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Samuel French Acting Edition

The Gulf

by Audrey Cefaly

SAMUELFRENCH.COM SAMUELFRENCH.CO.UK
 Copyright © 2017 by Audrey Cefaly
All Rights Reserved

THE GULF is fully protected under the copyright laws of the United
States of America, the British Commonwealth, including Canada,
and all other countries of the Copyright Union. All rights, including
professional and amateur stage productions, recitation, lecturing, public
reading, motion picture, radio broadcasting, television and the rights of
translation into foreign languages are strictly reserved.
ISBN 978-0-573-70619-6
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THE GULF (short version) was first produced in Silver Spring, Maryland,
at the 2010 Silver Spring Stage One-Act Festival. The production was
directed by Chris Curti. The cast was as follows:

BETTY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Erika Imhoof

KENDRA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Audrey Cefaly

THE GULF (short version) later debuted in New York, where it won
the 2015 Samuel French Off Off Broadway Short Play Festival. The
production was directed by Joseph Holmgren. The cast was as follows:

BETTY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Effie Johnson

KENDRA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Carolyn Messina

THE GULF (full-length version) premiered in October of 2016 at

Signature Theatre (Arlington, Virginia). The production was directed by
Joe Calarco. The cast was as follows:

BETTY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Maria Rizzo

KENDRA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rachel Zampelli

THE GULF (full-length version) received its Australian premiere in

August of 2017 in Camperdown, NSW (Lume Productions). The
production was directed by Mia Lethbridge. The cast was as follows:

BETTY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Brenna Harding

KENDRA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Diana Popovska
 CHARACTERS
BETTY – (twenties – forties) An optimist. A thinker. Restless and tender-
hearted.
KENDRA – (twenties – forties) A woman of few words. A loner. Scrappy,
dark, brutish, and volatile.

SETTING
A fishing boat. Late afternoon. Alabama Delta.

TIME
Present day.

AUTHOR’S NOTES
gulf (noun.)
a body of water; an abyss; a separation; a void; a distance

A slash ( / ) is used to indicate an instance of overlap. The next line

should begin wherever a ( / ) occurs.
 (Silence.)
( KENDRA and BETTY sit in a small boat
somewhere down in the Alabama Delta. KENDRA
fishes for red drum, slowly reeling in the line. She is
present, but her mind is elsewhere. BETTY lies with
her feet in KENDRA’s lap, napping and holding
a book, What Color is Your Parachute? A
Practical Manual for Job-Hunters and Career
Changers. A noise rouses her.)
BETTY. (Sleepily.) Did you know that Dolores Pettaway has
fifteen cats?
KENDRA. (Absently.) Hmn?
BETTY. I knew she had a lot of cats but that is a lotta fuckin’
cats.
(Beat.)
I find that unusual.
KENDRA. Unusual?
BETTY. Yeah.
KENDRA. That’s the word you’re looking for?
BETTY. (Still lost in thought.) And she’s not like fostering
them or whatever. She’s just collecting them. Like stamps.
(Beat.)
Until they die or she dies or somebody calls the cops.
(Beat.)
It’s so bad over there, Lord, it’s infested with fleas and
it stinks, I was jumpin’ outta my socks.
(Beat.)
Creepy.
(Beat.)

7
8 THE GULF

BETTY. Oh, we need toilet paper.

KENDRA. (Absently.) Mnn-hmn.
BETTY. It’s gettin’ dark.
(BETTY hums a bit of a song.)
Ugh. Song stuck in my head, I always wake up with a
song stuck in my head.
KENDRA. I am aware.
(KENDRA sighs. Casts her line again.)
BETTY. Kinda bait ya using…
KENDRA. Fish ain’t bitin’ it ain’t cuz of the bait.
BETTY. No?
KENDRA. Uh-uh.
BETTY. How come?
KENDRA. It’s cuz they ain’t there.
BETTY. Oh.
(Beat.)
Wan’ go somewhere else?
(Beat.)
Rosella was talking about over by Dog River.
KENDRA. Dog River?
BETTY. I told her we were comin’ out here.
(Off KENDRA’s look.)
She was bein’ helpful.
KENDRA. Rosella has no idea about fishin’ and therefore
Rosella is not helpful.
BETTY. What, ya can’t fish in Dog River?
KENDRA. For boots and dead bodies.
BETTY. I thought there was good fishin’ there.
KENDRA. Well there was, but not no more.
BETTY. How come?
KENDRA. BP. Fuckers.
 THE GULF 9

