Truck Stop (10 page)
Authors: Lachlan Philpott
KELLY:
It begins to fill me with dread.
SAM:
Just before it ends we're sitting there.
KELLY:
I hear a / truck.
SAM:
Truck on the gravel, pulls in stops, and the driver, / this big fat dude gets out of his truck.
KELLY:
This big fat dude gets out of his truck. Walks towards us smiling. Tells us some guy on the CB had told him to check us out.
SAM:
Some guy on the radio told himâ¦
KELLY:
The CB / radio
SAM:
Radio⦠We're stars⦠People who don't even know us talking about us. We're famous. Famous. / Famous! Then things change.
KELLY:
Famous. Then things change.
SAM:
That day /
KELLY:
This driver.
I go up to his truck.
Look up to the mirror.
Knock on the door climb up look through and he's eating a ham sandwich listening to the radio.
Winds down his window and I'm holding onto the side of the truck leaning back smiling sayingâ¦
SAM:
He rings the cops.
KELLY:
He just stares at me. The look on his face when I say what I say. Crucifix swinging from his mirror.
SAM:
Fucking Christians.
KELLY:
Takes a while but the cops figure it out.
SAM:
And that Friday.
KELLY:
After school.
SAM:
We're just sitting there at the picnic table and / then a cop car pulls up.
KELLY:
Then a cop car pulls up and / we turn and run.
SAM:
We turn and run. Like fugitives in a movie.
KELLY:
Just like a movie.
SAM:
They chase us /
KELLY:
We scream /
SAM:
Footsteps, dust.
KELLY:
A big hand on my shoulder.
SAM:
The cop that catches me is kinda hot.
KELLY:
Cops take us back to school.
SAM:
Make us wait outside the office.
KELLY:
I'm shitting myself.
SAM:
We weren't doing anything.
KELLY:
Hushed voices and shit inside. And us out there.
SAM:
We weren't doing nothing.
KELLY:
How much do they know? What do you reckon they're telling her?
How much do you reckon they know?
Sam? Sam? How much do you /
SAM:
Shut the fuck up. For fuck's sake shut up for once Kelly. Shut up and don't say a word. If you do. /
KELLY:
What?
SAM:
I'll fucking kill you.
KELLY:
Rowse opens the door.
SAM:
Her and the cop glare at me like I killed someone.
KELLY:
They call you in. Leave me alone with dead flowers in a vase, the cleaner down the end of the hall fiddles with a vacuum chord.
SAM:
Cop stares at me.
Rowse stares at me.
KELLY:
/ Real quiet.
SAM:
Real quiet, Rowse asks:
ROWSE:
What were you two doing out there?
SAM:
And again:
ROWSE:
What were you doing out there?
SAM:
Then one more fucking time.
ROWSE/SAM/KELLY:
What were you two doing out there?
KELLY:
I hear her shout and then nothing.
SAM:
Cop wants to look inside my bag.
ROWSE:
Your parents have been notified.
SAM
shrugs.
SAM:
I keep tight hold of my bag and I say nothing.
ROWSE:
Samantha, what were you doing out there?
SAM:
Say nothing. Just stare straight back at them like a bad arse bitch in a cop show. Clock ticks. / Tick tock on the clock and the party won'tâ¦
KELLY:
Tick tock on the clock and the party won'tâ¦
SAM:
That's all they hear, I don't say zip.
Then they send me out. / They call her in.
KELLY:
They call me in.
SAM/KELLY:
We swap chairs.
KELLY:
I'm in the hot seat.
SAM:
I'm out in the hallway.
KELLY:
The cop sighs. He looks at me and then he says that the truck driver didn't mean any trouble. Has a daughter about our age. Just wanted to protect us.
Rowse and the cop stare and I know I'm meant to say nothing, keep my mouth shut, I know I'm meant to butâ¦
SAM:
Dare.
KELLY:
No.
SAM:
Double dare.
KELLY:
No.
SAM:
Double dog dick dare.
KELLY:
No. Truth.
