Play 188: The Morning Routine

CHARACTERS
BEN, 17

(He is lying in bed, a lamp by it is on.)

(He yawns loudly.)

BEN
Finally…

(He turns off the lamp, dim lighting still makes it possible to see him though.)

(He pulls the covers over himself and lies motionless.)

(Pause, he appears and sounds to be asleep.)

(Beat.)

(He suddenly jerks awake with a loud sneeze, followed almost immediately by another one.)

BEN
(Muttering.)
Goddamnit…

(He sneezes again, and then after another second or two, for a fourth time.)

(He groans, then lies back down.)

(He rolls around in the bed, and readjusts his blankets several times, and finally settles down, and after a few seconds, he once again seems to be asleep. After a second or two, the lights gradually turn on, until the room is relatively brightly lit.)

(Pause.)

(An alarm goes off loudly, and he awakes, startled.)

(He groans, and rolls over on his side to turn off the alarm. He turns it off, and rolls back onto his back.)

BEN
(Muttering.)
You’ve got to be kidding me….

(He yawns.)

(He looks down at his watch.)

(Beat.)

BEN
(Muttering.)
Fuck.

(He sits up.)

(Pause, he sits staring forward blankly.)

(He yawns, then looks at his watch again.)

BEN
Fuck, fuck, fuck.

(Beat.)

(He collapses back down to the bed with a loud crash, his head smashing into the pillow.)

(He closes his eyes and smiles.)

(Beat.)

(The alarm goes off again.)

(He groans, then rolls over and buries his face into the pillow, the alarm continues to ring.)

(Blackout.)