#maew thongkham

[eternaltides]

A Terrible Depth

Prologue, Episode 1

Transcript under the cut

January 1998

Bethesda, MD

GWANG. Jip! 

JIP. Huh? 

GWANG. I just got off the phone with my mother! Hey, scoot, make some room on the couch. What do you need a whole couch for, huh?

JIP. [Laughing] I’m lounging for two right now. What did your mother say? 

GWANG. Maew had her baby! He was born early this morning, around 4am their time. 7 for us. 

FAA. Gwang, congratulations! What did they name him?

GWANG. Kasemchai, but they’re calling him Trin.

JIP. Oh, that’s so exciting! Baby Trin. You guys hear that? Your baby cousin was just born!  

JENNA. A baby! Eddie, a baby! Even smaller than you, baby! 

FAA. Ah, Gwang, maybe when things calm down for them you can ask them to send over some pictures for us to see him! 

GWANG. Of course, Maa.  

…

GWANG. Hey, what’s going on? Are you okay? 

JIP. Oh, yeah, I’m fine. I’ve just been thinking about your sister. The way she was feeling at her wedding, I just get nervous for her. 

GWANG. [Sigh] I know, me too. I’m nervous for Trin, too. But she’s not alone, you know? We may be across the country, but she still has my parents, and Fon. 

JIP. She does, yeah. I just hope she’ll be okay.

[eternaltides]

[eternaltides]

A Terrible Depth

Prologue, Episode 1

Transcript below the cut

Arriving at the venue, before the wedding

GAI. [standing outside] Glad you’re all here. One of you needs to talk to Maew–she’s freaking out. She won’t hear a word from me. 

GWANG. I won’t be much help either–last time I tried to reason with her didn’t go so well.

VAN. Oh my gosh, these flowers are all wrong. We specifically requested ivory, not white. I need to take care of this. Jip, honey, be a dear and talk to her? She’s always listened to you. 

JIP. [soft smile] Sure, I’ll talk to her.

In the bridal suite

JIP. [opening door] Maew? Are you okay?

MAEW. I don’t think I can do this. I can’t be a wife or a mother. I’m fucking batshit, everyone knows it.

JIP. You’re bipolar, not batshit. 

MAEW. You sound just like my lovely husband-to-be. Fuck what that shrink said, he didn’t know me. I’m not bipolar, it’s just who I am. They just want me to take all this medication that turns me into a fucking zombie, suppresses who I really am. They don’t want to deal with me.

JIP. Maew, it’s been six years. You can be an amazing wife and mother, but you have to be stable. If you won’t do that for yourself, do it for your baby.

MAEW. No one, not a single one of you, will accept me for who I am. Not even Fon, and apparently he’s supposed to blindly support me for the rest of our lives. 

JIP. Marriage isn’t blindly supporting your partner, you have to hold each other accountable too. Especially as parents. Once you have this baby, everything else comes second. Everything.

MAEW. This baby will be better off without me–clearly everyone else is.

JIP. No one is better off without you, especially not the baby. You are surrounded by people who love you, who will help you be a good wife and a good mother if you let us.

MAEW. You and Gwang make it look so easy. How were you not scared out of your mind?

JIP. [laughing] We were. We still are. Actually…I want to tell you something. I wasn’t going to tell anyone so early; no one knows this yet, not even Gwang. I just found out this morning–I’m pregnant, too. 

MAEW. So soon?

JIP. I know. Eddie’s only three months old. Maew, I’m terrified, and this is our third. It never stops being scary, but you do it because of how much you love them.

MAEW. I really do love this baby. I don’t even know him yet. I love him so much. Okay, I think I can do this. Thank you so much for talking to me, Jip.

JIP. Of course. I’m going to go take my seat, I’ll catch you at the reception. You look beautiful, by the way.