BETTY. BP.
KENDRA. That shit got in. Choked it.
BETTY. Kendra, that was six years ago.
KENDRA. I’m tellin’ you.
BETTY. You’re thinkin’ of Fowl River.
KENDRA. Fowl River, Dog River.
BETTY. It did not get up to Dog River.
KENDRA. Yes, it did.
BETTY. No, it didn’t.
KENDRA. Yes, it did.
BETTY. No, it didn’t.
(Beat.)
How do you know?
KENDRA. Because…I know.
BETTY. Oh my god, what is it about you coon asses, you just
wanna be right and facts don’t matter.
(Regarding Kendra’s boots.)
Why are you still wearing those hand-me-down
shrimpers, they don’t even fit you and they goddamn
stink.
(Beat.)
I bought you those new ones and you won’t wear ’em.
KENDRA. / Again with this.
BETTY. And why do they have to be white? Just because you
say so? Like everything else.
KENDRA. No, see, because this way when I get blood on
’em, I don’t have to wash the whole boot.
BETTY. Are you serious?
KENDRA. (One continuous thought.) Would you stop it would
you stop it would you stop it lemme see your shoe right
there lemme see it lemme see it oh my god that is –
10 THE GULF

KENDRA. BETTY.
(Throwing Betty’s shoe Kendra! Fine, fuck it, you
overboard.) – The cutest don’t wanna wear the
thing I have ever seen boots I got you, whatever,
will you stop it with the that’s my damn shoe!
boots can we stop it Jesus (Regarding the
Christ! boots.)
I just wanna know why
they have to be white.
KENDRA. You know what a black boot looks like out here
at night?
BETTY. What?
KENDRA. Do you?
(Beat.)
A gator mouth.
BETTY. Don’t do me like that!
(Throwing the other shoe at KENDRA.)
Here, take the whole pair!
KENDRA. I already did. Go fish.
BETTY. You are somethin’ else.
(Silence.)
Was I sleepin’?
KENDRA. Yep.
BETTY. Did I miss anything?
(KENDRA does not respond. She focuses on her
fishing, weary of BETTY’s constant hum.)
I’m gettin’ hungry, are you gettin’ hungry?
(BETTY reaches into her pocket for a treat. She
pulls out a piece of hard candy.)
When I go to my grave, I want you to put me in my
casket and then fill it with Abra Cabubble. Pop the lid
on.
(Beat.)
 THE GULF 11

Want one?
(BETTY hands KENDRA an Abra Cabubble.)
It’s bad for you. High fructose corn syrup.
(Sucking on her candy.)
It’s very satisfying, though. With the bubble gum inside,
ya know. Like a tootsie roll pop.
(Beat.)
Just when you think you’re all done…nope. More to
love.
(KENDRA crunches into her Abra Cabubble.)
Stop it! That is not how you do it, Kendra! Really? You
can’t wait a damn minute?
(KENDRA now defiantly crunches on her candy.)
You don’t know anything! Pearls before swine right
there, that’s what that is. Lard on a lobster.
KENDRA. (Flatly.) Do you speak English?
BETTY. Do you? I just won’t share with you anymore, that’s
all. This is priceless penny candy, Kendra, you can’t get
these!
KENDRA. And yet you have them.
(Silence.)
BETTY. I bet not one of them fifteen cats is spayed or
neutered, what do you think?
(Beat.)
She’s on welfare, I found that out, she’s got the EBT.
Deanna told me she comes into Greers twice a week
and that’s all she buys is cat food. Tons and tons of
Meow Mix and Friskies.
(Beat.)
Oh, and the National Enquirer. She gets that on Mondays.
(Beat.)
I think I must have been havin’ a cat dream and woke
up to talkin’ about cats or somethin’.
12 THE GULF

