Margaret
and Benton Face a Decision
A Play
in Four Scenes
Dramatis Personae: (In order of appearance)
Inspector Margaret Thatcher RCMP
Constable Benton Fraser RCMP
Voiceover of Sergeant Robert Fraser RCMP
Dr. Tryitonforsize (abbreviated as Dr. T)
********************************
Scene
One.
(Margaret’s office in season two. She is in it
alone. She wears a business suit. As the scene opens she is pacing, showing
signs of nervousness, fidgeting. She picks up her telephone receiver and puts
it back down, a few times. Finally she keeps it and punches in four digits.)
Margaret: Fraser. (She waits a beat.) Report to my
office immediately.
(She waits another beat and then hangs up.
While she is waiting for Benton to arrive she goes behind her desk and sits
down, then gets up and stands in front of her desk, then goes back. She is
unsure what position to be in and tries out several while waiting.)
(Enter Benton, while she happens to be behind
the desk and standing. He stands before her desk at attention. He is wearing
the uniform of Jean’s choice, since this is her fic, after all.)
Benton: Sir.
Margaret: (After
more pausing and fidgeting.) Do you believe in God?
Benton: Sir, you must be
aware that as my employer, you are not allowed to ask me that.
Margaret: (Additional signs of
nervousness. Then, impatiently) Would you sit down, please.
Benton: You ARE allowed to
ask me that. (He sits in the visitor chair in front of her desk.) If you really
do want to talk about God, sir . . .
Margaret: This is personal.
Don’t call me ‘sir’.
Benton: When you called me
in here you said ‘Fraser’.
Margaret: I’m a little
upset. Um, I know we haven’t been going
out since we got back from Kingston. I guess you’re wondering about that. I
appreciate it a lot that you haven’t been pressing me on it.
Benton: I can’t help but
wonder what this has to do with God.
Margaret: The thing is . . . I
don’t know how to say this. I never thought I’d ever have to say anything like
this. I . . . It’s a simple thing to say but . . .
Benton: (Crushed) You don’t
want to see me anymore. I know I didn’t . . . perform . . . to your . . .
expectations.
Margaret: Oh no! Benton, no!
That’s not it. You see. (Takes a deep
breath, steels herself for the big pronouncement.) I’m pregnant.
(Benton jumps out of his chair with a shout of sudden joy. He goes
around her desk and grabs her in his arms for a kiss. Stops suddenly and dashes
to close her office door then goes back. When he takes hold of her a second
time she pushes him gently away.)
Margaret: No, wait.
Benton: I
love you so much. And now we’re going to be a family. Oh, Margaret! (reaches
for her again and she pushes him off again.)
Margaret: Just
hold on a minute.
Benton: Everything
I’ve ever wanted and I’m getting it all at once!
Margaret: Damn
it, will you just shut up a minute?
(Benton does so, lets her go and waits.)
Margaret: Just,
sit back down, okay. Let me tell this.
(Benton sits back down.)
Margaret: You know when we were
making love, I never asked you to take any precautions. Didn’t you wonder why?
Benton: I thought I knew
why.
Margaret: Really? What did you
think?
Benton: (Sadly) Whatever I
thought, it was wrong. (Sighs heavily)
Margaret; I’m on The Pill. I’m
not supposed to get pregnant. So how
can you explain it, if it’s not – I don’t know – divine intervention or
something?
Benton: Manufacturing
defect in the product. It’s rare, though.
Margaret: (verge
of tears, desperately) I wasn’t planning this!
Benton: (Slowly, choosing
his words carefully) But, now that it has happened maybe you might consider . .
.
Margaret: Consider?
Benton: Marrying me. Raising
our child together. It’s not exactly unheard of, Margaret.
Margaret: It’s not what I
planned!
Benton: (At a loss) Uh hunh.
Margaret: I don’t know what I’m
going to do.
Benton: You? What YOU are
going to do? This involves me.
