HEARTBEATS TO COUNT Act SCENE 1 two girls enter on from the right wing. The one closest to the staye, OLD MARGARET, holde cextbooks and wears the casual clothing of an 18-year-old. The other walks beside her further from the audience. They seen completely oblivious to the audience. Then OLD MARGARET turns her head, “notices” the audience and stops. RANDOM GIRL : What? OLD MARGARET: Oh, nothing. I just- I left my Biology bock at home. 1/11 be there in two minutes RANDOM GIRL : Oh, okay RANDOM GIRL walks off. OLD MARGARET, now alone, walks closer to the front and stands upstage. OLD MARGARET: He's gone. In case you wanted to know. Tn case that’s what you were wondering. OLD MARGARET: I mean, it might not have been. But if it was, the answer is.. Richard’s gone. For good this time. (beat) As in, he’s- he’s dead. He died. So- yeah, That's why he isn’t here.she gets up and begins to walk away, then stops and turns round again, OLD MARGARET: I guess you want to know, what happened. But if I’m being honest I’m not really in the mood to tell you. He's gone, he’s dead, he won't be coming hack. T don't think it really matters why. (beat) I have to go now. And yet, she doesn’t walk away, looking hesitant as she stands downstage left. Actually, you know what, I guess- I tell you what happened to him. But it’s not the nicest story. Just warning you. Okay. Here we go.SCENE 2 A random person moves across the stage holding a sign wich says : YEAR SEVEN as people begin to waik out YOUNG MARGARE? walks on from the Jefe wing with two Friends next to her, STACEY and LILY, along with a flurry of other people. They enter from the wings and walk in random directions YOUNG MARGARET: oh my god, oh my god, we're year sevens. We are so old!! Do I look older to you? I feel really, really old. And like adulty, and cool, and amazing and we've literally year sevens. This is going to be so The crowd begins to nudge eachother and whispes groups, all looking and talking about YOUNG MARGARET, STACEY and LILY, STACEY : So awesome. YOUNG MARGARET: This is- this is actually just going to be the best year of my entire life, LILY looks around, noticing the crowd. GIRL 1: Aww, the cute Year Sevens! GIRL Z: 1 know, they're so cute! LILY: Um- is it just me or.. is everyone staring at us?The whole crowd is staring at the three friends. YOUNG MARGARET: No! STACEY Yeah, no, She looka around. YOUNG MARGARET: oh, crap, they are! STACEY Um, hi, everyone! The whole crowd stares at them blankly. STACEY: oh my god this is Literally so embarrassing. YOUNG MARGARET: What do we do? Whyy is everyone staring at us? LILY: If they don’t stop I’m literally going to dic. YOUNG MARGARET okay, just.. Just everyone back away very slowly, and once we're out of their sight just run for the nearest room. Like anywhere, very fast LILY: what? EMMA: um, okay- wait, TYOUNG MARGARET: Right, just slowly back away.. The girls back away towards the right wing. And... RUNI!!!! They sprint offstage. The stage goes black. fihen the lights come up again, the stage is empty eoide fron a skeleton model and other Biclegy chings There is a sign on the back wall that reads “BIOLOGY TECHNICIAN ROOM.” Suddenly, the girls re-emerge again stage left, running hastily and screaming. ALL GIRLS: AABHAHHHAI!!!! YOUNG MARGARET: I did not think being a Year seven would be like this! LILY: Me neither- aaah! The girls crash into eachother and then into 3 heap on the floor. Slowly- the girls groan- they sit up and look around, confused. YOUNG MARGARET: Is this a good time to mention that I think T pissed myself a bit back there? LILY AND STACEY : Ewwww!!! Both girls recoil from her. LILY: Um- where are we? YOUNG MARGARET: (stands and prusnes herselr oz.) Ahem. Let's see. Well, we appear to be in the.. (spells out the word) Biology Tech..suddenly, a boy runs in screaming, before tripping and falling ¢o the floor dramatically, like tne girls did moments before. RICHARD: Aaah! He wolives the gizla. RICHARD: (embarrased, polite, dusting himself off) ‘An. Right. Well, excuse me, ladies, but, if you