#05: BAREFOOT PALMS

Written by
Joseph Frost
Draft
8/4/16
written for the 2016 31 Plays in 31 Days project

Joseph Frost, 2016

4550 Normandy Dr
Jackson, MS 39206
FrostJosephD@gmail.com
* member, Dramatists Guild of America

A desk in the darkness, a single table lamp illuminates a

man, dishevelled. He stands, and climbs up onto the desk.
Essentially, his feet are the only thing illuminated. He is
barefoot.
BAREFOOT
This is the story of a pair of feet that carried a man from one place to another, step by step,
together. They, at the start, were soft and smooth and young, and then, by the time they
were done, they were old, and craggy, and hard, and sharp. But the man had been carried
from one place to another, step by step. And the feet were tired. And they crawled into
bed and slept for days and weeks. But they didnt get any softer. They didnt get any
younger. There was no relief for them. They had sacrificed all that they were for the
journey. All for the journey.
A woman steps forward, holding her hands in front of her.
She steps behind the man on the desk, places her hands
palm up on the front edge of the desk.
PALMS
This is the story of a pair of hands. They toiled for a man until the night from the day, all
the sun, to make for a man a living. To provide shelter, and food, and allow the man to be.
In the morning, they would be fresh and clean, and by the moon, they were swollen,
cracked and scarred. And by the light they would rise again, ready to task, ready to give
themselves again, to lose themselves in service. All for the service.
Barefoot steps off of the desk.
Palms turns off the desk lamp as lights rise.
Palms sits on the desk.
PALMS (CONTD)
Weve stopped.
BAREFOOT
The river.
PALMS
Cross.
BAREFOOT
Its deep.

2.
PALMS
Swim.
BAREFOOT
Its quick.
PALMS
We should just go.
BAREFOOT
We have a place to be.
PALMS
But we arent there.
BAREFOOT
We cant get there by going.
PALMS
We cant get there by staying.
BAREFOOT
That wasnt what I was suggesting.
PALMS
Then lets go.
BAREFOOT
We have to think.
PALMS
We dont have to.
BAREFOOT
To get to the place we are to be.
PALMS
We cant just think, we have to go.
BAREFOOT
We have to think of how to get there.
PALMS
By going.

3.
BAREFOOT
How.
(beat)
Say how.
(beat)
River is deep and quick.
PALMS
Bridge.
BAREFOOT
None nearby.
PALMS
Make it.
BAREFOOT
Of.
PALMS
Wood.
BAREFOOT
No trees.
PALMS
Stone is better.
BAREFOOT
No quarry.
PALMS
Raft.
BAREFOOT
No trees.
PALMS
Do you have any ideas?
BAREFOOT
None.

4.
PALMS
Then your ideas are like wood and stone.
BAREFOOT
How.
PALMS
They dont exist.
BAREFOOT
Well have to wait for the river to weaken.
PALMS
Will it?
BAREFOOT
It must.
PALMS
It must?
BAREFOOT
When the spring is gone.
PALMS
Couldnt we look for a bridge?
BAREFOOT
Is there one?
PALMS
There must be.
BAREFOOT
Could be far.
PALMS
We could just go.
BAREFOOT
Looking for a bridge?
PALMS
With the river.

5.
BAREFOOT
Where does it go?
PALMS
Downriver.
(holds out hand)
Come on.
BAREFOOT
I want to go to our place to be.
PALMS
It may be there.
Barefoot grabs Palm, rises up onto the desk.
Palm turns on the desk lamp, the other lights go down.
Their feet are illuminated.
BOTH
Four feet journeyed long and far, letting the water flow them down a winding riverpath.
They arrived in a place, not far from the sea. They were fresh and young, and lived long
near the sea tide.
They hold their hands down by their feet.
BOTH (CONTD)
Four hands worked hard, and shared labor, and saved each other and themselves from the
long sun, and held warm in the cold moon.
(beat)
The eight of them lived long. Downriver. Near the sea tide.
The desk light goes out.
End.