The Curtain Falls

Act III

Back at the Hospital

┼ [Note by the narrator.] Now we are back at the hospital and it is has been about 30-days after all of these prior events narrated in the first two Acts [that is from the hospital, to the park and back again] took place. Lee of course did not want me to put him back into the hospital, but he has to connect with Rosario somehow, so what a better place to brave it out. A library would have been too quiet to be quite honest, and a catastrophe for this Act. This was going to be a short act, but it has changed in the last three weeks as I have thought about it; or should I say, a stay in the hospital is really what he needs, for there is someone else waiting for him. Actually I had to go find him, and get him into the same room with Lee before he arrived.

It is about 8:00 AM, and Rosario his the first nurse to have seen Lee in the morning since he arrived last night—yes, the very same one he had in the hospital before, you are not surprised of course, but she is surprisingly grateful, for being assigned to him again, to Lee that is, she marks this occurrence as not simply being coincidental of course—but, with a touch of providence, she is pondering, but we know different, I THINK. She is coming into his room doing whatever nurses do for the most part. She now goes over to the window and opens it up to let in some fresh brisk air; --Lee is already under his covers, eyeing her up, --better put, peeking—as if he was a kid—through a few covers and his pillow. He had come into the hospital in the middle of the night, as I had mentined a few sentences back.

In the background now, there is much activity going on, as people are being fed, nurses getting files, doctors checking in on patients, etc. Dr. Bash is in the background talking onto a chart, as he turns and talks to a nurse and occasionally looks at the patient.

Lee [not sure who is talking in the background, just hears voice, and more voices]. 'I wonder when Dr. Bash is going to come in and see his Fruit Cake,' he mumbles. [Rosario looks at him from the side of her eye, standing somewhat resembling a soldier by his bed; Dr. Bash taking notes by the doorway now; she laughs a little, Lee deciphers the laugh, and makes an embarking face.]

Rosario [taking his pulse now]. Lee, I don't believe it—again, it is [pause—she is not checking him out, and he gets a little nervous] it is… your pulse is, that is 190 per minute. Last night the chart read, 160. My god, what is going on with that ticker in yours? [Pause—again she checks him out.] I got to see, I mean, talk to the doctor [Bash had just walked out and is talking to another nurse about another patient].

Lee [untidily]. That's why I'm here again, because of the old ticker; it's just not ticking according to the timetable Doc Bash has put together.

Now Lee looks about the room, trying to open his eyes wider.

Lee [surprised]. Oliver, is that you under the covers, you still here?

Oliver [slowly unraveling the covers, and annoyed]. Can't let an old geezer like me just simply sleep—haw-aw! You had to wake me up. Well since you did, you still going with that— that chatter box of a girlfriend? [Oliver giggling.]

Lee. Yeah, what's so funny? what's so amusing? I thought we were friends, Oliver?

Oliver. I guess so…Hm. Sorry, glad to have you back.

The Voice. (It's a nurse in the office area) Doctor! Where's doctor Bash?

Lee [after a thoughtful pause]. I see you're in good spirits Oliver, as rude as ever though.

Oliver. I said I'm sorry, what do you want blood. You look well, evidently you're not though, otherwise you'd not be back here, and that's for sure.

Rosario [wildly]. The doctor— he's, he's coming, and the doctor is coming, be here in a minute [she overheard Oliver talk about Eva] how's Eva doing Lee?

Lee [moans]. It's just not working [he shakes his head, repeats] not—just not working.

Rosario. Not working, well, I guess it's too bad, but you'll get over it.

Lee. What?

Rosario. Not working, that's what you said [silently they both stare at one another], so what's going to happen now? [In comes the doctor.]

Doctor Bash [taking Lee's pulse]. How you feeling Mr. Walters?

Lee. Next to what? next to terrible? or next to almost terrible? I mean I'm depressed, sick, heart attack material, heart fluttering issues: heart beating akin to a race horse—p-p-p- problems; what more can I say. If I knew medical terms I could go on forever. I don't feel well, I feel racy, if that is what you're asking. [The doctor's eyebrows skyrocket upward, as if to say '…slow it down'.]

Doctor [emphatically]. That you are, racy that is… you need a stronger tranquilizer until we can get that heart cadence back to normal again.

Lee [saying to the doctor again]. I feel as if buzzards are flying above my head waiting for me to crook, die, disincarnate; as if the ocean with all its sharks are gathering around me.

