JAX-IN-A-BOX
___________________________________________
A short comedy by
Jeff Goode
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Jax-In-A-Box © 2013 Jeff Goode
All rights reserved. ISBN 978-1-62088-306-8.
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CAST OF CHARACTERS
DARIUS, male, an older brother.
JACKSON, male, a younger brother.
Jax-In-A-Box
5
(Lights up on a large cardboard box. Enter DARIUS, dribbling a
basketball. He notices the box, decides to ignore it, at first. After
a while, though, he dribbles closer.)
DARIUS: Is that you, Jax?
JACKSON: (From inside the box:) Go away.
DARIUS: What are you doing?
JACKSON: I said, "Keep walking!"
DARIUS: Aren't you supposed to be in school?
JACKSON: Aren't you?
(Darius dribbles in silence.)
DARIUS: Does your mom know you're in a box?
JACKSON: What do you care? You're not my brother no
more.
DARIUS: Maybe not, but I bet your mom'd care if she found
out you was cuttin' class. (Pause for effect.) Might even give me
a reward for turning you in.
JACKSON: I'm not going back to that school!
DARIUS: I hear that.
JACKSON: Ever.
DARIUS: I thought you liked school.
JACKSON: Who told you that?
DARIUS: You get good grades.
JACKSON: So?!
DARIUS: Better than I get.
JACKSON: That basketball gets better grades than you get.
© Jeff Goode
This is a perusal copy only.
Absolutely no printing, copying or performance permitted.
6
Jeff Goode
DARIUS: Don't make me come in there, Jackson.
JACKSON: The only thing I like about that school is from now
until three o'clock, everyone in the world that hates my guts is
inside that building. And as long as I stay out of it, they can't
get me.
DARIUS: Kids pickin' on you again?
JACKSON: Again? They don't stop, Darius!
DARIUS: So how do you think it's gonna go if they see you
hiding in a box?
JACKSON: They can't see me, if I'm in here. That's the point,
stupid.
DARIUS: You gotta watch your mouth.
JACKSON: The only thing they're gonna see is some idiot
skippin' class so he can talk to a box.
DARIUS: All right, that's it, you're comin' out!
(Darius plunges his hand into the box. And quickly pulls it back
out.)
Ow! You cut me!
JACKSON: I scratched you. Don't be a baby.
DARIUS: I'll show you who's a baby!
(Darius plunges both hands in the box. And just as quickly pulls
them back out.)
Ow! Knock it off!
JACKSON: I'm not comin' out!
DARIUS: Fine, stay in there.
JACKSON: I will!
© Jeff Goode
This is a perusal copy only.
Absolutely no printing, copying or performance permitted.
Jax-In-A-Box
7
DARIUS: You need to cut your fingernails.
JACKSON: I did. And then I sharpened them.
DARIUS: You what?? Why'd you do that?
JACKSON: Cuz it's the only thing keeps people from grabbin'
at me.
DARIUS: That's stupid.
JACKSON: You gonna stick your hand in here again?
DARIUS: No.
JACKSON: Then it's working.
(Darius dribbles, considers leaving.)
DARIUS: You can't stay in there forever, Jackson.
JACKSON: Not forever. Just until I graduate high school.
DARIUS: You're not gonna graduate if you don't come outta
your box.
JACKSON: All I need is a D minus.
DARIUS: Everybody hates school, Jax, but we all gotta go.
You think I like it in school?
JACKSON: You don't like it cuz you're bad at it. I don't like it
cuz they all want me dead.
DARIUS: What? Nobody wants you dead.
JACKSON: Then I don't know where I heard it.
DARIUS: You think the whole school's tryin' to kill you?
JACKSON: I didn't say that. I said they want me to die. They
say it to my face.
DARIUS: They don't say you should die.
© Jeff Goode
This is a perusal copy only.
Absolutely no printing, copying or performance permitted.
8
Jeff Goode
JACKSON: And send me links to suicide kids like I should
take a hint.
DARIUS: You're makin' that up.
JACKSON: I'm not makin' it up, Darius! Just cuz you don't
wanna see it, don't mean it's not happening! That's why they
do it! Cuz they think you're okay with it.
DARIUS: I never said it was okay.
