SIDE A - Joe, Interviewer  

VOICE OF INTERVIEWER. Joe? Joe, can you hear me?

 

JOE.  Huh? (Looking around.) What ... uh ... ?

 

VOICE OF INTERVIEWER. Can you hear me?

 

JOE. Oh, yeah. Sure. I can hear you real good.

 

VOICE OF INTERVIEWER. Good. Have a seat, Joe.

 

JOE. (Still looking around, a little amused.) What?  Hey, where... uh ... I can't see …

 

VOICE OF INTERVIEWER. We're out here.

 

JOE. What? Oh, yeah. I get it.

 

VOICE OF INTERVIEWER. Yes.

 

JOE. You can see me. Right?

 

VOICE OF INTERVIEWER. Yes. That's correct.

 

JOE. You can see me, but I … 

 

VOICE OF INTERVIEWER. Yes.

 

JOE. … can’t see you. Yeah. (He laughs.) I get it now. You can see me, huh?

 

VOICE OF INTERVIEWER. Yes, we can.

 

JOE. Far out.

 

VOICE OF INTERVIEWER. What?

 

JOE. (Smiling.) Nothing. Nothing Well, how do I look?

 

VOICE OF INTERVIEWER. Have a seat, Joe.

 

JOE. That bad, huh? I feel all right. Lost a little weight, but outside of that..

 

VOICE OF INTERVIEWER. Nothing special. We just wanted to talk. Give you a chance to see how we do this.

 

JOE. Sure. You got people watching, huh?

 

VOICE OF INTERVIEWER. Yea. There's nothing very complicated about it. It's just a way for us to stay in touch.

 

JOE. Yeah. It's like being on T.V.

 

VOICE OF INTERVIEWER. Just relax.

 

JOE. Right. Fire away.

 

VOICE OF INTERVIEWER. You seem to be in very good spirits.

 

JOE. Never better.  Like I said, I feel great.

 

VOICE OF INTERVIEWER. Good. (There is a pause, JOE looks out into the lights.)

 

JOE. My family is coming today.

 

VOICE OF INTERVIEWER. Yes. We know.

 

JOE. It's been a long time. Almost six months. They would have come sooner, but we couldn't afford it. Not after all these goddamn bills. And then I always figured I'd be going home. I always figured I'd get myself back into shape and ... 

 

(Pause.)

 

VOICE OF INTERVIEWER. Have you seen the cottage?

 

JOE. Yeah. Yeah, it's real nice. It's beautiful. They're going to love it.

 

VOICE OF INTERVIEWER. Good.

 

JOE. Maggie always wanted a place in the mountains. But I'm an ocean man. So, every summer, we always ended up at the beach. She liked it all right. It just takes her a while to get used to things. She'll love it here, though. She will. It's real nice.

 

VOICE OF INTERVIEWER. Good.

 

JOE. It just takes her a little time.

 

END