anthony and sam scene

Okay, no one has chatted as Anthony yet so I thought I would post a scene for you just so that you don't forget about him.


Doin' Nothing

SAM and ANTHONY in their apartment, each on a sofa, lying there doing nothing, staring at the ceiling.

SAM
So this is it?

ANTHONY
Well, it was.

SAM
But now it’s not?

ANTHONY
Now we’re talking.

SAM
And?

ANTHONY
And that’s not nothing.

SAM
You can’t talk?

ANTHONY
Nope.

SAM
Not even if you’re not talking about anything?

ANTHONY
It’s still talking which is still something. The goal is nothingness.

SAM
So… complete silence?

ANTHONY
Uh huh.

SAM
Man.

ANTHONY
Just give it a shot.

SAM
This is harder than I thought.

ANTHONY
Uh huh.

SAM
And boring as hell.

ANTHONY
You’ve hardly even tried.

SAM
Alright. I’ll shut up.

A bit of silence.

SAM
What about sounds you can’t help but make.

ANTHONY
What about them?

SAM
Like when I breathe, there’s this slight hiss in my right nostril. That’s not nothing.

ANTHONY
Then blow your nose.

SAM
Won’t help. Always had it.

ANTHONY
What, since birth?

SAM
Probably.

ANTHONY
Doesn’t that annoy you?

SAM
Don’t notice it most of the time. It’s just part of me.

ANTHONY
Then it shouldn’t matter. Just try not to concentrate on it. The whole point is to think about nothing but nothingness.

SAM
But I don’t even know what nothingness is. How am I supposed to think about it?

ANTHONY
That’s the whole point.

SAM
What is?

ANTHONY
Think about nothingness until you can’t think anymore and then you’ll experience it.

SAM
Experience what?

ANTHONY
Nothingness!

SAM
Oh. Okay.

A longer silence.

ANTHONY
You’re doing it on purpose.

SAM
What?

ANTHONY
This hissing. It’s louder.

SAM
No it’s not.

ANTHONY
I couldn’t even hear it before and now it’s taking over my whole brain.

SAM
I’m not doing it on purpose. You probably just didn’t hear it because you didn’t know it was there and now that I told you, you’re focusing on it. Just relax and think about something else… like nothingness.

ANTHONY
You’re an ass.

SAM
I know. Now let’s get back to it.

A longer silence.

ANTHONY
This is impossible.

SAM
I swear, I can’t help it!

ANTHONY
I think you’ve got to be alone for it to work.

SAM
Yeah, I can see that.

ANTHONY
Maybe I’ll go for a walk.

SAM
That’s not nothing.

ANTHONY
I know. But I’m not the one who needs it.

SAM
Oh right, you’re from the Outback. You must have had to do a lot of this.

ANTHONY
I did, actually, but I didn’t stare up at the paint cracking on the ceiling. With stars like those, you can lay there looking up until you’d swear you were one of them, just another pinhole in the fabric of the universe, letting light from the other side pass through you.

SAM
New lyrics?

ANTHONY
Yeah. That obvious?

SAM
Yeah. But it’s a good one.

ANTHONY
Cool. Maybe I’ll keep working on it…

Grabs his guitar and slings it across his back. Starts to head out and then returns and goes to the computer and begins unplugging the router.

SAM
What are you doing?

ANTHONY
Helping you with the nothingness.

SAM
You’re not taking the router.

ANTHONY
Just for a bit. It needs some fresh air.

SAM
Seriously. That’s not funny. Put it back.

ANTHONY
You weren’t going to get online today anyway, right?

SAM
Right, so you can put it back and it can sit over there where it always does and take a little rest.

ANTHONY
Nah, I think it wants to go for a stroll. I’ll just take it along so you have one less thing to think about.

SAM
You’re worse than a mom.

ANTHONY
No man, I am your mom.

SAM
That’s messed up.

ANTHONY
I know, the doctors said you would be a total freak and it looks like they were right.

SAM
At least I didn’t inherit the accent… (with an Australian accent) Now scram! I’ve got a lot of nothing to get back to!

ANTHONY exits and SAM stares up at the ceiling for a moment quietly and then begins blowing out of one nostril, trying to get rid of the hiss. He fails and sits up.

SAM
I’m a failure. At nothing.

He gets his phone out and dials.

SAM
Hey dude, it’s me. Just wanted to see what’s up. Call me.

Dials again

Hey there. It’s Sam. Just wondering what’s going on at your place cuz not much going on here, but unfortunately not nothing either…. Don’t ask. Give me a ring.

Dials again.
A busy signal? How is that even possible? What is this? A landline? Freak.

Dials again.

Hi Sam, it’s Sam. From Philosophy. I don’t know. I just felt like calling ‘cuz you gave me your number and I thought it’d be fun to say Hi, Sam, it’s Sam. I realize that’s kind of lame now. I’ll understand if you don’t feel like calling back.

Scrolls through his phone a bit and then finally settles on a number.

Hello? Noelle. You picked up. Well, I didn’t think you would…

___

Anyone want to take a stab at this first phone conversation between Noelle and Sam since they got into a fight? If two people are interested, we'll set up a chat.