C10H15N

A play about the search for the meaning of life. The journey of two young boys taking their friend home for the last time after a tragic accident.

C₁₀H₁₅N

A play.

By David Rooken-Smith.

 

~

Dramatis Personæ:

Graham Archer: A teenage boy �"Think: A smarter version of Tim Roth’s character from Pulp Fiction.

Stanley Brown: another teenager, Graham’s best friend. Think: Samuel L. Jackson’s character from Pulp Fiction.

Uncle Dave: Graham’s strange hillbilly uncle �" runs a junkyard called Dave’s Dump and Go. A crazy eccentric predator that is smarter than he lets on.

Adrian Eggman: An impressionable, insecure teenager, top of his grade.

A Small Boy: Abducted by Dave.

Mrs. Eggman: Adrian’s mother. Appears briefly at the end.

 

 

SCENE 1:                                          A Complication.

The Stage lights fade in gradually. GRAHAM, STANLEY and ADRIAN appear next to a small, very messy blue tent, with a variety of garden furniture about it. GRAHAM sits in a foldable camp chair, STANLEY sits on a plastic chair, and ADRIAN sits on an upturned paint tin. Beer bottles are inside and around the tent. They are very high on methamphetamine; drug paraphernalia is strewn about their sitting place �" including a broken lightbulb which is used to smoke the meth. We join them in the middle of a conversation.

Graham: (Very slowly and purposefully) Ever feel like there’s something… on the outside of all of this?

Stanley: Like what? Like God or something?

Graham: No... On the outside of this �" beyond our consciousness. Y’know what I mean? It’s like the entire universe is this… flat sheet of paper �" (He leans back and falls into the tent) all folded up inside itself �" making a roof over our heads (He touches the roof of the tent very softly and intensely, he’s fascinated by it.) and it’s like we’re just the ants walking around its surface, and every now and then �" someone gets it into his mind to start playing with us little ants... I need another hit. (He grabs the lightbulb and starts putting some meth into it.)

Stanley: (Laughs slightly and grabs the bulb from Graham)Jesus man, slow down… that needs to last us the whole weekend �" and besides, I think you’ve had just about enough… Methinks our friend Adrian could use a little more though. (Holds bulb up to Adrian) Hey man, how’re you holding up? You like it?

Adrian: (Slightly hesitantly) Yeah, sure Stan �"hey, how long is… this supposed to take before it kicks in?

Stanley: It’s supposed to work right away man, yeah I told Grey that you hadn’t had enough… but you know, sometimes it doesn’t work the first time. Here man, take a whiff �" I’ll hold the lighter for you. (He hands the bulb to Adrian)

Adrian: (Very shakily and breathlessly) Okay… sure… tell me when I take enough…

Stanley: Yeah - sure man - just breathe.

He flicks the lighter on and the meth dissolves. Adrian’s hands are shaking. He starts to inhale, looking very uncomfortable.

Stanley: Yeah… that’s it… a nice long breath now… come on man, open up deep, feel it diffuse…

Graham: (Sitting up briefly, in a rare lucid moment) Hey… Stan… It’s his first time, don’t push it man.

Stanley: Come on Grey �" Adrian’s cool, he’ll tell us when he’s had enough, (To ADRIAN) Right?

Adrian suddenly pushes the bulb away and begins coughing violently �" spewing out white smoke �" he grunts and shouts, wide-eyed. He coughs heavily and breathlessly asks for water with an outstretched hand.

 

 

Stanley: S**t, you okay man? (He laughs softly and pats Adrian on the back) Yeah, that’s my boy! (Turns to a stoned Graham) See Grey? I told you he was cool. (Turns back to Adrian)Hey man, relax! I’ll get you some water. But first, a little medicine for the doctor… (He lights up and takes a hit of meth) Damn! Whoa! That’s some good medicine… I told you Grey, that little Chinese guy at the corner knows his s**t. He leans back into the tent, lying next to Graham.

