To Move Or Not To Move
A Very Short Play, With Words
A bus stop bench.
The bus stop shelter has a poster for an action hero movie.
There is a park across the street.
Morning.
Theodore: Listen. Simon. Instead of just sitting here as we do every day, confusing the bus drivers who bother to stop—let’s do something. I was reading a magazine article last night that said that everything is changing faster than ever before. I suppose they probably said that back in the day when the first horseless carriage roared down this street. But it is different now—isn’t it?! We should go check. I’m not joining any apocalyptical or dystopian choirs but sometimes I swear I hear heraldry horns inviting me to some grand event—like something more genuine is beckoning.
Simon: Heraldry horns, hah! It’s just your tinnitus, Theodore. It’s an election year—the very air we breathe is filled with the promotional chatter for selecting a new emperor— who, by the way, I assure you will be wearing the latest Nothing. That’s all you’re hearing. Or maybe just the sound of Old Father Time slapping you around a bit—as he does us all on occasion. But I see that today you’ve got that look again—searching for some incitement to action, prodding the day to jumpstart your head into some expectations. I swear if you were an equestrian you’d even flog the dead ones.
Theodore: Agh. It’s been months since we’ve changed the routine. I can tell the hours by the school bus, the delivery trucks, and the lady taking her Dachshund for a crap. This bench is like fly paper. I feel like I’m just fluttering my wings—making a lot of buzzing noise—unto exhaustion.
Simon: They say if you struggle it just makes you stick more. I’m almost tempted to tell you to chill out and just go and watch some television—but you know I blame that damn tube for much of the worst there is. Sitting with yet another anxious bag of Doritos, getting exercise by watching sports, adventures by investigating crime scenes, and intellectual stimulation by getting the right answers on Jeopardy—it’s a virtual life that exists mostly for dull people to have something to talk to each other about.
