31 Plays in 31 Days, #16 - “All I Can Do”

[breakinglight11]

Ee, this one is a bit more spoilery than I like to post. But I’m close to having a first draft of all scenes for Mrs. Hawking part 7 and need to move more into editing than creating new material. That’s one of the big downsides of 31 Plays in 31 Days; I end up having to put a lot of energy into generation just to meet the structure of the challenge even if that’s not strictly productive for what I really want to accomplish. And I find myself forced to post stuff that kind of spoils the climax just to have enough scenes. Especially since one rule I’ve stuck to pretty strictly across the years (all twelve of them) is to not repost an edit unless it is COMPLETELY rewritten, with none of the original reused.



Day #16 - “All I Can Do”
From Mrs. Hawking 7 by Phoebe Roberts

MARY SWANN, society avenger, early thirties
ARTHUR SWANN, MI6 agent and her husband, mid thirties
OLIVER WARREN, a joiner, early thirties

New York, New York, 1890
~~~

(MARY and ARTHUR meet with OLIVER in their home.)

MARY: Thank you for coming, Mr. Warren.

OLIVER: Of course. I take it you’ve got something to report?

MARY: Yes, I do. I’ve been looking into Daisy… to finding a way to bring her back to you.

OLIVER: Yes. Have you found it? Have you got a way?

MARY: I’ve looked into her situation… how complicated it is. She’s so little, she doesn’t understand what’s happened. How she wants her papa in her nice new house. How she wishes she could have all her family together with her dear little dog.

OLIVER: What do you mean? Can’t you get her?

MARY: Mr. Warren… I can’t. I can’t sneak her out of there without anyone catching us. And I can’t make her understand what her grandparents have done. They are powerful people, there’s no… bearing her away from that place by deception or force.

OLIVER: Then… what do you mean to do?

MARY: There’s a solicitor, a lawyer here at the embassy, who knows American law. I’ve spoken to him on your behalf. He’s agreed to help you make arrangements with your wife’s family to live with your daughter again.

OLIVER: Lawyers? Arrangements?

MARY: Free of charge. It’s all been taken care of.

OLIVER: She’s my girl. They stole her from me.

MARY: I know. It isn’t fair. But she knows them now; they’ve become family. You can’t just tear her away from them and run.

OLIVER: Do you… are you crazy? They will never let me in.

MARY: It’s your only chance. It’s your only chance to have her back again.

OLIVER: You can’t be serious. You said— you said you could save her. You said you could bring her back to me.

MARY: I know.

OLIVER: And this is all you can do? This— this “solicitor”? (To ARTHUR) If your wife’s family stole your daughter from you, would you stand for it? What would you do?

ARTHUR: I don’t know, sir. I can’t imagine.

(Pause.)

OLIVER: You said you could help me. You said you’d do what you could.

MARY: I have. Please… take this chance.

(She presses the legal papers into his hands.)

MARY: God keep you, Mr. Warren.

(He snatches up the papers and exits.)