Play #18

Incidents and Accidents

__________________________

A short play

By Joseph Frost

Originally written as a part of

31 Plays in 31 Days

August 27, 2021

Contact:
710 Newland Dr
Jackson MS 39211
FrostJosephD@gmail.com
*member, Dramatists Guild
 SALEM and MARY sitting on the side of the
road.

Mary checks her cell phone.

SALEM
Any bars?

MARY
No.

SALEM
You knew that.

MARY
Yes.

SALEM
So why do you keep--

MARY
What else is there to do? What should I do?

SALEM
Wait for help to arrive.

MARY
Like you?

SALEM
Yes.

MARY
You’re already doing that. I’m doing something else.

SALEM
It’s not really helping.

MARY
It makes me feel better, all right? That’s something. Can that be enough?

A moment.
 2.

SALEM
This isn’t your fault.

MARY
I know.

SALEM
This isn’t my fault either.

MARY
That’s still debatable.

SALEM
It’s no one’s fault. It happens. The car broke down.

MARY
You kept running it hot.

SALEM
I was driving up hill.

MARY
And the engine overheated and now we’re stuck.

SALEM
What should have I done?

MARY
Not run it hot.

SALEM
If I was going to get over the hill, that’s what I needed to do.

MARY
And here we are.

SALEM
All I have is a gas pedal. There aren’t degrees of using the gas pedal. I push it, it goes.
If it’s not going, I have to push the pedal down harder.

MARY
I understand the operation of a car.

SALEM
Then why are you mad --
 3.

MARY
Because we’re on the side of a road.

SALEM
Look at this view, though.

MARY
Don't’ bright side this. Shove your silver lining right up your cloud and shut your mouth.

SALEM
It’s gorgeous.

MARY
I mean it.

SALEM
Fine. Don’t look.

MARY
I’m trying to get bars.

SALEM
There are no bars to get. We’re on a mountain.

MARY
There’s bars.

SALEM
You just don’t have any.

MARY
Yet.

Mary walks a bit away.

SALEM
Imagine being one of the first settlers. Out here. Untamed wilderness. Mountains it
would take forever to climb. Betcha it took forever before anyone even came up here.
No highway. No cars.

MARY
No bars.

SALEM
Exactly. Just taking in this view, and looking at this magnificent world around us. I
don’t even know what to say.
 4.

MARY
We could be stuck up here a long time.

SALEM
Well, first of all, there are other cars, this isn’t a remote road at all. Second, we’re only
stuck if you look at it that way.

MARY
Can we leave?

SALEM
Not right now.

MARY
That’s the only way I look at it.

SALEM
Your choice.

MARY
I don’t want to be stuck.

SALEM
Don’t you?

MARY
I can’t help that I am stuck.

SALEM
Is that true?

MARY
Of course it is.

SALEM
Ok.
(beat)
Your call.

MARY
It isn’t. It isn’t. It isn’t.

Mary pitches a fit, flailing her arms.

Her cell phone goes flying.

 5.

Probably off the mountain.

SALEM
Ok.

Mary sits down on the ground near Salem.

A long moment.

MARY
Nice view.

A long moment.

Lights down.