Waiting Room, Act I, Scene One

*So here is my play, or a excerpt of it.  Tell me what you guys think, and I may post the whole thing when I'm done.*

WAITING ROOM

ORIGINAL PLAY BY JENNELLE BAROSIN

ACT I

SCENE ONE

(It is a hospital waiting room, the kind right out in the lobby.  There are a bunch of chairs and two tables with magazines scattered all over them. LIAM, a lonely 16 or 17 year old, is sitting with his legs draped over the arms of the chair next to him, his face in a magazine.  He seems utterly bored when MELODY, 16 or 17 as well, walks over to him.  There are doctors and nurses milling around, seeing to patients, but they do not interact with either LIAM or MELODY. LIAM can see them, but MELODY cannot, though LIAM doesn’t know this fact.  There is a receptionist desk, but no receptionist.)

Melody

Excuse me, do you know the way to the ICU?

LIAM

(Looks up from his magazine)

What?

Melody

The ICU.  Do you know where it is?

LIAM

Hm.  You look familiar.  Do you like science fiction?

MELODY

I just asked where the ICU was…

LIAM

                                    (looks thoughtfully at MELODY)

I love science fiction.  There’s something weirdly accessible about it, wouldn’t you say?

                        MELODY

              (flustered; she just wants directions!)

I guess so.  I don’t really watch it.

                        LIAM

              (genuinely shocked)

Really?  You look to me like the kind of person who would watch tons upon tons of science fiction?  Come on; don’t lie to me – you’ve seen Star Wars at least a dozen times.  You cry every time Han says “I know” after Leia says I love you.  I peg you as that sort of person.  Am I right?  I am so very often right about these things.

                       

                        NURSE #1

(DO NOT REACT TO LIAM OR MELODY)

Alright, Mr. Johnson, we’re just going to take your blood pressure now.

(MELODY doesn’t react to the NURSE #1, while LIAM looks over in mild interest, gaining him a weird stare from MELODY)    

         

MELODY

Well, not today.  I don’t like science fiction.

                        LIAM

Like, not at all?  Who are you who doesn’t like science fiction even a little bit?

DOCTOR #1

                   (DO NOT INTERACT WITH LIAM OR MELODY)

Now lie back, and we’re just going to take a listen to those lungs today, see how you’re holding up.

(LIAM looks over, and gets another stair from MELODY for doing so. She can’t see anything.)

             

                        MELODY

Melody.  Now could I get directions to the ICU?

                        LIAM

Why don’t you just ask one of the nurses? And Melody.  Oh that is just perfect.  Ever seen Doctor Who?  Oh wait, I forgot – you don’t like science fiction.

                        MELODY

I actually… I have seen Doctor Who.  It wasn’t bad.  And what nurses?

                        LIAM

(AHA! Face; points a finger; ignores the nurses question)

I knew it!  You’re a closet sci-fi fan!  I knew it!

                        LIAM

(Cont.)(jumps up and does a victory dance of sorts)

                        MELODY

              (Thoroughly unimpressed)

Are you finished?

                       

LIAM

Not quite.

              (busts out one or two more moves)

There.  Now I am.  You have the same name as River Song.  You must secretly giggle about this to yourself as you watch bootleg episodes on your laptop.

                        MELODY

No, not really.

                        LIAM

You’ve never watched the show correctly then.  Oh, and the ICU is straight through those doors, take the elevator the floor eight, take a right, go straight, then take a left, and you should see a sign.

                        MELODY

              (visibly grateful for the directions)

Thank you.  And I’ll have to give sci-fi another try.  You seem to like it well enough.

                        LIAM

(pleased with himself, sits back down and picks up his magazine)

I’d start with Star Wars.  You start with A New Hope.  And believe me, watch it with tissues.

                        MELODY

Will do.  Thanks for the directions, er… What was your name?

                        LIAM

Liam.  You seem really familiar, did I tell you that?

          (MELODY nods her head, and LIAM nods back)

Anyways, if you get lost, just trace your steps back and I’ll take you to the ICU myself.  I know the way pretty well.

                       MELODY

Take care, Liam.

          (Walks away, with a quick backward glance.)

                        LIAM

Goodbye!

          (No answer)

Okay, sure, don’t say goodbye, that’s cool too.  Where’s the receptionist anyway?

              (He looks around, grumbling)

Why do I have to moonlight as the ‘You Are Here’ sign? I didn’t sign up for this.  Haha, sign.  Wow, that was a pathetic pun.

(ENTER MARCUS.  He is about 18, and appears to have heard the last bit of what LIAM has said to himself.)

                        MARCUS

              (Sarcastically)

That was a pathetic pun.  I won’t lie.

          (He’s too close.)

                        LIAM

(Karate chops the air, chucking his magazine into the air.)

Ka-chow!  H-yah! *indiscriminate noises*

(hits MARCUS in the face as he flails widely, trying to fake knowing karate.)

                       

MARCUS

              (Grabs at his face in pain)

Ow!  Jesus!  What the hell was that for?!

