We hear movement.  A female voice yells “Aaaaooowww.”  A door
            slams shut and the lights come up, revealing a windowless
            room containing one metal-framed bed pushed up against the
            stage-right wall of the room.  An old mattress sits center
            stage.  An old wooden chair on wheels is stage right.  A
            substantial, heavy wood door with a large steel latch is
            stage left. The walls are made of thin strips of old wood.
            Several large steel hooks hand on various-length chains from
            the ceiling.  Ducts run across the ceiling with vent grills
            at several points.  A bucket sits in the corner next to a
            roll of toilet paper.  Emma Sager stands in the corner. Emma
            wears a knee-length dress or a skirt with a blouse with a
            blazer.  On the blazer is a gold broach.  Emma also wears a
            wedding ring, and, if other jewelry, it is simple and
            conservative.  Emma is slight in build and pale in
            complexion.  Stephanie Black lies on a mattress.  Stephanie
            is attractive with a healthy, tan look.  She wears a semi
            provocative blouse and stylish blue jeans or some other pair
            of well-fitting pants.  A black cloth blindfold is wrapped
            around Stephanie’s head, and her hands are tied behind her
            back and her ankles are tied together.  Emma waits a moment
            before moving.  She walks to the door and listens carefully.
            Emma looks back at Stephanie.  She starts to walk slowly
            around Stephanie.  Stephanie listens to the footsteps.

                                EMMA
                      You’re not alone.

            Stephanie doesn’t respond.

                                EMMA
                      You’re safe for the moment.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Where am I?

                                EMMA
                      I don’t know.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Who are you?

                                EMMA
                      My name is Emma.  And you?

                                STEPHANIE
                      Stephanie.  Stephanie Black.  Are we
                      alone?

                                EMMA
                      Yes.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Can you tell me what’s going on?

                                EMMA
                      I’m not certain.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Where are we?

                                EMMA
                      I said I don’t know.

                                STEPHANIE
                      I’m tied up and on a mattress?

                                EMMA
                      Yes.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Did this happen to you?

                                EMMA
                      Yes.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Were you blindfolded?

                                EMMA
                      Yes.

                                STEPHANIE
                      But not now?

                                EMMA
                      Excuse me?

                                STEPHANIE
                      You’re not wearing a blindfold now?

                                EMMA
                      No.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Can you take this off my face?

                                EMMA
                      I don’t know.

                                STEPHANIE
                      What do you mean you don’t know?

                                EMMA
                      I don’t know if I can.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Why?

                                EMMA
                      I don’t understand why they did this.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Why they did what?

                                EMMA
                      Why they left you here tied up and
                      blindfolded.

                                STEPHANIE
                      But they did this to you?

                                EMMA
                      They didn’t leave me on the mattress.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Who’s doing this?

                                EMMA
                      I don’t know.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Have you seen them?

                                EMMA
                      No.

                                STEPHANIE
                      What do they want?

                                EMMA
                      I don’t know.

                                STEPHANIE
                      How long have you been here?

                                EMMA
                      I’m not certain.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Can’t you take this off me?

                                EMMA
                      I’m not certain they want me to.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Have they hurt you?

                                EMMA
                      No.

                                STEPHANIE
                      How can you not know how long you’ve been
                      here?

                                EMMA
                      I can’t see the sun.  I’ve lost track of
                      time.  They took my watch.

                                STEPHANIE
                      My beeper.  Is it on my belt?  It has the
                      date and time.

            Emma looks.

                                EMMA
                      You’re not wearing a belt.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Damn.  You can’t see the sun.  There are
                      no windows?

                                EMMA
                      No.

                                STEPHANIE
                      You’ve been here more than a couple of
                      hours?

                                EMMA
                      Yes.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Have they said anything to you?

                                EMMA
                      No.

                                STEPHANIE
                      What did you say your name was?

                                EMMA
                      Emma.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Emma, listen to me.  I can’t stand this
                      thing on my face.  It itches.  It’s
                      making me nauseated.  If they haven’t
                      hurt you by now, they probably won’t.  If
                      we hear them coming, you can put the
                      blindfold back on me.

                                EMMA
                      I don’t know.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Look, we are going to have to help each
                      other.

            Emma looks at Stephanie.  A moment passes.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Emma, are you there?

                                EMMA
                      Yes.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Are you listening to me?

                                EMMA
                      Yes.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Will you please take this off my face?

                                EMMA
                      We’ll wait a bit.  See what they do.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Who took your blindfold off?

                                EMMA
                      They did.

                                STEPHANIE
                      So you saw them?

                                EMMA
                      No.  They turn the lights off.

                                STEPHANIE
                      So, we’re just going to wait for them to
                      take this off me, is that it?

                                EMMA
                      Maybe.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Emma, I’m a trained therapist.  I know
                      how the mind works.  These people are
                      criminals.  They have the minds of
                      criminals.  It’s a good bet they’re
                      scared.

                                EMMA
                      They’re scared!

                                STEPHANIE
                      Yes.  Like frightened animals.  I’m a
                      diver.  Scuba diver.  Seen sharks dozens
                      of times.  Sharks are frightened of
                      humans, but if a shark thinks your
                      scared, he’ll go for you.  If you stare a
                      shark down, he’ll swim away.

                                EMMA
                      You want to stare our kidnappers down?

                                STEPHANIE
                      It will show them that we’re not frozen
                      with fear.

                                EMMA
                      I’m not convinced people and fish operate
                      under the same laws.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Emma, the mind works in strange ways.  If
                      we’re strong, they’ll treat us better.
                      Believe me, I know.

                                EMMA
                      How do you know?  You’ve been kidnapped
                      before?

                                STEPHANIE
                      My clients are all criminals and
                      perverts.  You can only deal with them
                      from a position of strength.