He’s really relaxed and also starts taking an interest in the roof, playing with it between his fingers and laughing softly to himself. ADRIAN is outside, he falls off his chair and starts choking on something �" he grasps at his throat and mouths some words (possibly, help..)But he makes no sound.

He begins writhing. All the while, STANLEY and GRAHAM are laughing violently inside the tent. The Beatles “I Am the Walrus” plays and gets progressively louder. He turns toward the audience, shaking violently, his nose is bleeding. Some vomit escapes his mouth and he tries to get out some final, futile words. Music becomes uncomfortably loud. Eventually, his limbs go stiff and he dies �" the music fades off with the stage lights.

Some time later �" STANLEY and GRAHAM wake, still semi-comatose, in the tent. STANLEY walks outside and sees ADRIAN lying on the floor.

Stanley: Hey, Adrian, wake up man �" what’s up? (He gets closer to ADRIAN and notices a puddle of vomit and blood next to his mouth, he muffles a scream.)Grey, get out here, you… you gotta see this, Grey…

Graham: (Laughs slightly to himself, he is still very high.) What is it man? Did Adie chunder in the bushes?

Stanley: (Shouting in a serious tone) Get out here man, this is serious s**t… Adrian, wake up man… (He starts CPR to try and resuscitate ADRIAN, but to no avail. He tries mouth to mouth, and looks up, his mouth and clothes covered in vomit.) This is serious s**t man. I… I think we killed him.

Lights fade out abruptly.

 

SCENE 2:                                           Stanley and Graham.

The scene opens, the boys are pacing anxiously around in front of the tent, looking around the scene, but making a point of avoiding the corpse �" they are now relatively sober.

Stanley: (Taking off his vomit and blood-stained hoodie) I need this this off me man… his blood… his blood’s all over it! Man, I’m never gonna get this off… we need to dump it �" all of it. Cos’ if my mom finds it, I’ll be so screwed man �" she’ll start asking questions and I’m gonna be in it man… We gotta explain this to someone… tell them what happened… (He starts babbling incoherently)

Graham: (Grabbing STANLEY by by shirt, pulls him violently towards his face, he suddenly becomes the rational one) For God’s sake, shut up! This is not CSI; this is not a bloody game!

Your mom’s gonna be the least of your problems when the police get involved �" we’ve got a f*****g corpse here, we killed a guy while high - on meth �" do you think they’ll be interested in some half-assed excuse? We’ve got to get rid of this… thing. Get our friend out of my bloody garden �" I don’t care what you do with him after that.

Stanley: Hold up man, why is he my problem? We were both high �" this is our problem.

Graham: Well I’m not the one who pushed it down his bloody neck am I? (Very sarcastically, he acts out the last scene) “Hey Grey, Adrian’s cool. He’ll tell us when he’s had enough- right?” (He escalates to a level where he’s almost shouting, he moves towards STANLEY) Right?

Graham: May I ask what the f**k were you were thinking while that was going on? Do you know that that kid has never even smoked pot before? Jesus man! Grow up! (He pauses, as if waiting for a reply from STANLEY. STANLEY begins mouthing something, but thinks better of it.) Look, I’ll give you a hand getting him out of here �" after that, he’s your problem. I suggest dumping him in a storm drain �" along with all your clothes �" and pray that the police don’t arrive here when his mom starts asking questions; because I’ll be giving her your name when she comes round wondering what happened to her darling Adrian.

Stanley: A storm drain? Are you serious? This is a human being Grey… not some dead cat killed in the street.

Graham: Who gives a s**t? Certainly not Adrian. Certainly not me. Look, if you want to give this poor b*****d a Christian burial �" then by all means go ahead, but leave me out of it.

Stanley: Grey… I meant, we shouldn’t just dump him, we gotta… Y’know, get him home �" we killed him, we’ve got to be responsible. We’re going to be in s**t for this… but maybe it’ll look a little better if we make the effort to get him home.

