These Past Three Days

MAY, 30s 

TOM, 40s  

A note on the text:
An em-dash (—) indicates they have been interrupted. 
An ellipses ( . . . ) indicates they’ve lost track of their own thought. 

Scene:  
A bus stop. Morning. MAY sits on a bench by herself. 

TOM approaches.  

MAY 

No!  
No. 
no  
no . . .
no—  

TOM 

May, just a—  

MAY 

Go away. 

A pause. 

Where were you? 

TOM 

I . . .
where’s Ava? 

MAY 

Where were you these past three days? 

TOM 

Did anything happ— 

MAY 

How can you ask about the baby?  
You’ve been God knows where without a word! 
 

TOM 

I—  

MAY 

I called you. 
A hundred times. 

A pause. 

I deal with living with your family.  
But they’re not—  

TOM 

They’re helping us— 

MAY 

Helping us?  

TOM 

We wanted to save money for— 

MAY 

For what? 
They judge me for how I put her to sleep. 
How I do this.  
How I do that. 
I can’t . . .
I need . . .  

TOM 

I thought . . .  
I thought we wanted . . .

Oh, Jesus, May, I’m not here to talk about—  

MAY 

Then why are you here?  

TOM 

There’s something . . .

MAY 

Spit it out!  

TOM 

I want to . . .

MAY 

Glad I put you through school. 
Seems like being a therapist has really helped you learn how to steer a conversation. 

TOM 

We decided— 

MAY 

We? 
We 
We 
We! 

TOM 

We’re trying to build a . . . a . . .

MAY 

You wanted this baby, so I had it.  

A pause. 

I thought maybe . . .   
Maybe it would mean that we didn’t . . .
That we didn’t make a huge mistake. 
This. Us.  
How did you even know I was here? 

TOM 

I want to do the right thing. 
For Ava. 

MAY 

For her? 

TOM 

Yes. 
This is about . . .

MAY 

Tell me!  

TOM 

I’m trying!  

MAY 

You’re always trying,  
you’re never— 

TOM 

Let me talk, May! 

MAY 

Please! Go ahead! 

TOM 

I’m . . .   
I want to be good.  
I want to be a good father. To Ava. 
She’s. She is my whole reason to . . .

MAY 

To . . .

TOM 

Let me talk!  

MAY 

WHERE have you been these past three days?  

TOM 

I’ve devoted my life to . . .
Tried to be a good man.  

MAY 

Devoted. I don’t even know . . .   

TOM 

Tried to love you.  
And then Ava came along. 

MAY 

She’s been throwing up for three days. 
While you were— 

TOM 

And I really felt this . . . purpose 
That I’ve never felt—  

MAY 

I haven’t slept. 

TOM 

That no matter what, it will be okay. 

MAY 

I smell like stale milk. 

TOM 

Because she’s here, and she’s part of me. 

MAY 

My jeans don’t fit. 
Your sister-in-law is yapping. 
Something that doesn’t matter.  

TOM 

And Ava is this life. This living soul.  Proof that— 

MAY 

I took her to the hospital.  

TOM 

Wai—  

MAY 

She’s fine.  
But. 
I needed . . .
I needed to just . . .   

TOM 

She’s—okay? 

MAY 

Just breathe. 
On my own. 
Here. 

TOM 

Where is she? 

MAY 

With my mom. 

TOM 

You called your mom?  

MAY 

I called you.  
I had no one else. 
My mom’s happy to make up for whatever you’d call my childhood.  
I just keep wondering what it would be like . . .

TOM 

Are you— 

MAY 

What if I just got on one of these buses? 
They come.  
They go. 
There’s a schedule. 
A destination. 
I could just get on and decide to get off in, in . . .
It doesn’t even matter where! 
Just somewhere else. 
It would be so . . . simple.  
Just walk right on. 

TOM 

What I’m trying—  

MAY 

Maybe somewhere warm. 

TOM 

I was with a man. 

 A pause. 

MAY 

Okay. 

TOM 

I fucked him. 
I fucked a man. 

A pause. 

MAY 

Who?  

TOM 

The last three days I— 

MAY 

Who? 

TOM 

I didn’t think . . .  
I tried so hard not to think of him.  

  MAY 

WHO? 

A pause.  

Was it Josh?  

TOM 

Does it matter—  

MAY 

It was Josh.   

