Between the Cop and the Street Kid

Desperation that develops in people when they feel society doesn’t support them sometimes causes those people to rebel and act beyond rational behaviour.

In a small lane in an ordinary suburb three people live out a short passage of life reflecting a perception of it in their own distinct ways.

There is a street kid who feels, in a time of changing from child to adult, that she is not being allowed to do so in her own way and her own time. She rebels against it. She rebels against the authority of those responsible for her and is representative of the agony some experience during torrid times of puberty. She has just spent her first night on the street.

There is a cop who is representative of those people in authority that the street kid rebels against. They are parents, teachers, police, and the like, who feel society recognises their responsibilities but offers little or no support to carry them out. The cop does not intend letting the kid spend another night on the street.

And there is a philosophical old man who is alone and on the street in a society which he thinks has abandoned its respect and responsibilities for the elderly. He finds himself caught between the Cop and the Street Kid and needing to use his wily affable charm to defuse their hostility.

As these people come to understand the others’ situation they become wiser because of it. Even so, the new perspectives do not guarantee to provide a suitable solution to the problems.

CHARACTER PROFILES

Henry Denver is a derelict old man with a lovable, easy going demeanour. He is light on his feet or at least appears to be. In fact the real reason he soft shoe shuffles around the streets is to keep the circulation flowing in his legs. Although philosophical about life he is sad at the fact that he is, as he puts it, “Obsolete. Redundant to society!” During the day he talks to anyone and everyone while voluntarily planting flowers in the high street gardens. But at night, who knows where he goes.

Jennifer Fry is a policewoman dedicated to a cause but with an uncompromising, military like approach. She patrols her beat like a tigress, prowling and stalking; taking no prisoners. She feels she is fighting a lone cause with no support from the beaurocratic foundation on which she stands. Her persona, however, is a veneer to the turmoil of emotion simmering within.

Joanne Negus is a fifteen year old school girl who has spent her first night on the street. She feels neglected and no more than a neat little piece in her parents nuclear family plan; her puberty problems secondary to her parents career and their wants for her future. Joanne does not intend letting them or anyone else dictate her life as if it were some part of their pre-planned, step by step staircase to success.

Scene 1: Somewhere in a small suburban street.

It’s early one morning in a small suburban lane where stands a cardboard box with some rubbish bins. On the side of the box are the words, HANDLE WITH CARE. In among the rubbish bins is a broken and withered potted plant. There’s a hole in the side of the box. A police woman walks towards the box with her baton drawn. When she reached the box she violently bashes the box with her baton. Then she tips it over and a teenage girl tumbles out. The cop hauls the girl to her feet, stares menacingly and then says:

COP: Get off my street!

KID: It’s not your street.

COP: It’s my street - my suburb and I want you out of it.

KID: I haven’t done anything wrong!

COP: Who the hell do you think you’re talking to? I want you out off the

street right now!

KID: I can stay her if I want. You can’t touch me!

COP: Don’t tell me what I can and can’t do. I’ll charge you.

KID: I haven’t done anything wrong!

COP: You’re not doing anything right. Have you always been an idiot?

KID: Leave me alone!

COP: Go home!

KID: I’m not going home!

COP: You’re not staying here!

KID: Charge me then! Go on! All you can do is give me a warning and let me go. Then I’ll come back to this public street.

COP: You cheeky little bitch! You’ve spent a night on the street and now you

know it all! Well you know nothing! You’re not sleeping here!

KID: It’s not my first night on the street.

The cop grabs at the kid’s arm and tries to look for needle marks. The kid pulls away.

KID: Get off me!

COP: What are you on?

KID: I’m not on anything!

COP: Don’t insult my intelligence. I said what are you on?

Again the cop tries to see if the kid carries any needle marks; again the kid pulls away.

KID: Don’t touch me! I’m not dependant on anything - or anybody!

COP: Is that so, Little Miss Self Reliant? And how long do you think

you’ll last?

KID: I don’t need anybody.

COP: ( pause) You on the game?

KID: No!

COP: A matter of time. Little Miss Self Reliant.

KID: I won’t be going on the game!

COP: (Laughs coldly) You won’t be going on the game. - Did I here that

right?

KID: Yes!

COP: So, - you’ve got it all worked out! ( pause) I’m suspicious.

(with menace) You know your rights. You say you’re not on the game

¾ so there’ll be no pimp to support you. And you say you don’t take

anything. You - are - independent! (Pause) You need an income from

somewhere. I can only assume you’re pushing.

KID: What do you mean?

COP: Oh, come on, don’t play the little innocent. Where do you keep it?

KID: Keep what?

COP: What are you dealing; heroine, cocaine, crack!

KID: (Suddenly frightened of the implications) No, I’m not!

COP: Well, I’m not convinced. I think I’ll take you to the station.