Graham: (looks up in disbelief at STANLEY) My God Stan- have you taken complete leave of your f*****g mind? We’re just going to waltz into his mom’s backyard like the bloody pizza delivery dragging a body behind us? (Enacts a scene :) “I’m sorry Mrs. Eggman, but a funny thing happened on the way back from Sunday school, though I hope you’ll appreciate the effort we made to deliver your son’s corpse to your bloody doorstep.” (Points back at body) I hope you’re planning on cleaning him up first; he’s got a vomit stain on his collar.

Stanley: (Suddenly sarcastically calm) you’re right Grey, that’s why I’m going to be wrapping him in my sleeping bag.(He takes a determined, defiant tone) I’m going to get him home, because I have a sense of common bloody decency. Nobody should spend eternity in a storm drain �"he deserves at least a small measure of dignity in death �"even you can’t deny that. He’s more than a piece of meat you know �" he has a soul, and he needs to go home- even if just for my sake.

Graham: (One can feel that he has softened slightly) Look… Stan… I get what you’re saying but I’m trying to be realistic here. We can’t just load him up and drag him through the streets �" his house is at least eight k’s away. If you’re serious �" I’ll help you, but I want you to realize that it won’t be easy, first we’ll need to find a way of making it look inconspicuous- we don’t need to attract any undue attention.

And to that end, I have an idea- My stepmom’s brother runs a scrap yard in town, not too far away �"it’s still early and if we hurry we could make it there before too many people are awake to see us…

Stanley: Sounds good man… but won’t this guy ask questions?  Not every day you see two teenagers coming into the yard with a body in a bag… are you sure he won’t call the police or anything?

Graham: Uncle Dave? He’s cool man �"he’ll help us. Hell, he’ll probably even give us a lift - crazy old b*****d. Besides, it would hardly be the first time he’s … dealt with a body.

Stanley: (He begins to zip up the bag with the body in it) What, was he an undertaker or something? (Even though he fully realizes the intention of Graham’s previous statement.)

Graham: Yeah. Something like that.

 

SCENE 3:                                                      Dave.

The scene opens in a junk yard, very clearly littered and poorly maintained. In the middle, there is a cheap blue deck chair with a colorful umbrella taped to the top of it. Next to the deck chair is a table with a beer bottle and an ashtray. An old shopping trolley sits to one side, with bits of random cardboard and scrap metal in its basket. A sleeping man in ridiculous pajamas lies on a broken mattress in the centre �" the king in his own paradise of s**t.

Prokofiev’s “Dance of the Knights” begins to play. A choreographed sequence happens as follows, all set to the tune.

-Dave wakes up, stretches, and begins going about his morning routine �"changing from his pajamas (throwing them on a rubbish pile) into his clothes (described later).

-Dave begins to look sad �" but then a soccer ball flies over his wall.

-A young boy �" dressed in yellow �" enters the yard, and explains that he has lost his ball.

-Dave is overjoyed and greets the boy �" going over and getting his ball for him.

-Dave offers the boy a lollipop (this is the climactic moment) and the boy takes it.

-Suddenly, Dave grabs the boy and begins fighting him. He wraps duct tape around his mouth and begins carrying him to stage left.

-As the music dies off, Dave carries the boy offstage �" with one last wink to the audience.

-Music stops. (At 1:45 in the track)

STANLEY and GRAHAM enter the scene from the right �"looking somewhat bewildered. DAVE enters from the left, dressed in his floral, collared Aloha T-shirt, blue shorts and a straw hat. (He looks somewhat tropical and very eccentric; he has a look of madness in his eyes.) DAVE begins fiddling with an old, rusty metal radio.

 

Dave: Hey! If it isn’t my favourite nephew �" and his, err… (He looks STANLEY up and down) friend? (Dave lights a cigarette with an old-fashioned lighter) Watcha got in that bag over yonder?

Graham: Hey Dave, this is Stanley Brown �" he’s a friend from school.

Dave: He looks kinda skinny. Say! Would you boys like some bacon and eggs? Got some cooking in the trailer (He gestures to an imaginary trailer offstage) Mmm mmm mmm! Bacon and Eggs! Real nice ‘n crispy too. Sure you don’t want any?

