a short play

(A man and two women are sitting in adjoining seats on the Metro. The women are facing the front of the car, and the man is facing the aisle. The man has a deep, gravelly voice. Woman1 is about his age, 50+, and Woman2 is in her late 20's/early 30's.)

Man: Thank you so much for having us. This visit has been really great.

Woman1: You're welcome.

Man: We even got to go to this little town where Jack lives, and he took us to this place where they make the best cheeseburgers. The meat is really fresh and they put this thin slice of cheese on it right when it comes off the grill, so it melts perfectly all over. Delicious.

Woman1: Well, you're welcome any time.

Man: You're so nice. Your mother would have stopped me from coming to visit a long time ago. She always got mad at me and would start yelling, remember?

Woman1: Uh...this is my stop.

Man: Thanks again!

Woman1: No problem. (she gets up and leaves the train at the stop)

Man: That woman is 61 years old. Would you believe it? I never would have guessed.

Woman2: Oh, I see.

Man: This cheeseburger place was really great. But you'd really never believe Jack...he's got this girlfriend, and she's a real knockout. Like, model hot. Seeing them together, man! What do they talk about? Books? (he snorts derisively)

Woman2: Well.

Man: His last girlfriend was much more his speed. She was Chinese, and took language classes and cooking lessons and everything. She was really great, but he wanted someone younger, I guess. Ridiculous, right?

Woman2: I suppose.

Man: I don't really cook that much. I know how, but I'm not really good at it. Though this guy Anthony from work called me once and asked me "how do you do this?" particular thing you do in the kitchen for making desserts, and I told him, and he was like, "man, you're a genius!"

Woman2: How about that.

Man: I keep all kinds of good stuff in the kitchen, though. Jars and jars of things, everywhere. Black raspberries, white chocolate, jams, peppers, artichokes...hey, I made artichokes for these people once, just drained 'em and made them into a dip, and I served them to all these people from work and not one of them had ever had an artichoke before. Can you believe that?

Woman2: That's interesting. Did they like them?

Man: Oh, they loved them. Ate it up. I made it again the next time we had a company gathering. Do you ever have work gatherings?

Woman2: Not really.

Man: That's too bad. If you like the people you work with, work parties can be so great. There's this one girl who doesn't really like me, though. She always gets mad and yells at me, and I can't even figure out why. I mean, I'm just there talking to her, and all of the sudden she snaps!

Woman2: I can't imagine.

Man: I mean, what's that all about? You'd think that you would want to have a good relationship with the people you work with. She's in shipping and I'm in sales, so we have to have a good working relationship in order to get things done, right? But she never talks to me unless we have a work party, and when she does, she always just gets mad after 15 minutes. I've known you for...what...15 minutes? And you haven't yelled at me yet. There must be something wrong with her.

Woman2: This is my stop.

Man: Oh, here? This is a good stop. I heard there are a lot of good restaurants around this one. Do you have to walk very far to get to work? I'm transfering at the next stop to get to the airport. My flight is in a few hours but I like to get to the airport early because you always meet the most interesting people when you're traveling.

Woman2: Have a good trip home.

Man: Thanks.

Woman2: (leaves)

fin