Margaret: Well, of course
you’re involved but I’m the one that has to decide if I’m going to go through
with having a baby. That’s a huge undertaking. And a physical strain. I used to
think maybe I’d like to have a child some day. Adopt one.
Benton: The, um, traditional
way hadn’t occurred to you at all, apparently.
Margaret: Don’t be flip. Can’t
you see how bad this is?
Benton: (Very serious.) Not
really, no. If it were your decision
alone, let’s just assume that for now, what would you do?
Margaret: If you’re asking if
I’m planning to have an abortion – maybe. It’s an option. I wasn’t planning to
have a baby at this point in my life.
Benton: Of course, if it
were divine intervention, you might not be wise to ignore the message.
Margaret: You don’t really
believe that, do you?
Benton: I don’t know. I was
raised by missionaries. I have to consider it. Margaret, I don’t want you to
have an abortion. I don’t want you to kill our child.
Margaret: That’s easy for you
to say. You’re not the one that has to go through with a pregnancy.
Benton: I wish I could.
Margaret: Well, you can’t.
Benton: Don’t you love me?
Would marrying me be so very painful?
Margaret: You’re not getting
this! I do love you. But I don’t want to settle down. Not now. Not after I’ve
worked so hard.
Benton: (If the director has
not made him stand up by now, he stands for this line. Tersely.) Don’t have an
abortion.
Margaret: Don’t order me
around.
Benton: It would be wrong.
All right, I’ll make a deal with you. Bear the child and let me have it to
raise. I want you both but I’ll settle for just the child.
Margaret: Get out of my office.
How dare you? This is my decision. Dismissed!
Benton: (Comes to attention
and salutes) Sir!
(Benton wheels about and marches out. Margaret
starts to cry, first softly then works herself into heavy sobs.)
(Benton’s apartment of seasons one and two.
Benton is alone, sitting on the edge of his bed reading one of his father’s
journals. Benton is wearing whatever Jean designates – if anything at all.
Voiceover: It’s a boy. He’s fine
and Caroline’s fine. I can’t begin to write how relieved I am. And bless good
old Doctor Benton, he called the outpost right away to let me know. We’ll have
to find some way to thank him, but I can’t imagine how right now.
I have a son.
Robert Junior, he’s going to be. When he grows up and joins the Force they’ll
call us Old Bob and Young Bob, just like Fred Tavistock and his boy. We’ll
serve together, side by side. Me and my boy.
(Benton closes the book and lays it aside on the bed. Talks to himself)
Benton: Robert Fraser. Bob Fraser. No, sorry, Dad, but that’s just too ordinary. Rob Fraser. Robbie Fraser. (Long pause) Roberta Fraser. Bobbie Fraser. (gets up and paces.) Caroline
Fraser. Carrie Fraser. (pause) Mrs. Margaret
Fraser. Inspector Margaret Fraser. Not going to happen. Maybe if I offered her
. . . (pause) . . . Constable Benton Thatcher. (pause) Damn.
(Same office as used for the psychiatrist Dr.
Tung 2 fics ago, except it is Dr. T behind the desk. She is consulting some
notes in a folder, then flips the folder shut, gets up and walks to the office
door.)
Dr. T: (While opening the
door) Please come in, Inspector.
(Margaret enters wearing a different business suit than in Scene One.)
Margaret: Hello. I was
expecting Dr. Tung.
Dr. T: Called away on a
family emergency at the last minute. I wasn’t able to reach all the patients in
time to warn them. If you’d prefer to wait and reschedule with him, that’s
fine. You won’t be billed for today.
Margaret: I’m here. I guess
I’ll stay. Maybe the perspective of another woman would be good. Sure, I’ll
stay.
Dr. T: I apologize for
this but the receptionist is off sick . . .
Margaret: Yes, I noticed there
was no one outside.
Dr. T: And I could only
call one patient at a time. You walked in while . . .
Margaret: Please, it’s fine. I
don’t mind.
Dr. T: Okay, well, have a
seat then.
(Margaret sits in the patient’s chair she sat in 2 fics ago.)
