Tannahill - Late Company

DEBORA Unbelievable. MICHAEL Dont DEBORA No: painfully predictable. MICHAEL He called. DEBORA Forty minutes ago. MICHAEL Were still getting ready. DEBORA No, this is fussing.

MICHAEL Im not DEBORA Now it looks overdone. She holds up the napkins. These rings are too formal. MICHAEL Formals good. Its the music. DEBORA The music is appropriate. MICHAEL For a Mayan sacrifice.

DEBORA Its contemplative. MICHAEL Welcome to our house. Now lie down on this plinth while we cut out your heart. Beat. Theyre probably lost in the labyrinth. DEBORA The roads are not that twisty. Beat. Besides, they have a GPS.

I saw it in their car. Well its not a car; its one of those horrible Ford Escape mini-tanks. Ive seen it in the school parking lot. Their licence plate has their surname on it. MICHAEL No. DEBORA Yes.

MICHAEL Ridiculous. DEBORA They have a GPS on their dash. So no excuse. MICHAEL So they have money. For some reason I thought theyd beyou knowI just have this image of her sitting on the couch, shouting at her kids. Is she fat? DEBORA I dont think so.

Janice tells me they go to the same GoodLife. MICHAEL Hockey parents too, Im assuming. With a truck like that. DEBORA Okay, okaylets just MICHAEL Right. DEBORA Clear the negativity. (deep breath) Its gone. (deep breath) Its gone.

DEBORA We want this. MICHAEL Can you imagine if I punched him in the face? Giant uppercut under the chin. DEBORA Were receiving and bestowing. Michael. MICHAEL I know DEBORA Receive and bestow. They continue arranging, fidgeting for a moment in si lence. They continue arranging, fidgeting for a moment in si lence.

DEBORA We were hockey parents. For a couple winters. MICHAEL Oh those were glorified skating lessons. He was five. DEBORA Shh. She moves to the stereo and turns down the music. She moves to the stereo and turns down the music.

The knocking. MICHAEL I cant hear anything. DEBORA Why do you never hear it? It always sounds like someones upstairs. MICHAEL Do you want me to check? DEBORA Dont be silly. MICHAEL Are we sure about this? DEBORA I know theres no one there. MICHAEL About tonight.

DEBORA Of course were sure. MICHAEL We have one way that weve envisioned this going. Which is constructive. But it might, really, not be. DEBORA Well obviously thats a possibility. MICHAEL And are we prepared for that? For a complete unmitigated disaster.

Should we have aa signal? Like a DEBORA An ejection seat? MICHAEL Exactly. Like if things areif one of us gets overwhelmed or if we just need space, to leave the room, should we have some kind of DEBORA A safety. MICHAEL Something subtle. DEBORA Hmm. What if The doorbell rings. Shit.

MICHAEL No, no, not shit. Were happy to see them. DEBORA What if we MICHAEL Forget it, forget it. MICHAEL moves to the door and answers it. TAMARA , BILL , and their son, CURTIS Dermot, stand in the door in their winter jackets. TAMARA holds a pie and BILL holds a bottle of wine. You made it! TAMARA Sorry were late. BILL We kept getting turned around.

Its a winding kinda area, eh? MICHAEL Oh yeah, really loopy. Everyone gets lost. DEBORA Not everyone. MICHAEL Lots of people. TAMARA Shouldve brought one of those blood-sniffer dogs or something. DEBORA Or sent up some flares.

DEBORA takes the wine and the pie. She notices a piece of paper in TAMARA s hand. TAMARA Oh this is the Did you want to take this, or? DEBORA No you can hold on to that. (holding up pie) Yummy... TAMARA Its from that Polish farmers market near the school. Do you know it? Real nifty spot.

BILL It was in the news for selling raw milk. MICHAEL (overlapping; hanging up peoples coats)