Your pan is empty; you have to allow yourself to have a bowel movement [she has a serious look on her face].

Lee. I know, but I can't do it in this damn pan, or in front of someone. Not even Miss Fremont [his left eyebrow goes up in the air looking towards Eva's way, but of course the curtains are in the way]. Let me get up and go and find a real, four-walled bathroom?

Nurse Rosario. I would have to get the doctors permission. I'll ask him.

Nurse Rosario pulls the curtains open again; as she leaves the room she gives recognition to Miss Fremont, by way of a smile.

Nurse Rosario. Your fianc seems to be doing just fine, if only he will have a bowel movement, I'd feel better [Eva looking all the time at her fianc, Lee, not at Nurse Rosario].

Eva. That's easier said than done. Yaw, he has his way of doing things doesn't he, and they are all different than normal peoples, and they are always different than anyone else's, that's for sure.

The Nurse leaves the room, and Eva goes and sits on the bed, at the end of it, looks at the book, "Neverwhere."?

Eva. Where did you find this book?

Lee [with a deep sigh, and release of air]. You repeat yourself do you know that? [Eva pays no heed to the rhetorical question.] At any rate, it belongs to the old man next to me, the one sleeping, or pretending to sleep, Olivier somebody. He got it from his son I think, who got it from the author I think, it's signed anyhow. He had read it, [he repeats himself], and he read it and gave it to me. I liked it. This guy is in some underground place in London. I mean this sewer system or something, it's really different. Not sure if he is in wonderland or the underworld or what, but I guess it's Never-everywhere land. He's got a girlfriend of sorts. I think I wouldn't mind joining him.

You shook your head that you'd be leaving me should I ever get sick again. Or have a stroke.

Eva. Your stroke is still blurring your mind and vision, the book is called, 'Neverwhere...' and yes I did shake my head, but I'm trying to be as honest as I can.

Lee. Oh, I'd never leave you, never in a million years, especially if you were" ?were ill...!

Eva. So what does that all mean? ...are you changing your mind now;--are you going to leave me instead, what?

Lee. No, I'm just being honest also. I wonder how the book ends. Maybe it will have the answer for me. I'll bet the man comes back out of the sewer system, doesn't care for his old life, and runs back to his make believe world" ?but you know, maybe, just maybe, there's another side to this.

Eva. What's your answer?

Lee. What to do about you leaving me if I get a stroke again [Eva tightened her face], that's my question to myself" ?no answer yet.

Eva. I've been here everyday Lee; actually, every night and day. Now I need to be with my kids for awhile, they do not care for me spending so much time away from them [the kids being 12 and 15 years old, and not Lee's kids, Eva's. He has been dating Eva for three years].

Lee. Yes, I figured they'd come up sooner or later, your kids that is. You know the younger one said she'd want to give me a heart attack if she could figure out how to do it, maybe you'd helped it along, -- and she doesn't want me to marry you" ? you know?

Eva. Yes, I remember her saying that, I'm the one that told you that, now that I think of it.

Lee. How bizarre; someone else's kids, that is, trying to raise them, and love them, is a thankless job, you can't win. You get it from the kids, from the ex-husband, and from your girlfriend. Can you hand me my book please [she picks it up and hands it to him]? I liked the Marquis in the book. It is another world unto itself.

Eva. Will you please get your mind off the book? I am here to visit you.

Lee. Well, to be quite frank, and to add to that, the honest approach thing you brought to my attention, I'd just as soon be alone now, and you go home and visit your kids and I'll read my book [Eva looks mortified].

Eva not knowing what to do or say stands up from the bed and walks over to the curtain by the window; --the old man in the other bed overhears the conversation they are having" ?and he catches her eyes as she turns to look out the window, putting her hands on the sill. She gives him a smirk.

Eva. Your friend is awake, Lee.

Lee. Hello Oliver, have a good sleep?

Oliver. Yew, real good [Oliver had heart surgery also, and is a 72-year old man, or is it 78? I think he told one person one thing and another person another age].

Lee. Did we wake you up?

Oliver. Not sure, but I'm getting real hungry.

Eva. I see you put the book down for Oliver.

Lee. That's my fiance -E- Eva.

Eva. Hello Oliver, I can't imagine what you two have in common.

Lee [talking to Eva]. I thought you were leaving, Eva?

Eva [answering Lee]. I never said that, you just decided to read, but I guess it is my company you are annoyed with. I'm sorry: --I'll have to go and visit the kids; you're supposed to be engaged to marry me, and look how you treat me...with distain.

Oliver. What does that word mean, --distain?

Lee. I think it means something distasteful, you know, something you ate and wanted to spit back out. You see Oliver, she really doesn't want to stay here with me, or for that matter, see her little monster kids, but I'm a good distraction for her, a good reason to get away from those little brats, actually, they're not so little now that I think about it. One's tall and skinny, the other short and fat. I watch them for her when I visit her, or stay at her house, she's at all these parties and teacher things to get away from all of us; I think the kids in particular. She hides from them you know. I don't blame her for not wanting to go home. To be real candid, I should try to figure out why I'd want to be there.

Eva. Yes they do bother me, and you're starting to get on my nerves also.

Lee. Hay... Oliver, she even told me one day she dated me because she needed someone to help pay the bills, take care of the kids, and god knows what else. But after three years she learned to love me. But I think it's starting to have a reversing process, back to the trying to love stage, or thing...

Eva. You don't have to tell him all our secrets.

Lee. What's so secret about that?

Eva. I'm leaving, you two can do your fianc bashing without me [Oliver simply looks at Lee, puts on a frown with a little disbelief, a smirk and follows it up with a smiling laugh, but nothing Eva can see or hear]

What are you two up to" ?something I'm sure? It seems so quiet in here.

Lee. Now what can we be up to, we're both in bed, man oh man, are you insecure, and paranoid.

Eva waves with her hand goodbye to Lee and walks out the door. Her feelings are hurt, but not enough to cry. She feels that they both ganged up on her, even though Oliver did not say a word, or direct his dialogue to her I should say.

Oliver. It's not going to work Lee I can assure you of that.

Lee. Why's that, or is it so obvious?

Oliver. She doesn't want it to. Plus, that is not love talking. It's just not going to work. I was married once to this woman, and it was nothing but hell all the time. Smart this and that, and someone else's kids. I met this woman I have now and she does everything for me. Matter-of-fact, she never cuts me down. I wish I would have met her long ago. I've been married thirteen-years now. The previous marriage was twenty-five. The best advice I can give you is find someone who adores you. These American women are so fickle now-a-days, they don't know what they want, and when they get it, the desire is gone, and it's not long before they start looking for another mate, instant gratification is what they want, and then boredom creeps in. Or I should say the majority of them. I shouldn't generalize, I suppose. It's so easy to get a divorce now-a-days, --matter of fact, it's harder to get a motorcycle license than a marriage license; you know if you pick your nose wrong, it's divorce time. Get a woman from Asia or South America as I did. She'll love-yaw forever.

Dennis Siluk

Writing is more than a hobby for me. It's a passion, one of the ways I capture and celebrate life.