KELLY
begins to cry.
SAM:
I hear Kelly crying, hear that stupid bitch sobbing like she's on Judge Judy.
I know she's gonna tell them everything.
So I stand up. I open the door and they all look at me.
ROWSE:
Samantha how dare you barge in here.
SAM:
But I say it.
It was her idea. She thought it up. She did it first.
She was gagging for it. She wanted it so bad and she couldn't get it anywhere else.
She was fucking them weren't you Kelly?
She was fucking them and I wasn't. I'm not a slut like her.
SAM
and
KELLY
stare at each other.
The slapping sound.
AISHA:
In the middle of the quad.
Slap like a whip. Everyone hears it. Stops.
Kelly snatches Sam's hair twists it round her wrist. Sam's down on the ground. Kelly shouting Sam screams, kids in a circle around them, phones held overhead.
Teachers rip them apart.
Noah's next to me in the quad. He reaches out, squeezes my hand. We walk away.
AISHA
leaves.
We see
KELLY
sitting and staring into nothingness, the blue light of a television. She watches without distraction.
SAM:
Now. Right now. And it's my birthday tomorrow. Turning fifteen.Mum gave me my present early, tickets to the Ke$ha concert. Most embarrassing night of my life. Mum took me but she looked so out of place. She bought all this glitter and shit so she could cover up her wrinkles, she said it was so
we could bond again.
There were all these hot guys there and they could tell she was a freak all I did was try to lose her. Didn't enjoy the music at all.
My new school sucks but it's better than being at that shithole by the highway. Not that many friends yet. On the weekend I was so bored I even cleaned up my room. Chucked out stuff, tiaras and princess shit Dad bought for me.
I'm not a princess, I'm not a movie star. I'm aâ¦
Bitch. I'm a bitch. I've been a total bitch to everyone.
I thought my life was a music clip or a movie. But it is not. I guess I'm justâ¦
The fly circles around the room. Around me.
Camera pans in.
Close up on my eyes, on the tear as it dribbles over my cheekbones.
On my lips. Music starts.
Camera circles round me.
SAM
watches
KELLY
watch television. She almost makes her way to speak to her but instead turns and leaves.
KELLY
is alone. The television blares on.
We hear some bland talk show which in turn blurs into âLove Song Dedications'.
MERCER:
âLove Song Dedications'. You're with Richard Mercer on the coldest night of the year. Just the kind of night to snuggle by the fire⦠I've got Kelly on the line. Thinking of someone special on this chilly night?
KELLY:
Yes.
MERCER:
What is his name?
KELLY:
Dad.
MERCER:
Dad. And if Dad is out here listening Kelly, what would you like to say to him?
KELLY:
I missed him but now it's okay.
MERCER:
It's okay Kelly?
KELLY:
Yes. He said he could protect me. He said while he was around nothing bad would ever happen to me again. But he left. And if he's out there listening I want to say to him that it wouldn't have mattered anyway.
Mum acts like you're dead and I'm not going to stick around here. Maybe I'll see you one day. But just⦠need you to know. I don't need protecting anymore.
Day fades to night.
KELLY
continues to watch television. Insects call, becoming louder and louder.
Then silence.
THE END
Copyright Page
CURRENCY PLAYS
First published in 2012
by Currency Press Pty Ltd,
PO Box 2287, Strawberry Hills, NSW, 2012, Australia
[email protected]
www.currency.com.au
in association with
Q Theatre Company, Penrith NSW
This revised edition published 2014
First electronic edition published in 2014 by Currency Press Pty Ltd.
Copyright © Lachlan Philpott, 2012, 2014
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Truck Stop
is forbidden unless a licence has been received from the author or the author's agent. The purchase of this book in no way gives the purchaser the right to perform the play in public, whether by means of a staged production or a reading. All applications for public performance should be addressed to Elizabeth Troyeur & Associates, 16 Princess Ave, Rosebery NSW 2018 Australia; tel +61 2 9313 6311; email
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ePub ISBN: 978-1-925210-08-8
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