"In The Big Picture, He'll Be Happier ..."
Copyright D. Bruno Starrs 2012.
ISBN: 9781301257768.
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"In The Big Picture, He’ll Be Happier ..."
By D. Bruno Starrs PhD. Copyright 2012.
(MRS. CHALMERS, a tired-looking, middle-aged woman, dressed in a worn house frock and hair curlers, is slaving away over a hot iron in a bare, sparsely furnished living room. Suddenly MELISSA, an attractive but simply dressed girl in her late teens to early 20s, bursts through the front door. MELISSA exudes wholesome charm and positive energy)
MELISSA: Any chance of a hug for your only daughter?
MRS. CHALMERS: Melissa, luv, what are you doing here? Ya scared me half to death! I weren’t expecting you ‘til next week! (MRS. CHALMERS hugs MELISSA)
MELISSA: Oh, I just got a feeling that Davey was in trouble.
MRS. CHALMERS: When is that hopeless lad not in trouble?
MELISSA: I can’t explain it, but I got a sense there was something bigger than usual. Something you couldn’t deal with by yourself.
MRS. CHALMERS: Well, you are the only one who can control him when he goes’n gets a fool idea in his head …
MELISSA: Where is he? Watching his cartoons, I bet.
MRS. CHALMERS: Of course. Nothin’s changed in that regard, since you left for the big city. All day in his room, glued to his videos of Beauty and the Beast or Toy Story on his little black and white tele and then Gawd knows where he goes in the evening. He tries to sneak back in around midnight, but I always hear ‘im. Not last night, but. He slipped back in without wakin’ me.
MELISSA: Any word from Dad?
MRS. CHALMERS: (Sighing) Yeah. The useless old bastard didn’t get parole. Be another year before he gets to front ‘em again. Says he thinks ya dear brother Roger ‘as been transferred to Goulburn, but I ain’t heard from that lazy good-fer-nuthin’ at all.
MELISSA: Mum, I wish you wouldn’t talk like that about them. They’re going to need our support when they get out if we’re to ever be a functioning family again.
MRS. CHALMERS: We ain’t never been no functioning family in the first place! Ya know, everyone talks ‘bout how ya Dad an’ the boys are a disgrace ter the town’s good name. They whisper and stare when I does the shoppin’. They pretend they don’t sees me when I’m walkin’ down Main Street … And now the ironin’ work’s startin’ ter dry up … (Pause before MRS. CHALMERS forces herself to cheer up) It beats me how you turned out so well. Minister’s junior aide in Parliament! Ya goin’ places, Mel, that’s fer sure! Not like yer stupid old Mum, stuck here in a town where everyone looks down on ya. You can make a fresh start of things, Melissa, my girl. (Pause) You can put all this behind ya an’ be happy.
MELISSA: Oh, Mum, don’t think I’m not grateful, because I am. It was that month-long internship last year that got it for me, you know that, and if you hadn’t saved up to make it happen who knows where I’d be today. Probably pulling beers at the Rose and Crown. Fighting off all the drunks and no-hopers, more than likely. Pregnant and barefoot in some loser’s kitchen before I even had a chance to better myself!
MRS. CHALMERS: Those few weeks might’ve helped, but any Minister worth his parliamentary salt can see you’ve got some nouse about ya. An’ they can see how well ya fill out yer blouse, too, I bet …
MELISSA: (Blushing) Mum, stop that. The Minister doesn’t look twice at me. Besides, he’s nearly 60 and I reckon Noah would kill him if I ever even implied he was a perv.
MRS. CHALMERS: An’ where is this knight in shinin’ armour of yours?
MELISSA: He’s working but he’ll be picking me up at 8. And here’s the second reason I’m back this weekend. Noah’s going for a promotion to the Federal Police. He’ll be in Canberra, too. And I think he’s going to pop the question tonight!
MRS. CHALMERS: Well, if that happens and you’re both in bloody Canberra, I guess we won’t even be seeing you on the once a month no more. Davey’ll be runnin’ outta control … It’s all I can do now to tell him his sweet sister Mel’ll be angry when she visits next, knowin’ that that’ll settle ‘im down some. He’s slow, but not so slow he won’t figure out soon enough that his wonderful sister ain’t visitin’ no more.
MELISSA: Oh, Mum. That’s why I took this job in the first place. So we can some day afford to get Davey into a Special Needs school. You know that.
MRS. CHALMERS: All I know is there ain’t no future fer you here in this backward little town and if that means I gotta look after ‘im by meself, so be it.
(DAVEY, a solidly built young man of 15 or 16, enters from the back door)
MRS. CHALMERS: Well, now. Look what the cat dragged in. Hullo, sweetheart. Guess who’s here!
