BEN: Sorry I’m late. We had a meeting. Hey, is my nose hallucinating?

OLYMPIA: Oh hi, Ben. Look, people, it seems to me that someone is getting exploited around here, and that someone is Donna. She doesn’t want to play the role of landlady so she charges us ridiculously low rent and now she’s proposing to lower it even more. Yet she’s the one who faces all the hassles and does all the work around the house while the rest of us just stretch out in our rooms taking it all for granted.

BEN: Right on —

OLYMPIA: Now what if, for instance, we continued paying forty a month, even though there were five of us, only instead of giving it to Donna we deposited it in a common purse, a sort of house kitty.

PHILIP: I don’t see —

OLYMPIA: Wait, I’m not done yet. Out of that kitty we could pay all the bills and make repairs and then decide what to do with what’s left over —

PHILIP: Who would decide that?

OLYMPIA: We would, by meeting like we’re doing now. The other side of the arrangement is that we’d all share the work of cleaning, mowing the lawn, maintaining the garden, repairing —

PHILIP: That doesn’t sound efficient to me.

OLYMPIA: You’d rather have cheap rent and no work?

PHILIP: All those things get done more efficiently if one person makes all the decisions, especially if that person happens to own the house.

DONNA: Well I think the idea is great! That’s exactly how Becky — oops, that’s just — great! As for the ownership papers, I’ll have them transferred to the people living in the house. That way, Philip, you’ll just do work on the part you own. I should have done this four years ago!

BEN: This is far out. I’ve been underestimating the revolutionary potential of marijuana.

TONI: Don’t be cynical.

BEN: I’m not. This morning I was living with the straightest people in the city; I come back at night and they’ve all turned to heads organizing a commune.

DONNA: A commune?

PHILIP: Is that a good thing?

OLYMPIA: Won’t you try even a drag on this, Philip?

PHILIP: What about all the health propaganda?

TONI: Don’t they also say, “Try it and see?”

BEN: How was I being cynical?

TONI: You know perfectly well, or you ought to, that it’s the people and not the pot that gets things going.

BEN: Then why have we been playing the landlord-tenant apartment house in the big city routine since I’ve been here? And how do you know what I know?

TONI: Olympia told me you worked on that underground rag, and if you want my opinion of those male-chauvinist counter-culture oriented —

BEN: You must be thinking about another paper which is called —

TONI: See what I mean? You’re telling me what I’m thinking.

DONNA: I feel odd.

BEN: It’ll get worse.

TONI: Better!

DONNA: Philip? Are you willing to give it a try?

PHILIP: I guess so. Until something better comes along.

DONNA: Gosh, Philip, are you going to go on grieving for the rest of your life?

OLYMPIA: Honestly, Philip, are you actually content to work at your experiments behind the closed door of your room, without ever sharing your project with anyone, without interacting with the people in your own house?

PHILIP: I guess I’m willing to try it and see.

TONI: That’s the spirit!

PHILIP: Am I supposed to be feeling something now?

TONI: Yes. Good.

PHILIP: I’d better go now. It’s Alec’s bedtime.

(PHILIP exits right)