Lost Lake (5 page)

VERONICA
:
No. Don't you dare suggest—

HOGAN
:
And it's pretty convenient, isn't it? This threat to leave. Given that you still owe me a third of the rent.

VERONICA
:
It's not a threat and you ain't never getting that money. Ever! This whole deal is
over
. And my kids are good swimmers! I taught them myself! This is over now. Will you just get out of here now, Hogan?
Now?

HOGAN
:
Where did you go anyway?

VERONICA
:
What?

HOGAN
:
While the kids were swimming.

VERONICA
:
Nowhere.

HOGAN
:
You weren't in the house.

VERONICA
:
I got a phone call. It was important. I had to walk down the road to get a decent signal. I told them to come up on the beach—

HOGAN
:
You should have just asked me. I would've stopped work, watched the kids.

VERONICA
:
Look, what do you want? You want me to thank you again?

HOGAN
:
You never thanked me the first time. After I jumped in the lake, saved a drowning child.

VERONICA
:
I was right there the second I heard her yell!

HOGAN
:
After you heard her yell maybe the third or fourth time.

VERONICA
:
Third time, first time, who cares?

HOGAN
:
Well, I was already there pulling her out and you just seem pissed off about it.

VERONICA
:
I'm not.

HOGAN
:
You sure have been acting pissed off about it.

VERONICA
:
Sorry.
     I—I'm glad you helped me out. I am. But I was just down the road within earshot and three more seconds I would have waded in and grabbed her wrist just like you did only you beat me to it.

HOGAN
:
Little girl drowning and you make a phone call.

VERONICA
:
Oh for God's sake she wasn't
drowning
, she—

(
The phone rings
.
VERONICA
jumps
.)

Jesus.

HOGAN
:
I thought you said it was disconnected.

VERONICA
:
It was. It hasn't worked all week.

(
It keeps ringing
.)

HOGAN
:
Maybe you should get that?

VERONICA
:
Why?

HOGAN
:
She's gonna let it ring until somebody picks up.

VERONICA
:
Who?

HOGAN
:
Debbie.
     Please? Just see what she wants? I can't deal with her.

VERONICA
:
That's your problem.

HOGAN
:
She knows I'm here. She's done this before. That phone's gonna keep ringing.

VERONICA
:
So answer it.

HOGAN
:
Uh-uh. No way.

VERONICA
:
Hogan. Pick up the phone.

HOGAN
:
No.

VERONICA
:
It's gonna wake the kids.

HOGAN
:
Yeah, I know, so you better pick it up.

VERONICA
:
It's your phone. Pick up the goddamn phone.

HOGAN
:
No.

(
It keeps ringing
.)

VERONICA
:
Jesus.

(
VERONICA
goes to the phone, furious, and picks it up
.)

What
.
     Yes, I am the renter. Who is this?
     Well, you can tell me your name too. Uh-huh.
     Well, my name is Veronica Barnes. B-A-R-N-E-S.
     That's right.
     Because he rented to me.
     No, we are not “friends.”
     On the
Internet
.
     Well, you're gonna have to talk to him about that.

(
HOGAN
gestures “I'm not here.”)

Again, those are issues you will have to take up with your brother-in-law.
     He's—

(
VERONICA
looks at
HOGAN
,
who makes pleading gestures
.
Beat
.)

No. He's not here right now. Why would he be? It's nine o'clock at night. I don't know where he is.
     Uh-huh. All right. I don't have a piece of paper. Okay …

(
A pause as she listens
.)

I see. Okay. I will. Goodbye.

(
She hangs up
.)

HOGAN
:
Thanks.
     You didn't have to do that.

(
Beat
.)

VERONICA
:
She was rude.

HOGAN
:
I told you.
     What was she saying?

VERONICA
:
That you need to call her. Something about a compromise. That the homeowners' association—something, they're willing to drop the complaint, but you got to vacate the property.

HOGAN
:
What?

VERONICA
:
That's what she said.

HOGAN
:
Oh, that is just bullshit. Who said she could even negotiate on my behalf? She never formally agreed to represent me.
Vacate the property?
What does that even mean?

VERONICA
:
It sounds pretty obvious.

HOGAN
:
It's bullshit! It's a blatant conflict of interest! My brother and I
co-own
the property. It was left to us
jointly
. So she comes along and negotiates a “compromise” that just happens to produce the outcome she's wanted all these years, which is to get the place all to herself? It's ridiculous! It'll never stand up in a court of law. I'll appeal. I'll appeal this all the way to the Supreme Court if I have to.

VERONICA
:
What are you talking about? You're not even
in
court.

HOGAN
:
Vacate
. She is just completely out of control.

VERONICA
:
Maybe if you asked her before you rented she wouldn't be so upset.