(Beat.)
BETTY. I just don’t know how you feed all those cats if
you’re on welfare.
(Aghast.)
Wait. You don’t think she eats cat food, do you?
(Off KENDRA’s look.)
What?
KENDRA. (Incredulous.) Why would she eat cat food when
she can just eat Chef Boyardee?
(Beat.)
BETTY. (Fascinated.) You mean like the mini-bites? / Ravioli?
KENDRA. How do I get sucked into this shit…
BETTY. What?
KENDRA. / Whatever you’re on about, fill in the blank, I
swear to god!
BETTY. Can we just talk like normal people?
KENDRA. Yeah, cuz we’re normal people.
(Silence.)
BETTY. Well now I wanna check the price of cat food.
Why am I talkin’ about this? Oh, yeah. I remember.
Everybody at the bar is takin’ turns feedin’ the cats
for Miss Dolores while she’s up in Foley at her mama’s
funeral. I told ’em I didn’t want to go over there by
myself. It’s too creepy.
(Beat.)
She left the TV on for ’em. Court TV. I thought about
changin’ the channel, mix it up a little, ya know, maybe.
(Beat.)
Home Shoppin’, or…whatever.
(Beat.)
There’s this one cat, Indigo. Yesterday mornin’, she
climbed through the kitchen window with a dead
mouse and laid it right there at my feet like a present.
 THE GULF 13

And then when I went back last night she had eaten all
but the organs and the little bones, and laid ’em all out
all pretty under the table for somebody to find. Like
sushi.
(Pause.)
Do you hear me when I say things?
(KENDRA unexpectedly gets a bite and nearly loses
her rod.)
KENDRA. Oh, shit!
(To the fish.)
You sonnnnn-of-a-bitch! Tried to steal it, motherfucker!
(She regains control of the rod and begins reeling
in the line.)
Got him in the mud, what’d I tell ya?
BETTY. I don’t know, what’d you tell me?
KENDRA. (More to herself than to Betty.) Want drum, find the
mud.
BETTY. (Lifeless.) Oh. Yeah.
(KENDRA reels the fish close to the boat.)
KENDRA. Lil thing, what you reckon?
BETTY. Lemme see – awww…
KENDRA. Aww, he ain’t but a little fella. Lil rat red.
(BETTY hands her the net.)
He’s cute though, looka there.
(KENDRA nets the fish and hands the net to
BETTY to hold. She unhooks the fish, while BETTY
squirms.)
(To the fish:)
Gon’ be somebody!
BETTY. He’s so cute!
(KENDRA examines the lure.)
14 THE GULF

KENDRA. He chewed the damn paint off my spoon! I like

it!
(KENDRA hands the fish to BETTY.)
BETTY. Should we give it a name?
(Beat.)
Bad idea?
(Beat.)
Yeah.
(BETTY leans over the side of the boat to release the
fish.)
(The fish darts away.)
KENDRA. Woop. Nice to meet ya!
(KENDRA grabs the push pole and eases the boat
forward.)
KENDRA. Lemme get up in here…
(Silence.)
BETTY. (Sweetly.) That’s the happiest I ever see you, when
you’re fishin’.
(Beat.)
It’s / actually kinda –
KENDRA. (Distractedly.) Git me one of them cold ones,
would ya.
(BETTY finds a beer for KENDRA, pops the top,
and hands it to her. KENDRA guzzles half of it
down and then returns to nudging the boat along
with the push pole, scanning the water.)
(More to herself than to Betty.) Get on the fallin’ tide, lose
your water.
BETTY. I don’t know what that means.
(Pause.)
You could tell me what it means.
(Pause.)
 THE GULF 15

Hello to nobody…
(KENDRA, not hearing, hands BETTY her half-
empty beer can.)
Man, you got some boobies.
(Off KENDRA’s look.) You do.
KENDRA. Wanna fight about it?
BETTY. I wanna get you home, is what I want.
KENDRA. Ever-ready.
BETTY. That’s right.
KENDRA. Still suckin’ that candy?
(BETTY sticks out her tongue, which is now red
from the Abra Cabubble.)
BETTY. It’s cherry…you want it?
(Beat.)
Kendra…
(KENDRA leans over BETTY and grabs her hair.
She pulls her head back, hard, kisses her on the
lips, and then shoves her back down into the boat.)
FUCK. YOU!
KENDRA. Mnn hmn.
BETTY. Tease!
KENDRA. Boo hoo…
BETTY. I hate you.
KENDRA. (Sweetly.) Awww…I hate you too.
BETTY. No, I mean, like I actually hate you.
(KENDRA places her hand on her heart as if moved
beyond words.)
Whatever.
(Beat.)
You know…you got the whole Gulf of Mexico to fish in,
we always end up here.
(Beat.)
16 THE GULF

BETTY. Right here in the shallows, every time.

