.
As much as we may love our families and friends, they
possess the ability to drive us crazy!
The Moldy Orange Bandage:
Playbooks and Short Stories
by Lirio Blanco Show
Genre: Literary Fiction
As much as we may love our families and friends, they
possess the ability to drive us crazy!
In this pair of theatrical playbooks (with a few short
stories as an added bonus), two family-friendly plays for tweens and up
showcase two different dramas.
In The Moldy Oranges, married life between an
American husband and his Latin immigrant wife never proves dull . . .
especially when the mother-in-law lives under the same roof. And then, when
their trusted neighbor requests a mysterious brown bag be hidden in their
closet, it provides the trigger for family secrets, suspicion, and intrigue.
What is in the brown bag? A diary? Stolen jewelry? A secret detonator for a
kitchen stove, perhaps?
Based on the events of Atlanta’s 2014 ice storm, a group of
middle school girls are trapped in their after-school classroom, seemingly
abandoned by the last faculty member, who flees to protect her own family
during the crisis. Three girls and the class bully must learn to cooperate for
survival until help arrives in The Box of Bandages.
From architect/author Lirio Blanco Show, these stories
provide a peek into family life with an in-law, stranded girls struggling to
cope with a bully, as well as a handful of short animal stories . . . some
based on true events, some completely fiction. Who dares to say which is which?
The answers lie within…
Amazon
* BookLogix
* B&N
* Bookbub
* Goodreads
.
.
(All four adults begin arguing incoherently with one
another. CARMEN begins pacing around the room,
watching with a suspicious look in her eyes. She kneels
down and picks up the oranges, one by one, from the
floor and carefully places them on top of the dining table. Calmly watching the argument as it escalates, she
then glances at the audience and rolls her eyes, sighing
heavily. She picks up a single orange and begins to peel
it, then begins to eat it. After a few bites, CARMEN begins coughing hard, puts her hands on her chest, as her
face begins to turn red. She motions to her throat, trying to signal the others that she’s choking. Suddenly,
CARMEN collapses on the floor and stops moving.
ALEXA turns toward CARMEN with a shocked realization that her daughter is lying on the floor.)
ALEXA:
Carmen! (Shrieking) Carmen?
(A deep silence overtakes the room, the lights dim, and
a spotlight on CARMEN starts to brighten.)
(ALEXA and KIRA kneel down next to CARMEN in
complete silence.)
ALEXA:
Mom, is she okay?
KIRA:
Oh God, she is alive, but her pulse . . . it’s so weak. She is purple. Oh God! What happened?
ALEXA:
(Crying) I don’t know! Mom! What are we going to do?
What are we going to do?
(REGINA pushes the two aside and kneels down over
CARMEN.)
REGINA:
Get out of my way, you two!
DONOFRIO:
Yes, let Regina check Carmen! She’s a nurse!
REGINA:
Her face is purple . . . blue . . . She must have eaten or swallowed something that has blocked her airway.
DONOFRIO:
But what?
(DONOFRIO begins walking, looking around, and notices the orange peels on the table.)
DONOFRIO:
She ate oranges! She ate oranges, but how could that
cause her to choke?
REGINA:
The seeds! The seeds, Donofrio . . . Come on . . . Help
me lift her. We need to proceed with the Heimlich
maneuver!
(DONOFRIO lifts up CARMEN while REGINA supports her from behind and then presses her chest to forcefully eject the seed. REGINA makes several attempts to no avail while ALEXA and KIRA are desperately crying in the background.)
REGINA:
Oh no! Oh no, Carmen! This . . . is not your day, sweetie, no . . . Not today. C’mon, Donofrio, lay her on the floor again . . . Come on!
(DONOFRIO follows her directions, and REGINA
starts thrusting her fists against CARMEN’s chest, al-
ternating with mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. After
three attempts, CARMEN starts coughing and spits
out the seeds. All surround her and give a collective
sigh of relief.)
CARMEN:
(Still coughing) What happened?
REGINA:
If it wasn’t for your little choking scene here, I was about to lay someone ELSE out in this room. Anybody
want to guess who?
(REGINA stares down ALEXA, who backs away.)
REGINA (CONTD.):
Or why?
CARMEN:
(Coughing less) No! No idea . . .
REGINA:
Because your mother started talking to me the same
way you talk to each other in this house—with dis-
respect to me and total disregard to my feelings.
That is why . . . and that my girl, that is not going to
happen . . . again!
ALEXA:
But Regina . . .
REGINA:
Oh no! No, Alexa . . . This time, you . . . and the rest of you . . .
(REGINA points accusingly at KIRA and DONOFRIO.)
REGINA (CONTD.):
. . . are going to be quiet . . . and listen to what I have to say. Get that child some water.
(DONOFRIO nods meekly and fetches a glass of water
for CARMEN, who is still lying on the floor. He kneels
down and gives it to her.)
REGINA:
Do you see this girl lying on the floor? She is the victim here! Yes . . . she is.
KIRA:
How dare you, Regina, talk to us like that?
REGINA:
My question to you, Kira . . . is how dare you talk to
your family the way you do? You talk to neigh-
bors . . . strangers on the street you never laid eyes
on in your life . . . with more respect than you talk to
your family. Why is that?
(KIRA tilts her head down meekly, in tears.)
REGINA (CONTD.):
I have been visiting this house for more than fifteen
years, and I know more than anybody else the great
love that bonds this family together. You all have
been through hardships and joyful events, but always
bickering about the most miniscule things . . . While
doing so, today, all of you might have lost the most
precious thing in all your lives . . . Carmen, this
sweet girl . . . who never harms anybody, a creature
full of love and innocence.
(REGINA pauses briefly, and silence envelopes the room.)
.
Albalis Vargas-Smith, a.k.a. Lirio Blanco Show, is an architect, painter,
muralist, and writer from Panama. She received her undergraduate and graduate
degrees in architecture from Universidad Autonoma de Centroamerica in San Jose,
Costa Rica. In addition, she received a Bachelor degree in Fine Arts from
Auburn University, Montgomery. She has more than twenty years of experience in
architecture, having worked both in Montgomery, Alabama, and the Atlanta area.
She has done theatrical scene and set design as volunteer work for community
theatre groups. Back in July 2016, Albalis went solo as an entrepreneur,
architect, and painter, founding the Vargas-Smith Studio. The reason? To spend
more time with her daughter. In 2020, she decided to finish a series of backburner
short stories and theatrical plays. One of the theatrical plays is presented in
this book. Currently, Albalis lives in Johns Creek, Georgia, with her daughter,
husband, her dog, Toni, and a precious bird, Ruperta.
Website * X * Instagram * TikTok * Etsy * Goodreads
.
~~~~~
Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew and Good Luck!
For a list of my reviews go HERE.
For a list of free eBooks updated daily go HERE
To see all of my giveaways go HERE.