                        LIAM

You startled me.  I totally didn’t mean to hit you in the face.  Did I break anything?  Do you want me to get a nurse or something?  I’m sure that they wouldn’t mind stopping and helping you out.

                        MARCUS

              (Muffled)

Noooo… no.  Nothing’s broken.  And besides, there are no nurses around. 

(There should still clearly be nurse and doctor extras onstage)

                        MARCUS

(cont.)I’ll be fine.  But it still hurts.  Who taught you to throw a punch, a blind man?

                        LIAM

My uncle Marty was an upstanding citizen and a third degree black belt, and he was blind.  Don’t judge a pie before you taste it.

                        MARCUS

Whoa, look, sorry, I didn’t know – Don’t judge a pie before you taste it?

                        LIAM

The book by its cover cliché is played out and trite.  I’m trying something new.

                        MARCUS

Clichés are cliché because they are made that way.  You can’t go messing up the system by creating new ones.

(sitting down in a chair next to LIAM, oblivious to the person directly next to him that LIAM can supposedly see.)

                        LIAM

Well, how else does language advance?  How else does anything advance?  Someone has to be the weirdo to try something new.  Can you imagine being the first guy to eat an egg? ‘The next thing that comes out of the bird, yep, I’m going to eat it.’

          (MARCUS chuckles)

Or milk?  How weird must have that have been for everyone involved?

                        MARCUS

I guess I see your point.  Sometimes you do have to make something new.  Switch things up.

                        LIAM

Try different things.  It’s healthy.  And it provides advances.  In civilization and otherwise.

                        MARCUS

I get you.  But I really came over here to ask for directions.  Do you know the way to the ICU?

                        LIAM

              (sighs through his nose; mumbles)

Everyone always wants directions but no one wants to stay.

              (Loud enough for MARCUS to hear now)

I know the way.  You go through that doorway, take the elevator to floor eight, take a right, then go straight, then take a left, and you should see a sign.

                        MARCUS

Thanks man, I owe you one. 

                        LIAM

No problem.  And if you get lost, you know where I’ll be. Here surrounded by all these doctors who could have helped you with your nose. Just come back and I’ll help you find your way.

(MARCUS acknowledges this with a smile; he has no idea what LIAM is talking about with the doctor comment.)

By the way, have we met?  You look really familiar…

                        MARCUS

Nah, it must be déjà vu or something.  Thanks for the directions.  See ya.

(MARCUS stands and leaves, and nearly walks into a nurse wheeling a patient in a wheelchair, which LIAM watches with rapt interest, but the two characters never interact, despite their near collision.)

                        LIAM

(Brightly, after watching a near catastrophe.)

Bye!

(Gets up and retrieves magazine from the floor, flipping through it.)

Oh, I hope those two crazy kids can stop arguing and keep the love.  If anyone could make it, it would be them.

April 16: I Am Out Of Original Ideas To Write, So Here Is Part of A Short Story

Yeah, I know that I'm lazy, but I have nothing, and it's late, and I'm tired.  So I'm being lazy.  Deal with it.  I wrote this last year when I was ignoring my English teacher.  This is the unedited first third or so.  So enjoy it.  Or don't.  It's your choice.  Tomorrow, I promise I will write something original and inspired.

************************************************************************

The song playing when I died was ‘Hands Down’, by Dashboard Confessional.  It wasn’t my favorite by them, but it was a good song.  I died right at the climax, with the crashing guitars and the drums beating a hole through reality.

                Funny thing is, one of the lines is ‘die happy’.  Ironic old world, isn’t it?

                Well.

      Where to begin?

                I’m sure that you want to know how I died.  That will come later, I promise.  What’s the point of a murder mystery without the murder?  I’m sure you want to know who I am, how I died.  Why this all happened to me.  Truth is, I have no idea why me.  But the who and the how I can answer.

                My name was Lilly.  I used to live at 1225 Sycamore, by the old Gunderson place.  My parents still live there.  I was 16 and 3 weeks when I died.  Well.  I didn’t die.  I was murdered.  They closed the case ten years ago.

                It all started on a Tuesday, which is my least favorite day of the week.  It’s annoying, and just so… there.  Tuesday, the forgotten day.  This Tuesday wasn’t just any annoying Tuesday, though.  No, this Tuesday was my last day of Driver’s Ed.  So, even though it was just an annoying Tuesday, at least something good was coming out of it.

                I took Driver’s Ed at Deluca’s Driving School, you know the place, over on Route One, by that shut down pizza joint?  You want to know why that pizza place was shut down?  Rats.  Fun fact.

                I took Driver’s Ed with two friends, Julia and Ash.

                “I’m so excited!” squealed Julia, jumping up and down.  She was always easily excitable.  I think she’s an anchor on a morning show now.

                “Yeah” I said, “two weeks and then I can drive a car legally!”  Wait, I didn’t say that.  Ash did.  I said “I’m so pumped for this.  I can’t wait to turn 16!”