could just point me in the um.. direction of form 7? I'm uh- I'ma Little lost. And you seem like very capable, um, Year Nines? YOUNG MARGARET: (quickly without thought) Urm, yeah- that way. She points at the left wing. uiny Girl, what? Richard walks to the left wing, and appears tc lean in and try to open a door. RICHARD: (Matter of a factly) Hnm. The door’s locked. He walks calmly to the other side of the stage. The girls watch him. RICHARD: Hmm, The deor’s locked there, too (beat) Oh dear. RICHARD: (le reads the sign off the back of tie stage) And it appears we're in the (spells out) BIOLOGY TECHNICIAN ROOM.RICHARD: Right. So we just have to wait for the Biology Techinician to come along, and then we’ 11 be. YOUNG MARGARET: (bursts out) I'm not a Year Nine! RICHARD: what? YOUNG MARGARET: We're not Year Nines, we're Year Sevens. Also, (panicked) I just saw a dead frog over there and also a like a live heart and now I'm really creeped out! RICHARD: Oh, well that's alright. That you're not Year Nines. Not about the hearts and the frogs. And um- we're all locked in here together, anyway. YOUNG MARGARET: Oh! We are! Right- um. STACEY : So, how.. are we supposed to get out of here? YOUNG MARGARET: Oh my god. This is a trap. They're going to cut us open and use us in Biology lesson and we're all going to die! RICHARD: Wait. No. Okay, nobody panic, we'll get out of here soon, we’re not even going to be late to form- the school bell rings. RICHARD: Okay, PANIC! They begin running in circles onstage together screaming wildly. They freeze as OLD MARGARET walks on stage left.OLD MARGARET: (nostagically) Oh, Year Seven us. We were just so clueless. We did get out of there eventually, don't worry, (beat) Three hours later. But it was fine, I swear. We were all very mature about it. Momentarily, YOUNG MARGARET unfreezes. YOUNG MARGARET: (crying out hysterically) My heart's going to be used in a heart dissection! OLD MARGARET: Okay, I wasn’t. But the rest were. Anyway, after we were freed, I was eager to forget that awkward and terrifying three hours, and Richard wasn’t even in any of my classes, so that was easy. But after an appropriate period of time, I decided it was time to break the ice.SCENE 2 RICHARD walks on downstage right, quickly followed by YOUNG MARGARET. She runs up next to him and tusas to him, before they both freeze. OLD MARGARET: See what I did there? It was my little trick back then, to see if somebody 1 had a crush on liked me back, You just, like, run up beside them land look at their face the whole time, so you catch their expression exactly when they first notice you ‘That's the biggest teller for boys. That first actually honest millisecond before the dickhead mask comes down, I mean, most of the time, the boys T ran up to kind of looked a bit half-arsed or a bit.. You know, about me being there, but honestly. RICHARD turns to YOUNG MARGARET, his face immediately forming into an expression of delight. RICHARD: (nervously) Oh, hit OLD MARGARET: The first time I did it with Richard, he just looked so happy. That was so- new. They begin to talk, facing the audience downstage. YOUNG MARGARET: Hi! It's um- you might not remember me hacause we're not in the same form or frieadship group or like anything but I was the one of tae girls that you um, got locked in the Biclogy Technician room with for like three hours? So 1 just thought I mean T always kind of see you in the,playground and we always kind of make, Like strangely intense eye contact so. RICHARD: Oh, yeah, no, I remember you. And the strangely intense eye contact thing, I um, I cet that a lot. (beat) YOUNG MARGARET: Right. I suppose that can just happen. RICHARD: (beginning to walk downstage left) So, do you go to like any extracurricular... clubs, or anything? Because we’ re not in the same form group or any classes or even in the same half or the year or anything, and it would be nice to see you.. more. YOUNG MARGARET: (walking along with him, flattered ) Well, I did try Football, but the football wacked my in the face and gave me