Archived: Finding the Part by Jarred Mendenhall

SCENE 1

A brown-haired girl is standing on a street corner, looking around, checking a folded paper she is holding and is accompanied by a blue-haired boy. Also looking. Both are wearing casual clothing.

ATTICUS   So, Alice sent you…?

JAYLENE  Yes.

ATTICUS   To look for a part for her project.

JAYLENE  Yes, but she said I could ask you for help since I was the only one who’d know where you were.

ATTICUS   I don’t understand why she couldn’t have ordered it online.

JAYLENE  She said that it was important and that she needed it today.

(ATTICUS sighs.)

ATTICUS   So, what’s the name of this place?

JAYLENE  Um, it’s…

(JAYLENE unfolds and looks at the map. After a moment she slowly turns it around.)

ATTICUS   Have you been reading it upside down this whole time? Aren’t there like, street names?

JAYLENE  I hadn’t noticed…

ATTICUS   So we’ve been walking in the wrong direction for 20 minutes.

JAYLENE  (SOFTLY) …Yes. I’m sorry.

(ATTICUS sighs deeply.)

ATTICUS   (SOFTLY) Let’s stop for the moment and grab something to eat, we can figure things out. I can’t do this on an empty stomach.

SCENE 1 END

 SCENE 2

ATTICUS and JAYLENE are sitting at a table facing each other. He is eating pizza at his normal

pace (fast but careful), and she is eating slowly. The map is next to her place with their drinks.

ATTICUS   Alright, now let me see the map.

(JAYLENE slowly pushes the map over to him, using her fingers.)

Now, what’s this place called?

JAYLENE  Jan—something.

(ATTICUS begins poring over the map. JAYLENE slowly takes another bite of pizza.)

ATTICUS   Is it this place, Janku Ya? (He drinks.)

JAYLENE  Yes, that’s it!

ATTICUS   Uh, JAYLENE…that place closed 15 minutes ago, and they won’t be open til Monday morning.

(JAYLENE glances at the time and looks at ATTICUS tearfully.)

JAYLENE  B-But, but…

ATTICUS   (To himself) Why would she have sent you out so late…

JAYLENE  She-she’s relying on me to get that part for her!

ATTICUS   Well, it’s too late now to do anything.

(JAYLENE is full-on crying now like the world is ending.)

JAYLENE  She’s gonna be mad at me! She’ll never ask me for help again. I’ll have to find a new partner for the chem lab!

ATTICUS   (Comfortingly) No, no, she isn’t. Look, I’ll go and make sure to grab her some food before we go.

(JAYLENE makes a sad noise but her crying is ebbing away as he’s speaking.)

There’s no way she’ll be mad when faced with pizza.

JAYLENE  …Okay. I’ll wait for you.

SCENE 2 END

 SCENE 3

A blue-haired girl is sitting at a desk with miscellaneous things on it, behind her the door opens

And ATTICUS walks in holding a pizza box.

ATTICUS   So what was the purpose of sending Jaylene to find that part for you?

ALICE        You’re back.

(ALICE turns around in the chair and eyes ATTICUS.)

ATTICUS   You know you could have saved her the trouble and just asked me, right?

ALICE        Well, I asked her to ask you for help. So, I did ask you, indirectly.

ATTICUS   Well, the shop closed a while ago, so we didn’t get the part.

ALICE        Dude, I already went and got the part myself, like ten minutes before they closed. Besides how else was I going to get you two to do something together?

ATTICUS   What?

ALICE        Let me start over.

(ALICE sits straighter and puts on a smile.)

How was your date with Jaylene?

ATTICUS   …a date?

ALICE        Yeah.

(ALICE takes the pizza box from ATTICUS)

This for me?

ATTICUS   You know, if you’d actually paid attention, you’d know we’ve been dating for a month already.

ALICE        Oh. Well…

ATTICUS   You can apologize to her tomorrow about this.

ALICE        Why don’t you apologize instead? Since we’re twins, it’ll be like I’m apologizing if you’re apologizing.

ATTICUS   I’ll see you tomorrow Alice.

(ATTICUS exits.)

ALICE        (SHOUTS after ATTICUS) Fine, but if I apologize you don’t get the leftover pizza!

SCENE 3 END