A Play by Javier H.
Performance: November, 2002
Hillcrest Juvenile Hall, San Mateo
Chararacters: T-Bo the Redwood Tree, age 15
Lena the Redwood Tree, age 32, T-Bo’s mom
Time:4:00pm, Today
Place:In Redwood City, Rolison Street. In the backyard. It’s big, has grass all over the place. It has flowers, roses. There’s a house. It has a nice smell, it smells like the cologne of the owner’s house. There’s people playing around, playing basketball. We can hear cars passing by. Everything is all nice, organized.
At Rise: T-Bo the Redwood Tree and his Mom are having dinner.
| T-Bo: |
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Mom, I wanna know where my dad is at.
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| Mom: |
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I got no idea where he’s at.
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| T-Bo: |
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What do you mean you don’t know where he’s at? You know where he at. You just don’t wanna tell me. You have something secret between you and my dad.
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| Mom: |
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No I don’t.
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| T-Bo: |
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If don’t have a secret, just tell me where my dad is at. |
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| Mom: |
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I don’t want you to meet your real dad, because your dad is not a good father. He used to be in the backyard – drinking salt water, smoking grass. He never took care of you. He never used to feed you. Basically, he didn’t care about you. |
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| T-Bo: |
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I think you’re lying, ‘cause you never told me that. |
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| Mom: |
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I ain’t lying to you son. I’m your mom, so how can I be lying to you?
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| T-Bo: |
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I know you’re my mom and everything. I trust you, but in a way I don’t. I can see it in your face. Like you trying to act all serious. When you talk to me, you don’t even want to look at me, make eye contact. |
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| Mom: |
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(Starts crying) It’s time for me to stop lying and tell you the truth. I don’t want you to meet your real dad ‘cause I don’t want you to know how I was when I was with him.
(T-Bo gets hella mad and starts throwing leaves around) |
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| Mom: |
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Son. Calm down. I’ll tell you where your dad is at. I’ll give you a few days to calm down. |
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| T-Bo: |
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No. I want to know right now. I want to find out the truth – why you left him or why he left you. So are you going to tell me? Or are you going to keep lying to me? |
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| Mom: |
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No. I’m going to tell you the truth right now. I was cheating on him. I wasn’t coming home. I was around my friends, hanging out, going to parties, getting drunk. Basically, you’re going to find out he left because I was doing all this kind of stuff. |
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| T-Bo: |
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So where he at? |
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| Mom: |
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He lives in the jungle. |
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| T-Bo: |
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I don’t know where the jungle’s at. |
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| Mom: |
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He’s in Africa. |
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| T-Bo: |
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Thank you for telling me where he’s at. I still love you. But you have to go. I don’t want you to be around ‘cause you lied all this time. |
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| Mom: |
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I’ll go. ‘Cause I did lie to you. Son, remember that I still love you. And I’ll be here for you if you need me. Goodbye.
(She hugs and kisses him.) |
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The End. |
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