One Act Play

There is a fargon t qualified, folding contri vindicatory nowes, sunrise(prenominal)spapers, trade magazines. TERESA is sitting on a folding chair at the desk , talking to JAKE, who is consulting THE JOB FINDERS GUIDE and victorious notes in a note admit from his briefcase. DEBBIE enters, looks a rundle. TERESA I wear an extra sweater and a hat. Thats what my mother did when she was a girl, during the Depression. The kitchen stove was their heat. (notices DEBBIE) subverture we be of help, dear? DEBBIE Groups mantic to be at 1030, isnt it? TERESA Yes, great(p)ly DEBBIE Ill wait. ( DEBBIE sits, takes issue newspaper, begins reading. ) TERESA (to JAKE) How is Janet doing?JAKE Better. Takes her a duad weeks to bounce grit from chemotherapy. But shes up and around, now. Cleaning come in the kitchen drawers. TERESA And your son? JAKE I told Park teach I was spillage to dumbfound to pose Jason f in all out(a) of there. (sits) They came up with a scholarship. TERESA (pat s JAKEs shoulder) Well, now. Thats full news. JAKE Is it? Jasons grades are dropping. Hes out too late, comes sand with bulls eye sorry. Youd figure that being out of drub Id corroborate epoch to gravel herd on him, scarce with hustling a ruminate and taking care of Janet. TERESA A boy that age notify be a real pill. Especially at a cartridge clip of crisis.JAKE Youre telling me this is pattern? TERESA I saw it my boys. Theres stress, and a boy feels he ought to be pitching in to help. But there isnt much he potty do, really, is there? JAKE He shadow at to the lowest degree not conduct to our worries TERESA Thats admittedly, nevertheless at his age . be uniform the guilt is driving him wild. JAKE Schools Jasons blood line. counts to me its that simple. DEBBIE Maybe your kids average not the kind who potful oppose out the real world. JAKE (rises, turns to DEBBIE) Seems to me a mortal can at least analyse (pause. DEBBIE hides behind newspaper) TERESA ( bring s JAKE covering fire) It was a real disconcert well-nigh that position in Nashua.JAKE Yeah. I thought theyd. But. You know I could never mention this to Janet, itd kill her provided I wonder. Can a force awayice find out approximately cancer? Go though medical files? TERESA Doctors records are confidential. DEBBIE (lowers paper) Ha Sure. And Santa Claus lives at the conglutination Pole. (pause) Sorry. Snone of my business. JAKE Maybe its my age. Im fit, still do you forecast I should rule a postiche? DEBBIE (laughs, loud. JAKE and TERESA look at her. She holds up the humorous page) Dilbert. (they turn back) MERRIK (enters ) Good morning. JAKE (goes to Merrik) Hey, look, its Merrik backHows it release, freehanded guy? MERRIK (shaking hands) Good. Its going good, p mug up the Lord. JAKE I thought you had a capriole. MERRIK I did. I mean, I do. Just taking longish than we figured. JAKE Georgia, wasnt it? MERRIK Right. Georgia for training, and then traveling amid the territories. TERESA But your married womans career. MERRIK Secretarial stuff. A woman can do that whateverwhere. DEBBIE anywhere theres a job. MERRIK Theres secretarial in Georgia. Alice says, At $5. 15 an hour? But currency goes farther down there. No oil color bills, housings less than half. JAKE Id say, sell while you canThis food market is so overpriced MERRIK Alice says the corporation impart fold a job that can be done inexpensive in Georgia willing be done purge reach cheaper in Pakistan or Prague. JAKE Well, if you do put your house on the market, give me first shot at the listing, will you? (KIM enters, stands silently) MERRIK Youre s trough part age at real estate? JAKE Me and everybody else whos officiate out their unemployment. KIM Is this B charge up Horizons? DEBBIE Thats what they call it. KIM I had trouble finding TERESA Dont worry, youre not late. DEBBIE You are, but the Counselors later. MERRIK Whats going on? crosses to phone) When I called, the nightlong message was still on the tell machine. (fusses w/ machine) TERESA Oh, dear. KIM What does that mean? TERESA People have had to give up their phones, whatevertimes, or they may even be homeless. Being able to use this behaveing service makes them JAKE Seem normal. TERESA Employable. Able to return calls. MERRIK Executive Offices, it says. later ten, and nobodys here? ( DEBBIE laughs) TERESA Can we reset it? JAKE How hard can it be? Half the idle mess here used to be in high tech. TERESA If you cant change the message, at least turn it off.DEBBIE (unplugs machine) Off with the bull cause (to MERRIK) Your Georgia job Did you accomplish it through this subroutine? MERRIK Not really- DEBBIE (goes back to her chair and paper) Now, how did I guess that? KIM How did you get it? MERRIK I heard about it from my cousin, a superstar of his DEBBIE My Dad s cousin got him work in construction, once. In Jersey. Hed only get home about every troika weekend. Meant he and Mom never had time to work things out. All they did was fight. TERESA That sounds so like my mothers stories of the Depression. When my grandfather went looking for odd jobs, weeks at a time..MERRIK The jobs like auditing, but theres a gross revenue aspect, too. First our group has to convince the company that we can make it them money. JAKE Sales ability Now, that doesnt surprise me, Merrik. I can lift up that in you. MERRIK You approximate so? I can do it, I have the . JAKE 90% of any job is sales. KIM Is that really true? Im terrible. Couldnt even sell girl scout cookies. JAKE Got to market your personality as well as your skills. MERRIK As in short as pursuit rates rise, real estate will be in the toilet JAKE Depends on what market. I mean, its not the class of people who can afford a couple million bucks who are hurting, is it?But those sales take time, those people are choosey MERRIK The Georgia job, I dont get give until the adjustments come in. It can take 6 months, 9 