A Play by Cesia
| CHARACTERS: |
HUEVONA el turtle, age—18 slow motions
SLIPPERY the penguin (Huevona’s brother), age—20 fast motions SETTING: In Miami on the beach. Waves crashing. When the sun changes color the water also changes color. The water’s purple. It gets darker and darker. When the waves crash you hear techno music. Humans surfing, segals yapping, people kayaking. Sand castles built by children. Crabs are snapping their claws. The sun is a disco ball, silver and shiny. The sand tastes salty sour.
|
| TIME: |
7:00PM. Summer.
|
| AT RISE: |
Huevona is coming out of the water. She sees her brother Slippery waiting for her on the shore. He’s mean mugging and tapping his foot on the sand.
|
SLIPPERY
She comes out of the ocean and comes on land and sees me. She is still affected by the worms. She walks slower than usual, eyes squinted. I notice it and tell her what’s wrong with you why all of a sudden you walking slower, you hungry, smelling like worms. I don’t like you hanging out with your party animals. (To HUEVONA.) Where have you been, young lady. I’ve been worried sick about you!
HUEVONA
(Laughs) Don’t trip! I had to handle business.
SLIPPERY
Oh hell no! Don’t be talking to me like I’m one of your lowlife friends. All they do is eat worms and snif moss on top of that they don’t even have any job what—kind of friends of are those?
HUEVONA
You know what? One day when I was swimming in the ocean a hammerhead tried to get at me. After we started talkin I relize I didn’t like him as a boyfriend but as a best friend be/cuz he was like a brother. I found out that his mom died. I found out by Shyster the penguin. She told me. Once I found out I felt more connected to him. I’m hella tired of you getting all up in my face like it’s the thing to do. All you do is yap yap & yap like them segals on the beach. I don’t want to waste my time with you yapin I ain’t no segal you can yap all you want when I leave. (Laughing) I hate to see you yappin all alone ha I take that back you’ll be yappin with the segals oh! There they are they over there.
SLIPPERY
You know I don’t like the way you’re talkin to me. I’ve done so much for you like I clean the beach, I feed you and you’re treating me like this!
HUEVONA
Oh! So your tryin to turn this back on me. (Ha) You know whats funny you always act like your perfect like you’ve never done anything wrong. Your quick to judge. I don’t know how you could live like that.
SLIPPERY
It’s not even like that. Just cuz I’ve been good doesn’t mean I’m perfect. I’ve learned from my mistakes. I’m doing good be/cuz of me. Not because of my friends, not because of anybody but be/cuz of me. And be/cuz I don’t want to live through my mistakes again. I mean look at the crabs, segals & oysters. They’re going to school trying to be somebody. Not like your party animals. You know. You know how your friends are I’m not going to go into detail.
HUEVONA
The crabs, segals & oysters! Do you know how they get treated in school? They get treated like nerds. I don’t want to be treated like a nerd. I don’t want to be kicked around. And you talk about my friends being lowlifed. I don’t want to be a nerd. Nobody wants to be their friends.
SLIPPERY
At least they stay out of trouble.
HUEVONA
The sharks have been looking for me here & there but that’s not be/cuz of me its be/cuz of you.
SLIPPERY
We could talk about this on our way home.
(They are walking back home.)
We shouldn’t be talking about this in front of everybody.
HUEVONA
It’s about time you said that. I’m hungry. I need to polish my shell and brush my teeth.
SLIPPERY
Why’re you getting all ready for? You’re going to the waterfall with me tonight.
HUEVONA
Who said I was going to the waterfall? Why’re putting words in my mouth for? I got better things to do like this one party Bayaso invited me to it’s supposed to be the biggest party of the year. I heard its gonna be a reggae splash. MC Jellyfish is gonna be there. You ever heard of that reggae group Flow?
SLIPPERY
Um no no no no. You aint goin to that splash. That splash is up to no good. I heard something’s bad gonna go down and I’m not tryin to get you involved. You’ve already got into a lot of trouble. I heard that the waves are gonna be a lot bigger than they usually are.
(HUEVONA doesn’t hear SLIPPERY be/cuz she hopped into the little pond to bathe. HUEVONA gets out of the pond & starts polishing her shell with seaweed & brushing
her teeth. SLIPPERY is going back and forth on the beach.)
HUEVONA
I meet up with my friends in the cave inside the ocean. Music is blasting. My friends are smacking each other with their fins, and smacking each other with their tails. As soon as I come into the cave they start yelling, “What’s crackin’, Laazy?” I say, “What’s good?” Bayaso rushes up to me and is like, “Check this out I got some fresh worms but the new thing about them is they’re covered with moss. It supposed to mess you up it makes you see different colors, and when your swimming it feels like you’re flying.” So they convince me to try it and I loved it and I was like wow. I felt like I could do anything. Yesterday I was getting ready to hang out with my party animals but my freeking esquincle brother came up & say why you getting all ready for? And I was ignoring him be/cuz I knew he was going to have a flip out & lecture me about how I don’t go to water falls & me being under the influence. All of a sudden he get all up in my shell when he’s not invited he ends up telling me if you going out to the ocean than I’m calling the sharks on you! And in my head I was thinking I’m not having those sharks put me in their mouth and spit me back out on the beach. That’s so embarrassing how the sharks go out looking for me asking everybody if they see me & how big of a rat out my brother is and all of a sudden Racket, Pasito, Shyster and Bayaso won’t hang out with me be/cuz I’m too much of a hot gurl and they don’t want to get caught up with sharks. They are the only friends who understand me. If I lose these friends theirs not going to be no parties no more. Enough about my stupid brother he thinks he’s el mero, mero paton I don’t wanna lose my best friend Bayaso the hammerhead shark man lemme tell you about him he’s funny he protects me & he’s kinda like a brother to me. I don’t wanna lose him.
