A Play Without Words

Trying to Connect

The curtain opens on a twenty-year-old woman wearing headphones sitting on a park bench. She is bopping her head in time with the music that only she can hear. Two sixty to seventy-year-old women walk by behind her. They whisper to themselves as they stare at her. They both raise their chins and continue walking away. A middle-aged man walks by in front of her. The woman notices him. She stops bopping her head to the music. He gives her two thumbs up. She scowls at him. He smiles a huge toothy smile at her before walking away. She gives him the bird to his back before going back to bopping her head in time with the music.

A little boy the age of five and a little girl the age of ten run by. They are playing tag. The woman recognizes them. She smiles. The little boy stops. Slowly and shyly he walks over to the woman and hugs her around the legs. The woman removes her headphones before picking him up. The little girl stops running. She looks around in confusion before noticing what the little boy is now doing and rolls her eyes. She walks over to him and stomps her foot. The woman puts the boy down and the two continue playing tag.

The woman watches the children. Another woman of about forty comes up behind her. She puts her hands over the younger woman’s eyes. The younger woman smiles. She turns around and stands up. The two women kiss on the lips passionately. The two kids see this. The little girl pretends to gag. The little boy looks at the older woman and runs to hug her around the legs. The two women stop kissing. They look down and smile. The older woman picks up the little boy. The little girl stand closely next to the older woman. They all start walking away and as they do the younger woman sticks her hand into the older woman’s back jeans pocket.