by Forest Feighner

© Forest Feighner, 1992

CAST OF CHARACTERS

MILLIE, 32, a housewife and mother

JOE, 34, Millie’s husband

RALPH, 27, their neighbor

NORA, 26, Ralph’s wife

JOE and MILLIE PRESCOTT live in a suburban, middle-class neighborhood. Their home is well kept, but untidy. The action occurs in the Prescott’s living room during a hot summer night.

SETTING: a door and small entranceway are upstage left. Left center is an arch leading to a hallway; down the hall to the left is a kitchen; bedrooms are to the right. A picture window is stage right. An overstuffed chair is left center. A wall-phone is to the right of the arch. A rocking chair is situated so MILLIE can rock and look out the picture window. Toys and children’s clothes are scattered throughout the living room.

JOE

What’s wrong? (She doesn’t respond.)

MILLIE

Are the kids asleep?

JOE

They were out as soon as the hit the pillows. (Pause.) Why are you crying?

MILLIE

Joe, do you remember what I told you about Denny?

JOE

Yeah, I remember . . .the bruises. Well, kids get bruises.

MILLIE

And cuts?

JOE

And cuts, Millie.

MILLIE

I know children get cuts and bruises, but these are different.

JOE

What makes them different?

MILLIE

For one thing Denny gets more bruises than most kids.

JOE

He’s just accident prone.

MILLIE

For another thing, his bruises look like he’s been hit by someone.

JOE

People in our neighborhood don’t beat their kids.

MILLIE

What kind of neighborhood do child abusers live in?

JOE

I don’t know…a neighborhood where people are poor. People who are out of a job and worried about money probably take it out on their kids.

MILLIE

Anybody can have money problems, even Ralph and Nora.

JOE

Millie, they both work. What’s your point?

MILLIE

I took the kids swimming today.

JOE

Yeah.

MILLIE

Denny didn’t have a bathing suit, so I loaned him one of Timmy’s. Remember when Nora first brought Denny over? He seemed so frightened. When I’d go to him, he’d shy away. I think he trusts me now, but sometimes he still acts like a puppy afraid of a scolding. Today when I gave him Timmy’s bathing suit, I left the room while the boys changed. They took forever and started fooling around and yelling and laughing, so I went in to hurry them up. Denny was putting on his suits. Joe, there was a horrible welt on his backside.

JOE

Maybe he fell down. Boys that age take a lot of bumps.

MILLIE

I asked him how he got the welt. He stopped laughing, put on his suit, and said, "I’m ready to go."

JOE

So what’s so terrible about that?

MILLIE

He didn’t want to talk about the welt! He was laughing and he turned somber. If he fell or something he would have told me. Besides, that welt could only have been made by an adult with a belt buckle.

JOE

Are you sure?

MILLIE

I could see the imprint of the buckle and a scrape across his skin. He was hit hard. The buckle was about an inch and a half long and a little over an inch wide.

JOE

Sounds like a man’s . . . .

MILLIE

I’ve never seen Nora wear anything other than a belt about a half-inch thick. Always, thin straps . . . they flatter her waistline.

JOE

I oughta go over and let him know what a beating feels like. Nothing makes me angrier than an adult man hitting a small child. (He stalks over towards the outside door.)

MILLIE

Joe, wait! You can’t rush over there and just beat up Ralph.

JOE

Watch.

MILLIE

Another beating won’t solve anything. The main thing is to stop the beatings of Denny. How can we do that? Busting up Ralph won’t help. (Crossing to him.) Joe, let’s sit down and talk over the situation. Come on honey, we have to think about Denny. We have to prevent any worse harm from happening.

JOE

OK, OK. (They cross to the couch and sit.) So what should we do, call the police?

MILLIE

I don’t think so. I’ve been thinking about calling the authorities . . . an agency, or the police, but I think reporting a child abuse case only causes delay. They’d come and ask questions; they’d need more proof. They’ll have people keep an eye Denny, but nothing will happen. So what about Denny? He keeps being abused. He keeps being beaten until someone says, "Yea, you’re right. He is abused." Too late, too long, not in time . . . remember what happened to Jimmy Whitsel?

JOE

What can we do? We can’t just talk them out of beating their kid. Besides, they deny they were doing anything to harm him. Call the police; they ask a few questions and put the fear into Ralph. He’d stop. Ralph and Nora are very concerned about their public image. They’re young and on their way up. They don’t want people thinking they

‘re child abusers . . . not good for Ralph’s career as a junior executive in retail sales to be known as a guy who beats up his kid. The police can stop him.

MILLIE

I don’t think so.

JOE

Ralph is so image conscious that he goes to church every Sunday just to let people know he’s a good guy, a solid citizen . . . so he can keep his career on the rise.

MILLIE

Calling the police won’t get anybody to stop beating Denny! The only thing that would happen is that Ralph and Nora would hate us for calling the police. They’re out friends, our neighbors, we’ve got to talk to them and care about them.

JOE

I don’t care about child abusers.

MILLIE

People don’t become child abusers because they like beating their kids. Something . . . some hurt makes them . . .

JOE

They’ve got minds don’t they? Can’t they figure out what they’re doing is wrong?

MILLIE

Probably, but maybe Ralph can’t help himself and Nora is in a love bind and can’t do anything. If we talk to them and they recognize their problem . . . maybe they’ll get some psychological help. That’s the way to stop Denny from being abused.

JOE

Sounds like pie in the sky to me.

MILLIE

We’ve got to try Joe.

JOE

Before we rush into saving the Godfreys, let’s get a few facts straight. How long have you been watching Denny?

MILLIE

I started watching kids to earn extra money when your plant was laying off people. That was nearly a year ago . . . a year come August. Nora brought over Denny when she took that job as a computer operator. She started working last October. She hated staying home, and she was always so compulsive about her house . . . everything in its place and a place for everything. Spilt milk gave her fits. She needed to find herself and she knew enough about running software to get that job. That was . . .let’s see . . .ten months ago.

JOE

You thought Denny was frightened of you.

MILLIE

At first he was, yes.

JOE

Then you started noticing bruises . . . .

MILLIE

. . . even a black-eye once. Nora said he fell off the teetertotter and the board bounced up and hit him.

JOE

Maybe it did.

MILLIE

How many more errant boards and buckles do we need to recognize child abuse!

JOE

Someone else could be abusing him. Maybe Ralph and Nora don’t even realize that Denny is being abused.