                                EMMA
                      Your clients are criminals and perverts?

                                STEPHANIE
                      Yes.

                                EMMA
                      What kind of therapist are you?

                                STEPHANIE
                      I’m not a therapist anymore.  I’m an
                      agent in Los Angeles.  I’m in the
                      business.

                                EMMA
                      What business?

                                STEPHANIE
                      The business.  The entertainment
                      business.  I represent big talent.
                      They’re all perverts.  And the producers,
                      they’re all criminals.  So I know how the
                      mind works.  Particularly the sick mind.
                      These kidnappers are small potatoes
                      compared to what I usually deal with.
                      Now, Emma, would you please take this
                      blindfold off.

                                EMMA
                      I don’t know.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Stop saying that, Emma.  Just take the
                      blindfold off, now, please; it’s driving
                      me crazy.

            Emma covers Stephanie’s mouth with her hand.

                                EMMA
                      Shut up.

            Emma removes the blindfold.  Stephanie opens her eyes slowly.

                                STEPHANIE
                      I feel dizzy.

                                EMMA
                      You’re disoriented.

            Stephanie looks around and spots Emma.

                                STEPHANIE
                      That’s an understatement.  We don’t know
                      where we are, what time or day it is, or
                      why we’re here.  I’d say we’re both
                      disoriented, wouldn’t you?

                                EMMA
                      I mean the dizziness.  It will go away
                      when you adjust to the environment.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Could you do me a favor and massage my
                      face?  It itches like a bitch.

            Emma hesitates briefly, but proceeds to massage Stephanie’s
            face.

                                STEPHANIE
                      That’s it.  You have no idea.

            Emma continues to rub.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Thanks.

                                EMMA
                      Feel better?

                                STEPHANIE
                      For the moment.  Although I’m reluctant
                      to express joy under the circumstances.

            Stephanie looks around the room.

                                STEPHANIE
                      No windows.  Wood walls.  Big door.
                      (looking up)  What are those?  Meat
                      hooks?

                                EMMA
                      That’s what they look like.

                                STEPHANIE
                      They’re meat hooks.  This is a
                      refrigerator.

                                EMMA
                      Thank god it’s not turned on.

                                STEPHANIE
                      It’s an abandoned meat locker.  Do you
                      hear any traffic?

                                EMMA
                      Traffic?

                                STEPHANIE
                      Cars, trucks.

                                EMMA
                      I haven’t.

                                STEPHANIE
                      We’re in the country.  When they carried
                      me out of the car, I smelled trees.  The
                      air was wet.

            Emma shruggs.

                                EMMA
                      You smelled water.  I think we’re by the
                      water.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Yes.  By a lake.

                                EMMA
                      Maybe a harbor.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Where are you from?

                                EMMA
                      Avenue L in Brooklyn.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Brooklyn?

                                EMMA
                      Yes.

                                STEPHANIE
                      That’s where you were when they kidnapped
                      you?

                                EMMA
                      Yes.

                                STEPHANIE
                      That’s incredible.  I was in Santa
                      Monica.

                                EMMA
                      California?

                                STEPHANIE
                      Yes.  I had just parked my car.  I got
                      out, and someone grabbed me from behind.
                      Dragged me into a van, I think.  Broad
                      daylight.  After that I don’t remember a
                      thing.

                                EMMA
                      Same here.

                                STEPHANIE
                      You were in a parking lot?

                                EMMA
                      Yes.  They covered my face with a wet
                      cloth and I passed out.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Yes, that’s right.  They did the same to
                      me.  My god, I must have been unconscious
                      for days.

                                EMMA
                      How do you know?

                                STEPHANIE
                      Because, if you’re from Brooklyn and I’m
                      from LA, we must be somewhere else,
                      somewhere far from both.  That means we
                      both must have traveled for days in that
                      van.

                                EMMA
                      I had a dream of being in an airplane.

                                STEPHANIE
                      You remember being in an airplane?

                                EMMA
                      I think so.

                                STEPHANIE
                      They have resources.

                                EMMA
                      Excuse me?

                                STEPHANIE
                      Resources.  They have access to an
                      airplane.  That means they have money.
                      They’re well financed.  But why us?

                                EMMA
                      I don’t know.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Emma, listen, if we’re going to sit here
                      and talk, maybe you can untie these
                      ropes.

                                EMMA
                      Let’s wait to see.

                                STEPHANIE
                      See what?  There’s no point in waiting,
                      and you can’t expect me to sit here tied
                      up and you not.  It’s not fair.  Besides,
                      I’m no more dangerous to them than you.
                      They probably expect you to untie me.

                                EMMA
                      How can you say that?

                                STEPHANIE
                      Maybe it’s a test, to see if we will act
                      together.  In unison.

                                EMMA
                      Why should they want to test us?

                                STEPHANIE
                      I don’t know, Emma.  But don’t you think
                      this is a little strange that I’m sitting
                      here tied up and you’re walking around
                      free?

                                EMMA
                      I wouldn’t say I’m free.

            Stephanie seems to pause.

                                STEPHANIE
                      I have to go to the bathroom.  There is a
                      bathroom here?

                                EMMA
                      The bucket.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Lovely.  You have to untie me.

                                EMMA
                      If they wanted you untied, they would
                      have done it themselves.

                                STEPHANIE
                      We have to be assertive, Emma.

            Emma closes her eyes and takes a deep breath.  A brief moment
            passes.

                                STEPHANIE
                      I’m going to piss in my pants, Emma.  Do
                      you want me to humiliate myself?

            Emma breaks from her very brief moment of silence and unknots
            the rope around Stephanie’s hands.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Thank you.

            Stephanie rises.  She is a little wobbly.  Emma helps her
            walk.

                                EMMA
                      The bucket’s clean.

