by Ivan Faute
| CHARACTERS:
PAULINE – 60-something woman SETTING: A sterile, institutional room. (AT RISE: PAULINE sits in a white chair wearing simple cotton pajamas and slippers. It could be she is in nursing home gear, or it could be she is in some sort of institutional uniform. SHAWNEE wears business casual clothes and sits across in a matching chair. SHAWNEE sips from a small flask.) PAULINE Is it sweet? SHAWNEE Darling? PAULINE Sweet? I only used to like sweet drinks. SHAWNEE I suppose it’s sweet. What do you consider sweet? PAULINE I used to like a sidecar. You know sidecars? SHAWNEE No. PAULINE Sugar rim, some sour, bourbon – no…brandy. Brandy? SHAWNEE I wouldn’t know. PAULINE I’m pretty sure it was brandy…. No one drinks much brandy anymore. SHAWNEE Suppose not. PAULINE That’s not… SHAWNEE No. (Takes a drink.) PAULINE I remember used to be everyone’d have a decanter of all the liquors – brandy, gin, rye – little silver plaques on the jars – little nametags. Someone’d come over and you’d offer them a drink. “What will you have?” Very sociable. SHAWNEE Not like that anymore. PAULINE No, no one much shares anymore. (Pause.) So it’s… SHAWNEE Bourbon. PAULINE Of course – you can save that forever. Never goes bad. SHAWNEE You made up your mind yet? PAULINE About Vince? SHAWNEE Course. PAULINE I used to… back when Vince’s father and I was working with the dogs, we had a game. He’d go into a bar and bet some men that I could name any whiskey they’d pour. Just by the smell. They’d lay out six or seven shot glasses, fill them up with different whiskeys, and I’d move along and sniff them, one by one. Be able to name every one. When I got them all right, we’d get to keep them. We’d split them. SHAWNEE Not good for the liver, that. PAULINE No… haven’t done that for a long time. Since back when I had the dogs. Bet I still could. (SHAWNEE considers. Unscrews the cap to the flask, quickly waves it under PAULINE’s nose.) PAULINE Isn’t as sensitive as it used to be. (SHAWNEE places the flask under PAULINE nose again. PAULINE grabs hold the flask and tries to take it, but SHAWNEE holds on firmly. PAULINE takes a deep sniff.) PAULINE Not Jim Beam. SHAWNEE No. PAULINE Or Jack Daniels. SHAWNEE Never darling. PAULINE A little bit of apple smell. (SHAWNEE blows across the top of the flask toward PAULINE.) PAULINE Wild Turkey. Haha. That’s it. Wild Turkey. (In her excitement, PAULINE loses control of the flask. SHAWNEE gives PAULINE a salute with the flask and takes a short swig.) PAULINE If I got it right in the bar, I’d always get to keep them all. SHAWNEE This ain’t a bar. PAULINE They let me keep a little cup here. I use this to get water. (SHAWNEE looks at PAULINE, pours the tiniest amount. PAULINE looks at her cup and drinks.) SHAWNEE Decide? PAULINE Why’s he want to come now? No reason to drag that back in here. SHAWNEE Wants to talk to you. That’s all I know. Maybe he misses you. PAULINE I didn’t do anything wrong. SHAWNEE No one said- PAULINE What did he do with Fortis? SHAWNEE Which one was he? PAULINE The male! The goddam male. If he sold them to the Amish…. When I’d take him to shows, Fortis, he always knew it. The best dog I ever had. He never liked the cold. When we were out on the road, afterwards, I’d go out and sit near the dogs. In the kennel, it’d get cold. After we’d spent all day together, training, and washing and then a show, and I’d brush them after and feed them. Vince and his father just wanted to go to bed, and forget about them. But Fortis was always anxious. So I’d go out and sit with him. It’d calm him down. They were good, course they were good. But it was cold. Fortis didn’t like it. SHAWNEE Is that the kennel where Vince found you sleeping? (Pause.) PAULINE You’re as mean as your mother ever was. SHAWNEE Think I could snag some cherry juice from the kitchen? We could make Manhattans. Fin |
Ivan Faute teaches creative writing at Christopher Newport University. “The Dog Show” was developed in a workshop at Stage Left Theatre in Chicago under the tutelage of M.E.H. Lewis. A visual record of his dogs’ adventures can be found on Instagram at “tuliem.”
Causeway Lit 