Bagels...or...Too Much Chalk

(A fire hydrant stands wistfully beside an abandoned warehouse that is covered in yellow paint. The paint is chipped and there is a sense that the building is near an ocean, perhaps the Puget Sound. Broken glass and an old McDonald's French Fries receptacle lie passively on stained pavement.)

(Lights up. TED walks by with a bagel. TONYA, a warm soul who may have been a silent movie star had the decade been right, walks by. Her hands are covered in chalk. TED notices this with substantial disinterest. He stops, eating his bagel, perhaps waiting for a bus. TONYA wipes her hands off on the wall. They exit.)

(Blackout.)

The Message

(A messy office, either for a theater company or a circus. Books are stacked everywhere. A piece of chalk sits precariously on a desk. The rest of the desk is cluttered with paper clips, tissue boxes, coloring books and a fourth-grade science project. Chairs, couches, carpet, trash receptacles.)

(JOHN, a 20-something surfer from Kentucky, sits at the desk. MARC, who dropped out of school at the age of 17, lies on a couch. The phone rings. JOHN answers.)

JOHN: Hello? No, Tom isn't here.
MARC: Wait I'll get him.
JOHN: (Into phone.) Hold on.

(MARC gets up, exits. A moment. TOM enters.)

TOM: Marc told me there's a call for me.
JOHN: Yes, there is.

(Blackout.)