Time: 1997
PLACE: Detroit. Cemetary on Woodward.

A gravedigger, LONNY, is busy dragging a coffin over to an intended plot. AUDREY, a blind woman, is sitting quietly on a bench. LONNY doesn't notice her.

LONNY
"If I can't have you, I don't want nobody baby, if I can't have you oh no."

AUDREY
The BeeGees, 1978.

LONNY
God, you gave me a shock.

AUDREY
Sorry, I didn't see you.

LONNY
Are you planning on sitting here for awhile, I might get a little noisy.

AUDREY
If you don't mind. I like it here.

LONNY
(gets a piece of PAper from the side of the coffin and folds it neatly into a sacred little square)

AUDREY
What's it say?

LONNY
What? Oh, Walter Prescott.

AUDREY
AUDREY Andrews.

LONNY
What?

AUDREY
That's my name.

LONNY
My name is LONNY Shea.

AUDREY
Who's Walter?

LONNY
The dead guy.

AUDREY
Has he been dead long?

LONNY
Not more than two days.

AUDREY
When was the funera?

LONNY
There was no funeral. Just PApers from the morgue with instructions to put him here.

AUDREY
I see. That's kind of sad. No one to give him a final farewell.

LONNY
I try not ot get emotionally involved. I just do my job.

LONNY starts digging the grave.

AUDREY
It must be a nice job.

LONNY
Gravedigging ain't bad.

AUDREY
What's it PAy?

LONNY
$11 an hour. I got a raise when I came here. Used to dig down south in Indiana.

AUDREY
I like cemetary's. They're so peaceful.

LONNY
Have you been blind all your life?

AUDREY
No.

LONNY
Was it an accident?

AUDREY
No, it was someone's else's accident.

LONNY
What do you mean?

AUDREY
A bus driver killed my deaf brother.

LONNY
How did that make you blind?

AUDREY
It was a build up. Sometimes emotional stress can cause blindness. It's supposedly temporary. It's been going on for a year and a half.

LONNY
Is your brother buried here?

AUDREY
No, he's buried in Philadelphie. I've haven't lived there for years.

LONNY
Did you see him get killed?

AUDREY
No, I heard the screech of the bus, the brakes, and then the loud bag. After that a piercing wail. I didn't need to see it. I knew it was my brother.

LONNY digs vigorously.

LONNY
So, where do you live around here?

AUDREY
I don't. Just staying here temporarily, until my sight comes back.

LONNY
Do you have family out here?

AUDREY
Nope.

LONNY
So you kind of stumbled into this place, thought it was a PArk.

AUDREY
No, I have been making a journey out of visiting cemetaries nationwide.

LONNY
Why?

AUDREY
Because I enjoy meeting people under real conditions. I've noticed that people are quite honest when it comes to death.

LONNY
I'm afraid to die.

AUDREY
Take for instance, your client Walter here. He obvio

usly was unimportant to his people, otherwise they would have given him a proper funeral.

LONNY
Maybe his people PAssed away.

AUDREY
Maybe, but if he were alive, no relation would ever admit to his face that they weren't going to give him a decent burial.

LONNY
I see.

LONNY digs very haphazardly at the dirt. He is disturbed.

AUDREY
I don't. That's why we're here. We will give Walter his last rites.

LONNY
So you fancy yourself a death expert.

AUDREY
Oh yes, I know what it feels like.

Lights up a smoke for a break.

LONNY
How's that?

AUDREY
When I became blind. That was like the death sentence. Friends fell away like dominoes. First there were calls of condolescences and flowers galore. The scent was pure torture. Then constant whispers like I smelled bad or something. I did forget to bathe somedays, because I was just lost in time with nothing to gage my days. I learn to silence myself. Not to want. That's death.

LONNY
What do you miss seeing the most?

AUDREY
I miss seeing the glint in people's eyes, the way I made them happy to see me. Currently, I'm out of friends.

LONNY
I don't have many friends either. Different circumstances, but I'm a drifter too.

AUDREY
What did you do?

LONNY
What didn't I do? I robbed 7-11's. I gambled, I drank, I lied. I lost.

AUDREY
Did you do time?

LONNY
No.

AUDREY
Had it hard, didn't you?

LONNY
No, I had it easy. I was born bad. I stole my Mama's wedding wing and sold at the age of six.

AUDREY
What did you buy with the money?

LONNY
A gun.

AUDREY
You didn't shoot anybody did you?

LONNY
No, the gun was kind of a romantic idea. I was planning my own suicide.

AUDREY
Why?

LONNY
Well, my Daddy committed suicide, and I missed him.

AUDREY
Why did he do it?

LONNY
My mother was cheatin' on him and he was a drinker.

AUDREY
Sometimes I want to die but since I lost my sight, smell has provided an entirely different PAth. Hearing has become orgasmic at times.

LONNY
What sounds do you like?

AUDREY
(Pause) I like the sound of you shoveling the earth and I like the smell of the soil. It's intoxicating. I like to roll in the leaves. The dampness of foliage is reminiscent of someone's kiss at dawn.

LONNY puts out his cigarette.

LONNY
AUDREY, would you like me to kiss you?

AUDREY
I don't know yet. Let's get back to Walter.

LONNY drags the coffin around so that AUDREY can feel the wood.

LONNY
AUDREY, this is Walter. Go ahead and feel him.

SHE strokes the coffin.

AUDREY
Oh Walter. You're so smooth. You need not worry. LONNY and I are here. We're putting you in a safe spot.

LONNY
I think Walter might have been a convict.

AUDREY
What makes you think that?

LONNY
Well, it's mainly my job to bury the unwanted deceased.

AUDREY
Why?

LONNY
I volunteered for this job.

AUDREY
So what was Walter in for?

LONNY
I didn't really want to alarm you, but he was put to death by lethal injection.

AUDREY
So Walter was a killer?

LONNY
Yes, but he's PAid for his mistake.

AUDREY
Walter, you must have been very brave. We're here now.

LONNY
He was a good man.

AUDREY
How do you know that?

LONNY
I started visitng him six months before his execution.

AUDREY
Why?

LONNY
We kind of knew each other?

AUDREY
How?

LONNY
He was my brother.

AUDREY
He was your brother?

LONNY
He had so many difficulties. After my mother took up with the men in the entire town, Walter went a little haywire, he was always in trouble with the law. The cops were just waiting to put him away, so he finally did something just to satiate them. But he died an innocent lamb.

AUDREY
I'm so sorry.

LONNY
Walter and I never got that close growing up because he was in and out of juvy homes, but the last six months, I really got to know him. I think he must have been a lot like my old man. He'd cry sometimes, and tell me he loved the way I used to kiss my Dad when he was drunk.

AUDREY
LONNY?

LONNY
Yes.

AUDREY
Why don't you take a break.

LONNY
That's a good idea.

AUDREY
Sit down on the bench here.

LONNY
(he does) AUDREY.

AUDREY
Would you like to kiss me now.

LONNY
Yes, I think I would.

LONNY strokes AUDREY'S face. He gives her a long kiss.

AUDREY
You taste like cherries and tobbacco.

LONNY
You taste so good. (he kisses her again) It's been so long since I kissed a woman.

AUDREY
And we have Walter as a witness.

LONNY
Walter would have liked you.

AUDREY
Wouldn't it be nice if Walter and my brother meet in heaven?

LONNY
Just imagine, Walter will be laughing, playing poker with Daddy and your brother will hear.