Marriage is after all a 'license to start an extra-marital affair

It is early afternoon, a hot mid-summer day.A skinny, high old hotel comes into view. On its exposed brick side great painted letters advertise "Salt n Pepper”

A small room, a slow fan buzzing on a shelf above the narrow

bed. A card of hotel rules is pasted on the mirror above the

bureau.

A young woman is stretched out on the mussed bed. She wears a full slip, stockings, and no shoes.

She lies in and attitude of physical relaxation, but her face, seen in the dimness of the room, betrays a certain inner-tension, worrisome conflicts.

She is Ann Mary (22)

A man stands beside the bed, only the lower half of his figure visible

The man standing by the bed, wearing only trousers,is SAM ALEX.(35)

He is wiping his neck and face with a thin towel, and is staring down at Mary, a small sweet smile playing about his mouth. Mary keeps her face turned away from him.

After a moment, Sam drops the towel, sits on the bed, leans over and takes Mary into his arms, kisses her long and warmly, holds her with a firm possessiveness.

The kiss is disturbed and finally interrupted by the sounds of the inconsiderate fan.

Sam smiles, pulls away enough to allow Mary to relax again against the pillow.

He studies her, frowns at her unresponsiveness, then speaks in a low, intimate, playful voice

 

MARY:  I better get back to the office. These extended lunch hours give my boss excess acid.

She rises, goes to the bureau, takes a pair of small earrings out of her bag, and begins putting them on, not bothering or perhaps not wanting to look at herself in the mirror.

Sam watches her, concerned but unable to inhibit his cheery, humorous good mood.

SAM: Call your boss and tell him you're taking the rest of the afternoon off. It's Friday anyway... and hot.

MARY:         (soft sarcasm)

What do I do with my free afternoon, walk you to the airport?

SAM:          (meaningfully)

We could laze around here a while longer.

MARY:  Sam. This is the last time.!!

             

SAM:   For what?

MARY:  This! Meeting you in secret so we can be... secretive! You come down here on business trips and we steal lunch hours and... I wish you wouldn't even come.

SAM:   Okay. What do we do instead, spent time on phone sex??

MARY:         (about to argue, then turning away)

       I haven't time to argue. I'm a working girl.

SAM:   And I'm a working man! We're a regular working-class tragedy!

              (he laughs)  

       Sure. It's like laughing through a broken jaw, but...(goes close to Mary, touches her)

      

MARY:         (pulling away)

       I have to go, Sam.

SAM:   Mary, whenever it's possible, I want to see you. And under any conditions.

              (a smile)

       Even respectability.

MARY:  You make respectability sound...disrespectful.

SAM:          (brightly)

       I'm all for it! It requires patience and temperance and a lot of sweating-out... otherwise, though, it's only hard work.

              (a pause)

      

       I'm fed up with sweating for people who aren't there. I sweat to pay off my father's debts... and he's in his grave... and…my wife…

             

MARY:         (smiling, then with a terrible urgency)

       Sam, let's go get married.

SAM:   And live with me in the storeroom. We'll have a lot of laughs. When I send my wife her divorce petition, you can lick the stamps.

MARY:         (a deep desperation)

       I'll lick the…. (Pause) STAMPSSS!!!.

He looks at her, long, pulls her close, kisses her lightly, looks out the window and stares at the wide sky.

SAM:   Hey, we can leave together can't we?

MARY:         (at door)

       I'm late... and you have to put your shoes on.

Mary goes out quickly, closing door behind her.As Sam stares down at his shoeless feet




        “Marriage is after all a 'license to start an extra-marital affair”