DAD: There you are. LEO: You looking...

DAD: There you are.

LEO: You looking for me?

DAD: Just wondered.

(DAD enters the backyard, crosses downstage, gazes up at the sky, invading LEO'S privacy.)

DAD: So, Leo, what can I tell you?

LEO: About what?

DAD: Christ if I know. I don't have any answers.

LEO: Yeah well, there are no answers, Pop – not in the traditional sense of the word.

DAD: There sure as hell aren't. Your mother's a perfect example. So what else can I tell you?

LEO: I don't know.

DAD: I just wish there were some piece of advice I could offer you.

LEO: About what?

DAD: Well, this movement business.

LEO: Oh.

DAD: Because if you step back for a moment and think about it, a lot of people have tried it, Leo. You got Moses, you got Buddha, Karl Marx of course... I don't know if you want to include Thomas Jefferson... But a lot of very talented people.

LEO: In all due modesty, mine is different.

DAD: I don't doubt that.

LEO: Not that I reject those guys--

DAD: Not the point--

LEO: No, I'm just saying. There have been some breakthroughs this century.

DAD: No argument. I'm simply trying to point out to you, son, it's a very competitive thing. Not that I don't think you can handle it. Because I know you. Once you set your mind to something, there isn't anything you can't accomplish.

LEO: All I'm trying to do is just get something rolling.

DAD: I understand.

LEO: This isn't something I expect to see in my lifetime. I keep telling people that. It's like planting a seed. Well you know what I'm saying. You know the metaphor.

DAD: Right. The seed metaphor.

(A moment)

LEO: Right.

DAD: So what else can I tell you?

LEO: I have no idea. I'm sorry I sent the damn thing home in the first place.

DAD: No, that's not what I'm saying.

LEO: I know that, Pop. It's what I'm saying.

DAD: Right, and what I'm saying is I'm glad you sent it. It gives us something to talk about.

(LEO, riled, rises from his chair.)

DAD: By that I mean a framework! A point of departure. Take your sister, for example.

LEO: What?

DAD: As a point of departure. Because something I wanted to toss around a little with you is your sister. See, with her the world is always either all this or all that. Well I don't have to tell you. But what I'm thinking is, if you could maybe straighten her out about a few things...maybe through this manifesto. Because frankly the situation is not good, Leo. Which of course only makes it worse for your mother.

LEO: She's a lot like Mom.

DAD: Well now there, you see, you hit the nail on the head. I'm not saying I didn't make mistakes. My point is, nothing is all this or all that.

LEO: She blames you for Mom?

DAD: First of all, I love your mother. I have nothing but admiration for the woman. She is deeply intelligent, and she did a hell of a good job raising the two of you. I would never leave her.

LEO: Who said anything about leaving her?

DAD: No one. Well, your sister. Because with her there's no discussion. Not like us where ideas go back and forth. Like right now, for example.

LEO: (Trying to make sense of this) Wait a minute. You're not seeing another woman or anything, are you?

DAD: I wanted you to hear it from me first.

(Pause)

LEO: (stunned) I don't believe this.

DAD: What am I supposed to do, Leo? You know how many years it's been with your mother? All the evidence we have indicates we live once. What am I supposed to do?

LEO: Does Mom know?

DAD: Who knows what Mom knows? Do I rub her face in it? – no.

LEO: Who?

DAD: Well now that's an interesting story. You remember, down at the store, the bookkeeper, Rosalie?

LEO: You're kidding me!

DAD: Why?

LEO: She's like your age!

DAD: (disappointed) All right, we won't talk about it.

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