(Excerpt from "Generations", a stage play by Stephen C. Kam. All Rights Reserved.)

SCENE FIVE
Outside the old mill. Abigail is seated on a log, staring at the passing water. David enters.

DAVID
I was going to say 'Is this seat taken' but then I realized how corny I'd sound. Mind if I sit down?

ABIGAIL
(Unsurprised) What are you doing here?

DAVID
(Sits behind her) Déjà vu. We always used to come here… when we wanted to be alone.

ABIGAIL
It doesn't work as well as it used to.

DAVID
I'll leave if you want me to.

ABIGAIL
It's a free world, do what you want. (beat) You know how that works.

DAVID
Right. I've missed you.

She snorts.

DAVID
Maybe I should go.

ABIGAIL
Is that supposed to mean something to me? Should I say 'thank you'?

DAVID
I don't know. I'm sorry… I wasn't ready to do this.

ABIGAIL
Ready for what? Ready to explain ten years away? Ready to waltz back into town like a conquering hero, waiting to hear crowds cheering your name? Ready to justify your little disappearing act, in the middle of the night, no word. Screw anyone else who might have cared about you, cared that you were okay? Is that what you're not ready for? Go to hell, David Lawson. Better yet, go back to the city, and find someone who gives a damn what you're ready for.

DAVID
I deserved that.

Silence. He chuckles softly.

ABIGAIL
Did I miss a punchline?

DAVID
I'd kinda forgotten about your temper.

ABIGAIL
I know you're not stupid enough to expect an apol…

DAVID
I think I missed that most of all.

ABIGAIL
(Sighs) What do you want, David?

DAVID
I honestly don't know, Abby. Abigail. I've missed you, that much I know. I've treated you badly, I know that too. I… I'm not thinking too clearly these days.

ABIGAIL
That was never your strong point.

He laughs.

DAVID
I hear you're engaged.

ABIGAIL
I'm not sure how that's any of your business, but yes, I'm happily engaged.

DAVID
Mrs. Abigail Reubens. (Baitingly) D.D.S.

ABIGAIL
Clay is a good man, I'd appreciate it if you stuffed your condescension up your… At any rate, he's wonderfully dependable. Which is more than a lot of other people can say.

DAVID
Dependable or predictable? I'm sorry, Abby. Look, for what it's worth, my leaving had nothing to do with you.

ABIGAIL
Don't bother. It's all in the past.

DAVID
Abby… The night my family died…

ABIGAIL
David…

DAVID
Let me finish, please.

ABIGAIL
There's nothing you have to say.

DAVID
The night my family died. My parents. Julian… God, I haven't thought about this in years. (beat) I didn't know what to do, or think, where to go. I just had to get away.

ABIGAIL
I'm sure it must have been horrible, but we were there for you. Isn't that what friends do? Support each other when we're down? You know mama died? Did Marky tell you?

DAVID
No, he didn't. Abby, I'm sorry…

ABIGAIL
She was always so strong.

DAVID
That night, the night I heard. I'd spent all day in the fields with you, remember?

ABIGAIL
Yes…

DAVID
Lying in the grass, staring at the sky, planning the future.

ABIGAIL
Yes…

DAVID
I came home, dinner time. The house was dark, the garage was empty.

ABIGAIL
David, don't…

DAVID
There was a broken dish on the kitchen floor, father's favorite, with the crucifixion. He always said…

ABIGAIL
At the end of every meal I find Christ.

DAVID
Yeah. I thought they'd gone for take-out maybe. If mom didn't feel like cooking, we'd all get take-out. Someone knocked at the door. I hadn't heard a car, I thought it must be Julian, coming to get me. To tell me it was dinner time. He loved it when we got take-out. I opened the door, ready to be tackled. That's what he loved to do, head butt right to the stomach. Little Julian.

ABIGAIL
I'm so sorry, David.

DAVID
Deputy Wilson, white as porcelain, with his hat across his chest. I'm sorry, Davey, something bad's happened. Your folks, out on the road. How bad could it be, I'd thought, father never drove faster than 30 miles an hour. Not even if we were late for church. It was always MY fault if we were late for church. An accident, he said. Out by the Milton's. Ran into an embankment, the car flipped over. They're with god now, he said. Who? The reverend. Your ma. Little Julian.

ABIGAIL
The whole town was in shock.

DAVID
I shut the door in his face. He knocked for a while, yelled through the door. Told me I should come with him. I sat on the couch in the dark. He left, told me he'd be back soon. I looked around the living room. It didn't feel like home any more. If it ever did. I didn't know where to go.

ABIGAIL
You had somewhere to go. We loved you too. Mama always said you were like another son. Marky always loved you like a brother. I…

DAVID
The world was upside-down. There were so many things in my head. I had to get away.

ABIGAIL
So you ran.

DAVID
So I ran. A backpack with a change of clothes, all the money I had, and my camera.

ABIGAIL
Never looked back.

DAVID
Once. Standing on the interstate, getting into a strange car, realizing that I might never hear you laughing at one of my dumb jokes ever again.

ABIGAIL
I would have come with you, you know, back then. In a heartbeat.

DAVID
You would have been miserable, without your family.

ABIGAIL
Thing is…

Silence.

ABIGAIL
Thing is, we'll never know. (Stands) I'm cold.

He drapes his coat over her shoulders.

DAVID
Let's go home.