Characters
Ella: Age eighteen, tall and rather ordinary looking, she was named for the jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald. She carries herself with grace and composure. When she was eleven, her parents left her with her Nona and her Grandpa (who is recently deceased)for a reason still unknown to Ella. Her Nona has become very ill, and Ella has really stepped up to the plate in caring for her. Part of caring for Nona is caring for Nona’s beloved dog Billie Holiday (named for the jazz singer, Nona named the dog for Holiday so that she could really be a part of their family.)

Andy: Age seventeen, gawky and slightly awkward with nothing but good intentions. He’s been ELLA’s best friend since preschool and he prides himself on remembering ELLA’s parents. He’s been madly in love with ELLA since he was about seven but has never found a way to tell her since he often passes time by daydreaming about a life with her.

Setting : A small two lane bridge in Upstate New York. It’s early March so everything is tinted grey with the last bit of frost. It’s about five in the morning.

Scene 1
ANDY
(enters to see ELLA kneeling over something)
Elle? Hey, Ella, I’m here.


ELLA
Oh, thank God. Andy, Andy I don’t know what to do.


ANDY
(sits down on the sidewalk of the bridge next to ELLA)
Fitz, what’s that you’re holding on to?

ELLA
I just went to get my sweater while she was outside and then she was gone. (moves her body so ANDY can see the dead Billie Holiday laying in ELLA’S lap)

ANDY
Oh, Elle.

ELLA
She was gone when I came back outside and so I started running down the street and then I saw her head up onto the bridge and there was a big delivery truck coming so I started screaming for him to stop but he was just blaring this really shitty music, I mean it was complete EDM s***, and so I was screaming and then it was just too late and it’s not even that cold outside and I’m not even wearing shoes. What do we do?

ANDY
I mean, I don’t think there’s much we can do, Fitz. (unlaces his shoes)

ELLA
No I mean with the – Andy what are you doing?

ANDY
(takes off both his shoes)

ELLA
Andy

ANDY
Put them on.

ELLA
Your shoes?

ANDY
It’s too cold not to have shoes on.
(Slips his shoes onto ELLA’s feet so she doesn’t have to reach around the body)

ELLA
But now you’re not wearing shoes.

ANDY
I’ve got socks, plus, I’m a man.

ELLA
What do we do with her?

ANDY
There’s a wheelbarrow in my shed and I could get it and maybe we could take her to the bottom of the bridge and let her into the water, you know?

ELLA
That would be nice, but we can’t leave her here to go get it, someone else could get her or something and I don’t want to leave her.


ANDY
You stay here.
(stands)
I’ll go get it, just stay right here, okay?


Scene 2


ELLA
(singing Billie Holiday’s ‘I’ll Be Seeing You’ to Billie Holiday and stroking her ever chilling fur)
In that small café, the park across the way, the children’s carousel, the chestnut trees, the wishing well.
(speaking)
That was always my favorite part.

ANDY
(enters, pushing a wheelbarrow)
Not mine.

ELLA
That was fast for someone in sock feet.
ANDY
(singing off key)
I’ll be seeing you, in every lovely summers’ day. In everything that’s light and gay, I’ll always think of you that way.
(speaking)
That’s my favorite part.
(sits next to ELLA)
Have you ever felt that way about someone?

ELLA
It’s gonna sound weird if I tell you.

ANDY
C’mon, Fitz.

ELLA
Well-


ANDY
Don’t tell me it’s that loser Harry you had a crush on freshman year.
 

ELLA
The only song that made me think of him was that Madonna song.

ANDY
‘Like a Virgin’?

ELLA
No, gross. I was fourteen.

ANDY
That’s the only Madonna song I know besides the one where she gets pregnant.

ELLA
‘Crazy for You’ was the one.

ANDY
I think you played me that.

ELLA
Freshman year.

ANDY
Back to ‘I’ll Be Seeing You’.

ELLA
Hey, man where’re yah going?

ANDY
What, no-

ELLA
(interrupts in a poor English accent)
Oh, please dah-ling tell me we’ll meet again soon!

