Truck Stop

by Lachlan Philpott

KELLY: Na. He’ll just make up some story.

  SAM: When did you find out your parents lie?

  KELLY: You serious?

  SAM: Yeah. When did you realise?

  KELLY: I don’t know. Why you asking that?

  SAM: Dunno. Just thinking about it. How they tell. How the truck driver tells his boss and his wife and shit.

  KELLY: How they tell the kids about the dog.

  SAM: No point telling kids that. Why would you tell them their dog got crushed?

  Just say chocolate’s bad for dogs.

  They laugh.

  KELLY: Nat’s party on the weekend. She sent me a text today.

  SAM: She didn’t send me one.

  KELLY: Facebook?

  SAM: Nothing. Not even a fucking poke. Not going to her party. Don’t care if her parents have gone away and the whole of her new school is going. Haven’t heard from her and I don’t give a shit. Fucking stuck up bitch. She thinks she’s moved to Summer Bay. Take Aisha with you /

  KELLY: Don’t /

  SAM: She’ll film it for her mates back home. Curries must all have boring fucking lives if the best thing they can do is sit around and watch what she’s filmed in this dump.

  KELLY: She just misses them Sam. Like we miss Nat.

  SAM: I don’t miss Nat. Take Curry. I’m not going.

  Take her stinky mum too. She can look at everyone like they’ve got / three heads.

  AISHA enters.

  AISHA: Hi.

  KELLY: Hi Aish.

  SAM: What do you want?

  KELLY: Sam!

  SAM: What? What do you want Aish?

  AISHA: I hang out with you guys.

  SAM: We’re not guys. We don’t have dicks.

  KELLY: Sam.

  AISHA: What’s the problem? Have I done something?

  SAM: Suppose Nat’s been in touch with you too has she? Saw you two are friends on facebook even though you have never met.

  AISHA: She asked me.

  SAM: I bet she did.

  AISHA: What was I meant to do? Ignore her?

  SAM: You going Saturday night? To Nat’s.

  AISHA: Not allowed.

  SAM: So why should that stop you?

  SAM: Do our friendships mean something to you?

  AISHA: Yeah.

  SAM: Then figure it out.

  AISHA goes.

  KELLY: So you gonna come as well?

  SAM: Yeah.

  KELLY: Sam. About Aish…

  It was you who got her to be a skank.

  SAM: Her name started with an A.

  KELLY: Yeah.

  SAM: And I thought I’d give her a go.

  KELLY: Then give her a go.

  SAM goes. KELLY is alone. We hear the following radio conversation.

  MERCER: This is Love Song Dedications and I’ve got Charmaine on the line. How are you on this chilly night Charmaine?

  CHARMAINE: I’m doing alright Richard.

  MERCER: You don’t sound like you are.

  CHARMAINE: No.

  MERCER: What’s been happening Charmaine?

  CHARMAINE: Things have been a bit tough lately Richard.

  MERCER: That’s not good Charmaine.

  CHARMAINE: No it’s not.

  MERCER: And is there someone out there who could make things better?

  CHARMAINE: Yes.

  MERCER: You think he might be listening tonight?

  CHARMAINE: I don’t know.

  MERCER/CHARMAINE: You can hope / I can hope.

  MERCER: There’s always hope.

  CHARMAINE: We used to listen to your show together Richard. After we’d had our tea.

  MERCER: I’m sure you’ll listen together again Charmaine. And if that person out there is listening right now, what would you like to say?

  CHARMAINE: I’d like to say I miss you Tom. Nothing is the same now. Without you. We should have tried harder. [Savage Garden ‘Truly Madly Deeply’ plays softly.] We could have spoken about things more and if you come back…

  We hear CHARMAINE break down. KELLY goes.

  AISHA dances in front of the mirror. She practises moves for the party and sings along.

  The music stops.

  INDHU: What sort of party? Who are you going with? Who’s going to be there?

  AISHA: My brother stops, a shadow in the doorway.

  INDHU: Aisha?

  AISHA: He stares at me, at what I’m wearing,

  INDHU: Aisha?

  AISHA: Listens to me lie, goes to his room to sit in the lonesome glow of Call of Duty.

  INDHU: You’re not wearing that are you?

  AISHA: What do you expect me to wear Mum?

  R and B music. SAM and KELLY dress provocatively for NAT’s party.

  SAM/KELLY: Then.

  SAM: We meet up at Kelly’s.

