Towards the Blue Peninsula
By Richard G. Henry
Copyright 2001 Richard G. Henry
ACT ONE
SCENE ONE
INT. WOMAN'S BEDROOM -- MORNING
A woman is busily packing a suitcase. Her sister walks in on her. Spoken with a slight southern twang. The sisters are in their late twenties
But the room is decorated like that of a nineteen-year-old. The house is Victorian and well kept though out of date.
JO ANNE
What do you think your doing?
BONNIE
(flatly)
Getting out of here.
JO ANNE
Why?
BONNIE
(laughs)
JO ANNE
You have no reason to leave.
BONNIE
No reason?
(louder)
No reason? Ha!
JO ANNE
It's the same everywhere else.
BONNIE
How do you know that? Where have you ever been?
JO ANNE
I can tell. I know people who've left and come back; they always say it's the same everywhere.
BONNIE
Maybe they didn't go far enough.
JO ANNE
This is silly. Let's go to a movie or something.
BONNIE
No. No way. No more excuses. I'm leaving for good.
JO ANNE
You always were the dramatic one.
BONNIE
Don't give me clichés.
JO ANNE
Throwing a temper tantrum and then packing up a suitcase? You're the cliché.
BONNIE
(seething with rage)
Go to hell.
JO ANNE
You go to hell.
BONNIE
You're an idiot.
JO ANNE
I've got a hundred dollars says you'll be back by the end of the week.
BONNIE
(smirking)
Can you pay me in advance?
JO ANNE
I don't think so.
BONNIE
See? You're all talk.
JO ANNE
(shakes her head)
BONNIE
(pauses for a moment as she sifts through some clothes.)
Hmm.
JO ANNE
Having second thoughts?
BONNIE
Don't you have anything else to do?
JO ANNE
No.
BONNIE
Then can you shut your mouth? I've got a lot on my mind.
JO ANNE
I know you're not serious.
BONNIE
The hell I'm not.
JO ANNE
No one ever takes you seriously. They never have and they never will.
BONNIE
(loud slow and angry.)
GET OUT OF HERE, BITCH!
JO ANNE
(shrugs smugly, spins and walks out.)
BONNIE
This place is a god damn insane asylum.
(continues packing)
I have to bring as little as possible, I can't have anything holding me back.
Bonnie keeps packing, adding and removing clothes. She seems to be in a rush. Her Mama enters.
MAMA
(knocks on the open door.)
Hello?
BONNIE
(without looking up)
Door's open.
MAMA
So it's true?
BONNIE
What's true?
MAMA
What Jo Anne said.
BONNIE
Rule number one: never believe what comes out of Jo Anne's mouth.
MAMA
Whew! Are you mad about something! What's gotten you so frazzled?
BONNIE
Nothing.
MAMA
People don't just up and leave their homes on a whim. What's the matter?
BONNIE
I have to get out of here. Now. Today.
MAMA
Why?
BONNIE
The reasons are too numerous. Besides, I don't want to talk about it.
MAMA
C'mon downstairs. I'll fix you a sandwich.
BONNIE
A sandwich? A sandwich? I don't want a sandwich.
MAMA
I don't know what's wrong with you.
BONNIE
(walks over to the window.)
I have to get out of this mausoleum. I have been doing the exact same thing over and over for ten years.
MAMA
But that's because you are successful at it.
BONNIE
No it's because I'm too afraid to get out there and live. I'm too afraid of hurting your feelings. Even too afraid to leave Jo Anne. I feel this overwhelming sense of responsibility. And that if the family comes apart it will be because of me, but I can't take the pressure anymore. You'll have to survive without me.
MAMA
(offended)
You're keeping this family together? Where did you get a silly idea like that?
BONNIE
Every thing I want to do is measured in terms of this family. I can't take it anymore. I have to live my life. You're holding me hostage.
MAMA
(not taking her seriously)
Oh please, don't be silly. You girls come and go as you please.
BONNIE
You don't get it to you? You can't see it. See how your little criticisms and remarks have made us weak and unable to defend ourselves. We see everything in terms of how you see us.
(mocking)
Mama says I'm cute- yet no boys ask me out. Mama says I'm smart - yet I never get a promotion.
(sighing)
I haven't grown up in your eyes. I'm still a little girl to you.
MAMA
(sweetly)
Well dear, you must admit you are a little helpless when it comes to worldly matters. I know, I've been out there. You couldn't survive a day. I'm only protecting you. I have your best interests at heart.
BONNIE
No you don't. That's what makes it so insidious. You use us to keep everything in your world the same. When poor Jo Anne had that apartment you made her come to dinner almost every night. You constantly went on about how lonely you were, how the house was so empty. Finally she just couldn't stand it and now she can't leave.
MAMA
It was a horrible apartment. Why should she pay all that money when she has a perfectly good room here? I was trying to protect her.
BONNIE
Your so called 'protection' is smothering us. I've become so alienated from the world. If I don't get out and make some of my own mistakes I'm going to end up here for the rest of my life. Old and afraid.
MAMA
You always were the ungrateful one.
BONNIE
Cry all you want. I'm leaving.
MAMA
You're so selfish. You're going to leave me and your sister here to fend for ourselves? We can't take care of this house on our own.
BONNIE
Hire a caretaker.
MAMA
You are a part of this family and you can't just leave without any concern for us.
BONNIE
No. I'm leaving today.
MAMA
If you leave, I'll take you out of my will tonight. Your sister will get everything.
BONNIE
That's fine with me.
MAMA
(angry)
What's your big plan? To become a prostitute?
BONNIE
How'd you know?
MAMA
(bitter)
What can you do?
BONNIE
(shakes her head)