LIFE AT 21 LANE (SCENE ONE) A play by Austin Mitchell
LIFE AT 21 LANE
Austin Mitchell
This play is a
work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product
of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual
events or locales or persons living or dead are entirely coincidental.
ISBN-13:978-1978369276
ISBN-10:1978369271
For
my late brother: Carlton Constantine Mitchell (Desmond)
CAST OF
CHARACTERS:
MAIN CHARACTERS:
DARLENE: Twenty
two year old basic school teacher
PRISCILLA: Twenty
five year old business woman
WELLER: Fifteen
year old schoolboy, reputed gunman
BANJO: Fifty three
year old jack of all trades
TINY: Thirty year
old barmaid
GWEN: Forty five
year old business woman
SUPPORTING
CHARACTERS:
JUICY BARNES:
Twenty year old reputed gunman
PABLO: Eighteen
year old reputed gunman
JONATHAN: Thirty
year old bus driver
SIDNEY: Removal
van driver
SERGEANT BRENT
WRIGHT: Forty five year old
policeman
MEDA: Thirty one
year old factory worker
CORPORAL SAM
JAPSON: Thirty six year old
policeman
CORPORAL JACK
WINSTON: Thirty three year old
policeman
CONSTABLE EVERALD
NOTICE: Twenty six year old
policeman
TREVAN ‘DEUCE’ MC
KOY: Seventeen year old reputed gunman
All rights
reserved by the playwright. No part of this publication can be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior
permission of the publisher and or playwright.
Other
works by the same author:
Undercover
Soldier(novel)
Uptown
Lovers(novel)
Bring
back the good old days**
Waiting
to Cross the Bridge**
Going
to the Bushes to cut Firewood**
Taking
a Shortcut Home**
Days
up the River**
The
Fire by the Wayside**
Riding
the milk truck to School**
Making
grass mats to Sell**
Going
into the Hills to Teach**
Glengoffe
Days***
The
Free Loaders(Play)
**Collection of short stories
***Collection
of Poems
SCENE ONE
(In Priscilla’s
living room. There are some couches, whatnot, entertainment center. A flat
screen television set sits in the middle of the entertainment center.)
DARLENE (Sitting on a
couch): Where is Wella? How come he
hasn’t come home from school as yet? Today, big Friday evening, that boy is
joking. I can bet that all the teachers and students have gone home.
PRISCILLA: Are you
sure that he went to school?
DARLENE: From our
mother died, he has gotten from bad to worse. Mister Banjo never even came here
one day to talk to him. He is a real dead stock.
PRISCILLA: You can
say that again. Anyway, they have some new schools where bad boys like him can
go.
DARLENE: Let us try
to get him into one of them. I don’t want him to go anywhere and get mixed up
with bad company again.(Enter Banjo. He is dressed in jeans, t’ shirt, a pair
of long boots and dark glasses. He is clean shaven and has a bald head)
PRISCILLA: Mister
Banjo, what are you doing here? You never heard that mummy died, look how long
now?
BANJO: How could I
have heard? I was working down in St. Elizabeth.
DARLENE: She is dead
and buried. We phoned you. We sent messages. Lord Mister Banjo, you could have
treated her better than that.
PRISCILLA: It must
have been Gwen, who stopped him from coming. Look at what mummy did for you and
you treated her so bad.
BANJO: I lost my
phone. That’s why you weren’t hearing from me. (Bows his head, then covers it
with his hands.)
DARLENE: We know
that you and our mother broke up a long time ago, but at least you could have
phoned us to find out about her. You must have known that she was sick and in
and out of the hospital.
BANJO: It’s just
last week that I got back another phone and I decided to come and find out if
everybody was all right. Everybody I
talked to on my way up here said that she got a good turning out.
DARLENE: Lots of people came and I never heard anybody complaining that they never got enough to eat
or drink.
BANJO: I’m glad to
hear that. Where is Wella?
PRISCILLA: We were
just talking about him. Look how long school over and he hasn’t come home yet.
BANJO: Are you
sure that he went to school? All he’s good for is to keep bad company. Police
will soon come for him.
BANJO: Anyhow,
that’s not what I came here to talk about. Where is Roselyn’s bank book?
PRISCILLA: What
did you say, Mister Banjo? Repeat what you just said. You are asking for our
mother’s bank book?
BANJO: So what’s
wrong if I ask about it? It’s only the two of us names were in it and now that
she is dead I want it.
DARLENE: (Laughs)
So you never knew that she took out your name and put Priscilla’s and my name
in there. It’s the money that she had in there we used to bury her. We are
using the balance to send Wella to school.
