Murder in the Park

Murder in the Park

Cast

Katie

Rob

Place: A park outside a train station.

(KATIE is sleeping on a park bench, it is approximately 4 o’clock in the morning. She is wearing an ugly sweater with a wide neck; one of the sleeves is obviously, ridiculously longer than the other. ROB approaches wearing a police uniform, carrying a big flashlight and shakes KATIE awake)

ROB:          Excuse me for waking you, miss.  Can I ask you what you are doing in this park at this hour?

KATIE:      Ugh! I just barely fell asleep! What time is it?

ROB:          (HE pulls out his cell phone.) It’s 4:17 in the morning.  I’m Officer Rob Garn. 

KATIE:      4:17? I guess I’ve been sleeping almost 4 hours then. My name’s Katie. 

ROB:          Katie, what are you doing in the park so late at night?  The curfew is in effect to help our citizens, you know.  Are you homeless?

KATIE:      No.  I’m not homeless.  I got off the train after midnight; we had some delays, it was running slow so we got here late.  I think it was something about someone losing their tie on the track. (Yawns)  Seems silly they’d stop so long for something like that, but it took forever.  By the time I got to this town, the last train had already left, and the station is closed until seven.  I didn’t know what to do, I was so tired.  Then I saw this cute little park and it looked friendly, so I just lied down.  (Yawns) Anyway, I’m not actually from around here, so I didn’t know about the curfew.  Am I in trouble, officer?  Are you going to arrest me or something?  Do I need to call my dad, because he wouldn’t be happy about me waking him up?

ROB:          No, ma’am.  How old are you anyway?

KATIE:      I’m nineteen, that’s definitely old enough to be travelling alone.  If you must know, I’m on my way back home.  My Granny is getting senile and my mom thought she needed a babysitter for the summer.  She lives in this one small town, Coalcreek; it’s even smaller than this one! (Yawns) I hate trains, but this will be the last one before I get back to my hometown, and then my daddy’s picking me up at this one station tomorrow in the city.  I texted him to tell him the train wasn’t coming, or at least I wasn’t on it, but I don’t know if he got it.  You got cell service out here?

ROB:          It’s hit-and-miss. Heck, half the time we don’t even have internet.

KATIE:      That’s horrible! (Pause) It sure is cold out.  I didn’t bring any jackets, because I didn’t think it would be this cold, so my Gran knitted this one ugly sweater for me. 

ROB:          It’s not that bad. It could definitely be worse.

KATIE:      How?  It was so humiliating; she made me wear it out in public!  The sleeves aren’t even the same length. People always try to tell me that women can’t be color-blind, but I swear Gran is.  She’s probably normal-blind too.  Is that what it’s called?  Normal-blind?  

ROB:          At least it’s not a sweater-vest.  (Pause) Anyway, I hate to scare you, Katie, but this curfew is in effect because there has been a series of murders lately.  It’s been all over the news, the entire state knows about it. There was a fourth one tonight, at this very park; the body was found a couple of hours ago.

KATIE:      Murders! Why didn’t you say so?  That is pretty scary, but isn’t it exciting?  It’s like something out of a TV show.  How’d they die?

ROB:          We think that tonight’s victim died of strangulation.  You don’t seem too concerned about this. Most young women wouldn’t want to be alone in this park.  Aren’t you the least bit frightened?

KATIE:      Why should I be?  I’m with a police officer.  (Pause) Strangulation?  That’s kind of like suffocation, right?  When you can’t get enough air? (Pause)  I assume you have a gun. (ROB nods.)  Well, see, I’ll be perfectly safe.  I can’t suspect you then, since the girls were strangled, not shot.

ROB:          I never said they were girls.

KATIE:      I just assumed, I guess.  In all the movies the serial killers targeted girls, but I suppose they’d kill a man or two that got in the way. (Pause) What else ya got on ya?

ROB:          I have a little bit of rope.

KATIE:      (Sarcastically) Ya, that’ll keep us safe.

ROB:          I could use it to hog-tie the victim.

KATIE:      Victim?  Oh, you mean the murder suspect.  I guess that might work, like, if you didn’t have hand-cuffs, or if you want to tie their legs so they can’t run away.  Do you have to carry hand-cuffs?

