# Carving
**by John Walch**

*Lights rise on a cutting board on which rests a turkey. A serving-dome covers the bird. DAVIS holds a carving knife; his daughter SARAH holds a piercing fork.*

DAVIS
You really want to do this?

SARAH
Yes, yes, yes a million times yes.

DAVIS
I just, I kind of think you’re messing with me.

SARAH
I want to learn. It’s a tradition, something I want to know how to do. Is it ‘cause I’m a girl?

DAVIS
*A young woman.*

SARAH
Dad. Ugh—

DAVIS
Young woman is wrong, disrespectful?

SARAH
No, it’s just— Can we just attend to the matter at hand. How to carve the bird? …

DAVIS
I just don’t understand why *you*, of all people—

SARAH
Oh my god, it *is* ‘cause I’m a girl!

DAVIS
No, no, I’m it has nothing to do with you being a young woman-girl—

SARAH
Ladies and gentleman, I introduce you to my dad: protector of the rituals of the patriarchy!

DAVIS
NO! It’s ‘cause you’re a vegetarian!

SARAH
Vegan.

DAVIS
When did you turn vegan? (. . .) I swear, nobody tells me anything.

SARAH
Dad, I can just look this up online—there’s videos for everything.

DAVIS
Ok, OK. I admit I’m a little confused why my daughter—a beautiful, smart, young-woman-girl-vegi-vegan—wants to learn how to carve a turkey.

SARAH
It’s part of reclaiming my personal empowerment.

DAVIS
Carving a turkey is going to make you powerful? Actually, strike that, I actually get that, but I don’t understand why now?

SARAH
It’s (. . . ) it’s part of my therapy—

DAVIS
You’re in therapy? Why aren’t people telling me things?

SARAH
It’s recent….after Pete left, I ( . . . )

DAVIS
Your mother told me *you* left Pete.

SARAH
I did leave him, that’s right. ( . . . ) What else did Mom tell you?

DAVIS
She said you left him because he was turning into a pothead.

SARAH
That’s true, anything else?

DAVIS
He’s messy, leaves his socks all over, that sort of stuff. Which surprised me, ‘cause I always found Pete so tidy, so neat. Even his name is neat: Pete.

SARAH
You always liked Pete.

DAVIS
I did, I do, so I was surprised when you told us two weeks ago he wasn’t coming for Thanksgiving EVER again. I still got him on speed dial, thought 100 times about calling—

SARAH
Don’t call him, Dad! Now could we please not talk about—

DAVIS
Look, couples go through these things, especially when they’re young, but it can be worked out. So help me, if your mother left me over some dirty socks—

SARAH
Forget it, I’ll just find a video and do not call him.

DAVIS
That’s what your mother said, but with a bit more color. Alright, let’s do this.
*Sarah opens the cover and reveals the bird. She grimaces a bit.*
You really don’t have to do this.

SARAH
I *have* to do this.

DAVIS
OK. You start with a nice sharp knife, five to six inches.

SARAH
And a fork?

DAVIS
Don’t really need the fork, piercing lets out the juices. Actually, after removing it from the oven, you first want to let it rest.

SARAH
Why?

DAVIS
It absorbs all the juices. That’s the goal in carving to keep it juicy, you don’t want a dry bird. It’s like in a fight, you don’t want to just keep yelling at each other, you want to cool off.

SARAH
Dad!

DAVIS
I’m only saying, maybe think of this as a cooling off period with Pete, rather than the end—

SARAH
You know what—forget it.

DAVIS
I’m sorry, I’m sorry, but you two were great together and headed towards—

SARAH
I’m so tired of hearing men say they’re sorry and then: BUT.

DAVIS
Well, I am sorry. And if you don’t want to tell me why you left Pete, I guess that’s your right, but haven’t I always been there for you?

SARAH
Yes, you have, Dad. Thank you.

DAVIS
And you know how much I love you, Sarah.

SARAH
And I love you. (*Long, expectant pause.*) Which is why I’m not going to tell you.

