, young lady, but no more visits with
Ones Who Bloom. Are we clear?
LILY: (LAUGHING) Okay, Mom. Okay. (BEAT) Wait, what
happened up here? Where’s all the water?
MARISOL: Yeah...things got a little weird up here.
Weird-er.
DOT: Fenwood shifted a bit. No that’s not it, what’s
the word. Shit. Shuffled.
MARISOL: Oh my god, everyone in the...(RUNS TO THE
STAIRS)...Abbie! Chester! Is everyone okay up
there?
DOT: Like we were inside a...cube. Puzzle cube.
Rubik’s cube.
MARISOL: Abbie!
ABBIE: (COMES DOWN A FEW STEPS AND CALLS) We’re fine!
The attic walls, they... Chester’s trying to calm
everyone down.
DOT: An angry eight year-old with a Rubik’s cube.
ABBIE: It got cramped. I thought we were going to
be...(TAKES A DEEP BREATH) But it stopped. It
went back to normal.
LILY: And the water?
MARISOL: Drained away. I don’t know where.
DOT: There’s going to be so much fucking mildew in the
walls. Going to cost a fortune to clean it up.
Thanks for nothing, Blooms.
LILY: Mom, it’s dry.
DOT: What?
LILY: Feel the rug.
DOT: Lily, what happened to your shoes?
LILY: Not important. Feel the rug.
DOT: Huh. How did...okay. Fine, then. (TO THE HOUSE)
Okay, you temperamental son of a bitch. Thank you
for not filling my house with mildew. And...for
not crushing everyone in the attic. And for
giving my daughter back to me safe and sound.
LILY: I don’t think he can hear you, Mom.
DOT: (LOUDER) He hears me just fine. Don’t you,
Blooms.
LILY: No, Mom, I mean that...
MARISOL: Lily? Is he gone?
LILY: I don’t...it’s hard to...
ABBIE: Did Silas...
LILY: No, it’s not like that. They’re not gone,
exactly. They’re...at rest.
ABBIE: For how long?
LILY: I don’t know.
DOT: Forever?
LILY: Mom, I don’t know. Blooms and Silas, they needed
to speak with each other. They needed to listen
to each other. And they needed to rest. All of
them needed to rest.
MARISOL: Is this over, then? Are we safe?
LILY: Maybe.
ABBIE: I doubt I need to remind anyone here that
“safety” is both an imperfect expression of
risk probability and relative to changing
circumstances.
LILY: Thank you, Abbie. That’s exactly how I was going
to say it.
DOT: (AFTER A BRIEF SILENCE) So you’re just a fucking
house now. You’re just someplace I’m supposed to
fucking live.
LILY: Is that okay with you?
DOT: Let me think about it. (SHE OPENS THE
BASEMENT DOOR.) And the basement is just a
basement. And I’m just an old woman who lives in
an old house. (BEAT) Wes isn’t coming back,
either, is he.
LILY: I’m sorry, Mom.
CHESTER: (FROM UPSTAIRS) Hello? Can I start bringing
people back downstairs?
DOT: Yes, Chester! Tell them single-file, hold the
hand railings, and I’m going to be checking bags
when they leave!
SEVERAL PEOPLE BEGIN COMING DOWN
THE STAIRS IN AN ORDERLY FASHION.
LILY: Mom, you can’t just kick them out.
DOT: No? Why not? (PULLS ASIDE A CURTAIN) Look out
there, Lilybelle. It’s not just the house, it’s
everywhere.
ABBIE: She’s right. The water’s receding.
MARISOL: I don’t understand why it’s dry in here but
soaked out there.
DOT: Because the water in the house wasn’t water. It
was Blooms. (BEAT) Is that somebody’s car
stuck in that tree?
CHESTER: (RUSHING OVER) Lily! You’re okay? I’m so
relieved.
LILY: I’m all right, Chester. As well as can be
expected.
CHESTER: So you stopped him. You defeated Silas.
LILY: I don’t want to call it that. But we don’t have
to worry about him anymore.
DOT: Plenty else to worry about, though.
MARISOL: Ninety-nine problems and the Revelator ain’t one.
