Scene Six

Setting: A flashback to a women’s meeting at Elliot and Patricia’s house. The living room is very simple and neat except for a few books that lay on the coffee table. 

At Rise: Patricia, Monica, Eileen, Gertrude, and Alexandra are all sitting 

around the den enjoying tea and conversing.

EILEEN

Thomas really gets on my nerves about it. I understand that he is finding himself, but he cannot just abandon his duties to me and the children. He is their father.

GERTRUDE 

I completely understand.

ALEXANDRA

I said the same thing to Henry.

EILEEN

Did it help? Did he change?

ALEXANDRA 

Um… In some ways. He took Daniel with him when he went on his “thinking walks”.

EILEEN

Is that the best they can do? I mean… Well Patricia, is Elliot this way?

PATRICIA

Oh… um… He is a very good father.

GERTRUDE 

But does he spend time with you and the kids? Richard does not even seem happy at dinner. It is as if it were a burden in his day to be around us.

ALEXANDRA

And the second dinner is over, they are off again into their studies.

(Gertrude and Eileen mumble in agreement.)

PATRICIA

Oh no. Elliot does have his moments, but he loves spending time with Harry and Phoebe. He is a good man.

(Monica chuckles to herself. When she realizes she has been heard, she tenses and takes a sip of her tea.)

EILEEN

Monica, you have been awfully quiet. What are your thoughts on the matter?

MONICA

No thoughts. Just listening.

GERTRUDE 

No thoughts? Please, Monica. We are curious. Share.

ALEXANDRA

You are always saying that women should speak their mind. Come on. If you have something to say, do not withhold it.

MONICA

I just sympathize with you all. 

EILEEN

Really?

MONICA

Of course! You would like a partner. Someone who is more present. That is understandable.

GERTRUDE

Thank you.

MONICA (getting a little excited)

It is actually quite commendable and progressive. I wish more of the women I talked to saw marriage in this way. It should be about support–

ALEXANDRA (hesitant)

Yes. It is about support, but it is also a vow. 

MONICA (even more excited)

Of course. But to say that you want more, that is exactly what I am trying to evoke!

EILEEN

Not more. I am quite happy with my life. It is just every so often it would be nice if Thomas showed a little interest in the family. He really is a good man.

MONICA

You all keep using “good man” to describe your husbands, even when you complain about them.

EILEEN

Because they are.

MONICA

Well, from what it sounds like, you are not demanding a great deal. You are not asking that he leave his work and spend all day with his children, cleaning the house, cooking dinner, and whatnot, correct?

ALEXANDRA

No! Not at all! 

MONICA

Well, have they not forced you all to do that? 

EILEEN

Who?

MONICA

Everyone. 

EILEEN

No. No one has forced me to do anything. This is my life. My family is my life and my responsibility.

MONICA

Yes, but what about you as an individual? If you were to step away from your family/what would you do?

GERTRUDE 

You cannot just take a break from your children, Monica.

MONICA

I am not saying that you should walk away, but do you have any activities that you do for yourself? Do you read books or paint or do anything that is not/part of your responsibilities as a mother? 

ALEXANDRA

Monica, when you have children and a family one day you will see that there is no time for hobbies. 

MONICA

But your husbands have time for theirs’.

ALEXANDRA

That is work. 

MONICA

Yes, but if these men are so good, why is it that they cannot provide you with the same respect to expand your mind with knowledge and creativity that you give them?

GERTRUDE 

Not all of us feel a desire to “expand our minds”.

MONICA

Do you not have the desire or do you just not have a choice? Would your husband, good men that they are, give you the liberty to take time for yourself to grow as individuals? Is that not the bare minimum of being a good person? Respect?

GERTRUDE 

Monica, you do not really understand. All of your ideas are great in theory, but impractical. Motherhood is everything. I am not an individual anymore. I am a mother with three beautiful children.

MONICA

But your husbands–

EILEEN

They are fathers and care deeply about the kids too. They may not act like it or get so wrapped up in their own minds that they don’t seem to care, but they do. They are good men. 

MONICA

And yet you all wish they would be around more. Perhaps you have just convinced yourselves that they are “good” because the reality that you have all lost your sense of self is so much more difficult to swallow!

(Everyone stares at her in astonishment.)

MONICA

I am going to clean up in the kitchen.

PATRICIA

Yes. Good idea. I will help you. We shall be back in a moment.

(Monica and Patricia get up and walk out the door into the kitchen.)