1 Aug 2015

PROMPT:  Mireme tonto cuando... (Look at me dummy when you...)

Leticia Rodriguez, artist/musician/dancer

Brock, 53, dressed in a guards uniform including side arm and taser stands tall and looks dangerous.
Teresa, 32, a small woman carrying a baby, Lupita, 2, comes on stage.
TERESA
(heavy Mexican accent)
Excuse me.
Brock looks over and shakes his head.
BROCK
(with a sigh)
What’d ya need?
TERESA
What am I supposed to do?
BROCK
About what?
TERESA
I have nothing to do.
BROCK
Take care of your baby.
TERESA
I took care of my baby.  She has a clean diaper, she has been fed, and now she is napping.  What do I do now?
BROCK
I don’t know.  Clean the cabin.
TERESA
There are a dozen women in my cabin.  They sweep and mop and dust everyday.  There is nothing to clean.
BROCK
Lady, I’m not in charge around here.  I’m just a guard.  I don’t assign jobs or run day care or teach a class.  I just make sure you and all the other... undocumented immigrants don’t leave this place.
Silence.  Teresa sets Lupita down.
BROCK
If you’re going to let the baby walk, you have to hold it’s hand.
TERESA
She’s a girl.
BROCK
You have to hold her hand.
TERESA
She can walk on her own!
BROCK
We can’t have small children running loose.
TERESA
Why not?!
Silence.  Teresa squats down and takes Lupita’s hand.  She is no longer facing Brock
BROCK
Look at me you silly woman.  I don’t make the rules.  We don’t allow small children, any children to run loose.
Teresa stands and turns toward Brock still holding Lupita’s hand.
TERESA
They’re small children!  That’s what they do!
BROCK
If you want to let them run around, it needs to be in your cabin.
TERESA
There’s no room to run in there!  There are beds and cribs and dressers and twenty people crammed in that small space!
BROCK
Not my problem.
TERESA
It’s not right to keep women and children in prison like this!
BROCK
It’s not a prison.  It’s a family residential center.
TERESA
Family?!  Where are all the husbands and fathers?!
BROCK
I’m not in charge of who they lock up here, either.
TERESA
It’s not a prison, but we’re kept locked up!
BROCK
(growing annoyed)
It’s not a prison because prisons are for citizens of the United States of America.  They still have certain rights.  You are not a citizen.  You have no rights.
TERESA
I have rights!
BROCK
No.  You don’t.  They company I work for , Corrections Corporation of America, decides how you are treated.
TERESA
The President cares how we’re treated!
BROCK
He built this place.  He sent you here.
Silence.  Teresa picks up Lupita and leaves.
End of play.