Cheryl wears a bathrobe over her pajamas. She sits in an armchair, reading lamp on, half bottle of wine, half filled glass on the table, book open on her lap, Janis Joplin very low in the bg.
Her head drops to one side as she falls asleep. The clock strikes two chimes. She bolts awake, looks around establishing where she is.
She blows out a puff of air, puts her hand on her forehead for three seconds, shakes her head back and forth five times to chase the headache away.
Her movement causes the book to fall onto the floor. She looks down at the book as if it has rejected her, then rocks back and forth, her eyes closed.
A long low moan of desperation escapes her. She angrily wipes tears away with the back of her hand.
She rises, picks up her wedding picture from the mantle and gazes at it, then puts the picture down.
She sits, her fingers tap on the coffee table. Then she stands again, goes to the closet, can’t find what she’s looking for, picks up and throws out a number of things: rubber boots, an old raincoat, etc.
Unsteadily she climbs up on a chair, and after wobbling back and forth, retrieves a box of photographs from the closet.
She sits down with the box on her lap, focuses on the glass of wine and downs it, then refills it from the bottle. She pulls out a picture, gazes at it for a few seconds, takes a sip of wine, pulls out another photograph, then puts it back.
She rummages through the photos with one hand while sipping her wine in the other. A few photos hit the floor.
She takes a picture, looks at it for a long moment and then tears it up. Frenzy sets in. She tears up a second picture, and then a third, bursts into tears and shakes with sobs, then stops to drink wine from the bottle.
She holds up her wedding picture again, looks at it, then puts it down gently. She empties the bottle of wine.
She listens to Janis Joplin singing, “Bobby McGee”, turns up the volume and we hear the line, “Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose...”
Her head shakes in agreement with the song. A minute later she stands, opens a drawer and rummages behind some papers. Her hand finds a bottle of pills. She stares at it.
CHERYL
“Expired!”
She laughs -- out of control, picks up her wedding picture.
“...in sickness and in health!”
She hurls her wedding picture against the wall. The frame shatters.
She staggers and heaves up the wine into the trash basket.