STOPWATCH
by Brian E. Rochlin
MYRA SITS FACING AWAY FROM THE AUDIENCE.
THE SOUND OF A TICKING POCKET WATCH FILLS THE AUDIENCE AND CONTINUES THROUGHOUT THE SCENE.
LIGHTS FADE UP TO 2/3 FULL
AS SHE BEGINS TO SPEAK.MYRA
I think everyone has a thing. Some thing they just can’t account for loving.
For some people it’s God. They call it faith. And they feel all natural ‘bout that. Others it’s the bottle. I know a few of them. Still others it’s the money...all about the money.
My father.... He loved time. Until last week when it ran out on him, he loved time.
He had wanted to be a watchmaker, but couldn’t ever stop the drinkin’. And that made his hands shake.
It all started–his thing with time–on his 17th birthday, when his daddy gave him a stopwatch.
And let me tell you.... Oh boy, let me tell you.... More than anything else, my father...he loved that stopwatch.
It wasn’t even one of the good fancy ones, ya know. It was just this thin thing. Cheap. Didn’t even tell good time. I mean, on the cover... On the cover that covered the face was a choo choo. A train. A loco... loco... motive. Big puffs of smoke floatin’ across the tarnish.
My father. He polished that thing every week. And when I was five and lifted it off his desk to look at it. Well, that was the first time I remember him hittin’ me. It was quick, hard, final. And he meant it. (remembering her father telling her that she wasn’t...) Good enough. Fast enough. Smart enough. Unh-uh.
Still, the one thing. The one thing my father wanted me to do was to bury that stopwatch with him. And when his heart burst last week...that’s what they said happened, it just burst.
(softly) pow.
I told him I’d do just that.
My latest boyfriend... Last... Latest... Hank. Hank, tried convincing me not to put the stopwatch in with him, that we could hock it towards rent.
(precise, this is a recent but pure revelation for her) Even a bad daddy is still a daddy, and while he didn’t give much, he didn’t ask much either.
We took a train to the funeral, cause Hank’s car is still on the blocks. I thought that was pretty funny. The train and the train on the stopwatch and all. And funny cause that’s what put me off the train.
I had to cab it the final few towns, cause the conductor put us both off, cause when Hank found I was burying the stopwatch... (pause) ...he reminded me of my daddy.
MYRA TURNS TO FACE THE AUDIENCE. SHE HAS A HORRIFIC BLACK EYE.
Sometimes, you just can’t control what you love, (softly) daddy.
Sometimes, time takes care of everything. (a little singsongy) Every little thing.
MYRA REMOVES A GUN FROM HER POCKET.
And sometimes, daddy...you’ve got to get off the train.
SHE STANDS UP, BEGINS TO WALK OFF STAGE, TOWARDS THE AUDIENCE, AND STOPS.
I didn’t bury this with my daddy, but I should have. You can’t always control what trains you ride on. But you don’t need to make them crash either.
In time, in due time, you learn that you can just hop off the train. Avoid the crash. You can’t choose what you love. But in time, in due time, you learn you can choose. In time...
SHE SETS THE GUN ON THE TABLE, AND TAKES TWO MORE STEPS TOWARDS EXITING.
And, oh yeah, it wasn’t a stopwatch, it was a pocket watch. It wasn’t a stop watch...
Was it?
LIGHTS SLOWLY FADE OUT TO THE SOUND OF TICKING.
IN BLACKNESS, AFTER THREE BEATS, THE TICKING STOPS.
©2003, Brian E. Rochlin
"Stopwatch" IS COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL AND MAY NOT BE DOWNLOADED, TRANSMITTED, PRINTED OR PERFORMED WITHOUT THE EXPRESS PERMISSION OF THE AUTHOR
"Stopwatch" debuted February 7, 2003, performed by Jocelyn Hughes.
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