mon ths I tell my wife, have faith TERESA If you can be surely MERRIK My kids are all the time after me, they want stay here where their friends are, but I tell them have faith. The church building down theres strong, sgot real spirit. Theyd make new friends KIM My brother was sent South for canonic training. He said the people tough him like dirt. DEBBIE (reading, exclaims aloud) Jesus Christ MERRIK raw lady DEBBIE Sorry. I didnt mean this story, did you see it?Unemployed postal worker in St. Louis, shot up his boss and leash carriers and a cop. At his house, hed already killed his wife and kids. MERRIK Let me see. (takes newspaper) TERESA I heard about that. On the radio. JAKE There were a heedless of these things 10, 12 years ago. DEBBIE During the last round of lay offs. MERRIK The stead Office must be hiring straight out of the around the bend bin. TERESA Veterans get extra come ins on the exam, so there may be a lot who are trained in firearms. MERRIK Combat flash back , you think? JAKE Post traumatic. DEBBIE Postal traumatic. MERRIK Well, theyd bump weed out the crazies, and fast.DEBBIE Oh, the crazies are being weeded out. Along with the alcoholic, lazy, and the ones who cant put in enough overtime. MERRIK About time DEBBIE Good thing they didnt start weeding till my uncle Adam took the bonus. Hed have been mad weirdie enough to get down his shotgun. course, he drank, some, and he was authorizedly slow. But neither rain nor snow MERRIK Four days, for a letter from my wife If the mail went hidden DEBBIE Thered be no mail on Saturday, carriers would be green carders getting $5. 15 an hour KIM And no veterans preference points? MERRIK Whats your point?KIM My brother enlisted to get training for a good job. TERESA Be all you can be? KIM Ive thought about enlisting too. But Buddy lost the fingers off his right hand whats he going to do when he gets out? He cant go back to meat cutting. MERRIK Dont calculate the VA. Theyre shutting down, one by one. TERESA This office could find him something, dear. Helens a lifesaver. DEBBIE Something Executive? TERESA direction. Retraining. This is a really good program, at least for young people. Oldsters like me, nobody wants to look at us whatever we can do. KIM Theyd better find Buddy something. Cause hes so angry, he mightMERRIK So its OK to germinate people? If you lose your job? DEBBIE No, its not OK. But I go through it. Dont you? At least a story like this one makes more brain to me than the crap thats in the business fragment DOW up GE announces more layoffs the engine room Council wants more flexibility in the indorse program, to meet the overseas competition Do they really think all these electronic computer whizzes who used to make a one C thou a year are going to go quietly into burger-flipping? KIM What else can they do? DEBBIE How many Luddites does it take to loose all the light bulbs? JAKE God knows theres a lot of frustration.MERRIK (to KIM) God knows, thats a true saying. If we cleanse our hearts, and trust Him, He answers our prayers. JAKE Ive had bosses it wouldnt severalise my heart to see bleed. But shoot his own kids? MERRIK Now, that makes sense, in a certain cock-eyed way. If a fathers desperate enough to kill, but he loves his kids, how could he leave those kids to lay out it? Im not saying hes thinking right, but TERESA I wish Helen would get here. With both new clients DEBBIE Im not new. This is lay off number 5. Or maybe 25, depending on how you count it. TERESA Temp jobs? I dont think those count. KIM Theyd count for meI cant find anything at all. TERESA Substituting, temping, you know from the start its not going to last. JAKE Nothing lasts, these days. You got to plan ahead. Train or re-train. KIM Sure, train. But for what? DEBBIE Train, they told me. So now Im in debt up to my ears for what it cost me to learn programming. JAKE computer programing used to be hot. DEBBIE And now its not. JAKE Still. In a downturn, t hats the recommendation. Retrain, add new skills to your resume. DEBBIE go along paying tuition. Dangle that good job carrot, the old donkey keeps plodding along. TERESA Education is a persons best investment.DEBBIE Oh? Wheres it got you, lady? You just here to write a book? TERESA I never seemed to be in the right place at the right time. If I hadnt left teaching to raise my boys, Id be retired on a pension by now. But as a substitute, I DEBBIE I started out in the tool shop, with my dad. $12. 50 an hour, 18 for overtime. after(prenominal) the 3rd layoff I took the Expert Advice. Went to college. Got my 2 year certificate. Officially qualified to do scut work for some creep in a suit at sevener fifty an hour. Seven fifty With which Im supposed to buy all this fashion shit and look professional for ChrissakeBut even in drag, all I could get was temp work. So then its back to school for Programming. KIM I cant even get part time Walmart I thought anybody could get that. TERESA As soon as Helen gets here shell help you. She has a comprehensive list openings, training programs, subsidies, scholarships.. (phone rings) JAKE Should we answer it? DEBBIE Well, they cant leave a message, we unplugged the machine. MERRIK (answers) Executive offices. KIM (to TERESA) I hope youre right. This feels like it may be my last chance. DEBBIE Everybodys last chance. JAKE Youre young, youre healthy.Its not the end of the world. MERRIK Yeah. Ill tell people. (hangs up) This office is closed. TERESA Oh, my dear God. atomic number 18 you sure? This office? KIM Should we go to some other one? MERRIK Nobody knows. Theyve all been laid off, here. Budgets gone, the governor vetoed the restoration. JAKE That was Helen? TERESA But what will we do? MERRIK Leave, she says. And lock the door behind us. THE END home bio resume blog contact GL Horton monologues one-act plays full-length plays reviews essays links videos make on an by .