Outta My Head

By Eugene Butler

'Outta My Head' is a collection of Six Original One-Act plays written by Award Winning Playwright, Eugene Butler. The plays are written in a variety of genres, including Comedy, Romance, Futuristic and Drama. All the plays are Character driven and offer Actors, Directors and Producers the opportunity to open their imagination and create something in their own voices.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Oct 24, 2020
• ISBN: 9781098337865

Book preview

Waltz

The Magic of Cotton Candy

by

eugene butler

Characters:

Elma Williamson – A Southern Widow with old fashion dignity and charm from a different era. A retired schoolteacher, witty and clever, she loves to write her own brand of Poetry-like sayings and has very little trouble knowing when to carry a conversation and when to just listen.

William Caldwell – A shy Southern Man who still retains the polite manners he was taught in his youth. In the military and off to war when he was eighteen years old. Having never graduated from high school, he’s held a variety of jobs over the years since his return from the war. He’s now retired, lives alone and has never been married.

Place: The Mulberry Public Park in Founders Square Georgia.

Time: A Warm Summer - 1993

THE SOUND OF CARNIVAL MUSIC IN THE DISTANCE. LIGHTS COME UP ON MULBERRY PUBLIC PARK. IT’S A HOT, DAMP SUMMER NIGHT AND THE SHRINERS CARNIVAL IS IN TOWN. WILLIAM CALDWELL COMES RUSHING ON STAGE. HE’S DRESSED IN A SIMPLE SUIT WITH TIE AND IN ONE HAND HE CARRIES HIS SHOES AND IN THE OTHER HAND, A COCA-COLA. HE GLANCES AROUND THE PARK, THEN QUICKLY DUCKS DOWN BEHIND A PARK BENCH SITUATED IN THE MIDDLE OF THE PARK. A COUPLE OF BEATS. ELMA WILLIAMSON, DRESSED IN A PRETTY SUMMER DRESS, COMES STROLLING ONSTAGE. SHE'S ALSO CARRYING HER SHOES IN ONE HAND AND A COCO-COLA IN THE OTHER. SHE COMES TO A STOP, LOOKS AROUND, PRETENDING NOT TO SEE WILLIAM KNEELING DOWN BEHIND THE BENCH.

ELMA

Oly, oly oxen free…

SUDDENLY, WILLIAM POPS UP FROM BEHIND THE BENCH.

WILLIAM

Boo!

ELMA

(feigning surprised) Oooo…!

THEY BOTH GIGGLE LIKE YOUNG SCHOOL KIDS.

WILLIAM

Did I scare you?

ELMA

You surely did.

WILLIAM

Not too much? I wouldn't want to scare you too much. If a man scares a woman too much it becomes a whole different thing.

ELMA

I believe you scared me just the right amount, William. Yes sir, just the right amount.

WILLIAM, PLEASED WITH HIMSELF, PULLS A HANDKERCHIEF FROM HIS POCKET, BRUSHES OFF ONE END OF THE BENCH AND WITH A GENTLEMANLY BOW AND WAVE OF HIS ARM, MOTIONS FOR ELMA TO SIT. ELMA SMILES, DOES A LITTLE CURTSEY AND TAKES A SEAT ON THE BENCH. WILLIAM SITS DOWN ON THE OTHER END OF THE BENCH, CAREFUL TO KEEP A RESPECTABLE DISTANCE BETWEEN THEM. THEY SIT FOR A MOMENT IN AWKWARD SILENCE; LIKE A PAIR OF TEENAGERS FROM A LONG-AGO ERA, OUT ON THEIR FIRST DATE TOGETHER. WILLIAM TAKES A LONG SWALLOW OF HIS COKE. ELMA RAISES HER COKE AND ROLLS IT ACROSS HER FOREHEAD.

ELMA

I swear this night heat’s about to shrivel me up, make me into a pool of warm water. (slipping on her shoes and raising her leg to show them off) Which I’m certain isn’t the best thing for my brand-new alligator pumps.

WILLIAM

(careful to peek at her leg, but not stare) Those really are nice shoes, Elma. Very stylish indeed.

ELMA

Thank you, William. I bought them at that new DSW discount shoe store just outside Valdosta.

WILLIAM

(nodding) I been to it.

ELMA

They were having a sale on their faux exotic footwear. I was very nearly tempted to buy two pair.

WILLIAM

(searching for the right response) Alligator's a whole lot prettier on a woman’s foot than it is on an alligator.

ELMA

Thank you, William. (beat) My daddy used to hunt them.

WILLIAM

Alligators?

ELMA

No. (deadpan) Shoes.

WILLIAM DOESN’T CATCH THE JOKE UNTIL ELMA LAUGHS.

WILLIAM

(joining her laughter) You sure can be quick with a joke, Elma. You sure can.

ELMA

Well, some people tell jokes, some people write poetry and some people…attempt both. I admit to having an amateur’s attraction towards both. (a beat, then, her own quote) Around that last bend, when we've reach that last end, the fortunate, the lame, we all become the same. Nothing changes, but the name.

WILLIAM

(impressed without understanding) Uh-huh, yes ma'am. I believe that pretty much says it.

A PAUSE.

ELMA

(flirtatious) You know I might be persuaded to wear these same shoes again some time. Especially for a gentleman who has the eyes to notice such things.