DAVIS
Oh, come on Sarah. You don’t think I would understand?

SARAH
It’s not about understanding, it’s more complicated—

DAVIS
Complicated!? Sarah, you know I smoked out of a bong in college once; I’m not a choir-boy. So, I mean how much dope are we even talking about here?

SARAH
How long do you *let it rest*, Dad?

DAVIS
( . . . ) Till it’s cool enough to touch with your hand, ‘cause then you can use your hand when carving it instead of a fork.

SARAH (*touching the bird*)
Feels warm, but not too hot. So now what?

DAVIS
I’ll carve the first half, showing you, and then you can do the second half, OK?

SARAH
OK.

DAVIS (*he begins carving, removing the leg*)
You position it so, and you start with the leg. You want to push the leg down towards the cutting board, and with the top inch of your knife you’re going to start cutting and just slice right through? This is called scoring it, it makes it so the meat will peel right off. You keep slicing until you find the joint that connects the leg and the body right here, and you push down with your hand while you cut right through the joint removing the leg.

SARAH
Who taught you all this? Scoring and everything? GrandP?

DAVIS
Hell no. Your GrandP was mean, brutal (. . .) when it came to butchering the bird.

SARAH
What, what was that pause?

DAVIS
Oh, nothing, he just— didn’t know how to carve and look you knew him as a sweet old man.

SARAH
Who gave me silver dollars for each year I was old on my birthday. Last stack he gave me was six, I still have them. I don’t know why; I just could never spend them.

DAVIS
He was sweet with you, mellowed as he aged.

SARAH
But?

DAVIS
It’s complicated.

SARAH
Oh, look who’s complicated now.

DAVIS
Now you want to separate the drumstick from the thigh. See this V? Take your knife, cut straight down that V through your next joint. You put your leg on the platter there, and now take out the thighbone, by cutting along the bone on both sides, until you can grab the bone, and while still cutting it, twist the bone and it literally rolls right out of the turkey like that. And now you slice the thigh meat. ( . . . ) Sarah? You OK?

SARAH
Sorry, yeah, it’s just, it’s making me a little sick is all.

DAVIS
You really don’t have to do this.

SARAH
I want to, I have to. It’s ok, I’m fine. It just, it’s kind of terrifying to see how something so strong and well put together looking can be so quickly torn apart.

DAVIS
It’s actually much worse when you watch someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing.

SARAH
Like GrandP?

DAVIS
Yeah. It felt disrespectful, like a violation, the way he would just hack (. . .) and hack at it.

SARAH
What else did Mom tell you?

DAVIS
Huh?

SARAH
Nothing. So now what?

DAVIS
Wing’s next, and I just pull it down like that. See there’s another V, you just cut right down that V, through the joint like that, pulling as you cut until you pop the joint and remove the wing. You still OK?

SARAH
Not really.

DAVIS
We can stop.

SARAH
Is there more popping?

DAVIS
Not so much, cause now we’re on to the prize, the succulent, juicy breast.

SARAH
Don’t be creepy, Dad.

DAVIS
Oh, hah, sorry I didn’t even think— Um…so the breast? The best way to maintain the juices is to cut the entire breast off the turkey. So first, you find the breast-bone, it’s in the middle here and is curved. Now, with your hand begin to peel the breast away from the bone, while you score and cut down the bone. Keep pulling as you cut and the breast just rolls right off, like this.

SARAH
Now you cut that into smaller slices?

DAVIS
Yup, but see these grains in the meat, you want to make sure you cut across the grain—

SARAH
Why across the grain?

DAVIS
It keeps it tender. The “grain” is really muscle fibers, not that freaky grain you like to eat—

SARAH
Freekeh, Dad. It’s a super-grain: *freekeh*.

DAVIS
Right, well, as they say, everything’s super to someone. Anyway, these fibers are chewy, so cutting across the grain does some of the work for you and makes the meat easier to chew.

SARAH
And that’s how you carve a turkey?

