One Act Play

There is a card t equal to(p), change surface chairs, newspapers, trade magazines. TERESA is sitting on a folding chair at the desk , talking to JAKE, who is consulting THE JOB FINDERS GUIDE and taking notes in a note ledger from his briefcase. DEBBIE enters, looks around. TERESA I wear an extra sweater and a hat. Thats what my bring forth did when she was a girl, during the Depression. The kitchen stove was their heat. (notices DEBBIE) Can we be of help, dear? DEBBIE Groups supposed to be at 1030, isnt it? TERESA Yes, merely DEBBIE Ill wait. ( DEBBIE sits, takes out newspaper, begins reading. ) TERESA (to JAKE) How is Janet doing?JAKE Better. Takes her a couple weeks to bounce confirm from chem otherapy. But shes up and around, now. Cleaning out the kitchen drawers. TERESA And your boy? JAKE I told Park School I was passing game to have to pull Jason out of there. (sits) They came up with a scholarship. TERESA (pats JAKEs shoulder) Well, now. Thats intelligent news. JAKE Is it ? Jasons grades are dropping. Hes out too late, comes adventure with bullshit sorry. Youd think that being out of work Id have duration to ride herd on him, but with hustling a job and taking care of Janet. TERESA A boy that age base be a literal pill. Especially at a time of crisis.JAKE Youre telling me this is normal? TERESA I saw it my boys. Theres stress, and a boy feels he ought to be pitching in to help. But there isnt much he can do, really, is there? JAKE He can at least not add to our worries TERESA Thats true, but at his age . Probably the guilt is driving him wild. JAKE Schools Jasons job. Seems to me its that simple. DEBBIE peradventure your kids just not the kind who can block out the real world. JAKE (rises, turns to DEBBIE) Seems to me a person can at least try (pause. DEBBIE hides behind newspaper) TERESA ( brings JAKE back) It was a real shame about that position in Nashua.JAKE Yeah. I thought theyd. But. You know I could never mention this to Janet, itd kill her but I wonder. Can a personnel office find out about cancer? Go though medical files? TERESA Doctors records are confidential. DEBBIE (lowers paper) Ha Sure. And Santa Claus lives at the marriage Pole. (pause) Sorry. Snone of my business. JAKE Maybe its my age. Im fit, but do you think I should flap a hairpiece? DEBBIE (laughs, loud. JAKE and TERESA look at her. She holds up the comic page) Dilbert. (they turn back) MERRIK (enters ) Good morning. JAKE (goes to Merrik) Hey, look, its Merrik backHows it going, big guy? MERRIK (shaking hands) Good. Its going good, praise the Lord. JAKE I thought you had a job. MERRIK I did. I mean, I do. Just taking longer than we figured. JAKE Georgia, wasnt it? MERRIK Right. Georgia for training, and thence traveling between the territories. TERESA But your wifes career. MERRIK Secretarial stuff. A woman can do that anywhere. DEBBIE Anywhere theres a job. MERRIK Theres secretarial in Georgia. Alice says, At $5. 15 an hour? But money goes fart her chain reactor there. No oil bills, housings less than half. JAKE Id say, sell while you canThis market is so overpriced MERRIK Alice says the attach to will fold a job that can be done cheap in Georgia will be done even cheaper in Pakistan or Prague. JAKE Well, if you do localise your house on the market, give me first shot at the listing, will you? (KIM enters, stands silently) MERRIK Youre still part time at real estate? JAKE Me and everybody else whos run out their unemployment. KIM Is this Bright Horizons? DEBBIE Thats what they call it. KIM I had trouble finding TERESA Dont worry, youre not late. DEBBIE You are, but the Counselors later. MERRIK Whats going on? crosses to phone) When I called, the overnight depicted object was still on the answering machine. (fusses w/ machine) TERESA Oh, dear. KIM What does that mean? TERESA People have had to give up their phones, sometimes, or they may even be homeless. Being able to use this answering service makes them JAKE Seem no rmal. TERESA Employable. Able to return calls. MERRIK executive Offices, it says. After ten, and nobodys here? ( DEBBIE laughs) TERESA Can we reset it? JAKE How hard can it be? half(prenominal) the unemployed people here used to be in high tech. TERESA If you cant change the message, at least turn it off.DEBBIE (unplugs machine) Off with the bullshit (to MERRIK) Your Georgia job Did you get it through this office? MERRIK Not really- DEBBIE (goes back to her chair and paper) Now, how did I guess that? KIM How did you get it? MERRIK I heard about it from my cousin, a friend of his DEBBIE My papa s cousin got him work in construction, once. In Jersey. Hed only get home about every third weekend. Meant he and Mom never had time to work things out. All they did was fight. TERESA That sounds so standardised my mothers stories of the Depression. When my grandfather went looking for odd jobs, weeks at a time..MERRIK The jobs like auditing, but theres a sales aspect, too. frontmost our team has to convince the company that we can save them money. JAKE Sales ability Now, that doesnt surprise me, Merrik. I can see that in you. MERRIK You think so? I can do it, I have the . JAKE 90% of any job is sales. KIM Is that really true? Im terrible. Couldnt even sell girl scout cookies. JAKE Got to market your nature as well as your skills. MERRIK As soon as interest rates rise, real estate will be in the toilet JAKE Depends on what market. I mean, its not the class of people who can afford a couple million bucks who are hurting, is it?But those sales take time, those people are choosey MERRIK The Georgia job, I dont get paid until the adjustments come in. It can take 6 months, 9 months I tell my wife, have faith