                                STEPHANIE
                      I don’t really have to go.

                                EMMA
                      But…

                                STEPHANIE
                      You never would have untied me.

            Emma doesn’t respond.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Whose side are you on?

                                EMMA
                      We don’t know what we’re dealing with.

                                STEPHANIE
                      We know a lot already.  We know we are
                      hundreds of miles from where we both
                      live.  We’re in the country somewhere.
                      We know we were both drugged.

                                EMMA
                      That tells us nothing about what they
                      want.

                                STEPHANIE
                      We’re both young women.  They’re
                      obviously men.  When I was carried from
                      the car I could tell it was a large man
                      with large hands.  And there was more
                      than one.  I could hear other footsteps.
                      That’s good news.

                                EMMA
                      What’s good about that?

                                STEPHANIE
                      That means it’s not some lone rapist
                      murderer who takes women to his mountain
                      home and cuts them up in little pieces.

                                EMMA
                      Oh, great, so it’s two rapist murderers.

                                STEPHANIE
                      They never come in pairs.

                                EMMA
                      You’re a therapist, a scuba diver, a
                      Hollywood agent.  Are you a policeman
                      too?

                                STEPHANIE
                      I told you, I’m not a therapist anymore.
                      Not enough money in it, plus it’s
                      intensely boring to listen to people’s
                      petty problems all day.  God knows my
                      therapist looks bored half the time.

            Stephanie sits on the floor in a lotus position.  She starts
            to breath deeply.

                                EMMA
                      What are you doing?

                                STEPHANIE
                      I’m thinking, Emma.  Using my brain.
                      Haven’t you attempted to figure anything
                      out since you’ve been here?

                                EMMA
                      Yes.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Tell me.  Let’s share our conclusions.
                      We have to work together.

                                EMMA
                      They are very clean.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Who?

                                EMMA
                      Our kidnappers.

                                STEPHANIE
                      How do you know?

                                EMMA
                      When I was carried in here, my cheek was
                      against a man’s clothes.  It was wool.
                      Clean, freshly washed and pressed wool.
                      Like a new suit.  The wool itched.  And
                      there was no body odor.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Good.  That’s a good observation.  You’re
                      right.  He was wearing a suit.  How
                      strange.  Well-dressed kidnappers.

                                EMMA
                      And they’re wearing good shoes.  The
                      sound they make when they walk.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Walk where?

                                EMMA
                      When they carried me in.  When they walk
                      into this room.

                                STEPHANIE
                      They come into this room?

                                EMMA
                      They brought you in.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Didn’t you see them?

                                EMMA
                      No.  They turn the lights out.  In the
                      adjacent room as well, (pointing to the
                      door) so I see nothing.  It’s pitch
                      black.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Is that the only time someone comes in?

                                EMMA
                      When they brought me in.  When they
                      brought you in.  When they clean out the
                      bucket.  When they give me food.

                                STEPHANIE
                      How often do they feed you?

                                EMMA
                      They’ve done it three times since I’ve
                      been here.

                                STEPHANIE
                      That may be a clue to how long you’ve
                      been here.  If they’ve fed you once a
                      day, that would mean you’ve been here
                      three days.  Is the food different?

                                EMMA
                      Different than what?

                                STEPHANIE
                      I mean, is one meal breakfast food and
                      another meal dinner?

                                EMMA
                      It’s always the same thing.

                                STEPHANIE
                      What?

                                EMMA
                      Bread and water.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Bread and water?

                                EMMA
                      Yes.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Is it bottled spring water?

                                EMMA
                      It’s in a glass.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Seven-grain bread?

                                EMMA
                      I don’t know how many grains it has.  I
                      haven’t tried it.  It’s probably not
                      kosher.

                                STEPHANIE
                      You’re concerned about whether the bread
                      is kosher?

                                EMMA
                      Yes.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Don’t you think that’s a little
                      ridiculous given our circumstances.

                                EMMA
                      You’re concerned about whether it’s
                      bottled water.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Emma, wake up.  Haven’t you heard about
                      lead in pipes, chlorine, salmonella.

                                EMMA
                      Salmonella’s a chicken problem.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Whatever, I’m careful what goes into this
                      body.

                                EMMA
                      Are you Jewish?

                                STEPHANIE
                      I don’t practice it.

                                EMMA
                      Your mother is Jewish?

                                STEPHANIE
                      Yes.

                                EMMA
                      You’re Jewish.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Both my parents are Jewish, but it’s not
                      relevant to what’s happened to us.

                                EMMA
                      How do you know?

                                STEPHANIE
                      Because they couldn’t know I’m Jewish.

                                EMMA
                      Your name.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Black is not Jewish.

                                EMMA
                      Oh.

                                STEPHANIE
                      The fact that we are both Jewish is a
                      coincidence.  Tell me about yourself.

                                EMMA
                      Like what?

                                STEPHANIE
                      Tell me about your family.

                                EMMA
                      I’m married with two children.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Your family must be looking for you.

                                EMMA
                      I’m sure they are.

                                STEPHANIE
                      How old are your kids?

                                EMMA
                      My son is five and my daughter is seven.
                      And your family?

                                STEPHANIE
                      None at the moment.

                                EMMA
                      You have parents.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Of course, Emma.  But I’ve been divorced
                      twice and no children, thank god.

                                EMMA
                      Are you thanking god for the divorces or
                      for no children?

                                STEPHANIE
                      Husbands are a pain in the ass.  I
                      suspect children are too.   Have you
                      thought about hitting them with
                      something?

                                EMMA
                      My children?

                                STEPHANIE
                      Our kidnappers.  Maybe with the chair.
                      Or these hooks.

            Stephanie grabs a hook and tries to yank it down without
            success.

                                EMMA
                      No.