CHESTER: My god, look at all the...what am I supposed to
do now?
DOT: Not what one wants to hear from the acting mayor,
Chester.
CHESTER: We’ve never had a disaster of this scale before.
I don’t know what comes next.
ABBIE: There are other places that go through this a few
times a year, Chester. You fill out forms. You
make phone calls. It’s a process.
CHESTER: That part I know. I’m not talking about the
paperwork, I’m talking about what happens to Mt.
Absalom.
LILY: I hear you, but...maybe answer the first question
before you think about that one?
CHESTER: You’re right. One crisis at at time. I should get
started.
DOT: We’ll get started. You’re not in this alone.
CHESTER: Thank you, Dot.
DOT: No heavy lifting, though.
CHESTER: Of course not.
DOT: And I don’t do windows.
CHESTER: Take care, Dot.
DOT: You too, Chester.
CHESTER WALKS AWAY INTO THE CROWD
OF EXITING TOWNSFOLK.
CHESTER: (DISTANT) Is that my car?!
LILY: (NARRATING) After the ghosts disappeared, the
waters flowed back into the earth or evaporated
into the air. The wolves wandered off into the
forest. The diner and a few other buildings
nobody had thought about for years faded away
until it was like they’d never been there in the
first place.
CHESTER: (NARRATING) And the people of Mt. Absalom asked
themselves what sort of town they should continue
to live in.
ABBIE OPENS THE DOOR TO THE AUGUST
LODGE. INSIDE ARE SEVERAL PEOPLE
SORTING SUPPLIES OR OTHER
ACTIVITIES. HAMMERS AND DRILLS CAN
BE HEARD NEARBY.
ABBIE: So this is the August Lodge.
CHESTER: Abbie! Hello! Welcome!
ABBIE: Fairly typical architecture and interior decor
for a building of this function. I’m surprised
there isn’t a taxidermied bear’s head over one
of the doorways.
CHESTER: Oh no, we haven’t had one of those in here since
1987.
ABBIE: My instincts are as sharp as ever.
CHESTER: I wasn’t sure if you’d come.
ABBIE: I wasn’t sure why you invited me.
CHESTER: I know that the Lodge was one of the few
places in Mt. Absalom you hadn’t been given a
chance to examine.
ABBIE: For obvious reasons. How is Hazel, by the way?
CHESTER: The doctors in Julian are doing their best.
ABBIE: So she doesn’t know I’m here.
CHESTER: I don’t believe it would help her recovery. And
it’s not her decision to make. You deserve to see
all of Mt. Absalom, not only the parts Hazel said
you could.
ABBIE: Look at you. Town mayor and Head Delphic all in
one.
CHESTER: For now.
ABBIE: You’re aware there’s a very dark history of what
happens when you give one man too much power.
CHESTER: About that...uh, over here. (THEY STEP INTO A
CORNER; CHESTER LOWERS HIS VOICE) I don’t
disagree with you. That’s why, once we’re done
converting the August Lodge into the new Town
Hall, I’ll begin taking steps to dissolve the
Delphic Order.
ABBIE: (LOUDLY) To do what?!
CHESTER: Sh sh sh, please! I haven’t spoken to any of them
about this yet.
ABBIE: Why are you telling me?
CHESTER: I can’t talk to anyone else. I haven’t even told
Lulu yet.
ABBIE: I don’t understand, Chester. What prompted this?
CHESTER: I’ve given it a lot of thought the past few
weeks...about everything Lily told me she learned
while down in the well. Everything you tried to
tell us when you first arrived. All of the truths
that Hazel hid, because my father hid them,
because the Delphics refused to accept them. The
Order was founded to save us from the doom of the
Revelator and all of our secrets nearly destroyed
us anyhow. That’s enough. Silas is gone and our
work is complete. Time to close up shop.
ABBIE: So that’s it.
CHESTER: That’s it.
ABBIE: (AFTER A MOMENT) I can’t believe I’m about to say
this. Chester, you can’t dissolve the Delphic
Order.
CHESTER: What? I just explained--
ABBIE: --yeah, I heard you, the mission statement said
you were set up to fight Silas and Lily took care
of that for you.
