[Rain. Soft piano] There’s a moment after midnight when the jokes stop coming fast, when the room becomes a waiting place for voices from the past. The headset leaves a pressure mark. The coffee’s gone to skin. The clock keeps making little sounds like something wearing thin. Silence is still billable. That’s what the handbook says. A pause can earn a dollar if you stretch it several ways. So breathe. Let the seconds settle. Let the lonely meter climb. Silence is still billable. But sometimes it feels like mine. Kevin: Are you there? Viv: Yes. Kevin: You don’t have to do the voice. Viv: Which voice? Kevin: The one that sounds like candlelight. Viv: That one pays better. Kevin: What does your real voice sound like? Viv: Tired. Kevin: I like tired. Viv: That’s because you don’t have to live in it. There’s a woman underneath this, though she’s difficult to hear. She has bills taped to the cupboard. She has not slept right all year. She can make a stranger feel desired. She can turn a breath to gold. She can say, “You’re fascinating,” while the water’s running cold. She knows when to laugh softly. She knows when to sound afraid. She knows every kind of wanting that a lonely person’s paid. But no one asks the woman what she wants when work is through. Kevin: What do you want? Viv: I don’t know. That question isn’t in the script. Kevin: We can sit here. Viv: You’re paying for this. Kevin: I know. Viv: That makes it strange. Kevin: Everything about this is strange. Viv: Fair. [Instrumental pause] Silence is still billable. The meter does not care if nothing passes between us but the proof that we are there. No fantasy. No accent. No performance to perfect. Just two people sharing quiet through a service that collects. Kevin: My wife died last year. Viv: I’m sorry. Kevin: People keep trying to fix it. Viv: People hate a silence they can’t turn into advice. Kevin: You didn’t. Viv: You’re still being charged. Kevin: Maybe that’s why it feels honest. Viv: That is deeply depressing. Kevin: You’re funny when you’re not trying. Viv: I’m always trying. [They laugh quietly] Silence is still billable. But for a little while, the clock is only counting and I don’t have to smile. If the line goes dead between us, if the green light disappears, maybe I will hear my own voice for the first time in years. [Warning beep] Recorded Voice: You have one minute remaining. Kevin: I can add more. Viv: Don’t. Kevin: Why? Viv: Because I want to know what happens when you don’t. [Long silence]
