A Play by Loyd R.

Performance: February, 2002
Youth Guidance Center, San Francisco


Characters: Lightning: 25 years old, a lightening flash
Burnt Out: 16 yeard old, a forest fire
Time:
2:30pm
Place: Redwood City Hills
At Rise: Winter-Foggy.  Lightning is coming down.  BurntOut  hanging among trees.  Lightning hits a tree which starts BurntOut. He burns a little bit, then wears off.

 



Lightning:

Why you do that? You tried to stop yourself, wear off.

   
Burnt Out: Yeah, so what.
   
Lightning: What you mean so what? I thought you was going to help me burn down trees.
   
Burnt Out: I’m sick and tired of burning trees.  I want to do something better in my life than burn down trees.  I want friends.  Someone to show me right from wrong.
   
Lightning: Are you sayin’ I can’t show you right from wrong?
   
Burnt Out:   Obviously you can’t show me what’s right ‘cause all you been showin’ me is wrong.
   
Lightning:   I think I been showin’ you how to get revenge on who put out our mother and father.
   
Burnt Out:  

I love my mother and father but I don’t want revenge.  I want revenge by doing the right thing.  By showin’ them, growin’ up, doin’ the right thing, I can be the fire that they wanted me to be.

   
Lightning:   I ain’t feeling you man!
   
Burnt Out:   You just tried to hurt one of my friends, you tried to set him on fire!  I was just havin’ a good conversation about me havin’ friends and you came and did that!
   
Lightning:   So what!  I don’t care about you havin’ a conversation with a tree.  I think trees had something to do with our mom and dad being killed!
   
Burnt Out:   No, not that one!  That tree right there wants to be my friend.  The tree told me all I have to do is stop burning stuff up and then I’d be able to have friends.  He told me if I don’t stop, the firemen could come and put me out.  I don’t want to be put out!  I want to have friends, I don’t want to be known as a bully all my life.  I want friends that goin’ to keep me out of trouble, that’s goin’ to tell me what’s right, that’s goin’ to show me respect for other things in the forest.  If I woulda had my mother and father I woulda been taught right from wrong, I don’t know that right now that’s why I want a friend- a good role model who could teach me this stuff so I can change my way of thinkin’ negative stuff into positive stuff which would better myself down the line in my life.
   
Lightning:   BurntOut , I feel your directionless.  You didn’t even know mom and dad!  The right thing to do is get revenge!  And to get revenge, I’m going to burn everything down.  I’ve been cheated and annoyed.  I don’t know who did it but I feel everyone should pay for it, except you.  I want to set fires and I really need your help.  I need you lil bra to help me finish off what I started.  Come on lil bra.  Let’s do this for mom and dad.  I really want revenge for what happened.  I want to show them they made a bad mistake.  They made us lose our family, our loved ones.  They left me on earth with you to raise, which makes me feel helpless.  You were helping me out, now you want to stop.
   
Burnt Out:   I don’t want to be the bad guy all my life.  I’m tired of livin the way I been livin!  Either respect my mind and what I want or stay out of my life.  Point Blank.  Who you with!
   
Lightning:   I’m with myself right now as I can see I’m going to get revenge with or without you.  It really doesn’t matter.
 
Burnt Out:   You can hurt me, and my friends, big bra.  You can hurt me by getting my friend on fire and then you can hurt my friends by killing them.  And if it’s always going to be fires, I’m not going to have any friends.  I feel you are trying to mess up my dream.
   
Lightning:   I feel the same way too.
   
Burnt Out:   Why you acting like this?  You acting like you just want to be a stone cold killer.  Since your life is all messed up, why should you mess up everybody elses.  Big Brother, I think you should be acting like a role model.  A person who should teach his younger brother good things to do and to direct him to positive stuff as he grows up.  And I feel that you haven’t did that.  I don’t want to lose you big bra but the way things are going, it seems like that’s what I’m going to have to do.  Move on with my life.  With or without you.
   
Lightning:   I care for you, but if that’s the way you want it, then you got it.
   
Burnt Out:  

I feel you don’t care.’Cause your still tryin’ to burn everything down. Kill everyone and everything.  That could lead to you killing me. If you keep starting me, the firemen will put me out. I feel you’re selfish.

   
Lightning:  

Selfish?  Basically I took care of you.  I brought you along with me.  I looked over you, fed you, watched over you.  I had no help.  I did it by myself.

   
Burnt Out:  

That was then, but how you actin’ now?

   
Lightning:   How am I actin’?
   
Burnt Out:   Like you don’t care for nothin!
   
Lightning:   What you mean?  I care for you!  We had some good times together…playin’, wrestling.  I would feel hostile and concerned if anythig were to threaten you Burnt Out.  The only person I’ve got is my little brother.  I trust you, it’s not easy to find someone to trust.  We know eachother well.  The only thing that makes me feel good is you and settin’ fires.  And right now you’re making me feel discouraged because I’m tryin’ to get something done and you keep messin’ it up for me.
   
Burnt Out:   I’m tired of this!  You don’t care, you keep tryin’ to trick me into settin’ fires.
   
Lightning:   I don’t want to destroy you or what you want but if you keep getting in my way, I’m going to have to do what I have to do! (Lightning sets a tree on fire.)
   
Burnt Out:   Why you doin’ that?  Stop!  (Lightning sets another tree on fire and another)
   
Lightning:   I’m goin’ to prove to you that nothin’ or no one can stop me!  (sets some more trees on fire)
   
Burnt Out:   You’re killin’ my friends!
   
Lightning:   So What!  I’m mad!  I’m mad cause you don’t want to help me no more!  I’m mad ‘cause mom and dad were put out!  I’m mad at the firemen!  I’m mad at myself ‘cause I don’t know who killed our parents!  (Has set all the trees on fire)
   
Burnt Out:   Why?  Why you doin’ all this?  There’s nothin’ left!  Look at all this smoke!  The firemen are on their way…  I can hear the sirens!  (Burnt Out sizzles as he is put out by the firemen.)
   
    Burnt Out!  Burnt Out!  (no sound)  Burnt Out!  (silence)
   
Lightning:   Rest in Peace, Burnt Out.  I remember when I was playin’ in the woods with you and we went back to where we used to live and saw that mom and dad had been put out, water had been thrown on them and smoke was all over the place.  I was mad and started goin’ around burnin’ stuff.  I messed up, cause I haven’t achieved nothin!  I didn’t get revenge on the people that killed our mother and father, I killed you.
     
    The End.


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