Shelly Sells Seashells Down By The Seashore, Scene Five (8.21.14)

I'M AHEAD OF THE CHALLENGE!!!!

Sorry. This never happens.

#21: SHELLY SELLS SEASHELLS DOWN BY THE SEASHORE

(SCENE FIVE)

(Lights rise on Michelle and Ginny in the shop. Two Customers, an older biker and his girlfriend are scanning the store. Ginny is painting her nails, while Michelle is sweeping)

GINNY: Do you ever get that feeling like, “Fuck. I should not have put on this nail polish”?

MICHELLE: I never wear nail polish.

GINNY: I don’t think this was a good choice. I don’t think this shade of red was a good color to me. What do you think?

(Michelle briefly looks over)

MICHELLE I think it looks--

GINNY: I don’t know, it’s just not--

MICHELLE: I like it. It’s--

GINNY: Yeah, I don’t know. I think I liked the idea of it, but I don’t think it looks good. 

MICHELLE: (after a beat) So why don’t you stop painting them?

GINNY: I like havin’ my nails painted. And secretly, I kinda like the smell of nail polish.

(A silence)

GINNY: So uh...where ya from?

MICHELLE: Upstate New York.

GINNY: Where?

MICHELLE: Near Albany.

GINNY: Yeah, I was wonderin when I saw you if I had seen you around here...but I don’t know. I didn’t think I had. I thought you might have been one of those high school girls.

MICHELLE: I graduated from high school a very long time ago.

GINNY: Yeah? How long’s that?

MICHELLE: Why do you care?

GINNY: Alright, just wonderin.

MICHELLE: (solemnly) I uh...I was homeschooled for most of high school so.

GINNY: Why’s that.

MICHELLE: My parents were…very religious.

GINNY: Oh.

MICHELLE: Yeah. Mormons.

GINNY: Mormons?

MICHELLE: Mhm.

GINNY: That’s crazy. Sometimes I see them walking up and down the boardwalk in their stupid little white button downs and ties with their bibles and shit. It’s like, “you’re barkin up the wrong tree, guys!”

MICHELLE: (suddenly really serious) Do you have something against mormons.

GINNY: Oh...uh. No. I uh. 

(The Biker Male Customer comes up with a crop top that says GTL: Gym, Tan, Laundry. He holds his arm around her while she sucks on a lollipop)

CUSTOMER #3: Here. For her.

GINNY: Alright. Michelle, you wanna do this one?

MICHELLE: Ok.

(Michelle sets the broom beside the counter and goes to the register)

MICHELLE: Cash or credit?

CUSTOMER #3: Credit.

GINNY: Then ya just swipe--

MICHELLE: Yeah, I know.

GINNY: Ok.

(She does. A beat)

GINNY: (glancing outside) Sunny outside.

CUSTOMER #4: (giggling) Yeah.

GINNY: You guys uh…going out to the beach?

CUSTOMER #3: For a little bit, yeah.

MICHELLE: Would you like a copy of your receipt?

CUSTOMER #3: We're good.

(Michelle puts the tshirt in a bag)

MICHELLE: Ok, have a good day.

CUSTOMER #3, 4: Thanks.

(On the way out, Customer #3 grabs his girlfriend's ass. They might kiss, or she might be repulsed. A silence)

MICHELLE: I was kidding about gettin on your case bout the Mormon thing. I’m not Mormon anymore. I was...but now I’m not.

GINNY: Oh ok. (beat) What brought you to Jersey?

MICHELLE: I just. Wanted to get out.

GINNY: She from around here?

MICHELLE: Yeah.

GINNY: Where?

MICHELLE: Uh, I live on Kearny Street.

GINNY: Oh ok. (beat) I had to live at the Four Winds Motel over there for a little while.

MICHELLE: Really?

GINNY: Yeah, during Hurricane Sandy.

MICHELLE: Oh.

