A Play by Trey

CHARACTERS:

PHAT CAT, an alley cat. 21 years old. J-CAT, an alley cat, 22 years old.

           

SETTING:

In an alleyway. Tall buildings. The buildings are mostly abandoned. Most of them are the back of run down stores and old used apartments. It seems like the garbage truck never comes through so it really smells like raw fish and dirty air.

TIME: Night time. 10:02PM
AT RISE: Phat Cat and J Cat are running down the alley from their rivals the house cats who run in a pack. Phat Cat is not so athletic. He is not used to running that much.


J-CAT
Cum on, man, hurry up.
 
PHAT CAT
 I’m comin’, you always got me gettin into stuff.
 
J-CAT
 I should have left yo scary ass in the alley way, punk.
 
(They slow down. The rivals are no where in sight.)
 
PHAT CAT
 I’m the one who went to the SPCA for yo ass you dig when I ran through pet co.
 
J-CAT
I knew you had a grudge against me for that friskey we stole from pet co. Let that stuff go, man. (Pause.) We boys.
 
PHAT CAT
I did ten years fa that.

(There is silence between them. J Cat stares at Phat Cat.)
 
J-CAT
So we boys or what?

(Phat Cat is thinking.)
 
PHAT CAT
Yea yea we boys till our nine lives die
 
J-CAT
Alright so what we finna do
 
PHAT CAT
Im to the house.
 
J-CAT
(Sarcasm) Man you to the house our night just started. We got to get up on that cat nip, get us some kitty kat. All we gotta do is go up under the freeway to my spot and we good.
 
PHAT CAT
Man I cant be doin what I used to do. I got a family. I aint trynna get into trouble no more. Im trynna live my nine lives. Its bad Im with you right now.
 
J-CAT
(Cuts Phat Cat off)  So what you sayin? It’s bad you with me? What is that supposed to mean?
 
PHAT CAT
Man its nothing like that, Siamese just be on my line. Knock yourself out, man. Have fun for me. Come by my spot in the morning and tell me how it went.
 
J-CAT
(To himself.) Man I knew this cat all my life and I know he didn’t just turn me down after all we been through. I feel like this cat ain’t got no love for me even though I don’t really like him. He gon’ probably steal my shine. This make me sick. He act like we never ran around together, stealin, fightin the rival cats. He act like its all my fault they chasin us now. He act like he better than me. He get all the kitties. He got Siamese. He get all the attention. He popular, he look good, his personality, his swag, the way he carry his self, the kitties love him but he not even a house cat. He live in the alley too. He really make me sick to my stomach. I wanna have good kitties treat me like a regular cat and not like a fur ball. But I never let it show. This fool, I’m tryin to manipulate him. I been wantin to trick this fool into doin dirty work so I can see him go down hill. (To PHAT CAT) You know what, man  you need to come with me. It aint what you gotta do, it’s what we gotta do. And I ain’t goin by myself. I got a fresh box of kitty litter, too.
 
PHAT CAT
 I’m not goin’. I’m goin home to my family. I’m tired of this. Runnin around doin all this trouble, we getting too old for this, this is getting played out. I been out in the streets all my life. I wake up, I smell the same dead raw fish from the night before. All I see is buildings around the alleyway I live in. The buildings is abandoned, all boarded up and we can’t get in when its cold. Its cold most nights. And dark, man. It’s dark out here. Creepy when the lights come on. All you see in the alley is rats running in and out of the trash you see bum’s walking back in forth car horns, police sirins going off, needles from feins – the sirens be scarin my daughter at night.
 
J-CAT
I was there before Siamese. I was there before your daughter. So you gon pick them over me? I’m your family. I was there when you had your first can of Friskies. I was there when you met your first lady. We from the streets, remember that?

PHAT CAT
I know we family. I know we been through everything. I got dreams. I want to pursue my dreams. I want to show my family that I can take care of them. I want to show my daughter that she got somebody to depend on. I don’t want her eatin out the garbage can. I don’t want her to be like none of these little kitties out here on the corner. They stink, they don’t lick they fur so they look like a fur ball walkin around, goin from corner to corner trynna use somebody for something. My daughter aint gon be like that, man.
 
J-CAT
Alrite, man I understand all that. I almost got hit in the head with a bottle the other day by a bum. Almost lost my life, too. We live on the streets, We take risks everyday. I know its hard but we gotta do what we gotta do to survive.
 
