by Professor Zorkophsky, ©2023
(Jun. 27, 2023) — The players: Dave, the husband, and Cathy, the wife
The place: Any living room, USA
The time: Now
ACT I
Scene I
In the kitchen. Cathy is drying her hands while Dave puts away the last of the dishes.
Dave: That was sure a good lunch. You’re a better cook than my mother. Let’s rest up in the living room before you go off to work.
Scene II
The couple enter the living room. Cathy sits on the rocker while Dave plops down on the couch.
Cathy: You going to look for a job today?
Dave: One at the edge of town, out by the highway. Looks like they’re building a truck stop or a strip mall.
Cathy: We don’t need another strip mall in this small town.
Dave: No, we don’t, but I meant a mini-mall: you know, where the drug money gets laundered.
Cathy: Oh. A laundromat.
Dave: Maybe. Right, maybe one of those.
Silence, like a grey cloud, descends on the room.
Dave wants to say that he’ll quit the alcohol and the drugs, that all he needs is a little more time; he knows he can do it.
Cathy is thinking it’s the same old record, that her husband is a worthless good-for-nothing.
Dave thinks that he’s a failure and he keeps thinking it: failure, failure, failure, a never-ending tape: failure, failure, failure.
Cathy breaks the silence.
Cathy: Well, I’ve got to leave now.
Dave: Alright.
Cathy: Good luck on your job hunting (Good luck, indeed. I bet he won’t even leave the house.)
Dave: See you later (followed by a perfunctory kiss).
Dave thinks she should’ve been a little more loving and caring. She looked really good. He should’ve told her.
And then he started thinking what a failure he’s become. Failure; nothing but a failure.
Going crazy; no, that’s not right. Going nuts; that’s it. I’m going nuts. But I’ll quit the drugs. I’ll stop drinking altogether, forever. And no more smoking. And no more drugs. Ever. And I mean it.
My, will you just look at the time? I guess I lost track somehow. Maybe that’s normal for nuts, who knows?
So much for looking for a job this late.
I’ll call her and tell her I just got on the wagon, that’s what I’ll do. I’ll call her right now.
Dave: Hello, may I speak to my wife please, Mrs. Cathy?”
Sound of operator’s voice over the phone.
“I’m sorry, she’s not here. It’s her day off.”
FINI
There are millions of Veterans with PTSD who walk the tightrope between sanity and nutsville every day and it doesn’t take much for them to go off the cliff.
They say 23 Veterans do themselves in every day.
I’m one of the fortunate ones who just as easily could have been one of the counted ones.