Christ. I used different names in an effect to not be distracting, but I’m sure you know who these people are. If I choose to do anything further with this, I should probably adapt it into a fic, rather than trying to hammer it into a distinct usable play.
Day #31 - "Have That Dance"
(An old woman, LENA, sits in a chair. Enter NICK, a very handsome, very fit young blond man carrying a bouquet of red roses. She turns around in her chair to look at him.)
LENA: You came.
NICK: Yes. I’m… sorry it took so long.
LENA: I saw the reports on the news. How they’d found you. How you were back after all this time.
NICK: I meant to call you. I wanted to. I just…. I didn’t know what to say. And then, everything happened, and I—
LENA: Not a word of that. I understand. I wanted to call you, but… I didn’t know what to say either.
NICK: I couldn’t… I couldn’t not see you.
(He proffers the bouquet.)
NICK: These are for you.
(She takes them and starts to cry. NICK kneels down beside her.)
NICK: I— I’m so sorry. If I shouldn’t have come—
(She sets the bouquet aside.)
LENA: Oh, no! Never that. It’s only—oh, Nick, you don’t know how I’ve missed you. After you were lost, and then all this time… I thought you were dead.
NICK: I was. In a way. But… after the procedure… I don’t know how it happened, but I survived.
LENA: Look at you. My God. I’d almost forgotten how beautiful you are.
NICK: Lena…
LENA: That wasn’t the sort of thing ladies said in those days, but I wish I had. There never was a man as beautiful.
NICK: Not as beautiful as you.
LENA: And look at me now. I’m an old woman.
NICK: Still. It’s… it’s so good to see you. I was afraid I’d never see you again.
LENA: So much time has gone by. A lifetime, Nick.
NICK: A lifetime, yes…
(He indicates the pictures on her table.)
NICK: Is this your husband?
LENA: Charles. Yes. He passed almost ten years ago.
NICK: He looks… he looks like a decent man.
LENA: He was.
(Pause.)
LENA: I’m so sorry, Nick.
NICK: You don’t have to apologize.
LENA: I did wait, you know. As they searched for you. Even after everyone else had given up hope. I never wanted to be with anyone else. But the years went by, and you stayed gone…
NICK: You had a life to live.
LENA: At that point, it seemed like Charles made more sense than waiting for a ghost.
NICK: Do you have children?
LENA: Yes. Two. This is Alexandra, my eldest… and this is her younger brother.
NICK: What’s his name?
LENA: Nicholas.
NICK: Oh, Lena.
LENA: Charles was a good man, and I loved him, but… he wasn’t you, Nick. Nobody could ever be you.
NICK: I’m—so sorry. I’m so sorry I had to leave you. I thought— I thought it was the only way. But I didn’t want to. I wanted to do… so many things… that I never had the chance to.
LENA: We had a date.
NICK: That was where I would have started. And I would have learned how to dance. And… I would have told you that I loved you.
LENA: Oh, Nick.
NICK: I wanted to. The time wasn’t right then, so I didn’t. We weren't at that place yet. But now… now it’s way past time. I love you, Lena. You’re the one I was waiting for.
LENA: I love you, too, Nick. I always have, even all through the years with Charles. And God help me, I always will. For however long that is.
NICK: Lena, I’m here now—
LENA: No— none of that, Nick. Don’t… don’t say anything about that, not right now. Just… just be here, for a while. Be here with me.
NICK: I’ve waited seventy years to do that. I still owe you a dance, you know.
LENA: Yes, you do.
(He stands and extends his hand to her to help her frail body from the chair.)
NICK: You promised to teach me.
LENA: Yes. It’s about time you learned.
(He pulls her close and she begins slowly showing him some old-fashioned steps.)
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