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13 WHIMPERS WHY by Jamiesan M.
Characters Dylan the Rottweiler, Male, Age 16 Lexine the Golden Retriever, Female, Age 16, A loner – all alone Setting The clean quiet suburban neighborhood of Burlingame next to the high school. It appears clean and happy and wealthy but behind the façade there are a pack of Pit Bulls with bad intentions that roam around. However, the Paw Patrol roll around the town keeping the streets clean. Time A winter Monday from 10 am to nighttime. At Rise Dylan walks down the sidewalk and glances over and sees Lexine, alone, outside her home. Dylan walks up to her and starts a conversation.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ SCENE ONE DYLAN (in a nervous voice) Hey, Lexine.
LEXINE (she is bummed out) Oh…hey, Dylan.
DYLAN What’s going on? You seem bummed out.
LEXINE Well, I’ve been thinking about/ (Gets cut off by her German Shepard Dad’s loud barking.)
DYLAN Is he barking about me?
LEXINE (sighs) Yeah…He doesn’t like me talking with anybody.
DYLAN Why not?
LEXINE Because he – (Gets cut off again by her Dad’s even louder barking. She sighs) That’s my cue to go now.
DYLAN Wait! Lexine, you wanna go out with… (Lexine has already left before Dylan could even notice.) Nice one, Dylan. (He sighs and slowly walks away disappointed.)
SCENE TWO (Dylan is in the dog park walking around. He’s annoyed.)
DYLAN That didn’t work. “You wanna go out?” Man, that line blows. (Dylan paces back and forth. His dad, a Rottweiler approaches from behind.) What am I going to do?! (His father barks in a humorous way and scares Dylan.)
Were you there the whole time?!
(Dylan’s father nods and smirks.)
DYLAN (in a sarcastic voice) Well, laugh it all up because, yeah, it’s so funny. (Dylan’s father is barking.) Hey, I don’t suck at picking up girls… I just…well, need time.
(Dylan’s father is barking in disappointment.)
DYLAN Hey, instead of berating me, can you just help me? (Dylan’s father barks and nods, then barks in a questioning way.)
Well…I like her pretty eyes. They shine even in a pitch black room.
(Dylan’s dad raises an eyebrow and barks.)
DYLAN Hey, I’m not soft. You’re soft. (Dylan’s father smiles and barks some more. Dylan shouts.) I’M NOT A SOFTY! (He sighs.) Anyway, without any more comments from you, I like her hair, the way it sways and the way she moves. Makes me wanna wag my tail. (Dylan speaks in a slow determined voice) Ohhhhh yeah. (Dylan gets distracted and carried away.) She can wag my tail anytime and Bow my Wow all night.
(Dylan’s father slaps him across the face with his paw and barks with anger.)
DYLAN (Confused voice.) Oww. What was that for?
(Dylan’s father barks firmly.)
DYLAN Sorry sir…but I can’t help it if I’ve liked her for so long!
(Dylan’s father barks and tilts his head)
DYLAN (Dylan speaks nervously.) For two years, Dad.
(Dylan’s father looks him straight in the eyes and gives him a stare that is the definition of disappointment.)
DYLAN Hey, I told you. I need help!
(Dylan’s father motions with his paw for Dylan to follow.)
DYLAN So what do I do? (Dylan’s father barks with determination.) So, I tell her I like her and what about her I like? (Dylan’s father nods.)
What if she doesn’t/ (He gets cut off.)
(Dylan’s father slaps Dylan again and barks with an annoyed expression.)
DYLAN Oww. All right, all right, I get it. Be confident. (Dylan’s father nods and looks forward) I’m pretty sure that this is animal abuse by the way.
(Dylan’s father winks at him and smirks.)
SCENE THREE
(At Lexine’s house. Her father barks in anger at Lexine. He is firm and defensive.)
LEXINE Dad, he wasn’t doing anything to me!
(Lexine’s father barks even louder in a sterner voice.)
LEXINE (Screaming.) He really wasn’t! Why can’t I ever talk to anybody?
(Lexine’s father gives an angry stare and paces back and forth in the room, giving Lexine a long lecture.) LEXINE But Dad, not all dogs are bad. I just wanna hang out with some other dogs.
(Lexine’s father stomps and barks continuously.)
LEXINE BUT/ (She gets cut off with more barking.) Fine, I am going to my room. Can’t even talk, anyway! (She goes up the stairs and slams the door behind her. Lexine paces around the room lightly, shedding tears. She is annoyed and sad.)
I just don’t get it.
(Lexine looks out the balcony and sees other dogs barking and playing and sighs.)
Wish that could be me.
(She lays down on her doggy bed and stares at the wall in a remorseful way. Lexine’s Paw Phone vibrates with a message. She talks in a sluggish tone.)
Wonder who that could be?
(Lexine picks up her Paw Phone and sees a message from Dylan She gets a serious expression.)
Oh…
(Lexine slightly feels warm inside but does not notice. She reads the message.)
“What’s up, Lexy?”
(Lexine raises a small smile on her face. She types back but her Paw Phone dies leaving the rest of Dylan’s message unread.)
LEXINE (Sighing) Today is not my day, is it? … It’s never my day. (Lexine tosses her Paw Phone away and lies back down on the floor. She talks in a slow slumped tone.) Hmm… This sucks…I suck…and life sucks. (She looks out the window and stares at the sky.) Wonder if there’s a doggy heaven… One way to find out…See you soon, Mom. SCENE FOUR (The doggy park midafternoon. Lexine rests on a park bench, sitting motionless with a blank expression on her face. Dylan enters the park and sees Lexine sitting alone. Dylan sits with her.)
