Power
April 5th, 2021
Starring: Clark, Andreas (both male, 35-55)
A weekend morning. Clark and Andreas open their door and walk onto the front porch. They look up at the branches of their yard’s two oak trees, which have been thoroughly strung with toilet paper. There are still some older strands hanging from a previous night’s ambush:
ANDREAS
Wow.
Again.
CLARK
I want a gun.
ANDREAS
They don’t want to hurt us.
CLARK
I still feel attacked.
I mean, it’s been months. February. Do they not realize—?
ANDREAS
They don’t care. They know what the house represents.
CLARK
A sign then. Big letters, right in the yard: “Corrupt state energy official no longer lives here!”
ANDREAS
People are angry. Sometimes you gotta let them let it out.
CLARK
But on us? We didn’t screw them. We just bought the house from the guy that did!
ANDREAS
Which you wanted.
CLARK
Of course I did. The deal was incredible. But if we’re going to get vandalized—
ANDREAS
So we deal with a little Charmin on the leaves. The hate can’t last forever.
CLARK
If we tried, we could end it now.
ANDREAS
But…
What if we didn’t? Intentionally?
CLARK
What...let them keep doing it?
ANDREAS
Yeah. Just leave it.
We buy a couple of those bright construction work lights, connect them to extension cords, put them out front. Before bed, we turn them on, pointing to the trees.
CLARK
To…?
ANDREAS
Shine a light on them. Give off that stark, haunted feeling.
CLARK
An art piece?
ANDREAS
Installation.
A power statement.
Or...
A statement on power itself.
…
Can’t deny it would pop.
…
CLARK
Fine. If we do it right.
...
But I still want a gun.
I’ll even settle for a high-powered slingshot.
ANDREAS
We’ll talk about it at Lowe’s.
…
…
Breakfast?
Clark nods. They take one more shared look at their TP-laden trees, then go back inside.