Young Writers Society

Characters:

Gracelyn Stephens, seventeen

Lina Stephens, thirty-six

Joffery Stephens, fifteen

ACT I

Scene 1

LINA, thirty-six, sits in her bedroom putting on make-up at a vanity. She is wearing a purple robe. The mirror is smudged with fingerprints and fogged with her breath when she leans in closer to put on her mascara. The surface of the vanity is littered with bottles of perfume and make-up.

GRACELYN, nineteen, stands behind her mother at the foot of a bed that isn't made. A blue dress is draped over the mattress like a blanket and a book sits beside it, unopened. A bedside table with a lamp on it is the only other furniture in the room. The lamp is on.

As Gracelyn stands it's evident by her swatting that there are flies in the room. Her mother follows their movement in the mirror with out blinking; she is looking at their reflections. She smiles at the sight of her daughter trying to get rid of them.

LINA

There's one just...there.

GRACELYN

What, a fly? Yeah, it's been buzzing around your head for the past ten minutes. It's the perfume, probably. (pause as long as needed) I'm going to kill it.

Gracelyn leans over to pick up the book off of the bed.

LINA

No, not that one. Your brother's in that book. Pick something else. That fly's innocent, though.

GRACELYN

It's a fly, not a person, Mother. And I'm tired of its noise.

Lina makes a face in the mirror, annoyed by the use of the term "mother". Her lips are pursed, putting on lipstick as she talks.

LINA

I hate it when you do that. Call me "mother". It's so cold and horrible. And I don't hit you when you make noise.

GRACELYN

I'm not a fly. You can't just get rid of me if I talk. Would you rather I called you "Lina" seeing as that's your name?

LINA

I don't see why not. Lots of people do-get rid of children. You always hear about kids getting left in hot cars. Although, that's when they're not making noise. They're just...breathing. Killin' 'em for breathing, forgetting they're even alive.

GRACELYN

I'm gonna use this anyway. It's not my fault you left the windows open.

LINA

To get rid of the smell. It smells like death. Always like death.

GRACELYN

And perfume...

LINA

That's Joffery's book, and you'll not use it to kill anything.

GRACELYN

You keep saying "his" book. I don't see his name on the cover. His name is on a random page. It was put there by a psychiatrist. It's not like he wrote it.

LINA

His name's there. In ink. Which is more than I can say for yours. Pass me the tweezers.

Gracelyn picks up the tweezers off of the end of the vanity. Her mother doesn't look way from the mirror. She's being lazy. She could have reached them if she tried.

GRACELYN

Maybe I'll just catch it with these...It'll be like The Karate Kid, and you can watch me squeeze the life out of it. Damn flies. It's a wonder there aren't more than this with the smell. No wonder Joffery thinks it's him.

LINA

I know what you are saying and don't. Don't you blame it on me. Ever. Take it back. And give me the tweezers. Now.

GRACELYN

You could have just gotten them yourself. And I'm not taking it back. He's sick and you know it. You've just inhaled too much perfume to care.

LINA

What Joffery has...is a problem. That is not my fault. And Doctor Markus is trying to fix him.

Lina sprays more perfume.

And this (re:perfume) isn't making me high. You'd know if I was, and right now I wouldn't mind it. But I'm not. Now take it back.

GRACELYN

No.

Gracelyn waves a hand in front of her face to disperse the perfume.

Take a deep breath. Do you smell that? It's the mice in the wall that you haven't bothered to do anything about. It's what Joffery smells everyday when he comes home. They keep coming and dying from the heat in the drywall, moving around the beams and around the dead others trying to find a way out. And one day they just stop. The little machine of a brain that is keeping them alive fizzles out. Then they decompose.

LINA

I don't need to know--I already knew that. I don't need a science lesson from you. I don't need any of this from you.

Lina sprays more perfume. Gracelyn picks up the book and aims it at the fly on the opposite wall. The book hits and falls to the floor, cracked at the spine, pages fanning out under it. It stands up like a paper bridge.

GRACELYN

Got it.

She goes over to the fly and scoops it up into the pages like they are a dustpan.

Look. It's still moving. I don't know if flies are like this but did you know that if you break a butterfly's wing it's impossible for it to heal. It's made of veins.

LINA

No, I didn't. Nor do I care. Give me the tweezers; I have things I've got to do.

Gracelyn walks over to the vanity table and sets the book in front of her mother; the fly is still caught in the pages. Gracelyn pushes make-up and bottles so there's room for it. Then, she puts the tweezers into her mother's out-stretched hand.

GRACELYN

What? Like get ready for your date? Jesus. Do you know who you're going to see? God, Joffery would be pissed. If he could remember that he was alive long enough to be pissed.

LINA

Just because Markus sees Joffery doesn't mean that I can't see him when Joffery's not there.

GRACELYN

"See". You realize that word just took on two different meanings right?

LINA

Now you're going to teach me English. Lovely. And try to tell me what I can't do. I'm yourmom, Gracelyn, not the other way around. Don't forget that. Why are you even here? Don't you have places to be?

Lina plucks at her eyebrows, angered and uncaring. She has asked a question, but doesn't want an answer. She doesn't care about what Gracelyn has to say. She just wants to get ready and leave both Gracelyn and Joffery behind.

GRACELYN

No, because, unlike you, I wait until Joffery isn't going to be home to do things.

LINA

(Flatly and uninterested)

What's that supposed to mean?