KENDRA. That’s the whole point.
BETTY. I don’t get it.
KENDRA. Exactly.
BETTY. What?
KENDRA. That’s where the – nevermind.
BETTY. No, tell me. Please.
KENDRA. Fish in the skinny water, cuz that’s where the fish
are.
(Beat.)
Reds like to fight Betty, they fight…deep, shallow,
whatever, any water. But in the shallows, they get more
traction, see, the fight is bigger. More fun.
BETTY. For you, maybe.
(Beat.)
KENDRA. When did you talk to Rosella?
BETTY. Last night.
(Beat.)
It’s warm, idn’t it? I might hop in for a swim if I didn’t
think the gators would get me.
KENDRA. Assuming they’d want you.
BETTY. (Slightly paranoid.) No tellin’ what’s in there. You
can’t be too careful, you hear about that woman on
the news from over in St. Bernard Parish, she gave her
baby a bath one night and two days later he died from
one of them brain-eatin’ amoebas.
KENDRA. (Disgusted.) Stop talking.
KENDRA. BETTY.
Just stop talking. You are Brain-eatin’ amoebas!
so depressing.
BETTY. I’m just tellin’ you, I don’t trust it.
KENDRA. That’s some bad math, Betty.
BETTY. No, it ain’t.
 THE GULF 17

KENDRA. You’re talkin’ about a bathtub? We are in the Gulf

of Mexico, Betty? You dig that? Brain eatin’ amoebas?
BETTY. Well, would you rather be right or be dead?
KENDRA. You make my head hurt.
BETTY. KENDRA.
Nevermind! For fuck’s sake.
BETTY. Do what you want.
KENDRA. Doin’ it!
(Silence.)
(BETTY returns to half-reading her book, half
musing about cats.)
BETTY. What if maybe all them cats are like / therapeutic
or whatever…
KENDRA. (Annoyed.) Oh, my god.
BETTY. (Continuous. Not hearing.) …Ya know, like a service
dog?
KENDRA. I don’t think it works that way.
BETTY. Why not?
KENDRA. I don’t know, I just don’t think it does.
BETTY. Well, why else would you need fifteen cats? If the
average person is fine with say one to three cats…
KENDRA. / Or zero.
BETTY. …And she needs fifteen of ’em, then who’s to say
she’s wrong and they’re right, I mean, there’s not like a
rule or anything. Like a rule of cats.
(Beat.)
And if she didn’t have any grandkids or whatever and
no family that would come around, maybe that’s what
that is, ya know, maybe it’s like family. Like / substitute
family.
KENDRA. Or crazy, maybe it’s like crazy.
BETTY. KENDRA.
Kendra. Batshit crazy.
18 THE GULF

BETTY. Well maybe she’s crazy about cats the way you are
about fish.
KENDRA. Are you –
(Beat.)
BETTY. What?
KENDRA. You make no sense.
BETTY. It makes perfect sense.
KENDRA. No it doesn’t.
BETTY. Yes it does.
KENDRA. How?
BETTY. She collects cats, you collect fish.
(Beat.)
KENDRA. Uh…okay…okay…
BETTY. What’d I tell you?
KENDRA. I do not collect fish, Betty. I catch them. Which
is kinda like collecting, it is, it is…uh, except for one
thing.
BETTY. What?
KENDRA. Can you guess what it is?
BETTY. You let the little ones / go?
KENDRA. I eat them.
BETTY. Duh.
KENDRA. I don’t give ’em names. I don’t put ’em on a
shelf, or in a cage or in a tank, I take ’em home…and
I eat them.
(Beat.)
I mean, unless she’s fryin’ up cats…
BETTY. Forget it.
KENDRA. Is she fryin’ up cats? Cuz that I’d like to see.
BETTY. Killing cats is not the answer!
KENDRA. Cornmeal?
BETTY. Shut up.
KENDRA. Cracked pepper?
 THE GULF 19