                                STEPHANIE
                      There’s two of us now.

                                EMMA
                      I’m not sure that matters.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Why, because we’re women?  Because we’re
                      weaker than them?

                                EMMA
                      You said yourself that they’re big.

                                STEPHANIE
                      You’re right.  We have to use our brains
                      not our muscle.  Women are smarter than
                      men.

                                EMMA
                      What do you propose?

                                STEPHANIE
                      I don’t know yet.

            There is one loud knock at the door.

                                EMMA
                      That means they’re opening the door and
                      they want us to sit on the mattress.

            Emma walks over to the mattress.

                                STEPHANIE
                      How do you know?

                                EMMA
                      Just do it, Stephanie.

            Stephanie walks to the bed and sits next to Emma.

                                EMMA
                          (loudly)

      2     OK.                                                         2

            The lights go dark.  The door opens.  We hear someone step
            in.  We hear some other noise, and then the door slams shut
            and the lights come up.  Near the door are two plates and two
            glasses of water.  Stephanie gets up and rushes to the door.
            She places her ear to the door and listens.  She doesn’t hear
            anything.  Stephanie moves toward the plates and glasses of
            water.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Bread and water.

            Stephanie reaches down and picks up one of the glasses of
            water.  She brings it to her nose and takes a wiff.

                                EMMA
                      I don’t think it’s drugged.

                                STEPHANIE
                      How do you know?

                                EMMA
                      It’s tasteless, plus I’ve felt nothing.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Maybe it’s having a slow effect.

                                EMMA
                      I don’t think so.

            Stephanie takes a sip.

                                STEPHANIE
                      We are definitely not in Southern
                      California.  This is better than LA tap
                      water.

            Stephanie reaches down and picks up the bread.

                                STEPHANIE
                      They don’t even have the decency to toast
                      it..

            Emma walks over to Stephanie.  She picks up the glass of
            water, and walks back to the mattress.

                                STEPHANIE
                      I’m beginning to think this is not real.
                      Some practical joke being played on us.
                      You have any friends in Hollywood?

                                EMMA
                      No.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Maybe you’re in on this.

                                EMMA
                      In on what?

                                STEPHANIE
                      On the joke.  Did Hirsch hire you?
                      You’re an actress right?

                                EMMA
                      No.  Believe me, this is no joke.

                                STEPHANIE
                      What’s your gig?

                                EMMA
                      What’s my what?

                                STEPHANIE
                      Your gig.  Your business?

                                EMMA
                      I don’t have a business.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Who pays the bills?

                                EMMA
                      My husband.

                                STEPHANIE
                      You’re a housewife?

                                EMMA
                      Yes.

                                STEPHANIE
                      What’s your husband do?

                                EMMA
                      He’s a diamond broker.

                                STEPHANIE
                      A diamond broker.  He’s got money?

                                EMMA
                      We do OK.

                                STEPHANIE
                      So you raise the kids and he brings home
                      the jewelry.

                                EMMA
                      He sells diamonds.  He doesn’t bring home
                      any jewelry.

                                STEPHANIE
                      So what’s your end, Emma?  What do you
                      get out of it all?

                                EMMA
                      I don’t understand.

                                STEPHANIE
                      You stay home on L Street…

                                EMMA
                      Avenue L.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Whatever.  Whatever.  You stay home on
                      Avenue L with two screaming kids and you
                      have no end, no payoff.

                                EMMA
                      My children are not screamers.

                                STEPHANIE
                      What’s your split, Emma?

                                EMMA
                      My what?

                                STEPHANIE
                      Your net?  You must be skimming something
                      off the top.  What’s your bottom line?

                                EMMA
                      You’re talking about money?

                                STEPHANIE
                      I’m talking about you, Emma.  Everyone’s
                      looking for a whack.  What’s yours?

                                EMMA
                      I don’t think like that.  Why are you
                      saying these things?

                                STEPHANIE
                      To see if you’re really who you say you
                      are.

                                EMMA
                      Why wouldn’t I be?

                                STEPHANIE
                      Because this could be some huge practical
                      joke orchestrated by my firm or one of my
                      clients.

                                EMMA
                      It would be a pretty sick joke.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Or maybe my old man.  You sure you don’t
                      know my old man?

                                EMMA
                      I’m sure I don’t.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Jason Black.

                                EMMA
                      Excuse me?

                                STEPHANIE
                      Come on, Emma.  Don’t play dumb.  You’ve
                      heard of Jason Black.

                                EMMA
                      He your father?

                                STEPHANIE
                      My father and only the largest landlord
                      in the San Fernando Valley.

                                EMMA
                      Why would I know about landlords in some
                      valley?

                                STEPHANIE
                      Not some valley.  The San Fernando
                      Valley.  Besides, my old man also
                      produces virtually every game show on
                      television.

                                EMMA
                      I don’t watch much television.

                                STEPHANIE
                      That’s what housewives do, Emma, watch
                      TV.  They plant their kids in front of
                      the television, put on some stupid kids’
                      show or videotape and bingo, the kids
                      become low maintenance.  Isn’t that the
                      idea?  Make the kids low maintenance?
                      You give plants water and they grow.  In
                      Hollywood the kids get drugs.  In the
                      rest of America they get television.

                                EMMA
                      I’m sorry to disappoint you, Stephanie,
                      but I’m a housewife with kids, and we
                      live in Brooklyn, and we don’t watch much
                      television.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Why, for god’s sake, would a Hollywood
                      agent and a Brooklyn housewife be
                      kidnapped and locked up together?

                                EMMA
                      My status disappoints you?

                                STEPHANIE
                      Don’t take it personally, Emma.  But it
                      doesn’t make any sense.

            Stephanie takes a small bite of the bread.  Emma walks back
            over to the plates and places her empty glass down.  She
            starts to hum Oif’n Pripitchok.