the bruise the shape of a football. And I tried Running Club, but that gave me life-threatening frostbite He stops downstage left and stands facing the audience. RICHARD: Well, you could try.. less perilous, frostbitey clubs. Like um, (pretending to be just pulling something out of chin air) Biology Club, for example. YOUNG MARGARET: You go to Biology Club? RICHARD: Possibly. YOUNG MARGARET: Well, it’s just that- my sister told me that Biology Club is only for like the biggest, weirdest nerds in the entire school. And I reallydon’t what that label at the start of my school experience. RICHARI Margaret YOUNG MARGARET: Yes? RICHARD: I hate to tell you this, but ue are clready the weizd nerds who got locked in the Biology Tech Room for three hours. YOUNG MARGARET: Yes. RICHARD: And while I’d- I'd hate then being the nerds who after that harrowing experience went to Biology Club- I actually think that label is kinda badass, to be honest MARGARET laughs. MARGARET: So, what day’s Biology Club? ‘They freeze. Soo ye eee ee eee was awesome, 8 that I was kind of awesome at it. so every week, me and Richard sat next to eachother in Biology Club, and we dissected hearts and frogs and. I kind of loved it! over time, we spent more and more time with eachother, and I kind of drifted apart from the girls I was friends with.. they weren't really interested in Richard. So by the end of Year Seven, Richard was my best friend. ‘Then in Year Eight it got weird. A person moves across the stage as they unfreeze holding a sign which says : YEAR EIGHT.RICHARD and YOUNG MARGARET unfreeze. YOUNG MARGARET turns to RICHARD, then turns away, looking slightly annoyed. RICHARD: what? YOUNG MARGARET: Nothing. RICHARD: You're acting weird. What is it? YOUNG NARGARET: Nothing! It's fine, RICHARE But it’s not though, is it? Just tel: me YOUNG MARGARET: (turning to him) You know todsy's my birthday, right? (Silence. ) RICHARD: (defensively) No. I didn’t know. Thet’s~ why are you acting so weird because of that? You didn't tell me. YOUNG MARGARET: No, I did tell you. I’ve told you about fifteen times in the last six months and twice in the last week. I’ve told you that many times because every single time, you forget. Despite the fact that my birthday is the exact same day as your mum's birthday- happy birthday to her, by the way- which would make it pretty memorable. on, and most people would consider it common courtesy to wish someone a “Happy Birthday” if they directly tell you it’s their birthday. She walks downstage left, annoyed. (Beat.)RICHARD: (clearly not sorry and staying where ne is) Okay, I'm sorry. That I forgot the bixthday of a girl I’ve known for literally a year YOUNG MARGARET: (turning to him again)why on earth are you being like this? Literally since the first day of Year @ you’ve been acting really weird and uufeiewdly and nul ice aud just= why cau’ L yeu just be an actually nice person again, like you were in Year Seven? What changed? RICHARD: What do you think change? We’ re year eights now. In year seven., I felt a lot better about acting like a strangely nice, friendly weirdo. But new- 1 don’t know, I just don't want to be that weirco anymore. I’ve been hanging out with- with some other people, who are a bit- different. 1 guess that why I didn't remember. YOUNG MARGARET: Sorry, so because you don’t went to be “weird” anymore even though you’re twelve end you made me “weird” for you,you're just not a nice person? RICHARD: I guess not. YOUNG MARGARET storms offstage left. RICHARD: Margaret! He freezes. OLD MARGARET: So. Me and Richard weren’t actually off to a great start in Year @, and after that.. 1 don’t know, We only saw eachother in Biology Club, and then one day I showed up and he was sitting with all these random boys and it was obvious he wasn’tgoing to sit next to me. so we just kind of stopped being friends. I was angry. He’d made me the school Weirdo for him just to decide he didn’t want to be one at all (beat) I didn’t see him for nearly eight months And then it was the ski trip. RICHARD