The Fall of the House of Usher

CAST:

Annabel Fortunato - A woman in her 30s or 40s. She is a photographer who is wasting her talent by being her husband’s producer and main videographer for his popular YouTube (or Twitch) Ghost Hunting channel. She is a part of the Usher family but only on her mother’s side. Her mother was the only Usher to marry outside of the family, which made her the black sheep within the group. Anna would spend summers at the Usher homestead with her cousins Roderick and Madeline until her and her mother moved across the country during her teen years. Anna’s mother passed away a few years before, and Anna married Lee fairly recently. Roderick reaches out to her as she is the only living Usher besides him and his sister. She is more soft spoken than her husband and a bit of a doormat when he manipulates her. She is serious but passionate about photography and searching for family memories she barely remembers. She is skeptical of the Usher family curse even though she harbors her own dark secret (She's an actual medium and rubs her temples when she's about to see ghosts. She tries to deny both her powers and the family curse throughout the show. Lee also doesn't know and will be furious when he finds out).

Lee Fortunato - A self-proclaimed psychic, medium, and demonologist, Lee is a man in his 30s or 40s who believes in making a profit more than the actual occult. He has a popular YouTube (and/or Twitch) channel where onscreen he is charismatic and mysterious, gaining himself a loyal following. Off screen, his flamboyant, bombastic, and pushy personality can be grating at worst and disingenuous at best. He is a master manipulator and will play with both Anna and Roderick to get what he wants from the Ushers.

Roderick Usher - The “brains” of the household. He is a man in his 40s or 50s but looks older due to a chronic illness that has left him an anxious mess. Born into a well off family, he is still eloquent and dignified in the face of his own death, but terrified of losing his beloved sister, Madeline, his only companion for decades within the rotting Usher mansion. While Annabel considers him intelligent and pragmatic, Roderick is convinced that all of the Ushers, even Anna, are cursed. 

Madeline Usher - The “body” of the household. She is a sickly woman in her 40s or 50s. She can no longer speak due to illness, her ghostly figure frightening Anna before Madeline dies. She is an omen, portending the doom of her family’s name and the house itself.  

ACT 1:
●	Annabel and Lee arrive at the Usher House
○	They find no servants or family members to help, so they make themselves comfortable.
○	Anna talks about why they’re at the house while Lee is preoccupied with rumors that the house is haunted and the family cursed.
○	She’ll take some photos of the inside of the house with an old camera that she loves but Lee sees as a “waste of time and talent.” 
●	Roderick enters the living area to welcome Annabel and Lee.
○	Anna barely recognizes him at first because of how sick he is.
○	As Lee wanders around the house, Roderick explains to Anna what is happening to him.
○	Roderick tells her that he is sick but the doctors can’t figure out what it is. They keep telling him that it is anxiety, but Roderick knows that it’s killing him and his sister. “I will die. I must die.”
○	While he feels he is a realistic and intelligent man, he believes that it’s the curse that is killing him. A curse that has taken out most of the Ushers (allude that the curse is due to the fact that the family has been constantly incestuous to keep their bloodline “clean” before Anna’s mother fell in love with an outsider and had her). 
○	SCARE #1: Madeline will enter, wordlessly, at some point, scaring Anna.
●	Lee will return to the living area to talk to Anna and Roderick about the curse and hauntings, upsetting Roderick who will leave in a huff with Anna following him.
○	While Anna is gone, Lee will rustle through her coat or bag pockets looking for something, but will accidentally drop Anna’s letter from Roderick. He’ll read the letter to see that the Usher fortune, including the house and land will belong to Anna after Roderick and Madeline pass away [should the audience fully know this now?]. Lee starts to hatch a plan.
●	Later, at a small dinner with the three of them, Lee apologizes to Roderick about imposing and pretends that he wants to help the ill man cleanse the house, and family, of their curse. While Anna is suspicious, Roderick would do just about anything to relieve the pain his sister and him are going through so they could live. 
○	Lee recommends that to first banish a curse they must contact long past Ushers for guidance, so he wants to perform a seance. Roderick hesitantly agrees while Anna is downright pissed that Lee would play his “normal tricks” on her cousin. Lee will somehow guilt and convince her to go along with it.
●	The seance will commence that night and will be a large part of SCARE #2. This scare is actually something orchestrated by Lee who uses old grifter tricks from the early 1900s to convince Roderick that they are actually contacting ghosts.
○	This will go off the rails at some point and become an actual haunting that shakes Lee to his core and convinces him that he must end the Ushers, including Anna, at all costs.
○	By the end of this scene, and the act, it is revealed that Madeline has died.

