A Play A Day #205

On Spinning


Cast:
Ricky
Female Voice

Setting: Bare stage.


(lights up, enter Ricky spinning, reaches center stage and stops, dizzy)

Ricky: Whoa... Hi! I'm six! Today's my birthday! I'm six! I used to be five, but then I'm six, and in one birthday I'll be seven. Then eight.... and... uhhh... nine... then ten... and then eleven and twelve and thirteen!

(spins some more, try to vary the spins a little throughout the play, different directions, arms out arms in, head up head down...)

Ricky: I'm six... I'm spinning... (stops) Now I'm not! (long pause, does anything he wants) I'm going to spin again, watch me! (starts spinning, talks while spinning) I like spinning. Spinning is fun. You get funnyhead. The wall keeps moving, even when you stop. I don't like to stop. If you don't stop, the walls don't catch you. (stops, very woozy, wobbles, falls down)

(spends a lot of time laughing on the ground, rolling around)

Ricky: Wow! Spinning is great! I'm going to spin again, 'cuz the walls caught me, the ceiling too. (jumping to his feet, starting to spin) I'm going to spin 'til I die. You never have to stop, then you die. I'll be old, but spinning, then you die. You don't have to live in yourself when you're spinning and nothing can catch you and everything changes and you can be anything you want and you don't have to live in your house where Daddy yells at you and tells you to shut-up and takes out the belt and it hurts real bad but you can't cry 'cuz he gets mad at you and it's not fun when Daddy's mad and I'm spinning and so it can't happen to me when I'm spinning and... (falls down, rolls around, laughing, then abruptly stops laughing)

Ricky: It hurts. It hurts a lot......... Spinning is fun. I'm spinning; so I'm gone.

(We hear a very gruff and angry female voice from offstage)

Female Voice: Ricky! Ricky! What the hell are you doing out there?! Get your ass in the house now! The candles are on the cake! Get off the ground and get in here! Are you going to miss your son's sixth birthday laying around?! Move it, damnit!

Ricky: (from the ground, now using his real voice) Yes, dear.

(Staggers to his feet, still a little off-balance, looks out to the audience for a while, starts to exit, walking first, then begins spinning himself offstage)

(Lights fade out on his progress to the exit)

(end)