Play #18

Work for a Coin

__________________________

A short play written for

the 2018
31 Plays in 31 Days
Challenge

By Joseph Frost

Contact:
Joseph Frost
4550 Normandy Dr
Jackson, MS 39206
FrostJosephD@gmail.com
 Two laborers at the end of a long day.

M
Long day.

D
Yeah.

M
Glad it’s over.

D
It is over.

M looks at coin in hand.

M
Good pay.

D
Yeah, not bad.

M
Yeah.

D
It’s pay.

M
You got what I got.

D
One coin.

M
Yeah.

D
Yeah.

M
Oh.
 2.

D
You know what, though...

M
What’s that?

D
You see them?

M
Who?

D
Them. Over there.

M
Yeah.

D
You see them.

M
I do.

D
You see what they got in their hand.

M
I don’t...

D
What do you think they have?

M
I’m supposed to guess?

D
You got a coin, I got a coin. Been here all day and I got a coin. So what do you think
they got?

M
They been here all day?

D
That’s a great question.
 3.

M
Thank you.

D
The answer to that question is no.

M
No.

D
No they have not.

M
When did they--

D
An hour ago.

M
An hour.

D
Yes.

M
One hour.

D
Right. So...

M
So?

D
So how much you think they have?

M
I don’t know.

D
We got a coin.

M
Each.
 4.

D
So did they.

M
They got a whole coin?

D
Yeah.

A moment.

M
Well, we got a whole coin.

D
We did a whole day of work.

M
I mean...

D
Whole day of work, one coin. One hour...

M
This upsets you?

D
This doesn’t upset you?

M
You got your coin.

D
And you got yours. And they got one too. From my work.

M
For their work.

D
I worked all day.

M
For a coin.

D
They worked an hour.
 5.

M
You know what they agreed to do the work for?

D
What?

M
What did they agree to do the work for?
(beat)
A coin?

D
They deserve less.

M
Do they?

D
They worked less.

M
For the agreed price.

D
It’s only fair.

M
Fair?

D
They should have been paid less for the amount of work they did.

M
The pay was a coin. Can’t do half a coin. Two coins. That’s not the price. That the boss
agreed to, wanted to pay.

D
It’s not fair.

M
To who? It’s the boss’s field. It’s the bosses coins. It’s not any of your business.

D
Why are you upset?
 6.

M
I’m not.

D
You are. Defending them. Defending them getting a whole coin. Defending the boss
paying people unfairly.

M
It’s not unfair...

D
Defending.

M
So?

D
No one’s attacking you.

M
You’re upset they didn’t work a whole day for a whole coin.

D
Yeah.

M
I didn’t either.

D
What?

M
I didn’t work a whole day.
(beat)
I started at noon.

D
You worked the afternoon.

M
Not the morning.

D
Why?
 7.

M
Why what?

D
Why not work the morning?

M
I didn’t know.

D
Didn’t know.

M
I didn’t know about the work.

Moment.

D
Why didn’t you wait?

M
Why would I wait when I know now that there’s work to do?

Moment.

D
You took a whole coin, for a half day of work.

M
There isn’t a half coin.
(beat)
We work. We reach the end of the day. We get a whole coin.
(beat)
Everybody.

D
Everybody who works a day.

M
Everybody who works.

D
Not everyone earned it.

M
They did.
 8.

D
I-

M
Everyone.

Moment.

D
I’m owed more.

M
There’s no more to give you. You’ve been paid what you earned. You did the work.
Well done.

D
And them?

M
They did the work there was to be done. The only work they could do.
(beat)
Like I did.
(beat)
Like you did.

Moment.

D
It is his money.

M
It is.

Moment.

D
Well done.

M
Well done.

Lights down.