  KELLY: Mum’s got stuff for us for the party

  SAM: My mum’d never do that the bitch.

  KELLY holds up UDLs in a shopping bag.

  UDLs?

  KELLY: Better than nothing.

  SAM gets a message.

  SAM: Trent wants to see my tits again.

  KELLY: He’s fully boring. He should shove the camera up his arse.

  SAM: Look at what he sent me…

  They look at the phone screen and scream. AISHA arrives.

  KELLY: Where you been?

  AISHA: Cross-examination.

  KELLY: Did the Hillsong story work?

  AISHA: Yep.

  SAM: You can’t wear that. You need sexifying.

  KELLY: I’ve got shit you can wear. Come on.

  Music gets louder. KELLY and AISHA go. SAM dances and drinks quickly.

  AISHA returns dressed in CHARMAINE’s porn star t-shirt and a skirt that resembles a napkin.

  SAM: The Bombay Bitch! Photo!

  The pose for a photo.

  ALL: SKANKS!

  SAM: Walk to the station for the five o’clock train.

  KELLY: Aisha watches out for her mum.

  SAM: She wouldn’t recognise you hey?

  AISHA: Then just before we go up the steps for the train. Outside the tattoo shop.

  SAM points.

  SAM: Fuck Aish, it’s your mum!

  AISHA freezes.

  Just kidding.

  Frozen curry.

  AISHA: You bitch.

  SAM: Got ya!

  KELLY: And we’re off!

  AISHA: Train moves closer to the city the distant high rises takes shape singing /

  The girls sing the chorus of ‘We R Who We R’ by Ke$ha. They stop singing suddenly. They all drink UDLs and stare.

  KELLY: Girl with a pram. Look.

  It’s Tatum.

  SAM: It’s not.

  SAM/KELLY: It is.

  KELLY: Tatum with her kid.

  SAM: She’s ignoring us.

  KELLY: Maybe we look so hot she doesn’t recognise us.

  KELLY smiles, waves.

  Tatum shows off the kid. What’s his name?

  TATUM: Bailey.

  KELLY: He’s fast asleep.

  SAM: It’s like he’s made of plastic.

  TATUM: Not when he shits.

  KELLY: Kid opens his eyes.

  TATUM: It hurt when I had him.

  SAM: She tells us she and Jed are happy.

  TATUM: He’s got an apprenticeship now. I was gonna come back to school but…

  KELLY: She doesn’t even ask where we’re going. Train stops. She gets off.

  They watch her leave.

  SAM: She used to be real pretty you know.

  KELLY: She still looks okay.

  SAM: Na. She’s fat as fuck.

  KELLY: Needs a personal trainer.

  SAM: And some decent clothes.

  KELLY: Wonder why she called him Bailey?

  SAM: She was eyeing off our UDLs.

  KELLY: What would it feel like to be pregnant you reckon?

  SAM: You’d have to be pretty fucking dumb to have a kid. You know what I’m saying.

&n
bsp; AISHA: Some guy in a hoodie stares at the three of us…

  SAM: What is this, staring Saturday?

  KELLY: Look away.

  SAM: Why should I?

  KELLY: Easier.

  SAM: Why can’t he?

  KELLY: Let’s change carriages.

  SAM: The douchebag follows.

  KELLY: Stares at Aisha now like he’s a spy been sent by her mum.

  AISHA: He’s not Indian.

  KELLY: We’ve been drinking fast.

  SAM: Last UDL. Scull it Aish!

  AISHA sculls.

  KELLY: Change trains.

  AISHA/SAM: Wait.

  KELLY: Change trains.

  AISHA/SAM: Wait.

  KELLY: Bus.

  AISHA: Walk.

  SAM: After three hours we get to the end of Nat’s street in Narrabeen.

  AISHA: It’s colder here. Wind coming from the sea.

  KELLY: None of us brought nothing warm.

  AISHA: Car drives past and beeps and then… Hear that?

  SAM: THE PARTY!

  KELLY: Music belts and a girl screams and some guys shouting.

  AISHA: Three balloons out the front of number 52. We’re here.

  SAM/KELLY: Nat screams.

  KELLY: Runs up to hug us.

  SAM: Smells of vomit and cigarettes and something sweet, musk?

  ALL: Took us three hours to get here.

  KELLY: People laugh when we tell them that.

  AISHA: Some guy called Robbo shouts out:

  ROBBO: Did youz hear how long it took for the westie chicks to get here?

