AN EXCERPT FROM "FIRST NIGHT"
Danny brings some decorations out back.
Meredith, who is also in her early
thirties, enters the store very
carefully. She wears a big winter
coat and a cap. She carries a big bag.
She closes the door without making a
sound, then steps surreptitiously into
the store. When she hears the sound of
a door opening in the stockroom out
back, she panics, and dives to hide
behind the counter. Danny re-enters
and steps past the counter to one of
the displays. Meredith bites the
bullet, rises and speaks.
MEREDITH
Excuse me.
DANNY
(startled)
Hey!
MEREDITH
Am I holding you up?
DANNY
I hope not.
MEREDITH
I mean, are you about to close or anything?
DANNY
Uh...no. No, you have plenty of time. Till eleven. It's
only ten thirty-five.
MEREDITH
Thanks.
Instantly, she retreats to the movie
boxes. Danny addresses the audience.
He is astonished, and unnerved.
DANNY
Do you have any idea who that is? That is Meredith O'Connor!
MEREDITH
(grabbing a video box)
Oh! You have THE QUIET MAN!
DANNY
Republic Pictures, 1952.
MEREDITH
I love this movie.
DANNY
One of the greats.
MEREDITH
John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara.
DANNY
Terrific couple.
MEREDITH
One of the greats.
DANNY
Fighting tooth and nail until all they can do is just let it
happen.
MEREDITH
Just...let it happen.
DANNY
Yeah.
MEREDITH
Yeah.
DANNY
Yeah.
They stare at each other a moment,
speechless. Meredith then returns to
the movie wall, while Danny returns to
addressing the audience.
DANNY (cont'd)
Meredith O'Connor...shouldn't be here. Meredith O'Connor
went away to be a nun. Right after grade school at St.
Pat's. Didn't even go to high school with the rest of use,
just went smack into some...nunestary...someplace in upstate
New York and disappeared off the face of the Earth...Well,
hey, look at her. She still could be. One of those...New
Age nuns. It's hard to tell the way they wear civvies these
days instead of those...starched white cardboard pith helmets
they used to have. Sure. Look at her. The way she's
standing. Look at the fist. Poised to whack knuckle with a
wood ruler. And the clothes. The shoes. The hat, even.
There's nothing about her that says she's not a nun anymore.
MEREDITH
(replacing a film box)
Oh, shit, I broke a nail!
DANNY
(to audience)
Then again...
MEREDITH
Pardon my vernacular.
DANNY
(to Meredith)
No problem.
MEREDITH
(to herself, fascinated)
Oh, my God...my first shit!