Room

Ma:
Ssh. Go back to sleep.

Jack:
[reciting to himself] Once upon a time, before I came, you cried and cried and watched TV all day, until you were a zombie. But then I zoomed down from heaven, through skylight, into Room. Whoosh-pshew! And I was kicking you from the inside. Boom, boom! And then I shot out onto Rug with my eyes wide open, and you cutt-ed the cord and said, "Hello, Jack!"

Jack:
Is bad tooth hurting?

Ma:
Mmhmm, but you know mind over matter.

Jack:
If you don't mind, it doesn't matter

Ma:
You're right. Hey do you know what we're gonna do today?

Jack:
What?

Ma:
We're going to bake a birthday cake

Jack:
A birthday cake?

Ma:
Mmhmm

Jack:
Like from TV?

Ma:
Mmhmm, but for real

Jack:
No way!

Ma:
[about the mouse] He's on the other side of this wall.

Jack:
What other side?

Ma:
Jack, there's two sides to everything.

Jack:
Not on an octagon.

Ma:
Yeah, but...

Jack:
[Interrupts] An octagon has eight sides

Ma:
But a wall, okay, a wall's like this, see? And we're on the inside and mouse is on the outside.

Jack:
In outer space?

Ma:
No, in the world. It's much closer than outer space.

Jack:
I can't see the outside-side.

Ma:
Listen, I know that I told you something else before, but you were much younger. I didn't think that you could understand, but now you're so old, you're so smart. I know that you can get this. Where do you think that old Nick gets our food?

Jack:
From TV by magic!

Ma:
You're gonna love it.

Jack:
What?

Ma:
The world.

Jack:
Are we in another planet?

Ma:
Same one. Just a different spot.

Ma:
He needs to play with something real. I'm worried about him being on the phone.

Nancy:
He's doing fine.

Ma:
Well, I don't give him my phone, so I'd appreciate it if you didn't give him yours.

Nancy:
Okay, I won't.

Ma:
Great. [pause] I just want him to connect with something.

Nancy:
Joy. Joy, he's really doing fine.

Ma:
I don't know what's wrong with me. I'm supposed to be happy.

Nancy:
You just need to rest, okay?

Ma:
No, I don't. I don't need to rest!

Nancy:
That's... That's what the doctor...

Ma:
[Interrupts] That is not what the doctor said. You don't know what he said, because it was a confidential conversation, and you don't know what he said!

Nancy:
All right, all right, all right! You're impossible to talk to right now.

Ma:
Well, sorry.

Nancy:
No. No, you're not sorry!

Ma:
Yeah, I'm not sorry! You have no idea what's going on in my head.

Nancy:
Yeah. Well, try me! I have asked you.

Ma:
And then what? Then, every time you look at me, that's all that you see?

Nancy:
When I look at you, Joy, I will see my daughter.

Ma:
You don't need me. You've been doing just fine without me.

Nancy:
Oh. How can you say that, huh? Do you honestly think that you were the only one whose life was destroyed?

Ma:
Actually, that's exactly what I think.

Nancy:
Yeah? Well how would you feel if somebody took Jack away from you?

Ma:
Oh, shut up!

Nancy:
Look at him! You should be thinking about him!

Ma:
Oh, don't you tell me how to look after my son. I'm sorry that I'm not nice anymore, but you know what? Maybe if your voice saying "be nice" hadn't been in my head, then maybe I wouldn't have helped the guy with the f***ing sick dog! Stay there, Jack. I'm calling the f***ing lawyer. I can't stay in this place.

Talk Show Hostess:
When he's older, will you tell Jack about his father?

Ma:
Jack's not his. He's not his.

Talk Show Hostess:
So are you saying that there were other men?

Ma:
No! No. Um... A father is... a man who loves his child.

Talk Show Hostess:
Of course. That's so true in a very real sense, but the... the biological relationship that you...

Ma:
That's not a relationship.

Jack:
Grandma?

Nancy:
Yes?

Jack:
I need the scissors.

Nancy:
What for?

Jack:
For cutting my hair.

Nancy:
Do you really want to do that?

Jack:
I want to send it to Ma.

Nancy:
How come?

Jack:
She needs my strong more than me, so I want to send it to her, or you could take it to her?

Nancy:
I could help you, if you'd like?

Jack:
Yes please.

...

Jack:
Do you think this will work? Can my strong be her strong, too?

Nancy:
Oh. Of course it can. We all help each other stay strong. No one is strong alone. You know, you and your mom, you help each other through, don't you?

Jack:
Yep.

Ma:
[after she returns from the hospital after a suicide attempt] I'm sorry Jack.

Jack:
It's okay. Don't do it again.

Ma:
I promise

Jack:
Are you better now?

Ma:
Yeah, I'm starting to be. Hey, Jack?

Jack:
Yeah?

Ma:
When Grandma brought this to me [Shows Jack the trimmings of his hair] I knew that I could get better. You saved me... Again.

Jack:
It can't really be Room if door's open.

Ma:
Do you want me to close it?

Jack:
Nah.

Ma:
Jack, can we go?

Jack:
Bye, plant. Bye, chair number one. Bye, chair number two. Bye, table. Bye, wardrobe. Bye, sink. Bye-bye, skylight. Ma, say bye-bye to room.

Ma:
[looks around then mouths silently] Bye, Room.

Jack Newsome:
[thinking to himself] One, two, three... There's room, then outer space, with all the TV planets, then heaven. Plant is real, but not trees. Spiders are real, and one time the mosquito that was sucking my blood. But squirrels and dogs are just TV, except lucky. He's my dog who might come some day. Monsters are too big to be real, and the sea. TV persons are flat and made of colors. But me and you are real.

Jack Newsome:
Eggsnake's our longest friend and fanciest. Meltedy spoon's the best to eat with because he's more blobbier. Labyrinth is the twistiest and she hides things so I don't know where they are. Toilet's the best at disappearing poo. Lamp's the brightest, except when the power's cut. You're the best at reading and songs and lots, except if you're having a gone day. I'm the best at drawing, and jumping, and growing, and nearly everything!

Jack Newsome:
When I was four, I didn't even know about the world, and now me and ma are going to live in it forever and ever until we're dead. This is a street in a city in a country called America, and earth. That's a blue and green planet, always spinning, so I don't know why we don't fall off. Then, there's outer space. And nobody knows where's heaven. Ma and I have decided that because we don't know what we like, we get to try everything. There are so many things out here. And sometimes, it's scary, but that's okay, because it's still just you and me.

Jack Newsome:
I've been in the world 37 hours. I've seen pancakes, and a stairs, and birds, and windows, and hundreds of cars. And clouds, and police, and doctors, and grandma and grandpa. But Ma says they don't live together in the hammock house anymore. Grandma lives there with her friend Leo now. And Grandpa lives far away. I've seen persons with different faces, and bigness, and smells, talking all together. The world's like all TV planets on at the same time, so I don't know which way to look and listen. There's doors and... more doors. And behind all the doors, there's another inside, and another outside. And things happen, happen, HAPPENING. It never stops. Plus, the world's always changing brightness, and hotness. And there's invisible germs floating everywhere. When I was small, I only knew small things. But now I'm five, I know EVERYTHING!

Jack Newsome:
There's so much of "place" in the world. There's less time because the time has to be spread extra thin over all the places, like butter. so all the persons say "Hurry up! Let's get going! Pick up the pace! Finish up now!". Ma was in a hurry to go "boing" up to Heaven, but she forgot me. Dumbo Ma! So the angels threw her back down. CRASH! And broke her.