Setting

Evening. The living room of a plain apartment in Wisconsin in 1995.

Characters

ANNIE, 22, a college student, CODY’s sister

CODY, 27, a Motocross racer, ANNIE’s brother

ANNIE sits on the floor behind a coffee table, writing a paper. In the corner stands a toy like a rocking horse although its shape is a motorcycle. It’s a large, 1970s model suspended by springs. ANNIE absentmindedly folds her paper in half, then half again.

A quiet knock. ANNIE looks up and goes back to studying. A more definite knock. ANNIE goes to the door and looks through the peephole. She is stunned. The doorbell rings. She opens the door. CODY enters.

CODY

Annie!

He reaches for her. She steps back.

ANNIE

Wha—are you okay?

CODY

Yeah!

(He sees the motorcycle.)

Hey—you still have this?

ANNIE

Grandpa made it.

CODY

Really?

ANNIE

How did you not know that?

CODY hops on the motorcycle. Sitting would put his knees at his ears, so he stands on the pedals and starts bouncing.

Careful.

CODY

Come on—start running.

ANNIE

What?

CODY

I’m the cops and you hippies are carrying a load of H.

ANNIE

Oh!

She pretends to ride a motorcycle around the room.

Lousy fuzz!

CODY makes motorcycle noises with his mouth. He pulls coins from his pocket and uses them as bullets.

CODY

Bang!

She dodges the coin.

Bang!

He misses again.

Bang!

The coin hits her head.

Hey—I got you!

ANNIE

Mom’s rule—head shots don’t count.

CODY

Bang!

He misses.

Listen, twerp, this pistol’s got one more—

He tries to surprise her by faking left and throwing right.

—bang!

She knows this trick and dodges left anyway.

ANNIE

(Overlapping)

Yes!

CODY

(Overlapping)

No!

ANNIE

You still suck!

CODY 

I’m just out of practice.

He jumps off the motorcycle.

You remember how I fake. You remember everything.

ANNIE

It was my favorite.

CODY

(Overlapping)

Where are Mom and Dad?

ANNIE

(Overlapping)

Where’ve you been?

ANNIE

They have a house now.

CODY

That’s great. That’s nice. Around here?

ANNIE

(Nods)

Three years ago.

CODY

So what are you still doing here, twerp?

ANNIE

It’s my college dorm, I guess.

CODY opens a jar on the coffee table and pulls out some M&Ms.

CODY

Oh good. We’re not out. So, what are your plans for the weekend? 

ANNIE

Could we back up for a second? I feel like we’ve missed some things.

CODY

Like what?

ANNIE

Like—how’s your arm?

CODY

I don’t get it.

ANNIE

Your arm—the clavicle, humerus, radius, and ulna you shattered.  

CODY

It’s fine.

ANNIE

And where have you and your arm been for eleven years?

CODY

Why are you acting so weird?

ANNIE

Why are you acting so normal?

He doesn’t understand.

I’m glad you’re safe anyway.

CODY

(Understanding)

Oh—well I’ve been in Belgium. I told you where I was going.

ANNIE

This whole time?

CODY

Where else would I be?

ANNIE

I thought—I hoped—you ran out of money in Milwaukee and a café took you on as a waiter.

CODY

I am not a waiter.

ANNIE

I thought some shady Canadians agreed to take you and dumped your carcass in Lake Erie.

CODY

You think I’m that stupid?

ANNIE

You leave home when you’re sixteen with eighty bucks and no passport to try out for the Belgian dirt biking team. Yes—I thought you were stupid! How have you been living?

CODY

Dirt biking.

ANNIE

That’s not a job!        

CODY

I’ve been on Team Belgium for eight years now. And I do freestyle shows—the stunts.

ANNIE

And you’re alive.

CODY

No more broken bones. Lot of other stuff though.

ANNIE

I’ve never told. I was eleven. The police questioned me five times and I never told. Once I overheard Mom and Dad talking to them: “Scare the hell out of her. She knows.”  

CODY

Wow.

ANNIE

If they had cared enough, they would have figured it out. From yakking with you I knew

(Imitating a young CODY)

“Belgium’s the bomb! Yamahas are choice! Broc Glover is God!”   

CODY

Thanks, twerp.

ANNIE

When did you get citizenship?

CODY

(Overlapping)

How did you kn—

ANNIE

(Overlapping)

You wouldn’t come back unless it was safe.

CODY

I went when it wasn’t safe.

ANNIE

That’s just it. Motocross is worth the risk. We’re not.

CODY

That’s not true.

ANNIE

We have a phone number. And an address.

CODY

Yeah—call you, get traced, and rot here two years grounded from my bikes.

ANNIE

They were Jason’s bikes.

CODY

You could ride better than he could.

ANNIE

What about later? After you were eighteen, what could they do?

CODY

I didn’t think about that.

ANNIE

How long are you staying?

CODY

’Bout a week.

(Plenty of pause)

Do you want to get something to eat and go see them?

ANNIE

No.

