# Declaration Of Love

Людмила Николаевна Ансельм

Peter comes to his ex-wife Anna to agree on some details of the upcoming divorce but as a result finds out unexpected details of their family life.

Declaration of Love

Ludmila Anselm

translated by Jim Clinton


CAST: Anna -a woman, about 40 years.


Peter - her husband, a man the same age.


PLACE: American apartment.


Anna"s apartment. Piles of clothes on the floor. Enter Peter.


PETER: Can I come in, Anna?


ANNA: Why didn"t you call, Peter?


PETER: It"s not a telephone conversation. Can I...


ANNA: Peter, you"re here, come in.


PETER: I"ve come to talk...you know what I mean.


ANNA: Come on in, and let"s talk... I'm spring cleaning. Careful!


PETER: Want me to take my shoes off?


ANNA: No. Men in socks looks silly.


He walks around piles of clothes on the floor.


Step on the rugs. Here, then over here, and here; now sit on the sofa. Relax.

Peter sits on the sofa.


PETER: I finally want... to talk about our divorce papers...


ANNA: I knew you will come today...


PETER: Why?


ANNA: I saw you in my dream last night... You go along the beach swinging your arms, and I steal along behind you, it was so funny...


PETER: So me at the beach, what"s funny?


ANNA: I'm not done. A friend of mine follows you swinging his arms just like you: he is mocking you.... And I follow both of you... can"t help laughing.... I hide when you look round. You seem to be looking for me and don"t pay any attention to my friend.


PETER: What"s his name... your friend?


ANNA: You didn"t seem to know him well. Maybe you have met him at our office parties.


PETER: So I know him!


ANNA: There were lots of people there: you didn"t pay much attention to him.


PETER: Why, is he inconspicuous?


ANNA: Inconspicuous to you perhaps, you were more interested in chatting up the ladies.


PETER: Describe him to me maybe I"ll remember him.


ANNA: He is taller than you; his eyes are blue, and his hair ...


PETER: Where did you meet?


ANNA: At work... in the office.


PETER: You used to tell me about your work friends in detail. You probably told me about him.


ANNA: I might not have told you much about him...


PETER: Why?


ANNA: It"s not important now.


PETER: Yes, it"s important, since you brought him up. It is important! How well do you know him?


ANNA: None of your business. You decided to have a divorce, and we separated. Now you have your own life, and I - mine.


PETER: Do you think that I don"t still care? After fifteen years!


ANNA: Fifteen years six months and two weeks.


PETER: Anna!


ANNA: Anyway, I don"t see him any more.


PETER: When did you stop?


ANNA: I can"t remember...


PETER: Think... Real... Hard...


ANNA: About a half of year ago, after he quit our office.


PETER: So it is "out of sight, out of mind". And what kind of relationship did you have?


ANNA: What kind of relationship can be between man and woman? Need me to spell it out?

Pause.


PETER: You cheated on me...


ANNA: Yes.


PETER: And you told me none of this?


ANNA: I didn"t want to.


PETER: You found somebody and kept on living with me as if nothing had happened!


ANNA: And while living with me you didn"t waste time too...


PETER: That"s why we"re going to divorce. Why didn"t you tell me about him?


ANNA: Peter, if I had made up my mind to divorce you, I would"ve told you everything.


PETER: Why didn"t you want to divorce me?... May be he didn"t want to marry you?


ANNA: When we fell for each other, he was married.


PETER: I suppose, he didn"t want to divorce his wife. How long did your relationship last?


ANNA: I don"t remember exactly... about two...


PETER: What a two-timer you really are! And still I wonder...did you stop seeing each other when he got a new job?


ANNA: At first we met often, but then... He had to drive across the whole city. You know the traffic jams...


PETER: Traffic jams! Was it just traffic jams you blame? Couldn"t you make up anything more interesting? Say, a plane crash: your lover dies falling down from a huge height, or you are attacked by thugs, he defends you but is stabbed in the back, bleeding badly...


ANNA: Peter, stop mocking!


PETER: Ha! Who is mocking who? Your lover moves to the other end of the city, and then - end of love! I would"ve understood you if it was a real passion... but I don"t know what to call this. Some nonsense! Stupidity! Because of this nonsense our whole relationship goes to hell?


ANNA: Our relationship? What did I get? Just humiliation. Did you really love me? Every party you ignored me and quickly found a woman and started flirting. What chance did I have? Just to be a wallflower?


PETER: Did you do all that in revenge? If yes, then that"s different.