PHAT CAT
We take risks but we gotta make better decisions for ourselves. I don’t want to be a real street cat.
 
J-CAT
 But you are.
 
PHAT CAT
I don’t want to be stereotyped to be a bad cat like the rest. I’m trynna stay outta cat jail and be with my family so I can be a good parent. Being a good parent will take away the emptyness that I feel in side of me. My mom and dad wasn’t family oriented. I got a daughter, J-Cat. I got to be with my family, man.
 
 J-CAT
Please Phat please just come with me. This can be our last night together. After that we can change. I know this abandoned house around the way. We can start changing tomorrow.

(PHAT CAT begins to think hard. They start walking.)
 
PHAT CAT
 I just don’t want to go back to jail. I don’t want to lose no more time in my life. That’s why I try to act different. I go to the fancy restaurants and hang out in the back and wait for the owner to throw me some of that good food. If I act calm and not bad I can have a better life. My mom and dad live in a house in the next town. And I’m out here in the cold.

(The streetlights turn on. They stop walking.)

PHAT CAT
 Look, I’m goin’ home whether you like it or not.

J-CAT
(Looks at Phat with a serious but angry expression)  I don’t want to be lonely. When you was in jail I was thinking about you. I was missing you. You know how that feels? I have no one to talk to. We knew each other since we was babies. You all I got. My mom never raised me. The streets did. That’s why I stay to myself and I don’t trust no one. You ain’t leavin unless you comin with me. Whether you like it or not.

(PHAT CAT starts walking away. Then he stops and turns around.)
 
PHAT CAT
 I got this kind of feelin, ever since we was little I knew deep down you don’t really like me. You always wanted me to get in trouble. You want something from me. So what is it?

J-CAT
 Look, man, I love you with all my heart. I always loved you. I never want to see you go downhill. Look, all I want you to do is come chill with me, come relax. (J-CAT sees an old fish bone on the ground. To himself.) If Phat Cat don’t come with me, I’m uh pick that fish bone up and stab him so hard. Trynna swag like he a house cat. He think he better than somebody.

(J-CAT goes to pick up the fish bone. PHAT CAT is thinking to himself and does not see this. )
 
PHAT CAT
(to himself) Let me just get him off my back and go with him. (To J-Cat) Ok, J-Cat, I’m gonna go with you under the freeway, I’m uh chill with you for a little bit and then I’m done. I’m leavin with my family tomorrow.

(J-CAT lets the fish bone fall out of his paw.)
 
J-CAT
 Tomorrow? Where?
 
PHAT CAT
 Out of the alley. It’s cold. C’mon.

(They start walking down the street.)
 
J-CAT
Man, this stuff gets on my nerves. I hate living like this I hate stealing I feel so incomplete. I want to come up, too, and live lavish. I want to live in a house. I don’t want to be killed by stealing or by the rival gang.
 
PHAT CAT
Then do the right thing. You always coming by and telling me to come with you and do bad things. I been in cat jail for most of my years of life with no cat smarts. My family needs my support. That’s why I be with them fetching my food the right way and doing the right thing. I do not want to go down hill like my parents did me, and leave my family stranded with no father in the picture. Look at me now. I have no stable home and I’m struggling. Yeah, I wanna do dirt. I wanna go to pet co and steal but I want to do the right thing man my two lady’s need the best, they should be treated like queens. That’s why I carry my daughter’s flea collar around with me. To remind me that I need to do what’s right. I almost didn’t make it home when the rival cats was runnin me down one night. What’s gone happen to my daughter if I don’t come home one day cause I‘m out here doin dirt? She and her mama is depending on me. They should be treated like queens.

(J-CAT runs in the corner store and tries to grab a can of Friskies. As he is running away the owner of the store grabs PHAT CAT because PHAT CAT does not run fast. J-CAT gets away. PHAT CAT is taken to jail. For life.)

EPILOGUE
 
(J-CAT is laying in his cardboard box under the freeway smiling and laughing to himself.)
                                                                       
J-CAT
That’s Phat Cat’s last time gettin’ into trouble. I’m glad he out my way. Tomorrow the first thing I’m uh do is see what’s up with Siamese and my stepdaughter. “Look Siamese, I found yo daughter flea collar. It was on the ground. The rival cats took Phat Cat out and I got uh way. When he was dyin’ he told me to take care of you and the baby. So I’m here now. And I ain’t no fur ball.”

THE END



back