                                STEPHANIE (cont’d)
                      You should eat, Emma.

                                EMMA
                      I don’t have an appetite.

                                STEPHANIE
                      This is not a time to stand on religious
                      principle.

                                EMMA
                      When is it a time?

                                STEPHANIE
                      Is dying better than being kosher?

                                EMMA
                      No.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Enough of this stuff will kill you.  Do
                      you know how they make white bread?  They
                      take all the grains out.  What’s left is
                      a barely digestible polymer.

                                EMMA
                      Why are you eating it then?

                                STEPHANIE
                      Why am I eating it, she asks.  Because I
                      love it.  Because I’m not in LA.  There’s
                      a seven-grain minimum in Hollywood.  I
                      came up with a great idea for one of my
                      clients.  A restaurant.  Seven Grain and
                      Cocaine.

                                EMMA
                      Excuse me?

                                STEPHANIE
                      That’s the name.  Seven Grain and
                      Cocaine.  Catchy title.  Every table
                      would have mirrored tops.  The idiot
                      thought it was a good idea.
                      If the jerk actually does it, you’ll come
                      to the opening, Emma.

                                EMMA
                      If he’s serving cocaine, I don’t think I
                      will come.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Oh, Emma, lighten up.  He won’t be
                      serving it.  The joint will just be user
                      friendly, if you know what I mean.

                                EMMA
                      I only eat in kosher restaurants.

                                STEPHANIE
                      You think this meat locker is kosher?
                      They probably had pigs hanging on these
                      hooks dripping pig blood on these floors.
                      I suggest you drop the Jewish stuff.  It
                      won’t get us out of here.

                                EMMA
                      It is not something that can be dropped.
                      And it is something we have in common.

                                STEPHANIE
                      The only thing we have in common is
                      plumbing.  But your pipes are all frozen
                      over.  That’s why you’re right at home in
                      this refrigerator.  A meat locker is no
                      place for a Hollywood agent.  You know,
                      this is not a bad idea for a restaurant.
                      The meat locker.  Some interesting
                      lighting on the hooks.  Make it a
                      vegetarian place.

                                EMMA
                      It appears you want to change your line
                      of work.

                                STEPHANIE
                      No sweetheart.  In Hollywood, the food
                      biz is a hobby.  Schwarznegger, Willis,
                      Stallone, Depp; They all have to think
                      they’re entrepreneurs, so they open
                      restaurants.  It’s my job to keep my
                      clients busy, otherwise they get
                      depressed sitting by their pools with
                      nothing to do.  And when they have
                      nothing to do, they change agents.  I
                      keep them busy with new ideas so they can
                      make money and spend money and so I can
                      pay my mortgage.

                                EMMA
                      It must be pretty exciting to work with
                      movie stars.

                                STEPHANIE
                          (cupping her hands under her
                           breasts)
                      Do you see these?

                                EMMA
                      Excuse me?

                                STEPHANIE
                      Do you know what they are?  Do you know
                      what these are?

                                EMMA
                      I think so.

                                STEPHANIE
                      They’re real.  They are genuine mammary
                      glands.  From the core to the nipple.
                      Totally real.  These babies have never
                      been morphed.

                                EMMA
                      Morphed?

                                STEPHANIE
                      Breast morphing, face morphing.  Half my
                      time with clients is spent discussing
                      silicon tits and collagen lips.  The
                      morph medic is more important than the
                      drama coach, because when the tits and
                      lips are right, the gigs happen.  And
                      when the gigs happen, the money comes.
                      The money goes up the nose which doesn’t
                      do wonders for the body, so they get
                      personal trainers, which can’t cover up
                      the drugs and late nights, so they have
                      to go back to the morph medic again to
                      get new tits and lips so they can get new
                      gigs.  And of course after all that, they
                      insist I get them invitations to all the
                      Democratic fundraisers.  You’re damn
                      straight Hollywood’s exciting.  Lots of
                      adreneline.  But you want to know
                      something? It’s the adreneline of
                      children.  Hollywood is one big day-care
                      center.  I bet my children are a bigger
                      pain in the ass than yours.

                                EMMA
                      For never having any, you seem to know a
                      lot about children.

                                STEPHANIE
                      My clients are all children.  But my
                      children pay me a ten percent commission
                      which buys a house in Malibu.  I’m
                      working on a big piece now.  The deal is
                      hot, and if I’m not back by the weekend
                      it’s going to blow up or turn to ice.  Or
                      worse, someone else will get the whack.
                      This kidnapping is a damn annoyance.
                      Plus the food sucks.  They obviously want
                      us alive.  We’re ransom.  They want
                      money.

                                EMMA
                      No one is wealthy in my family.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Your husband is a diamond broker.  That
                      sounds like money to me.

                                EMMA
                      Yes, but we are not wealthy.  We’re
                      middle class.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Oh, Emma, everyone knows the jewelry
                      business is a cash business.  You and
                      your husband probably have the money of
                      an upper-class family, but you don’t show
                      it.  You keep it quiet.  Your tax returns
                      and bank accounts are middle class, but
                      your mattress is upper class.

                                EMMA
                      I purchased my mattress at Bed City.

                                STEPHANIE
                      If it’s not money they’re after, what
                      then?

                                EMMA
                      Medical experiments.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Oh, please.  What do you think this is,
                      Schindler’s List?

                                EMMA
                      Did you have something to do with that
                      movie?

                                STEPHANIE
                      No, unfortunately.  Who would have
                      thought a black and white would have big
                      numbers.  The last black and white with
                      big numbers was Psycho back in 1960 - the
                      year I was born.  Thirty-three years
                      until another “b and w” had big numbers.
                      That’s the power of Spielberg for you.
                      What are we doing here?  We’ve been
                      kidnapped and we’re talking movies in a
                      meat locker!