Graham: No thanks Dave… I’ve had breakfast already…

Dave: Mmm. So… you gonna let me take a peek inside that bag of yours Stanley? (He leans forward excitedly) Or is it a present for me? Oh, I do love surprises! (STANLEY unzips the sleeping bag to reveal ADRIAN’s head.) Jesus H. Christ! (He laughs) what happened to this fella?

Graham: We... uh... we were smoking... and he... uh

Stanley: (Interrupting) He drank too deeply from the cup of life.

Dave: (Sudden change to a somber tone) O.D huh? Yeah �" At the end of the day it’s all a game of chance ain’t it? It’s all just the flip of coin… (Changes back to his happy character) Anyway (He claps his hands together)… live and learn. Toss the bugger on the pile over there and I’ll get you guys a plate of bacon and eggs.

Graham: Dave, that’s just the thing; we didn’t come here to dump him.

Stanley: We came for advice… we want to take him home.

Dave: Aaaw, ain’t we grown up �" and found ourselves a sense of responsibility too. (Looking at GRAHAM) I like this one, he’s a keeper. (Winks) But really, why are you here?

Stanley: We… we killed him and it’s the right thing to do.

Dave: Hold on just one flippin’ minute. Did you kill this boy? (A strange, darker tone has come over him.)

Stanley: Well, not … technically... but we didn’t exactly stop him from… uh…

Dave: Allow me to rephrase that. Did you put a gun to that boy’s head?

Stanley: Well, no…

Dave: Did you inject him with a substance against his will?

Stanley: No.

Dave: Well then you didn’t do s**t! Was the drugs that killed him �" you guys didn’t do nothing. Hell, maybe it was God… or Fate… Maybe the kid had some kind of Cancer. Worst they can get you on is possession. 5 to 10, maybe just a fine if you’re willing to grease the wheels a bit. (A sudden change in tone again) That is, if you get caught. But that ain’t gonna happen is it? Cos’ uncle Dave’s got a plan.

Graham: What?

Dave: Well, you know them homeless buggers that you see walking around �" the ones with shopping trolleys full of blankets and s**t like that?

Graham: Yeah, so?

Dave: Do you think the police ever bother to stop and search those guys?

Graham: I guess not…

Dave: Exactly! Nobody wants to touch a flippin’ hobo do they? ‘Course not! Much less rifle through their s**t. And that’s how we’re gonna get your friend home.

Graham: So we’re gonna dress up like hobos and wheel him around in a…

Dave: Shopping trolley, exactly! (He runs excitedly to the trolley and begins clearing it out.)

Graham: But wouldn’t that be… you know…undignified?

Dave: (Pausing abruptly) Dignity? Ha! My friend, you’re covered in somebody else’s vomit and you smell like meth. It’s far too late to talk about dignity. (He wheels the trolley over to GRAHAM. It makes a high-pitched squeal. He then throws GRAHAM some old clothes off a junk pile.) Here, take these. You best get yourselves changed �" you’ve got to look respectable to talk to this fella’s mum. I’ll clean him up so long.

Graham: (Takes clothes and looks puzzled) Yeah…

STANLEY and GRAHAM off.

DAVE is left alone on stage. He sits down and pulls a dirty rag from his trousers �" he begins to clean ADRIAN �" dabbing occasionally at his face.

Dave: Life’s a game of chance kiddo, and you drew an empty hand. Didn’t your mum tell you not to hang around with kids like Graham? A’course she did… but hell, a straight up and down kid like yourself needs some excitement don’t ya? Mmm… I tell ya kid �" the straight up and down’s a better way to go. I spent my teenage years in and out of juvie �" drink, drugs, stealing money from our folks �" it’s not like we even needed it. We weren’t some inner city gang �" we was just kids from the middle classes lookin’ for a bit of fun. That’s all it was �" a bit of fun. But kid, I seen things which a kid shouldn’t see �" I betrayed my friends, ran away from life �" but believe me that s**t never leaves you. Yeah… and look at me now �" and ageing b*****d with a junkyard full of broken dreams. Let you in on a little secret: I ain’t worth half of all this s**t put together. Hell, maybe it’s better that you bowed out early �" it seems there just ain’t no place  for the straight up and down anymore…(Lights go down and a spotlight falls on DAVE) It’s just us thieves, liars and racists ridin’ a sinking ship straight into the darkness… (Spotlight switches from DAVE to THE BOYS �" who are dressing at stage left.)

