January 13 Play: PAYPHONE PLAY

13: DESERT PAYPHONE - by Ed Valentine
© January 13, 2010 * ed@edvalentine.com

LIGHTS UP ON ONE SIDE OF THE STAGE: A YOUNG MAN, very dusty, with a dirty backpack, at a phone booth in a desert. A ringing sound, as if through a phone.

HE
Come on, come on…

(Ringing continues. Lights up on the other side, an OLDER WOMAN puts down her crocheting [a Christmas stocking]. She picks up the phone.)

SHE
Hello?

HE
Ma, don’t hang up. It’s me.

SHE
-
Who is this?

HE / SHE
It’s Billy, Momma, don’t you… / I’m sorry you must…

BOTH
-

HE
Sorry?

SHE
I’m sorry, you must have the wrong number.

HE
Oh. Oh God, I’m.

(He’s crying now.)

SHE
That’s okay.
-
That’s.
Are you – nevermind.

HE
I’ll be okay. Thanks.

SHE
There there. I’m sure it’ll be okay.

HE
You’re sure, huh?
(Blows nose.)
I’m sorry. You’re very kind.

SHE
Not always. Alright, well, I’m sorry you didn’t reach –

HE
Wait, no, please. Don’t.
Um.
Just one –
Second, ok? Just one second.
Ok?

SHE
-
It’s your dime.

HE
They don’t cost just a dime anymore.

SHE
I don’t imagine so, no.

HE
I put in all this –
MONEY. Fistfuls of change. And then I got
YOU.
No offense.

SHE
None taken.

HE
You have a son?

SHE
-

HE
Cuz you thought I was your son. At first.

SHE
Had a son.
-

HE
-

SHE
My daughter lives in Tucson, she’s a dental hygienist. She finds it hot there, she’d like to move.
Now I don’t know why I’m telling you that.

HE
I’m glad you did.

RECORDED VOICE
Please deposit fifty cents for the next two minutes.

HE
Damn. Dammit, I’m out.

SHE
You’re –

HE
Out of quarters, all out.

SHE
And what were you going to say?

HE
When?

SHE
When you reached
HER, reached your mother?

HE
Nothing. I was –
I was going to ask if I could come home.

RECORDED VOICE
Please deposit fifty cents for the next two minutes.

HE
I was gonna say, can I come home, Momma?
I been away too long, too long.
I been away too long.

SHE
Uh huh.

HE
But now I’ll never reach her. I’m all outta quarters.

RECORDED VOICE
Deposit fifty cents or your call will be disconnected.

SHE
My two cents?

HE
Yes, ma’am?

SHE
Go home. Just go home.
No matter what you’ve done.
She’ll be glad to see you.
You hear me? You hear?

(A click. Lights out on the YOUNG MAN. A dial tone, as if through a phone far away.)

SHE
Oh.
Okay.
Hope you get where you’re going to, Billy.

(She sits, receiver in hand, looking outward and inward at the same time. Lights fade on the WOMAN.)

END OF PLAY.