stands up, takes off her shirt displaying her muscles, and when we think she will give it to FLOWER she, throws her clothes on the floor, and embraces her cellmate.)

  DEVIL

  Are you warm now?

  FLOWER

  (She can smell Devil’s body odor.)

  Do you wear any perfume?

  DEVIL

  No!

  FLOWER

  That’s what I thought.

  DEVIL

  Perfumes are for namby-pambies.

  (Silence. They remain embraced for a short instant.)

  FLOWER

  Devil?

  DEVIL

  Yes?

  FLOWER

  I can’t be in prison. I got to run away and try to prove my innocence.

  DEVIL

  My father has already tried mine. It hurts, you know?

  FLOR

  Devil, listen to me, you must help me escape!

  DEVIL

  No one escapes this place alive.

  FLOWER

  I have a plan!

  DEVIL

  When you were a child, did you enjoy sitting on your dad’s lap?

  FLOWER

  I pretend I am not feeling well while you scream for help! Once the warden gets in our cell, you hit her in the back of her head with your dumbbells. I steal the keys from her, take her clothes, and put them on. We can get out of here as if I were the warden transferring a prisoner.

  DEVIL

  Wow! What is your PhD again?

  FLOWER

  We can’t waste any more time!

  (Flower throws herself on the floor while coiling and groaning in pain.)

  DEVIL

  (Screams)

  Help! Help! She’s dying! She’s having a fit! Help!

  (The WARDEN shows up.)

  WARDEN

  What’s going on?

  DEVIL

  I dunno! She fell on the floor and began to double up with pain.

  (The WARDEN opens the cell door and as she walks to FLOWER, DEVIL overpowers her from behind.)

  WARDEN

  Let go, you criminals!

  FLOWER

  Now, I am going to put her clothes on and we can run away!

  WARDEN

  (Sensual)

  Why so hasty? Since we are all going to get naked, why don’t we enjoy the moment a little?

  FLOWER

  Why not?

  DEVIL

  Guys... I can’t! I am scared of it.

  FLOWER

  Well be kind to you, Devil.

  (The WARDEN and FLOWER start taking their clothes while touching DEVIL, who fragilely withers with shyness.)

  (SCENE ENDS)

  Back to Contents

  ABOUT LISTS

  I love making lists! Lists are an excellent way to get your life going. Thanks to my lists I always know what to do: pay bills; make calls, menstruate... My lists are holy; I follow them as a Jehovah Witness follows the Bible. The difference is that while a Jehovah Witness can’t have a haircut, I’ve gotta have one on every 14th, and always at four in the afternoon. Making lists is also a very good way to keep my future safe. For instance, I already know when my boss will give me a raise. I only hope she is as organized as I am.

  Back to Contents

  THE HIPPIES

  Jimmy Hendrix’s Purple Haze track plays. HEAD, a longhaired woman wearing a headband, bell-bottom pants, a big medallion hanging down to her breasts, a floral shirt, and else, enters the scene smoking a joint that she offers to the audience. She walks on stage and comfortably lays down on the floor beside DANDARA, another hippie girl.

  HEAD

  Chick, what’s on?

  DANDARA

  Just floating!

  (They kiss each other on the mouth. HEAD offers Dandara a drag of her joint.)

  HEAD

  Do you want a hit?

  DANDARA

  Right on, beautiful!

  (DANDARA holds the joint and takes what seems to be an endless drag. They salute each other by making a series of hand movements that end with the V sign.)

  HEAD

  Bunny, the world is getting more and more materialistic, dig it? Brother killing Brother, we got to make a stand against the system.

  DANDARA

  I suggest a moment of silence for world peace!

  HEAD

  Right On!

  DANDARA

  Better yet, let’s puff this ‘doobie’ to oblivion, and at each puff we take, we think about how small time and bourgeois consumer society is.

  HEAD

  Go for it!

  DANDARA

  Outtasight!

  HEAD

  Dig this! Let’s get a fix of acid and meditate the whole day for world disarmament.

  DANDARA

  Far out!

  (Another hippie, ASTRAL, enters the stage - holding a mug - while escorting HALLOW, a woman who is dressed as an executive, sporting a pair of glasses and hair tied up in a knot.)

  ASTRAL

  Flower children, this is Hello!

  HALLOW

  Hallow Georgia Ritchtins, law enforcement officer.

  DANDARA

  Love and Peace!

  HEAD

  Hooray to justice!

  DANDARA

  A toke?

  ASTRAL

  Hello told me that she’s got a very relevant message to pass on to our community.

  HALLOW

  Actually, the rightful owners of this land have a reintegration warrant. A modern office building will be raised here and you must leave at once!

  DANDARA

  Hello, I dig your aura is kinda fuzzy!

  HALLOW

  I beg your pardon?

  DANDARA

  The powers within your energy field are unbalanced, sister.