BANJO: (Stands up)
Both of you are lying. The amount of
money that was in the account would bury Roselyn and still leave money to
educate Wella up to University level. I bet that it will soon finish. I bet
that both of you went in there and used it off. When it finishes, don’t come to
me for any money for Wella. I’m going to the bank on Monday to find out about
it.
PRISCILLA: Mister
Banjo, from our mother died, six months now, this is the first time we are seeing
you. Where were you all this time? You claimed that you lost your phone. Look
how cheap phones are, you should be able to buy another one. I know that you
are lying.
BANJO: That’s none
of your business, girl and I want both of you off the place too. How soon can
you come off? I promised Gwen and my brother’s woman, Naomi, to move them up
here by next week. And remember that it’s only your clothes you have here. I
own all a the furniture and everything else.
PRISCILLA:
Darlene, it seems as if Mister Banjo is not in his right mind. Go and call Aunt
Ruby for me. Are you getting mad, Mister Banjo? My mother’s will read and she
left the place to me, Darlene and Wella. I never saw you bringing any furniture
here yet. And you took everything that you owned with you when you were leaving
the last time.(Exits Darlene)
BANJO: I am going
down to Sammy’s bar. And you see, if by the time I come back the two of you don’t
take out your belongings, I am going to throw them out onto the sidewalk and
I’m not responsible for what happens to them. (Exits Banjo)
PRISCILLA: What a
wicked man, Mister Banjo is turning out to be. Look how our mother looked after
that man and in her hour of need he was nowhere to be found. God is going to
give him his reward though. (Enters Wella)
PRISCILLA: Look at
the time you are coming home from school, boy.
WELLA: What’s that
to you? That’s none of your business.
PRISCILLA: Who are
you being fresh with, boy? (Boxes Wella’s face)
WELLA: What did
you boxed me for? Is it you who is sending me to school? From my mother died any
of you business with me?(Enter Gwen, she is Banjo’s woman. She carries a broom
and other implements, she is humming a tune)
PRISCILLA: Where
are you going, Miss Gwen?
GWEN: What are you
doing here, Priscilla? Banjo told me that, you, Darlene and Wella moved up to
Miss Ruby’s house. He said that he ran you off the place because none of you
have any manners to him and it’s us he wants to live here. My sister, Naomi has
gone to look for our mother. She isn’t coming here until tomorrow evening.
WELLA: (Still has his
hand over where Priscilla had boxed him) What is she saying, Priscilla? Banjo
doesn’t want us to live here anymore?
PRISCILLA: Miss
Gwen, I know that you have children for Mister Banjo and Miss Naomi, is his
brother, Scully’s woman. Nothing what Mister Banjo told you is true. I am begging
you to just come out of my place. You know me already and know that I’m a very
serious woman. (Enter Darlene)
DARLENE: I don’t
see Aunt Ruby, Priscilla, it looks like she has gone to church. But wait, what
is Miss Gwen doing here with broom and brush?
PRISCILLA: It’s
the same question I am asking her.
GWEN: I am not leaving here tonight until Banjo
comes back. Go and pack up your things and call Sidney’s van to move them up to
your aunt’s house, Priscilla, Darlene and Wella. Banjo said that it’s only the
clothes you are to move with because he owns all the furniture and everything
else.
PRISCILLA: You
know what, let me go and find Mister Banjo and try thrashing out this thing
with him. I’ll soon be back, Darlene and Wella.(Exits Priscilla)
GWEN: I am coming
with you, Priscilla. Darlene, if Naomi’s baby father, Scully, comes up here,
tell him that I’ve gone down to Sammy’s bar to look for Banjo. (Exits Miss
Gwen)
WELLA(eating his
dinner): Darlene, what’s going on? It looks like Banjo wants to run us out of here,
but how can he do that and he doesn’t
own the place? (Enter two men. Both are masked)(One is burly while the other is
tall and thin)
BURLY GUNMAN: This
is a stickup. I want all the money that you have.
WELLA: I know that
voice, it’s Juicy Barnes. I must tell Dutch that you and Pablo came to my house
and tried to rob me and my sister.
PABLO: I told you
that it’s here Killer lives and you didn’t believe me.
JUICY BARNES:
Killer, hold it down, no harm was done. I will see you in the morning. (Exits
both Juicy Barnes and Pablo)(Wella continues eating his dinner. Finally,
Darlene finds her voice.)
DARLENE: Wella,
you are a gunman? They call you Killer? You are out there murdering people?