ACT 2:

●	Madeline is interred within the family vault against the better judgement of Anna who is now terrified of the rotting corpse of Madeline coming back from the grave. Roderick promises to call the proper authorities to “take care” of Madeline’s body, but he is not ready to let her go. 
○	Roderick is incredibly distraught. He tries to distract himself with his numerous hobbies (quote some of the included materials from the story), but nothing is working. He continues to decline throughout the rest of the play.
●	Anna, in the meantime, is trying to find out more about the family’s curse as she hasn’t been able to sleep since Madeline’s death. This will lead to a few SCARES including one where Anna is being stalked by “something” while investigating, and one where she is taking photos with her old, flash camera, a ghost popping up after one of the flashes (probably Madeline). 
○	Lee will be plotting throughout this time, maybe experiencing his own scares. The house is obviously affecting him [think Jack Nicholson in the Shining], turning his lively personality into something more sinister.
●	Roderick continues to degrade until he is catatonic [maybe he’ll reveal that the curse is caused by the family intermarrying for so long]. Lee will try to break him out of it due to Anna begging him, but it will only make Roderick worse.
○	This can be where Lee reveals what part he played in the seance debacle, revealing that he never truly believed what he’s been trying to sell all these years. This sends Anna into a spiral as she truly has no one to help her.
●	On the last night in the house, Anna will find the ghosts [probably Madeline] within the pictures she took [maybe she has a mobile photo processing place, or just uses one of the Usher rooms to process her photos], and tries to confront both Roderick and Lee. Instead she finds Lee in the act of killing Roderick and all hell breaks loose.
○	The house begins to crumble as Lee, now completely lost to the house, chases after Anna.
○	Before he can kill Anna though, the ghosts of Madeline and Roderick come back to enact their revenge, killing Lee as the house falls down around them.
○	Anna escapes the house and as it tears in half, revealing a red moon behind it, Anna takes one final photo of the Usher house. 

ACT 1, SC. 1

The stage is a living room straight out of the Victoria era, looking as if the heavy and dark furniture and decorations that haven’t been moved since the 1800s. [describe more]. A light knock is hear on the door before an even heavier one sounds out with the voice of a MAN coming from offstage followed by the softer voice of a WOMAN.

MAN: (offstage)  Hello?! Anyone in there?!

WOMAN: (offstage) Lee, please stop it. He said he has a nervous disorder. Screaming is not going to help!

MAN: (offstage) Is the help nervous too? Why would he answer the door when he can pay people to answer it for him?

WOMAN: (offstage) I don’t think he has servants anymore, let me just text him and-

Suddenly the MAN, named LEE bursts through the front and into the livingroom with a flourish. LEE might not take up the whole room, but he desperately tries to with his personality and by dropping his luggage in the middle of the floor. He is dressed as if Uri Geller and Zak Bagans had a tacky lovechild. He can speak with an absolutely fake British accent.

LEE: Too late, Annabel, love. Found a way in.

Behind him ANNABEL creeps into the room tentatively, carrying far more luggage than LEE had. She almost seems too timid to put them down, but slowly does so as she speaks. She is dressed plainly in neutral colors. 

ANNABEL: Lee, you can’t just barge in, this isn’t our home!

LEE: Not technically. You are a family member though, so they should treat you as such, especially since there was no servant to welcome us in.

As ANNABEL tries to organize LEE’s luggage and coat, LEE starts to look around the room.

LEE: Oh well, now isn’t this just a dump!

ANNABEL: Lee!

LEE: Am I wrong? I’m pretty sure we were still fighting the confederates the last time this place was decorated.

ANNABEL: It’s not that bad, it’s - (she gets a better look at her surroundings). Oh, wow, it really hasn’t changed at all!

LEE: So I am right. It’s always looked like this?

ANNABEL: For the last 20 years at least. It’s been awhile since I stayed here with Roddy and Maddy.

LEE: And they’re your?

ANNABEL: Cousins. I told you all of this on the drive here.

LEE: Love, I wasn’t listening, I was taking a beauty nap while you got us lost.

