Snarkastic

Chick-fil-A Dramatic Theatre presents Scenes from a Marriage
PROLOGUE: Red and Black...to the Future

October, 2010. A small Tennessee town. The living room of a Dutch colonial house on a quiet street. NAINCY, a genteel woman in her fifties, hands a glass of wine to her daughter, HOLLY, twentysomething and perched nervously on the edge of a chair. NAINCY pours herself a glass from the sideboard and relaxes onto the opposite sofa next to her husband, BILL.

BILL
To what do we owe the pleasure, baby girl?

HOLLY
Just--just passing through. Kickoff's not 'til 8 tomorrow and we thought we'd stop--

BILL
We?

HOLLY
He's in the car; I told him I'd just be a few minutes.

NAINCY
Well, I never. It's not enough he never says two words to us together, now he can't even be bothered to step in the house? After he steals away our only daughter?

HOLLY
Daddy said he'd pump him full of buckshot if he ever caught him on the property again after last year's game--

NAINCY
Don't blame your father for your appalling taste in men--

HOLLY
--which was also the night you told him you could shoot straight, if you didn't have to shoot too far.

NAINCY
Honestly, how could you possibly be happy with anyone who doesn't recognize Gone with the Wind when he hears it? I winked!

HOLLY
While petting your gun, you winked, Momma. Can't rightly blame him for taking you at your word.

NAINCY
Well, it was incredibly rude of them to shut us out in our own stadium.

BILL
Vols' job to stop them doing just that, ain't it?

HOLLY
Thank you, Daddy. [She trains her sunniest smile on BILL.]

BILL
Don't you start with that, now; I don't like him any better.

HOLLY [smile fading]
Got that, thank you. But...[she trails off, then shakes her head and sits up straighter] But you're just gonna have to get used to him.

BILL
Ask me again after the game. [He turns to pick up his newspaper.]

HOLLY lifts her left hand, revealing a ring with a single sparkling stone. BILL sets down his newspaper. NAINCY removes her glasses. No one speaks.

NAINCY
What's that supposed to be?

HOLLY
Stop it, Momma. We're getting married. We love each other, and we're getting married.

BILL
Like hell you are.

HOLLY
Daddy, don't.

BILL
No daughter of mine--no. No. Your mother and I raised you better than that.

HOLLY
They're people, Daddy. I didn't think so, either, not at first, but if you just got to know him you'd see what I see. I know you would.

NAINCY
Holly, he's just like all the rest of his kind. This wasn't meant to be. How can one of them ever deserve you? They're different, is all. They're too different.

HOLLY
But they're not! We're not so different as you'd like to think. We're not so far apart as you were raised to believe and you raised me to believe. I had to get out in the world to find that out, but do you know what I found? I found a guy, one of his cousins, who named his second son after Eric Berry. I found people whose love of the game knows no color, even if that color's orange.

BILL
Really? How many of these free-thinkers you come across so far?

HOLLY
...all right, two, so far. But they're there! They exist! There's bound to be more! Don't you see the possibilities here? This could bring about a new age of peace and understanding! If we can put aside the colors of our gameday clothes for true love?

BILL
That doesn't change a thing.

HOLLY
Dammit, Daddy, it's just a goddamn state line!

BILL
He's a Bulldog, Holly. And if you came here for my blessing, if you came here to hear me tell you we'll support you while you throw your life away, you can walk right on out that door.

HOLLY flees first the room, then the house. She runs sobbing down the driveway and throws open the car door, flinging herself into the passenger seat next to DOUG, thirtysomething. A single tear flies through the air, landing on the embroidered G on his polo shirt. He stares down at it for a long moment. Finally, he puts the car in gear.

DOUG
It's all right, baby. We don't need them. We don't need nobody.

HOLLY
Anybody.

DOUG
What?

HOLLY
Don't need ANYBODY. You get an advanced degree from Ole Miss while I was in there being disowned?

DOUG
Can we not start--

HOLLY
I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I didn't mean it, it's just--would it kill you to have an ACC diploma?

DOUG
How did you think this would end, exactly?

HOLLY
Honestly?

DOUG
Honestly.

HOLLY [wiping away tears]
In my head, it involved a couple balconies, a vial of poison, and both of us stabbing ourselves to death for no good reason. So, considering?

[A long pause.]

DOUG
You mean what you said in there about peace and understanding?

HOLLY
Hell, no. Where's the fun in that?

DOUG
I think we're gonna be all right, then.

HOLLY
And we're never gonna end up like them.

DOUG
Not ever.

They clasp hands. The car pulls away from the house, revealed just long enough to see a curtain whisking shut. Fade to black.