HOGAN
:
I don't have to ask her permission.

VERONICA
:
Maybe you do. If you co-own the place. And they pay the utilities—she must have paid the phone bill. And you didn't even ask them before you put it online. You didn't even tell them until a few days ago.

HOGAN
:
She told you that?

VERONICA
:
Yes.

HOGAN
:
Why are you on her side all of a sudden?

VERONICA
:
I ain't on anybody's side. But it seems like maybe she's got a point. Especially if you're keeping all the rental money for yourself.

HOGAN
:
What? She told you
that
, too?

VERONICA
:
No. That I just figured.

(
Beat
.)

HOGAN
:
Look, here's the thing. She comes here—they all come here to use the lake in the summer, right? Her and my brother and their kids. I have my own kid I'd like to bring up here! But I can't, right? I
can't
, and they act like they're the only one with any right to it. They just show up whenever they want. Sometimes they want to have cookouts with other families. Parties … The girls—they got twin girls, my nieces—they both drive now, they show up on their own, bring their boyfriends— I'm
living
here.

VERONICA
:
So don't live here.

HOGAN
:
Where the hell am I supposed to go?

VERONICA
:
How do I know? God, I'm sick of listening to you complain. I got problems of my own.

HOGAN
:
Oh, boo-fuckin'-hoo.

VERONICA
:
You don't even know.

HOGAN
:
At least you got your kids
with
you, you know? Count your fucking blessings. And a fancy
job
—

VERONICA
:
I lost my job.

(
Beat
.)

HOGAN
:
The nursing job?

VERONICA
:
Yes.

HOGAN
:
When?

VERONICA
:
Week before I came up here.

(
Beat
.)

HOGAN
:
That why you never paid me the last third of the rent?

(
VERONICA
makes a dismissive gesture
.)

You should have just told me.

(
Beat
.)

Look, it happens.

VERONICA
:
Not to me.

HOGAN
:
It's happened to me maybe twenty, thirty times.

VERONICA
:
Yeah, well, you're a loser.

(
Beat
.)

HOGAN
:
You didn't have to say that.

VERONICA
:
Sorry.

HOGAN
:
Not just losers who get laid off.

VERONICA
:
I didn't just get laid off.

HOGAN
:
You got fired?

(
She makes a “bingo” gesture
.)

Still doesn't mean it was your fault.

VERONICA
:
Oh, it was, there's no doubt about that.

HOGAN
:
Come on.

VERONICA
:
It was.

HOGAN
:
What'd you do, poison somebody? Give 'em the wrong injection?

VERONICA
:
No.

HOGAN
:
What?

VERONICA
:
It doesn't matter.

HOGAN
:
Did you—

VERONICA
:
I really don't want to talk about this anymore, if you don't mind.

(
She sits down, visibly upset
.
Beat
.)

HOGAN
:
Look. Finish the week.
     I'll stay out of the way. I'll go in town during the day and at night I'll park at the far end of the property and be gone again at daybreak, you won't see or hear me. I'll clear up all the stuff with my family, it won't affect you.
     Those kids are having a good time. You don't want to disappoint them and you don't want a hassle from that girl's dad for bringing her back early. You don't want to waste your car rental. And the weather's supposed to be terrific next few days. I'll even spring for the inner tubes. Okay? Now, you're never gonna get a better deal than that.

(
He puts out his hand
.
Beat
.
Then
VERONICA
reluctantly takes it
.)

All right.

(
He starts to go
.)

VERONICA
:
Hogan.

(
He stops
.)

Thank you. For the girl.

HOGAN
:
Anytime.

(
Beat
.)

VERONICA
:
Can I ask you something?

HOGAN
:
Sure.

VERONICA
:
Why can't you bring your daughter up here?

(
Beat
.)

HOGAN
:
I sent her an e-mail back in May.
     “Guess what? I'm finally building that diving platform. It'll be ready this summer. You can come up and visit.” This is before I even knew she'd be going to school an hour away.
     “You can swim. The cabin's still here. The lake's the same as it ever was. Everything's the same.”
     It bounced back. She changed her e-mail. I called her mother to get the new one. She said, in this voice, this very
precise
voice, she said she was asked, by our daughter, not to give it to me; and she felt she should respect our daughter's preference. (
Shrugs
.) Well, that's her preference.

(
He exits
.)

Fade
.

 

SCENE 4

Night
.
VERONICA
is bagging surplus groceries
.
She starts to fold a pile of kids' clothes
.
She stops for a moment, listening to the night
.
It's quiet
.

Beat
.

The sound of a truck
.
Headlights in the window
.
Motor turns off
.
Truck door opens and closes
.
Lights stay on
.