BETTY. Kendra!
KENDRA. I worry about you.
BETTY. Worry about yourself and your demented ways.
What’d a cat ever do to you?!
KENDRA. No, I wanna hear about cat-fryin’.
BETTY. Stop…just stop!
KENDRA. BETTY.
I’m all over it man, big All in your head. Jus’
ole cat fry! All you can make shit up and charm
eat! the shit outta yourself.
KENDRA. How many cats did ya say?
BETTY. I’m not tellin’ you.
KENDRA. Fifteen?
BETTY. Fifteen – they have names, Kendra! And personalities!
KENDRA. Does that make ’em more delicious?
BETTY. Really?
KENDRA. With a Cabernet…
BETTY. Fuck you, Kendra.
KENDRA. Riesling…
BETTY. You know nothing about wine pairings, Kendra,
you are just makin’ shit up!
(Beat.)
KENDRA. Old Milwaukee…
BETTY. I – you know what?!
KENDRA. I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Tell me.
BETTY. No.
KENDRA. I’ll be good.
BETTY. You won’t ever be good.
KENDRA. Hey…
BETTY. Nope.
KENDRA. Betty.
BETTY. Nope.
KENDRA. I will.
BETTY. Liar.
20 THE GULF

KENDRA. Swear to god.

(Beat.)
BETTY. You are somethin’ else. You need to take a good
hard look at yourself, Kendra. You sit there and you
pretend not to listen and take full advantage of my
stories in all their vivid detail and then you turn on me
like a damn dog and give me shit for tellin’ ’em in the
first place. And you can’t have it both ways, Kendra,
you just can’t. Where is the respect for the story-teller??
I am fucking delightful!
(BETTY looks up to see KENDRA grinning from ear
to ear.)
SHUT UP!
(KENDRA puts down her fishing pole and situates
herself in the boat in order to give BETTY her full
attention.)
Get your ass back!
KENDRA. Indigo…
BETTY. Stop.
KENDRA. Hey.
BETTY. No.
KENDRA. I’m here now.
BETTY. And?
KENDRA. Just –
(Beat.)
BETTY. What?
KENDRA. We were countin’ cats.
BETTY. (Guardedly.) Uh huh…
KENDRA. Yep. Indigo. Sushi…
BETTY. (Warming up.) Yeah.
KENDRA. Body parts. Right?
(Beat.)
BETTY. Yeah. Little bones and stuff.
 THE GULF 21

KENDRA. Mm hmm.
BETTY. Somethin’ that looked like a kidney bean.
KENDRA. (Charmed.) Mighta been a kidney…
BETTY. Yeah. Indigo. She hangs around with little
Boudroux…Boudroux has a crack in his back makes
him walk like John Wayne.
KENDRA. That’s two…
BETTY. Right, two, okay…umn…Bandit, he doesn’t ever
really steal anything, he just has a patch on his eye, not
a real patch. And then, umn, Lilly and Tater, the calico
twins. Then there’s Boxtop, he’s one of them – what
do ya call ’em – Scottish somethin’. How many is that,
six. Umn…Reerod, I’ve never actually seen Reerod,
but he’s around, cuz I hear him bitchin’. Then there’s
Indigo. We talked about Indigo. There’s a white one
that stays in the shed, I think she’s pregnant, umn,
Freda. Then there’s two others, they’re always together,
and they’re mean as shit, like they might cut you for a
can of tuna. That’s all the ones I know.
KENDRA. Reerod?
BETTY. It’s like a pimp name.
KENDRA. (In agreement.) Yeah.
BETTY. Right?
KENDRA . Yeah!
BETTY. Pimp name.
KENDRA. Maybe he is.
BETTY. What?
KENDRA. Cat pimp.
BETTY. Oh…
KENDRA. You say you never seen him?
BETTY. Nope.
KENDRA. He’s back in the back. Waitin’ on the ladies…
(Beat.)
BETTY. Ha!!
KENDRA. Countin’ the money.
22 THE GULF

BETTY. You ’member Mother Goose, the one about Puss

in Boots?
KENDRA. What?
BETTY. Didn’t your mama ever read you Puss in Boots?
KENDRA. (Processing.) Like Antonio Banderas?
BETTY. Cat pimp!!
KENDRA. (In total agreement.) Fuckin-A. Cat pimp!
BETTY. Cat pimp…
(Beat.)
What if he’s dead? Oh, my god, I just thought of that.
KENDRA. Who?
BETTY. Reerod.
KENDRA. (Thinking.) Oh, I don’t know…
BETTY. I don’t know either. I mean…that’s messed up
right? But ya gotta figure, cats die all the time and no
one’ll notice.
KENDRA. Well what do you want, an obituary? / Viewing?
Funeral.
BETTY. That’s – you are sooooo goin’ to hell, ya know that?
Here I was bein’ all extessential, Kendra, and you – see,
this is why we don’t communicate.
(BETTY reaches into the cooler and pulls out a
sippy cup/bottle [the adult variety] and takes a few
sips of its contents.)
You always wanna take things at face value, and I’m out
here somewhere.
(Off KENDRA’s look.) It’s a girly drink.
(BETTY shares her drink, KENDRA takes a swig.
Her face scrunches up.)
No?
KENDRA. That does not taste like girls.
BETTY. (Amused.) What does it taste like?
KENDRA. Somethin’ cheap and stupid.
 THE GULF 23