Graham: It’s a damn shame it had to end like this.

Stanley: Yeah, but honestly �" could it have ended any other way?

Spotlight switches back to DAVE

Dave: I gotta ask kiddo; if there’s no place for the good guys anymore �"

Spotlight goes off �" the stage is bathed in darkness.

Dave: What hope is there for the rest of us?

 

SCENE 4:                 The Sermon.

Scene is dark. All that can be heard is the squeaking of a trolley’s wheels and a track of a bird chirping. The squeaking stops �" the lights go up and THE BOYS are seen in the centre with the trolley, now with ADRIAN’S body inside it.

 Stanley: I think this is it �" Adrian’s house.

Graham: It’s a bit… surreal isn’t it?

Stanley: What?

Graham: Well, I was just thinking �" this is the last time he’ll ever come home.

Stanley: (Sighs) I guess �" kinda weird that we’re the ones doing it.

Graham: How so?

Stanley: Well, we were the last people he ever saw �" didn’t get to say goodbye to his family or anything. Y’know �" no proper sendoff, nothing.

Graham: Yeah… feels weird to just… drag him in out of the cold. Don’tcha think we should … maybe…give him a short… service… or something �" give him a proper goodbye y’know?

Stanley: Yeah, Yeah… I guess so �" that’d be nice… Uh, how should we start?

Graham: I suppose we should start by… by saying something short �" about what he meant to us, times we shared �" stuff like that.

Stanley: How!? Grey, we hardly knew him �" he was here and he was gone �" he left no mark. It’s like his life was a castle made of sand… he just slipped, quietly into the sea. Hell! What are we doing Grey? This service �" this whole thing, it’s bullshit and you know it! We’re seventeen Grey �" we don’t know what we’re doing �" this is too big for us man. Death is for the old… people who are done with life �" but Adrian… hell - his life never begun.

Graham: Maybe that’s what he was trying to do Stan �" coming to us. Maybe he was tryna’ start living.

Stanley: Is this life Grey? Taking meth until we don’t know who we are? Until we can watch somebody die in front of us and not care?

Stanley: We’re in a haze, we’re on the run… this is not life. This is us trying to escape from a prison we built ourselves.

 Graham: Adrian thought this was life �" here. (He takes out the poem) Dave gave this to me �" says he found it on Adrian’s body…

Stanley: What is it?

Graham: It’s a poem �" I think. Looks like he wrote it himself. (He reads. A spotlight falls on him)

”I did an evening’s worth of fevered thinking.

Mind turning, searching for meaning through the vast expanse of my past.

Producing �" eventually, some unthinkable conclusion;

I dreamed, then realized, yet never would admit,

That maybe I had missed the point.

Somehow, the textbooks stole me and left me,

An empty husk �" stubbornly grinding myself to dust in pursuit of nothing.

I am pulling slowly �" mindlessly �" on the trigger of a gun:

Aimed at my own head.

 

I’ve spent many hours pondering the ignorance of others,

Only to realize, that perhaps they’ve had it right since the beginning.

I’ve spent many hours studying,

Gaining all the answers to all the questions

That intelligent minds would care to ask.

From a physiology textbook I’ve learnt

All the complex structures of the mind and of the heart �"

Yet neither it - nor I - could hope to explain

Art and Music and Love.

 

Someone I knew stole the object of my desire.

People I know have experienced life.

I am left behind.

I live a life of cold calculation �"

Logic, Facts, Rationality.

I deal with emotions by simply not having any.

I live a life devoid of passion.

Which begs the question �" whether ‘tis life at all?

 

I may drink from the clear waters of knowledge, even though it is bitter.

I may stay honest, true and moral �" even though it is difficult.

