The Astronaut’s wife
Spencer No, no, no.
Singers My fiends, I must say it clear, I’ll state my case, of which I’m certain. I’ve lived, a life that’s full, I traveled each. . .
Spencer Ain’t the world incredible?
Singers And every highway, and more, much more than this. . .
All Guests He did it, his way.
Spencer Thank you.
Woman To you, spaceman.
Alex Spencer! Spencer! Spencer! Spencer! Spencer!
Jillian Alex!
Natalie Baby?
Jillian Alex.
NASA Guy I have a brief prepared statement and then there will be time for questions. Captain Alex Streck died last night at eight fifty-five. The cause of death has been determined to have been a massive stroke, what the surgeons are calling a severe insult to the brain. Alex was an asset to this programme way beyond his professional expertise. He will be missed terribly by all of us. There will be a private ceremony.
Press Man Is Commander Armacost in any danger?
NASA Guy Er, I’ll let Dr Patraba answer that.
Dr Patraba Commander Armacost has been through an intensive array of examinations and tests. It is the opinion of myself and my colleagues that he is in no more danger than any of us.
Spencer Hey. I’m going to be over here, baby.
Nancy You okay?
Jillian Yeah. Where’s Natalie?
Nancy She’s in the back. She’s been asking for you.
Jillian Okay. I’ll see you in a bit, okay?
Nancy All right.
Jillian Okay. Natalie.
Natalie Jillian. They talked to him every night. All the time. I couldn’t understand them.
Jillian Who talked to him, Natalie?
Natalie They did. They did, Jillian. He’s hiding inside me.
Spencer I certainly do appreciate your concern, Mr Reese, but I have been probed and poked by enough needles, and your superiors have given me a clean bill of health.
Reese I, I know, I know that, but, Commander, I. . . It’s probably nothing, bet, erm. . .
Spencer Do your bosses know you want to do this?
Reese No.
Jillian Oh, God. Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh God. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.
Woman I’ll, I’ll be sure and let you know of some good places for you to shop. That dress is really sweet, but it’s not really appropriate. You’ll meet all sorts of interesting people when you’re here. They like the sort of things I do.
Spencer You can feel the first kick. . .
Woman Probably not quite as interesting as me, but, you know, you’re very lucky. I, uh. . .
Spencer But then she saw the rocket boosters come on, and that’s when you know, that you’re going somewhere real fast.
Philip Zoom, zoom, zoom.
Spencer That’s right.
Woman I used to be into AIDS, but now I’m into hunger.
Jillian I teach.
Woman Oh, at the university?
Jillian No, second grade.
Woman I’m sorry. I thought you said you taught second grade.
Jillian Yes, I, I. . .
Woman Oh, Ambrose, hi. You look great. Will you excuse me?
Jillian Yeah, sure.
Spencer Yeah, all right. Excuse me, Philip.
Shelly Now, don’t worry about her. Total lack of body fat has made her something less than human. Now, I don’t think she’s had a period in three years, which I guess is a blessing for the gene pool, wouldn’t you say? Shelly McLaren.
Jillian Jillian Armacost.
Shelly Yeah, I know.
Jillian Oh, your husband must be. . .
Shelly Jackson McLaren. They all had cigars, but Jackson had the biggest cigar of all. Ah, here we go. Do you have many friends here in the city?
Jillian Yeah, some. . . at work, and Spencer, of course.
Shelly What? Your husband and your friend?
Jillian Yeah.
Shelly Well, you better not let that get around. You know, they’re gonna haul you up on charges. That, I like.
Jillian What?
Shelly Your laugh. That’s an honest laugh. It’s been a while since I’ve heard one.
Jillian Thank you.
Shelly It’s all right. I’ll be right there. Apparently, there’s some, um, minor disaster in the kitchen, something to do with burning rum balls. Now, I’m gonna call you, and we’re gonna go out and laugh, all right?
Jillian Okay.
Shelly All right.
Spencer You all right?
Jillian I’m drunk.
Spencer Well, that’s good, honey. That’s good.
Jillian Tell me what happened up there. Tell me.
Spencer All right. Come on, let’s take a walk.
Jillian Okay.
Spencer You want to know what happened?
Jillian Yeah.
Spencer Do you?
Jillian Yeah.
Spencer You want to know about them two minutes?
Jillian You never talk about it.
Spencer Two minutes. . . dark. . . black. . . no light. There was an explosion. . . and, um. . . everything shut down. No light. . . no communication. It was black. . . silent. No sound, but. . . but loud, something loud. Loud nothing. And it was cold. It was so cold, Jill. And I knew what that cold was. It was death. . . and it held me real tight for about the first minute. And then. . . I felt warmth. It was the warmth of your vagina. . . the warmth of your body. . . your hands. . . The inside of your mouth. . . the warmth of your come. . . the warmth from inside you, Jillian. . . your warmth. I felt it all around me. It made me breathe. It made me breathe. Jillian.
Jillian Spencer.
Spencer Jillian.
Jillian Spencer. Spencer. No. Spencer! Spencer. What’s happening? Spencer. What’s happening? Spencer? What are you doing?
Spencer I couldn’t sleep, so I just, er, listening to some music. I’m sorry if I was a bit rough. I guess maybe I had a little too much to drink. Come on, let’s go to bed. Good night, sweetheart.
Jillian Then she began to guess the little man’s name. Is it Conrad Peppermill? She said. And the little man said. . .
Children No!
Jillian I know. I know. It’s Sir William Doorknob, and the little man said. . .
Children No!
Jillian I have it. It must be Little Ribs of Beef, and the little man said. . .
Children No!
Jillian It couldn’t be Rumplestiltskin, could it? What did you say? Said the little man. I said it couldn’t be. . .
Children Rumplestiltskin!
Jillian And the little man screamed. . . and stamped his foot. . .
Nancy (phone) Honey, you sound so sad.
Jillian It’s just the city, Nan. It just gets inside you, that’s all.
Nancy (phone) You can’t let it. That’s how you got in trouble after Mom and Dad died, and you sound like you did then. Have you found a doctor to talk to yet?
Jillian Uh-uh. Not yet.