DAVEY: Melissa! Melissa!
(DAVEY runs to MELISSA and envelopes her in a bear hug)
MELISSA: Oh, my little Davey! But wait, let me look at you. You can’t be Davey. The Davey I know was two inches shorter. You must be eating your greens like I told you to!
DAVEY: Yes, Melissa! Yes, Melissa! Davey eat the greens! Davey eat all the greens! Grow up big an’ strong!
MRS. CHALMERS: That’s enough now, Davey. Let go of your sister and go wash your hands before dinner.
DAVEY: No!
MELISSA: Now, Davey. If you go wash up I might have a present for you from the city.
DAVEY: Present! Present! Present from Melissa!
(DAVEY exits)
MRS. CHALMERS: See, now, that’s what I mean. It’d take ten minutes of arguin’ an’ naggin’ fer me to get ‘im ter clean up. It’s like magic: you only gotta mention it once to ‘im an’ Snap! It’s done!
MELISSA: I just wish everyone else in this town could talk to him the way I do. But they all make fun of him, I’m sure of it. Why can’t they see that although he’s simple he’s got a good heart? That he just needs a little patience and understanding?
MRS. CHALMERS: Not gonna happen, darl. This town ain’t got no time for anyone who’s a bit different. Anyways, yer must be hungry after ya trip. It ain’t nuthin’ flash fer dinner tonight. If I’d known you were comin’ I woulda thawed out the roast early. S’just macaroni cheese an’cabbage.
MELISSA: Which is Davey’s favourite and therefore my favourite, too!
MRS. CHALMERS: You know, you was maybe right to come down now. Mel, I’m real worried about Davey. He’s getting’ more an’ more withdrawn. I hardly never see ‘im. Always in ‘is room or out sneakin’ around Gawd knows where.
(MELISSA pokes his head into DAVEY’s room)
MELISSA: Mum, he’s got a big new TV!
MRS. CHALMERS: He’s what?
(MRS. CHALMERS takes a look and is visibly shocked. DAVEY enters from bathroom)
DAVEY: All clean, Melissa! All clean!
MELISSA: Good boy, now you sit down and eat your dinner. Then you can have your present. Mum and I need to talk.
DAVEY: Present from Melissa! Present from Melissa!
MELISSA: After you eat all your greens, remember? Okey dokey, Davey?
DAVEY: Okey dokey, Melissa!
(DAVEY greedily wolfs down his dinner while MRS. CHALMERS and MELISSA go to the side)
MELISSA: Mum, where did he get that big plasma TV?
MRS. CHALMERS: How the hell do I know? He didn’t buy it, that’s for sure.
MELISSA: Do you think he …
MRS. CHALMERS: Well, he must’ve. But he won’t tell me a thing.
MELISSA: Davey, I see you’ve got a nice, new, plasma TV.
DAVEY: No, I ain’t.
MELISSA: Now, don’t lie, Davey. I saw it in your room. Where did it come from?
DAVEY: (Showing his empty plate) Present from Melissa! Present from Melissa!
MELISSA: Alright, you can have your present, but afterwards you have to tell me about the TV. Okey dokey, Davey?
DAVEY: Okey dokey, Melissa.
(MELISSA hands DAVEY a gift-wrapped box of licorice allsorts. DAVEY tears it open and immediately starts gobbling them down)
MRS. CHALMERS: Davey, ya greedy little pig! Aren’t ya gonna share ‘em round?
DAVEY: No! My present from Melissa!
MELISSA: Davey, Mum and I both love licorice allsorts. Don’t you want to make us happy, too? Why don’t you offer to share your present?
DAVEY: Okey dokey, Melissa. You can have one. Okey dokey, Mum, you can have one.
MELISSA: There’s a good boy.
(There is a business-like knock at the front door)
MRS. CHALMERS: Who can that be? Unless it’s welfare doin’ another surprise visit ter check up on why Davey ain’t in school. As if I can make him go there ter be teased an’ bullied all the livelong day. (To MELISSA) Go get it for me, would you, honey.
(MELISSA opens the front door to reveal CONSTABLE NOAH)
MELISSA: Noah!
CONSTABLE NOAH: Evening, Melissa. Evening, Mrs. Chalmers.
MELISSA: Noah, I wasn’t expecting you until 8.
CONSTABLE NOAH: I’m afraid I’m not here for a social call, Mel.
MRS. CHALMERS: It’s about that no-good husband of mine, isn’t it? I hope he hasn’t bloody-well escaped!
CONSTABLE NOAH: No, ma’am, it’s not.
