Girls and Boys, When They Sit in Trees and Share Their Toys
THE GIRL and THE BOY are in a kitchen, or in a car. They are very young. They might be crying, but probably not.
THE GIRL
HE MET AT THE HOMECOMING
DANCE WHO TOLD HIM
THEY WOULD NEVER MARRY
The books are the only things left.
THE BOY
WHO LIKED TO DRIVE FAST
CARS WHO WISHED HER BOOBS
WERE BIGGER
And you expect me to just hand them over?
THE GIRL
WHO LIKED TO READ BOOKS
Did you read the books?
THE BOY
WHO HATED SUMMER
Only the one book.
THE GIRL
WHOSE PARENTS LET HIM
SLEEP IN HER BED
Which one?
THE BOY
WHO LOVED HER OR SO HE
THOUGHT
The one with your notes in it.
THE GIRL
WHO BOUGHT HIM AN
AIRPLANE LEGO SET FOR
HIS 19th BIRTHDAY TO WHICH
HE SAID I ONLY LIKE THE
STAR WARS LEGOS
I didn’t write any notes.
THE BOY
WHO BOUGHT HER DIAMONDS FOR
HER BIRTHDAY AND RECEIVED
ONLY A POLITE SMILE
IN RESPONSE
What were the notes then?
THE GIRL
WHO THREW UP HER DINNER
WHEN HE TOLD HER SHE WAS FAT
They were already in the book when I bought it.
My flight is at 12:45 tomorrow.
THE BOY
WHO HOARDED FOOD WHEN SHE
TOLD HIM HE WAS TOO SKINNY
And?
THE GIRL
WHO HAD SWORN THAT SHE
WOULD NEVER LET A MAN’S
OPINION DICTATE HER CHOICES
I thought you might want to know.
THE BOY
WHO EXPECTED SEX SIMPLY
BECAUSE SHE WAS HIS GIRLFRIEND
AND THAT IS WHAT GIRLFRIENDS
ARE SUPPOSED TO DO
I didn’t.
THE GIRL
WHO WOULDN’T WEAR THONGS
EVEN WHEN HE ASKED NICELY
Are you going to give me back my books?
THE BOY
WHO WAS JEALOUS OF OTHER BOYS
I will if you kiss me.
THE GIRL
WHO WAS JEALOUS OF OTHER GIRLS
Your kisses hurt.
THE BOY
WHO PAID $75 TO BUY HER THE
CUSTOM CORSAGE SHE DEMANDED
FOR PROM EVEN THOUGH HIS FRIENDS
ONLY PAID $40 FOR THEIR DATES
Not even to say goodbye?
THE GIRL
WHO WAS ALLERGIC TO GRASS
I said goodbye a long time ago. You just weren’t
listening.
THE BOY
SHE LOVED OR SO HE THOUGHT
And that’s why you won’t touch me?
THE GIRL
WHO WEPT THE FIRST TIME AND
THE SECOND TIME AND THE THIRD
TIME AND THE FOURTH TIME
Give me my books.
THE BOY
SHE CALLED EVERY NIGHT
If I threw these books at your eyes, one after the
other, your eyes would turn black. They would grow two
sizes, they would explode. You’d have to grope around
with your hands in the dark, because you’d have no eyes,
because I would have your eyes forever.
THE GIRL
WHO SWORE TO BE FREE
I need them back so I can rip them apart. So I can burn
them.
THE BOY
WHO LIKED HER PUDDING AND PIE,
WHO KISSED
Like I ripped you apart?
THE GIRL
AND MADE HER CRY
Are you going to give me my books?
END OF PLAY
Anna Miles has been creating feminist theatrical spaces and experiences as an actor, director and playwright professionally since 2013. She holds a BA in Theater and Creative Writing from Northwestern University, where her play It Was the Nightingale: Persephone’s Play was workshopped under the mentorship of Lookingglass Theater’s founding member David Catlin. She went on to earn her master’s from Brown University/Trinity Repertory Company MFA Programs in Acting and Directing, where she continued her playwriting studies under Trinity Rep’s resident playwright, Deborah Salem Smith, and where her play Alice’s Sordid Adventures Into What Was Once a Wonderland was selected for a staged reading. Anna’s work has most recently been produced at the Chance Theater in Anaheim, CA: her short plays Thinking of Monkeys and The Highest Shelf debuted as part of the company’s annual Chance-A-Thon festivals in 2017 and 2018, and her play Think of Me, Fred Weasley performed at both the Chance Theater and the Little Victory Theater in Burbank in Summer of 2018. Her non-fiction and fiction writing has been published in Prompt Magazine, the Ms. Millennial Blog, and Z Publishing’s “California’s Emerging Writers” series.