CHESTER: Well, yes, credit where due of course, but--
ABBIE: --but what were you all doing during the decades
while you waited for the battle to start? You
organized town bylaws. You held bake sales at the
school, you organized the celery festivals and
the hay rides and the, the craft fair.
CHESTER: Crafternoon.
ABBIE: (SIGH) You really want me to...fine. Crafternoon.
The Delphic Order owes Mt. Absalom a few more
crafternoons.
CHESTER: That wasn’t our purpose, though. That was, if
we’re being honest, that was a cover story I
guess you’d call it.
ABBIE: You say that the Delphic Order was founded to
save Mt. Absalom from doom. What do you suppose
happens to a small Midwestern town in the
aftermath of a flood crisis whose keystone celery
soda manufacturer burned to the ground months
prior? It’s not as flashy as a vengeful preacher
ghost but I can tell you it still looks an
awful lot like doom.
CHESTER: My god.
ABBIE: There’s only so much DeSouza’s and The Golden
Groove can do to fill the gap.
CHESTER: What am I supposed to--
ABBIE: --but there’s good news too, Chester. Mt. Absalom
already has an organized network of dedicated
volunteers ready to do the work of getting the
town back on its feet as long as someone doesn’t
do something knuckleheaded like dissolve it. I
know what the Delphic Order was for. It can
change. You did.
CHESTER: Did I?
ABBIE: You must have. I don’t dislike you as much as I
used to.
CHESTER: Maybe you’re the one who changed.
ABBIE: Like there was anything about me that needed to.
CHESTER: You make a good argument, Abbie.
ABBIE: I know. I wouldn’t have said anything otherwise.
CHESTER: I don’t suppose you have any other ideas you’d
like to share?
ABBIE: On community improvement, business development,
and civic infrastructure? How many notebooks do
you want to look at?
CHESTER: All of them. Please and thank you.
ABBIE: Let’s get lunch before I leave, then.
CHESTER: You’re leaving?
ABBIE: In a few days. (BEAT) That’s the first time I’ve
said that out loud. That might have hurt a
little.
CHESTER: You don’t have to go.
ABBIE: No, that’s...I should get some distance. Helps me
write. And I need to go visit my thesis advisor
to discuss an extension.
CHESTER: Would it help if I wrote a letter explaining that
you were delayed by supernatural phenomena?
ABBIE: There’s a paragraph in his Antiquity 201 syllabus
in bold red ink: “The messenger Pheidippides ran
so hard to deliver news of the Athenian victory
at Marathon that it killed him. I expect your
assignments to be in on time.”
CHESTER: Ouch.
ABBIE: History departments are brutal.
CHESTER: Hm. So is history.
ABBIE: You get it. (BEAT) You know you can never perform
that ridiculous pageant again, right?
CHESTER: Mt. Absalom has a lot to reconsider.
ABBIE: Which won’t be easy.
CHESTER: Some of us are never going to accept it. I could
use your help with that.
ABBIE: You don’t have to mold everyone’s mind on this,
Chester. Frankly, there’s only one person you
need to focus on.
CHESTER: Myself.
ABBIE: What? No. No. I’m not here to serve you that kind
of nebulous new-age bullshit. I meant Jamie.
CHESTER: Jamie. Of course.
ABBIE: Align your chakras on your own time. Like you
said, you Delphics spent forever keeping the
truth about yourselves trapped outside the
borders of the town, and it’s probably too late
for most of your elders to unlearn the fiction.
Jamie still has a chance.
CHESTER: I’m not even sure how to begin talking about it
with him.
ABBIE: No embellishments. No obfuscations. He’ll be
okay. He’s a strong kid. After everything he’s
survived, do you really think a frank discussion
of genocide and erasure is going to hurt him?
CHESTER: No. You’re right.
ABBIE: You’ll talk to him, he’ll feel bad for a bit,
he’ll process it, and ultimately he’ll be
grateful you didn’t lie to him. He’ll tell his
friends. He’ll take over the Delphics after you
and share what he knows with whoever’s in the
Order. He’ll tell his kids, and they’ll tell
their kids, and every generation after will be
closer to the truth of what happened.