ANNABEL: (mumbling) I take one wrong turn while you’re snoring next to me and hear about it for the rest of my life.

LEE: Hmm?

ANNABEL: Nothing! I’m just trying to find my camera in the luggage.

ANNABEL will eventually pull out an older looking camera with a flash bulb [ask Donna about cameras]. She will then go around the room and take pictures of things she seems to remember from her childhood while LEE lounges on the only couch in the room.

LEE: And did you bring my [name of expensive video camera]?

ANNABEL: (distracted) Yes.

LEE: And my [name of expensive laptop]?

ANNABEL: Yes.

LEE: And my [name of expensive tripod]?

ANNABEL: Wouldn’t leave home without it.

LEE: And my [name of expensive lights]?

ANNABEL: Perish the thought.

LEE: And my clove cigarettes?

ANNABEL: (stops her picture taking) Uh, they’re either in the car, or my coat. Hold on, let me look.

ANNABEL goes to look in her coat that is laying on top of their luggage, but LEE catches her in an embrace before she gets to it..

LEE: Not now, darling. They can wait. We’re here to visit your family after all, and to get some alone time for ourselves! I only like to make sure we’re all prepared. I have a feeling that this house will be our best video yet. Just look at the place! I can feel the presence of a thousand spirits crying out to be seen, to be heard. And we’re going to make that happen.

ANNABEL: As long as it’s okay with Roderick. I wrote him about your YouTube channel, but I don’t think he has a landline, let alone a computer.

LEE: Yes, but he has ghosts! And that’s all we need. I thought the Myrtle Plantation video would have taken off by now, but you know how fickle the algorithm is. It also doesn’t help that I’m up against a man who makes people do wacky challenges for money, and a series about a war between toilets and video camera men (note: these references can change based on what is popular at the time).

ANNABEL: Yeah, I don’t want to try and explain that to Roddy. But I’m sure he’ll be okay with us recording a little bit around here. Again, he has anxiety. Also, the Usher house isn’t haunted, just old.

LEE: Oh, my lady, I am wounded! The second I walked in here, I thought we traipsed into Grand Central Station! As a spirit medium, I can sense every lost Usher soul in this crumbling manor and there are many. More than even the Winchester House and that’s saying something.

ANNABEL: (not fully convinced) I bet it does. Anyways, we still need to talk to Roddy no matter what. I mean we did just make ourselves quite comfortable in here when I haven’t even heard-

Suddenly, a SICKLY MAN seems to materialize from the wallpaper. He’s in almost the same shape as the house: out-of-date and falling apart. The man slowly makes his way across the room with a cane to greet ANNABEL. Meanwhile she looks as if she just saw a ghost.

SICKLY MAN: Cousin! And here I thought I was just dreaming or that some robber had finally figured out that I keep the front door unlocked at all times.  

ANNABEL: Roddy?

RODERICK: Anna, I can’t be so old and decrepit that you don’t recognize me, hmm? Ah, but it has been awhile. When were you last here?

ANNABEL: 2005? 2006?

RODERICK: Yes, yes, a year or so before Mother passed. We did away with the servants after that as it was just Madeline and I, and it has been that way since. Come now, quit gawking at your ancient cousin and introduce me to your partner in crime here.

ANNABEL: Oh gosh, right. Sorry. Lee, this is my cousin, Roderick Usher, and Roddy, this is my husband, Lee Fortunato.

The two men shake hands, one with a bit more drama than the other who looks more amused at the spectacle of LEE than anything else. 

LEE: It’s quite an honor to finally meet you, Mr. Usher. Your cousin paints quite the picture of her summers here with you and your sister.

RODERICK: How polite. The pleasure is all mine, Mr. Fortunato.

LEE: You can call me Lee.

RODERICK: (beat) Very well. (addressing ANNABEL) Now Anna, please come over here and give me a hug before you come apart.

ANNABEL gives RODERICK a hug, being gentle with him as if he’s about to break. He laughs and hugs her tighter before releasing them both. Meanwhile, LEE starts to inspect everything in the living room.

RODERICK: Ah, to have another Usher back in this house is such a delight.

ANNABEL: Technically I’m a Dupin.

RODERICK: Pish posh, your mother was born an Usher, so that makes you one too. We all share the same blood, Anna. Ah, but I am sorry to hear of your mother’s passing. Helen was a good woman.