ROB:          I do.

KATIE:      I thought so.  It wouldn’t make sense for a policeman to not carry hand-cuffs.  I bet there’s a lot of stuff you have to carry around.  Like on your belt and stuff.  I bet you’re like Batman with that one utility belt of his.  I bet all that stuff slows you down.

ROB:          Well, we don’t carry around as much stuff as Batman, and really you get used to it all being there, you feel weird without it.

KATIE:      Like when you’re wearing a hat, like, all day, and you take it off and it still feels like it’s on your head?

ROB:          Yeah, something like that. I actually don’t have my cuffs with me. Sometimes I can be such an idiot. At least I have my rope.

KATIE:      I’ll be so glad when this is over and I’ll be home in a few hours.  Back to real civilization!  If only this station wasn’t closed I could be there already!

ROB:          Now, from what you’ve told me you’ve been in this park since a little after midnight.

KATIE:      Yeah, that’s right, there was a tie on the—

ROB:          That places you in the park around the approximate time we believe the murder occurred.

KATIE:      I’m not a suspect, am I?  You said it was a serial killer. I don’t even live in—

ROB:          I only have your word telling me you don’t live in this town.  That means that you are a suspect.  You’ll have to come with me to the station, if not to interrogate you at least as a precaution to keep you safe.  I’m afraid there is no way you will be getting home at all this morning.

KATIE:      I—I can’t be a suspect.  I’m innocent. I don’t have anything that could be a weapon.  Except maybe this sweater, a person could die just by looking at it! Surely you trust me?

ROB:          If you are innocent, then you won’t mind coming with me.  If you have nothing to hide you should be perfectly fine. Right?

KATIE:      I guess.

(ROB starts walking away from Katie towards the parking lot.  KATIE follows him.)

KATIE:      Geez, it’s sure dark over here. I guess didn’t realize the park was lit. It sure makes a big difference. I’m glad you have that big flashlight. All I have is my cell phone. (ROB pulls out a length of rope. KATIE passes ROB as they continue walking, she takes off her sweater.)

ROB:          I thought you said you were cold, why did you take your sweater off.

(Katie turns, her sweater stretched taut between both hands.)

KATIE:      I thought you said we were safe, why did you take your rope out?

(ROB stretches his rope out similar to how Katie is holding her sweater. BOTH take a step towards each other.)

Curtain

(Invisible)

 (Invisible)

P   a   c   i   n   g,
    POUNDing,

high
     and
           low,

     ump           ump
th       ing,   b        ing,

beat
 of
  my
         h           e
            a   r
                t.
              
You
STOP

and lOOk

     my w

            a

            y

I…wonder…what you
will
       DO.

But you
                                   leave
(me.)

You smell nice.

Alone

At first it wasn’t by choice,

 but as she grew wiser she realized that people

were cruel, selfish, and unreliable.

Every time this girl would try to strike up conversation,

the others would talk over her.

Her friends were only friends when it was convenient,

and even then it was sketchy.

Sometimes people treated her decently, and sometimes

       they didn’t. 

Darkness in the Dorms

Almost everyone had gone home for the weekend, but a few residents remained in the old building that was Sessions Hall. The night was cold and stormy, and the residents were feeling restless. After a long discussion of what movie they should watch, A Goofy Movie eventually won the vote. Terra and Allie were each taking up a couch. Sierra and Chris were on a third couch, snuggled close together, Chris with one foot resting on the warn coffee table. Allie was sitting directly behind the love birds, using their headrest for her feet, and occasionally kicking Chris in the head. Every time this happened, Chris would look back at Allie with a glare, and Sierra would snuggle in a little closer.

            The four of them watched absent-mindedly, subconsciously munching on popcorn and Swedish fish. They were all thinking about the storm outside, that seemed to be growing more violent and nearer every hour. After the last burst of lightning Terra could only count to “two Mississippi” before the roaring clap of thunder, which had shook the entire building. Now she was pondering whether Sessions would crumble into dust if it were hit by one of the marvelous bolts.