CHESTER: I’m not ready to think about Jamie having
grandkids.
ABBIE: Our minds might work on different scales.
CHESTER: All these years we called him The Revelator and I
never thought to ask what revelation he was
trying to give us.
ABBIE: Now you know. So that’s what you have to do with
it.
CHESTER: We will. I promise you.
ABBIE: You don’t have to promise me anything. I’m just
passing through, remember? (BEAT) Wait. No, I
take that back. I do want you to promise me
something.
CHESTER: Tell me.
ABBIE: An observatory. Mt. Absalom should have another
one. It’s not right for a dark sky town to be
missing an observatory.
CHESTER: That did cross my mind. But I don’t want to
rebuild the one on Chapel Hill.
ABBIE: I agree. Leave that alone.
CHESTER: You have somewhere else in mind.
ABBIE: There’s a spot just outside of town. Sinclair
Knob.
CHESTER: I know it.
ABBIE: You hike up a trail for awhile and there’s a high
clearing. There’s an amazing view of the town and
the sky from there.
CHESTER: I have time later today. Can you show me?
ABBIE: I will give you GPS coordinates. I don’t hike
unless I have no other options.
CHESTER: I’m not sure how much authority we have to build
on Sinclair Knob.
ABBIE: Figure it out, Chester. Are you the mayor or are
you the mayor?
CHESTER: I’ll take a look. Peltham Memorial Observatory?
ABBIE: Tendulkar.
CHESTER: Right. You’re right. That’s what Rudy would have
wanted too.
ABBIE: Thank you.
CHESTER: It’s my honor.
ABBIE: So. The August Lodge of the Delphic Order. How
many dimly lit subterranean chambers does this
place have?
CHESTER: Six.
ABBIE: Wait, seriously?
CHESTER: Follow me.
THE SOUND OF HAMMERS AND SAWS
GRADUALLY FADES INTO THE SOUND OF
BOGGLE DICE BEING RATTLED IN THEIR
TRAY. A VINYL RECORD PLAYS
SOFTLY IN THE ROOM. RUSSELL,
MAUREEN, AND DOT LAUGHING. MAUREEN
IS A BIT OVERSERVED.
LILY: (NARRATING) Time passed in Mt. Absalom the same
way it passes in most small Midwestern
towns...not with a short goodbye and a hasty
exit, but lingering at the doorway a few moments
longer.
DOT: (NARRATING) Suddenly reminded of one last thing
it meant to tell you.
RUSSELL: Maureen! Enough!
MAUREEN: Ten seconds! You’re supposed to shake the box for
ten full seconds.
RUSSELL: Says who?
MAUREEN: It’s in the rules, Russell!
DOT: Oh it is not, you big fat liar.
MAUREEN: It is! It is in the official worldwide
championship rules of Boggle!
DOT: Nobody here is playing official worldwide
championship Boggle, Maureen.
MAUREEN: (STOPS SHAKING FOR A SECOND) Now I’ve lost count.
Guess I’ll have to start over.
DOT: For fucksake. (GRABS THE TRAY, SHAKES IT ONCE,
SLAMS IT ON THE TABLE) There. Scrambled. Done.
Play.
MAUREEN: Timer or no timer?
DOT: What are you talking about?
MAUREEN: I just wondered if...you know, we should take our
time instead of...
DOT: I’m pretty sure the official worldwide
championship rules say you use the timer.
RUSSELL: I think all Maureen is saying is that we don’t
want you to feel frustrated by the pressure.
DOT: Don’t fucking coddle me. Either of you. (TURNS
OVER THE TIMER) Time starts now. Eat my dust,
losers.
THE SOUND OF SEVERAL PENCILS
SCRATCHING PAPER AT ONCE. DOT SAYS
SOME OF HER WORDS OUT LOUD AS SHE
WRITES. SOUND FADES TO THE KITCHEN
AS MARISOL POURS ALCOHOL INTO A
COCKTAIL SHAKER. LILY IS SQUEEZING
JUICE OUT OF A LEMON.
MARISOL: How’s the lemon juice coming?
LILY: Done. Here.