ANNA: It doesn"t matter whether I did this in revenge or not...


Pause.


He was extraordinary, very considerate, loved me, used to bring me flowers...


PETER: Considerate: traffic jams and end of love! Don"t you feel ashamed to tell me, your husband, all this? After fifteen years together...


ANNA: Fifteen years six months and two weeks.


PETER: Anna!


Anna (comes close.): Peter!


Peter (pushes her away.): Give me his phone number.


ANNA: What for?


PETER: I want to meet him... and his wife.


ANNA: And why his wife?


PETER: I"ll compare her and you! Give me his phone number!


ANNA: I don"t have it.


PETER: That"s a lie, Anna. You"re lying!


ANNA: I don't have it... not since we parted.


PETER: Then - his last name. Well, come on!


ANNA: I won"t.


PETER: Oh, I understand, it means that you didn"t have anybody and any relationship. You"ve made up the whole romance. Nobody hankered after you, just your sick imagination: love, infidelity, traffic jams-all this is a lie. Our whole life together was a mistake.


ANNA: Peter, but we had such fun together.


PETER: Fun? Me? Never! What"re you talking about? All our life together was a complete and utter torture for me.


ANNA: Our "grunge" costume party...


PETER: Ya, friends still mention it, but that was different.


ANNA: Why?


PETER: I"ve never loved you, not a moment!


Anna (slowly): Full moon... Lake George... when we slipped off the paddle boat... You like to sleep touching me...

PETER: (pause) It was long ago.


ANNA: Peter, why did you marry me?


PETER: Your pregnancy.


ANNA: But it was a mistake.


PETER: I decided that I was committed to marry you...Well, I"ve come to see you on business. I finally wanted to dot all the "i"s. Now I understand everything. You"re a liar and disgusting trash! I feel suffocated! I"m divorcing you. I"ll complete the divorce agreement myself. Good-bye!

Peter leaves. Anna runs after him.


ANNA: Peter, wait stop! I told you a lie!


PETER: (stops at the door). More lies?ANNA: Listen, I had a love affair and it ended when he, my lover, died in a car crash. He was hurrying to be with me when...(Anna swallows hard.) passed a bus and hit another car...

Pause.


PETER: Passed a bus? Passed... When did it happen?


ANNA: Six months ago.


PETER: Six months... It was Michael! My best friend!


ANNA: Yes, Michael.


PETER: How did it happen?


ANNA: He was hurrying to see me...


PETER: I introduced you to Michael! I was proud for you to see what a wonderful friend I had.


ANNA: He was really a wonderful...


PETER: You"re going to say "a lover"? I can"t believe... it can"t be true. If there had been something between you, I certainly would have noticed it.


ANNA: You and Michael didn"t meet so often lately... He was afraid that you would suspect us.


PETER: I respected him so much: joyful, full of life, and so tragically... We"d been friends as kids: at school, at college...he had always rescued me... when we were about twelve; a dog jumped out and grabbed my leg... Michael found a stick and beat the dog away. I still have the scar; I can show it to you.


ANNA: I"ve seen your "dog bite" a lot of times...


PETER: We used to be close friends... Used to read each other well, so quick on the uptake... How come I didn"t notice anything?ANNA: You were busy... You so persistently hung round his wife.


PETER: It was nothing serious... (angry silence.) Oh, and she must"ve noticed that there was something between you. Women - they notice everything. I"ll call her right now...


Grabs his cell phone.


ANNA: Stop it! Can you really call a woman who lost her husband just six months ago and ask her about her husband"s infidelity?


Peter silently closes his cell phone and throws it.


ANNA: Didn"t you have an affair with her? I thought that you were seeing each other, especially after his death.


PETER: How could he? I cannot believe... My best friend...


Silence while Peter stares with confused interest at Anna.


ANNA: Why are looking at me like that?


PETER: Anna, what did he see in you?


ANNA: Think...


PETER: I don"t ... Tell me, please...


ANNA: He loved me... It was real passion...


PETER: Amazing! So unexpectedly. He was striking, brilliant, so able...

Pause.

What now...


ANNA: Peter, you"ve come to agree about our divorce. Let"s start.


PETER: Anna, wait, wait... let me see...


ANNA: Just a second. I will get the agreement you sent me.


PETER: Anna, I don"t know...


ANNA: Since you"ve come, let"s do it. We need to dot all the "i"s...


PETER: I need time...I have to understand... Maybe, I"ve changed my mind...


Curtain