"Gisele?" He removes his lab goggles, and walks to the center of the stage. His head is down.
They meet. She takes his hands. "Oh, Tom," she says.
"Gisele." he says. "What have I done?" His voice is rocky.
A young man sits in the front row. He holds a script. "Yes, yes, Tom. That's good. Go with it. You're coming from a state of anguish. You've just been given a B- by your Biology Teacher. You're sick about it. That's your motivation."
A Young Lady sits near. She starts to cry.. "Oh, Tom," she mumbles. "You don't have to be an A student. You're Student Body President. You're on the Debate Team. You're the guy every girl in school would die for. You can do anything you put your mind to, I know you can."
There is an off stage voice. "He failed. It was his fault. He had to dissect a smelt. His hands shook. He did not deserve an A grade. The pressure of the exam did him in."
Gisele turns toward the voice. "You're wrong," she says. "He had a Biology partner. He was partially responsible. He could have steadied Tom's hand. Smelt is a tiny fish, if you didn't know." She turns back. "Oh, Tom." She strokes his face.
"Gisele," says Tom. "It wasn't all Wes' fault. We studied anchovies, not smelt. We thought it would be good enough. We had pictures, we drew it's innards, we dissected them on the computer. We ate them, cooked, boiled, sautéed them. Wes even slept with one near his head. He was thinking osmosis."
"Oh Tom," she says. "I hope it was in a plastic bag. Oh Tom."
He looks directly at Gisele. "Wes helped me so much on the other exams. We're a team in the lab. It wasn't his fault. It was those anchovies."
Another Young Man enters stage left. "We didn't see the smelt coming, Tom. We were under some real pressure with that exam. And we thought studying anchovies would be good enough."
Tom and Gisele turn toward the man.
"Maybe." he says. " If we had practiced on a chub, or Carp or maybe Sand Dabs. I should have just bought a Flounder. It would have been just as good. Who knew anchovies were just too small to really see?"
An older man stands in the aisle and watches. He taps his lips with his index finger.
"Is this all there is, Wainwright? Just the two main characters?"
"Yes, Mr. Fairbanks," says Wainwright. "My play is about people on top of the world, who fail. then move on to greater heights. These are the only two the audience really cares about. Everyone else is simply the rest of the cast."
"Oh Tom." says Gisele. She hugs Tom.
"Oh Gisele," says Tom. He rests his head on her shoulder. Tears fall to the stage
"Yes, Tom," says Wainwright. "Go with it. Stay in the moment. You're sad, and, yes. Tears. Perfect."
Gisele lifts Tom's head, and brushes back his hair. "So, a B- on your lab score. You wanted to be the absolute best, but not this time. So you won't be going to Stanford. You're over all score is still good enough for Princeton, or Michigan State. Heck, UCLA will welcome you with open arms. Oh Tom."
"Oh, Gisele," says Tom. "All I wanted to say was I'm going to Stanford. But I failed."
"It's okay," she says. She leans in and kisses him. "We have each other,"
"They are just jealous of you Tom," says the Young Lady in the audience. She still cries. "You're wonderful, even when you lose. People are saying things out of jealousy. They'll be apologizing soon."
"Wainwright," says Mr. Fairbanks. "These are high schoolers. Would they act this way. They seem to be very mature, very adult"
"They are special high schoolers, Mr. Fairbanks. He has the chops to do just about anywhere he wants, and she's a cheerleader. They are not shy about how they speak, or act, or how they feel, and they don't care who knows it. They are the King and the Queen of Homecoming. That's why there is only real characters up there."
Mr. Fairbanks taps his index finger over his lips and looks back at the stage.
Young Lady in the audience, "No Tom, you're still the best. One biology class. Don't feel bad. UCLA's still good. Maybe in a year you can try again for Stanford. It'll still be there.
She dabs her eyes. "Maybe next year it'll be a rat you'll have to dissect. This time you'll eat, sleep, live with rats, not mice or Guiana pigs, but rats, and you'll ace the test. I know you will. Then you can transfer to Stanford." She wipes more tears from her eyes.
"It's time to go home," says Gisele.
"I should have been better prepared," says Tom. "I should have gone back and checked out
the tests they gave in the past, better analyzed the professor, figured out what he thought was important. It was the pressure, Gisele. I aced most of the other tests this semester."
"Tom, stay in the moment," says Wainwright.
"You can do it Tom." say the Young Lady in the audience.
Mr. Fairbanks, taps his index finger.
Voice off stage: "It's all your fault Tom. You came up short. You know it."
Tom's knee buckles and he slides to the floor. He sits with his head down.
Gisele kneels beside him. She lifts his head. "Oh Tom, we'll be together. This is only a set back. We will not let this get us down. It's Stanford's loss. Oh Tom, we're together. This will all pass."
Tom gets to his feet. "I've nailed lab tests in the past. But what happened today?"
Together they walk off stage right.
___________________
Help comes from:
msn.Foxsports (Gisele)
nydailynews.com/news/super-bowl-2012-
ogemawherald.com
grammer.quickanddirtytips.com
readabilityformulas.com
animalcrossing.wikia.com
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/early-lead/post/brandon-jacobs-apologizes
http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/fbn-gisele020912/fbn-gisele020912/
No comments:
Post a Comment