RAISING HER LEGS AGAIN TO SHOW OFF HER SHOES. WILLIAM BLUSHES.

WILLIAM

(again hunting for the right thing to say in response) I was just over to my eye doctor, Doctor Dooley, last week for my regular, and he said as far as my far sight I might could be using a little help here soon. But, as far as my near sight I still got me an almost 20/20.

ELMA SMILES. WILLIAM BLUSHES. ELMA GLANCES AROUND THE PARK.

ELMA

I like it here in this park. Several generations of my family have sat on this same bench, looking up at this same sky. My oldest brother, Emory, you remember him?

WILLIAM

Yes ma'am, I sure do.

ELMA

He used to carry me around and around on his shoulders until I was the one worn out and exhausted and had to beg him to put me down. He was the strongest boy. If anybody was to live forever, I would’ve placed my money on dear Emory.

WILLIAM

They still tell tales about that home run he hit all the way out of the park over at Robert Lee Ballfield. My cousin, Jonathan Drew, was the left fielder. He says he still can’t believe it and he watched it fly right over his own head.

ELMA

Everybody used to go see Emory play ball. Everybody except Daddy. Momma dying so young like she did, he never allowed himself off work long enough as foreman at the mill to go to any kind of game. When Emory didn't come back from the War, I swear that’s what broke Daddy. Him having never gone to see any of Emory's ballgames. (another of her own quote) Guilts of a father, born of the son, die when the father and the son are both one. (William nods. A beat) Do you like this perfume I’m wearing?

WILLIAM

(without looking at her) Smells pretty as a flower.

ELMA

Sadie Owens, the receptionist at Founders Square Auto Parts, gave it to me. Bought a whole ounce of it to wear for her husband. She said it was to try and get him re-interested. But all it did was wind up making him jealous because he thought she was trying to smell good for some other man. It isn't too much, is it? It just sort gushed out of the bottle when I was putting it on my neck.

WILLIAM

My nose is one of my strong points, Elma. I think you put on just enough. (sniffing the air) Yes ma'am, just enough.

ELMA

Sadie Owens also suggested that I should think about putting a little dab on behind both of my knees.

AN IMPISH SMILE FORMS ACROSS HER FACE AS SHE GOES SILENT AND STARES STRAIGHT AHEAD. AGAIN, WILLIAM BLUSHES, AND AGAIN STRUGGLES FOR A RESPONSE. HE BEGINS TO FIDDLE WITH HIS TIE.

WILLIAM

This old tie is the only one I could find in my closet. I gave the rest of 'em over to Mary Jane’s Thrift Shop when I got laid off at Hatcher's Boat Sales. (beat) I had some real nice ones too.

ELMA

I like your tie, William. It brings out the color in your cheeks. Color in a man's cheeks is a sign of warmth and…gentleness. (reaching out and brushing her fingers gently across William’s cheek)

WILLIAM

(blushing and not knowing how to respond) Cotton candy.

ELMA

What?

WILLIAM

The cotton candy. At the Shriners Convention tonight. It sure was good again this year.

ELMA

It surely was. There’s two things you can always count on when the Shriner's Convention comes to town. Funny hats with tassels and the good old fashion cotton candy.

WILLIAM

I still can't figure out how it just appears right out of thin air off that machine and then sticks right onto that paper cone. Just like my Aunt Katie’s hairdo.

ELMA

I think it’s magic.

WILLIAM

(surprised) My momma used to say that exact same thing. That it was magic.

ELMA

Sounds like your momma was a romantic.

WILLIAM

I believe she was. Since I was a kid, and right up to the time she died, she kept telling everybody that when she passed on that nobody should cry because she was finally gonna get to meet Merlin.

ELMA

Merlin?

WILLIAM

Merlin the Magician. He’s the magic gentleman who worked for King Arthur. Lived his life backwards.

ELMA

Backwards?

WILLIAM

He got younger instead of older.

ELMA

I'd like to do that. Wouldn’t that be wonderful? Live backwards. Always being amazed at what’s not happened yet, instead of what’s already been. Maybe that’s what happens when we all pass on. Maybe we all get to meet Merlin the Magician. (a beat, another quote) Death is what you make of it, life is what makes you.

WILLIAM

(taking in Elma's words) You're a highly educated woman, Elma.

ELMA

No, I'm not, William.

WILLIAM

Yes, you are.

ELMA

No, I'm not.

WILLIAM

Yes, you are now, and that's what you are.

ELMA

It didn't take much education to be a first-grade teacher when I was teaching. Just a strong voice, the threat of a seldom-used wooden paddle, and lots and lots of Goody headache powder.

WILLIAM

(his head lowered, his eyes staring at the ground) I never even finished high school. The war came. I went.

ELMA

January nine, nineteen-forty-two. Five-thirty a.m. in the morning. You were on the same train, the same car as Emory.

WILLIAM

You saw me?

ELMA

I certainly did.

WILLIAM

How could you see me? There must have been almost fifty or sixty of us on that platform, counting the boys from Dames Ferry and Warner Robins.

ELMA

You were wearing a red sweater underneath a brown leather jacket. And you were leaning against the wall, your hands in your pockets, quiet, not talking to anybody. Standing off all by yourself.

WILLIAM

Momma was already into her long illness, and daddy, well, you probably knew about his troubles and all. Everybody in