OLGA. Papa, lie down. The nurse will fix your tubes…
MiICHAEL (pushing the intravenous tree aside). No tubes… I tear them out! I don’t want Galochka to see me helpless and weak with tubes all over me…
OLGA (almost crying). Papa! I don’t know what to do with you… You must lie still…
MICHAEL. I’ll lie down when Galochka gets here.
OLGA. OK… Papa, she is coming… Here she is… (Galya’s voice) Misha, please lie back…
MICHAEL. Galochka! You brought my shoes?
OLGA. Yes, I have them…
MICHAEL. Put them on me, please…
OLGA. Misha, why do you want your shoes?
MICHAEL. I can’t go to Paris like this barefoot… My feet are cold… (OLGA finds his slippers and puts them on his feet) Is Olga gone?
OLGA. Just for a minute…
MICHAEL. I have something very important to tell you… Listen carefully (dreamily) Galya! We are in America! We are in a free country! Now we can go to Paris together… We will go up the EIFFEL Tower and walk along the Elysian Fields… What more? The Louvre! We will stroll by the river at night… Oh, and the bridges… What is that river?
OLGA. The Seine…
MICHAEL (weakly). Yes, yes the Seine… Now we are as free as birds… No Communist Party to take you away from me and mess up our lives… Give me your hand… I want to feel beside me…
(OLGA gives him her hand)
Galochka, I’m so glad you forgave me… On the train I will lie on my bank and sleep… Just don’t go away, Galochka, and don’t take away your hand… We are going to Paris… We’re together… Now we are together… Forever…
(Michael lies peacefully on his bed. Olga covers him with blanket)
Galochka, put your hand over my eyes… This bright light… It disturbs my sleep… Thank you, thank you… I love you…
(OLGA puts her hand over her father’s eyes as lights fade)
THE END
MISHA CHEKHOV – Sixty year old actor. A smallish dapper man with a beard. Wearing white shirt and tie.
XENIA CHEKHOV – His wife is in her sixties.
It’s 1954 in their home in Los Angeles. Misha is sitting at a desk, or table, with a top drawer in it.
(Misha sits in an office chair on wheels. Using an old phone he holds the receiver and waits. He is smoking. Music is playing very loudly from somewhere in the house)
XENIA (off stage): Misha! Misha, breakfast is ready!
(Misha puts the cigarette into the ashtray and pushes it away. He grabs the phone receiver, dials a number. Xenia enters the room sniffing the air)
MISHA: I am busy…
XENIA: You’re smoking again? You’ll die!
