a play by Jeff W.

Performance: March 2005
Hillcrest Juvenile Hall, San Mateo


Characters: LO–E, a 12 string electric guitar, 6 years old
HONKEY, a fender guitar pick, he’s 1 year old.
Setting: A Studio
Habitat: A group home in Turlock. A studio in the basement of one of the houses. The guitar’s habitat is full of bass guitars, 6 string, 12 strings, drums, picks, and amplifiers. It is a small basement where they are partially cramped. It smells peaceful. It tastes like burnt fuses. It sounds like art, sorrows, pain, anger, and love. It feels the coldness of a metal guitar stand.
Time: 1989. August. Tuesday. Dawn.
At Rise: It’s dawn and LO-E has just woken up and he goes to wake up his best friend HONKEY in his sleeping place, he looks in between his strings and sees that he’s not there. He starts to look everywhere. Then he finds him on the floor. Broken in half.



Lo-E:

(screams at the top of his lungs)
Dude! What happened?

Honkey:

Dumb-ass kid stepped on me.

Lo-E: How did you fall out of my neck?
Honkey:

I slipped out of your strings to get a midnight snack.

Lo-E:

Then how did you get broken?

Honkey: That dumb little pot-head came home last night hella stoned with his friends and stepped on me. It hurt so much when I broke.
Lo-E: Can you still go on stage to play?
Honkey:

Are you freaking kidding me? I can’t go on stage like this, it would kill me.

Lo-E: I guess I can’t go on stage then.
Honkey: Why?
Lo-E: I refuse to go on stage without you. You know it’s my biggest fear to go on stage without you. I don’t trust any other pick, you know that. You are my best friend. I also need you up there for moral support.
Honkey: Well, would I be able to find another pick that you would trust? Oh, my brother, he would come and–
Lo-E: Hell no, your brother is a death metal guitar pick. That would be the last pick I trust.
Honkey: Well, hmmmm, if there is no one else that you can trust but me. I guess I have no choice but to go on stage. I hope you know that this is probably gonna cripple me for life. But I’m still gonna do it for you, only because you have so much potential and I will be going out with one hell of a bang.
Lo-E:

Oh, my God! Thank you so much. You can’t believe how much this means to me.

Honkey: Just remember when we are up there that you need to play your ass off.
Lo-E: Don’t worry, I will. Well let’s go practice now.
(LO-E goes to practice while HONKEY sits and cheers him on. The boy plays without a pick.)
Lo-E:

Hey, Honkey, make sure that you be more careful tonight if you want to go get another snack.

Honkey:

Don’t worry, I will. Let’s go to bed now.
(HONKEY and LO-E get onto the guitar stand and they relax and start to sleep.)
(LO-E wakes up in the middle of the night with a dream.)

Lo-E:

(thinking to himself.)
Whoa, what the hell was that about? Why did Honkey die? Maybe I shouldn’t go on stage tomorrow. Am I being a bad friend letting Honkey go on stage with his current problem? I just need to go back to sleep. I’m just anxious for tomorrow.
(LO-E goes back to sleep and start to dream again.)
(They wake up the next morning and LO-E goes to wake up HONKEY)

Lo-E:

Honkey, wake up. I had a bad dream last night and it was that you had died. I woke up and started to think. Then I decided that I am not going to go on stage tomorrow.

Honkey: What the hell are you talking about? How can you even pass up the chance to have Jimmy Page play you on stage? You’re telling me that your ultimate dream has been made possible, and you are going to pass it up because of me.
Lo-E: I had a dream last night and decided that I was being a bad friend forcing you to go on stage with your current condition.
Honkey: You’re not forcing me, I chose to go up there with you.
Lo-E: I wouldn’t be a good friend it I let you hurt yourself like that.
Honkey: Then what are you gonna do?
Lo-E: I guess I’ll settle for second best and make a family, and not follow through with my dream. I don’t know, maybe I’ll go find a girl or something and settle down.
 
Honkey: How can you even say that? You need to go up there and kick some ass.
Lo-E: I think maybe I will just settle down and maybe have some little banjoes.
Honkey: You have lost it. Have you and that little pot-head been hanging out lately? Oh my God, did you drink the rubbing alcohol again?
Lo-E: No, I’m serious. I think I’m just going to relax and live a happy life. I just hope you will be with me on this. I just need to find some kind of happiness other than playing music.
Honkey: Well if you are serious, then I am gonna back you on that. We better find me a girl too then.
Lo-E: Don’t trip, we will.
(Then they start to listen to some Nirvana and they plan of the days to come.)
The End.


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