The Final Course

THE FINAL COURSE
A MOTHER AND HER CHILDREN ARE EATING A VERY SMALL DINNER. THE DAD HAS DIED IN A WORK RELATED ACCIDENT SO IT WAS SUDDEN AND NO ONE TRULY GOT TO SAY GOODBYE TO HIM FOR ONE LAST TIME. AT SCHOOL, THE MIDDLE CHILD STACY (15) IS BEING BULLIED AND MADE FUN OF FOR BEING POOR AND FOR NOT HAVING A FATHER. THE OLDER CHILD JOHN (17) HAS BECOME RECLUSIVE AND CRUEL. AND THE YOUNGEST VANESSA, (14) LOVES TO SING AND HER DAD ALWAYS USED TO ENCOURAGE HER, BUT AFTER HE IS GONE SHE HAS LOST HOPE, SHE IS THE EMBODIMENT OF INNOCENCE IN THE PLAY. THE MOTHER IS WORKING TWO JOBS, AND GIVES EVERYTHING TO HER CHILDREN.
MOTHER: Now before we eat dinner, who wants to say grace. John?
JOHN: (Annoyingly) Nope.
MOTHER: All right then, how about you then Vanessa?
VANESSA: Yes mommy, (everyone but John bows their heads. Mother gives a dirty look to him and he does it) Our Dear Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for this food. Feed our souls on the bread of life and help us to do our part in kind words and loving deeds. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.
MOTHER: Thank you very much Vanessa that was very good.
(Everyone starts to eat except for Stacy who looks at her food for a moment, then pushes it away. Mother notices and eyes her sympathetically.)
MOTHER: Stacy what’s wrong? Why aren’t you eating?... Did something happen at school again?
(Stacy replies after a long silence.)
STACY: Yeah, That girl Julliana was bullying me… I just don’t understand why she is so mean to me! Today Ms. Arceri asked us all who our hero was and I said dad was. Then Julliana made fun of me. She said heroes should be someone famous, not a simple fan member….
MOTHER: Why didn’t you tell me that she had started again? That’s it I’m calling her mother.
(Stacy in a panic stands up and yells, ‘NO!’ While this whole discussion is happening Vanessa and John are looking down at their food and eating slowly without another word.)
MOTHER: We cannot just keep letting this happen, Stacy! She is a bully! She’s a horrible person! She’s…
(Stacy cuts her off)
STACY: Not that bad! Compared to what the others do to me, she is nothing! The other girls… they yell and scream horrible things at me! They make fun of me! They know that since dad is dead He can’t do anything about it! They act as though he died just to get away from me…And when I miss him a lot and start crying, they call me a baby, and a whiner, and they say, ‘Get over it!’ But I can’t! I just can’t!
(Stacy looks on the verge of tears, and Mother looks stunned.)
MOTHER: Stacy, I’m so sorry… I didn’t… Did either of you know that this was happening?
(John and Vanessa remain silent.)
STACY: It’s alright mom, it’s not your fault dad died… don’t blame yourself. And I can get past this, I just need to assert myself like he always taught me, and I will be fine.
(Stacy exits with her plate…After a long silence, with everyone continuing to eat their food, Vanessa breaks the silence.)
VANESSA: Mom? How was your day?
(Mother smiles, and responds)
MOTHER: Oh well, I had a nice day at work. Mr. Romano was very pleased at my work, so he gave me a pay raise! He is so kind to me… Then at my other job…
VANESSA: Which one was that again?
MOTHER: I’m a waitress at Claire’s Diner, remember? That one was good as well. I got some coffee spilled on me by some mean old customer, but that’s all right, I mean, it matched my shoes ^_^
(She forces a laugh and Vanessa smiles slightly.)
JOHN: (rolls eyes) Wow this is just getting sad.
MOTHER: Excuse me! Young man what exactly do you mean with that?
JOHN: You know exactly what I mean! It’s obvious that you hate both of your jobs, and Mr. Romano is just saying that to sleep with you. He knows that you are vulnerable, so he’s trying to take advantage of you!
MOTHER: That is a horrible thing to say! He is just being a nice person by helping us out! How could you accuse him of doing such a horrible thing! And In front of your sister!
JOHN: You know what? Never mind. I was trying to open your eyes to the shit you are so obviously blind to…Just forget that I said anything.
MOTHER: We can’t just forget this. We will discuss this later. But this is not what you need to be worrying about.
(They finish eating and all get up and move to the kitchen to begin to wash the dishes, Stacy re enters and also begins to clean her plate, Mother walks over to the counter and opens a letter from John’s school, she looks frustrated and disappointed)
MOTHER: John! What is happening with these grades! They’re terrible! Four F’s and two D’s?
JOHN: It doesn’t matter alright? I’ll get them up eventually, and the teacher is just some asshole
MOTHER: Don’t call people that! And what is with the attitude! I can understand you bring mad at me, but don’t take it out on your sisters. What’s the matter?
JOHN: What’s the matter? WHATS THE MATTER?! What the hell do you think is the matter! My Dad is dead and I have to take care of my sisters! You are NEVER around! And when you are, you people are just crying and weeping over and over and over! And I just can’t take it anymore! I just want to move on with my life!
VANESSA: John that isn’t how you should grieve. You should tell us these things and maybe we can help you get through them! After all he was our father as well.
JOHN: You know nothing of what I am going through.
VANESSA: But I do John! I Do! I loved him with all my heart, and I am sad that he is gone, but not caring about anything and screwing up your own life won’t bring him back! He would have wanted you to carry on with your life! He would want us to all come together as a family and remain close, and loving, and supportive. He gave everything for us to be happy, and so we should do just that, be happy. I do think that we should move, but we should also always keep a little part of him in our hearts at all times, and remember his strength, drive, courage, and love. His memory should always be part of us, and when we aspire to do great deeds, we should always look into that little part of our hearts where he lives, and we should try to remember him, and how great of a person he was, and we should try to become that in ourselves. That is what I pray for every morning when I get up, and every night when we go to bed. This is what I hope will happen to our family, that every soccer game, and piano recital or in academics, we dig deep into his memory, and we know that he will always be proud. And so should we.