ANDY
(looks mildly annoyed before deciding to play along)
You know I wouldn’t dream of an eternal goodbye!
(picking up Billie Holiday’s paw and mimicking her voice)
Thank goodness you wouldn’t dare to leave us, we love you so very much!

ELLA
(snatches paw and tries to muster a stern tone, but cannot conceal her laughter)
Oh, Andy that’s sick!
(pets the dead dog as an apology)
The song makes me think about my parents.

ANDY
But, it’s a love song.

ELLA
I mean, not necessarily. It’s just about seeing things that remind you of someone. When they left I saw them everywhere.

ANDY
Look, Elle. I know you don’t understand why your parents left or where they went or anything. And I know it’s hard to understand why you are the way you are without knowing who they were really. But, I mean at least you got to skip the sucky part of having parents.

ELLA
And what’s that?

ANDY
When it hits you how f***ed up they are.

ELLA
It’s like I’ll never be able to break myself down like other people can. I don’t get to say ‘oh I got this from my dad’, because I don’t know him.

ANDY
Do you remember how competitive your dad was?

ELLA
How could I forget. I got ‘the talk’ when I was nine because my dad played the word ‘clitoris’ for a triple word score in Scrabble.

ANDY
You’re competitive like that too. I mean you kick serious ass in Guitar Hero. I’ve never been able to get five stars on ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ playing hard mode.

ELLA
That’s because you suck and Guitar Hero.

ANDY
Hey, I killed that Thin Lizzy song that one time.


ELLA
Nona beat your high score.

ANDY
How are you going to tell her?

ELLA
I don’t know, man. I mean Grandpa died, what, six months ago? Billie and I were it. ‘Her girls’.

ANDY
Sometimes you don’t want to tell someone something, not because you don’t know what to say or how to say it, but because it’s scary when you remember that they’ll have a reaction.

ELLA
It might kill her. She’s eighty seven and just about everyone else she’s loved is gone.

ANDY
Love doesn’t kill you.

ELLA
She told me once that her brother died when his loved died out. She says everyone gets someone or some people who love them in their lives and eventually those people die or whatever and that piece of love is gone and then all the love just starts dying out until you can’t live anymore.

ANDY
s***, that’s depressing.

ELLA
Yeah, I think we should take care of Billie now.
(stands up with Billie in her arms and walks down to the bottom of the bridge, ANDY follows behind her with the wheelbarrow)I’m going to lay her on the grass for a minute.

ANDY
Should we fill it with rocks? You know, so it sinks.

ELLA
The wheelbarrow?

ANDY
Yeah.

ELLA
I guess so. I’m going to pick some flowers okay? Could you watch Billie for a minute, I’ll be right over there just could you stay with her?

ANDY
Yeah, yeah of course.

Scene 3

ANDY
(talking to Billie Holiday while ELLA is away picking flowers for the wheelbarrow)
Alright, Billie, hear me out. I know this is horrible timing considering your current situation, but her ass. Billie if you could see her ass even your little dog brain would understand why i need to point out the ass situation. I mean, you know me, I’m not the type to degrade. I’m not even degrading right now, really. I’m celebrating, I’m celebrating your life and also her ass.
(hears ELLA approaching and starts filling the wheelbarrow with rocks.)

ELLA
So
(lays her armful of flower petals and leaves next Billie and starts tucking some of them into her fur)


ANDY
Yes?

ELLA
‘I’ll Be Seeing You’

ANDY
Yes. Later tonight I presume?
(over exaggerated wink)

ELLA
oh please, in your dreams.

ANDY
true.

ELLA
oh, Andy, gross.

ANDY
Only kidding, only kidding.
(rolls eyes)
I’m an ‘I’m a Fool to Want You’ type of guy.

ELLA
Oh? Do tell
(places flowers in Billie’s ears)

ANDY
It’s not an interesting story.

ELLA
There’s no such thing as a boring love story. I mean some of them are predictable and repetitive, but not boring.

ANDY
Have you ever looked at someone and been like ‘wow’. And you don’t think that because you don’t know what to say, you think it because there are about a million things you want to say right then, right when you see them, and they’re all flooding into your brain at once and so all you can say is ‘wow’.

ELLA
This is interesting; I don’t know why you think this isn’t interesting.