(As KENDRA leans over to get her beer, BETTY

reaches her hands under KENDRA’s tank top to
fondle her breasts.)
BETTY. Damn baby, you do it for me.
KENDRA. Oh, yeah?
BETTY. You feel so good.
(KENDRA allows herself to enjoy it for a moment,
but then pulls away.)
KENDRA. Okay.
BETTY. No, no, no, no, no…
KENDRA. Yeeeeees. And “no.”
BETTY. What? I was just gettin’ to the best part…and the
other best part.
KENDRA. Well, you just have to wait.
BETTY. I don’t wanna wait.
(Beat.)
Baby…
KENDRA. Stop…
BETTY. You need to live a little.
KENDRA. You’re always right.
BETTY. I am about this.
KENDRA. This?
BETTY. Why does everything have to be so planned out all
the time?
KENDRA. Oh. This.
BETTY. Yeah. This.
KENDRA. Really?
BETTY. What?
KENDRA. We’re fishin’. Everything’s fine.
(Beat.)
Don’t start.
BETTY. What’s to start?
24 THE GULF

KENDRA. Just be happy.

BETTY. That’s what I was doin’ with the best part and other
part, and you squashed it.
KENDRA. I didn’t squash anything, Betty!
(Silence.)
What?
BETTY. Nothin’.
(Beat.)
You’re like the asshole toy police. Everything is all
contained. Nothin’ can be touching.
(Beat.)
I get lonely, I need it.
KENDRA. Lonely.
BETTY. Yeah.
KENDRA. We’re on a boat.
BETTY. That’s not what I meant.
KENDRA. Well, why don’t you say what you mean, how
’bout that?
BETTY. I want you to want me. I want you to reach for me.
KENDRA. I reach for you.
BETTY. Uh…no. No, Kendra, you don’t.
(Beat.)
Slappin’ me on the ass when you climb into bed and
then rollin’ over is not reachin’ for me. Try some things,
maybe.
KENDRA. Things?
BETTY. You know. Different things. I get bored.
KENDRA. You get bored…
BETTY. Yeah. Honestly, I do.
KENDRA. You have the best timing of anyone on planet /
Earth, ya know that?
BETTY. Well, it’s not / like I planned to talk about –
KENDRA. Are we doin’ this. Really?
 THE GULF 25

BETTY. Whatever.
KENDRA. Cuz I get tired, Betty, I really do.
BETTY. I’m waitin’ for your point.
KENDRA. (One continuous breath.) See that’s just it we already
know the point cuz there’s no new points only old ones
old old old as SHIT so old they’re on Medicare why
won’t they die we don’t know they / just fucking won’t!
BETTY. Kendra.
KENDRA. (Continuing.) Christ! You make me wanna shoot
me outta my own misery.
(Beat.)
I’m not the answer, baby. I’m not. / I’m just me.
BETTY. You are so far off the topic, I / can’t even talk to
you right now –
KENDRA. Look, you gotta figure this shit out, okay? It ain’t
gon’ come from me.
BETTY. Right.
KENDRA. I give you what I got.
BETTY. No you don’t. If that / was actually true –
KENDRA. Can we PLEASE stop? JUST FUCKIN’ STOP?!
(Silence.)
(They each retreat into their own world again.
BETTY moves to the other corner of the boat and
settles in with her book.)
Oh, good, let’s read a book. Let’s all read a book.
(Beat.)
Fishin’ boat. / Not a library.
BETTY. Okay, whatever, Kendra, how ’bout we just build
a wall, right here between us, would that satisfy you?!
Nobody builds a better wall than you, right, K?
KENDRA. Ha. Ha.
BETTY. No, you know what, I’ll do it. I’m gon’ build a big
ole wall between us right here and make you pay for it!
It’s gon’ be really GREAT ! Huge!
 FINISH READING
THIS SCRIPT
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