from [A willow and no window,]

1962

(And we are in: A train station. Years ago. REBECCA and ELIZA. ELIZA with a copy of Gertrude Stein’s ‘Tender Buttons’. REBECCA with attentive eyes. Time passes. Then:)

REBECCA 
Are you getting on the 4 o’clock?
ELIZA
--
REBECCA
Excuse me.
ELIZA
--
REBECCA
Are you waiting for the 4 o’clock?
ELIZA
Are you talking to me?
REBECCA
I
ELIZA
?
REBECCA
Yes.

ELIZA closes her book. Looks at her boarding pass.

ELIZA
4 o’clock, you said?
REBECCA
Yes.
ELIZA
No, I’m not on that train.
REBECCA
Oh. Okay.

Beat.

REBECCA
Thank you.

ELIZA goes back to reading. REBECCA smiles slightly. Time passes.

ELIZA
(Still looking at the book)
Mine’s at 4:05.
REBECCA
I’m sorry?
ELIZA
My train. It’s at 4:05. Not 4.
REBECCA
So you’re--
ELIZA
You asked if I was on the 4 o’clock train.

ELIZA reads. REBECCA looks at her.

REBECCA
Isn’t it almost half-past?
ELIZA
I don’t know.
REBECCA
I think it’s late.
ELIZA
Ah.
REBECCA
Or we missed it.
ELIZA
We?
REBECCA
I’m on the same train.
ELIZA
I thought yours was at 4 o’clock.
REBECCA
Or, 4:05.
ELIZA
Hm.

ELIZA reads. REBECCA watches.

A long time passes.



Silence.



Finally:

REBECCA
Objects, Food, or Rooms?

ELIZA looks up. Impressed.

ELIZA
(Referencing the book)
You’ve read it then?
REBECCA
Gertrude Stein.
ELIZA
Yes.
REBECCA
Of course I’ve read her.
ELIZA
Why of course?
REBECCA
I love reading Jewish literature.
ELIZA
Jewish literature.
REBECCA
Yeah, Stein is Jewish.
ELIZA
But I mean, it isn’t-- that doesn’t make it Jewish literature.
REBECCA
Sure it does.
ELIZA
So you read Stein because she’s Jewish.
REBECCA
Something like that.
ELIZA
Are you Jewish?
REBECCA
That’s--
ELIZA
Sorry.
REBECCA
Not Jewish, no.
Beat.
ELIZA
I’m not either. Jewish.
Beat.
10.
ELIZA
She’s also a lesbian, you know.
REBECCA
(She does know)
Oh, really?
ELIZA
Yeah. I mean, I’m pretty sure anyway.
REBECCA
Huh. Never would have guessed.
ELIZA
I mean, maybe not.
REBECCA
No?
ELIZA
I just mean, I’ve heard that she is.
Beat.
Objects.
REBECCA
Objects?
ELIZA
That’s the part of the book I’m at.
REBECCA
Ah. Just the beginning.
ELIZA
Not my first read.
REBECCA
A real fan, then.
ELIZA
Something like that.
REBECCA
And you aren’t Jewish.
ELIZA
Not ​Jewish​.
REBECCA
“There is no use in a smell, in a taste, in teeth…
ELIZA
In toast, in anything, there is no use at all
11.
REBECCA AND ELIZA
And the respect is mutual”
They laugh. They look at each other.
ELIZA
And you aren’t Jewish either.
REBECCA
Not Jewish.
ELIZA
I think it definitely isn’t Jewish literature then.
A moment. ELIZA looks at her book again. REBECCA looks at ELIZA. Her hands. The ring on her finger. She considers. She asks anyway.
REBECCA
Do you want to get dinner?
ELIZA
What?
REBECCA
This train isn’t coming anytime soon.
ELIZA
How do you know that?
REBECCA
It’s nearly 5 o’clock.
ELIZA
--
REBECCA
We’ll catch another train.
ELIZA
Okay.
REBECCA
Let’s.
ELIZA thinks for a moment. Looks at her boarding pass. Looks at REBECCA.
ELIZA
Yes. Let’s.
12.