JACKSON: No, you don't have to say nothin'. Just stand there
and watch. (Pause.) Be nice if somebody had my back.
DARIUS: So all this is cuz you're afraid to go to school?
JACKSON: I'm not afraid!
DARIUS: You're hidin' in a box.
JACKSON: I tried to go. I can't. I get sick to my stomach.
DARIUS: You get sick being at school?
JACKSON: It's like I can't breathe. My hands start shaking. I
tried to go today and I had to throw up in the parking lot.
DARIUS: Aw, no, yuck. Did anybody see you?
JACKSON: I don't know. I ran away.
DARIUS: Well, I guess you did the right thing. You don't
want people finding out about that.
JACKSON: And the farther away I ran, the better I felt. Until I
got here and I crawled in this box. And now I'm fine. As long
as I stay in here, I'm fine.
DARIUS: You're not fine. You're in a box. This isn't fine.
JACKSON: It's quiet. There's nobody here to tell me what they
think of me.
© Jeff Goode
This is a perusal copy only.
Absolutely no printing, copying or performance permitted.
Jax-In-A-Box
9
DARIUS: You gotta come outta there sometime, Jax. Look,
you don't see me skippin' school just cuz I don't keep up in my
classes. And all my teachers ridin' me cuz I can't get the same
grades as my little brother.
(Jackson pokes his head out of the box for the first time.)
JACKSON: (Suspicious:) You're right. You don't care about
any of that.
DARIUS: That's what I'm sayin'.
JACKSON: So why are you here?
DARIUS: What?
JACKSON: You don't care what anybody thinks of you or me
or your grades. So why are you outta school?
DARIUS: I'm not. I came looking for you.
JACKSON: No, you didn't.
DARIUS: Your mom sent me.
JACKSON: Why don't you call her, then? Tell her you found
me.
DARIUS: I don't know her number.
JACKSON: You're here cuz you skipped outta school. What
are you up to? If they sent you to mess with me, I'll scratch
you.
DARIUS: Now stop it! Nobody sent me.
JACKSON: I'm callin' my mom.
DARIUS: All right, stop... Look, I accidentally— I accidentally
asked out the wrong girl, okay?
JACKSON: What wrong girl?
DARIUS: Shaundra Kelly.
© Jeff Goode
This is a perusal copy only.
Absolutely no printing, copying or performance permitted.
10
Jeff Goode
JACKSON: Ha! That's never gonna happen!
DARIUS: Thanks, bro.
JACKSON: So what did she say?
DARIUS: What do you think she said?
JACKSON: I think she smacked you and told you to step off.
DARIUS: She told me she'd think about it.
JACKSON: Ha! You're such an idiot! That means "no."
DARIUS: She said she'd talk to me at lunch.
JACKSON: It's almost lunchtime now. What're you doing
here?
DARIUS: I'm not goin' in that cafeteria.
JACKSON: Why not?
DARIUS: Cuz you're right, all right? It's never gonna happen.
And I don't need her laughin' at me in front of all her friends.
JACKSON: That would be funny.
DARIUS: Watch it.
JACKSON: You gotta eat some time, Darius.
DARIUS: I hafta cut weight for track anyway.
JACKSON: So you're afraid of a girl.
DARIUS: No, I'm not.
JACKSON: You're not in school, cuz you're afraid of a little
girl.
DARIUS: You shut up. Come out of there.
(Darius tries to grab Jackson who ducks back down in the box.)
Ow! Stop scratching!
© Jeff Goode
This is a perusal copy only.
Absolutely no printing, copying or performance permitted.
Jax-In-A-Box
11
JACKSON: Stop grabbing!
(Darius glares at the box. Jackson is inside.)
So what are you gonna do? Drop out of school?
DARIUS: I wish.
JACKSON: Over Shaundra Kelly?
DARIUS: Well, I can't now.
JACKSON: Yeah, your dad'll kill you, missing class over
nothing.
DARIUS: Forget that. Your mom'll kill me if she thinks I gave
you the idea to do it.
(Jackson emerges again.)
JACKSON: Hey, that's right. That's exactly what she's gonna
think if she finds out.
DARIUS: You better not be getting any ideas.
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© Jeff Goode
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