A Meeting you Cant Refuse By Connor Terrell

ACT I Scene 1 The scene begins in a quaint apartment. A middle aged is watching TV. A knock on the door is heard. MARTHA Dan, answer the door, will ya? DAN walks up to the door and opens it to reveal their son, RICHIE, with his friend, ALLEN. RICHIE Hey pa, can my friend, Allen, and I come in? DAN (speaking with a Godfather esque voice that is hard to understand. This is his voice throughout the entirety of the scene) I dont see why not, Richie. Come on in and make yourself at home.

RICHIE Alright, sweet! ALLEN Um, what did your dad say?

RICHIE Whatre ya deaf or somethin? He said come on in! RICHIE leads ALLEN in, and they sit on the couch. DAN follows suit and sits back at his spot. ALLEN Nice place.

MARTHA Thanks. You wouldnt believe how much it cost just to build this place! DAN ALLEN A pretty penny, thats for sure. A thrifty pony? What? (yells) A pretty penny, thats for sure!

MARTHA

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED: ALLEN

2.

(a bit frightened) Right, sorry for the confusion, miss.

MARTHA So, how did you and Richie meet? ALLEN Well, you see, when some punks were messing with me. One word from his mouth and they were gone. Weve been friends ever since. (laughs) Yeah, he sorta owes me. Hes kinda geeky and always carries around some sort of toy or comic book with him to school. I guess its his hobby. I collected stuff like that when I was his age.

RICHIE

DAN

RICHIE Yeah, I know pa. Made me think of you once he showed me his collection. ALLEN Come again? Did he say something about vision or something?

RICHIE You realy are somethin, arent you? Hes speakin perfect English, so why cant you understand him? DAN Calm down, son. My voice isnt as clear as it used to be.

RICHIE Right, sorry pa. (beat) Anyways, Allens a nice kid, and hes been helpin me with my reading and my maths and such. ALLEN DAN But enough about me, how did you two meet? (flirtatiously) I made her an offer she couldnt refuse (blushes and giggles)

MARTHA Oh you!

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED:

3.

ALLEN

An offer she cant defuse? (beat, then realizes what he actually said) Oh! You mean refuse!

RICHIE Glad to know you got the wax out of yer ears. ALLEN So, what was this offer?

MARTHA Id love to tell you, but Id have to kill you if I did. ALLEN Um....okay MARTHA (frightened)

(beat, laughs) Im only bluffin, silly! (sighs out of relief) (laughs) You shouldve seen the look on your face. (sighs out of the laughter) Anyways, the offer was for him to spend his life with me in a nice place like this. Id be crazy if I walked away from that! I suppose you would be crazy.

ALLEN MARTHA

ALLEN

RICHIE You stayin for dinner, Al? Mas makin her famous pasta tonight. ALLEN I suppose so.

MARTHA Ill get everything ready. MARTHA exits stage right. DAN So, hows the family?

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED:

4.

ALLEN

Theyre fine. My brothers and sisters are probably glad Im out of the house for a while. What, they dont like you? If theyre giving you any trouble, I can deal with them. Oh no, its not that. I just dont get out often.

DAN

ALLEN

RICHIE Well, that explains your lack of hearin. ALLEN (chuckles) I suppose it does. Allen, Im gonna make you an offer you cant refuse. Go on. You see, I have tickets to this convention up in New York. If you help me out around the house a bit, I may give them to you. Sounds interesting. I think Ill take you up on it. Alright, you can start by helping out with the dishes after dinner. Yes sir.

DAN ALLEN DAN

ALLEN DAN

ALLEN

MARTHA Dinners ready! Come and get it while its hot! DAN Well, time to eat. They begin to exit stage. However, as soon as everyone except DAN and ALLEN have left, DAN stops ALLEN DAN Wait.

(CONTINUED)

CONTINUED:

5.

ALLEN Yes sir?

(stops walking and turns to Dan)

DAN walks to ALLEN and puts his hand on his shoulder. DAN Some day, and that day may never come, I may call upon you for a service for me. Until that day, consider this gesture as a gift for being friends with my son. Yes sir. DAN begins to exit, but stops when ALLEN says ALLEN Wait, what do you mean by a service? What do you want me to do? (turns around) Youll know when the time comes. DAN exits stage right again, and ALLEN follows. The scene ends soon after that.

ALLEN

DAN