Yet, in my evening’s worth of fevered thinking…

I wonder -

 

   

Stanley: I wonder… There’s your sermon Grey. (He closes his eyes over the trolley) We are here today to remember our friend Adrian �" we knew him not. He died in pursuit of life. His life meant nothing �" (Stage lights go off.) And neither did his death - Amen.

 

SCENE 5:                 The Coin.

~Still in darkness~

Graham: We knew this was coming from the beginning Stanley. (Stage lights go up �" the pair have made themselves comfortable on two upturned paint tins, both staring distantly at the audience, the pair have a bored, distant tone �" as if talking about the weather.) Time to knock on that door and change a life forever. Question is �" who’s going to be the one who does it?

Stanley: Difficult question Grey �" trouble is there’s no good answer. Whoever does it is going to be the one who takes the blame �" bears the wrath, faces what has been done. The other one �" the one who’s left behind �" he gets to keep on running. He’ll go free - but he’ll have to bear that for the rest of his life �" knowing that he betrayed a friend.

Graham: Should we both go?

Stanley: What’s the point �" ruining two lives?

Graham: Yeah… makes sense. I guess the one who killed him has gotta be the one to go.

Stanley: Dunno Grey. Maybe we should flip a coin. (This is said as if deciding who gets the front seat on a car trip.)

Graham: (Equally devoid of emotion.) It’s all so meaningless isn’t it? The flip of a coin… the game of chance.

Stanley: (Said almost to himself.) Like a candle snuffed out by a random gust of wind. (His tone shifts �" he becomes more aggravated �" growing suddenly angry with himself.) Adrian was top of his grade, he had a future �" could’ve been something �" yet here he lies. Where’s the justice? Where’s the plan? I see no hand of God in this. A human life should have meaning, shouldn’t it?! I mean, what are we… what are we here for if not to create meaning? (Said in a pleading tone.)

Graham: (Matter-of-factly.) I’ve worked it all out. It would seem - friend �" that we were put here to take this boy’s life.

Stanley: (His temper rising, he stands up.) No! Think what you will about yourself �" but I won’t be called a murderer!

Graham: But you already are, Stan. You said it yourself �" we killed him and we have to take responsibility.

Stanley: Why is this my fault? (He takes an accusatory tone) You… You could have stopped all of this!

Graham: (In a tired, pleading tone) But where did it start, Stan?

Stanley: (Becoming hysterical.) Maybe this is God, maybe He’s punishing us for something… I won’t believe it! People overdose all the time �" and it’s no one’s fault! This is fate! This is random chance! I’ve murdered no one!

Graham: But you have… you’ve known it from the beginning.

Stanley: This began with fate… and it will end with fate. Flip the coin. The loser faces the consequences �" the winner walks.

Graham: (Suddenly very calm.) Will the winner ever see the loser again?

Stan: No.

Graham: Should the winner turn himself in?

Stanley: Well, I suppose he’ll have to decide that for himself.

Graham: So I guess this is goodbye Stanley.

Stanley: Yeah… Yeah it is… Go on Graham, flip the coin.

GRAHAM takes out a coin, he pauses and examines it - looking at the object that will decide his fate. He flips, the coin lands in his hand. He does not look at it. It is now that he utters the final, damning line:

Graham: Heads or Tails?

The lights crash to black. After a while, a shopping trolley can be heard being wheeled across the stage. After a while �" there is a knock on a door. It opens, a plate drops and shatters, a woman screams and begins sobbing a helpless “Oh no… Oh God no…” The Kongos’ �" “Come with me now” begins playing and starts to drown out the sobbing. The play concludes as the players come out separately �" accompanied by a title card showing their real names and their character names, they bow separately. Lastly, a title card comes up with the methamphetamine skeleton picture �" underneath stating it’s full scientific name, and the letters:“C₁₀H₁₅N” emblazoned in large letters �" this is shown for a few seconds until the music fades out.

~fin.~

 

 

 

 

Begun: April 7^th, 2013 �" Germiston, South Africa.

Finished: July 1^st, 2013 �" Casal Valimo, Salerno, Italy.