(The '90's. The middle class home of DINAH, a social worker, and her twelve year old son, MATT.

The two of them share a pizza. MATT pulls the pieces of pepperoni off and eats them first. Then he pulls cheese off the top and eats that, leaving the dough and crust on his plate.)

DINAH
What are you doing?

MATT
Eating pizza.

DINAH
Just the cheese?

MATT
And pepperoni. That's how I always eat it.

DINAH
Not even a bite of dough?

MATT
I don't like it.

DINAH
(angry)
Well, if you don't start eating the dough and the crust, I'll stop buying the pizza. You throw away as much food as you eat.

MATT
I don't care.

DINAH
There are children in North Korea who are starving.

MATT
I still don't care.

DINAH
There are people - right here - within two blocks of here - classmates of yours - who would love a pizza.

MATT
So what?

DINAH
There are people who can't afford pizza.

MATT
Who cares?

DINAH
There are families who wouldn't dream of wasting a piece of pizza.

MATT
Big deal.

DINAH
Families...
(pause)

...with brothers and sisters - and the kids would fight over the last piece.

MATT
Well, I don't have any brothers or sisters. I always get the last piece.

DINAH
There are Russians who would give anything...

MATT
I don't care about them either!

DINAH
Matt...I want you to think a little deeper.

MATT
Huh?

DINAH
You should appreciate the abundance of whole pizza. It's your obligation. Don't squander it. Appreciate our prosperity. Not everybody is lucky enough to be an only child.

MATT
You're mostly talking to yourself. Whatever it is you're trying to tell me...just get it over with and say it.

DINAH
You have too much.

MATT
We don't have much.

DINAH
We have plenty.

MATT
I don't think so. I don't think we have much at all. Daddy always went to the grocery store and got extra cheese. Then he had the oven already hot when he brought it in and he sprinkled the extra cheese all over the top and put in the pizza so it came out better. Sometimes he got extra mushrooms. It was better! Much better!

DINAH
He put extra cheese on it one time. One, single time.

MATT
He did it lots of times. Two hundred, at least.

DINAH
No, he didn't. But you've thought about it so much - you've replayed having pizza with your Daddy so many times in your memory that you've multiplied the experience and now it seems like two hundred times.

MATT
I like extra cheese.

DINAH
I could have just brought home a hunk of cheese and a pack of pepperoni, you know. Why pay for something you're not going to eat?

MATT
You tried that. It didn't taste the same. Just get extra cheese. That's simple enough. Extra cheese. Then microwave it in a coffee mug until it completely melts and pour it all over the top of the pizza. Daddy did that, too - and it works.

DINAH
I'm not Daddy.

MATT
I know.

(Beat. DINAH becomes uneasy as she anticipates MATT'S inevitable question.)

Why did God kill Daddy?

DINAH
(snippy)
God did not kill Daddy. He was in an accident.

MATT
God made the accident.

DINAH
No. That's not it.

MATT
Why didn't God stop the accident?

DINAH
Quit saying that!

MATT
Then answer me!

DINAH
I told you. That accident was a random physical event in time and space.

MATT
A what?

DINAH
A neutral, normal occurrence in objective history.

MATT
Huh?

DINAH
It happened. It's over. Nothing can be done about it. But you and I are still alive. That's what concerns me. You. Me. People. There's no such thing as God.

MATT
You don't think so?

DINAH
No. And neither do you.

MATT
Because we're atheists, right?

DINAH
Yes we are.

MATT
Our guidance counselor told me that if I don't believe in God, then Daddy will be in hell.

DINAH
Talking with a guidance counselor is good. I, myself, counsel people all the time. I believe in counselling. But she shouldn't discuss religion with you. It's unethical.

MATT
She is not.

DINAH
You don't know what it means to be unethical.

MATT
I just don't think the guidance counselor is one.