WELLA: So what if
they call me Killer? That doesn’t mean that I have ever killed anybody yet.
They only call me that because they and I are friends.
DARLENE: They say to
show me your company and I tell you who you are. If you are keeping company
with gunmen then you must be a gunman too. (Enter Priscilla)
PRISCILLA: I don’t
see Mister Banjo. He’s hiding from us.(Looks at Darlene rather
curiously)(Darlene still looks frightened.)
PRISCILLA: Why are
you looking so frightened, Darlene?
DARLENE: Two of
Wella’s friends just tried to hold me up. (Priscilla’s hands fly to her mouth.)
WELLA(Has finished
eating his dinner now): How do you know that they and I are friends?
DARLENE: They said
so, Wella and you said so too.
PRISCILLA: You gave
them any money?
DARLENE: It looks
as if they have the same boss. When he said he was going to tell the boss on
them, they left. They had on masks, but from he heard their voices, he
recognized them.
WELLA: Which boss
are you talking about, Darlene? I am not a member of any gang. Sometimes those
guys ride past me on their bikes and wave to me. What do you want me to do?
PRISCILLA: You
don’t see that the boy is a gunman. Let us call the police to come and lock him
up. Where is his school bag? I don’t want anybody to come and shoot up my house
looking for him. (Priscilla grabs up Wella’s school bag which had been thrown
into a corner of the room. She opens the bag. Wella is still seated around the
table.)
DARLENE: You find
any gun, Priscilla? (Priscilla is searching the bag)
PRISCILLA: No, it’s
only his books I see.(Throws back the bag in a corner of the room)(Enters
Scully. He is carrying a huge bag.)
WELLA: (Laughs)
I’m sure that neither of you ever saw me with a gun yet, so I don’t know what
Priscilla was looking for.
SCULLY: All of you
are still here? But I heard that you had all left. I came looking for Gwen and Banjo down
here and now I find the three of you. So tell me, Priscilla, Gwen and Banjo didn’t
come up here?
PRISCILLA: I don’t
know where your brother and your sister-in-law are, Scully. So all you want to
come up here to live too?
SCULLY: I
would be living in my brother’s house. I
wouldn’t be living in anywhere belonging to you.
DARLENE: Scully, all
you who don’t live anywhere getting fresh with people too.
WELLA: Hey Scully,
you and Banjo want to run me and my sisters off this place?
SCULLY: (Ignores
Wella) Banjo told me that he got the place now and he is going to take the big
house and my woman and I can get the small one. I came to sleep here tonight
because I neither have taxi nor bus fare to go back to my yard.
DARLENE: Your
sister-in-law came here and left. She was looking for Mister Banjo and didn’t
find him. He is hiding from her. He said he was going down to Sammy’s bar, but
when Priscilla went down there she didn’t find him.
PRISCILLA: Scully,
the best advice I would give you is to go and look for your brother and find
out what’s going on.
SCULLY: If I don’t
find him it’s right back here I am coming and you boy, Wella, watch what I’m going
to do to you.
WELLA: It’s you to
watch what I’m going to do to you if you put back your foot up here again, tonight.
(Scully whips out a knife)
SCULLY: Hey boy,
do you think because your daddy is my brother, I am going to be afraid to do
you something?
WELLA: Hey,
Scully, anyhow you cut me, I must go for my gun and do you something. (Scully
rushes at Wella with his knife, but he runs into a room)
PRISCILLA: Scully,
mind you mash up anything for me.
SCULLY: Both of
you must talk to him. He’s talking to me like he and I are the same age.
Everybody knows that he is a gunman, but that’s not going to make me be afraid
of him. I’m going to see if I find
Banjo.(Exits Scully)(Enters Wella)
PRISCILLA: Wella,
you must have some respect for your uncle.
DARLENE: He might
have to help you out one of these days.
WELLA: (Hisses his
teeth) Scully is worse than Banjo.
DARLENE: You
threatened to shoot him. He can report you to the police and make them arrest
you.
WELLA: He drew his
knife on me and I didn’t do him anything.
DARLENE: Come, let
us go down to the station to report the robbery.
WELLA: Both of you didn’t hear what I said. The men
are going to say that I’m an informer
and come to look for me.
PRISCILLA: Let
them come, who told you to take up with gunmen?
DARLENE: Stay here
and watch the place until we come back.(Exit women)
WELLA: It’s my
friends I am going to check right now. Both of you can stay there, about me to
watch the place. When the two of you come back, Banjo might move in Miss Gwen
and Naomi. I can always go up to my aunt’s house to live.(The lights fade.)
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