  HEAD

  Sit down here with us, and let the freedom energy flow.

  ASTRAL

  It is about time we share our daily bread.

  HALLOW

  Thanks, but I already had lunch.

  ASTRAL

  Hello, the bread that nourishes our soul, dig it?

  DANDARA

  Join us!

  HEAD

  (Takes some pills and paper wrapped drugs from her pocket)

  I’ve got lots of kinds of speed and some white snow.

  DANDARA

  (Takes some drugs from her pocket)

  I’ve got LSD, a pint of mescaline, heroin, and sniffing glue.

  ASTRAL

  (Showing a mug in her hand)

  I just made some herbal tea, you know?

  HEAD

  What about you, Hello?

  HALLOW

  (Rectifies)

  It’s Hallow!

  (Embarrassed)

  I got nothing. Just some nose drops.

  DANDARA

  Add it to the stack.

  HEAD

  Following the examples of Jesus Christ, the first hippie ever, we break our bread together.

  ASTRAL

  Amen, chicks.

  DANDARA

  Right on, babe!

  HEAD

  Groovy, dudette!

  (They share all the drugs and use them. They offer some to Hello but she refuses.)

  ASTRAL

  At least take some tea it will calm you down, Hello.

  HALLOW

  Hallow! I guess some tea won’t do me any harm.

  (HALLOW drinks the tea.)

  HALLOW

  You must leave this place.

  HEAD

  Lay back, chick. We’re ready to go on a trip!

  HALLOW

  I don’t see any of you packing up!

  ASTRAL

  We’re not tied down to material things, you know?

  HEAD

  Our journey is right up here.

  (Points to her own head.)

  It’s a mind-blowing thing!

  HALLOW

  (Starts feeling high.)
br />   I feel weird.

  DANDARA

  Are you in? Tomorrow is the day we march to end consumer society and in favor of an alternative one. Everyone stark naked, dig it?

  ASTRAL

  Right on!

  HALLOW

  (Freaking out.)

  Girls, is the ground rocking?

  HEAD

  (Laughing)

  Nope, it’s the tea kicking in!

  ASTRAL

  Let it flow, Hello.

  HALLOW

  What was in that tea?

  DANDARA

  Only natural stuff, chick.

  ASTRAL

  Mushrooms and sacred blue Lily.

  HALLOW

  My God! I feel hot!

  (HALLOW starts undressing.)

  HEAD

  Groovy! Clothes are nothing but breastplates society uses to label and crush our natural beauty.

  DANDARA

  Let's follow her step and free ourselves from these shackles that fuse us to outdated concepts of the bourgeois consumer society!

  HALLOW

  You don't understand! This whole community must evade the site now! Or we’ll have to use physical force!

  (Lowering her head)

  Was that an eagle? Gee, it’s so damn hot!

  (HALLOW continues undressing.)

  HEAD

  The only power that stimulates changes is the power of love.

  (Head kisses HALLOW. They all get naked and start kissing and touching each other.)

  HALLOW

  What’s all this? What’s going on?

  (HALLOW starts laughing.)

  HEAD

  Get in and feel our bodies drift, babe!

  DANDARA

  Hello, join life’s transmuting energy!

  ASTRAL

  Sex will set you free, sister!

  HEAD

  Open your chakras and let the energy in, baby!

  HALLOW

  But my chakras are all virgin!

  DANDARA

  Virginity is only a society convention dig it?

  (Stark naked, they start singing a hippie song while leaving the stage.)

  (SCENE ENDS)

  Back to Contents

  ABOUT DOGS

  Here are two phrases that will doubly upset my husband: "I love my dogs." and "They are my babies." He neither likes dogs nor baby children, let alone puppies. My husband thinks that I over love my puppies. He says I should treat them as dogs, not as people. It’s easy to say that when you are used to handling people as if they were dogs. Well, my puppies have grown a bit older now. They are ‘adolescents’. Anyhow, you know how teens are: rebellious, self-sufficient, and moody. But, when they want to go out, they, at least, use a leash, not my car. My husband can’t accept the idea of a furry animal sleeping beside him, which gets excited with my female friends’ legs, and is forever brushing his pee-pee against something smooth. He does the same, and I've never asked’im to sleep outside.

  Back to Contents

  RETURN OF THE PRODIGAL HUSBAND

  INGRID answers the door; it is ARTHUR, her husband, who arrives after being away for a long time.

  INGRID

  Oh, my God! Arthur, is it really you?

  ARTHUR

  Yes, Ingrid. It’s me, Arthur!

  INGRID

  But it can’t be! Is it truly you, Arthur?

  ARTHUR

  Yes, dear Ingrid. I, Arthur Hartzenbusch!

  INGRID

  Arthur Hartzenbusch, my husband?

  ARTHUR

  How many Arthur