Posted on May 22, 2012 at 2:42 am

The Next Ten Minutes

JAMIE on a boat on the lake in Central Park, pointing to the apartment buildings on the Upper West Side.

JAMIE
No, that one’s Jerry Seinfeld.
That one’s John Lennon there.
No, the Dakota –
The San Remo is up a few blocks.
Have you been inside the Museum?
We should go.
Meet the dinosaurs.Cathy.He takes a ring out of his jeans pocket.Will you share your life with me
For the next ten minutes?
For the next ten minutes:
We can handle that.
We could watch the waves,
We could watch the sky,
Or just sit and wait
As the time ticks by,
And if we make it ‘til then,
Can I ask you again
For another ten?

CATHERINE appears, wearing her wedding gown, and walks slowly toward the boat.

And if you in turn agree
To the next ten minutes,
And the next ten minutes,
‘Til the morning comes,
Then just holding you
Might compel me to
Ask you for more.
There are so many lives I want to share with you –
I will never be complete until I do.

JAMIE slides the ring on CATHERINE’s finger.

CATHERINE
I am not always on time.
Please don’t expect that from me.
I will be late,
But if you can just wait,
I will make it eventually.

Not like it’s in my control,
Not like I’m proud of the fact,
But anything other than being exact-
-Ly on time, I can do.

I don’t know why people run.
I don’t know why things fall through.
I don’t know how anybody survives in this life
Without someone like you.
I could protect and preserve,
I could say no and goodbye,
But why, Jamie, why?

I want to be your wife.
I want to bear your child.
I want to die
Knowing I
Had a long, full life in your arms.
That I can do,
Forever, with you.

THEY are standing at the altar together, looking directly at each other for the first time in the play.

JAMIE
Will you share your life with me
For the next ten lifetimes?
For a million summers

BOTH
Til the world explodes,
‘Til there’s no one left
Who has ever known us apart!

CATHERINE
Forever
Forever, Jamie…
JAMIE
There are so many dreams I need to see
With you
I will never be complete –I will never change the world
Until I do.I do.
CATHERINE
There are so many years I need to be
With you…
I will never be alive…I do.I do.
BOTH
I do…And they kiss, each holding on for as long as possible, as if perhaps they knew they didn’t have that long to go.The orchestra plays a waltz, which THEY clumsily dance.  He whispers something in her ear, She laughs and kisses him again.  The waltz ends, and JAMIE takes CATHERINE’s hand as she steps into the rowboat.  As it starts to glide upstage, JAMIE stands and watches it go.  CATHERINE looks across the boat as though JAMIE were in the other seat.

CATHERINE
Is that one John Lennon?
That’s the San Remo.
Isn’t that the Museum?
Can we go see the dinosaurs?The lights fade.