(The cop circles her like a shark) I want a body search!

KID: Search me if you like.

The cop, looking for maximum effect, laughs and pulls out a pair of surgical gloves. She circles the kid as she speaks.

COP: Oh, no! I want a BODY search! (She meticulously pulls on a glove as

she continues to stalk the kid) I’m amazed at where the likes of you

hide your stuff. Every crevice. Every nook and cranny. You use them

all, don’t you. Stuffing it in here, shoving it up there. I don’t know how

you stand the pain of getting it in some of those orifices. But I’m going

to search them all! Where ever you’ve got it hidden, kid, I’ll find it.

She stretches the other surgical glove and lets it snap back with a crack.

KID: (Now terrified) You can’t! I have rights!

COP: You can shove your rights in the same place you shove your stuff.

KID: I’m not hiding anything!

COP: That’s what they all say. And that’s why I have to look for myself.

Suddenly, a derelict old man appears singing to himself and carrying a bag containing flowering plants. He sees the cop and the street kid and performs a little soft shoe shuffle for them. The street kid smiles and the old man focuses his attention on her response.

OLDMAN: Ah, the radiance of a smile!

COP: What do you want, old man?

OLDMAN: I was just passing. I’m glad I saw you. (He genuflects to the cop)

Henry Denver at you service. In the next street...

COP: (Interrupting)...What are you doing here at this time of the morning?

OLDMAN: Me? Tell me where else I should go on such a beautiful day.

COP: Go home to your family.

OLDMAN: Family. (Does a couple of dance steps) Care to dance?

COP: Don’t be stupid. What’s in the bag, alcohol?

KID: Flowers. Everyone knows he plants flowers in the high street gardens.

COP: (Viciously) I wasn’t talking to you!

KID: Don’t you know what goes on in your own street?

The cop goes after the kid who takes a couple of steps backward, allowing the old man to step between them, holding out the bag and diverting the cop’s attention.

OLDMAN: It keeps me out of mischief. The shop owners donate a punnet here and

there and I plant ‘em.

COP: Is that so?

OLDMAN: Yes.

COP: Where do you live?

OLDMAN: I’m free! I must say, you do bring the best out in a police uniform.

COP: Cut it out.

OLDMAN: (Bowing humbly) Please accept my apologies. I’m just a sucker

for a beautiful woman.

COP: I said - cut it out. Now, on your way.

OLDMAN: What I was trying to say...

COP: (Interrupting) What you were trying to say was, you’re just leaving.

OLDMAN: ( pause) I suppose I’ll have to think about putting me flowers in then!

(To the flowers) Come on my little babies, let’s get you to bed.

KID: Do you talk to them?

The cop turns to threaten the kid again but with exquisite timing Henry continues the conversation again defusing the aggression.

OLDMAN: Yes I do. Well, not really. I don't believe in all that rubbish but they

might lock me away if they see me talking to myself. Mind you, I don’t

know where they’d put me. Where would you put a silly old fool like

me? I’m not sick, only obsolete. Redundant to society! How simple a

plant’s life is eh?

KID: What do you mean?

The cop is becoming increasingly impatient.

OLDMAN: If you think about it, they don’t judge, blame or criticise, they just

respond to a bit of T.L.C. and they’re happy. They don’t care who it’s

from or why it’s given.

COP: We’d all like life to be so simple.

OLDMAN: Personally, I can’t see why it couldn’t be. Why not cut back some of the competitiveness in the world and throw in a little compassion. For these kids for example.

COP: People don’t want a society with street kids under its feet.

OLDMAN: It seems to me, society is a reflection of it’s people. And it’s children

are a result of it.

COP: Philosophical, Mr Denver. But I have to pick these ratbags up out of

the gutter and I don’t like it.

KID: I’m not a ratbag.

COP: I’ve just picked you up out of the gutter haven’t I?

KID: You’re twisted. I don’t care what...

The cop grabs the kid by the shirt front. Henry yells:

OLDMAN: (Pleading) There’s a burglar alarm going off in the next street.

COP: Stay out of this, old-man!

OLDMAN: There’s a blue light flashing and a broken window.

COP: Do you think I’m stupid.

OLDMAN: No! Not at all. That’s what I was trying to say before. It was lucky I

saw you. I thought I saw someone. A shadow at least!

The cop lets go of the kid and turns her full attention to Henry.

COP: (Suspiciously) Are you sure?

OLDMAN: (Relieved) Well, no, I couldn’t be sure; except about the alarm and the

broken window.

The cop stares at Henry trying to decide whether or not to believe the old man. Henry helps her.

OLDMAN: (With innocence) Why would I lie?

COP: You’d both better be gone when I get back!

The cop leaves. The kid watches her disappear while at the same time Henry lifts the lid of a rubbish bin and peers in. He replaces the lid when the street kid turns back to him.