from "Churches," a new piece I am working on...

CONFESSION

MAN

Can I ask you something?

PRIEST

Of course.

MAN

Do I have to, uh…?

PRIEST

What?

MAN

Don’t you have to…?

PRIEST

No. We can just talk.

MAN

Really?

PRIEST

Sure. We’re just two guys having a conversation.

MAN

Yeah?

PRIEST

I’m just another guy.

MAN

Not “just another guy.”

PRIEST

Well.

MAN

You’re not gonna…?

PRIEST

…What?

MAN

You’re not gonna lie to me, right?

PRIEST

I’ll do my best.

MAN

That’s not exactly reassuring.

PRIEST

I’m not gonna lie to you.

MAN

You guys are tricky.

PRIEST

Who?

MAN

You guys.

PRIEST

Are we?

MAN

You get us to say things we don’t want to say.

PRIEST

(Charming, jokingly.)

Hey, you came here to talk to me.

MAN

Anything we talk about, it’s…?

PRIEST

It doesn’t get more private than this. It’s just you, me, and the big guy.

MAN

Why do you call him that? “The big guy.” It’s disrespectful.

PRIEST

Okay. What do you want me to call him?

MAN

They call, um, what’s-his-name?, they call him that, in that movie.

PRIEST

The Hulk.

MAN

Yes. The Hulk. They call him that in that movie.

PRIEST

Don’t you think He’s the big guy, and they only called The Hulk that after?

MAN

You knew it was—that I meant The Hulk.

PRIEST

Like I said, we’re just two guys talking.