MARISOL ADDS ICE, SHAKES, AND
POURS THE BEVERAGE INTO COCKTAIL
GLASSES.
LILY: Last round.
MARISOL: Don’t be a square. You know your mom’s already
here, right? You don’t have to worry she’s coming
home early. Hell, she’s already had two of these.
LILY: I know. That’s why this is the last one.
MARISOL: She’s drinking plenty of water. That cheese
tray is almost gone. She’s having fun, Lily. Let
her have fun.
LILY: I don’t know how alcohol mixes with her
medication but I’m guessing it’s not great.
MARISOL: Fine. That’s fair. But it’s been so nice to
see her this happy. She’s like a big kid.
DOT: (FROM THE OTHER ROOM) Fuck you, Maureen.
LILY: I know. That’s why she’ll overdo it if I let her.
Come on.
SOUNDS OF THE GAME TABLE GROW
CLOSER AGAIN.
DOT: That’s five for Russell, seven for Maureen, and
oh. Oh my. Will you look at that. Maureen, I’m
having trouble reading my own handwriting, what
does that say?
MAUREEN: Okay, Dot.
DOT: That looks like a 12? Or maybe it’s a 13. I can’t
tell. Better count again.
MARISOL: All right, last round, everyone.
DOT: Don’t be a square.
MARISOL: That’s what I said!
RUSSELL: I’m good. The last two were plenty. I still
have to drive home.
DOT: Dibs on Russell’s.
LILY: No, Mom.
MAUREEN: Say, listen. Since we’re all here. Russell and I
had an idea the other day that we wanted to run
past the two of you.
RUSSELL: Oh! We’re telling them now?
MAUREEN: Sure! Why not? No time like the present. Ha!
That’s a joke! I didn’t realize it til I said it!
DOT: You’re drunk and I love it.
MAUREEN: Goddamn right I am. So listen. Russell and I have
a present. For you, Dot. If it’s okay with you.
And with Lily. See, that’s why when I said, “no
time like the present,” it was a joke.
DOT: Spit it out, Maureen.
MAUREEN: Russell and I would like to take you on a trip,
Dot.
LILY: A trip? Where?
RUSSELL: Anywhere.
DOT: What do you mean, anywhere?
RUSSELL: Your choice, Dot. Pick a destination. Or pick a
few destinations.
MAUREEN: Wherever you want, we’ll take you. The three of
us, off on an adventure!
DOT: Wherever I...you can’t say something like that.
The world is so...how much money are we talking
here?
MAUREEN: You’re not talking about money. I told you, it’s
a present.
DOT: You didn’t sell the ice cream shop, did you?
MAUREEN: No! Stop asking questions. Russell and I have you
covered. Where do you want to go?
A HEAVY PAUSE. DOT PICKS UP THE
TRAY OF BOGGLE DICE AND HURLS THEM
ACROSS THE ROOM WITH A FRUSTRATED
ROAR.
LILY: Mom! What are you doing?
DOT: Out!
RUSSELL: Dot?
DOT: Both of you! Get out!
MAUREEN: Wait, Dot, what did we--
DOT: --I said get the fuck out, Maureen!
LILY: Mom...I don’t understand why you’re...look at me,
Mom. Do you know who I am?
DOT: Of course I know who you are!
LILY: Who am I?
DOT: Lily! You’re my daughter Lily and that’s your
girlfriend Marisol and that’s Russell and Maureen
and I want them both to get out. I’m not having
an episode, Lily, I’m just fucking pissed off.
RUSSELL: We can go. I’m sorry, Lily.
LILY: No, stay. Marisol, can you please--?
MARISOL: --sure. Hey Russell, Maureen, let’s go to...?
MAUREEN: Okay.
RUSSELL: Sure.
MARISOL, RUSSELL, AND MAUREEN GO
TO ANOTHER ROOM IN THE HOUSE.
LILY: I told Marisol it wasn’t a good idea to mix your
medications with gin.
DOT: Don’t start. I’m fine.
LILY: You threw a Boggle tray across the room.
DOT: A woman’s entitled to do that in her own house
once in awhile.
