Lost Lake

 

Begin Reading

Table of Contents

About the Author

Copyright Page

 

Thank you for buying this

Farrar, Straus and Giroux ebook.

 

To receive special offers, bonus content,

and info on new releases and other great reads,

sign up for our newsletters.

 

Or visit us online at

us.macmillan.com/newslettersignup

 

For email updates on the author, click
here
.

 

The author and publisher have provided this e-book to you for your personal use only. You may not make this e-book publicly available in any way.
Copyright infringement is against the law. If you believe the copy of this e-book you are reading infringes on the author's copyright, please notify the publisher at:
us.macmillanusa.com/piracy
.

 

TO FRAN

 

 

Lost Lake
was developed during a residency at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's National Playwrights Conference in 2013. Preston Whiteway, executive director; Wendy C. Goldberg, artistic director.

 

Produced as part of the inaugural season of the Sullivan Project at Illinois Theatre, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, February 2014. Daniel Sullivan, artistic director; Jeffrey Eric Jenkins, producer.

 

Originally produced by the Manhattan Theatre Club. Lynne Meadow, artistic director; Barry Grove, executive producer. The first performance was on November 11, 2014.

 

SCENE 1

The main room of a dilapidated lakeside cabin.

VERONICA
,
a black woman in her thirties wearing a winter coat, looking around.
HOGAN
, a disheveled white man in his fifties, with her.

HOGAN
:
So what do you think?

VERONICA
:
It looks all right.

(
Beat
.)

HOGAN
:
I know it's cold now. July–August you won't have to worry about that.

VERONICA
:
Of course.

HOGAN
:
Though the last couple weeks of August nights can get cool again, you might want to bring some extra blankets for the kids.

VERONICA
:
Uh-huh.

(
Beat
.)

HOGAN
:
How many kids?

VERONICA
:
Two. Maybe three—the older one, my girl, wants to bring a friend. I haven't decided about that. It may just be her and her brother.

HOGAN
:
They identical?

VERONICA
:
What? No.

HOGAN
:
They are twins, you said.

VERONICA
:
No. They're two years apart. Boy and girl.

HOGAN
:
I don't know why I thought they were twins.

VERONICA
:
No. They're just … regular.

(
Beat
.)

HOGAN
:
There's only one bed in the second room.

VERONICA
:
That's all right. They can double up.

HOGAN
:
It's pretty small. I might have a trundle I can get for you.

VERONICA
:
Oh no, that's fine. One of them can sleep with me if we have to.

HOGAN
:
Your husband won't mind?

VERONICA
:
It's just me.

HOGAN
:
Oh. Sorry.

VERONICA
:
No. But maybe an extra bed would be—

HOGAN
:
No problem. I can call my brother, see if I can borrow his trundle. But if the third kid comes—

VERONICA
:
I think I'm gonna have to tell my little girl that isn't happening.

HOGAN
:
No, it'll still work. You put one in the single, one on the trundle, and one on the couch in a sleeping bag or whatever. You'd have to bring up some extra linens is all.

VERONICA
:
We'll figure that out.

HOGAN
:
She wants to bring a friend, let her. They'll have a ball.

VERONICA
:
We'll see.

(
Beat
.)

HOGAN
:
Pretty gorgeous out there, huh? Even this time of year.

VERONICA
:
Yes, it is.

HOGAN
:
The dock will be fixed by June. It's almost done now. We finally got around to it.

VERONICA
:
The dock?

HOGAN
:
Yeah.

VERONICA
:
Is there some kind of boat?

HOGAN
:
Swimming dock.

VERONICA
:
Oh. Yes.

HOGAN
:
See out there?

VERONICA
:
Yes. It's pretty far out.

HOGAN
:
Nah. It's an easy swim. There's usually a diving board. That'll get put back on. I'm gonna paint the deck a nice fire-engine red after I get the fifteen years of Canada goose shit scrubbed off. You'll see the geese, they shit on everything.

VERONICA
:
You're doing the work?

HOGAN
:
I was the low bid.

VERONICA
:
I see.

HOGAN
:
Homeowners' association's been putting it off for years. Last summer a woman put her foot through a rotten plank. Had to go to the emergency room to get the splinters out. Finally I said, Look, give me fifteen hundred bucks, I'll have it ready by Memorial Day. I'm going to put in a second diving platform higher up. It's gonna be great. I made some sketches. It'll just be stationary but you'll still have the springboard on the opposite side. You'll never get your kids off it.

VERONICA
:
They don't really swim.

HOGAN
:
Why not?

VERONICA
:
City kids.

HOGAN
:
That's not good. They need to learn.

VERONICA
:
That's one of the reasons we wanted to be up here.

HOGAN
:
It's a life skill. You should get them lessons at the Y or someplace now. That way when they get up here they're ready.

VERONICA
:
I don't know if we have time for that.

HOGAN
:
It's only March. You got four months.

VERONICA
:
Well, we'll see.

HOGAN
:
Don't let them go to the dock unless you're sure they can manage it.

VERONICA
:
Of course not.

HOGAN
:
Now, there is a canoe I'll get out for you, which will require some bailing but it's more or less seaworthy, and I think two life jackets. But I believe only one paddle. I'll check the garage. If I can't find another one I'll ask my brother. But you'd still need a third life jacket if your little girl brings her friend. Or if you need it. Do you swim?

VERONICA
:
Yes.

HOGAN
:
Because some … city people don't.

VERONICA
:
I do.

HOGAN
:
Okay then. Any other questions?

VERONICA
:
No. I think …

(
Beat. She looks around. Swallows her doubts.
)

All right. Let's do it.

HOGAN
:
Great. You're really gonna enjoy it here.

VERONICA
:
I hope so.

HOGAN
:
You will.

VERONICA
:
So how should we—how do you like to do this?

HOGAN
:
Well, we talked about the total in the e-mail, that still works for you?

VERONICA
:
Yes.

HOGAN
:
So now I guess maybe just a deposit. To hold the rental.

VERONICA
:
All right.

HOGAN
:
What if we say half now and then half when you get here. And add maybe five hundred on to the front end as a damage deposit, that I'll refund at the end if everything's shipshape.

VERONICA
:
So you're saying half the total rental plus five hundred now?

HOGAN
:
Yes. And you'll get the five hundred back at the end of the summer.

VERONICA
:
Unless there's damage.

HOGAN
:
There won't be. I'll put away anything fragile. There's nothing much you can hurt around here anyway even with kids.

VERONICA
:
So maybe we don't need to do the damage deposit? I'm just—