GINNY: Yeah. It was awful. I mean the whole boardwalk was.

MICHELLE: I remember seeing it on the.

GINNY: Yeah. It was horrible. (beat) Business still hasn’t been the same since. Let me tell ya, a few years ago--a year ago, even. This place was packed.

MICHELLE: Yeah?

GINNY: Oh yeah. We used to be open til 2 am.

MICHELLE: Wow.

GINNY: Yeah, me and Patty used to bust our asses here. I mean really. (beat) I used to go crazy, I would go out partying after that til four or five AM. (beat) Ok who am I kidding I still do that shit.

(A silence. Ginny laughs nervously)

GINNY: What about you, kid?

MICHELLE: Huh?

GINNY: You party, right?

MICHELLE: Yeah, I guess.

GINNY: Yeah, ya do. I can tell. Ya look like a little punk with your head shaved.

MICHELLE: I shaved it because my mom has cancer.

GINNY: Oh. (beat) You’re serious?

MICHELLE: Yeah.

GINNY: Oh shit. I’m sorry. My b. Dammit. I am really not making a good impression.

MICHELLE: No, you’re fine.

GINNY: It's ok. I don't even work here anymore, anyways.

MICHELLE: Oh.

GINNY: I'm just here to show you the ropes. So. Not permanent. 

(A silence)

GINNY: This was my mother's store and I got fired from it. How fucked up is that?

MICHELLE: Why did she fire you?

GINNY: My mother's dead.

MICHELLE: Oh. (beat) For how long?

GINNY: In the fire.

MICHELLE: What?

GINNY: There was a fire here on the boardwalk and she…

MICHELLE: Oh.

GINNY: My dad was next of kin, so.

MICHELLE: Oh.

GINNY: Yeah. (beat) I mean, it's so beat. You know why I don't work here anymore?

MICHELLE: Hm?

GINNY: It's because my uncle doesn't like my boyfriend.

MICHELLE: Oh.

GINNY: It's so fucked up why he doesn't like him. He think's he's a nobody. And it's like, he's not a nobody. He's just…finding himself.

MICHELLE: That's why he fired him?

GINNY: Well…he's kinda going through a hard time. But like, that's why he should let him keep his job even more! Ya know? So he has something to…ground him. 

MICHELLE: Uh-huh.

(A silence)

GINNY: If…if I'm being honest, it's because Tony has some problems with uh…(whispers) pills.

MICHELLE: …Oh.

GINNY: Yeah. He…he just had a bad run in and he just got out of the hospital. 

MICHELLE: (not sure of what to say) I…uh…oh…

GINNY: But it's like, he's gonna be fine. He's gonna bounce back. Ya know?

MICHELLE: Is he…a good guy?

GINNY: Yeah. Yeah. No. He is.

MICHELLE: What does he do?

GINNY: Well…nothin now. That he's not working here.

MICHELLE: Oh.

GINNY: But he's a real smooth talker. And he's got beautiful hair…and he's really sexy. (beat) He used to play guitar and sing…he always did have a nice voice. (beat) I think he could run a club someday. I do. He's not the best with money, but he's really a people person, really--

(Enter TONY, with a cane. He is wearing sunglasses, a leather jacket and jeans. He looks like Donny Zuko from grease, only way more strung out and tired. He might have a beard)

GINNY: Oh jesus.

TONY: What the fuck?

GINNY: Tony, what are you doing here?

TONY: (in reference to Michelle) Whose THIS bitch?

GINNY: Tony.

TONY: Whose this bitch whose takin my job? Where's Patty?

GINNY: Patty took the day off, so she asked me to train her.

TONY: This is bullshit!

(He gets violent. He swings his walker around and begins knocking shirts off the rack)

GINNY: Tony stop, you're embarrassing me!

TONY: I'm gonna kick your fuckin' ass!

GINNY: You should be at home resting--

(He continues to knock stuff over. He points his cane at Michelle)

TONY: I'm gonna get my job, so you better get the fuck out!

