A COLLECTION OF GAMES TO PLAY WITH THE HEART

By Nick Giotis

CHARACTERS

JESSE VELÁZQUEZ: ​A college sophomore living in El Paso, Texas. Honduran. Female.

LARS M​C​GRAW:​ A college senior living in West Alabama. Auburn University baseball

player. Male.

JESSE’S MOM: ​Early to mid 50’s. Mother of four. Former hospitality worker. Female.

THE TWINS: ​12 years old. Leo and Christian. A mischievous duo. Male (both).

TIME

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11th, 2020

PLACE

A GIRL’S HOME BEDROOM IN EL PASO, TEXAS & AN EMPTY BASEBALL DIAMOND

AT AUBURN UNIVERSITY

NOTES

In the beginning, when one character is speaking, their half of the stage should be illuminated by

a spot. Unless talking to other characters, dialogue is delivered as a monologue out to the

audience imagined both as a part of the world of the play and yet entirely detached from it. A
 lighting change will indicate a shift in perspective. By the flickering sequence, this should be

abandoned in favor of a whole stage wash.

The play opens on ​JESSE ​and ​LARS o​ n stage right and left respectively. The set is bare, save

for perhaps one item to establish place. For J​ ESSE​ this item is a cluttered vanity, for L
​ ARS ​it is

a pitching mound. There is a very soft wash on the stage. A spot illuminates stage right.

JESSE:​ Look, I know I’m supposed to be thankful. Like, I know I’m supposed to be happy that

I’m home with my family, but… well… I don’t know. It could be so much worse. I know that.

It could be ​so ​much worse. Julia, the redhead from Tacoma, got a fever before she left, so she

has to go into self quarantine when she gets home, and Ines can’t visit her abuela because she’s

old and’s got a heart murmur… or something like that. So yeah, it could be a lot worse. ​*A

beat* I​ ’m not gonna get to room with Ines next year, which kinda sucks. Her mom lost her job

and couldn’t afford to send her away anymore, so she’s transferring to El Paso Community

College. I mean I guess it’s nice ‘cause I’ll see her in the summers and stuff. But... I don’t

know. It’s just rough.

From offstage.

JESSE’S MOM:​ Jessica, necesitamos desinfectante para la Honda?

Jesse turns her head to yell to her mother, which she will do every time she addresses offstage

characters.

JESSE:​ No mama, lo tenemos.

JESSE’S MOM:​ Ok. Te quiero.

JESSE:​ Te quiero mas. I don’t even know what I’m gonna do with myself now. Everyone is

worrying about picking up their books and stuff but then what? Yesterday I went to every

grocery store within ten miles. Three HEBs, two Albertsons, an Aldi, a Kroger, and a Trader

Joe’s. That’s eight grocery stores. I went to every single one and asked for an application, and

at every single one I heard the same shit. “Oh we’re not hiring right now, you know, on account

of the virus.” What a load of crap. I thought I had a chance with the guy at the Kroger. He was

a young dude, short, greasy hair and these little shaky hands that couldn’t have touched a girl in

their life. He must have only started managing the store ‘cause I went up to him and I asked him

for a job and he actually went to his office to get an application. When he came back he was

with this older guy who told me that they couldn’t hire right now because it was a “health risk.”

I wanted to kick him. What do you mean health risk? You wanna see a health risk; I'll show you

a fucking health risk! I just walked out. As long as Papa’s store doesn’t shut down we’ll be fine.

LARS:​ God DAMNIT man! FUCK! ​*He takes a deep breath* ​I can’t believe this
fucking school. You give them everything for four fucking years, four years, and they cancel

your season two weeks before finals. They didn’t even give us any warning. And I mean it’s not

like every single sports game around the world is cancelled. What about March Madness?

They’re playing games with no audience? Right? We could do that, we could totally do that.

It’s not like hockey, you can watch it on TV, and, and the crowd isn’t a big deal we can cheer

from the dugout. Yeah. Yeah, i-if I send an email right now then maybe it’ll get to athletics

before they can reach out to any of the other teams. Uh huh, perfect, and then we can finish out

the D1 tournament and the year can be over. We have to. ​*A long beat* ​They just took it from

us. They didn’t even give us time to prepare. All we got was a letter saying the tournament was

postponed and then, two days later, an email came telling us that tomorrow's practice would be

the last one of the season. Nothing. Not a warning, not a heads up, not a “hey guys, Auburn

here, just so you know you might have to pack up those bats cause everything you worked for

these last four years is about to get shit on! Sorry about that!” Nothing. I’ve never seen Coach

cry like that. It’s like the first time you see your dad cry, you don’t really expect it. Like a little

kid. And I mean why wouldn’t he. Apparently athletics didn’t give him any heads up either, so

he got the news just like the rest of us. A little pack on the back and a sorry we didn’t tell you

sooner. What a shitty way to retire. ​*Another beat* ​FUCK!

Some ruckus from downstairs. It’s ​THE TWINS​ laughing and playing.

JESSE:​ The most annoying part about the whole thing is that these stores are so ​busy​. I mean,

think about it. Every white woman from El Paso to Houston is buying toilet paper like it’s gold
fucking bars, but you can’t afford to hire one more girl to help stock the shelves. It’s crazy. I

remember when I used to go to Trader Joe’s with Mama to get groceries. We would always pick

up samples and pretend to be food critics working for Chopped or some other show, and then

we’d look for those frosted cookies, the ones with little designs painted onto the top, for the

twins, and when we’d get home they’d fight over the green ones cause it was their favorite color.

It was like Christmas. Now look who’s fighting over cookies. ​*The ruckus in the background

grows* ​AY! CUT IT OUT DOWN THERE!

THE TWINS:​ YOU CUT IT OUT!

