“You, you've lost me dear. I still don’t see what you all had to agree on. It really doesn’t matter if one or some of you wanted to do something different. He had a health care proxy, right? What did his heath care proxy say?”

Deborah: Siging.

“His health care proxy was my brother Mark. (Mark is out of the country.) We couldn’t contact him but he was able to call us at nine o’clock each morning. It was quite stressful.”

Edward:

“That's too bad darling, but did he agree that your father did not want to be resuscitated or left on life support un necessarily?”

Deborah: Voice beginning to trail away.

“Yes. There was no problem there. But, I don’t know. It’s complicated."

Edward: Iritation in his voice.

“I don’t understand how it can be complicated. He did not want to be on life support for an indefinite time period. If there was truly no hope of recovery and his health care proxy agreed that these were his wishes, how does it get complicated? It seems pretty simple and straight forward to me."

Edward. Pressing the point further.

"Question: Is there any hope of recovery? Answer: None. Question: What did he want? Answer: He wanted to be able to go peacefully. No resuscitation. No un-necessary life support.
 

It seems fairly uncomplicated to me. I think in fact that it would be illegal to do anything other than what he asked for and as he directed his health care proxy. It comes back to, what did he want?”

Deborah:

“It’s just not that simple. There are other things, other people to consider. They might not agree.”

Edward: Voice tensing up and raising a little now.

“Might not agree to what? It doesn’t really matter if other people agree or disagree. What did your father want? Did he want to be on life support? No. He did not. Rather anyone likes it or dislikes this decision, his decision, is in material.

You make things more complicated than they have to be Deb. What did he want? That’s the only question you have to answer. Plain and simple."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Setting:

It’s an hour or so later. Deborah and Edward are sitting on a couch in their TV room. There is a break between TV programs. Deborah has an oversize, heavy quilt across her lap and covering her legs. Her great grandmother's quilt.

Deborah: More to herself than to Edward.

“I just hope there are no hard feelings or problems later. That’s all.”

Edward: A bit testily:

“Look. There can not be hard feelings. I don’t know why you keep picking at it Deborah. Each person has to ask themselves. What did he want? It’s that simple. Don’t complicate it. It's not difficult. WHAT DID HE WANT?”

In one swift, fluid motion Deborah gathers up the quilt, pulls it over Edward’s head and wraps it tightly around his neck.

Deborah. Shouting.

“WHAT DID HE WANT? DID HE WANT AIR?

NO! I DON’T THINK SO!

I BELIEVE HE SAID NO TO AIR!!”

Scene II

Housework

Act I

It’s a Saturday morning. The day just after the evening of the attempted suffocation episode. Deborah had no real intent of suffocating Edward of course. They have been married for over twenty-five years and there have been a number of times when Edward so frustrated Deborah with his simple way of addressing the world where she has offered to strangle him. Not enough to kill him, mind you, just enough to underscore a point. To get his attention, she would say.

Edward sometimes jokes that if someone really wanted to strangle him they would have to stand in line.

Deborah is upstairs “cleaning”. She has stripped the bed, sorted the hamper laundry for the wash, vacuumed the bedroom and hallway, dusted the furniture and is now cleaning the master bath.

She calls from the upstairs hallway to Edward who is currently in the home office downstairs and at the other end of the house. He is at the computer with a tall ceramic mug of good coffee and working on a script for his writers network portfolio.

Deborah:

“Ed? Eddie, can you hear me?"

Edward shouting from the office:

“Darling, I hear you loud and clear. What is it?”

Deborah. Deliberately lowering her voice so that Edward will have to get up from the computer and come to where she can see him and he can hear her better. She feells that he is more likely to get the point if they make eye contact.

They have agreed to split the house hold chores.

Edward walks down the hallway and turns to look up at her in the alcove overlooking the dining area.

Deborah:

“Have you begun in the living room yet?”

Edward. Flaps his arms at his side in frustration.

“No. I’m working on a comedy script for one of my writers sites portfolio.”

Fully aware now of the superior, subordinate positions they have assumed.

“Why do we have to clean these rooms anyway?"

He folds his arms across his chest as he looks up at her.

“There’s only the two of us living here. I was away on business for three days last week. A large part of the carpet in there hasn’t even been walked on since we vacuumed it last. Since I vaccumend it last. I think it will be fine un vacuumed for now.”

Deborah. Hands on hips, gazing sternly down at Edward.

“The downstairs rooms need to be vacuumed once a week a the least. Carpets and furniture as well. There is cat hair and dust accumulating everywhere down there. Please, come up, get the vacuum and go to work down there.”

Edward, resigned to the fact that he’ll end up doing the cleaning proceeds to stomp his way up the stairway pounding each foot down on the stair tred with resounding thuds. As he marches down the hallway past the master bathroom where Deborah is busily cleaning he grumbles.

“I’ll bet Steven King doesn’t do house work! I’d bet a years pay that Steven King’s wife doesn’t coerce him into vacuuming the living room carpet and dusting off the furniture.

I’m going to write a letter to Steven King and ask him how often his wife makes him do house work.”

Deborah, in a just audible voice.

“While your at it why don’t you ask him if he’s still married?"