LILY: Not for no good reason. Mom, talk to me. You
don’t want to go on a trip with Russell and
Maureen, that’s fine. That’s your choice. That’s
still not how you treat your friends. They were
trying to--
DOT: --oh they were trying to. Trying to what, Lily?
Trying to be kind to the rotting corpse in the
room?
LILY: They don’t look at you that way, Mom. None of us
do.
DOT: No? We’ll see, Lilybelle. We’ll see. (BEAT) You
know, when you told me that he was gone. The One
Who Blooms. The One Who Makes Ghosts. The One Who
Made Me Water The Fucking Stones All The Fucking
Time. You told me he was sleeping or whatever and
do you know what your stupid mother thought for a
moment? Your stupid mother thought “holy shit,
that must have been why my brain started
to...that’s why I have this.” And then your
stupid mother thought, then maybe? “Maybe if he’s
asleep or whatever this is going to go away.”
LILY: Oh Mom. Please tell me you didn’t stop taking
your medication.
DOT: Of course not. I said I was stupid, not that I
was a complete idiot. I kept taking it just in
case. I kept doing my crossword puzzles at night
and my sudokus at breakfast. And then a few weeks
later I woke up in the middle of the night
standing in the kitchen. I’d cracked every egg in
the refrigerator and put them, shell and all,
into the frying pan. Like I was going to make a
shitty omelet for a baseball team. We’re lucky I
didn’t burn the house to the fucking ground.
LILY: You didn’t tell me that happened. Why didn’t you
tell me?
DOT: Why do you think? Because I was embarrassed.
LILY: It’s not your fault.
DOT: I know that. I can still feel embarrassed. Not
just about the eggs. About what I thought. That
maybe this was going away. That maybe it was
going to get better instead of getting worse.
(BEAT) You think I don’t want to go on a trip
with Russell and Maureen? It sounds so wonderful,
Lily. The three of us, on a ship maybe? Or taking
a train through Europe? Having a few bottles of
wine some Saturday afternoon and trading stories
about our kids? Offering to walk Russell back to
his room and then inviting myself in for the
evening.
LILY: Mom!
DOT: What, we’re all thinking it. He’s being too much
of a fucking gentleman about it, but. Anyway. It
doesn’t matter, Lily. I’m not doing that.
LILY: But why not? It sounds amazing.
DOT: Because I’m not going to make them deal with me
on a bad night.
LILY: You don’t want them to see you when you’re...
DOT: I won’t be a burden to them while they’re out
trying to enjoy themselves. I refuse to.
LILY: (EXASPERATED) Oh my god, Mom. Listen to me.
Russell and Maureen are grownups. I guarantee you
that they have already thought about what it
might mean to take care of you while you’re with
them. They thought about it and they still came
to you to ask you to come with them, because
they’re not going to enjoy themselves if you’re
not there. Does that make sense?
DOT: ...yes.
LILY: They love you, Mom. They are going to love you no
matter what you look like and no matter how bad
it gets. And I know that because I’ve been with
you when it happens and I don’t love you any
less, either.
DOT: (BREAKS, EMBRACES LILY) Oh, Lily.
LILY: Shh. It’s all right, Mom.
DOT: I’m going to go away.
LILY: Good. Yes. Go with them.
DOT: No, I mean that I’m going to leave you. I don’t
want to leave you, Lilybelle. Please tell me that
I’m going to keep you. I don’t care what else
goes away. I don’t care if we go to every wonder
of the world and then I come back home and forget
I saw any of it. I don’t care if I forget my own
fucking name. You. Lily. My beautiful, precious
Lily. Please let me remember you. Until there’s
nothing left of me, please let me remember you.
LILY: I’m here, Mom. It’s me. It’s Lily. It’s Lily.
I’ll be here for you. Always, Mom.
A SILENCE AS THEY HOLD EACH OTHER.
AFTER A MOMENT, THEY RELAX THE
EMBRACE.
LILY: Are you okay?
DOT: No. But good enough. (BEAT) Send them back in if
they’re not terrified of me.
LILY: You’re Dot Harper. All of us are terrified of
you.
