"Tell it Like it Is"
[set 1: A bench and a trash can]
Boy's voice inside his head (narrator): Hmmmm...it looks like someones
journal. How the hell did it get thrown away?
Boy:
I wanna get you to see
Boy's voice:I know I would never want to turn things around with someone who hated me. This person must be really understanding.
Boy:
Boy's voice:Whoever this person is writing about seems like such a little terd! How can anyone be so unforgiving, so unattached, so uncompassionate.
Boy:
Boy's voice:This must be written by this kid's parents or something.
Boy:
nothing is certain
one shall stand
black and white movie
black stares
Boy's voice:How sad. I really hope these two people work this thing out...I mean, it seems like there is so much potential for some kind of relationship
Boy: Oh no! Its so late. I gotta get home!
[set 2: A stove, a dinner table with dishes, a recliner with remote control, and a mother with an apron]
Mom:coldly Dinner's on the stove. She gets her own plate ready, sits at the dinner table, and starts eating.
A little while later, boy grabs his dinner and takes it to the living room to watch TV. After watching for a while, he starts to look bored and unfulfilled. He looks down at his backpack and pulls out the journal. He sits there for a moment and stares at it with a blank look. Quietly, he places the journal on the counter, leaves his bag on the floor, gets up with his dinner in his hand, and walks over to the dinner table, where his mom is eating. He sits down across from her, making to sure to avoid eye contact. Mom doesn't look up, but you can tell by her face that she is surprised and confused. They continue eating their dinner in complete silence, not knowing what to say to each other. When they both finish eating, boy quickly gets up and collects all of the dirty dishes, including the mom's used dishes. The mom looks even more surprised and tries to help by taking some of the dishes. While the boy is trying to grab all of the dishes, he accidentally spills his leftover soup on the floor, and immediately attends to it and tries to clean it up. While he is cleaning it up, he makes eye contact with her and feels that he must say something to her.
Boy: looks at herI'm… I'm… I'm so sorry. starts cleaning up the mess again I'm sorry, I'm
so sorry. I'm sorry. I'm, sorry.
Mom: speaks while boy is apologizing That's okay, really, because I'm sorry too.
They look at each other for a moment of silence, smile, and seem to understand each other. Then they look away and the boy continues to clean up and wash the dishes. Meanwhile, the boy has his back toward the mom. She looks over on the counter and sees the journal. She seems stunned because she thought she had lost it.
Mom:God, I've been looking for this thing!!!
She picks it up, starts flipping through the pages and remembers what she had written previously. She starts to rip a few pages out, but then stops, and decides to fold the pages over instead and start over. She picks up a pencil and starts a new entry…
Mom:reads new entry out loud as she writes
One word cannot make up for 16 years of sadness
Kalia Cheng*Katie Gelber*Elyse Wong
PLAY: Complete Story
2/11/2001©
Boy walking to bus stop
Boy:I just can't take it anymore! Of all the families in the world, I just had to be stuck with this one. Thank god I finally got out of that house. Or, prison I should say! Great. Just great. Why can't I just live on my own? Be happy! Be satisfied! And most of all, be free!
Boy jerks his head towards the street and realizes he has missed his bus. Boy runs frantically after the bus that he has missed
Boy: Wait! Stop...stop that bus! Wait!!!
Boy eventually gives up running and gasps for air as he slowly walks back to the bus stop (bench)
Boy: God dammit, I missed it again.
Regret turns to anger and the boy kicks over a nearby trash can. A mysterious notebook falls out along with some other trash. The boy does not even attempt to clean the mess. He sits down on the bench and sighs, bored.
Turns the notebook over in his hands and flips through as if checking for a name
Hmmm...no name. No date. I guess it can't hurt to take a look at this ugly, old, thing. It looks like a poem. Hmmmm...what does it say here...
Why do you hurt me so
wanna run away
life is pain
there ain't no angels left in heaven
Boy looks up
Boy's voice: Bitch and moan, bitch and moan.
Boy looks back down
Boy:
Tell me why you hate me
tell me the truth to my face
I'm not afraid anymore
just how much you mean to me.
Open your eyes,
and please realize
there's still time to turn around
Boy looks up
You refuse to open your eyes
You want to be on your own
So you push me away
You don't need me
I'm just a shadow
Boy looks back down
I know where you're coming from
and what you're going through
you're not alone
cast off from home
stray-cat
caught in the rain
You can't be tamed
rebel without a cause
serchin' for a new light
lookin' for a new life
viva la revolution
come and go when you please
fly away
flit skyward
it's like a mystery
one shall fall
row of dominoes
keep on till there's nothing left
playing in my mind
silence is a broken record.
never ending.
emptiness fill the void with insanity
feel like I'm dead
only hangin' by a thread
Boy pauses, Looks up.
Boy nods his head as if coming to a realization. He clutches the journal to his chest and gets up off of the bench. He looks at his wristwatch.
Boy runs home–leaves bus scene--and leaves classroom
Boy swings open front door, then slams it shut. Mom is in the kitchen finishing cooking their dinner. Boy stomps into the house.
One Word
One word cannot fill the void within
One word cannot justify the sins you have committed
One word cannot erase the past
It cannot
It should not
and yet
One word
Was enough.
