Play 12: Message
31 Plays in 31 Days is a challenge for playwrights during August. The goal? Write 31 plays. Doesn’t matter how long or how good they are. I’ll be posting a few here as I go for accountability’s sake.
No one knew where The Message came from
But it was directed to everyone
So everyone
We all paid attention.
The storm knocked a tree branch halfway through the coop. Important to assess the rest of the damage, damage to the property, you know. Otherwise you miss something, animals get out or left somewhere injured, crops flooded… I was wearing my old boots. I had new ones but I worried they’d get ruined too fast, I’d get mud in them or… I don’t know why it’s important… I was wearing my old boots.
I thought the electricity was out at first. Our old coffee maker broke the week before, I missed the shitty stale coffee we made every morning. We finally bought a new machine and I’d prepped everything the night before, set the timer — there’s this timer on it you can set it the night before it’s magical — but when I got up no coffee. I reset the breakers and everything was fine. I poured a cupful and followed him out, still in my goddamn nightgown.
We were driving by some crops
The sky was so pretty, like a a a a tie-dyed shirt like the kind you’d make at camp
And I noticed…some were pushed down, halved, broken, probably not very good for the farmer, but there weren’t any trees nearby?
The clouds left us slowly rumbling
I was just driving. And singing. There was a song she hates on the radio and I love singing it at her while she pretends to hate me and then finally joins me and right as she joined me
“Prepare”
What
“Prepare” those crops say “Prepare”
What
Pull the car over
Fuck
What’s wrong
More than you’d like to know
You’re gonna have to tell me sometime or did you plan on calling Jennifer if we have to file a claim
Insurance is a scam
It’s not a scam now what the hell is it
Crops flooded
Well that’s
And someone’s pulled some shitty prank on us
What are you talking about
Pretty sure some idiot kids came out last night
During the storm
Well it’d’ve had to been during the storm
Not very safe of them
I doubt they much cared
In fact they
Could you just listen to me for one minutes, I'm pretty sure they mowed down the crops in some Star Trek symbols again
Fuck
That’s what I said
Who wrote that mom
I don’t….know
Should we go tell the — the owners
Give me a second
(Taking pictures)
That’s so weird right
Yeah…. It’s….pretty weird.
But also I kinda get it?
What
It’s….like a warning?
What do you mean
We should prepare for what’s coming next, whatever it is.