Doctor [saying to Lee in a witheringly way]. If you don't calm down we'll have to give you a shot to put you to sleep, your heart can't take all that witticism, nor can I take it, matter-of-fact, I'll have to give you some tranquilizing medication soon, if you don't slow d

own and rest your mouth and heart, and to be frank, I'll have to take some myself [the doctor walks out of the room again].

Doctor Bash [to Nurse Rosario]. I think my patient needs a stronger tranquilizer, --give it to him right away [he hands Rosario a small pill]. Adds to his dialogue, "…if he needs something stronger, let me know?”

Lee [taking the pill from Rosario who is smiling]. Can't resist Rosario can I, [?] he is looking at Oliver when he says that, but Rosario is looking at him.

Rosario [speaking to Lee]. Are you flirting with me, and are you serious with all those little flirts…? [Then something occurs to her—a pause] Your mother called, better tell you before I forget. I told her you were doing fine, and the doctor was looking in on you. It is best you call her as soon as you can, she's still nervous, I could tell over the phone. She was asking many questions. [Lee assures Rosario he will call in a moment.]

Doctor Bash. Maybe all I needed to do was leave Rosario in here, save the calm-down pill for another patient. [He was standing by the doorway, making notes, and laughing lightly, and then so did Lee, Rosario and Oliver joined in on the humor by laughing.] "Laughing is good for us all I think,” commented the doctor as he walks through the doorway.

Lee [after a pause of thoughtfulness and talking to Rosario whom is by his side by the bed now]. Rosario—Rosario, I'd like you to marry me?

A stone silence fills the room. Rosario's eyes opened up as wide as an owls, her mouth sinks with her chin, as if she's about to bite someone, but as it is she lets more air into accommodate the unbelievable statement she just heard (perhaps to suck it to her stomach, incase she panics),--she hesitates, woops, it was a question, woops, a statement-question possibly, the air that circled Lee's bed now is num.

No answer, everyone still in shock, disbelief…

Rosario [with tearful eyes]. If you love me!

Lee [thinking, as Oliver is stunned in his bed looking as if a shark had just eaten a whale]; --if I love you. [Oliver is mumbling something: '…this is just too simple to be true']

Rosario. Yes, if you love me.

Lee [thinking, I must love her if I asked her to marry me]. Yes— yes, I love you.

Rosario. Ok.

Lee [a bit puzzled]. Ok what?

Rosario. Ok, I'll marry you, if you love me.

Lee. Oh…ohoooooooooooo…good when, I mean ok…but I mean we need to think about when, right?

Rosario takes Lee's hand and they just hang onto one another for a moment, staring into each others eyes, lightly kissing one another a few times on the lips, not much, no big sloppy kissing going on here just a soft, moist, gentle kiss, what one might call, less than a normal kiss but more than a zero kiss, but more of a heavenly touch…as Rosario leans over the bed to get closer to Lee, and they touch noses [that's it for the beginning].

Lee [his voice shaken a bit]. I wrote a poem last night Rosario: --how I felt about my recovery, although it's kind of back and forth, that is the heart and the remembering things, the stroke has erased some of my hand skills, such as playing the guitar, but I'm getting it back. But it's none the less a recover poem.

Lee pulls himself closer to the stand by the table next to his bed and reaches for a piece of paper with his poem written on it; it falls out of his hands and Rosario picks it up.

Rosario [looking at Lee]. I'll read it, it might be easier. ('Didn't you know I'm a poet,' he said.) I'm sure you're many things I've yet to discover [she smiles, and Lee rising from his bed with a murmur of surprise, takes in a great amount of air, and pushes it down to his stomach, and slowly releases it, it makes him calmer]; I call it:

The title that is, the Fruit-Cake Poem

By Lee Walters

I had a heart attack, and stroke—I was told Whence, I never really knew it— Yet I remember the loss of thought And my body did not do, what it was told; And I knew it.

Restless, restless the world seemed As I lived in nightmares and fogy dreams— People going to and fro throughout the hospital; And through it all, my loving mother Stood tall, brave with God's ear.

Not much was said to me those days, unless When spoken to; I just can't remember how: But I do remember now

Dark evenings, lights, my bed and sleep, lots of sleep; It is all that's left of memory in me —

And so by and by a miracle came I was spared this insidious dreadful game Of loosing what little I had left Within the confines of my chest For some odd reason I cannot say—why Except for my mother's, brother's And my nurse's sighs… God spared me—

Then one day came the Doctor in— To spy, to, to gather more information of why For it was not known then, that

The one he had called the 'Fruit-cake' Was now whole again… And ready for life's new race…A-men.

The Curtain Falls

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