            Just as she was about to dismiss this thought a flash of lightning and a simultaneous boom of thunder filled the air. The television flickered for a second, and then went off. One of the girls screamed, as the group was plunged into pitch blackness.

            No one moved for several moments, finally Chris spoke up, startling everyone.

            “It’s probably just a fuse,” he said, trying to reassure himself as well as the girls, “I’ll go check it out.”

            He pried himself from Sierra’s clutches, offered her a quick kiss, and then left the room, closing the door behind him.

           

            The girls sat in the dark, letting their eyes adjust. They spoke only in whispers, as if talking loudly would somehow bring about another attack from the angry sky. They continued munching mindlessly to ease their troubled minds. Finally, the snacks ran out.

            Sierra stood up, maybe in a vain search for more popcorn, or perhaps she just realized that her boyfriend was still gone and the power was still out. She looked about the room as if Chris might have somehow sneaked back in without her noticing. She turned to face the group.

            “You know, Chris had been quite awhile. I think I should go check it out.”

            No one argued while Sierra put her slippers on and wrapped herself in a Utah Jazz blanket. Chris was her boyfriend after all. If anyone was his keeper, it was Sierra.  She opened the door slowly, and poked her head out. She glanced back at the other two girls and vanished into the dark depths of the lobby.

            Amanda and Sarah were sitting in their room in the dark. Before the lights turned off, Sarah was thinking about starting her homework, and Amanda had been trying half-heartedly to clean her half of the room while sitting on her bed. Neither of them really cared that the power was out now, because that gave them an excuse to avoid their responsibilities. Both of them were content in the dark to just sit and talk about how dumb the boys upstairs were.

            “You know,” Amanda was saying, “Boys are like baby’s butts.”

            Sarah yawned and asked, “How’s that?”

            “Well, they’re kind of cute, but they’re still butts.”

            Sarah laughed in agreement.

The storm outside was growing more violent by the minute, but it didn’t even phase these roommates, who found electrical storms fascinating, and were in fact in the habit of singing and dancing in the rain. What did frighten them was the piercing scream that echoed throughout the long, deserted girls’ hallway.

Sarah reached for her booklight, and Amanda flipped open her phone. The dim light was just enough to cast an eerie glow across the girls faces. They glanced at each other, then Sarah reached out and grasped the handle. She held it for a moment and then let it go as if it were on fire.

“What are we doing?!” She half whispered. “If you hear someone scream, you don’t go out to investigate it! I don’t watch horror movies, but even I know that!”

“What should we do then? Call the police? What if it was just Allie yelling at Chris?” Amanda rationalized.

Though the scream didn’t sound like Allie, Sarah agreed that maybe she was overreacting a bit. It was probably just the storm. As fascinating as it was, it did leave her a little on edge. She reached for the handle again and pushed the door open.

The girls stepped out and look right to the end of their hall. Everything appeared normal, so they rounded the corner to the long hallway and almost ran straight into Sierra. All three girls screamed until they realized who each other was.

“Sierra!” Sarah exclaimed, somewhat relived. “What’s going on?”

Sierra started talking frantically, bringing herself almost to tears, “There was someone in my room! They climbed out through my window! See?”

She led Sarah and Amanda into her bedroom. The blinds and curtains were slapping the sill violently against the wind.

“Are you sure?” Amanda asked.

Sierra nodded and backed out of the room. The other two followed, and closed the door behind them.

“Chris went to figure out how to turn the power back on, I went to find him, but he wasn’t where I thought he would be. I went to my room to grab a flashlight, and when I opened the door someone was staring at me.”

“So you screamed and he fled?” Sarah guessed.

Sierra nodded again, and the three of them walked to the game room where Sierra had last left Allie and Terra. They weren’t there.

Floss

Alexandra Simmons was sprawled out on her mattress, her head and right arm hanging over the side of the bed. Her chin was pointed at the ceiling and her long hair was tickling the tiles beneath her. Alex’s hair was soft and light. It was that color that is somewhere between blonde and brunette, but didn’t really belong to either category. She was chewing bubblegum and staring up at the floor. As she admired a scuff mark, no doubt made by her new sneakers, she realized just how very uncomfortable lying like this was.

