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The Good Plates
After fourteen months, Ellie has finally brought her girlfriend Sam to Sunday dinner at her mother's house. Margaret has the good plates out. She also has a list of small tests. Sam has decided not to take any of them.
Characters
- MARGARET - late 50s, Ellie's mother. Hospitable, sharp, scared of being left out and hiding it behind lamb
- ELLIE - late 20s, the daughter. Braced for impact, has rehearsed this in the car
- SAM - late 20s, Ellie's girlfriend, a paramedic. Direct, warm, does not do tests
Setting
The dining room of a family home, Sunday dinner, early fall.
A dining room set for three. The good plates. MARGARET adjusts a napkin that does not need adjusting. ELLIE hovers. SAM holds a bottle of wine like a shield.
MARGARET
You didn't have to bring anything.
SAM
It's just a red. I didn't know what you were making.
MARGARET
Lamb.
SAM
Then it's the right red.
MARGARET
Is it.
ELLIE
Mom.
MARGARET
I'm just saying I don't know much about wine. Your father did the wine.
ELLIE
Dad drank the wine. That's not the same.
MARGARET
Sit down, both of you. Sam, you're there. Ellie, your usual.
They sit. Margaret serves. It is a lot of lamb.
MARGARET
Sam. Ellie says you're a nurse.
SAM
Paramedic.
MARGARET
Same sort of thing.
SAM
Not really. I'm the one in the ambulance.
MARGARET
Well. That must be hard. The hours.
SAM
They are.
MARGARET
Ellie's father worked nights for a while. It almost ended us.
ELLIE
Mom.
MARGARET
What? I'm making conversation.
ELLIE
You're making a point.
MARGARET
I don't make points. I make lamb.
Sam laughs. Genuinely. Margaret is not sure how to take that.
SAM
Sorry. That was a good line.
MARGARET
(thawing slightly)
It was, wasn't it.
ELLIE
Can we just eat.
They eat. A moment of quiet.
MARGARET
You've been together how long now?
ELLIE
You know how long.
MARGARET
I'm asking Sam.
SAM
Fourteen months.
MARGARET
Fourteen. And this is the first time I'm seeing you at this table.
ELLIE
Because every time I brought it up you said the kitchen was being redone.
MARGARET
The kitchen was being redone.
ELLIE
For a year?
MARGARET
Terrible contractors.
SAM
Mrs. Kelly.
MARGARET
Margaret.
SAM
Margaret. Can I say something, and you can throw me out after if you want?
MARGARET
I'd never throw anyone out. I'd just serve dessert very slowly.
SAM
Okay. Ellie's been dreading today for a month. She rehearsed it. In the car she said, "If Mom mentions Dad's shifts, that means she's decided she doesn't like you."
Margaret looks at Ellie. Ellie looks at the lamb.
SAM
And you mentioned the shifts about four minutes in. So I'm just gonna ask you straight. Have you decided?
MARGARET
Well.
SAM
Because if you have, that's fine. I'll be polite and eat the dessert at whatever speed it comes. But if you haven't, I'd rather we skip the part where you test me and I pretend not to notice.
Silence. Margaret puts down her fork.
MARGARET
She used to tell me everything. When she was little. Who she was fighting with. Who she loved. Everything.
ELLIE
Mom.
MARGARET
And then one day she didn't. And I've spent ten years trying to figure out what I did. And now there's someone she does tell everything to, and that someone is sitting at my table holding a bottle of wine like I'm gonna hit her with it.
Sam puts the bottle down.
SAM
I'm not the reason she stopped.
MARGARET
I know that.
SAM
But I might be the reason she starts again. If you let me.
Margaret looks at Ellie. Ellie, finally, looks back.
ELLIE
(small)
The lamb's good, Mom.
MARGARET
(briskly, to Sam)
Open the wine. Ellie, your father's glasses are in the china cabinet. You know where.
Ellie gets up. Margaret watches her go. Then, quietly, to Sam:
MARGARET
Fourteen months.
SAM
Fourteen.
MARGARET
You should've come sooner.
SAM
I was told the kitchen was being redone.
Margaret nearly laughs. Ellie returns with the glasses.
End of script