GRACELYN

It means that you're too preoccupied with your date with Joffery's psychiatrist to worry about your own son. It's like you only let me keep him half-way breathing to get into his doctor's pants. It's not like you're going to get any information about of Markus about that book he's writing. He's not going to pay you anything even if he does write about Joffery's case.

Lina puts down the tweezers and reapplies the powder on her face. She still doesn't look at Gracelyn; her gaze is still fixed on herself in the mirror. And when she does look, she looks at her reflection, not even bothering to turn around to face her.

LINA

We don't do much talking, actually. So, information isn't really what I'm trying to get out of him. But nice try. We have other things to do besides wasting time talking about Joffery and his damned "case". I'm so sick of hearing about it. But if I'm going to get money out of if, you can sure as hell bet I'm going to do anything I can to get it.

GRACELYN

I told you: he's not going to give you anything. Except maybe another kid that you're going to ruin. Who knows, maybe this one will be just like Joffery, and you can have another kid who hates you so much that thinking they're dead is better than putting up with your shit.

Lina picks up the tweezers again, and plucks at a spot she missed. Her eyes are watering from the pulling of hairs rather than because of the remarks. When she's finished she picks up the fly with the tweezers.

LINA

Hold out your hand.

GRACELYN

What?

LINA

Hold out your hand; you heard me. You killed it; you get rid of it.

This time Lina turns around in her seat to drop the fly into Gracelyn. Lina is looking directly at her daughter when Gracelyn speaks.

GRACELYN

Is that what you're doing to Joffery? Is that why you won't pay for anyone to come and get the mice. Getting rid of him because he already think's he's dead.

LINA

The mice aren't Joffery's problem, and there's no reason to waste my money on something that won't fix anything.

Lina turns slightly and grabs the perfume again. She sprays it.

GRACELYN

Your money? Since when have you made money? I've been working my ass off to even have insurance, while you sit here spraying perfume and "seeing" Markus.

LINA

Yes. My money. This is my house. My rules. The money you make goes to me as payment for the five years I wiped you ass and the rest that I wiped your tears. If you have a problem with that you can take your insurance and go. And please God take your brother with you.

GRACELYN

If we left, Markus would, too. He doesn't give a shit about you. He's probably psychoanalyzing you every time he sets eyes on you. Making a list of things to put in his book. A whole book about Joffery's crazy would be kind of boring, not much money there. Why not throw in his mother's crazy, too?

LINA

If he's going to write about men, then he's going to write about you, too. Because you aren't the most sane crayon in the crayon box.

Lina puts the finishing touches on her make-up. Then she closes the book and stands.

GRACELYN

What would he possible write about me?

LINA

I don't know, but I'm sure I could think of something to tell him...I'm full of your secrets. All those times you came home blubbering about this or that. All those threats you made that got you kicked out of Westlen. Don't think I don't know about those. And if they aren't true, I'll probably tell him anyway. Fiction's better than fact and all that.

Lina steps out of her robe and into a short blue dress that belongs to Gracelyn and doesn't quite fit right. She turns side to side and looks at herself in the mirror like it was tailor made for her.

GRACELYN

You don't know what those kids were going to do to Joffery. Somebody had to do something because you sure as hell weren't going to. And, besides, if I didn't get kicked out, I wouldn't be here.

LINA

Yes. Well that doesn't seem like such a bad thing at the moment.

GRACELYN

Taking care of him! If I wasn't here you'd let him die just like he thinks he already has. If I wasn't here, he wouldn't be getting treatment and actually living like a half-way normal person. As normal as you can get living here.

LINA

Let me let you in on a little secret: He's a lost cause.

GRACELYN

You only think that because you go and hide every time he comes home. You go sleep with his doctor so you don't have to sleep in the same house as your own son.

LINA

Markus told me. He's a lost cause. The meds that your insurance is paying for are just sugar in a shell. They aren't doing anything at all except letting his brain rot the rest of the way.And you could let him get hit by lightning and the shock wouldn't change anything.If I had it my way, I'd just tell him to give him something to speed up the process so Joffery can get what he wants. Already thinks he's dead--wants to be dead. Not really much of a difference, if you ask me.

GRACELYN

I didn't.

LINA

Maybe you should ask Joffery because I'm not going to. I have a date and need to get out of here before he comes home and makes me smell like death, too. Oh, and your dress looks much better on me. Not that Markus will be paying much attention to it...

Lina walks toward the door and grabs her shoes, not bothering to put them on before she walks out of the house and down the driveway where a car is sitting. Coming toward the car, a boy walks down the road. Lina gets into the car. The car swerves like it is going to hit the boy, Joffery, but he jumps into the grass and they pass. Once they are gone and the road is clear, Joffery gets back on the road before turning and walking up the driveway. There is a backpack on his back. His clothes are stained and wrinkled and his hair is long and uncombed.

By the time he comes by the doorway that leads into his mother's room his sister has made a hole in the wall using the body of the lamp from her mother's bedside table. It now lies, bulb broken and plaster covering the black frame, beside Gracelyn on the floor beside the vanity. Joffery stops in the doorway, and he watches as she picks up the lamp once more and hits the wall making the hole larger.

Nothing falls out, but as the hole grows bigger it's obvious that the smell gets worse. She picks up the perfume Lina was spraying earlier and throws it through the hole along with the book that was lying on the vanity. When she gets up to get a pillow off of her mother's bed, she sees Joffery in the door frame watching her with his hand over his nose. Gracelyn takes the pillow and shoves it into the hole she has created to fill the gap. She puts the broken lamp back on the bedside table before going to where Joffery stands. She pulls the door shut behind her so that they are both out of the room.

Lights fall.