(Michelle runs out, frantic)

TONY: That's right! Keep running, bitch!

GINNY: Tony, what is wrong with you?! (running outside) Michelle. Michelle! I'm sorry!

(Blackout.

Lights up at Patty's. Ginny, Patty and Howard are all in the living room)

HOWARD: You have got to be kidding me. Was he high?

GINNY: No!

PATTY: Yeah right.

GINNY: He was just pissed you guys took his job!

HOWARD: He made me take his job because he was acting like an idiot!

PATTY: When did he even get out of the hospital?

GINNY: Last night. He's staying at his parents. I bet it was his dad who made him barge into the store like that. He's such a piece of shit.

PATTY: Apple doesn't fall from the tree.

GINNY: Oh, whatever.

HOWARD: Ginny, I don't think you realize how serious this is.

GINNY: He didn't hurt anyone.

PATTY: You said Michelle ran out of the store! What if she doesn't come back?

GINNY: Oh relax. She'll be back. She was a dullard anyway.

PATTY: You're being incredible blazé about this.

GINNY: I'm sorry. Ok? I'm sorry. I'm not his mother! I can't control what he does!

PATTY: Well, we can. And next time he comes, we're getting a restraining order! I mean, the one day I take off--

GINNY: I'm not gonna sit here and listen to you two yell at me for something I didn't even do! Relax, the guy's got a temper! It's not like he came in and--and--shot someone!

HOWARD: Well I hope you know that this means you're banned from the store too until you get rid of him.

GINNY: What?

HOWARD: If you stay with Tony, you can't come back to the store ever. I'm serious.

GINNY: Uncle Howie you can't control my life like this. You're not my mother.

HOWARD: Damn straight I'm not. If I was, I'd smack you upside the head.

(Patty crosses to get Doritos' from the kitchen. They can either be Spicy Chilly Kind or Nacho Cheese. She eats them straight out of the bag and cracks open a beer)

GINNY: My mother never hit me.

HOWARD: Yeah, well maybe she should've.

GINNY: You know, I really resent it when you talk about her like that. And I also don't like that you're imploring that I'm stupid and helpless! You guys are always yelling at me. You're supposed to be my family not my enemies.

HOWARD: Imploring? I'm not imploring anything.

GINNY: There you go! Making fun of me again!

HOWARD: Patty, can you talk some sense into her?

PATTY: Ginny, we've said it once we've said it a million times. He's bad for you. And you know he is.

(Ginny takes a beat)

GINNY: (nearing tears) Oh god. If you guys could just see him. He can't even walk without a cane or a walker right now. It's so awful.

HOWARD: Christ Ginny just have a seat, ok? I don't feel like arguing with you. (he hands her the bowl) Here, take some of this. You need it.

GINNY: I don't smoke.

HOWARD: Oh yeah? Since when?

GINNY: Since…now.

HOWARD: And why's that?

GINNY: Because…I'm. Pregnant.

(A silence. Patty stops eating. You could hear a pin drop)

HOWARD: Are you fucking kidding me?

GINNY: No. I took a test the other day and it came out positive--

HOWARD: (yelling at full force) You are such a fucking moron!

PATTY: Hey! Dad!

HOWARD: He did it? Huh? Did Tony knock you up?

PATTY: Dad, stop--

(Howard screams and pounds his wheelchair on the floor)

HOWARD: My god, you are so! Stupid!

(A silence. Ginny and Patty are stunned. They've never seen him this angry)

HOWARD: You're getting rid of it, right?

(A silence)

HOWARD: Right?

(Ginny starts crying. She runs out of the room. Patty looks at Howard, defeated. She follows her)

PATTY: Gin--

(They exit)

HOWARD: (calling out) Oh right. Like I'm the bad guy here. You were thinkin' it too, Patty! (he takes a hit off his bowl) Christ.