[Nina walks over to another table.]
GARY: Just, ah, keep the change.
[Nina examines it.]
NINA: Gary Wannamaker, you catch trout for a living. Since when can you afford to give me a twenty dollar tip?
[Gary waves Nina away.]
NINA: [appreciative] Thank you.
[Cut to the front of the diner. Dr. Abbott is eating his lunch alone. Dr. Brown sits down next to him.]
DR. BROWN: Is this spot taken, Doctor?
DR. ABBOTT: Oh that it were.
DR. BROWN: You know, I've never eaten lunch here before, just dinner. You eat here every day?
DR. ABBOTT: I used to.
[Cut back to Nina.]
NINA: Is that all, Martha?
MARTHA: Yes, here you go.
[Martha gives Nina a tip.]
MARTHA: Extras for you.
NINA: Martha. This would be a sixty dollar tip and you haven't tipped me since I started working here.
MARTHA: I'm catching up.
[Nina gets it. She walks to the middle of the diner.]
NINA: [to everybody] OK! Since when did everybody decide to start tipping eight hundred percent?
[Everyone remains silent so Nina pulls a chair out.]
NINA: [to Dr. Brown] Can you help me up?
DR. BROWN: You know a pregnant woman...
NINA: [interrupting] What do you know about being pregnant? That's what I thought, please help me up.
[Dr. Brown helps Nina onto the chair.]
NINA: Attention, everyone. I... am not poor. Nor am I a charity case. A year ago, my cousin in Boulder called and asked me if I'd be interested in helping an old friend of hers. And when she explained the situation to me, I-I thought that she was crazy. Then I met her. Her name is Sarah and she's a single woman who teaches comparative religion at the University there. She's unable to carry a child to full term and she desperately wants to have a family. Now, I don't know about you all but I don't believe that single women should be deprived of experiencing motherhood. And if any of you have a problem with me doing this, I invite you to speak now, or forever keep your mouths shut.
[People start shuffling nervously but no one speaks.]
NINA: Thank you.
[Dr. Brown helps her down. Dr. Abbott gets up.]
DR. ABBOTT: I-I would like to say a little something if I may. Call your neighbors old-fashioned but some of us don't believe that medical technology should be put to this end. When privileged people play God, design babies, then pay less privileged people to carry them, we are embarking upon a very scary brave new world. And Nina, another thing. If you felt so confident in your decision to do this, why has it taken this long for you to tell all of us about it. We're your neighbors, your friends, your doctor. We have a vested interest in this child that you are carrying and we had a right to know the truth.
[The patrons start clapping.]
DR. ABBOTT: Oh no, that's really not...
[Dr. Brown gets up.]
DR. BROWN: Can I jump in here?
NINA: Go for it.
DR. BROWN: Hey everyone. Andy Brown here. Crazy doctor who works out of the old train station. Ah, just a word if I may about the moral implications of surrogacy. While I know it's tempting to view certain advancements in reproductive technology as threatening, some of these advancements bring us things like ultrasound and amniocentesis, which allow us to improve the health, and even save the lives of the unborn. Technology cuts both ways. That's why it's important for us to evaluate each case individually. Now, are there ethical questions to be raised? Without a doubt. Does Nina strike any of us as the type of person who would make the decision to help bring life into this world without asking herself those questions? I don't think so. And as for not letting us know sooner, if I knew that I was going to suffer a character assassination from my own doctor in front of half of my friends and neighbors, I'd be inclined to keep a few things to myself too.
