A play in one Act

[opens immediately, two friends Will and Ben are seen walking]

Will: “This was such a great idea.”

Ben: “Seriously. I needed a break, too.”

Will: “Thanks for suggesting this, man. I haven’t been to the beach in so long.”

Ben: “Yeah. It’s too bad its too cold to swim. Hey what time is it, by the way?”

Will: “Hold on, let me check. [pulls out phone] Quarter to six. [makes a face] Laurel  texted me.”

Ben: “Did you not tell her you left?”

Will: [sigh] “No I did. Even told her I needed time away. [reads text, then closes phone  in mild frustration]

Ben: “Well leave it alone then. You told her you needed the time and now you’re here  trying to take it.”

Will: “Yeah, dude. [after a moment] Its a pretty cool sunset.”

Ben: [with a pensive elsewhereness, as if not realizing there was a sunset] “Can I ask  you something?” [waits for an acknowledgement but not necessarily an  affirmation] “What happened between you guys?”

Will: [dropping his sigh as if dropping a heavy pack from his back at a premature  destination; willing to lay down the burden, though wishing to have gone farther  with it] “What ever happens?” [choosing his words] “I’ve always thought...”[breaks  off, gives a short, almost self-mocking laugh] “...that may well have been the  problem.”

Ben: “Like, I don’t want to bring it all up, but its been bothering me  little lately. You two  were so good for each other and all that, and...” [pausing, trying to avoid cliches]  “...its just that now there’s only a bad taste as if neither one of you really ever got  along.”

Will: [more freely now as if his body had adjusted to dumping of the pack] “She and I  knew each other for a time. And it did. It all worked and it all made sense. We  really didn’t have any problems. And then..” [pausing, though trying not to]

[he holds a sigh in as if its breath contained the words he searched for, until  finally letting it go, defeated; as if he could not bear the thought that he had not  the breath support longer to find it]

[Ben turned and scoped the shore, walking solemnly, admiring the shells and  giving his friend time to himself, wondering if he should have left the issue back  at their apartment. Will looks down at his phone after a moment and reads a  freshly sent text. He closes it when finished and makes another face, though this  one more compassionate. Ben finds an abandoned crab shell from a hermit. He  picked it up, blew off the sand, wiping it to reveal a crack. He tosses it to Will who  looks over]

Ben: “Check it out.”

Will: [examining it for a second, forgetting what was on his mind, then a refreshing  revelation] “Laurel, she needed something, you know? Something that I gave her.  Like this shell. Just the perfect fit.” [looking up at Ben who was only kindly  following him] “But one day, I think, we kinda started to rub against each other,  and she gets the idea that maybe its cause we don’t fit like we used to.” [in a  humble manner of realization] I don’t know, maybe she did out grow me or  something, or maybe I never changed. But when a shell makes for someone a  home, and then they decide that they don’t need that home anymore, then  there’s an emptiness there that only sand and time try to fill.” [he looks again  down at the shell, then looks closer at the crack; he tries to examine it with his  fingers, but it cracks again, splitting the shell into broken pieces] “Problem is, only  one of two things can happen. Either the crab tries to get back in, only to irritate  itself in the sand that’s found its way in, or let time and emptiness break it  completely.” [dropping the pieces] “A shell like that’s fit for no home, now.”

[end of Act 1]