Margaret: I’m a little
embarrassed about what happened the last time I was here. I sort of walked out on Dr. Tung in the
middle of the session. I guess he wrote something about that in the file.
Dr. T: Something. But the
important thing is: how can I help you today?
Margaret: I just feel like I
want to explain about last time. But he’s not here so I guess there’s no point.
Dr. T: Explain it anyway.
Margaret: I felt threatened.
That’s seems so silly now that I look back on it.
Dr. T: Threatened?
Margaret: He touched a nerve.
Something came up and I wasn’t ready to talk about it. Okay, I wasn’t really
ready to face it.
Dr. T: But now?
Margaret: I’m pregnant and I’m
trying to decide what to do about it.
Dr. T: Not planned then?
Margaret: I’m on The Pill! Not
planned is putting it mildly, Doctor!
Dr. T: Then how did it
happen?
Margaret: You’re supposed to be
a doctor. You should know how it happened.
Dr. T: I mean, had you
been taking the pills regularly?
Margaret: If you mean did I
deliberately shoot myself in the foot, no. I can’t begin to think of an
explanation except maybe God was responsible. But, that’s been done, right?
(She chuckles nervously.)
Dr. T: You are sure,
though – medically – that you are pregnant. You’ve been tested.
(Margaret rolls her eyes.)
Dr. T: I have to ask. I’m
not saying it about you, specifically, but it has happened that people have
been afraid to go for a pregnancy test.
For a lot of reasons.
Margaret: Doctor, I’m stunned,
confused, upset, but one thing I am not and haven’t been for many years is
afraid.
Dr. T: Ah.
Margaret: I need a place to
talk this through. Somewhere safe. With somebody who doesn’t know me and
doesn’t care.
Dr. T: Once you sat down
in that chair, you became my patient. Therefore, I care.
Margaret: You know what I mean.
Dr. T: Yes. Sorry. A sore
spot of my own. Never mind. Actually, it was probably a good plan to come
looking for a neutral sounding board.
Margaret: Plan. That’s the
whole thing right there. Plan. I wasn’t planning to get married and settle
down.
Dr. T: So the father wants
to get married?
Margaret: Oh, he can’t think of
anything else. Old-fashioned, you know. It’s nice, in a way. But, it’s just too
much all at once. I have my career going on a certain track. And then there’s
the issue of my mother. Benton doesn’t even know about her. I was telling Dr.
Tung that I’m sort of responsible for my mother. She doesn’t live with me right
now. She’s back in Toronto. She’s still able to live on her own but I don’t
know for how much longer. So that’s something else I have to deal with. There
would be her, and him, and the new baby and my career – all on my head.
Dr. T: How do you think he
would react if you told him about your mother?
Margaret: Benton? He’d probably
insist we take her into our home. It’s the whole family thing with him. Can’t
blame him, really. He lost his mother when he was a little boy and his father
died last year. He’s an only child. He’s been lonely.
Dr. T: Well, that’s
something anyway. You said ‘our’ home.
Margaret : Meaning?
Dr. T : You said if
you got married you’d have “all that on your head”.
Margaret: That’s what I said,
yes.
Dr. T: YOUR head.
Margaret: I don’t follow.
Dr. T: An aging mother, a
husband, a new baby, a career, all on YOUR head to deal with. Alone.
Margaret: Your point?
Dr. T: Well, there are
different kinds of marriages. Sometimes one partner actually does have to look
after the other. Sometimes, they share responsibilities. If you got married,
would this man be a burden or a partner?
Margaret: (very long pause
while a puzzled Margaret mulls over this idea) I never thought of it that way.
Dr. T: You talk of this
Benton as another issue you have to deal with. Is he irresponsible? Does he
need your supervision? If so, you would be right in wondering whether you want
to share the raising of a child with him.
Margaret: He’s one of the
strongest, most reliable people I’ve ever met. And he wants a family so very
badly.
Dr. T: You think he’s
using you for that end.
Margaret: God, no. He loves me.