                                EMMA
                      Maybe we need something normal to do to
                      remain sane.

                                STEPHANIE
                      It’s political.  Our kidnapping is
                      political.

                                EMMA
                      Why do you say that?

                                STEPHANIE
                      Hostages.  We’re political hostages for
                      something.

                                EMMA
                      You said you were parking your car when
                      they got you?

                                STEPHANIE
                      Yes.

                                EMMA
                      Parking your car where?

                                STEPHANIE
                      At the health club.

                                EMMA
                      Oh.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Where were you?

                                EMMA
                      At the hospital.

                                STEPHANIE
                      You a nurse?

                                EMMA
                      No.  I was delivering books to patients
                      at Maimonides Hospital.

                                STEPHANIE
                      You do this often?

                                EMMA
                      Once a week.  It may mean something that
                      the hospital has a Jewish affiliation.

                                STEPHANIE
                      You have a schedule, Emma.  Same with me.
                      I’m at the health club every goddamn day.
                      They’ve probably been watching us and
                      discovered our schedules.  It’s our
                      repetitive and predictable schedules.  It
                      has nothing to do with being Jewish.

                                EMMA
                      It may still mean something.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Look, I never go to synagogue, I don’t
                      look Jewish, I don’t belong to any Jewish
                      organizations.  They couldn’t know.

                                EMMA
                      You don’t look Jewish?

                                STEPHANIE
                      Let me tell you something; if Moses had a
                      wife with a body and a face like this, he
                      never would have gone up that mountain
                      looking for answers.  This would have
                      been enough.

                                EMMA
                      Only three percent of America is Jewish.
                      A hundred percent of this room is Jewish.
                      It’s meaningful.

                                STEPHANIE
                      You have a persecution complex, Emma.
                      For what purpose could anyone in America
                      have in kidnapping two Jewish girls?
                      This is not the Middle East.

                                EMMA
                      Do people know your father’s Jewish?

                                STEPHANIE
                      He doesn’t make a big deal about it.  He
                      gives some money.  He’s starting to go
                      through some private guilt thing, but no
                      one knows about it.

                                EMMA
                      Private guilt thing?

                                STEPHANIE
                      Yeah, for ignoring that he’s Jewish.  He
                      moved all the way to LA.  You can’t get
                      further from the holy land than
                      Hollywood.

                                EMMA
                      There’s a Jewish community in Los
                      Angeles.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Don’t I know it.  It’s called the
                      entertainment business.  But don’t tell
                      anyone I said so.  You can’t survive in
                      Hollywood if you’re too Jewish.  You can
                      be openly gay.  Everything else is in the
                      closet.  My boss, Harry Hirsch, he’s
                      Jewish.  Do you think he wears a Jewish
                      star?  Nope.  Wears a little earring and
                      a red ribbon.  You know why?  Survival,
                      baby.  An earring and a red ribbon is
                      kosher in LA.  Makes our pill-popping
                      clients with their bottles of Evian
                      comfortable to see Harry Hirsch wearing
                      an earring and a little red ribbon.
                      Earrings and red ribbons.  The only
                      mezzuzahs in Hollywood are collecting
                      dust in studio prop rooms.

                                EMMA
                      You have a mezzuzah at home?

                                STEPHANIE
                      Emma, you’re barking up the wrong tree.
                      No one in Hollywood kisses doorposts.

                                EMMA
                      You don’t kiss it.  You touch it and
                      bring your fingers to your mouth so the
                      word of god enters your body.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Oooo…God’s word enters your body?  I
                      bet it doesn’t feel as good as amyl
                      nitrate or a man’s throbbing organ.  Face
                      it, Emma, the word of god can’t compete
                      with drugs, sex and silicon.

            There are two loud knocks at the door.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Now what?

                                EMMA
                      They want the plates and glasses.

            Emma walks over to the plates and places her empty glass of
            water next to the other dishes on the floor.  Stephanie, in
            defiance, immediately bends down and picks up her half-eaten
            slice of bread.

                                STEPHANIE
                      But I’m not finished. (to Emma)  I’m not
                      finished.  (loudly and to the door)

            Emma walks quickly back to the bed.

                                EMMA
                      Come on Stephanie.

                                STEPHANIE
                      No, I’m going to finish this meal, if you
                      can call it that.

            Suddenly the sound of repetitive beeps comes from offstage in
            the direction of the door.

                                STEPHANIE
                      That’s my beeper.  That’s my beeper.  (to
                      the door)  Heh, I’m getting paged, do you
                      hear me.

            Stephanie bangs on the door.

                                STEPHANIE
                          (to the door)
                      Heh, asshole, I’m not kidding around.  I
                      want my pager and a telephone, now.

            The lights go dark.  The door opens.  There is a loud scream.
            Someone falls.  The door slams shut and the lights come back
            up.  Emma is on the bed and Stephanie is lying on the floor
            holding her side.  The plates and glasses are gone.  Emma
            rushes to Stephanie.

                                EMMA
                      Are you OK?

                                STEPHANIE
                      He hit me.  Hard.  I’m going to throw up.

            Stephanie rises, holding her side.  Emma helps her to the
            mattress.  Stephanie sits down.  She lifts her blouse and
            examines her bruise.

                                STEPHANIE
                      They’re cowards, you know.

                                EMMA
                      Why do you say that?

                                STEPHANIE
                      Because they turn the lights out.
                      They’re afraid to show their faces.
                      (beat)  That’s it!

                                EMMA
                      What?

                                STEPHANIE
                      Think about it.  They’re afraid to show
                      their faces because they plan to release
                      us.  If they didn’t plan to release us,
                      they wouldn’t care if we saw them.
                      That’s good news.