ANNABEL: Thank you. It’s been a few years now, but you know that doesn’t make much of a difference.

RODERICK: Don’t I ever. (to LEE) I see you’ve taken an interest in the house.

LEE: Oh yes, I am highly interested in this house and everything you can tell me about it! Annabel has told me that there are rumors that it’s haunted?

ANNABEL nudges LEE to try and get him to stop.

RODERICK: Yes, yes. There are many rumors about this house and the Usher family themselves, but first, why don’t you take a look around the place? Get a feel for it. Anna mentioned that you are a psychic?

LEE: A psychic/medium, yes. And a certified demonologist. I took an online class.

RODERICK: (a bit skeptical) How wonderful. Why don’t we discuss this all later over dinner, yes? Apologies in advance, without a cleaning staff or much energy, I mainly do all of my business in this room and my quarters, that includes eating. I would like to catch up with my cousin for a little bit though, so if you would please?

LEE takes the hint that he should leave the room, but makes a few faces at RODERICK before exiting deeper into the house. After he is gone RODERICK moves back over to ANNABEL and takes her hands.

RODERICK: It is so lovely to see you again, Anna. And you haven’t even aged a day.

ANNABEL: Roddy -

RODERICK: I know (beat). I’m dying, Anna. And so is Madeline.

ANNABEL: (after taking a letter out of her coat laying on top of the luggage) You said that in your first letter and swore me to tell no one, but God, looking at you Roddy, how can’t anyone see it?

RODERICK: (chuckling) Never one to truly beat around the bush. I’ve missed that.

ANNABEL: (admonishing) Roderick.

RODERICK: I’m sorry, Anna, that I didn’t tell you sooner. Come, put that away and let’s sit, I’m getting a bit tired. 

Noticing how hard it is for RODERICK to move, ANNABEL shoves the letter back in her coat and rushes to help RODERICK sit down on the couch. He waves her away, a bit curt, and lowers himself, painfully, onto the couch. Once seated, he seems a bit more relieved.

RODERICK: Much better. You know, at one time Madeline and I could race around the perimeter of this house from sunup to sundown, but now I can barely stand in one place for two minutes without pain. (sighs) What time does to us all I guess.

ANNABEL: You talk like I’m decades younger than you. You’re only 8 years older than me and Maddy is even less than that. 

RODERICK: And yet when I look at you I feel like I’m old enough to be your father, grandfather even.

ANNABEL: In your letter, you wrote it was a nervous disorder. That you and Madeline were agoraphobic, especially after the lock downs. (hesitantly) This isn’t just anxiety. 

RODERICK: Try telling the quacks in town that. Or any doctor for that matter. I have had so many come out to see us, to give us the best diagnostic care possible. Well, within the limits of this household, of course, but they have come up with nothing. I have tried every mood stabilizing drug and therapy, short of shock treatments and a lobotomy to relieve this, but nothing works.

ANNABEL: What really is this though? And are Maddy’s symptoms the same?

RODERICK: (wistfully) Always down to business. I still remember when you would boss Madeline and I around when you were just a toddler. Not asking, but telling us what room you wanted us to take you to, what game you wanted to play, along with your rules for said game, what book you wanted us to read to you. There was never any time to question it. We adored your determination and the fact that you wanted to spend time with us. Not many did even back then. You know our reputation.

ANNABEL: I’ve missed you and Maddy too. And I want to reminisce and I hope we have many more years to do so, but you need to tell me what’s going on.

Painfully, RODERICK attempts to stand to get away from ANNABEL’s strong gaze, but he can’t. He relents to sitting back down and looking her right in the eyes.

RODERICK: We are cursed, Anna. 

ANNABEL: (unbelieving) What?

RODERICK: All of the Ushers are. We have always been.

ANNABEL: That’s just a story. Something Grandma Usher used to tell us when we’d misbehave as little kids.

RODERICK: Yes, until it took her too.

ANNABEL: She died of old age.

RODERICK: She died screaming. (beat) You were not here to see it, so I understand the skepticism. You’re pragmatic, just like your mother. Of course this would be difficult for you. After all my years of schooling and of self-study, I, too, struggle with it every day, but I see no other conclusion.

This time RODERICK is able to get up, the nervousness of relating this tale pushing him past his normal pain. He leans heavily on his cane.

