(Scene: DAISY BUCHANAN and TOM  BUCHANAN are outside of JAY GATSBY’S house, center stage. It is nighttime. The mansion glimmers in the moonlight. The uncut grass and weeds outside the home add an eerie feel to the setting, as if the house was once an important place but has been abandoned, a tribute to love lost. TOM begins to stride away from DAISY toward stage left. She runs after him.)
DAISY: (grabs TOM’S arm and pulls him around to face her). Tom, wait! Let me explain why I came here tonight. (With a tinge of desperation in her voice, she speaks quickly) After Jay disappeared after the war and resurfaced in Oxford, my heart broke. To know the man I loved with all my soul, and who loved me back, was away in a foreign country, most likely to never return, well, I shattered into a million pieces. I began to think that I had to get over him somehow so I threw myself into the party scene. I danced all night to jazz classics played by five piece orchestras, drank champagne by the glass, tried to cover up the sadness that was overwhelming me. I began to think that there was nothing left for me to love, to enjoy, that I should just end my meaningless existence here on this earth. Then you came along. (Clings to TOM’S hand) You were so confident, so self-assured. You made me desperately, wildly happy, and when you asked me to marry you, I accepted without a second thought. Our wedding was marvelous, everything that I had ever dreamed of. But when I walked down the aisle, I knew that your face was not the one I longed to see when I woke up next to you every day. The wedding couldn’t be cancelled at that point, so I went along with the motions but felt no real joy. (She lets go of TOM’S hand and rakes it through her hair) Whenever you made love to me, I closed my eyes and imagined that you were Jay Gatsby, my true love. Eventually, I got pregnant with our daughter, a wonderful little girl whose hair shines in the sunlight, who makes her nurse and I laugh with appreciation for what a wonderful creature she is. (She smiles, lost in her memories) For a while, I was fulfilled, watching over her and seeing her grow every day. But then that summer, that indescribable summer, came along, and I was finally reunited with Jay. It was as if time had stopped during our long, hard separation but when we saw each other again, the years melted away. I was happy, knowing that I was valued, appreciated, understood. (TOM opens his mouth and appears about to speak, DAISY silences him with a wave of her hand) You always say that you love me, but you go out and promise your heart to another. How am I supposed to deal with that? Coming back here tonight…it was my way of remembering the past and finally putting it to rest. Can’t you understand? (She makes a grab for TOM’S hand, but he jerks it away)

TOM: (speaks harshly) No, I can’t understand. Gatsby reminded you of your past that much? (He laughs a short, high pitched bark of pain.) Well, you know what? You can have it! (He throws his arms out, gesturing at the mansion) This is all fake! Gatsby was a phony! He was nothing but a mirage, an image that many delude themselves and think they can grasp. (He chuckles bitterly) You were one of them. (He pulls DAISY close to him and looks down at her upturned face) You can’t go back to the past.

DAISY: (bites her lip and averts her eyes from his gaze. In a trembling voice that is choked with tears, she says) I know.

TOM: (looks down at her. His facial features take on an expression of contempt) You disgust me. (He pushes her roughly away and turns to walk away. He looks back with a malevolent look on his face) Oh, and you know how Gatsby died? I wonder who told Wilson about the car. (He turns and angrily walks away to stage left, the soles of his shoes kissing the ground)

DAISY: (stares after him with a heartbroken expression on her face. Tears well up in her eyes and spill down her cheeks.) Tom! (His retreating back fades away into the darkness. DAISY slowly sinks down to her knees, murmuring “Gatsby” over and over and over)
 

THE CURTAIN FALLS