DYLAN Hey, Lexine. I’ve been looking for you. There is something I have to talk about.
(Lexine just stays quiet and stares at the fresh cut grass.)
DYLAN Lexine?
LEXINE My mother used to take me out to this park when I was younger. (Her voice has no emotion)
DYLAN Oh…, did she?
LEXINE Yeah… When my dad was out on patrol, she would watch over me until Dad got off of work.
DYLAN On patrol?
LEXINE My dad is in the K-9 unit in the Paw Patrol.
DYLAN That explains why he’s so aggressive all the time.
LEXINE No, that’s not why. (Starts tearing up.)
DYLAN (In a concerned voice.) Lexine, are you okay?
LEXINE (In an evasive manner.) I’m fine.
DYLAN You can tell me, it’s okay.
(Lexine wipes her tears with her paw and slowly talks in a broken voice.)
LEXINE One night, my mother was walking me home from the park… (She pauses to wipe her tears once more.)
DYLAN (Comforting voice.) Go on.
LEXINE These Pit Bulls came and tried to take me away, but my mom tried to stop them.. I just closed my eyes and laid down on the ground, shaking. I heard loud barking and loud whimpering that started to fade to silence.
(Dylan is completely caught off guard. He didn’t expect to hear this today. He is surprised.)
DYLAN Oh…
LEXINE Then…I heard sirens and running…I looked up and…my mom was lying down motionless.
DYLAN
When was this?!
LEXINE I was only two years old. My father comes running and covers my eyes with his paws and says, “Don’t look.”. She was my only friend. I had nobody to talk to after that.
DYLAN Nobody?
LEXINE My dad wouldn’t let me talk to other dogs after that. “All dogs are bad,” he says. I’m tired of it. I am completely fed up with it. I … feel so alone…all of this silence and loneliness. I’ve just had enough.
(Dylan wants to tell her how he feels about her but he just freezes and just stares at her. Lexine looks Dylan straight in the eyes and says with the most chilling, dead on the inside expression…)
LEXINE We’re all going to die eventually… why prolong the inevitable?
(Dylan’s heart drops all the way down and he is at a loss for words. Lexine stands up and leaves the park and heads up the street.)
DYLAN Uhh.. Uhh.. Uhh.. I …killed her. If I said something…
(Dylan stops talking and slumps by the bench, traumatized from the whole ordeal. The sun begins to set and night is about to fall.)
SCENE FIVE
(Downtown at sunset. Lexine runs down the road with tears in her eyes, heading to the train track to finally end the social silence, with complete silence. As she runs, her Paw Phone vibrates. She checks it and sees that it is Dylan.)
LEXINE (Puzzled.) Dylan?
DYLAN’S TEXT Lexine, please stop what you are doing and listen to me. I understand the pain and the sadness you are enduring. And you think you’re in this all alone, but you don’t have to be. You got me. I like you, Lexine. Like, really like you. Everything about you is completely perfect to me. I love your pretty eyes that shine like diamonds, I love your beautiful hair and the way you walk makes my tail wag. Please don’t do this…I need you…I want you…and I love you.
(Surprised, Lexine stops walking and just stares at her phone, crying her eyes out but this time for once in happiness.) LEXINE
Ohh, Dylan.
(Lexine wants to see Dylan so she turns around and walks back to the park.)
LEXINE Oh shoot, it’s nine o’clock. My dad is going to kill me. My curfew is at eight. I better hurry. My dad is going to flip out.
(Lexine is just a few blocks from the park when she encounters a group of Pit Bulls looking right at her.)
Excuse me, I am in a hurry.
(The Pit Bulls block her path.)
I said, excuse me.
(The Pit Bulls shove Lexine to the ground and circle around her, wagging their tails in her face.)
LEXINE
OH MY GOD, get your tail out of my face!!! No, Please!!!
(Dylan, still in the park trying to recover from the previous fiasco with Lexine, hears the barking and whimpering.)
DYLAN Who is that? Wait, I recognize that whimpering… It’s Lexine! (He gets off the bench and bolts toward the noise)
Lexine, Lexine, Lexine!
(He reaches the scene and sees the Pit Bulls wagging their tails at Lexine.)
Nobody Bows her Wow but me!
(Dylan rushes the Pit Bulls but unfortunately fails and is knocked to the ground. The Pit Bulls begin biting Dylan over and over again.)
DYLAN
This is not going as planned.
LEXINE DYLAN?! (Lexine is reminded of how her mom tried to save her but failed to do so. It feels like an eternity but she finally hears sirens. The Pit Bulls run off. Lexine’s father approaches.)
Dad?!, Dad, I’m so glad to see you. These Pit Bulls came and tried to wag their tails at me but Dylan came and…OH NO, DYLAN!
(Lexine gets up and rushes toward Dylan. She puts her paws on his wounds, trying to stop the bleeding but it isn’t going to make a difference. Dylan is in critical condition.)
LEXINE Dylan… you would risk your life for me??
(Dylan raises his head off the ground, looks Lexine straight in her eyes and manages to speak out.)
DYLAN …Yeah..I…would…and I …did.
(Dylan smiles and lowers his head and his eyes shut immediately.)
LEXINE
NO, Dylan!
(Lexine sheds tears over Dylan’s lifeless body. Lexine’s father comes over, takes off his little patrol hat and looks down at Dylan with pride and respect.)
LEXINE See, Dad…there are good dogs in this world.
THE END |