            As Alex pushed off the floor and slumped onto the bed, she looked across the room where her roommate was saying rhyming words out loud. Teresa Robinson was the perfect roommate. Alex couldn’t have done better if she’d made the selection herself. They had so much in common, from their dress size to their shoe size, and their taste in movies to their taste in music. Teresa played the guitar, and Alex loved to sing. So now they were going to start a two-woman  band.

            Teresa put herself up to the task of writing the lyrics to their first song. She was sitting at her desk chewing the heck out of a poor pencil. Her dark hair had the tell tale bump of a pony tail that had recently been removed and was seriously frizzed out at the ends. She ran her fingers through her hair, they got stuck, making her only that much more frustrated.  Rhyming was harder than she had anticipated. She just could not find a suitable rhyme for the word “senseless.” The more she thought about it, the more determined she got to find the perfect word.

            “Your love made me senseless, with you I will fence less,” She tried. “Alex you’ve gotta help me with this one.”

            “No way,” Alex said, propping herself up on one elbow to get a better look at her friend. “This is your song, remember. You write the words, I make up the tune. Unless you want to trade,” she added eagerly.

            Teresa bit down harder on her pencil not justifying Alex with an answer. The “fence less” rhyme sounded the best so far, and that was what made her so angry. It was better than “my eyes are now lens-less” and “honey never ever rinse less” by far. But it still didn’t sound quite right, or even close, for that matter. This song would be stupid if she used any of those rhymes.

            “Come on,” she pleaded with Alex, “Don’t you want our first song to be good? How else are we gonna pick up men? This song has to be perfect.”

            Alex yawned and looked at the alarm clock which told her it was nearly 1:30 in the morning. Teresa loved to stay up late. Alex didn’t mind, but her class started at 8:00 the next morning, and anything less six hours of sleep would render her a zombie the next day.

            “ Well, I want a boyfriend as much as you,” she said as she changed into her pajamas, “but maybe you should scratch that line and try something else. I just want to go to sleep, but you won’t let me turn the light off.”

            “Alex, I don’t want to argue right now,” Teresa argued, “I like that line and I’m not going to bed until I find a rhyme. So are you going to help me or not?”

            Alex yawned again and let out a firm, “Not.” She defiantly flipped the lights off and crawled under her covers. Teresa was less than thrilled by this answer. She turned her desk light on and pointed it right at Alex’s bed, in the pillow area.

            “Mince-less, pence-less, wince-less . . .”

            Alex groaned. “I would wince less if you would turn that thing off and go to sleep. But I’m too tired to fight you right now. Can you point that somewhere else? I can’t even see what you’re doing, and that scares me. You’ve kind of left me defenseless.”

            Teresa shouted and jumped up, knocking her desk chair to the ground. She started hopping up and down clapping her hands eagerly.

            “You are a genius! That’s it! Oh! I could just kiss you!” Teresa exclaimed.

            “Please don’t,” Alex muttered under her breath.

“Your love made me senseless; your touch left me defenseless!”

            “Good night, Teresa.”

            Teresa flipped the lamp off and jumped into her own bed.

            “Good night, Alex.”

            Chad Hansen was also up at 1:30 that morning. Unlike the girls, his eyes were glued to a small monitor, and his hands to a game controller.  There was no way he was going to bed before he solved this puzzle, which was proving to be difficult. He was losing his touch. How many times had he won Tomb Raider in the past? And now he couldn’t even pass this one little puzzle.  As he lost yet again, Chad cried out in frustration and hit his controller against the ground. It was after this outburst that Chad remembered he shared a room.

Chad chanced a glance over to check that his roommate, Tyler, was still snoring away, and then went straight back to his game. He had done this before, and he could do it again. He just needed to keep a clear mind and think back to the days at his childhood home and the long hours spent with the heroine of Tomb Raider.

            “Come on, Lara,” he said to the 3D character on the screen, “We can do it this time.”

            Alex returned from her class to find Teresa still sleeping snugly in her bed. It wasn’t fair that Teresa was the one that kept Alex up all night and now she got to sleep in. She dropped her bag loudly to the floor, hoping to wake the sleeping beauty. Teresa turned over in her bed.

