3 Aug 2015

PROMPT:  They all claimed we were [supply an ethnicity] but no one spoke any language other than English so how could I continue believing our family history?

Kristen Gandrow, writer/dramaturg/arts administrator/teacher

Bud, 45, and Trevor, 27, sit in front of the TV watching soccer.

TREVOR

Is that a... wall around the field?

BUD

Yup.  Conveniently tilted to catch the TV cameras.

TREVOR

Don’t the players get hurt running into it?

BUD

It’s far enough way that nobody gets hurt.

TREVOR

(pointing at the TV)

That guy just went over it?!

BUD

Yea, but he popped right back up.

TREVOR

Is he getting paid enough to flip over advertising?

BUD

Average salary in La Liga...

TREVOR

What?! La Liga?

BUD

That’s the Spanish fúlbol league?

TREVOR

Football?!  Aren’t we watching soccer?

BUD

Soccer is fúlbol or rather fúlbol is soccer.

Silence.

TREVOR

This is a stupid game.

BUD

Not as stupid as golf.

TREVOR

I’ll give you that...  So how much do these guys make?

BUD

Average player in this league makes more than a million.

TREVOR

A million a year?!  To kick a ball around!?

BUD

Players in the Premier League average nearly three million a year.

TREVOR

You’re kidding?!  Guess I’d run into a wall now and then for a million a year.

Silence.  They watch TV.

TREVOR

This is in Spain?

BUD

Barcelona, maybe the best team in the world.

TREVOR

Why are all the ads on that wall in English?

BUD

Everybody speaks English.  Not everybody speaks Spanish.

TREVOR

No.  More people speak Spanish than English.

BUD

I know there are more native Spanish speakers, but in this global world, everybody speaks English.

Silence.

TREVOR

That’s kinda sad.

BUD

It’s not sad!  It’s evolution!  Some day everyone in the world will speak English!

TREVOR

Or Mandarin.

BUD

They’re not going to speak Mandarin.  Even the people who speak Mandarin now are learning English.

TREVOR

We’re killing off history and culture.

BUD

It’s not my job to save history and culture.  It’s my job to take care of my family, my history, and my culture.  If they are willing to give up theirs, that’s their choice!  I didn’t choose it for them!

TREVOR

But someday, something they know now, will be lost, and your family, your history, your culture might need it to survive.

Silence.

BUD

Evolve or die!  I’m okay with that.

TREVOR

Hope your children are.

End of play.