  KELLY: Nat laughs.

  SAM: Rub our noses in it hey? Tell us how much better it is living here /

  KELLY: How much better the shops are /

  SAM: How much hotter the guys are ’cause they go surfing instead of drive about the streets.

  KELLY: People ask how we know Nat.

  SAM: Like it’s some reunion film and she left St Mary’s 20 years ago.

  KELLY: And thanks, Sam, you’re telling everyone about how we all met. What happened to me in year four, story of blood on the seat in the classroom and no guy goes near me after that wish you wouldn’t /

  SAM: That dude’s hitting on me. Keeps /

  KELLY: What?

  SAM: Keeps staring at my tits and… can you leave me alone for a bit?

  KELLY: What?

  SAM: Fuck. You heard! Don’t follow me okay?

  SAM makes eyes at the dude and vanishes.

  AISHA: Nat’s house has a big garden with palm trees and a view of water.

  KELLY: People seem alright.

  AISHA: Guys keep giving me drinks.

  KELLY: You’re drinking a lot Aish.

  AISHA: So?

  KELLY: Every time I see you you’re holding some new drink.

  AISHA: Let me have some fun.

  KELLY: And the music goes up / it’s loud the beat.

  AISHA: It’s loud the beat like a heart under your feet.

  KELLY: Aisha having fun alright she’s dancing in the middle of it.

  SAM comes back.

  SAM: She’s dancing like a stripper.

  KELLY: Where you been?

  SAM: All these guys watching Aisha.

  KELLY: It’s no wonder ’cause she’s really hot wish I could film this for her so she could see how the guys are looking at her wish I could film it so she could send it back to her friends.

  SAM: This blond surfer guy looking at Aisha and they’re smiling at each other and he’s leaning in to kiss her.

  KELLY: She’s pashing this guy and everyone’s cheering.

  SAM: She’s all over him, people asking where she’s from and they’re all singing Jai Ho.

  KELLY: Music louder someone puts on that song. / Jai Ho, you are my destiny

  SAM: Jai Ho, you are my destiny.

  KELLY: Everyone dancing.

  SAM: Chicks doing waterfall.

  KELLY: Song ends.

  SAM/KELLY: Aisha disappears.

  KELLY: Hand on my shoulder. Nat. Drunk. Tells me / she needs to talk.

  NAT: I need to talk.

  KELLY: We sit in her mum and dad’s room on the velvet bedspread, noise from the party everywhere but quiet on the bed.

  Nat looks at herself in the mirror and then at me and then a tear runs down her face.

  A bottle of vodka between us and she bawls. Nat?

  Nat? What’s wrong? You can tell me…

  But she just sits there crying. Doesn’t say a word.

  SAM: I come in and see you both. / Seeing Nat crying makes me mad.

  KELLY: Seeing Nat crying me with my arm around her makes her say:

  SAM: You’re fucking sick. You lezzos.

  KELLY: Why you always mad at everything Sam? We’re just /

  AISHA: And outside, I’m grinding and kissing this guy with big lips don’t know his name and he’s telling me I’m pretty, he’s telling me I’m hot and he’s asking if it’s true what’s on my t-shirt.

  SAM: Trent sends me a filthy text / he says

  AISHA: He says you want another shot, asks if I want to come to another party /

  SAM: Trent saying he wishes he was there ’cause he’d tit fuck me /

  AISHA: Some mate of his turning twenty-one there’ll be cocaine /

  SAM: Want to see my cum around your pretty neck /

  AISHA: Smiles at me asks do you like / blow?

  SAM: / Blow all over your tits babe.

  AISHA: Do I like blow?

  SAM: Send him back a pic of my eye.

  AISHA: He grins and gets me another drink.

  SAM: Send him a pic of my ear and my hand my leg my wrist my elbow /

  AISHA: He runs his hand through my hair.

  SAM: Send him the pics and then I write a text. I say this is me too Trent.

  AISHA: He kisses me. His tongue pushes against mine, soft at first then harder, he licks my ear whispers I’m Jasper.

  SAM: See the pics of my eyes and ears and hands and my elbows?

  I’m more than just two tits Trent. I’m /

  AISHA: Jasper asks me if I want a shot of tequila. Lick sip suck he says. He’s grinning. I lick sip suck. Then I throw up in the bushes. Jasper sees me chuck and leaves. Doesn’t say goodbye.

  KELLY: Party dying. Look through the front window at a group of guys bursting the balloons out front as they go.

