Act 2, Scene 21: "Night Shift"

TRL watches as the leaves build up around the yard. But he doesn’t care. Not yet, anyway, because he knows more will fall. Lots more. But S feels differently.

Are you going to rake today? She prods.

Too busy today, replies TRL.

So a few hours later, S asks again. It is her style. And her feature that most closely resembles TRL’s mother’s personality. Which doesn’t sit very well with TRL. So he ignores the nagging.

S comes home from work: can you rake tonight?

Tonight? TRL replies incredulously.

You’re busy?

Ahh, it’s kind of dark out, he points out.

Use a flashlight. What about the headlamps we have for camping, S suggests, referring to the miner-style flashlights that strap around one’s head.

I’ll rake later this week, responds TRL.

OK, fine, I’ll go out tonight and rake, says S.

She had used the nuclear option: threatening to take it upon herself to do something outrageous because TRL wouldn’t do it in a reasonable time.

OK, OK, fine, screams TRL. He goes around the house, throwing on all outside lights to illuminate the lawn. He storms into the garage, pulls out his very fine recently purchased ergonomically-designed leaf rake, and commences dragging it across the grass at 11pm at night. Little piles of leaves begin to form over the dark lawn. He feels like the protagonist in Close Encounters of the Third Kind crazily driven to build a dirt mountain.

And he also finds it strangely cathartic.