Phil – Want some company?

Rachel – (pauses) Sorry?

Phil – You look lonely. Would you like some company?

Rachel – I’m not lonely. I’m just alone. There’s a difference.

Phil – You know, you’re right. Look at me. I’m all alone, but I’m not lonely. You’re pretty smart, ehhh, what did you say your name was?

Rachel – I didn’t say.

Phil – Okay, I’ll call you Skeeter, then. Hi, Skeeter, I’m Phil. You want some food? I don’t think I’m going to eat all of this hamburger.

Rachel – No thanks.

Phil – You’re not hungry?

Rachel – I don’t eat meat.

Phil – The french fries then.

Rachel – (snorts) Hardly a great source of nutrients.

Phil – And coffee is? (pause) Marcie says you’ve been sitting here for the last three hours nursing the same cup of coffee. Now, I’m guessing you aren’t here for the ambience and you clearly aren’t here for the food, so what’s your story, Skeeter?

Rachel – Rachel.

Phil – (smiles) What’s your story, Rachel?

Rachel – I’m traveling.

Phil – Your parents know where you are?

Rachel – I’m an adult.

Phil – Oh, I’m sorry, Miss Rachel. How old are you? 18? 18 and a quarter?

Rachel – I’ll… I’ll turn 18 next week. But I couldn’t wait another week. I had to get away from that dump of a town. See something. Do something… different. I mean, that’s what this country is about, isn’t it? Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? Well, that’s what I’m doing.

Phil – The American Dream. Yeah, I guess our nation was pretty much founded by people trying to get away from home. So what are you going to do with your freedom? Where are you going?

Rachel – I thought I might go to San Francisco…

Phil – (laughs) That was my generation! Get your own fricken Mecca, why don’t you! Kids these days…

Rachel – That’s not it at all.

Phil – Oh, I’m sorry. Do tell… what’s your grand plan?

Rachel – Well, I have a cousin there and she told me about this art school and I’m thinking I could get in there…

Phil – You graduated from high school, then?

Rachel – Well, almost.

Phil – Are you going to put that on your application? I think you got a few holes in your plan. So, are you planning on staying with your cousin.

Rachel – Yes. Well, she doesn’t know I’m coming, yet, but…

Phil – This plan gets better and better.

Rachel – Look. You don’t know me. You don’t know what my life was like there. I’m not asking anything from you, so why don’t you go back to the counter and let me live my own life.

Phil – Let you destroy your own life, you mean.

Rachel – Anything is better than…

Phil – Okay, okay, I get it. Your life is incomprehensible to me. There is no way I can know your pain. Your agony. Your deep suffering. After all, you must be the first person on the planet to suffer like you have. But have you ever stopped to think that maybe, just maybe, freedom means more than just escaping someplace awful. Maybe it means going someplace better, too. And if it means that, then you’ve got to be prepared. How were you planning on getting to San Francisco?

Rachel – (sheepishly raises her thumb)

Phil – (mockingly imitates the thumb gesture) And when you got there?

Rachel – (sheepishly shrugs her shoulders)

Phil – (nods) Rachel, you need to do better than a (thumb gesture) and a (shrug). You deserve better. You’re a smart kid, don’t throw it away.

Rachel – So, what do you want me to do? Go back home?

Phil – Until you get a better plan, yeah, I do. (dawn of comprehension) Did you burn some bridges?

Rachel – Yeah, you could say that… in red paint… on the kitchen floor… in letters this big. (spreads arms about two feet apart)

Phil – (chuckles) Too bad you don’t eat meat.

Rachel – Why?

Phil – Because I think “crow” just got put on the menu.

Rachel – Actually, you think I could have one of your fries after all?

Phil – Be my guest.

Lawrence Lee
Play
Exodus 14:19-31
Year A, 17th Sunday after Pentecost
September 18, 2005
United Church of Two Harbors, Two Harbors, MN