20 June 2015

PROMPT:  A loose tooth . . . 

Carolyn Maye, interdisciplinary artist 

Celia, 16, picks up her cell phone and looks at the display.  Karen, 55, sits next to her.
KAREN
Quit checking your phone.  He said he’d call.
CELIA
(agitated)
He was supposed to call fifteen minutes ago.
KAREN
Lots of things could have happened.
CELIA
Like what?
KAREN
I don’t know.  I’m not there an neither are you.
Silence.
CELIA
Thanks for sitting with me.
KAREN
This is what parents do.  They sit with their children when difficult things are happening.
Celia checks her phone.
KAREN
Is the ringer on?
CELIA
Yes.
KAREN
Do you know what it sounds like?
CELIA
Yes.  It’s “All about that bass” by Meghan Trainor.
KAREN
You know how much I hate that song!
CELIA
(smiling)
That’s why I picked it.
KAREN
(softly, but loud enough)
Bitch.
CELIA
(smiling and laughing)
Ho.
The women laugh.
Celia checks her phone.
CELIA
Why doesn’t he call?
KAREN
Either he will or he won’t and there’s not much you can do about it.
CELIA
(mocking)
Brilliant.
(hesitant)
I’m not sure anymore that I want him to.  I might not answer.
KAREN
He’s your father.  You haven’t talk to him in ten years.  You would hate yourself if you didn’t find out what he had to say.
CELIA
I don’t care what he has to say.
KAREN
Of course you care.
CELIA
He’s not my father.  Jack is my father.  He’s been more a father to me in the last three years, than my father ever was.
KAREN
I hope you’ll tell Jack that, but you would still regret it if you didn’t talk to your birth father.
Celia’s phone starts playing “All About That Bass.”
CELIA
What do I do?
KAREN
(picking up the phone and holding it out to Celia)
Answer it.  I’ll be right here.
Celia takes the phone tentatively from Karen.
CELIA
(answering)
Daddy?
End of play.