(SLIPPERY is walking back and forth. He’s praying.)
SLIPPERY
God my sister Huevona she always hanging out with her party animal friends but she doesn’t see the big picture she doesn’t see whats headed her way in the future and that’s failier I’m tired of telling her what to do I’m tired of her ignoring me & always going out to the ocean she doesn’t understand that I’m trying to look out for her its hard for me to see her in that stage where she thinks her friends will be there in the end but if she gets in trouble they won’t be there for her never not one. As soon as she arrives home, she comes back stumbling thinking she can fly, eyes squinting ask me whats for dinner, what I cooked, she’s sleepy, hungry, laughs at anything always showing her teeth, she thinks this beach is a hotle she thinks she can come and go as she pleases oh heck no she needs to get her act together I’m tired of calling the sharks on her and nothing happening I got to step my game up I’m calling the sharks and tell them if there is no improvement she gots to go.
(HUEVONA gets out of the pond.)
HUEVONA
Slippery I’m going to the party. You don’t have to worry about me. I’m grown. I can take care of myself.
SLIPPERY
What do you mean you’re grown. You go out and latch on to worms and you expect me to believe that you can be responsible to go to the splash? You never know if one of those worms that you latch on to are covered with old moss and you might die. On your way home you could be too slow and somebody could just creep behind you and try to suffocate you and eat you.
HUEVONA
Yeah yeah yeah I’ve been doing this everyday and it still hasn’t happened to me so why would it happen to me today?
SLIPPERY
You know what if I say no you have to listen to me be/cuz youre under my custody. Mom told me to take care of you. She told me to take care of you like she would. If something happens to you I’m gonna feel really bad. Guilty, be/cuz mom wouldn’t tell me to take care of you if she didn’t think I could handle you. Dad left mom when he found out she was pregnant. I figured out I had to raise you. I started working with disabled penguins & in return the penguins would give me fish so I could feed you. I also provided a shelter for you to sleep. Basically I gave up my life to take care of you.
HUEVONA
But once I was old enough to start getting food on my own you started getting involved with meditation and going to the waterfall which led me to being home alone & being bored so I would go out in the ocean & would experiment with things. I’ve been trying to deal with moms death and unfortunately I do it with the worms. I just wish she was in my life. I feel so alone when you go to the waterfalls so I have to do something about it.
SLIPPERY
Huevona your going down the wrong path. Your friends are a bad influence on you be/cuz they lead you to failier.
HUEVONA
They listen to my struggles.
(HUEVONA looks up at the sky.)
The sky’s getting darker and darker. If I don’t go them I’m going to be one of those nerds that get pushed around. Do you really want that for me? Do you?
SLIPPERY
You know what? It’s your choice now. Do you want to be with your friends that you think are going to be there for you to the end, or do you want to be with your brother who has been taking care of you since you were a baby?
HUEVONA
I have a reputation. I’m not gonna blow it up just cuz you want me to stay & be bored. I’m leaving.
SLIPPERY
If you leave then you’re not coming back home. I’m gonna call the sharks and tell them to pick you up & take you to the hole & there is no way I’m going to pick you up from the hole. Maybe it’ll give you time to think about what you did wrong.
HUEVONA
I don’t believe it til I see it. Like I said, Duces!
(HUEVONA goes in the ocean.
She sees the colors of the ocean & dreams about flying.
She goes to the splash
but as soon as she arrives the jellyfish start rapping &
the marine life are dancing, eating worms.)
HUEVONA
I was gonna miss this? Oh hell no.
(HEUVEONA sees different colors. She thinks she can fly. She starts swimming around
In circles, slow, with Bayaso. They’re swimming to the music. Suddenly she starts
hearing this weird noise. It sounds big but she ignores it the first time. The second time,
she sees the waves coming and starts freeking out. Everyone starts scattering and
screaming. HUEVONA tries to swim away. Then the waves come crashing on
HEUVONA and overtakes her.)
HUEVONA
God I’m too young to die. I can’t control my motion. The waves are too strong. God please help me. I know I should have listened to my brother. Because of so much worms I are, I can’t move. I can’t swim.
(The sharks swim up to HUEVONA.
They scoop her in their mouths.
The sharks are swimming through the waves with their fins.
They take her back to the beach & spit her out.
HUEVONA is out on the beach.
The sharks swim away.
The waves are heavily getting out of control, still crashing.
SLIPPERY is right there waiting for her.)
THE END
