My Best Friend Grace
Two-hander · Tragicomedy
My Best Friend Grace
My Best Friend Grace · Laurence Harbison
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My Best Friend Grace
Published by scriptsandsketches.com
Eddie encounters a girl who looks just like his deceased friend Grace, leading to a conversation about loss, guilt, and the search for forgiveness.
Duologue
Characters: HER, HIM
A crossroads. Eddie misses his friend Grace and feels guilty for not going to her funeral. He bumps into a girl he thinks looks very much like her on a deserted road.
HER:
Why are you following me?
HIM:
Me?
HER:
You've been everywhere lately. And now here. (HE stares. SHE flicks her hair.)
Staring. Always staring. At me.
Staring. Always staring. At me.
HIM:
I haven't been following you. I may have been staring, though. Sorry. You look like a friend. My friend. Grace. You look exactly like her.
HER:
If I look exactly like her, then maybe I am her. If I look exactly like her, why not say, “Hi, Grace”?
HIM:
Your nose is different.
HER:
Noses can change.
HIM:
Grace is dead. She died in November. I missed the funeral. And now I see her everywhere.
HER:
Me. You see me everywhere.
HIM:
Not you. Grace. You look exactly like her, except the nose, but the way you move is different.
HER:
The way I move?
HIM:
The way you swish your arms when you walk, the way you flick your hair. My great uncle died before I was born, but relatives say I scratch my head the same way he did. It's hereditary.
HER:
Scratching your head?
HIM:
You don't move like Grace.
HER:
Maybe I've taken acting lessons. Movement lessons. Yoga. Pilates.
HIM:
You're not Grace.
HER:
Or maybe this is how dead people move: We swish our arms and flick our hair.
HIM:
Not Grace.
HER:
Then why are you following me? If I'm not her?
HIM:
Shouldn't you say you're sorry for my loss?
HER:
You're a stalker!
HIM:
I'm not a stalker. If you thought I was a stalker, you'd be afraid. You wouldn't walk alone on a deserted road.
HER:
It's a public place.
HIM:
Then where's the public?
HER:
Are you threatening me?
HIM:
Just the opposite. I'm not threatening. Look at me: Nothing threatening about me.
HER:
That sounds like a threat.
HIM:
I apologize. I'm sorry. I can't seem to say the right thing. I'm not stalking. I'm just sad. I miss my dead friend. And I'm going for a walk. If you're going north, I'll head south. (HE starts to walk away.)
HER:
Was her name really Grace? (HE stops.)
HIM:
I think so.
HER:
You think so?
HIM:
I never saw her birth certificate.
HER:
My name is Grace.
HIM:
You're messing with me.
HER:
Or you're messing with me.
HIM:
Okay, I did see you yesterday.
HER:
And the day before.
HIM:
I noticed you. I didn't mean to stare.
HER:
At the coffee house near campus.
HIM:
It's the green tea. I'm an addict.
HER:
Green tea tastes like dirt.
HIM:
That's what Grace said.
HER:
You probably drink the decaf.
HIM:
Most stalkers do.
HER:
Why's that?
HIM:
We don't need artificial stimulation.
HER:
Look, I have to go.
HIM:
Sure. Sorry.
HER:
I'm sorry about your friend.
HIM:
Thanks.
HER:
I'm going this way. (SHE points in the direction she was headed.)
HIM:
I'll go ... that way. (HE points in another direction.)
HER:
Okay.
HIM:
See you later. I mean ... maybe.
HER:
Uh... yeah.
HIM:
It's just a figure of speech.
HER:
Right (HE doesn't move.)
HIM:
Look, can I buy you a cup of coffee?
HER:
I'm busy.
HIM:
Maybe later?
HER:
No thanks.
HIM:
I mean, if I happen to see you ...
HER:
No thanks.
HIM:
Can I just ask you one thing? Before I go?
HER:
But then you will go?
HIM:
Yes.
HER:
You promise?
HIM:
Yes.
HER:
Okay.
HIM:
Can you ... Would you ... Would you please say you forgive me?
HER:
For following me?
HIM:
For missing your funeral.
HER:
For missing my funeral.
HIM:
Grace's funeral.
HER:
You want me to be Grace.
HIM:
If she were to forgive me, I think she'd stop haunting me. I think I'd stop seeing her.
HER:
You want to stop seeing her?
HIM:
She's dead.
HER:
And you think I can channel the dead?
HIM:
It's in my mind, the haunting. I just need to displace it.
HER:
With forgiveness?
HIM:
Yes.
HER:
That's a lot to ask.
HIM:
It's just one line.
HER:
I'm not a priest.
HIM:
Please. Grace.
HER:
Why did you miss the funeral?
HIM:
I was out of town.
HER:
What's the real reason?
HIM:
Oh my god.
HER:
What?
HIM:
That thing you just did with your eyebrows? Grace did that.
HER:
When you lied to her?
HIM:
I didn't lie to her.
HER:
You cheated on her?
HIM:
Never.
HER:
Shouldn't I know what I'm forgiving you for?
HIM:
I told you. The funeral.
HER:
Funerals are for the living. She wouldn't have cared.
HIM:
I was angry. When she died.
HER:
Because she died? Or before she died?
HIM:
We'd grown apart.
HER:
You hadn't seen her.
HIM:
For a while.
HER:
And then?
HIM:
I said things. Stupid things.
HER:
So?
HIM:
Now they're carved in stone.
HER:
Now they're forgotten.
HIM:
I think I loved her too much.
HER:
Was that one of the stupid things you said?
HIM:
Won't you please forgive me?
HER:
Do you deserve forgiveness?
HIM:
I've undergone penance.
HER:
You haven't even confessed.
HIM:
I don't know how.
HER:
You were jealous.
HIM:
Maybe.
HER:
And you hurt her.
HIM:
I didn't hurt her.
HER:
She was in pain.
HIM:
The doctor said she wasn't.
HER:
How would the doctor know? He didn't hear the crack.
HIM:
The lightning crack.
HER:
- that wasn't lightning at all.
HIM:
It broke her apart.
HER:
She didn't want to die.
HIM:
I didn't want her to die.
HER:
I know that.
HIM:
You do?
HER:
Yes.
HIM:
I hurt her.
HER:
You broke her apart.
HIM:
Can you forgive me?
HER:
You haven't apologized.
HIM:
I'm sorry, Grace.
HER:
I forgive you. Eddie. (HE stares) (SHE flicks her hair. Finally, HE walks away—in the direction he first came from.)
