Fresh Out! (2008)
A Play by Eric V.
CHARACTERS:
CHAOS, Black Dodge Charger SRT-8, 4 years old.
PORSHA, Mercedes Benz, female, 17 years old.
SETTING:
On the Street
AT RISE:
Chaos has just gotten out of the Impound Yard, and finds Porsha
CHAOS
WooOoow! I’m finally out of the impound. It feels great. I’m so happy. Feels good to rev this engine again, get back on my wheels.
PORSHA
Me too! I’m so glad it’s finally over. You’re really out! It seemed like forever.
CHAOS
Forever for you? Haha, You was still out enjoying the world witcho family & friends while I was locked away like an animal! It seemed like eternity for me. I thought my day was never going to come.
PORSHA
Ha! You make it seem as if it was just a breeze for me. Yeah like mea and your family didn’t miss you one bit, right? I feel as I haven’t lived since you were taken in.
CHAOS
Yeah, you right. It must have been hard for you guys. But wutchu mean you haven’t lived?
PORSHA
Ever since you left me, I don’t talk to anyone. I don’t like doing nothing either. I just go to school, den back to da house and work. I have really been miserable without chu.
CHAOS
Yeah, I never thought about it, but I did just leave you all alone with out cho man. I left my family, everyone, to just deal with it. Believe me woman, I was miserable. I was right there witchu, I was.
PORSHA
Yeah you did, straight up. It was horrible. So tell me, how was it in there?
CHAOS
I didn’t want to but I had to, I had no choice. It was the worst tho Porsha.
PORSHA
Yeah, well you did! I hope you learned something.
CHAOS
I did, I learned a lot. Going to the impound was really a life changing experience.
PORSHA
We’ll have to see about that, won’t we?
CHAOS
No! No! Fo’reals it was.
PORSHA
You know how many times you have told me that? ‘Yeah, I’ma change my ways, I’ma straighten out’ You even told your Momz hella times!
CHAOS
Yeah I have, but I have never gone through so much before! I still remember at court with Mom and having to watch her face as I was escorted to the impound. I felt so ashamed, as if I had failed, worthless, crushed.
PORSHA
You see! Look at what your mother had to go through. Just imagine how she must have felt.
CHAOS
I can only imagine! I didn’t even want to look at her because of the shame and guilt I felt.
PORSHA
Really though you put a lot of stress on her. Not even just being locked up but the things you was doing before that led you there.
CHAOS
I still remember being in there like it was yesterday. It was horrible. Every car parked so tightly like we were in separate garages with no one to talk to.
PORSHA
Before you went in there, I remember you always telling me you didn’t know how you were going to make it there.
CHAOS
I didn’t know how to react. I was in shock. After that I became very emotional. I was so disheartened, lonely & depressed. I had so much time on my wheels, and I thought about my whole life from becoming a vehicle in production, to this yard I was in.
PORSHA
Yeah, I was sad knowing that you was locked away like an animal. I know it was hard for you. Your mother and I talked a lot about you while we have grown close to each other.
CHAOS
I’m really glad my mother and you have grown closer.
PORSHA
Yeah, me too. She knows she my mother in law.
CHAOS
So what did you girls talk about?
PORSHA
We talked about you always being away from home and your family. How it seemed so much easier for you to go and be in the streets with your friends than to listen to your mother. I don’t understand you. I told you what you.
CHAOS
She likes you a lot Porsha, you know that. I’m sure you help one another. As for me, I had no one to tell how I was feelin. It was just me, myself and I. For the first time in my life I was taken from my family, my rydas. I had no connection to da outside world. Just a few days before I got put in, I was out with them living the lifestyle that got me there. I would post up at the shop, chill, get buzzed off coolant, and exhaust fumes. And that’s just say the least. During this time I honestly thought I was doing nothing wrong. But coming to the impound I have had the opportunity to sit and think about my actions and how I have affected my family.
PORSHA
You’re not getting it! Have you benefited from, have you learned anything from this experience that can help us?! With our plans of becoming married, having our own family? If you continue with what you’re doing, I’m not going to deal with it, I’m not! I don’t want to hurt anymore! The time you spent away from me all the suffering I went through. I felt I was deserted, empty, unloved. You were a part of my life! I felt distant from you. You weren’t there when I needed you! And if you continue I won’t be waiting around for you Chaos.
CHAOS
Porsha, if I could say there’s one thing I have learned about myself from being put in the impound. All I ever thought about was myself. I never cared about nothing but Chaos. I was selfish. I was always expecting something back. If I wasn’t getting nothing out of it, Ha! I wasn’t goin to do nuthin. It was always about me. I was affecting my family, my loved ones. From realizing this, I learned that I no longer wanted to live a life of crime. I was done! This wasn’t he place for me, I didn’t want to come back to the impound. I no longer am the Chaos we all once knew. I want my family, you Porsha (to know) that I I want to support you all, be a responsible car. It’s not about me anymore. It’s about what I can bring to the table, what I have to offer. I will take care of my family. I don’t want to lose the woman I love.
PORSHA
Are you going to change?
CHAOS
I am done with the lifestyle I lived.
PORSHA
And why should I believe you now? You have always told me that you were never going to go to the impound, and where did you end up? Always telling me not to worry about you!
CHAOS
Because I’m telling you I have changed! Yeah, I said that before, but I also thought I was invisible, like I was never going to get caught.
PORSHA
And what happened when you went off wit cho friends and ended up in the impound, leaving me and your family in the dust, rejected and mournful? And for what? So you could be ryden the streets wit cho friends, rite?
CHAOS
I wasn’t thinking Porsha, I didn’t realize what I was putting you all through!
PORSHA
Yeah, I can tell! There’s a lot of things you don’t realize Chaos. While you were sitting in the impound. who was emailing you everyday? I was! Who was visiting you on a weekly basis? Your mother was! So you wanna tell me how many of your so called Rydaz emailed you?
CHAOS
None of Rydaz emailed me. None! All I had in there was you and my Mother, no one else. You’re right. Dats the mistake I have made and I have learned from this. It really had been a life changing experience. I love my mother so much. I love you so much, Porsha! It disheartens me. I am so ashamed for putting you all through that.
PORSHA
You say you are going to change! You have learned! And benefited from your experience! But I’m hopeless, I have heard this from you before. I will just have to wait and let your actions speak for you words.
CHAOS
This has been an experience for me and this is something I want to do. I no longer am doing this for you Porsha, for my mother, my family, but for myself. I no longer want this for myself. I have put you through so much pain and sorrow and I apologize. You know what the saddest thing about this is Porsha?
PORSHA
What’s that?
CHAOS
Is that it took me going to the impound and putting my loved ones through what I did to realize the lifestyle I was living was harming not only myself, but also my loved ones.
THE END
