"I Was Just Praying"

The scene opens to a stage that is created to look like a playground, in center stage is a swing set in a large "scoop" light. The main character, "Jakey" (a boy in his mid teens) is sitting on one of the swings with his back to the audience. He is looking at the backdrop which is decorated to be full of stars, symbolizing a beautiful night sky. He teeters back and forth gently on the swing and mumbles something. When the light reveals the setting, his voice gets louder.

Jakey: "But I don't know why he said that. You see, we were on good terms just yesterday!"

(He kicks the dirt a bit)

Jakey: "Yeah, yeah, I know I should be grateful that we are even friends in the first place. It's just hard, ya know?"

(He stares at the night sky more intently now)

While he rambles on, a female character, "Reagan" (around the same age) enters from stage right, obviously upset. She's got a hoodie on and a backpack slung around her shoulder. She enters the playground oblivious of Jakey's existence and sits down on the merry-go-round with her head against her knees and sobs. *A red spotlight shines on her* Now both characters are visible but oblivious of the other with their backs to each other. Jakey continues to speak to the stars and gets a little louder with his tone of voice.

Jakey: "Look, I'm trying my best here! Every day just brings a new trial. I'm not asking you to take it away, I'm just asking you to provide a way!"

At this point, Reagan notices that she's not the only one there and stops crying to see who was making all the noise. She turns and listens intently.

Jakey: "Yeah I understand. Thank you. Sometimes I just get too frustrated that I can't see the things you are trying to tell me."

Reagan, out of curiosity and intrigue, pulls herself up and creeps closer. Then, out of personality trait, she sits on the swing next to Jakey silently, placing her bag down, without his notice. (There's a beat)

Reagan: "Who are you talking to?"

(Jakey flinches hard simultaneously, certainly startled. He breathes hard too and basically falls out of his swing. After a second, he catches his breath.)

Jakey: "I—I was just praying..."

Reagan: "Oh... whoops, sorry, maybe I shouldn't be here."

(She starts to get up to leave)

Jakey: "No, stay... maybe you are my answer."

(Reagan thinks for a minute and then sits back down)

Jakey: (Beat) "So... are you an angel?"

Reagan: (laughs) "No. —I don't think so at least."

Jakey: "Oh..."

Reagan: "To be honest, I don't know what I am right now."

Jakey: "Well you're at least the cause of my heart attack!"

Reagan: "Yeah sorry about that."

(Beat)

Jakey: "So, what are YOU doing out here?"

Reagan: "It's not really important..."

(Beat)

Reagan: "You said you were praying?"

Jakey: "That's right."

Reagan: "Like... to a God?"

Jakey: "The one and only."

Reagan: "And was He listening?"

Jakey: "I think so."

Reagan: "Interesting..."

Jakey: "Haven't you ever prayed before?"

Reagan: "Well, if yelling at the stars is what you would call: 'praying,' then yeah... I've done way too much of that."

Jakey: "I guess that's one way of putting it."

(Beat)

Jakey: "I don't always 'yell' in my prayers you know. And maybe I shouldn't have today."

Reagan: "Why not?"

Jakey: "Well I believe He's shaping me... Like a wooden bowl."

Reagan: "What does a wooden bowl have to do with yelling at some stars?"

Jakey: "My Dad once told me that a carpenter has to carve deep grooves into his wood to transform it from a block into a bowl—"

Reagan: "Okay... and?"

Jakey: "...and though it might be uncomfortable, the deeper it is carved, the more it holds. And when I yell like that, maybe God thinks that I'm ungrateful for His carvings in me."

Reagan: "Woah, that's deep."

Jakey: "Literally..."

(Reagan giggles, showing her smile)

Reagan: "So do you always come here to pray?"

Jakey: "Well that's a long story..."

Reagan: "You can start it by telling me your name."

Jakey: "It's Jake. But my friends and family call me Jakey."

(He sticks his hand out for a handshake)

Reagan: "Cool. My name is Reagan."

(She looks at his hand and then shakes it after an uncomfortable pause)

Jakey: "Nice to meet you."

Reagan: "So... that story?"

(Jakey sighs)

Jakey: "Umm, okay. Well, I didn't always use to pray. All my life, my family have been believers in a Heavenly Father. They'd pray every day and read scriptures till they fell asleep. But I just could never see the point."

Reagan: "Same. Now you can see why I was curious about you."

Jakey: "Yeah. But here's the thing, a few months ago my younger sister ran away from home. The police found her here the next morning. She had taken about twenty pain-killers."

Reagan: "Oh. I'm so sorry Jakey."

Jakey: "Don't be."

(He looks at the stars)

Jakey: "That day, my whole family stopped praying and believing that there even was a God. But as for me, I thought that was just dumb. They had always told me that faith was supposed to be tested, but when it actually was, they couldn't handle it."

Reagan: "I don't blame them."

Jakey: "Yeah neither do I, but you know what? Our family needed a connection to God more than ever. We needed the prayers. And if even my parents wouldn't say them, I figured that I would. That way, at least one of us can still access His power for the rest of us."