  SAM: Guys are such pigs. Beer bottles everywhere.

  KELLY: Cigarette burn on the toilet seat.

  SAM: Broken chair.

  KELLY: Bonsai toppled, dirt spilled in the hall.

  SAM: Aisha’s phone rings. / Ya mum.

  KELLY: Ya mum. Sam’s phone rings. Trent.

  SAM: / Trent.

  SAM/AISHA: Turn it off.

  KELLY: Silent. Sam, Nat, Aish and me left.

  KELLY: We climb up and sit on Nat’s roof. We can see the moon on the sea, two yellow lights twinkle out on the water. Look like /

  SAM: Eyes.

  AISHA: Apricots.

  NAT: Diamonds.

  KELLY: Lovers.

  SAM: Lovers? How do they look like lovers?

  KELLY: They just do… Two lovers sitting there quietly together… you know.

  The girls laugh then sit on the roof, still, quiet. We hear insects which morph into the sounds of CB radio, a train.

  Train ride back.

  No-one speaks for ages then Sam goes up the end of the train to ring Trent. Make up.

  AISHA: I get off the train with Kelly. Two ugly guys at the tattoo shop stare.

  We hear a wolf whistle.

  KELLY/AISHA: Let’s run.

  AISHA: We run. Stop outside the church. My head.

  KELLY: Change back into your Hillsong clothes.

  AISHA: Walk up our street, hear the buzz of the big grey power tower that’s behind our house in place of a tree, and all the trucks speeding past on the freeway just want to slip in the back door but Dad’s out the front, claps his hands, then mum’s there asking /


  INDHU: How was the church party? What songs did you sing, what did they feed you, were there any nice boys?

  AISHA: My head pounds.

  INDHU: Did you make some films? Can I see them?

  AISHA: I’m tired, show you later.

  INDHU: But I told you. We’re going to the Guptas’ today for a barbeque.

  AISHA: The Guptas’?

  AISHA grimaces.

  SAM: I get off the train and Chelsea Mills is there on the platform that stuck up bitch on her way to dance class. She looks at me like I’m a dog and asks me you still dancing? and then she asks did you hear I won the tap eisteddfod?

  The tap eisteddfod?

  Bollywood music crackles.

  AISHA: I’m full of aloo gobi and Mrs Gupta’s questions. Mum sighs as she asks:

  INDHU: Did I tell you I met Shahrukh Khan?

  AISHA: We’ve heard before Mum. What are we walking clichés?

  Mum and Mrs Gupta give me the look.

  INDHU: Respect young lady. If there is not respect then there is /

  AISHA: Yeah? What? I storm off, hide in the bathroom replay last night back in my head. Jasper smiles, dances over to me, his ringlets, his smile, his blue eyes… And this time I don’t vomit on the bushes and he doesn’t have anywhere else to go. We sit on the rooftop, hold hands stare out at the apricots at sea. Then we kiss.

  SAM: Get home and Dad says how was the party Princess? They’ve been to Bunnings and bought a new leaf blower and a mulcher and… I go straight to my room. Slam the door. Stand in front of the mirror, press play and…

  Fuck you Chelsea Mills.

  She dances.

  KELLY: Get home, Mum sitting on the couch staring at the TV—she couldn’t be watching that shit. She smokes and pours a wine from a cask into a coffee cup and she’s about to speak only I’m not in the mood. Don’t want to hear her.

  CHARMAINE: Kel?

  KELLY: I walk.

  CHARMAINE: Kelly?

  KELLY: Go to my room and slam it shut. Lie on my bed, Rihanna on the back of the door, wrapped in an American flag pouts at me.

  Turn on the computer, shut the blinds, charge my phone, footsteps in the hallway. Rihanna shakes a little bit as Mum knocks on the door. Mum stands in my doorway crying.

  Why you crying? Did Bruce leave you? He’s a loser anyway.

  CHARMAINE: You need to give him a chance Kelly.

  KELLY: I kick off my boot and it hits the wall.

  Give him a chance? Did you ask me if he could move in?

  CHARMAINE: It’s my house Kelly.

  KELLY: It’s Dad’s house.

  CHARMAINE: Not anymore. I can do what I like so you better be nice to him.

  KELLY: Nice to him? You know what? Bruce is ugly. Not just his face or the way he smells but something inside him is ugly too. Don’t you see the way he looks at me? He’s like a cockroach come to get whatever scraps he can get from the trash. What does that make you?