DOT: (LAUGHS AND EMBRACES LILY AGAIN) I love you,
Lilybelle. I love you so much.
LILY: I love you too, Mom.
DOT: I’ll send you postcards.
LILY: You’d better.
THE MUSIC FROM THE VINYL RECORD
FADES INTO THE SOUND OF THE PORCH
SWING CREAKING IN THE NIGHT AIR,
TWO BODIES SITTING UPON IT.
LILY: (NARRATING) More time passed. Mt. Absalom, a
town where the ghosts had once walked freely
through the streets and celery fields, grew
accustomed to being nothing more than itself. Its
people could feel that something wonderful had
been lost, but they could also feel that
something heavy had been lifted. Where there once
had been mist, there was clarity.
WES: (NARRATING) A town need not have ghosts to be
haunted. But a haunting need not be a curse,
either.
THE WIND BLOWS GENTLY AS LILY AND
MARISOL ROCK IN THE PORCH SWING.
MARISOL: We got another postcard.
LILY: Where from?
MARISOL: “Greetings from Cleveland, The Forest City.”
LILY: Uh-huh.
MARISOL: I put it up on the fridge next to the ones from
Cincinnati and Toledo.
LILY: And the postmark?
MARISOL: Faded a bit. Might be Tokyo.
LILY: Lord. The three of them loose in Japan.
MARISOL: Coming this way! Dotzilla! Run for your lives!
(BEAT) No letters from Russell or Maureen,
though?
LILY: No.
MARISOL: Probably a good sign.
LILY: Probably.
THREE FIGURES SLOWLY APPROACHING
THE PORCH ALONG THE GRAVEL
DRIVEWAY: ONE HUMAN, TWO CANINES.
MARISOL: She’s fine, Lily.
LILY: I’m sure she is. (BEAT) This must have been what
it was like when I’d be late getting home from a
movie.
MARISOL: You weren’t going to movies on the other side of
the world.
LILY: You know what I mean.
MARISOL: She’s fine, Lily.
THE FOOTSTEPS ARE CLOSE.
LILY: I’m sure she is. (LILY STOPS THE SWING) Someone’s
walking up the driveway.
MARISOL: Does that look like...?
LILY: A man with two dogs? Yes.
MARISOL: You said Silas was asleep.
LILY: So maybe it was only a power nap. Hello?
THE FOOTSTEPS STOP.
LILY: Hello! I can see you. Who’s there?
WES: (WALKING CLOSER) Lily?
LILY: Yes?
WES: (STEPPING ONTO THE PORCH) Hello, Lily. I’m
Theodore Wesley. You can call me Wes.
LILY: Wes? Is that really you?
WES: No. It is not really me. I was never really me,
Lily. You can call me Wes. May we speak?
TWO SMALL TERRIERS BOUND UP THE
PORCH STEPS AND OFFER MARISOL A
FRIENDLY GREETING.
MARISOL: Oh! Hello there! Hi! Yes, I do see you, hello.
These aren’t Silas’s dogs?
LILY: No. His were bigger.
WES: One is Farrow. One is Harper.
LILY: Harper?
WES: Names that were important to Wes. When Wes was
Wes. When I was Wes. May we speak, Lily?
LILY: Isn’t that what we’re doing?
WES: Elsewhere. Alone. A walk, please.
LILY: Walk with you where?
WES: Not far. The woods.
MARISOL: Lily, I’m not sure about this. He doesn’t sound
like Wes.
WES: I’m not Wes. You can call me Wes.
MARISOL: See?
WES: Would you feel safer if I wasn’t Wes?
LILY: No. I’m glad to see you.
WES: Please walk with me, Lily.
MARISOL: Lily, don’t.
LILY: It’s all right, Marisol.
MARISOL: He’s not Wes.
LILY: I know that. But he’s Wes enough. I’ll be back,
Marisol. I promise you.
MARISOL: This is the last time I agree to this.
WES: Marisol.
MARISOL: What?
WES: Please tell Spikes that I’ll miss her.
MARISOL: Who exactly am I telling her said that?
WES: Please tell her I was Wes.
MARISOL: All right. I can do that.
WES: Goodbye, Marisol.
