Setting: A house in a somewhat nice neighborhood. Day.
At Rise: ALEX and JACKIE are sitting at a table. JACKIE is drinking tea and ALEX sitting across from JACKIE awkwardly.
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JACKIE: What kind of tea is this? I can’t quite identify the flavor.
ALEX: Red Rose. Orange Pekoe. The kind that comes with the ceramic animals inside.
JACKIE: Came with! There haven’t been ceramic animals in Red Rose tea since the nineteen nineties. Please tell me this tea hasn’t been sitting in that cabinet since the nineties.
ALEX: I don’t know. That was the only thing we had.
(JACKIE puts the tea cup down.)
JACKIE: Well, I suppose we should get on to the necessary, but awkward conversation.
ALEX: Jasmine.
JACKIE: Yes. I’m surprised that she left me her half of the house.
ALEX: She didn’t. She died without a will and we weren’t married yet so according to the state you’re next of kin.
JACKIE: The specifics don’t matter. What would you like to do about it? Do you want to live here and buy me out? Do you want to sell the house and split the profits?
ALEX: I want to live here. I can’t buy you out. I need time.
JACKIE: We all need time, but it’s out of my hands. Jasmine’s father has a surgery coming up and we won’t have the money to pay for it without the house.
ALEX: What was your plan if Jasmine hadn’t died then?
JACKIE: Jasmine was going to pick up additional shifts at the hospital. We’re very traditional. She’s been taking care of us since we retired.
ALEX: That’s news to me! What about the wedding fund?
JACKIE: There was never actually a wedding fund. That was all her money.
ALEX: I can’t believe she never told me. She lied! She intentionally lied.
JACKIE: She loved you. There was nothing bad about her lies. If she didn’t die, you would have been none the wiser.
ALEX: But…but…
JACKIE: She loved you.
ALEX: I…but…real estate is so expensive.
JACKIE: What difference does it make anyway. It’s not like she expected you to pay for her expenses. She was always so independent.
ALEX: I thought when we were married, we’d combine finances.
(JACKIE smiles and sighs.)
ALEX: Let’s sell the house and split the profits.
JACKIE: That’s the right thing to do.
THE END.
Photo Credit: Robert Fiel, “House,” 2018