JESSE:​ WHY I OUGHTA! ​*Giggling from offstage*​ Those two are a shitshow. Mama and

Papa try to keep them together but it’s hard. When they were born they were the sweetest little

angels. They would sleep wrapped up in the same, neon green blanket, cuddled together like two

puppies. One time, one of them, I think it was Leo, or uh, maybe it was Christian… look I don’t

know, one of them climbed all the way out of their crib like a tiny Honduran James Bond. The

other one cried for thirty minutes straight until someone finally managed to check on ‘em. Now

they’re two little devil children. I sometimes wish those two would get themselves quarantined,

just to keep ‘em out of everyone else’s hair. ​*She says a little prayer, a knock on wood if you

will* ​Of course, I don’t mean that. ‘Cause of everything that’s happening, with the schools

closed and all that stuff, Mama had to take time off work to watch them, and that’s been uh…

difficult. But we’re getting by. Poco y poco.

LARS:​ They gave us a week to move out. One week. We pay tens of thousnds of dollars to

attend this lousy fucking school and what do they do? They kick us out. It was hard enough for

me and I’m from Alabama, so you can imagine what our international students must be feeling

right now. I had an accounting class with a kid from Italy. I think he was from Venice or

something, I don’t know he only spoke Italian. But like, what the hell is he supposed to do?

They’re telling all of us to pack up our bags and get out as fast as they can to what, protect

​ rotect their fucking paycheck. I just

themselves? Protect their faculty? Protect US? ​*A beat* P

feel numb. I feel like, I don’t know what to feel like. Coach called each of the seniors to tell us

that we could play another year, that the NCAA was letting us stay to get a fair chance at the

pros. A lot of good that’s gonna do. What, I get to pay another semester of college just to let a

scout from the Yankees minor league program jack me off? Yeah I’ll pass. I don’t owe this

school anything. When I was young there was nothing I wouldn’t give to live that life. I would

pretend like I was a major league pitcher, throwing baseballs at the garage door until my dad

yelled at me for denting it. I loved it. He would take me to the North Jefferson Middle School

‘cause it had “the best diamond in the district,” and I’d practice for hours until I was ready to fall

asleep in the back of his Jeep. ​*After a deep breath* ​I’ve gotta start moving forward, no more of

this over my shoulder crap. I’ll start looking for internships, which is obviously gonna be harder

now that all of our resources are shut down. Maybe I’ll do some temp stuff for a year or two if I

have to, who knows. I’m just gonna get by. Little by little.

JESSE:​ This “pandemic” shit is so frustrating. All you ever see on the news is stuff about the

stock market and the five year futures and more shit like that. Well guess what, the DOW Jones
can suck my dick. What does that even mean, DOW Jones? Maybe it means a lot to someone,

but that someone isn’t me, and it’s not my family. I’ll check back when mi mama needs to skip a

meal because the DOW Jones dropped.

LARS:​ Of course I’m worried about it, how can’t I be. When you’re the son of two sixty year

old diabetics, you start to think a little bit about how all this is going down. I mean, one week.

They have us all come back at the same time, right after going off to every corner of the globe.

How fucking irresponsible is that. I told ‘em to wait at home but they don’t listen, they won’t

quit looking after me. Maybe I should’ve stopped putting holes in the garage, then they wouldn’t

have so much to worry about.

From now on, each line should follow directly after the other and slowly move towards a round

(speakers start at different times but speak over each other).

JESSE:​ Yeah obviously I’m afraid about money. If Papa loses his job we go under, and I don’t

know how long his building is gonna stay open. Sure they won’t stop needing a night guard, but

if the entire complex shuts down then what’s he gonna do. ​*The ruckus grows again*​ AY CUT

IT OUT BEFORE I GO DOWN THERE AND SMACK YOU.

LARS:​ I just needed to come say goodbye. Just a goodbye. I couldn’t do this without getting

​ eah ma? What about him? Fever? You’ve been at the hotel all day
closure. ​*A phone rings* Y

how could he get a fever? Just, just put him on!

The lights flicker. The ruckus now starts to include more noises — a failed phone call sound, an

electrical shortage sound, etc., all growing in volume and intensity.

​ AMA! MAMA! DID YOU PAY

JESSE:​ SHUT UP I’M THINKING! ​*Another flicker* M

THE ELECTRICITY THIS MONTH?

The flickering intensifies.

LARS:​ WHAT? WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU WENT OUT TO BUY PURELL?

JESSE:​ LA ELECTRICIDAD! LO PAGASTE?

By this point, the flickering has enveloped the whole stage.

LARS:​ ​I TOLD YOU TO STAY PUT I WOULD’VE PICKED IT UP IF YOU SAID YOU

NEEDED IT!

JESSE:​ I SAID SHUT THE FUCK UP WE’RE TRYING TO FIX THE LIGHTS!

​By this point the two should be speaking over each other.
LARS:​ NO I GET THAT DAD BUT THIS IS HOW YOU FUCKING HURT YOURSELF!

JESSE:​ WHERE’S THE FUSE BOX MAMA?

LARS:​ YOU TWO CAN’T AFFORD TO GET SICK!

JESSE:​ LA CAJA DE FUSIBLES! I NEED YOUR HELP MAMA!

LARS:​ WHAT DO YOU THINK IS GONNA HAPPEN IF I LOSE YOU GUYS?

JESSE & LARS:​ ‘CAUSE I CAN’T DO THIS ALONE!

Blackout. Sound out.

A click, J​ ESSE h​ as found a flashlight. The lights slowly come up. ​LARS’ p​ hone is on the

ground. He reaches for it, but instead picks up a little flower embedded in the dirt.

LARS:​ Little by little.

JESSE:​ Poco y poco.

Blackout.
THE END