The Outgoing Tide - SYNOPIS

ACT I

Two men, Jack in his 40’s and Gunner in his 60’s, sit on the shore of the Chesapeake Bay. Gunner inquires why Jack would want to move away from the city to the isolated Bay? He loves the peace and quiet, the fishing, but can’t imagine a family would move to the area. Gunner tells Jack about his son that is a Chef and wants to open a restaurant. Peg, a woman Gunner’s age enters and after a moment of eavesdropping as Jack starts to talk about his recent divorce, enters the conversation to tell Gunner that Jack is Gunner’s son. Gunner is suffering memory loss and doesn’t realize that the young man he is talking with is his own son. Gunner does not recognize either Peg, his wife, or Jack, his son.

We next find Jack and Peg alone, discussing Gunner and how his condition has worsened. Jack reflects on the strained relationship he has with his father when Peg shows Jack a brochure for a independent/assisted living community for which, she wants to get Gunner and herself on the waiting list. She wants to be in a place where she can still be with her husband everyday but have the resources to learn to take care of him and have professionals take over when his condition worsens. Peg enlists Jack to help convince Gunner to move to assisted living, but he seems reluctant. Jack has already visited the facility and cannot imagine Gunner there. Peg knows it will be a hard sell because when she and Gunner visited the home together and he did not react well.

Jack and Gunner are on Gunner’s boat; Jack is opening up about his divorce from his wife of many years, Barb. Two of his three children have left the nest, Kevin and Connie, only Tim is greatly affected by the changes. Gunner, when comforting Jack about his divorce reveals that him and Peg only got married because she was “knocked up.” Jack thinks this is another one of his father’s pranks and is surprised that it is the truth. Gunner memory slips again, and he says that Jack is a Chef, which he has a passion for but has not pursued. When Gunner regains his bearings he tells Jack to get everything with his divorce settled right away- giving Barb whatever she wants. Jack cannot understand why, but Gunner is persistent and starts to get frustrated, losing words. Gunner is so frustrated at what’s happening to his memory and hates the way Peg is planning for the worst.. He wants Jack to take care of this by tomorrow morning, and he agrees.

The night after Gunner has seen to it that all of the loose ends of Jack’s divorce are settled we see the family sitting down to dinner. Gunner unveils that he has a million dollar life insurance policy that doubles if his death is an accident. He has a plan: the following evening, he will be taking out his boat and drowning. Gunner wants Jack to open a restaurant with the money and knows Peg will be taken care of. He does want one thing before he does it- Peg’s blessing, which she is unwilling to give him. He says she promised him on Saint Paddy’s Day, after watching a painfully slow death of Gunner’s friend Salvy in assisted living, but she will not concede and goes to bed with the issue unresolved.

ACT II

A revealing flash back shows Jack getting injured while playing ball with Gunner. Peg babies him and Gunner’s tough love erupts in him lashing out that he is embarrassed to be seen with his son because he is so weak. Back to the present, Jack tells Peg that Gunner wanted to expedite his divorce papers. Peg implies that Jack wants to go along with Gunner’s plan in order to get the insurance money and start a restaurant. Peg has a plan to sabotage Gunner’s the boat and wants Jack to help her. Jack confronts his mother with the knowledge that he was conceived before she was married. This leads to a rare, tender glance back at Gunner reassuring his pregnant love that they will get married and everything will work for them. Jack and Peg both know Gunner will never go to into assisted living willingly, but Peg still refuses to give her blessing to allow Gunner to commit suicide.

Later, as Jack sits pondering, Gunner approaches. It quickly becomes clear that Gunner is confused about where he is. He thinks he is in assisted living, trapped, with no privileges. Gunner confides that he thinks his son hates him and Jack reassures him that he doesn’t. Gunner blames Peg for their strained relationship, for teaching Jack how to cook, making him weak. After Gunner retreats, Peg finds that Jack is for looking at property and chides him for being selfish.

The next day, Gunner goes over the last details of his plan with Jack. Peg enters, ripping up the brochure to assisted living and announces that she has just taken them off the waiting list. She instead suggests that they get a nurse to come live with them. Gunner adamantly refuses and gets ready to leave, he will circle the shore until Peg waves her blessing. Gunner is circling when Jack and Peg start to argue, she accuses him of wanting Gunner to die so that he can get the insurance money, but Jack reveals that he has been looking at the real estate fliers for years. Peg remembers how Gunner reacted to his good friend, Salvy’s death, and that she promised to never let Gunner die slowly, tied to a machine. She finally gives in and waves to her husband, yelling to him that it is okay. The boat fades into the distance.