MRS. CHALMERS: It’s not my poor boy Roger? God, no, please let him be alright!
CONSTABLE NOAH: No, ma’am, as far as I know, Roger Chalmers is being moved to Goulburn but he’s not the problem. (Pause) It’s about Davey.
MELISSA: Lord, not our little Davey?
CONSTABLE NOAH: We have received a report from the local RSL club. Seems their security cameras show a break-in last night in which an 80 cm flat screen TV and a small quantity of cash were stolen.
MELISSA: You don’t mean …
CONSTABLE NOAH: I’m afraid there’s no question about it. The picture’s a bit fuzzy but there’s no denying the evidence. We’ll need to take his fingerprints to compare. He might not even be arrested, if the prints don’t match.
MELISSA: That won’t make any difference. Everyone around here knows about the Chalmers men. Like father, like son, they’ll all say.
CONSTABLE NOAH: Or he might get a friendly judge. One from out of town, who doesn’t know the history and hasn’t heard the rumours.
MELISSA: In the eyes of this town he’ll be found guilty regardless of what any judge says. Doesn’t matter one bit to the local gossips if Davey can’t be held accountable due to his mental condition.
CONSTABLE NOAH: Until you get a professional diagnosis, I’m afraid you’re right. He’ll be treated no differently.
MELISSA: But it’s just our Davey. I know he’s a handful, but he’s like a little child …
CONSTABLE NOAH: Look at the big picture, Mel. Let’s suppose he gets juvenile detention. Chances are he’ll receive psychiatric treatment in there. Then he’ll be looked after appropriately. Medication. Supervision. And he’ll be happier under proper care. You can’t expect your mother to know how to look after a kid like Davey. And all by herself with you and Mr. Chalmers not around.
MRS. CHALMERS: Go on, take him. Just take him! He’s never gonna amount to nuthin’ here with me. May as well get him institutionalized like his brother an’ his Dad and be done with it. Davey, be a good boy and go with the constable.
DAVEY: No.
MRS. CHALMERS: (Angrily) Fer Chrissake, Davey!
DAVEY: No!
(MRS. CHALMERS breaks down in tears for a moment, but quickly and stoically regains her composure)
DAVEY: What happen, Melissa?
MELISSA: Davey, you need to go with Uncle Noah. He’ll give you a nice ride in the police car. And then, maybe, you’ll stay the night in a special little room. Okey dokey, Davey?
DAVEY: Okey dokey, Melissa. You coming, too?
MELISSA: No, honey. It’s just for boys. For big boys, like you and Uncle Noah.
DAVEY: Oh. Coz you’re a girl, right?
MELISSA: That’s right, Davey. Now you promise me you’ll do everything Uncle Noah tells you to, Okey dokey, Davey?
DAVEY: Okey dokey, Melissa.
(CONSTABLE NOAH gently takes DAVEY by the arm towards the door)
CONSTABLE NOAH: Oh, and Mel. Another thing. I’m not going to take that job with the Feds. I’ve been offered a promotion to stay here. We’ll talk about it tomorrow.
MELISSA: But what about tonight?
CONSTABLE NOAH: This town is my home. They all know me here. The Sergeant had a word to me about my future and how I’d be a fool to throw all that away. Anyway, we’ll talk about it tomorrow.
DAVEY: Melissa says I can ride in the police car!
(Suddenly DAVEY breaks free from CONSTABLE NOAH and runs back to the table. He grabs his box of licorice allsorts, grinning happily, and returns to CONSTABLE NOAH’s side)
DAVEY: Okey dokey, Uncle Noah, you can have one.
(DAVEY offers the licorice allsorts to CONSTABLE NOAH as they exit)
DAVEY (O/S): Melissa says I can ride in the police car!
(MELISSA starts sobbing. MRS. CHALMERS puts her arm around her)
MRS. CHALMERS: Noah’s right, luv. The best thing for Davey is if he goes into the system. And the best thing for you is to find a nice boy in Canberra. You got a big future waiting for you there. There’s nothing but the past in this stinkin’ town. An’ this town’ll never let ya forget it, neither.
MELISSA: Oh, Mum. Poor Davey. He’s like a little child. And I thought I could have saved him, but now … now I know I’ve failed him.
(Pause)
MRS. CHALMERS: D’ya think I can get some ironing work in Canberra, luv?
MELISSA: What? Yes, I suppose so.
MRS. CHALMERS: There, there, my precious girl. Dry ya tears. You ain’t failed nobody. When ya think about the big picture ‘an all, this has gotta be the best thing for our Davey. An’ the best for you an’ me, both …
CURTAIN.
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