            “Wakey, wakey!” Alex hollered, very close to Teresa’s head. Teresa moaned and put a pillow over her ear.

            “It’s nine o’clock: Time to wake up and start a new day!”

            Teresa rolled to face Alex, and sat up slightly, “Do you want me to hit you? Go away.”

            “Band practice?” Alex said, slyly.

            With just these two words, Teresa sprang from her covers enthusiastically and started throwing off her pajamas. She was dressed in less than a minute.

            “Let’s do this thing!” Teresa said. “Now that we’ve got words, we need music. The sooner, the better. As soon as we make a name for ourselves, guys will flock to us.”

October

It was an unnaturally beautiful mid-October day for Utah, but Sam hadn’t noticed. He was in Price attending college for the first time and he was finding it hard to adjust to this new life. The past two years had been so structured, compared to that his life now was chaotic. He went to bed at a different time every night, depending on when his roommate David was tired. On Mondays and Wednesdays he didn’t have class until 11:00 and could sleep in, but on Tuesdays and Thursdays he had signed up for a 7:00 class. Today was Tuesday, and Sam was tired.

                Sam stifled a yawn as he walked across the street towards the Student Center. He was watching his feet, perhaps to make sure they kept moving, and had his hands in his hoodie pocket. There was a warm breeze that was stirring around the leaves he kicked up as he shuffled along. Sam didn’t think much about them, he didn’t watch as they swirled around him in the air, as if suspended by magic. He had things on his mind.

                The slight wind was not only disturbing the leaves on the ground, but pulling other leaves from their branches and sending them out into the world. They danced in the air for a few moments then touched the ground gracefully, making a subtle noise. One leaf alone was too quiet to hear, but together the hundreds landing on the grass sounded like a calm rain. The sound would have soothed Sam’s soul, if he were listening. But Sam wasn’t listening. He was brooding.

                He’d been away from home for two years. Then he was promptly sent away again, three hours away and with no car. He didn’t want to come to this stupid little town, but the college had offered him a pretty good scholarship and his parents hadn’t wanted him to miss such a great opportunity.

An opportunity for what? Sam thought resentfully. This Podunk college was smaller than his high school! What was he going to learn here that he couldn’t have learned by staying at home a year and going to the university extension in his town? Now he was stranded; though not so far away, there was a long and winding canyon separating him from the rest of civilization.

He glared at the school’s unofficial mascot, Gibby the Rock, as he pulled the door open. Someone had painted it bright pink with a big happy face. What right does a stupid rock have to be happy? Sam resentfully ate his lunch with a group of people from his dorm. They never spoke to him, but it was better than eating alone.

David sat down across from Sam and immediately set to flirting with the girl on Sam’s right. Sam listened while he chewed. David was a natural when it came to talking to girls. Sam wasn’t awful at it, but girls never seemed interested in anything he had to say when there were other males around. Sam had thought about this and figured that there must be something wrong with him. Either he was unattractive or he just wasn’t that funny. Or both. Sam glanced at the girl then got up and left.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

Jenna was sitting under a tree reading a book and listening to 70s and 80s music. She absolutely loved the autumn. There was nothing quite like sitting among the yellows, oranges, and browns on the ground. The tree she was sitting under had turned a vivid red over the weekend; it perfectly matched her brand new jacket. Not that she needed the jacket, today was perfect. The temperature was in the mid-70s and there was a gentle wind. Jenna sighed and closed her book. She couldn’t be still on a day like this.

Jenna walked around the campus. She looked at the trees and the leaves on the ground. The wind picked up and threw resting leaves into action. Leaves were twirling above Jenna’s head, she started spinning with them. She realized she must look ridiculous, but she didn’t really care.

Jenna spun until she was dizzy, then she collapsed in a pile of newly fallen leaves. She stared into the heavens. The sky was perfect blue. There were wispy clouds warning of a storm ahead, but for now everything was just right. She watched as the birds flew south in their elaborate formations. Leaves fell around her.

She stood suddenly, disturbing the leaves around her. She took off running and skipping towards the Student Center. It was time for lunch!