He could have any number of women. They’d marry him in a second.
Dr. T: But you see having
him as a life partner as a burden, not as a help. Why would that be? You say
he’s responsible. You don’t perceive him as someone with whom to share your
problems?
Margaret: He wants to. Benton
said he wanted a say in what I did. Whether I had an abortion, I mean. I got
mad. I told him it was my choice.
Dr. T: Because it’s your
body.
Margaret: Exactly. I have the
right to do what I want with my own body. Nobody can force me to have a child
if I don’t want one.
Dr. T: Then you don’t want
one.
Margaret: I didn’t say that!
Dr. T: Let’s go over the
four available options. How do you feel about each? We’ve got: abort the
pregnancy, have the child and marry the father, have the child and keep it
without marrying the father, have the child and give it up for adoption.
Margaret: Okay, the last two
are out.
Dr. T: Well, that’s
something. Next you have to explore what you meant when you said you didn’t
want a child. Now? Ever?
Margaret: I told you – I never
said I didn’t want a child! That’s not the issue!
Dr. T: What is the issue?
Margaret: The issue is, I
didn’t plan for it to be this way. I’m not ready for it at this stage. What you
said about Benton before. That I perceive him as just another part of a problem
I have to deal with. He said he should have a say in whether I have an abortion
or not. I got mad at him for that.
Dr. T: Oh.
Margaret : I mean, it’s my
body after all. Nobody has the right to dictate to me whether I go through a
pregnancy.
Dr. T: Some people would
agree with you. Would Benton?
Margaret: Hardly. He sees it as
his child. He said if I didn’t want it, he’d raise it alone. See, that’s a
fifth option you didn’t even think of.
Dr. T: Would you do that?
Margaret: Never in a million
years. If I have a baby, I have to control . . . Christ!
Dr. T: Control is
important to you. But this pregnancy happened in spite of all your best
controls.
Margaret: There’s a good chance
I would have wanted to marry Benton, eventually. But to have it thrown at me
like this. . . I . . .
Dr. T: “There’s a good
chance I would have wanted to marry Benton,” you said. Benton would have no
input in that decision. But now it is his idea to get married and start a
family. He came up with the plan first, not you.
Margaret: Just give me a
minute, all right? Just, let me wrap my head around this for a minute.
Dr. T: Of course.
Margaret: (Long pause first)
There’s an old expression: If three people tell you you’re drunk, lie down.
Many more than three people have called me a control freak. Many, many more.
Dr. T: Don’t get hung up
on the term. “Control freak” is negative. But control is something that is
important to you.
Margaret: Something like that
would have to go way back, wouldn’t it? Well, why not delve into my childhood.
Isn’t that what shrinks do?
Dr. T: Sometimes.
Margaret: You see, father was .
. .
Both characters freeze. Lights down.
(Benton’s office in seasons one and two. He is
sitting at his desk doing paperwork.
Uniform of Jean’s choice.
Margaret enters. She wears yet another business suit. Upon perceiving
her, Benton gets to his feet and stands behind his desk at attention.)
Margaret: Sit.
This is personal.
Benton: Oh,
in that case, you have to sit, too.
Margaret: No,
I’m on my way to a meeting, but I just wanted to ask you . . .
Benton: I
can’t sit until you do. You know that, Margaret.
Margaret: Then stand there, if
that’s what you want. I just wanted to know if you can go for dinner tonight. We
have to talk. About what we’re going to do.
Benton: What WE are going to
do?
Margaret: Yes. Is tonight good?
Benton: I . . . yes . . .
tonight is fine.
Margaret: Well, good. When and
where?
Benton: You decide.
Margaret: I don’t have to
decide. Why don’t you decide?
(Benton gets walks around his desk to where she
is standing. He takes hold of her two hands.)
Benton: You don’t really
mean that question do you? Why don’t I decide? Do you really know so little
about yourself that you can ask that?
Margaret: Abortion
is still an option. You have to realize that.
Benton: We
will talk about it. You and me. We. We’ll go from there.
End