ANDY
What do you think it is?

ELLA
The ‘wow’ thing?  I don’t know, maybe it’s love or something.

ANDY
Yeah love or something
(toys with rock in hand)
Hey, Fitz-

ELLA
Wait, I don’t understand

ANDY
What?

ELLA
Okay so, I understand the ‘wow’ thing but I don’t understand how that has anything to do with ‘I’m a Fool to Love You’.

ANDY
Well, I guess it’s just that after the ‘wow’ thing when you have time to process how you feel and what you want to say. But, sometimes it’s never the right time or it would just be weird if you told them, and then you’re a fool to love them.

ELLA
Let’s practice.

ANDY
What?

ELLA
Let’s practice for when you’re ready. I’ll pretend to be your person and you can be you and tell me what you want to say to her. Just imagine we’re somewhere really romantic, Paris or some s***.

ANDY
I’m gonna put Billie in the wheelbarrow now.
(stands to get Billie who is now completely covered in flowers.)

ELLA
C’mon Andy, man up.

ANDY
I am a man!
(lifts Billie’s body over his head to prove his strength and some of the petals float to the ground)

ELLA
Jesus Christ, Andy! What are you doing?! Put her down!

ANDY
(lowers Billie’s body with great care)
you said to man up.

ELLA
By up, I didn’t mean towards the sky.

ANDY
Hate to break it to you, but that is the general connotation of ‘up’

ELLA
You’re being such a baby.

ANDY
I’ve got dog blood on my pants.

ELLA
I was just trying to help you man up so maybe you could finally get a girlfriend.

ANDY
Fitz, stop. You don’t know anything about it.
(places Billie carefully in wheelbarrow)

ELLA
No, Andy! You’re my best friend and I want you to be happy! Just tell me how you feel about her! I just want to know!

ANDY
(furiously)
I’d tell her I love how she has at least four books on her bedside table, but only ever finishes one. I love how religious she is about wishes on her eyelashes. I love her overuse of the word ‘funky’ because there really aren’t that many funky things in this world besides 70’s disco and mold. I’d tell her she’s stunning at seven in the morning, it’s her most flattering hour, and nobody ever looks good at seven in the morning but she just does. I’d tell her I think it’s funny that she sings so loud in the car and that she doesn’t care that she sucks and I’d tell her she smells really good all the time, like rain, she smells like rain and it’s awesome and I want to just be around her all the time because she smells like rain and she has a really loud laugh and I like that because everything is so quiet without her around and she makes everything loud and I like that.

ELLA
I think you should tell her.

ANDY
Yeah, me too.

ELLA
Why don’t you?

ANDY
Am I gonna sound like a total f***wad if I say it’s complicated?

ELLA
(nods head exaggeratedly)
Yes.

ANDY
Sorry, Fitz. Hey, so, what now?
(gestures to Billie in the wheelbarrow)

ELLA
I wish I were a large black woman

ANDY
Why?

ELLA
Because they’re better at this than I am.

ANDY
Better at what

ELLA
Singing at funerals

ANDY
Youre going to sing?

ELLA
Yes, and you’re going to push her into the water, okay?

ANDY
Okay, ready?

ELLA
No, ‘I’ll Be Seeing You’ or ‘I’m a Fool to Love You’?

ANDY
You pick.

ELLA
Okay.

ANDY
Are you ready now?

ELLA
Not yet.
(kneels at Billie’s side a whispers to her while adjusting some of the flowers)
Okay, I’m ready.

ANDY
Okay.

ELLA
Andy could you wait until after I sing to push her in?

ANDY
Sure, Fitz.

ELLA
(singing)
I’ll find you in the morning sun and when the night is new, I’ll be look at the moon but I’ll be seeing you.
(speaking)
Okay, okay I’m ready now.

ANDY
(pushes the wheelbarrow into the water. ELLA immediately faces away. The wheelbarrow sinks rather quickly and a few flowers float around the top)

ELLA
Andy, if I was your person what would tell me right now? What do you tell a person who pushes their dog into the river if you love them that much.

ANDY
That they’re just as good as any large black woman.


ELLA
Thanks.