Shopping

Write a very short sketch in which two characters shop for a present for a wedding, attend the wedding and visit the home where the gift resides five years later. Use a little dialogue. Now change the order. What is the effect of the different order of events?



'She wouldn't like that and she sure as hell wouldn't like that. Way too tacky', Jarrod exclaims pointing first at a dining table then at a knife and fork set.
'What do you get for the people that have everything?', I mumble under my breath,
'They did say not to bring anything, Shazza', I add excitedly.
'Yeah, but you know Toz and Jok, they are going to expect something from us, I mean you know what they got us for our wedding..' He says, with his back to me.
'Oh, right, what did they get us again?' I ask somewhat confused.
He shakes his head at me and tutts. We decide on getting them a gift voucher for a local furniture store.

Driving along in the Limo, I stare off out of the window, the road is pocketed with pot holes and what not. Grocers, pawn shop, meat shop, furniture shop and a jewellers. This town is nothing special, a few shops, couple of hundred people and pretty much nothing else, just routine.
The scrambling out of the car, followed by the sermon flow on almost endlessly, i take no notice. Being a bridesmaid means nothing to me, just having to dance with the Best Man and having to look spiffy for the second time in my life, the first being my wedding.The reception is full of the same old people, the same old alcohol, the same old smell, nothing's changed and I doubt that it ever will. This certainly isin't what I want to do for the rest of my life. After sitting there for hours, it's all over, not a tead shed that night, suprisingly.



Driving through this town again, after a while maybe a couple of years, can't remember, nothing's changed. All that has seemed to change is the amount of pot holes in the road, I swear that they have multiplied a million times, every few seconds there is a bump. I decide to call in on the last people that I remember seeing here, Toz and Jok. They now live on a ridge just outside town, or so I've heard. Clearing the town, I spot a house, just like they described it, placed on the hill. I'm sure that it would have looked great a few years ago, but it's become derelict. Tiles have shimmied off the roof, grass almost knee height, door half swinging off the hinges and the verandah half painted.
Pulling up in the driveway, stepping out onto the ground, my heels dig into the soil, leaving little patterns. I wander up to the house, wary of the possibilities of snakes in the grass but figuring that if they bite anything, its most likely going to be my heels - I'm not too worried.Knocking on the door, it swings open, termites infested in the wood, holes scattered throughout the door I can almost see through it. It is dark inside, nappies strewn everywhere, clusters of beer cans litter the floor and a half eaten chicken roast left on the table, flies buzzing around it. Why is the place like this, I wonder, everyone said that it was beautiful, what happened?

Walking into the kitchen, my heels clicking on the floor, creating clean patches, somewhat removing a few of the layers of dead skin. I see a person gripping the handle of a cup, head on the table, hair limp and greasy, spread over the head and arms. Noticing something in the doorway, the figure looks up, it's Toz, her eyes are shrunken in her head, black bags under them, lips thin and wing blast cracked. For a moment we do not recognise each other. She mutters my name and gets up to hug me. The smell of urine fills the air, it gets closer as she moves nearer. Looking her up and down I see that she has stains on her tattered night gown. Hugging me slightly, the smell of urine is overpowering, now I know that it is her, she smells! A wave of disbelief washes over me.
She takes my hand and shows me around the house. Each room gets worse as we go through. She has two kids, a boy and a girl, both run around naked. I ask where Jok is, in return I get a icy stare and she mutters that an answer.
'He is in Gaol for murdering one of the kids', she exclaims in a low voice,'I though that you would have known about it all, it was all over the news for weeks.'
Shaking my head, I look at her.
'After you left, just after the wedding, it just kept going down hill, he began abusing me, destroying everything, he left with nothing, except one thing and that was this..' Her voice trailing off into the next room, begging me to follow.
Hesitantly I follow her, her back turned away from me, she slowly looks around, when it catches her eye, she picks it up and hands it to me.
'What is it?', I ask, it looks like nothing, or at least like nothing special.
'It's what you and Jarrod gave me for our wedding, I know that you guys got a divorce, but I'm just going to say that the present that we got with the voucher just made my day'

She says, her eyes piercing mine.It's a box, well I think that its a box, brown and wooden, there is latch, opening it, I see a picture of them together frame and the wedding rings placed separatly. A feeling of relief surges through me, at least it is nothing scary I think, a bit happier. A noise comes from outside, Toz looks up, almost afraid and starts ushering my out of the house, grabbing the box from my hands, chucking it to the ground. Something is wrong, I can sense it, she is trying to push me out of the back door. I lose my balance, losing a heel, she pushes me out the door, without noticing, closing the door behind me.I hear voices coming from inside, slowly opening the door, wanting to grab my shoe, the voice becomes recognisable.
Stepping into my heel and walking towards the kitchen, heels still making clopping noises, I walk into the space, realising who the voice belonged to. He has his arms around her, lips locked onto hers, eyes closed until I enter the room. When he sees me, he lets go of her, a look of suprise on his face. It's him. Jarrod. Walking up to her, who is completly oblivious to my presence, I whisper in her ear.'How could you? I hope that you rot in hell you lying bitch, I hope that Satan eats your soul and that you never find happiness again', bile rises in my throat and I walk out. AHe comes running after me screaming 'I was going to tell you!'.I get into my car and drive away, making a vow to myself to never come back again.