(Beat)

Jakey: "I've come here every night since to tell Him that we haven't given up... I haven't at least."

Reagan: "That's admirable. —But isn't there a small part of you that blames God for not saving your sister?"

Jakey: "Funny how that works huh? Some people just believe in God so they have someone to shake a fist at. It was her choice, God couldn't take away her ability to choose... otherwise, what's the point of us being here?"

Reagan: "I ask myself that all the time."

Jakey: "Do you consider 'yourself' to be a reliable source?"

Reagan: "Not at all."

Jakey: "Well, that's why I'm here."

(He points to the stars)

Jakey: "There's no other reliable source."

Reagan: "I guess I see where you are coming from."

Jakey: "Besides, if we were sticking with the carpenter analogy, I think it's safe to assume that I can hold a lot more now."

Reagan: (laughs) "Your bowl must be a vase."

(Jakey laughs and shows his smile too)

(Beat)

Jakey: "I'm not the only one with a story. What's on your mind?"

(Reagan sighs hard)

(In this exact moment, Reagan's phone starts to ring. She looks down at it, reads who it is from, and turns it off.)

Jakey: "Do you need to take that?"

Reagan: "No, it's just my mom."

Jakey: "Pffft, if that was my mom and I forwarded the call, she'd trudge down here and get me."

Reagan: "Well, it's a good thing mine has no idea where I am."

Jakey: "Oh."

(Her phone rings again and she does the same thing)

Jakey: "Are you sure? She's obviously worried about you."

Reagan: "It's complicated"

(The phone rings a third time)

Jakey: "I can tell."

Reagan: "Okay okay, maybe I should."

Jakey: "By all means!"

(Reagan leaves the swing set and starts to walk off stage)

Reagan: "Hello?"

(Once she's off stage, Jakey sits there quietly for a moment. Then, he looks over to the swing that Reagan was sitting at and notices that she left her backpack. Hoping that what's inside would give him a clue of why she was there, and out of curiosity, he checks offstage to make sure she's gone, and then opens the bag to look inside. He finds it too dark to identify any of the objects, so he reaches in and pulls one out to capture it in the moonlight; it's a pill bottle filled with drugs that look like painkillers. He stares at it in shock, then reaches in and pulls out another object; a bottle of whiskey. The last thing that he pulls out is a letter she had written for her family. In an instant, he thinks he hears Reagan returning and stuffs it all back in the bag with haste, trying to make it look like it hadn't been tampered with. As soon as he has finished, Reagan walks in.)

Reagan: "Thanks Jakey."

(She takes a seat at the swing again)

Jakey: "For what?"

Reagan: "For persuading me to pick up the phone."

Jakey: "Oh. Well what did she want?"

Reagan: "Me to come back home and talk with her."

(Beat)

Jakey: (Nods his head) "Sometimes I think that's what God wants from us." (He laughs nervously)

(She laughs nervously too)

Reagan: "I just don't know if I want to go back."

Jakey: "I get that... I wonder if that's how my sister felt that night."

Reagan: (taken aback) "W—what did you say?"

Jakey: "We all wish she would've come back."

(Reagan stares at her backpack, then at the ground and starts crying)

Jakey: "Woah, hey Reagan, are you alright?"

(She shakes her head 'No' and continues to sob)

Reagan: "You were right, you aren't the only one with a story."

Jakey: "Of course not, and yours is just as important."

(Reagan stands up so she can get some more air and folds her arms in a vulnerable position. She then turns, facing the audience now, and walks a few steps forward)

Reagan: (still tenderly crying) "I think I would've ended up like your sister tonight if you weren't here."

(Beat)

Reagan: "Do you ever feel like no one laughs at your jokes or responds to your comments? Or like they don't understand the way you think or care about the way you feel on a daily basis?"

Jakey: "All the time." (He stands up, looking at her intently)

Reagan: "I use to dream about having a twin sister who just always knew what I was thinking and liked the things I liked. She'd even laugh at the things I'd laugh at." (She looks back at Jakey) "I think that dream turned into a hope and that hope turned into a fantasy."

(She looks back into the distance)

Jakey: "That must be Hell."

(He picks up her backpack and takes a few steps toward her)

Reagan: "It must be."

Jakey: (Swings the backpack over his shoulder) "I don't think I'll give this back."

(Reagan glances over her shoulder at it)

Jakey: "You are lying to yourself Reagan. Someone understands. Someone listens."

Reagan: "I know what you are going to say."

Jakey: "Do you?"

(Beat)

Reagan: "Yeah. You're gonna say that God knows who I am."

Jakey: "He does more than just know who you are... He feels who you are."

Reagan: "Yeah but then how come I don't feel Him?"

Jakey: "Do you try to?"

Reagan: "No. I feel like I'd just get more upset."

Jakey: "Hmm. Can I show you something?"

Reagan: "What do you mean?"

Jakey: "Do you trust me?"

Reagan: (she wipes the tears from her eyes) "I think so."