                                EMMA
                      I’ve been praying for good news.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Stop with the praying, Emma.  You’re like
                      a dog begging for a bone.  It ain’t
                      coming from up there.  Nothing’s coming
                      from up there.

                                EMMA
                      You believe in god?

                                STEPHANIE
                      Emma, please, let’s not have a religious
                      debate.  You have Moses and I have Freud.
                      End of discussion.

                                EMMA
                      Both Jews.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Yeah, right.  Together they make a real
                      Jewish all-star team.  But neither of
                      them is here right now.  We’re on our
                      own.

                                EMMA
                      We are being tested, Stephanie.  I’m
                      praying that god gives us the wisdom to
                      do the right thing.

                                STEPHANIE
                      What right thing?  There is no right and
                      wrong.  There’s only us and them.

                                EMMA
                      Something did occur to me.

                                STEPHANIE
                      What’s that?

                                EMMA
                      My father is a rabbi.

                                STEPHANIE
                      This just occurred to you?

                                EMMA
                      Maybe it means something.  He’s the
                      President of the Union of Orthodox
                      Synagogues.

                                STEPHANIE
                      What do you think it means?

                                EMMA
                      I don’t know.  He’s an important man.
                      People know him.

                                STEPHANIE
                      He’s a rabbi, for chrissake.  How many
                      people can know him?

                                EMMA
                      He’s very well regarded.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Is he rich?

                                EMMA
                      Not really.

                                STEPHANIE
                      These are kidnappers, Emma.  They’re
                      after something, money or publicity
                      maybe.  You said yourself that Jews are
                      only three percent of America.  That’s
                      small time.  I’m beginning to think this
                      has to do with the business.  Hollywood
                      is a giant cash register and is the power
                      center of the greatest publicity machine
                      in the world.  Plus, my old man’s got big
                      bucks.  This is all making sense.

                                EMMA
                      How does it make sense?

                                STEPHANIE
                      They originally didn’t plan to kidnap two
                      people.  But you didn’t satisfy them, so
                      they kidnapped me as well.

                                EMMA
                      Maybe.

                                STEPHANIE
                      There must be more than two of them.
                      When they kidnapped me, who was guarding
                      you?

                                EMMA
                      I don’t know.

                                STEPHANIE
                      This is big, Emma.  Several people are in
                      on this.

                                EMMA
                      It can’t be too big.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Why not?

                                EMMA
                      Because we aren’t that important.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Speak for yourself, Emma.  I did the
                      second biggest deal at my firm last year.
                      Packaged the whole thing.  I got the deal
                      done.  Made millions for Hirsch, for my
                      clients, for the director.  I did the
                      whole thing.  It never would’ve happened
                      if I didn’t move it.  I had a big photo
                      in Premiere magazine.
                      “Could this be the most powerful female
                      agent in Hollywood?” Everyone knows I’m a
                      player.  A big player.  I bet this
                      kidnapping has something to do with it.
                      You were a mistake, Emma.  They made a
                      mistake in kidnapping you.  It’s me they
                      want.

                                EMMA
                      The fact that your beeper went off, does
                      that mean we’re somewhere near Los
                      Angeles?

                                STEPHANIE
                      Nice try, but it’s a satellite pager.
                      I’m not a bike messenger, Emma.

                                EMMA
                      You think they’ll go to your parents for
                      ransom?

                                STEPHANIE
                      Or the agency.  God, he really hit me.  I
                      could be bleeding inside.  You know, he
                      picked me up with one hand by my arm, and
                      slugged me with his other hand.  He held
                      me up for a brief moment and then let me
                      drop to the floor.  Do you have any idea
                      the strength required for such a thing?

                                EMMA
                      Maybe it was two people.

                                STEPHANIE
                      No, just one person grabbed me.  I could
                      tell.  His hand was so big, that it
                      wrapped all around my arm.

            This is upsetting to Emma.

                                STEPHANIE
                      What’s wrong?

                                EMMA
                      I don’t know.  They were never violent
                      before.  It scares me.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Emma, they kidnapped us.  That’s violent.
                      They have revealed nothing new by this
                      incident.

                                EMMA
                      Let me explain the rules.  One knock
                      means you have to sit on the mattress.
                      Two knocks mean you have to place the
                      dishes and glasses near the door and then
                      go sit on the mattress.

                                STEPHANIE
                      How do you know what all these knocks
                      mean?

                                EMMA
                      They explained everything in a note.

                                STEPHANIE
                      A note!  What note?

            Emma goes to the bed and pulls out a small piece of paper
            from under the pillow.

                                EMMA
                      They slipped this under the door.

            Emma hands the note to Stephanie.

                                STEPHANIE
                          (without looking at the note)
                      Why didn’t you tell me about this?  This
                      is important.  This might be a clue.

            Stephanie reads the note.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Oh Jesus.

                                EMMA
                      What?

                                STEPHANIE
                      Three knocks means we’re supposed to get
                      undressed.

                                EMMA
                      I’m afraid to think about it.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Emma, what else are you not telling me?

                                EMMA
                      Nothing.

                                STEPHANIE
                      How could you not tell me this?

                                EMMA
                          (upset)
                      I’m sorry.  I looked at it once.  I’m
                      confused, Stephanie.

                                STEPHANIE
                      OK.  OK.  This is important.  First of
                      all it’s handwritten.  It’s revealing.

                                EMMA
                      Revealing of what?

                                STEPHANIE
                      We must keep this.  Handwriting can be
                      analyzed.

                                EMMA
                      Maybe they won’t let us keep it.  Maybe
                      they don’t plan to release us.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Look at the handwriting.  It’s perfectly
                      neat.  Like it was written by a
                      calligrapher.

                                EMMA
                      So?