TOM 

It wasn’t. May.  
Just—

MAY 

Just tell me who, and I’ll listen. 

TOM 

It’s not about who. 

MAY 

I need to picture. 
I need . . .  
My brain will fill in the blanks. 

TOM 

I see him in church. He’s a good man.  

MAY 

Josh. 

TOM 

FINE! Yes! Are you happy?  

A pause. 

MAY 

What did I do wrong? 

TOM 

You didn’t . . .  
I ran into him three days ago.  
At the library 

MAY 

I can’t . . .  

TOM 

And we started talking. 
We kept talking.  
I’ve never just talked with someone like this before. 

A pause. 

And he touched my hand. And it was like. 
I wouldn’t have been able to live the rest of my life 
Wondering what if.  
My entire life has been what if. 

A pause. 

And I thought I could bury it. 
I thought you and I. It could. 
And I wanted Ava. I want Ava. 
She . . .
When my mother found out we were having a baby. 
She looked so  

A pause. 

relieved.  
She could stop.  
Worrying. 
And I could stop.  
Worrying. 
I love her. Ava. 
And I thought maybe that could be enough. 

A pause.  

And then 
I spent the last three days in heaven. 
And I wonder . . .

MAY 

I need a cigarette.  

TOM 

I wanted to tell you. 
I’m tired. 
My face is tired. 
Looks like Silly Putty in the mirror.  
Forcing it into shapes that don’t fit. 

MAY 

My dad used to come home late.  
Drunk. 

She grabs a cigarette out of her pocket. 

And my mom would act as if everything was normal. 
He wouldn’t hit her or anything. 

She lights the cigarette. 

He was actually a better version of himself when he was drunk. 
Less. Depressed.  

She takes a slow, smoky drag. 

My mother . . . she’d see me there in the corner.  
Hiding. 

Terrified. 

I was more angry at her.  
For leaving me there. Never asking how I felt. What I loved. Who I was.   
And I promised I’d never be her.  

TOM 

May—  

MAY 

I’d promised and promised. 
Willing her out of me. And here I am.  
I’m so  
Lonely.  

TOM 

We . . .
We had this baby.  
This life that we’re both. 
Responsible for.  

MAY 

You’re going to go back to him, aren’t you? 

TOM 

What about Ava?  

MAY 

This isn’t about her, Tom. 
Stop using other people to distract you from . . .
from yourself.  

TOM 

Do you love me?  

MAY 

I . . . I need you. 

A pause. 

But, no, Tom. 
I don’t love you.  

A pause.  

Are you gonna move in with him?  

TOM 

I haven’t thought that far.  

A pause.  

I think . . .   
I think this is the love that I always thought . . .   

MAY 

I could live with my mother for a while. 
Ha!  
Oh my god. 
Look where my promises have gotten me.   

TOM 

We don’t have to do anything yet. 
I just keep . . .
What about Ava? 
She won’t understand. 

MAY 

She’ll blame herself. 
Like I did. 

TOM 

She’s young. 
Maybe she won’t.  

MAY 

Maybe she’ll— 

TOM 

Maybe her mind hasn’t been . . .
She’s not wired yet. 
To think . . .   

MAY 

There’s gonna be consequences. 

TOM 

I’m not saying there won’t—  

MAY 

You’re a fool, Tom. 
We both . . .

 A pause. 

Why did we have to bring Ava into this . . .  
This mess?  

A pause. 

TOM 

Do you have another cigarette? 

MAY 

Ha! Since when?        

TOM 

Since now. 

May takes out her pack of cigarettes. 
She hands him one, lights it for him. 

MAY 

Ever since when we first met. 
I tried to get you to take a drag. 
Not even when you were drunk! 
We couldn’t just have fun. 
Something was . . .
Nothing ever was . . .  
All it took was three days with . . .  

A pause. 

He must really be something.  

TOM 

What do we do? 

MAY 

I don’t know. 

They sit smoking together, 
as the lights slowly fade. 

DANIELLE CARROLL

Danielle Carroll is a first-year MFA playwright at Goddard College and received her BA in English Literature from St. Lawrence University. She has worked in production, development, and dramaturgy for The Brooklyn Music School, Original Idiots, and The Private Theatre. She has studied at Interlochen, the Atlantic Theater Company, and HB Studio. She hails from New Hampshire and now lives in New Jersey.