RODERICK: It truly started three years ago. I noticed a weakness in one of my legs. I have never been a strong or particularly athletic man and just chalked it up to a near sedentary lifestyle. I tried to walk more. Soon though, pain started to come with the weakness. First in my feet and ankles, then my calves, then up and up until now, my whole body feels like a live wire of pain. One wrong movement or touch and my mind is flooded with nothing but that indescribable agony. My mental state has not faired any better and degrades along with my body. Yes, I am quite anxious and terribly depressed, but it was the pain that caused it, not the other way around.

ANNABEL: And the doctors?

RODERICK: (harshly) Know nothing! They worry only about sending us bills for tests and drugs we hardly remember taking, and house visits that became more meaningless over time. They have found nothing. For all intents and purposes, Madeline and I are physically healthy adults with a slew of mental issues. We’re untreatable, and thus of no use to them. 

ANNABEL: So Maddy feels the same pains?

RODERICK: In a way, yes. But her body is much stronger than mine. On the other hand, she has not been able to speak for almost a year now.  

ANNABEL: Oh my god, what happened?

RODERICK: I am still not sure. One moment she was singing with the birds as she filled their feeders during the day, but by nightfall she was mute. There was no impetus, nothing traumatic to push her into silence. She just could no longer produce any sound. Unsurprisingly, the doctors chalked it up to our shared anxiety and prescribed a trip away from home. As if the curse could not follow us anywhere. Your mother found that out the hard way. (pause) how did she die, Anna?

ANNABEL pales again, and is almost unwilling to share this information.

ANNABEL: Sh- she had her demons too. Because of the family. She tried to drown a lot of them as I grew up and after Dad ran off. She sobered up though, especially after the state threatened to take me away from her, and she stayed clean for a long time. Until she wasn’t anymore. One night she was so out of it from drugs or alcohol, we’re still not sure, but she managed to nod off with a lit cigarette in her mouth and - (she can’t get out the rest).

RODERICK: A fire took her.

ANNABEL nods. RODERICK shakes his head in sadness.

RODERICK: The same happened to her sister, you know?

ANNABEL is stunned by this.

RODERICK: There are so many rooms in this place. Did you know that at one time all of the Ushers lived here? That was when our family tree was still very much a singular branch. Nevertheless, as it just became my sister, mother, and I, many of the rooms had been locked up and never entered by an Usher or a servant ever again. One day, mother wanted to open up Grandmother Usher’s bedchambers. She was looking for something, I can’t remember what, but somehow, during her search the door was stuck shut and wouldn’t open. This old house swells and shrinks daily depending on the weather. When she found that she could not get out unless she tossed herself out of a third storey window, she panicked as she pulled on the doorknob. The oil lamp she had with her, since the electricity did not work too well in that part of house, fell in this panic, lighting anything and everything its path with fire. She was trapped. It took a fireman’s ax to get through the door, but by the time they made it here, so far away from civilization, she was already gone. They saved the house somehow without even a mark on the outside to show the devastation within. 

ANNABEL: Ma never told me - 

RODERICK: Of course she wouldn’t. What do the Ushers truly tell each other? She never spoke a word of running off with your father and having you until he came back to the house with a baby in her arms. Just as much as Mother never told her how agonizing those last months with Grandmother Usher were. I am tired of this secrecy. Not when there are so very little of us left. If it is any consolation to this madness, Mother died of suffocation and not the wild flames around her.

ANNABEL: I wish I could say the same for my mother.

RODERICK comes back to ANNABEL, able to face her again.

RODERICK: I am so sorry, Anna. I did not mean to open up old wounds, but can you not see it now? We, all of the Ushers, are cursed.

At that moment, as if she too materialized from the house itself, a SICKLY WOMAN glides in the background as if she’s slowly walking down the halls of the old mansion aimlessly. This is MADELINE. She is dressed all in white, including a head covering, making her almost look like a nun or a bride. She comes out of nowhere, completely startling ANNABEL in the process. MADELINE doesn’t even acknowledge her cousin as she glides onwards to a different part of the house. ANNABEL’s terror also startles RODERICK until he sees who ANNABEL is reacting to. 

RODERICK: Oh, you gave me a fright there. Be careful with those, I do not know how much my heart could take.

ANNABEL: Who-who was that?