(Jakey sets her bag on the ground and takes a few steps closer till he reaches her. Then, keeping eye contact with her, he reaches up and takes the hair tie out of her hair. Her hair falls to her shoulders.)

(Reagan stares into his eyes in silence as he puts it in her hand and then takes a few steps backwards)

Jakey: "Okay. Throw it at me."

Reagan: "What?"

Jakey: "Trust, remember?"

(Reagan sighs, then winds up for a pitch and lets it loose. It hits him somewhere in the face and then drops to the ground)

Reagan: "Oops! Sorry." (she giggles a bit)

Jakey: "What are you sorry for?"

Reagan: "I didn't mean to hit you in the face."

Jakey: "I bet you did." (he grins)

Reagan: "No!" (She's surprised at how passionately she said that and there's a silence) "...I respect you Jakey."

Jakey: "Okay, remember that. I'll come back to it!"

(He picks up the hair tie)

Jakey: "Do you want it back?"

Reagan: "Yeah kind of..."

Jakey: "I thought so. Now look, there's two ways of getting it back... what are they?"

Reagan: "Well I could just come get it." (she shrugs her shoulders)

Jakey: "That's one of them."

(Reagan thinks for a second)

Reagan: "Or I can just ask you to throw it back."

Jakey: "That's the second one!"

(Beat)

Jakey: "Either way, you have to interact with me right?"

Reagan: "Right."

Jakey: "That's what I've learned about prayer, Reagan. We all want something, and we need to interact with The One that has it."

Reagan: "And what about the part where I hit you in the face?"

Jakey: (laughs) "you said that you respect me?"

Reagan: "I meant it."

Jakey: "You need to respect God before you approach him. And when you 'hit him in the face' it would probably be best to apologize...."

(Beat)

Jakey: "Did any of that make sense?"

(Reagan looks at the ground and nods her head: 'Yes')

(Jakey walks back over to her and offers her the hair tie)

Reagan: (doesn't reach out for it) "Can you do it?"

Jakey: (drops his extended hand) "Okay."

(She turns around so her hair is facing him)

(After he finishes, she turns around and hugs him tightly. She starts to cry again)

Reagan: "Thank you."

Jakey: "It's okay to let Him know that you hurt."

Reagan: "Sometimes it hurts too much." (she sobs in his shoulder) "I just need help. I need support. I need love."

(She cries for a bit longer)

Jakey: "That's your prayer Reagan. Now just ask Him. He's the source. Plus, He knew I'd be here and that you'd be here. That's already half the answer!"

(Reagan pulls away slightly and looks up at Jakey)

Reagan: "You're right. It wasn't a coincidence."

Jakey: "There are no coincidences... Besides, your family will hold you in their arms again tonight; I promise you, they won't take that for granted."

Reagan: "My mom did sound pretty anxious to have me back."

Jakey: "I know how she feels."

(They stop embracing)

Jakey: "Can I walk you home?"

Reagan: "No that's okay, there's something I need to do."

Jakey: "You sure?"

(She nods)

Jakey: "Alright, well I'm gonna go get rid of this." (he picks up the backpack and again slings it over his shoulder)

(Beat)

Jakey: "You sure you'll be alright?"

Reagan: "I'll go straight home. But there's someone I need to talk to first." (She nods at the stars)

Jakey: (he shifts his gaze to the stars and then smiles) "Alright." (He then checks his watch) "I need to get back to my mom before she calls ME three times."

(She laughs, then after a beat, she steps towards him and hugs him again)

Reagan: "Thank you Jakey. You were all I needed today."

Jakey: "No, thank you."

Reagan: "What did I do?"

Jakey: "It turns out, you were the answer to my prayer tonight."

Reagan: "How so?"

Jakey: "I asked if I could just do something right for once."

Reagan: "You did more than that."

(She gets on her tiptoes and pecks (kisses) him on the lips)

Jakey: "Hey... I bet you did THAT on purpose."

Reagan: (laughs) "I hope that's okay"

Jakey: (smiles) "You know, I come here every night."

Reagan: "Well it's a good thing there are two swings."

(They both smile at each other)

Jakey: "Good night Reagan."

(He walks away and steals a last glance before leaving the stage)

(Alone now, Reagan soon shifts her gaze to the stars and then goes and sits down at the swing)

Reagan: "Dear God, I've never really done this before... But I just wanted to say thank you. And I'm sorry."

(While she's praying, another character walks onstage, (boy or girl) and looks downhearted/weighed down by the same emotions Reagan was at the beginning of the play.)

(When they sit where Reagan once sat. *a red spotlight appears* Then they hear her speaking to God)

Reagan: "It was exactly what I needed. I know you put him in my path for a reason. Now I just need to find out what that reason is."

(The character turns and looks at Reagan, listening intently. Then, they stand up and go over to the swing)

Character #3: "What are you doing?"

Reagan: (not startled, looks up and smiles) "I was just praying."

(The lights fade into a blackout)

End of Play

-Cale Kenneth Montoya (03/15/23)