CODY

No to the food? . . . No to the—

ANNIE

Just—no.

CODY

Well, what’s their address then?

ANNIE

No.

CODY

I don’t get it.

ANNIE

I’m not telling you.

CODY

Why not?

ANNIE

You haven’t cared for eleven years. If you want it enough, you’ll find it.

CODY

Look—

ANNIE

I’m serious. Go work for it. Ask someone. Look it up somewhere.

CODY

Do you think they’ll be okay with me?

ANNIE

They will be elated. They talked about how they had to accept you were dead.

(Laughing, suddenly feeling the incongruity)

And I didn’t say anything.

CODY

There wasn’t a day I didn’t think about you, Annie.

ANNIE

Thank you. That was very helpful during my formative years.

CODY

I didn’t think you’d react this way.

ANNIE

Eleven years! Nothing. A decade of decay and then I’m supposed to—

CODY

Well, we got off to a good start—playing cops.

ANNIE

I wasn’t thinking.

CODY

See—when you act on instinct, you’re fine—

ANNIE

Eleven years. What’s that? More than three thousand days—

CODY

It’s always about numbers with you—

ANNIE

Zero communication.

CODY

I’m doing what I love. What if Mom and Dad had grounded you from your origami?

ANNIE

For what—paper cuts?

CODY

Voodoo probably. I’m just saying origami is your thing. Motocross is mine. Did you ever finish your dollhouse?

ANNIE

Do ya see one?

CODY

Huh?

ANNIE

Unlike some children, I understood we don’t get to be bike-riding, paper-crafting cowboy rock stars when we grow up.

CODY

So, what are you doing?

ANNIE

College.

CODY

Right, twerp. And?

ANNIE

Curatorial studies.

CODY

What is that?

ANNIE

It’s like—museum management. I was writing my senior thesis when there was a knock at the door.

CODY

What’s it about?

ANNIE

It compares various techniques for removing mold from artifacts such as cloth, parchment, paper—

CODY

You’re majoring in scum scraping?

ANNIE

Right, genius.

CODY

You could make a fully functional space shuttle out of Kleenex. I think you should snag the next plane to Tokyo. If I never saw you again, I’d understand.

ANNIE

I wouldn’t do that.

CODY

You would if that’s what you loved.

ANNIE

I don’t see the point of dreams outside the driving distance of my home.

CODY

Families aren’t like that anymore. People have to move. It doesn’t mean they love each other less.

ANNIE

Yes, it does.

CODY

You’re going to stay here forever?

ANNIE

Yep.

CODY

Your dreams suck! I don’t feel any closer to you right now than I did on the track last week. Let’s pick up where we left off.

ANNIE

No such thing.

CODY

You will always be my best friend.

ANNIE

If I haven’t seen your face this week, you’re not my friend.

CODY

You never did have many friends.

ANNIE

Just you.

CODY

No roommates here?

ANNIE

Please.

CODY

No boyfr—

ANNIE

Stop.

CODY

You’re really not giving me the address?

ANNIE

Really. 

CODY

I still have a week here.

ANNIE shrugs.

I’d like to spend it with the three of you.

ANNIE

If you’re just going back to Belgium, I can’t say I see the point.

CODY

Because?

ANNIE

How much can happen in seven days?

CODY

It’s not about the number.

ANNIE

I don’t want to remember what I’m going to miss again.

CODY

Look, I made a list.

He pulls a paper from his pocket and hands it to her.

ANNIE

“Shoot Annie.” Well, you still haven’t done that.

CODY

Yes, I did.

ANNIE

Head shots don’t count! “Make cheesecake brownies. Fold bikes—”

CODY

Do you still remember how to make those?

ANNIE

“Take Annie to a club?” No. What about kites in the park?

He turns the paper over and points to it. ANNIE stares. Pause.

CODY

(Quietly)

I’m off to Mom and Dad’s.

ANNIE

Maybe.

CODY

Can I see you again before I go home?

ANNIE

Where is home exactly?

CODY

(No compromise)

Antwerp.

Pause.

How about it?

ANNIE

It’s inevitable. When you find them, I’ll get a phone call. How could I explain staying away?

CODY

Hmm.

ANNIE

And remember, I know nothing. If you want me to live.

CODY

I owe you, twerp . . . Hey—Antwerp. Annie Twerp. That’s your name.

ANNIE

No.

CODY

See you, Antwerp.

CODY exits.

ANNIE

Happy trails.

ANNIE returns to her spot behind the coffee table. She brings out a large box from under it and removes an origami dollhouse. She sets the dollhouse on the table and empties the box, which contains miscellaneous furniture and people.

She takes her school paper and folds it into a small box with unreal speed, places it next to the house, and tops it with a roof piece—it’s a garage.

She pulls out the coffee table’s drawer and takes out a motorbike (it resembles the rocking horse motorcycle). She props it against the garage.

She takes a male figure and balances it on the bike. She picks up a female figure and tries to add it to the bike. The bike and male figure tip over. She rips the arm off the male figure.

End of play.