TERESA If you can be sure MERRIK My kids are all the time after me, they want stay here where their friends are, but I tell them have faith. The church follow up theres strong, sgot real spirit. Theyd make new friends KIM My brother was sent South for basic traini ng. He said the people treated him like dirt. DEBBIE (reading, exclaims aloud) Jesus Christ MERRIK immature lady DEBBIE Sorry. I didnt mean this story, did you see it?Unemployed postal worker in St. Louis, shot up his boss and three carriers and a cop. At his house, hed already killed his wife and kids. MERRIK Let me see. (takes newspaper) TERESA I heard about that. On the radio. JAKE There were a rash of these things 10, 12 years ago. DEBBIE During the last round of lay offs. MERRIK The invest Office must be hiring straight out of the loony bin. TERESA Veterans get extra points on the exam, so there may be a dish out who are trained in firearms. MERRIK Combat flash back, you think? JAKE Post traumatic. DEBBIE Postal traumatic. MERRIK Well, theyd better weed out the crazies, and fast.DEBBIE Oh, the crazies are being weeded out. Along with the alcoholic, lazy, and the ones who cant put in enough overtime. MERRIK About time DEBBIE Good thing they didnt start weeding till my uncle Adam took the pension. Hed have been mad crazy enough to get d ingest his shotgun. course, he drank, some, and he was certainly slow. But neither rain nor snow MERRIK Four days, for a letter from my wife If the mail went private DEBBIE Thered be no mail on Saturday, carriers would be green carders getting $5. 15 an hour KIM And no veterans preference points? MERRIK Whats your point?KIM My brother enlisted to get training for a good job. TERESA Be all you can be? KIM Ive thought about enlisting too. But chum salmon lost the fingers off his right hand whats he going to do when he gets out? He cant go back to meat cutting. MERRIK Dont expect the VA. Theyre shutting down, one by one. TERESA This office could find him something, dear. Helens a lifesaver. DEBBIE Something Executive? TERESA Education. Retraining. This is a really good program, at least for young people. Oldsters like me, nobody wants to hire us whatever we can do. KIM Theyd better find Buddy something. Cause hes so angry, he mightMERRIK So its OK to shoot people? If you lose your job? DEBBIE No, its not OK. But I understand it. Dont you? At least a story like this one makes more sense to me than the crap thats in the business section DOW up GE announces more layoffs the engine room Council wants more flexibility in the visa program, to meet the overseas competition Do they really think all these computer whizzes who used to make a hundred thou a year are going to go quietly into burger-flipping? KIM What else can they do? DEBBIE How many Luddites does it take to unscrew all the start bulbs? JAKE God knows theres a lot of frustration.MERRIK (to KIM) God knows, thats a true saying. If we cleanse our hearts, and trust Him, He answers our prayers. JAKE Ive had bosses it wouldnt break my heart to see bleed. But shoot his own kids? MERRIK Now, that makes sense, in a certain cock-eyed way. If a fathers desperate enough to kill, but he loves his kids, how could he leave those kids to face it? Im not sayin g hes thinking right, but TERESA I wish Helen would get here. With two new clients DEBBIE Im not new. This is lay off number 5. Or maybe 25, depending on how you count it. TERESA Temp jobs? I dont think those count. KIM Theyd count for meI cant find anything at all. TERESA Substituting, temping, you know from the start its not going to last. JAKE Nothing lasts, these days. You got to plan ahead. Train or re-train. KIM Sure, train. But for what? DEBBIE Train, they told me. So now Im in debt up to my ears for what it cost me to learn programming. JAKE Programming used to be hot. DEBBIE And now its not. JAKE Still. In a downturn, thats the recommendation. Retrain, add new skills to your resume. DEBBIE Keep remunerative tuition. Dangle that good job carrot, the old donkey keeps plodding along. TERESA Education is a persons best investment.DEBBIE Oh? Wheres it got you, lady? You just here to write a book? TERESA I never seemed to be in the right place at the right time. If I hadnt left teaching to raise my boys, Id be retired on a pension by now. But as a substitute, I DEBBIE I started out in the tool shop, with my dad. $12. 50 an hour, 18 for overtime. After the 3rd layoff I took the Expert Advice. Went to college. Got my 2 year certificate. Officially qualified to do scut work for some creep in a suit at seven 50 an hour. Seven fifty With which Im supposed to buy all this fashion shit and look professional for ChrissakeBut even in drag, all I could get was temp work. So then its back to school for Programming. KIM I cant even get part time Walmart I thought anybody could get that. TERESA As soon as Helen gets here shell help you. She has a comprehensive list openings, training programs, subsidies, scholarships.. (phone rings) JAKE Should we answer it? DEBBIE Well, they cant leave a message, we unplugged the machine. MERRIK (answers) Executive offices. KIM (to TERESA) I hope youre right. This feels like it may be my last chance. DEBBIE Everybodys last chance. J AKE Youre young, youre healthy.Its not the end of the world. MERRIK Yeah. Ill tell people. (hangs up) This office is closed. TERESA Oh, my dear God. Are you sure? This office? KIM Should we go to some other one? MERRIK Nobody knows. Theyve all been laid off, here. Budgets gone, the governor vetoed the restoration. JAKE That was Helen? TERESA But what will we do? MERRIK Leave, she says. And lock the door behind us. 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