unfreezes. Suddenly, the stage is filled with a huge number of people, talking in small groups with a confused-looking teacher centre stage. Three boys approach Richard and he talks like he is one of them, standing stage left. MARGARET has returned wich the crowd and stands upstage right TEACHER: Alright, everyone, listen up! We need to start getting everyone {nto the coaches! Alright I'm going to read out the list of names for Coach 1. Now unfortunately.. There has been a slight mishap which has meant that the Year 9 coach has had to have two Year @s put on it. With just- eachother: ALL freeze. OLD MARGARET: Okay, T know it sounds fishy, but I just went along with it. AL unfreeze. TEACHER: Right! So everyone in Year 8, come with me, along with Margaret Hawthorne and Richard Ash‘ord! In the crowd, YOUNG MARGARET and RICHARD both look shocked, People whisper in the crowd. RANDOM MALE VOICE: Hey, they’re back together! OLD MARGARET: Yep, Stuff was about to get real.The stage goes dark. hen it re-energes in light, the crowd is gone. There are two chairs centre stage occupied by YOUNG MARGARET and RICHARD. They sit in awkward silence, with individual blankets and pillows. OLD NARGARET: We of course got sat tagether- even fishier- but didn’t actually talk for the first five hours, which was pretty impressive consicering the amount of times he went to the toilet. Safe to say, I hated it. She leans down between sitting YOUNG MARGARET and RICHARD. OLD MARGARET: (shouting) JUST SAY SOMETHING ALREADY! They sit completely oblivious OLD MARGARET: After hours of awkward silence, the night came. -the stage goes dark immediately ad there is a spotlight on YOUNG MARGARET and RICHARD, RICHARD pulls up his blanket and goes to sleep, while YOUNG MARGARET just sits there. OLD MARGARET stands behind then. Richard went to sleep as soon as it got dark, but instead of doing the same T got out my Biology textbook and started reading, and did so for hours. YOUNG MARGARET does so onstage. OLD MARGARET walks into the darkness KICHARD suowLy wakes up. RICHARI groggy) What time is it? YOUNG MARGARET stares at him in shock.YOUNG MARGARET: Two AM. (eat) 50 you'll talk to me now, now that everyone else is asleep? RICHARD: No. T just- He looks at the textbook. RICHARD: Thats the heart. YOUNG MARGARET: Yeah RICHARD: You look confused. YOUNG MARGARET: On, it's just- I don’t understand their meaning of heart valves. RICHARD: We did that in Bio Club once. They us- stop blood from flowing back#tow out of the heart and keep blood moving in one direction. YOUNG MARGARET: Oh, thanks. That makes sense. (beat) RICHARD: You know something my dad told me about heart valves once? YOUNG MARGARET: what? RICHARD: Your heartbeat, what you count as your pulse, that's actually just the contracting of valves to close them. YOUNG MARGARET: That's. That’s cool. They go back into awkward silence.RICHARD: (suddenly) You know when T was younger, T had the most terrible anxiety. YOUNG MARGARET turns to him but remains silent. RICHARD: I just- I went through this phase where T thought that there was something wrong with my heart and that 1€ T want to steep it would just stop overnight and I’d never wake up (beat) So right before I went to bed, in like, a fit of anxiety, I'd run downstairs and get my dad to feel my pulse, make sure it was beating nice and strong, (beat) I mean, my dad didn’t have Like any medical training and only listened to it for about two seconds, but ways did the trick. I felt fine again and T went to sleep. (beat) ‘Then one night, I don’t know what it was, I just couldn’t be consoled. So my dad put my hand on my weist and got me to feel my own pulse, and to-d me the thing about the heart valves and that being your heartbeat. Somehow, feeling my own heart beat-ng completely fine made me fine again. But before I went to bed my dad told me something else. He said that it was a good thing that I was so worried my heart wasn’t beating. He said it was a good thing that T wanted those heartbeats to count each night, that I wanted to be able to count then