                                STEPHANIE
                      These are educated people.  Maybe a bit
                      too arrogant for their own good, and
                      arrogance leads to mistakes.

                                EMMA
                      I haven’t noticed any mistakes.

                                STEPHANIE
                      They’ve made plenty.  Giving us this
                      handwritten note is evidence.  Evidence
                      that can be used against them.

                                EMMA
                      Stephanie, I’m not so concerned about
                      building a case.  I just want to get out
                      of here alive.  I want to see my
                      children.

                                STEPHANIE
                      You will, Emma.  Now, what about the
                      getting undressed.  What can that mean?

                                EMMA
                      Humiliation.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Yes.  We have to plan for it.  If we
                      plan, we won’t be surprised.  It’s the
                      surprize that makes it humiliating.

                                EMMA
                      Stephanie, I hardly think knowledge of
                      our impending rape will diminish the
                      humiliation.

                                STEPHANIE
                      I don’t think it has anything to do with
                      rape.  It’s something else.  These are
                      well educated, well dressed, well
                      financed kidnappers, who have gone to
                      great lengths to bring us here.  It would
                      not be to just rape us.

            Stephanie grabs her side in pain.  Stephanie then notices
            something on her blouse.  She picks it up with her forefinger
            and thumb.  It is very small.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Look at this.

            Emma gets closer.

                                EMMA
                      It’s a hair.

                                STEPHANIE
                      But do you see what I see?

                                EMMA
                      No.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Emma.  Look.  This is not my hair, and it
                      certainly is not your hair.

                                EMMA
                      What are you getting at?

                                STEPHANIE
                      It’s the hair of one of our kidnappers.
                      When he picked me up and hit me, one of
                      his hairs must have fallen on my blouse.

                                EMMA
                      So, what are you going to do, a forensic
                      analysis?

                                STEPHANIE
                      Emma, you don’t need to know forensics to
                      see one very important fact here.

                                EMMA
                      What’s that?

                                STEPHANIE
                      Our kidnappers are black.

            Emma looks again at the hair in Stephanie’s fingers.

                                EMMA
                      How can you be so sure?

                                STEPHANIE
                      You don’t want to draw conclusions about
                      anything, do you?

                                EMMA
                      Even if they are, how does that help us?

                                STEPHANIE
                      I don’t think the fact that our
                      kidnappers are black helps us at all.

                                EMMA
                      Maybe they’re not all black.  Maybe just
                      the guy who hit you is black.

                                STEPHANIE
                      I don’t think so.  It doesn’t ring true.
                      They’re either all black or all white.

                                EMMA
                      And anyway, that hair might be from a
                      Greek or an Italian.  My cousin has hair
                      like that.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Don’t be stupid.  You said yourself the
                      guy was clean.  No body odor.  Did you
                      ever meet a Mediterranean man who didn’t
                      have body odor?

                                EMMA
                      I wouldn’t know.

                                STEPHANIE
                      This is not a Greek or Italian, believe
                      me.  (beat)  Maybe you’re right.  Maybe
                      the fact that we’re Jewish does mean
                      something.

                                EMMA
                      What?

                                STEPHANIE
                      Our kidnappers are black, clean and wear
                      fine clothes.

                                EMMA
                      What are you saying?

                                STEPHANIE
                      Those black Islamics.  The one’s with the
                      Brooks Brothers suits and red bow ties;
                      who smile and say they hate Jews.

                                EMMA
                      They don’t say they hate Jews.

                                STEPHANIE
                      The point is, Emma, maybe I’ve just
                      figured out this whole gig.

                                EMMA
                      I’m not so certain.

            There are three loud knocks at the door.  There is a long
            beat.

                                EMMA
                      What do we do?

                                STEPHANIE
                      We undress.  (beat)  Get a hold of
                      yourself, Emma.

            Stephanie starts to undress.  She takes her blouse off and
            then her pants, revealing on her upper thigh a tatoo of two
            fish, the astrological sign of Pisces.  Stephanie stops at
            her underwear and goes to Emma.  She places her arm around
            Emma.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Come on, Emma.

                                EMMA
                      Stop Stephanie.

                                STEPHANIE
                      OK.

            Emma refuses to undress.  Emma remains in the corner.
            Stephanie sits on the mattress.  Suddenly the lights go dark.
            We hear the door open and someone steps in.
            There is a flash and a click.  Then there is another one.
            The door slams shut and the lights come up.  Stephanie walks
            to the door in her underwear and listens.

                                STEPHANIE
                      They took our picture.

                                EMMA
                      All they wanted was a photograph.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Those assholes took our picture.

                                EMMA
                      Yes.

                                STEPHANIE
                      They’re toying with us.  They’re making
                      us for fools.

                                EMMA
                      Stephanie, get dressed.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Why would they want our picture?

                                EMMA
                      I don’t know.   Stephanie, don’t just
                      stand there.  Get dressed.

            Stephanie bangs on the door.

                                STEPHANIE
                          (to the door)
                      You think humiliating us is going to
                      break us?  Forget it, buddy.  I’ve played
                      this game before.  I know how it works.

                                EMMA
                      Stephanie, calm down.  Put your clothes
                      on.

                                STEPHANIE
                          (to the door)
                      You think I’m intimidated by your goddamn
                      black face and bow tie.  You’re cowards.
                      You’re afraid to negotiate with two white
                      women.  You Muslims are afraid of women.
                      You’re afraid of your own women.  Why
                      else would you cover them up.

                                EMMA
                      That’s not why they’re covered,
                      Stephanie.

                                STEPHANIE
                      Emma, get off your goddamn soapbox.  I
                      don’t need your spiel.  Get it.

            Emma walks over to Stephanie with Stephanie’s clothes in
            hand.

                                EMMA
                      Yes.  OK.  What’s this?  (referring to
                    Â