Walnut High School MATH 101 THE MINUTES by Tracy Letts

The Minutes by Tracy LettsCHARACTERS: MR. PEEL MAYOR SUPERBA MS. JOHNSON MR. BLAKE MR. BREEDING MR. HANRATTY MR. ASSALONE MS. INNES MS. MATZ MR. OLDFIELD MR. CARP Innes and Oldfield should be older than the ...

The Minutes by Tracy LettsCHARACTERS: MR. PEEL MAYOR SUPERBA MS. JOHNSON MR. BLAKE MR. BREEDING MR. HANRATTY MR. ASSALONE MS. INNES MS. MATZ MR. OLDFIELD MR. CARP Innes and Oldfield should be older than the others. SETTING: A city council meeting roomAnd I can see that something else died there in the bloody mud, and was buried in the blizzard. A people's dream died there. It was a beautiful dream. Black Elk Kill and scalp all, big and little; nits make lice. Col. John Milton ChivingtonAT RISE: PEEL and MAYOR SUPERBA stand in the foreground. JOHNSON sits in the background, preoccupied with paperwork. BLAKE stands apart in the background, eating a Danish. SUPERBA Peel. PEEL Hello, Mr. Mayor. SUPERBA Good to have you back. My condolences. PEEL Thank you. SUPERBA How old was your mother? PEEL 76. SUPERBA Young. These days. Father still alive? PEEL No. SUPERBA Mm. I’ve lost both of mine too. Tough spot. It’s disorienting. For awhile. You feel untethered. Well, I suppose you are. How were the services? PEEL Really, it’s a blur. SUPERBA She wasn’t from here, was she? PEEL No. The coast. (pause) My wife’s from here. Her parents are getting older so we moved here a couple of years ago to be close to them. 1. 11-29-16SUPERBA Right. Well. You seem like you’re bearing up. Welcome back. Let me know if I can do anything. PEEL Thank you. As Mayor Superba moves away... PEEL How was last week? Did I miss anything? MAYOR SUPERBA We’re on track. Mayor Superba exits. Blake drifts out after him. PEEL I’m Peel. JOHNSON I know. PEEL Okay. It’s just that I’m new and I missed last week. So I’ve only been to a couple of meetings. Two. JOHNSON I know. PEEL So I wasn’t sure if you remembered me. JOHNSON I know who you are. PEEL I’m still learning the lay of the land. JOHNSON It takes a while. PEEL How long have you been the clerk? JOHNSON A few years. PEEL You have an awful lot of responsibility. JOHNSON I knew what I was signing up for. 2. 11-29-16PEEL Still. It’s a lot. Silence. PEEL Do you like it? JOHNSON It’s needed. PEEL I understand that. I didn’t. I didn’t understand that until I had my first child. I never considered public service before then. But after my girl was born, I thought, well, I can sit around complaining about everything or I can pitch in and make Big Cherry a better place to live. Try. He shows Johnson a photo. JOHNSON She’s lovely. PEEL Justine. Eighteen months. Do you have children? JOHNSON Mm. A daughter. PEEL Great. How old? JOHNSON Five. Almost five. PEEL Great. What’s her name? JOHNSON Evie. PEEL Nice. Do you have a picture? JOHNSON I don’t think so. PEEL You, uh, I’ve met your husband, I think. He owns the steakhouse? JOHNSON That’s right. 3. 11-29-16PEEL I met him at the Kiwanis pancake supper. JOHNSON Mm. PEEL I joined the Kiwanis. Longer pause. JOHNSON (a little forced) So you’re a joiner. PEEL (relieved) Yes. I am. I guess I am. You know, moving to a new town and having a baby, it’s just opened up a lot of things. And my wife is at home with Justine so I feel an obligation to be more social. So I joined the Kiwanis and we started playing bridge, my wife and I. And I ran for this seat. JOHNSON And you got elected. PEEL Yeah, I still can’t believe that. But I’m really grateful. My mom actually warned me not to do it. JOHNSON Why is that? PEEL She thought I’d be too eager to please. JOHNSON Ah. PEEL She said, “The first time you have to vote ‘no’ on someone else’s idea, you’re going to have a panic attack.” JOHNSON Do you have panic attacks? PEEL No, no, she was exaggerating. She was funny. JOHNSON Sorry about your mother. PEEL Thank you. 4