nice and strong every single night following. He said it was a good thing I wanted them so much because it showed now much T loved my Life aud how much I wanted it to keep going. That for some people that’s a struggle. MARGARE’ in shock) That's a deep story.RICHARD: Yeah. I don't know why I just told ycu that. We're not even- yeah. MARGARET: We should probably go back to sleep. she laughs. I mean, it is 2 0 clock in the morning. RICHARD: Yeah, we should ‘They turn and lean against their chairs, going back to sleep. RICHARD: (quietly) Margaret? Are you still awake? MARGARET: Yeah RICHARD: I know T said all that stuff about act wanting to be weird enynore, but T was just being stupid. 1 love this friendship. I really want it to keep going. can we be friends again? MARGARET: (quietly) Yeah. ‘They go back to sleep. The stage goes dark. OLD MARGARET: Becoming friends again with Richard was the easiest- and best thing- I’d ever done. By the end of that week we were peas in a pod again, and thankfully that continued all the way till the end of Year 8. Before Year 9 began. YOUNG MARGARET and RICHARD get up and walk around together, as a school bell rings. A person moves across the stage with a sign that says YEAR NINE.YOUNG MARGARE’ : And here we are: Year Nine. RICHARD: We're officially in the middle year of school. YOUNG MARGARET: God, that sounds depressing. RICHARI T mean, 1 suppose, but. YOUNG MARGARET: You know what Year Nine is? it's a Wednesday. RICHARD: A crap Wednesday. Silence. RICHARD: Do you want to go to the Library and hide behind a bookshelf and get out all the Biology textbooks and talk about them in excruciating detail to make us feel better? YOUNG MARGARET: Oh, yes They run off stage right. OLD MARGARET: Well, year 9 was boring, and, depressing, but before we knew it.. well, it was the bloody ski trip again! ‘The stage goes dark, then illuminates with a spotlight on Margaret and Richard sitting in two chairs next to eachother. Margaret is reading a Biology textbook. Richard is asleep, then awakes. RICHARD: What time is it? YOUNG MARGARET: (smiles) Two AM.RICHARD: The heart again? YOUNG MARGARET: Uh-huh. We're going to be doing to. be tested on a dissection at school, I wantec to be prepared. RICHARD: It’s so quiet. Everyone else is asleep. YOUNG MARGARET: Yean. RICHARD: We could talk about anything, and nobody else would hear. She puts down her book and stares at him pointedly. RICHARD: dust tell me who it is. YOUNG MARGARET: What makes you think there even is a Suho it is?” RICHARD: Because you're acting weird and secretive and like you have a massive crush. YOUNG MARGARET renains silent. RICHARD: Do I know them? YOUNG MARGARET: Yes. Yes you do. RICHARD: How well? YOUNG MARGARET: well. RICHARD: How well is well? YOUNG MARGARET Laughs. MARGARET: Richard- you know them as well as you know yourself.She goes back to reading her book and they are silent for a while, RICHARD sits there in shock before finally plucking up the courage to speak. RICHARD: You know, if they.. know me, as well 2s 1 know, me, they'll probably know my massive crush: YOUNG MARGARE! they know that to be? If they did.. know. turns te him again) And who wand RICHARD: Someone you knew as well as yourself. ‘They've silent, then slowly lean in to kiss, before suddenly The Teacher walks on stage right and the Lights come TEACHER: Okay, everybody up! Pit stop! They Jerk back. OLD MARGARET walks onstage. OLD MARGARET: So, I never did kiss Richard, aad we kind of just forgot it ever happened. Went straight back to the way things were. I didn’t mind; T was happy with just being friends for now. T thought that we had all the time in the world to be more later. (somber now) I'm getting ahead of myself. The rest of the year flew by after the ski trip, and soon it was the last day of Year 9.SCENE 3 The Lights come on and YOUNG MARGARET and RICHARD are standing centre stage, facing each other. YOUNG MARGARE’ Year nine’s over. Wow. That’ s- RICHARI Yeah. Weird. YOUNG MARGARET: I'm going away next week for ll summer, so.. I won't see