A guy with curly black hair was leaving as Jenna arrived. She couldn’t help but notice how cute he was. He had bushy eyebrows, and chocolate brown eyes. He smelled really good too.

“Beautiful day, isn’t it?” Jenna asked him as she approached. He seemed to ignore her. Jenna thought he hadn’t heard. As she looked behind after him, Jenna saw him mocking her. His lips mouthed her words, he moved his head with exaggerated movements. Then he kicked Gibby, angrily.

“Are all men stupid?” Jenna said under breath as she turned to go inside. She found herself face-to-chest with the Dean of Students.

“Excuse me?”

“Sorry, not you,” She apologized and then stole another glance at the guy. He really wasn’t all that attractive. “Jerk.”

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

Sam limped to his door and started digging in his pockets for his keys. He stuck the key into the lock and opened the door to his cell. He looked about the dinky room and sighed. Only half of this dungeon was his. He kicked off his shoes, which was much more painful than it should have been.

“Idiot!” He scolded himself, “What kind of moron kicks a boulder?”

Sam slumped onto his unmade bed an immediately jumped back up. There was a spring sticking out of his mattress, it had torn a hole clear through the mattress cover and his fitted sheet. He groaned and started stripping the covers off his bed.

He was too tired for this, but the mattress had to be flipped before he could take a nap. Sam glanced at the alarm clock; there wouldn’t be time for a nap before his next class now. He had exactly 20 minutes before he had to leave again and it would take him 10 to remake his bed.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

                Jenna sat down for lunch in a miserable mood. She stared down at her tray glumly and tried to stab her well done pork chop, but the fork bounced back. Jenna forced her fork into the meat and started sawing at it with a butter knife.

                “Hi!” Someone said to her.

                She looked across the table and saw a blonde girl with a huge grin. Jenna smiled in spite of herself.

                “I’m Abby,” The girl said, then she pointed her fork at the Latino boy on Jenna’s right, “That’s David.”

                “I’m Jenna.” Jenna was so happy to have someone to talk to at lunch that she forgot all about the boy she’d met outside.

Anna

                Anna sat at her desk chewing on the end of her pen. She hated introductions and conclusions. No matter how flowery her wording throughout the body of her essays, the beginning and ending always sounded somewhat hashed together. She sighed as she took out her laptop. This was going to have to be good enough, there was barely enough time to type and print her paper before class. Why did she have to procrastinate? She’d have to lecture herself later; there just wasn’t time for guilt now.

                Her fingers caressed the keyboard like they had been born to type. Anna would have typed her paper in the first place, but her professor wanted a hand written draft as well as the final essay. Writing was tedious and inefficient. She hated how ugly mistakes looked on written drafts. Pencils smudged and erasers smeared. Pens didn’t smug, but they left ink blots, and mistakes were permanent. Mistakes were one thing Anna could not accept.

                She grabbed the still warm paper from the printer as she headed out the door. She put it in her bag and slipped on her jacket as she hustled across the campus. She glanced at the time on her cell phone. How did it get to be so late? Gracious!  Anna broke into a run, ignoring the looks she was getting from other students.

                Class was just beginning when she slid into the back row, panting. Her professor gave her a pointed look, but didn’t say anything. The lecture was long and Anna couldn’t help herself as she took out her phone to once again check the time. She tapped her foot impatiently for the class to end. It was all she could do to stay awake.

The REAL Patchwork Notebook

 My blog was born today, but I manipulated the dates of the posts to when they were actually written, not when they were posted.  I hope this will make it easier to see improvement over time. 

I bought this notebook at the college bookstore earlier this year.  I promptly wrote my name all over it, in a somewhat, not-really cryptic way.

This is what the inside of my mind looks like. : D

Exponential Growth

Fractals.
Each hand has five fingers,
each finger has a hand.
Going on forever, grotesquely.
Where are the joints and knuckles?
Replaced.
With another hand severed at the wrist.
Where is the arm?
Traded.
For a stubby finger.
Worth1000?
No.
Political statement?
No.
Math Lab.
Exponential growth.