                It was an almost-autumn evening in September; my birthday was the 27^th.  I was a school baby.  Before Daylight Saving’s Time, it stays light for a really long time around here.  We were outside Deluca’s waiting for Ash’s brother to come pick us up.  It was warm with just a whisper of a chill in the air.  The perfect almost-autumn evening.  Then, of course, came the car.

                It was an absolutely beautiful car, a deep, cherry red Camaro.  Absolute mint condition.  Windows rolled down, and a person inside.  Eyes hidden behind shades straight out of the Matrix, I had a feeling that this boy was more beautiful than any other person on the planet.

                Isn’t it always about a guy?

                The boy in the Camaro rolled past, and he looked at the three of us, standing there in our just acceptable shorts and strappy tank tops.  Three young idiots, just standing there.  I remember thinking that he stared directly at me, but if you asked Ash or Julia, they’d say that he was ‘totally staring at me’ too.  It was so long ago for them, but to me it just feels like a month.

                Funny how time passes.

                So, Camaro guy rolls past and eyes us like cattle, three stupid girls.

                Me being the stupidest, I waved.

                And he waved back.

                “Oh my sweet baby Jesus!” exhaled Julia, the exclamation sounding like one big word.  OhmysweetbabyJesus.  Then Julia crossed herself like a good Christian.  Ash and I laughed like loons.  Julia was always doing stuff like that.  A good Christian girl pretending to be a rebel pretending to be a good Christian girl.  One mask on top of another, layers and layers until you got to her sweet nougat center.  Julia really is a good person.  Overly excitable to a fault, but she did well for herself.

                Ash, on the other hand, well.  Ash was a true rebel without a cause.  She was wearing leather shorts (a crime against fashion on some, but not on Ash, never on Ash) and a red top with lace cutouts.  You know, whatchacallems.  Peekaboo cutouts.  She wore her hair as orange as a flame and yet was on high honor roll.  Parents loved her positive influence on their kids when she tutored them.  Guys couldn’t wait to get into her pants.  She lived her best years in high school, I think.  She’s a homemaker now.  Never left town.  Lives over on Grove Avenue.

                “Lilly!” Ash said, grinning. I swear, the biggest girly girl lurked somewhere in those leather pants.  “He waved at us!  He must have been at least nineteen!”

                “He was a total babe,” I allowed. 

What I was really thinking was how much I wanted to just jump into that Camaro and drive off, screw the consequences.

                Irony, people, cosmic irony.

                But I’m stepping ahead of myself.  I need to slow down.  After all, I have all eternity

                Well, I do.  You don’t.  Let’s go back again, shall we?

                "Guys," said Julia, grinning like the Cheshire cat. "We should stalk him!"

"Jules, we don't have a clue who that is!  But how would one got about stalking him?" I ask, my interest getting the better of me

"Well, he may not be nineteen; he may go to our school.  You never know, he could be a transfer."  Julia nodded wisely. She had her fake 'I Am the Wise Woman of the Forest' look on.  But what she said made sense.  We had a really good school and we got a lot of transfers back then.  Before, well, let me keep going.

"We are so going to find this guy!" laughed Ash, clapping.

It was at that moment that Carter rolled up.  Carter was Ash's older brother, and my secret crush.  I had liked him for years, and we had sort of had a thing once, but nothing came out of it.  Carter wanted to be, you know, official, but I still felt weird.  I mean, Ash was my best friend.  I didn’t want to do anything that would mess up our friendship.   So I stopped it.  Carter said he would wait for me.  I never thought that he’d have to wait so long.

He smiled at us, his eyes lingering on me as he slowed to a park.  He was our main form of transportation since he wasn’t in college.  His mother said that if he wasn’t being productive in the real world he at least had to be productive in their household.  Truth be told, I don’t think he minded that much.  Carter’s really productive now.  Like federal agent productive.

“Hey ladies.” Carter, back then, had long Jesus-esque hair and amazingly blue eyes.  His beat up sedan looked especially shabby next to the Camaro that had just rolled past, but there was something that felt like home about it.  We all piled in.  Carter smiled his sleepy, Kurt-Cobain rocker boy smile at me, and I smiled back.  This was our secret smile, one that held a promise.

I had known Ash and Carter for practically my whole life.  Ash and I had been friends since kindergarten, and I had grown up with Carter as well.  He was three years older, nineteen.  Labeled a burnout by everybody in town, he had taken a gap year from college, said he was trying to figure things out.  I bet he laughed in everyone’s faces when he got into the FBI.  He’s the kind of person that finds endless pleasure in proving people wrong.

But all of that comes later.

*****************************

So the editing got messed up on my blog.  I'm too tired to fix it.  Blehhh.  The place that I sent my script to was supposed to email me today saying that they got my script. And they should have!  I sent it express!  It would have got there by Saturday!  So that's why I couldn't think of anything original and hilarious.  I am a little preoccupied with worrying my brains out.  Stupid stupid stupid contest.  Murrr.

Anyways, I hope everyone's Mondays were awesome.  Mine was good.  I went for a bike ride and I got a sunburn!  For me this is good! If I start getting colour this early, I might actually tan this year!  Here's hoping.

Love and kisses,

Jen