you for ages RICHARI oh, well.. I/11 miss you. YOUNG MARGARET hugs him. MARGARET: Well. Goodbye, then. RICHARD: Goodbye, Margaret.YOUNG MARGARET starts to walk offstage, but stops when OLD MARGARET speaks to her. RICHARD freezes OLD MARGARET: Did you say it? YOUNG MARGARET: What? OLD MARGARET: 1/11 miso you too. You didn't say és. any didn’t you say it? YOUNG MARGARET: (confused) I don’t know She walks offstage. RICHARD stands there for a moment, looking after her and then at the audience Then he walks off stage symbolically. ” The lights go down.SCENE 4 As the lights come back up, a person moves across the stage with a sign which says “Year Ton.” YOUNG MARGARET sits in a chair centre stage, her knees to her chest. She numbly stares vacantly at the floor, a look of devastation on her face. OLD MARGARET walks up to her, and talks to the audience, first numbly and then angrily. OLD NARGARET: He killed himself. (beat) In case you wanted to know! she turns to the audience. In case that’s what you were wondering He killed himself She walks around the YOUNG MARGARET’ s chair. There is a discarded note upstage left. She picks it up and reads it.OLD MARGARET: And he left me a note. Dear Margaret. ‘the real Richard walke on stage right and begins speaking, as if to both of them. I want to say that I am sorry. You do not deserve this, and maybe it is of a large ego for me to say this now, but T know my leaving will make your life hell. I won't tell you everything. You don’t need to know it, there’s no point. But this is what I want to say. Both Margarets watch him, captivated and heartoroken. T couldn’t have done it. 1 could not nave lived, T had tried and it simply wasn't possible for me anymore. I just couldn't do it. And believe me, 1 wanted to. I wanted those heartbeats, I wanted those heartbeats to count every night before I went to bed. But I can’t do it anymore! You love Biology, Margaret. You're brilliant at i you were always better than me. You have to use it, become a doctor or something I don’t know jus: pursue it. Keep being your nerdy, spontaneous self and don’t ever change that because of what I did. Keep doing the opposite of everyone else just because! Keep acting with no reason sometimes. Keep running into Biology Technician rooms. it's were the magic happens. T want you to have your heartbeats. I want yoa to count them every single night and love them. I want you to live.See you later. Love you Hie walks offstage. The stage goes dark. SCENE 5 YOUNG MARGARET walks on stage right and sits down in one of two chairs (maybe a bench?) centre stage, looking incredibly sad and absent. OLD MARGARET watches her. OLD MARGARET: In Year Ten, I.. T lost myself. A lot I drifted apart from my friends, my schoolwork was ruined. I blamed myself. But of course I did! I guess I’m only realising now that maybe it wasn't my fault. Anyway. Bet I got better, eventually. I got a bit better, but not. I didn’t address it, 1 suppose. T just started to get used to Richard being dead. But 1 wasn’t.. better, I still hated myself so much for not.. for not seeing it ‘Then one day in summer, something changed. STACEY walks onstage. She sits down beside YCUNG MARGARET, who notices her. STACEY : I hope you don’t mind. YOUNG MARGARET: No- it's just, T haven’t spoken to you in ages. STACEY ; You seem so sad now, Margaret. YOUNG MARGARET: My best friend killed himself completely out of the blue.STACEY : I know. I mean- yeah. STACEY : I just think that- Richard, T knew him too. Not as well as you knew Richard, but I was locked in there for three hours with him as well, and I do not think for a second he would have wanted you to be thio oad. YOUNG MARGARET: He killed himself, for reasons that in his long note he didn't tell me. But he left me behind. (beat) STACEY : You're wasting your heartbeats. YOUNG MARGARET: What? STACEY : I was awake. On the ski trip bus, the first time, and.. The second time. T was awake, I was the only one, but I heard everything. I was sitting Like, three seats back Richard- he told you that story for a reason. 