5 July 2015

PROMPT:  Wow, your favorite old diner has really changed.  

Katie Pearl, writer/director/performer

Josalyn, 60, and Veronica, 61, walk down the street together.
JOSALYN
Wow, has this city changed.  I drove in yesterday afternoon down IH35...
VERONICA
(interrupting)
I don’t get on IH35, especially in the afternoon.
JOSALYN
Took me an hour to get from Round Rock to downtown Austin.
VERONICA
That’s, actually, not to bad.
JOSALYN
Your kidding.
VERONICA
They think if they just build enough roads, they can reduce traffic congestion.
JOSALYN
That’s not how it works?
VERONICA
Nope.  More roads actually means more congestion.  That radical leftist state institution, Texas A&M...
JOSALYN
(interrupting)
Texas A&M is radical or leftist!
VERONICA
Duh.  Anyway, A&M did a study that showed more roads equals more congestion.
JOSALYN
That doesn’t sound right.
VERONICA
All the old roads can’t really be expanded more than just a little, unless you want to spend billions of dollars...
JOSALYN
Not in this state.
VERONICA
Exactly, so they build new roads around the edges...
JOSALYN
And more people move in...
VERONICA
Around the edges...
JOSALYN
And they want to go to all the...
(air quotes)
...”cool” places...
VERONICA
In the old parts of the city...
JOSALYN
...Cause who wants to hang out in suburbia.
VERONICA
Nobody.  So they drive into town...
JOSALYN
Where all the old roads are...
VERONICA
The roads that can’t be expanded...
JOSALYN
And violà...
VERONICA
Gridlock.
Silence.
JOSALYN
Where do you get a good chicken fried steak now?
VERONICA
Hank’s grill disappeared long ago...
JOSALYN
That was my favorite.  Next, the Stallion.
VERONICA
Burned down.
JOSALYN
You’re kidding.
VERONICA
Fifty years of grease in a wooden building.  Went up like a match.
JOSALYN
Threadgill’s?
VERONICA
Still there, but it’s lost it’s commitment to grease.
JOSALYN
The Nighthawk?
VERONICA
Now Frisco’s.  I haven’t been there.
JOSALYN
Well, where do you get a good chicken fried steak?
VERONICA
Hoover’s is okay.  It’s on Manor Road just east of UT, but I go out the 290 Cafe.
JOSALYN
290 Cafe?
VERONICA
It’s in Manor.
JOSALYN
Texas?!
VERONICA
Yup.  The toll road has made it a little easier to get to.
JOSALYN
(disapproving)
Toll roads?
VERONICA
Yup.  You still have to get to the toll road and that can take awhile.
Silence.
JOSALYN
So what do you eat?
VERONICA
Artisan burgers, artisan tacos...
JOSALYN
Artisan tacos?!
VERONICA
Don’t ask.
JOSALYN
Lotta food truck and trailers?
VERONICA
Yup.  There not bad.
JOSALYN
So you can’t get anywhere and where you can get...
VERONICA
You don’t want to go.
JOSALYN
Hipster hell.
VERONICA
Pretty much.
Silence.
End of play.