A B-Boy's Blues

A B-Boy’s Blues

Stacy Lamar King

ISBN (Print Edition): 979-8-35091-524-2

ISBN (eBook Edition): 979-8-35091-525-9

© 2023. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Contents

Scene The Queen City - Time: Summer 1983

Act 1 Scene 1 - EIGHTEEN

Act 1 Scene 2 - MARY JANE

Act 1 Scene 3 - SUNSHINE AND RAINDROPS

Act 2 Scene 1 - INVINCIBLE

Act 2 Scene 2 - 3 PAIR OF PANTS & 3 SHIRTS

Act 2 Scene 3 - BASEBALLS

Act 3 Scene 1 - A MAN AND A MULE

Act 3 Scene 2 - BITTERSWEET

Scene

The Queen City

Time: Summer 1983

Act 1

Scene 1

EIGHTEEN

Which one was worst? The wicked project or the human projects that made it out of it. A riddle to everyone but a select few. The watchers.

Most of the human projects do not make it out of the project, but for the ones that do, the project still resides deep down inside of them forever.

This the watchers who watched them knew. Tracking them since the initiation of the wicked project because they knew that pressure burst pipes, yet it also made diamonds. Diamonds that come with flaws.

LITTLE BOY sat alone on the steps with his best friend Wanda plucking her strings. He had been the recipient of the first notes to a new song. A rhythm that had no rhyme or reason. Each note a feeling. No feeling connected to another.

At the time LITTLE BOY did not know the meaning of the notes. Life would fill in the blanks. This was His process. Alone in his thoughts. A good thing or a terrible thing. Depending on the reason and the duration.

LITTLE BOY was still a mystery to most. He was visible. You could see him passing by. But he was rarely present. Such were his ways. Stuck in a world he longed to leave. A world he never wanted any part of.

Lost in the moment. Needing to desperately feel something. He turned his thoughts to Mika and began to play a familiar song.

A song whose meaning he understood. The notes and the emotions. He missed her so. The longing would never go away. He loved her more than life. She was filled with the light. Without her he preferred darkness.

(CAT floated down the sidewalk towards LITTLE BOY.)

CAT

Hey Little Boy. Whatcha playing?

CAT walked up the steps and plopped down on the steps right next to her favorite person on the Earth. So, close you couldn’t tell where LITTLE BOY ended, and CAT began. LITTLE BOY did not flinch. CAT had taught LITTLE BOY the art of compromise.

LITTLE BOY

Hey Cat. It’s an oldie but a goodie. My favorite song.

CAT

Your favorite song. You got a name for it?

LITTLE BOY

Mika.

CAT

Mika. (She paused to consider.) Is she the one that?

LITTLE BOY

Yes. She’s the one.

(LITTLE BOY looked away. He refused to utter the words Mika and died.)

CAT

I like it. It has a little of everything. It’s light and its heavy. You miss her a lot, don’t you?

LITTLE BOY

I do. There is no one like her. She is special.

CAT

Am I special?

LITTLE BOY

Yeah, you’re special. (Sarcastically.)

(They laughed together.)

CAT

Stop playing Little Boy. You know what I’m talking about. Are you going to write a song about me?

LITTLE BOY

Anything’s possible Cat.

CAT

Way to make a girl feel special Little Boy. I gave you an easy ball to hit today. You were supposed to knock that ball out the park. You had one chance to make me feel like a princess today and you blew it again. You need to work on that swing. If I were you, I would write my song.

LITTLE BOY

Then pretend you’re me and write it yourself.

CAT

Strike two Little Boy. You must be planning on living alone your whole life. First of all, I’m not you. Second of all, if that’s even a thing, it sounded crazy coming out my mouth, I can’t do what you do.

LITTLE BOY

True. If you refrain from the, if I were you talk. I will admit I have been given this gift. One I have no control of. If your song is given to me, I’ll play it. It would be impossible for me not to. I play the songs given to me. That’s how it works.

CAT

Little Boy the philosopher.

LITTLE BOY

Philosopher? No not me. That’s a big word for such a little lady.

CAT

Big words from my big imagination. Big words are going to take me to big places.

LITTLE BOY

Do tell.

(Pinching her cheeks like her Nana.)

CAT

Little Boy, you know I hate that.

LITTLE BOY

I know, that’s what makes it so funny.

CAT

I got your funny. One of these days I’m gonna give you an eye jam. Dot your eye just like the dog on the Little Rascals. Now to answer your question. I shall go wherever my heart imagines.

LITTLE BOY

Don’t you mean desires?

CAT

I said imagines, I see the world through my heart.

LITTLE BOY

Not sure how that physically works but I’ll roll with it. What does your heart imagine?

(LITTLE BOY chuckled.)

CAT Things I haven’t seen yet. While you’re laughing.

LITTLE BOY

How can you see the unseen?

CAT

How do you play notes you’ve never heard?

LITTLE BOY

Well played.

CAT

Do you understand me now?

LITTLE BOY

About this much.

(LITTLE BOY held his thumb and fore finger close together.)

CAT

You are just cruising for a bruising Little Boy.

LITTLE BOY

I’m just messing with you. I played a few notes to a new song right before you came over. Notes I’ve never known. Whose meaning I still don’t understand. Each note felt like a feeling I’ve yet to experience. I got lost in them and couldn’t find my way out. I stopped playing and then you came floating on down the avenue.

CAT

But your mind controls your fingers so your fingers can only play what it tells them to. That is how the body works. Right?

LITTLE BOY

It does to an extent. But the origin of an idea, the thoughts they are wrapped in, and the meaning behind them come from somewhere else. My fingers play notes that come from thoughts my mind never knew.

CAT

Really. (She purred like Cat Woman.) If you don’t control your fingers, who does?

LITTLE BOY

I control them. It’s the thoughts I don’t control. I’m not sure who controls my thoughts when it comes to