The Trespassers. Morris Panych

      I thought that would be your reaction. I meant to ask Grandpa, but he won’t discuss sex with me. He says it’s better if I find out on my own through trial and error.

      CASH

      I can’t talk about this.

      LOWELL

      That’s alright. I appreciate your candour.

      CASH

      Candour is not the right word to use, Lowell. Stop eating that peach. Are you doing something that you shouldn’t be doing?

      LOWELL

      No.

      CASH

      Then why did you ask about that—business?

      LOWELL

      I was invited to join a club is all.

      CASH

      What sort of club?

      LOWELL

      Just a club.

      CASH

      Look at me. Come here. Look at me. What do they do in this club?

      LOWELL

      Mostly they take their clothes off and stuff, but they also play thirty-one and smoke menthols.

      CASH

      They do not! Who’s in this club?

      LOWELL

      There’s some guys. And some girls.

      CASH

      Girls, too?

      LOWELL

      I don’t know all the exact inside details, Mom. I’m not even an initiate. They told me first I have to pass a series of humiliating personal tests of my character.

      CASH

      Are kids making you do things you shouldn’t again?

      LOWELL

      It’s just an innocent blossoming.

      CASH

      You are not playing cards with a bunch of naked boys and girls. Believe me, there are far more innocent ways of blossoming in this world.

      LOWELL

      I’m at the sexually curious stage; it’s an awkward and difficult time.

      CASH

      You’re not at any such stage, young man, any such stage. Sex is for marriage.

      LOWELL

      Okay.

      CASH

      Besides, those kids just want to make fun of you.

      LOWELL

      No they don’t.

      HARDY

      No they don’t.

      CASH

      And if you are at that—stage, then—then I think you should talk to someone who can help. The minister. I have to get to work.

      LOWELL

      It’s Sunday.

      CASH

      Is it?

      LOWELL

      Are you sneaking off to church again?

      CASH is gone.

      LOWELL

      Mom was trying to pretend she wasn’t a Christian.

      MILTON

      Why pretending?

      HARDY appears, with magazines.

      HARDY

      Opiate for the masses.

      LOWELL

      Grandpa didn’t want any Christians in our house.

      HARDY

      Never talk to a minister about sex, Lowell, unless you don’t want to have any. I suppose I’ll have to step in here. Have you ever been to a prostitute?

      LOWELL

      I’m only fifteen.

      HARDY

      Well, I’ll have to show you some pictures then.

      LOWELL

      Grandpa showed me pictures, from his private collection.

      HARDY

      People who don’t like this call it pornography.

      LOWELL

      I’ve seen pictures like this before, Grandpa; believe me.

      HARDY

      Of course you have, but not in any objective way. Let me just start by saying, these are not naked women, Lowell. These are pictures of naked women. There’s a difference. In order for a woman to have her picture taken, she had to strip in front of a camera. I want you to think about that.

      LOWELL

      Okay.

      HARDY

      It’s a non-union job.

      LOWELL

      Is it?

      HARDY

      You can rely on these for pleasure but not for any lasting satisfaction. I recommend this one here. It’ll give you a few unexpected biological insights. That’s a labia.

      LOWELL

      Gee.

      HARDY

      Try to remember, while viewing this, that this, here, is also the passage through which children are brought into the world; you yourself entered through such a passage. It’s a miraculous place, Lowell. Covet it and respect it, simultaneously.

      CASH

      (re-entering) Are you completely out of your—are you out of your ever-loving mind?

      HARDY

      I can’t stop the free flow of information.

      CASH

      It’s getting to the point where I can’t trust you alone with him. Where’s my I.D. badge?

      HARDY

      You can trust me.

      CASH

      You think it’s clever to treat him like an adult.

      HARDY

      The boy is gifted in ways you don’t know.

      CASH

      See? You put that kind of idea in his head; it makes him think he’s invincible. It’s dangerous. You know how reckless he can get.

      HARDY

      He’s been misdiagnosed. That is, if you want my medical opinion.

      CASH

      I don’t.

      HARDY

      Quit trying to control him. You turn him into a dullard, a vacant parking lot.

      CASH

      I’m trying to help him.

      HARDY

      Mind control, that’s all that is. You can’t control people, Cash. That’s part of your problem. You want to control people.

      CASH

      No I don’t. I do not. Control people?

      HARDY

      What about Connor?

      CASH

      What about him?

      HARDY

      I