Murder in the Park (Draft)

Cast

Katie

Rob

Place: A park outside a train station.

(KATIE is sleeping on a park bench, it is approximately 4 o’clock in the morning. ROB approaches carrying a big flashlight and shakes KATIE awake)

ROB:          Excuse me for waking you, miss.  Can I ask you what you are doing in this park at this hour?

KATIE:      What hour? (KATIE rubs her eyes and stretches.) What time is it?  Who are you?

ROB:          (HE pulls out his cell phone.) It’s 4:17 in the morning.  I’m Officer Rob Garn. 

KATIE:      My name’s Katie.  Same name as my Gran on my mom’s side.  But I don’t take after her at all, luckily.  She’s so batty, a total nutcase.  She makes me wear this one skirt when I visit her.  She says it’s important for a young woman to wear skirts, especially if she is unmarried.  I’m like, “Gran, it’s the twenty-first century.”  You know? You can wear pretty much anything now’days.  Just look at Lady Gaga.  I bet my Gran would just die if she saw me wearing some of those outfits!

ROB:          Katie, what are you doing in the park so late at night?  The curfew is in effect to help our citizens, you know.  Are you homeless?

KATIE:      No.  I’m not homeless.  I got off the train after midnight; we had some delays, it was running slow so we got here late.  I think it was something about someone losing their tie on the track.  Seems silly they’d stop so long for something like that, but it took forever.  By the time I got to this town, the last train had already left, and the station is closed until seven.  I didn’t know what to do, I was so tired.  Then I saw this cute little park and it looked friendly, so I just lied down.  These benches aren’t really very comfortable.  Somebody should do something about that.  Anyway, I’m not actually from around here, so I didn’t know about the curfew.  Am I in trouble, officer?  Are you going to arrest me or something?  Do I need to call my dad, because he wouldn’t be happy about me waking him up.

ROB:          No, ma’am.  How old are you anyway?

KATIE:      I’m nineteen, that’s definitely old enough to be travelling alone.  If you must know, I’m on my way back home.  My Granny is getting senile and my mom thought she needed a babysitter for the summer.  She lives in this one small town, Coalcreek, it’s even smaller than this one!  So small they don’t even have a bus system, let alone taxis.  It was horrible!  I had to walk everywhere, and wheelin’ Gran around, too.  And if I needed to go shopping somewhere else, the rusted old train was the only way to get there.  I hate trains, but this will be the last one before I get back to my hometown, and then my daddy’s picking me up at this one station tomorrow in the city.  I texted him to tell him the train wasn’t coming, or at least I wasn’t on it, but I don’t know if he got it.  You got cell service out here?

ROB:          It’s hit-and-miss.

KATIE:      It sure is cold out.  It never gets this cold in September in the city, I should know, that’s where I’m from.  I didn’t bring any jackets, because I didn’t think it would be this cold, so my Gran knitted this one ugly sweater for me.  People always try to tell me that women can’t be color-blind, but I swear Gran is.  She mixed purple, green and orange to make it.  And it’s really quite hideous.  One of the sleeves is much wider than the other.  She’s probably normal-blind too.  Is that what it’s called?  Normal-blind?   Here, let me show you. (SHE bends down and starts rummaging in her backpack.)

ROB:          So, anyway, this park has a curfew, so I really can’t allow you to stay in the park.

KATIE:      Here it is. (SHE pulls out the sweater.)  Isn’t it the worst?  She made me wear it whenever we went out in public together.  It was so humiliating!  At least Dennis wasn’t around to see it.  Dennis is the guy I like, he mows our lawn in the summer.  Of course, I was at Gran’s so I didn’t get to see him at all!  So, what’s with the curfew anyway?  I’ve never heard of a park closing before, not even in Gran’s small town.  I’m a legal adult, you know, curfews shouldn’t apply to me.

ROB:          I hate to scare you, Katie, but this curfew is in effect because there has been a series of murders lately.  It’s been all over the news, the entire state knows about it. There was a fourth one tonight, at this very park, the body was found a couple of hours ago.