DAVIS
First half. Second half awaits, knife’s all yours. ( . . . ) Whenever you’re ready.
(*She looks at the knife, hesitates.*)
You know what’s funny, funny not the right word, but anyway— last time I saw Pete, you know, fourth of July where I do the ribs, and anyway, we were talking about cooking and he asked if I could teach him, cause of course, you know his Dad never— Anyway, that got us to talking about Thanksgiving and he said he’d like to take on more responsibilities and learn how to carve, like so he could be a good dad, like me, instead of like his… And I joked, joked, not being the right word right now, and I said: *Are you asking my permission to marry Sarah?* And he got very emotional and, while there was a lot of smoke from the BBQ, he teared up and nodded. And, of course, I gave my permission because I love you and I thought that is what you wanted, but now I just don’t know. I’m lost in all this.

SARAH
It’s confusing I understand.

DAVIS
I thought I would be doing this with him this, but now everything has changed. Sarah, you can tell me anything, you know that?

SARAH
No, I can’t Dad—

DAVIS
Why can’t you?

SARAH
Because I don’t want you looking at me differently. I need you actually to always look at me how you look at me.

DAVIS
You’ll always be my beautiful and smart Sarah, nothing can change that.

SARAH
Dad, there’s just somethings you don’t need to know.

DAVIS
Like?

SARAH
Like GrandP. Pete is this sweet, neat Pete to you. And he really respected you.

DAVIS
He laughed at my jokes, but maybe that’s because he was stoned.

SARAH
No, he thought you were funny, he really liked you Dad and he loved our visits.

DAVIS
But?....

SARAH
Isn’t that enough?

DAVIS
Did he hurt you?

SARAH
Not exactly, it’s really complicated, Dad….
DAVIS
I’ll kill the son of a bitch!

SARAH
Dad, put the knife down.

DAVIS
WHAT DID HE DO TO YOU?!

SARAH
Dad, give me the knife.

DAVIS
WHAT DID HE DO!?

SARAH
This is exactly why I didn’t want to tell you. Give me the knife.

DAVIS
If he hurt you, I’ll—

SARAH
Give me the knife!

DAVIS
I told you I would always protect you—you’re my, my beautiful girl. Tell me what he did.

SARAH
Give me the knife and I’ll tell you everything.

DAVIS
Everything you told Mom? I knew she was lying to me.

SARAH
She wasn’t lying, she was protecting me.

DAVIS
From me? (. . . ) Why would you tell her and not me?

SARAH
Because I knew she wouldn’t pick up a knife! OK? I knew she would be upset, but she would also let it rest. Let it rest, Dad. Give me the knife.
*He gives her the knife…she begins carving the other half.*
I start with the leg, right?

DAVIS
Sarah, you don’t need to go through with—

SARAH
I do, Dad. For so many reasons that you won’t understand. But, you’ve taught me so, so well, let me try this on my own? I start with the leg, pushing it down towards the board—

DAVIS
( . . .) And you’re going to start cutting, slicing, find the joint and just / slice….

SARAH (*she begins to carve the bird*)
Slice right through. ( . . . ) So Pete was sweet, but he also liked it a little— ( . . .) Dad, do you really want to hear this?

DAVIS
I have to hear this.

SARAH
He liked it a little….rough in the... Dad, you’re already getting emotional, I don’t need to—

DAVIS (*fighting his emotions*)
The goal of carving it to keep the juices in, I can handle it, tell me.

SARAH
In the bedroom. It was playful at first, but after we moved in together last July—

DAVIS
After the fourth?

SARAH
Yeah, and as you know, we were headed down that path, but when we moved in something in him changed, the play went out, and it became something else, something….

DAVIS
Mean ( . . . ) brutal.

SARAH
Yeah. And one night last month, it was like he was trying to test me, and he pinned me down, hard . . . twisted my arm till I felt it might break, and....

DAVIS
And then?

SARAH
Then he proceeded to…
*Lights fade as Sarah continues carving and telling him. End of play.*