106 YOUNG MARGARET: Yeah. Because heatrying to tell me he was going to kill himself. STACEY : No. (shakes head.) Even though it was a year and a bit before he did it, T think he knew. I think he had a feeling. And I think he told you that because he knew you woulda‘ t have him forever. And I wish you could've had him, Marg. I wish you could have had. —But I think he was trying to tell you- for when he can’t tell you when he was gone- that you neec to live this life, Margaret. yer YOUNG MARGARET: - 1 cant t~ STACEY : He said that it was good he wanted all nis heartbeats. Because for some people that's struggle. YOUNG MARGARET: (sadly) It was a struggle for him. STACEY : Yeah. But it’s not a struggle for yor, Margaret. It doesn't have to be. You need to bave your heartbeats and you need to count them ane love them, Margaret. For him and for you YOUNG MARGARET Jeans on STACEY’s shoulder YOUNG MARGARET: You’ re a good friend STACEY : Yeah. And he was such, such a good friend. YOUNG MARGARET: Yeah. The stage goes black.SCENE 6 The stage is empty. old Margaret walks on, and stands centre stage. she Looks up. OLD MARGARET: I finished Year Eleven with ten 8s and one nine in Biology By then, I'd made friends again. By then, I loved Biology again; I was happy again. I liked myself again. It took time, but I did. (beat) T told everyone about him. All our stories. And it helped. (heat. She walks around the stage, occasionally turning to the audience.) I tell everyone about him. All the ones that maybe don’t know exactly but knew us, who say, “what happened to that boy you always used to hang out with?” And I say, “he's gone.” It makes it easier. (beat) After Year Eleven, I went to Sixth Form. T go: an A in Chemistry, an A in Maths, and an A star in Biology. when I opened the paper, T screamed. It was enough to gat me into university to be a dactor, that’s-why. (beat) I’m going to save lives now. I’m- I’m going to do some serious freaking Biology.(beat) I'm starting university tomorrow. T-have—to_go-now~ She walks off stage leftSCENE 7 For the last time, a random person walks across the stage, holding a large sign which clearly says: SEVEN YEARS LATER old Margaret walks onstage, walking purposefully and wearing a white lab coat. She flicks her head to the side- “noticing” the audience again and stops ‘suddenly. OLD MARGARET on. Hi- um- I'ma doctor, I’ve got to- oh, I guess- I guess T can spare a second. (beat) He's been gone twelve years now, Twelve years, I only knew him for three and yet- twelve years later, he’s still- here. [t's it’s remarkable, really, (beat) I saw him in 2 dream the other night. I was- I was in the Biology Techinican room again, after all this time, It was so strange. I was sitting where I sat all those years ago,- she sits down in one of the who chairs centre stage- and suddenly he walked through those doors again. Richard walks on from the left wing, and sits down next to her. Richard- he spoke to me. Sat down next to me. And T apoke to hin. He asked me how it was, doing what T do now. And I told him about the lives I’ve saved, and the lives I haven't, and all the patients I meet with heart valve problems and how they always make me think of him.He asked me if I ever felt him around me, and I said T feel him all the time, in every heartbeat, in every person I bring back to life, in every artery, every vein, every capillary. lle aaked me if I was happy. And I told him that I am, not all the time but as much as I can be, and that T have friends and 1 have fun and I'm still the person he knew but a little bit more. Twelve years does that to Richard asked me if T was living, really livirg. He asked me if I counted my heartbeats and if I wanted 0 badly to keep having them. And I told him that because of him now I live boldly, and passionately, and spontaneously ard bravely even when it isn’t easy. I told him about all of it, and then I took 2 deep breath and got up and- And T walked away. She walks off, away from Richard, who sits in ais chair watching her go. The stage goes black.