MARISOL: Goodbye, Wes.
TRANSITION. LILY AND WES WALK
THROUGH THE WOODS. THE TERRIERS
PANT ALONGSIDE THEM.
LILY: (NARRATING) Once there was a young woman named
Lily Harper. And one night she walked into the
woods with the last ghost of Mt. Absalom.
WES: I can’t feel Dot. Did she depart?
LILY: Not in the way you’re asking. She’s only going to
be gone for a little while.
WES: I’m sad not to see her again.
LILY: Then you’re not back.
WES: Back. No. I’m here only to speak with you. (BEAT)
And to walk again. To see the sky. There’s so
much sky.
LILY: How are you?
WES: Are you asking Wes?
LILY: I’m asking you. I’m asking all of you.
WES: I am resting. As you said I should.
LILY: Are you healing?
WES: It will take time. There was so much sadness. So
much anger. So much pain.
LILY: I’m sorry.
WES: Such a short time for us but so much to learn.
There were lives that were stories. The stories
were yours and the memory of the stories became
ours. I put the memory of the stories back among
you to give you peace. To give you meaning. To
give you happiness. To give you connection. I
wanted you to have the shape of what I had
once known. I did not understand. The longer a
memory lives, the less like itself it remains.
LILY: Yes. It’s never your memory alone. Everyone who
passes through the memory has their own story
about it.
WES: The stories passing through other stories. The
stories becoming other memories. There is never
one true memory. There is never one true story.
LILY: There isn’t. We do the best we can with the
memory we have.
WES: So much to learn.
LILY: What will you do now?
WES: No more than this. I will rest. I will heal. I
will hold my memories within me. This echo of Wes
will remain to listen to the story that is told
of Mt. Absalom. That is told within Mt. Absalom.
Wes will hold the memory of the story, and when I
awaken, Wes will be here to tell me. He will
tell anyone who still lives here that story as
well.
LILY: So you will come back, eventually.
WES: I might.
LILY: When?
WES: ...I don’t feel we’ll meet again, Lily.
LILY: That long, then. (BEAT) Can I hug you, Wes?
WES: I’d like that, Lily.
LILY EMBRACES WES.
LILY: Goodbye, Wes. (BEAT) Goodbye, Blooms.
WES VANISHES.
LILY: (NARRATING) And Lily Harper walked back through
the woods to what remained of the house where she
had once been a child. She nestled into the arms
of her lover and gazed out the window at the
stars above them. Her mind drifted back and forth
between memory and speculation, between old
ghosts fading away and new horizons coming into
view. She thought of the people she’d lost, the
people she’d gathered, the ones who had only ever
been passing through. She imagined the days
passing into months passing into years, the ways
that wellsprings cut rivers through rock and
carried the past away in their currents. Lily
floated for a moment upon the churning surface of
those waters until she finally fell asleep.
(BEAT) And I believed...for perhaps the first
time in my life...that I was home.
“GOODBYE MT. ABSALOM,” A COMPOSITION
BY JESSICA BEST, PLAYS INTO THE
CREDITS.
JESSICA BEST:
The summer celery festival
has come and it has gone
replaced by the first breath of fall
the leaves out on the lawn
everything is fleeting
history rolls right along
but while our hearts are beating
let's put one last record on
Goodnight goodnight
to mount absalom
some memories remain
some just remain gone
But fifteen miles from Julian
the song continues on
goodnight goodnight mount absalom
the faces at the grocery store
familiar as your hand
or that squeaky stair board
you gotta dodge it if you can
we sang and danced on halloween
drank coffee with old friends
we cried as bright lights close to us
winked out sight of again
Hello hello
to mount absalom
some memories remain
some just remain gone
But fifteen miles from Julian
the song continues on
goodnight goodnight mount absalom
a home-made welcome casserole
the sense that we've been blessed
the house above the graveyard
with room still for new guests
Now kids are drawing mazes
and the stars shine on the hill
and something deep amazes
me about this old place still
Goodnight goodnight
to mount absalom
some memories remain
some just remain gone
but like the celery and the sky now
I'm here, in storm and calm
Goodnight goodnight
mount absalom