Darcy sits alone
holding one of Simon's stuffed animals, lost in a distant memory. Simon
enters.
SIMON
If you two want to be alone I can come back later.
DARCY
He’s so cuddly. I’ve always loved the furry, silent type.
SIMON
They make wonderful traveling companions, especially
when you’re on the road back to a sweet memory.
DARCY
I was thinking about the room I grew up in,
remembering all my dolls. I used to
cut up my clothes to sew dresses for them. I once cut out the center of an antique lace tablecloth my mother bought
at auction to make a slip for Angelica. She
was very chic.
SIMON
I
once boiled my father’s sweater, then dried it in the oven so it would shrink
to fit me.Ended
up with his palm print where my pants belonged.
DARCY
I never got punished . . . for anything. It’s terrible knowing that no matter what you do you’ll never get in
trouble. It was so safe. Did your parents over-protect you?
SIMON
My mom wanted to keep me in a cradle till I was
twenty. But dad said, ‘The boy
doesn’t have far to fall, let him get his lumps’.
DARCY
We had an Elm tree with a white wicker swing on it. For
hours I’d rock up & back studying the gnarls & the branches, plotting
the course I’d take all the way to the top. Climbing trees was taboo, but I kept planning my assault on that elm. For years. One night I was
watching the rain from my window. The
sky lit up. I remember the
raindrops looking like glitter . . . A bolt of lighting hit the tree. It burst into flames & I watched it burn. I couldn’t stop crying . . .
SIMON
And now you’re an intelligence agent.
DARCY
I decided it was time to follow my heart.
SIMON
The romance of it, hmm?
DARCY
The pounding of it. The blood pumping, the heat of it. This
is like the first time I tried skydiving, afraid the chute might not open. But it always did. It was
safe risk. It’s out on the limb. I guess that’s why I joined. But
I’ve stayed because of you.
SIMON
Because of me?
DARCY
Being around you life is never boring. Or predictable. Who knows what trees there’ll be to climb, or what crazy
way you’ll find to get up there.
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property of Michael Berk & Douglas Schwartz
This script is
part of The Michael Berk Collection