EXCERPTS

SHORT PLAYS – TEN MINUTE PLAYS

- PATTERSON’S


The parking lot outside an old family funeral home.  A woman 
enters quickly followed by a man.  They are both dressed in black.

MAN:      Put it back.

WOMAN:    She won’t notice.

MAN:      She might.

WOMAN:    She doesn’t need it.

MAN:      You don’t know that.

WOMAN:    It doesn’t matter.

MAN:      It does.  Now put it back.  You can’t steal from the dead like that.

WOMAN:    I wasn’t stealing.  I am taking what is rightfully mine.

MAN:      Says who?

WOMAN:    Says me.

MAN:      It’s not like you took a watch or a ring.  It’s a shirt.  
          They are going to notice.  She is lying there without a shirt!

WOMAN:    We’ll close the coffin.

MAN:      There’s no reason to close the coffin.

WOMAN:    She’s lying there without a shirt.  It’s the only decent thing to do.

MAN:      Because of you.  The decent thing is to put it back.

WOMAN:    She was always taking things of mine.  I’m tired of it.

MAN:      It won’t happen again.

WOMAN:    It’s not happening now!

MAN:      Don’t be ridiculous.

WOMAN:    I’m not being ridiculous.  I refuse to sit there and 
          look at her in my shirt, listening to everybody talk about
          how good she looks.  It just galls me.

MAN:      You need to see a shrink.

WOMAN:    I have seen a shrink.

MAN:      What did they say?

WOMAN:    They said I should exert my authority.

MAN:      And you decided today would be the day to start?

WOMAN:    Otherwise it would be too late.

MAN:      She’s dead.

WOMAN:    Right and if I don’t do something now I’ll never get 
          another chance to prove I can.