Act 1, Scene 5 Flashcards
(1) Ron: We will be divorced soon after the case.
Linda?
(2) Me: Linda? [Then say, with Sarah:]
And the first meeting on Roe v. Wade took place in Columbo’s Pizza Parlor on Mockingbird lane. IN DALLAS.
(3) Linda: kind of chilly.
Cold enough to freeze the balls off a pool table!
(4) Sarah: glad to meet you.
Thanks!
(5) Sarah: kind of nauseous?
Like a fish on an escalator.
(6) Sarah: I’ll bet.
You been there, huh?
(7) Waitress: something to drink? Beer?
My usual.
(8) Sarah: worn like that before.
Oh, that just means I don’t have a girlfriend.
(9) Linda: no girlfriends?
No girlfriend.
(10) Linda: Girlfriend…
I’m a lesbian?
(11) Sarah: uh, situation?
I guess…
(12) Sarah: … months pregnant are you, Norma?
Uh, ‘bout two and a half?
(13) Linda: … “few social graces that would not have helped her anyway.”
Jesus fucking Christ -
(14) Sarah: … going on about my hair.
What she say ‘bout you?
(15) Sarah: You were at least four months -
Two months! Alternative facts -
(16) Sarah: … position to have this baby?
Ladies, I am so poor I can’t afford to pay attention!
(17) Sarah: … Where are you living?
At a friend’s. I was with my dad for a while, but fathers and daughters, you know how that is…
(18) Sarah: Of course.
Your daddy drink?
(19) Sarah: My father is a minister.
Yeah? My daddy does some preaching, too. Jehovah’s Witness. When he’s sober…
(20) Sarah: And do you have other family?
Got a mother! Comes with the deal. But we never been close.
(21) Mary: Amen to that!
Hell, I thought my name was “Ugly Stupid” ‘fore I knew what the words meant. I still can’t do nothing right for that woman. And I tried ‘cause she’s got my daughter -
(22) Linda: Your daughter?
Melissa, she’s five. She’s a great kid.
(23) Sarah: I’ll bet! And her father… Are you still?
Hell no. Sugar, I married Woody McCorvey when I was 16 -
(24) Sarah: So young!
But he beat the shit out of me when he found out I was pregnant so I came back here to have my baby.
(25) Mary: You think I’d let that lesbian whore raise a baby?
I say my mother stole Melissa. Told me she was gonna put my baby on her boyfriend’s health insurance, so I’d sign some papers and go up to bed… Next thing I know, she’s knocking on my door - [with Mary] “You got five minutes to pack up your shit ‘cause you just gave away your daughter.”
(26) Mary: I’m her mother now!
[Cry. Sarah hands me a napkin.]
(27) Sarah: I’m so sorry. She just -
[Stand.] Took my baby to Louisiana. [Look at Mary.] Hell, all I ever wanted was for that bitch to like me.
(28) Linda: And, uh… this baby?
Well, there was a carnival in the next town and they were looking for people to work with the animals, and I love animals -
(29) Sarah: Oh, me too.
You got a dog or something’? I love dogs.
(30) Sarah: … But you were saying, about the carnival?
Man, I was a natural. “Hurry, hurry, hurry! See the five legged pony. See the snake with two heads!” Course the shrunken baby in the jar of formaldehyde kinda wigged me out. [Take my time getting back to my seat. Sit.] But when the carnival was over… Well, one night I was walking home… This was in Georgia now… And… I got raped. Which is how I got pregnant with this baby.
(31) Sarah: Oh no! Did you report the man to the police?
Actually, it was three men.
(32) Linda: Three?
One white, one black, one Mexican.
(33) Linda: And the police have a record of - ?
Well, my experience with the police has never been too positive. Is that a problem?
(34) Sarah: What do you mean?
Does it hurt my chances of getting the abortion?
(35) Sarah: … Texas only allows for abortion if the woman’s life is in danger.
[Stand. To audience: ] Okay, she did not say that that.
(36) Sarah: Do you want safe, legal abortion, Norma?
Well, yeah! I’m not here for the pizza! So what I gotta do?
(37) Linda: Roe? Like fish eggs?
So I’m Jane Roe?
(38) Sarah: The point is, you wouldn’t even have to appear in Court -
And then I could get my abortion?
Sarah: … Do you want to do this, Norma?
Hell [smack beer on table] I never said no to a fight yet… Like you said, things gotta change!
