SIGNALS

Setting: Generic business office.
Sue is a woman with a lot of experience in life. She should be played by strong actress who can show subtle emotion without having to speak it.
Dave is your basic office playboy.
Janet is everyday working mom.

JANET: Thanks again for lunch Dave. That was awfully sweet of you. I owe you one.

DAVE: Hey, my pleasure. I get tired of eating by myself.

JANET: Yeah I know what you mean. I’ve been doing the solo dinner thing this week.

DAVE: Nothing’s wrong at home is there?

JANET: No, Jim just got called away on business for about ten days. He’ll be back next Tuesday.

(Sue enters, carrying armload of files. Listens to end of conversation.)
DAVE: Well why don’t you join us tonight? Some guys and gals are meeting at Squiggy’s to play some pool and stuff.

JANET: Well… Let me think about it. Can I let you know in a while?

DAVE: Oh sure. It’s no major event. I’ll check in with you.

JANET: Sounds good, see you later.

SUE: (Drops files on desk as Dave exits)
Here, this should last us til next year.

JANET: (Feigns horror)
No! It’s, It’s… The manila folder beast! Aagh!
(Both laugh)

SUE: So, what, is Dave trying to hit on you now?

JANET: Oh Sue, don’t be ridiculous. We just had lunch that’s all. Hey, he knows I’m married.

SUE: Yeah. Let me guess, lunch at Julio’s.

JANET: Yeah So?

SUE: Let’s see, he whips out the platinum card, hand’s it to the waitress and says "Don’t take her money; she’s passing counterfeit bills."

JANET: Hey, how…

SUE: Then when you protested, he said, "Don’t worry, I’ll let you get the next one."

JANET: (Uneasy laugh)
This is too weird, Sue. How do you know all this?

SUE: Let’s just say experience can be a harsh teacher. Look I know it’s none of my business, but he’s going to be coming by later to tell you that his other friends canceled out, but how’d you like to meet him for happy hour at Houlihan’s.

JANET: Okay look Sue, I appreciate your concern but give the guy a break, he’s just being a friend. Besides, I’m a big girl now, I can look after myself.

SUE: I’m sorry. Let’s change the subject, okay? Still in that aerobics class?

JANET: Yeah I go about three times a week.

SUE: Is Lindsey still going with you?

JANET: No. You know how it is, they get to that age, and they don’t like to admit they even have parents.

SUE: Oh yeah, been there, done that, bought the tee shirt.

JANET: Tee shirt’s black I bet.

SUE: Yeah… the tee shirt for that period was certainly black.

JANET: (Laughs)
Heaven forbid I try to get her into something pink, or floral.

SUE: Black nails, black eye makeup.

JANET: Yep.

SUE: Grades getting a little lower, hanging out with friends she doesn’t seem to want you to meet.

JANET: Have you been reading my mail or what?

SUE: She’s sending you signals Janet.

JANET: What signals? She’s just going through a stage. Didn’t you have a rebellious period? I thought my parents were going to flip out when I brought home an Alice Cooper album.

SUE: I’m sorry. Please forgive me for prying. I just don’t want to see people go through what we did with Amy.

JANET: Amy? Isn’t that the daughter we met at the picnic?

SUE: That’s her.

JANET: She’s beautiful. What a personality.

SUE: I’ll tell you what, you don’t know the struggle to get her there. For a while we weren’t sure she’d make it.

JANET: You mean she’s the reason you know about the black stuff?

SUE: It got real bad for a while.

JANET: Well it’s good to see there’s light at the end of the tunnel.

SUE: You don’t want it to get that bad. You need to step in now.

JANET: Oh come on Sue. She’s only 12. What is she going to be up to that I need to panic over?

SUE: That’s what we said. She’s only 12. She was really into all these vampire novels. We didn’t care. At least she’s reading. That’s what her teachers said. Besides Roger and I were raised on Dracula and Edgar Allen Poe, Stephen King.

JANET: I don’t get it. So she read some horror. I love a good scare myself.

SUE: It wasn’t just the books. That was just part of it. Just one of the signals. It seems like one morning she left for school, for jr. high as my little girl, and came back as… I don’t know who it was that came back.

JANET: What do you mean?

SUE: At the time it seemed like an overnight change, but we weren’t paying close enough attention.

JANET: Well we try to pay attention, when she lets us near her.

SUE: We were in the middle of a rocky time in our marriage…mostly because of a mistake I’d made. So it was easy to blow everything off as just a phase, or hormones or whatever. The last thing we had time for was to listen to her. We had no idea where her head was at right about then.

JANET: But we’re just talking about clothes and makeup here. Maybe some spooky sounding music, but…

SUE: I remember the day like it was just this morning. We’d just gotten back from the marriage counselor. It seemed like the worst was behind us. As usual the stereo was blasting out of Amy’s room. It was a song she knew we hated, "Highway to Hell", but we decided that we didn’t feel like fighting with her right then so we let it go. She had the CD player on repeat though and after about the fourth time through the song, Roger pounded on the door and told her to turn it down.

JANET: At least Lindsey likes headphones.

SUE: She just seemed to ignore it, and Roger started to get kind of mad. The door was locked, and as he got more angry, he started to lose it, and just broke the door down. Then we saw her…

JANET: What?

SUE: She was on the floor. The prescription bottle was empty, on the floor next to her. Her face looked so pale, like she… like… she looked like she wasn’t breathing, her lips were turning blue. I felt like my soul was being ripped out right there on the spot.

JANET: Oh my… I didn’t have any idea.

SUE: Neither one of us remembers calling 911, but somebody did. The paramedics could have ridden in on the backs of angels for all I could tell. They revived her, and got her to the hospital in time.

JANET: I’m sorry Sue, I didn’t know you’d been through all that.

SUE: That wasn’t the end, it was just the wake up call to the battle that we had ahead of us.

JANET: What did you do? I mean how did she turn out so good?

SUE: I’ve got to get back to work, so I’ll give you the short version. A few days later, a neighbor invited me to a women’s Bible study at the church around the corner. I figures I had nothing to lose so I went. Well I met a woman there who had been reading my mail. She knew just what we were going through, and was able to pray for me and to give me some good solid advice. Her daughter had been through a drug rehab program, and was able to make friends with Amy. If you want I can give you the address of the church.

JANET: Thanks but I’m not sure that’s what I need right now.

SUE: Okay, but…

JANET: But do you think Amy would mind talking to Lindsey some time?

SUE: I know she’d love to. Look, I’ll get your phone number before I leave.

JANET: Thanks.

DAVE: (Enters)
Hey Janet. All the others canceled out on pool. How bout you and me head over to Andy’s for happy hour? Seems like we could both use some company.

JANET: (Glances over at Sue)
Thanks but I think I’ll pass. I need to go home and take care of some things.

DAVE: Hey no problem. Maybe next time.

JANET: (Absently)
Yeah, sure.
(Walks over to Sue)
Uh, what was the name of that church?

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