RODERICK: (forlorn) Madeline, your cousin.

ANNABEL: What? No, the last time I saw her, we were running out of the house with all my suitcases, giggling down the stairs, tripping over the luggage and our own feet. Ma was so pissed that we were goofing off, but I was about to say goodbye to you two for who knows how long. I - I, that can’t be her, Roddy. 

RODERICK: It is. And I am so sorry but that is the truth! I do not even know if she is aware of what she is doing anymore. She makes no noises, she rarely eats and barely rests, she wanders the halls and I do not even know what she is looking for anymore. If she is looking for anything at all. I talk to her but I cannot even tell if she understands what I am saying. But it is all just anxiety, right?

ANNABEL: I can’t believe this.

RODERICK: You must! We have no choice now. It has come for Madeline and I, and when we are gone, who do you think it will affect next? That is why I brought you here. I need you to see what will be yours and all that entails when we are -

Suddenly LEE’s voice is heard offstage.

LEE: (offstage) Jesus Christ!

LEE then runs into the living room with RODERICK and ANNABEL.

LEE: (to ANNABEL) Did you see that?! Where’s the camera? We need to shoot that thing immediately. What amazing content!

RODERICK: Excuse me, that “thing” you would like to shoot for content happens to be my incredibly ill sister. We would both like it very much if you would refrain from exploiting us for a web application mainly used by children.

LEE: Oh shit, I am so sorry, Mr. Usher, I didn’t know - 

RODERICK: From my little exposure to you, I feel as if there is much you do not know. I would like to discuss your intentions with my home and my family during dinner, but  I must rest in my room for the interim. All this excitement has been a bit taxing. (To ANNABEL) Anna, I have set up your old chambers for you and your husband. Please be back down here by 7pm. I cannot promise much, but it will be edible. Now if you will both excuse me.

RODERICK leaves as briskly as his body will let him, anger propelling him back to his rooms. ANNABEL goes to follow him, but then stops when he exits.

ANNABEL: (to LEE) Real nice.

LEE: How was I supposed to know that wasn’t a ghost?! She sure as hell looked like one! She walked right past me like she didn’t even know I was there. (shivers) What is with this family?

ANNABEL looks as if she wants to say something, but can’t.

ANNABEL: Whatever, Lee. Just help me take our stuff upstairs okay?

LEE groans as ANNABEL angrily grabs a piece of luggage and exits deeper into the house. 

LEE: Ugh, well, now I need those cigarettes.

LEE goes to ANNABEL’s coat that is still resting where she left it, and begins to rifle through her pockets. Instead of finding his cigarettes though, he finds the letter ANNABEL referred to earlier. He takes a second to look back and make sure none of the Ushers are watching before he reads the letter himself.

LEE: (reading) “Anna, it is with great sadness that I must report that Madeline and I are gravely ill and in need of your company forthwith.” Forthwith? Pretentious prick.

LEE continues to read to himself until he hits on some information that truly shocks him.

LEE: Huh, interesting.

Noises can be heard offstage as ANNABEL returns to the living room.

ANNABEL: (offstage) Are you going to help, Lee?

LEE: (to ANNABEL) Be there in a second, my love.

Before grabbing a suitcase to follow ANNABEL, LEE stares at the letter for a few seconds longer as if committing it to memory. He then quickly places it back in her coat pocket, grabs some luggage, and exits the stage. The lights flicker before dimming completely.

End of Scene.

Act 1, Sc. 2

The lights come up and the living room is empty again until ANNABEL comes, taking pictures once more. The flash of her camera lights up the dimly lit room for a moment, creating shadows on the walls. ANNABEL doesn't notice the heaviness of the atmosphere or is trying to ignore it by humming to herself as she tries to take the perfect shot of the living area. At some point, as she continues to take photos, a noise can be heard coming from one of the walls. ANNABEL nearly drops her camera as she jumps, pressing her hands to her temples as if a migraine is about to hit her.

ANNABEL: No, no, no. Not now. Not here.

The noises increase and seem to come from everywhere, the pain in ANNABEL's head bringing her to the floor. Before they can crescendo, she yells.

ANNABEL: Stop it!

The sounds stop completely. ANNABEL takes a few deep breaths before getting back on her feet. She then goes about taking photos again as if nothing happened. In a few more seconds RODERICK comes into the room, followed by a rambling LEE.