KATIE:      Murders! Why didn’t you say so?  That is pretty scary, but isn’t it exciting.  It’s like something out of a TV show.  My Gran doesn’t have a TV.  It was a bummer.  I have a whole season worth of shows to catch up on before school starts.  But, that’s why I didn’t see it on the news.  I don’t read newspapers, they make my fingers dirty.  How’d they die?

ROB:          We think that tonight’s victim died of strangulation.  You don’t seem too concerned about this.

KATIE:      Why should I be?  I’m with a police officer.  Strangulation?  That’s kind of like suffocation, right?  When you can’t get enough air?  I thought I was gonna drown once.  I was under the water such a long time!  That was actually the first time I met Dennis.  He saved my life, just like you save lives.  I assume you have a gun. (ROB nods.)  Well, see, I’ll be perfectly safe.  I’m sure you got some other stuff too, you know, to catch a murderer.

ROB:          Ya, I got some rope.

KATIE:      I had to make rope this one time.  I was at Girl Scout camp.  My mom made me go.  I never really liked Scouts.  But we had to make these ropes, and then we had to tie them between these trees and then we’d throw this one tarp over it and make a tent.  It was just awful.  Luckily, they never made us sleep under them.  And they taught us all these knots, but I don’t remember any of ‘em.  Other than that, the rope was pretty useless, not even strong enough to make a swing.  How do you use a rope against a murderer, anyway?

ROB:          I could use it to hog-tie the victim.

KATIE:      Victim?  Oh, you mean the murder suspect.  I guess that might work, like, if you didn’t have hand-cuffs, or if you want to tie their legs so they can’t run away.  Do you have to carry hand-cuffs?

ROB:          I do.

KATIE:      I thought so.  It wouldn’t make sense for a policeman to not carry hand-cuffs.  I bet there’s a lot of stuff you have to carry around.  Like on your belt and stuff.  I bet you’re like Batman with that one utility belt of his.  I bet all that stuff slows you down.

ROB:          Well, we don’t carry around as much stuff as Batman, and really you get used to it all being there, you feel weird without it.

KATIE:      Like when you’re wearing a hat, like, all day, and you take it off and it still feels like it’s on your head?

ROB:          Ya, something like that.

KATIE:      I don’t really like hats though.  They not only give you messy hair, but they damage it in the long run, you know.  A lot of things can damage you’re hair.  Stuff you don’t even think about.  Like camping, all that smoke! It’s another reason I didn’t like Girl Scouts.  I could never imagine being a smoker either. Do you smoke?  (ROB shakes his head.)  That smoky smell never gets out of your clothes either.  It just lasts and lasts forever.  Just like my visit to Gran. Thatlasted forever and ever.  I’m so glad it’s over and I’ll be home in a few hours.  Back to real civilization!  If only this station wasn’t closed I could be there already!

ROB:          Now, from what you’ve told me you’ve been in this park since a little after midnight.

KATIE:      Ya, that’s right, there was a tie—

ROB:          That places you in the park around the approximate time we believe the murder occurred.

KATIE:      I’m not a suspect, am I?  You said it was a serial kill—

ROB:          I didn’t say there was a necessarily serial killer on the loose; I said we had a series of murders.  The police don’t know yet if they were done by just one person or a gang or if they are even related at all.  That means that you are a suspect.  You’ll have to come with me.  I’m afraid there is no way you will be getting home at all this morning.

KATIE:      I—I can’t be a suspect.  I’m innocent.

ROB:          If you are innocent, then you won’t mind coming with me.  If you have nothing to hide you should be perfectly fine. Right?

KATIE:      I guess.

ROB:          Besides, then I can show you my rope.

(ROB starts walking away from Katie towards the part of the park that borders some dense woods.  KATIE follows him.)

KATIE:      Geez, it’s sure dark over here.  I didn’t realize we were standing under a streetlight over there.  It sure makes a big difference.   I’m glad you have that big flashlight.  All I have is my cell phone.  Where are we going anyway?  Is your car parked in the woods?

ROB:          We’re not going to my car.

KATIE:      But—I thought—

ROB:          I said I wanted to show you my rope. (ROB pulls a length of rope out from behind his back. HE holds it taut level with Katie’s neck.)

        Curtain