Overcast in Orcheton by Milton Joseph

This Play is the copyright of the Author and must NOT be Performed without the Author's PRIOR consent

ACT I

This play takes place in the fictional village of Orcheton. It is a small, unassuming village with not much for people to do. It is only “famous” for the forests and the legendary storm pond. It is quite peaceful and the people here are very unique. The set is split into three parts: Orcheton School’s principal’s office, Base’s Cafe & Consulting Office, and a bench by the Acker-Diana Storm Pond.

PRINCIPAL TOWSACKS is seated within her office, working. STERLING BASE is at his cafe preparing to open up for the day. GRANT P. ANNO is sleeping on the bench, covered in garbage. A styrofoam/paper cup full of change and a backpack with all of GRANT’s belongings is next to the bench. Lights up. CLAIRE NETTE enters with a letter in her hands. CLAIRE reads it.

CLAIRE: “Goodbye, Orcheton. I’m writing this letter to everyone to say goodbye. I don’t know why I feel compelled to write this, but I am so here it is. This village and the people in it are all that I know. I was happy once, I think, but honestly, I don’t remember if I ever actually was. At some point, everything just became too much for me to handle. Spending time with my family was painful, so I would get away from home to do whatever, but the pain wouldn’t go away. Anywhere I went, no matter the distance, the pain wouldn’t go away. I wanted to run, but I had nowhere to run. Desperate to go with nowhere to go. I hate it. You might wonder why I didn’t just leave. That’s because I’m… afraid. I can’t explain why, but I feel stuck. Trapped. I can’t escape. I always feel like I’m suffocating but I can’t say or do anything about it. Well, couldn’t. I know nobody will understand or accept my decision. That’s fine because frankly, I don’t care what any of you think. I’m done. This is goodbye: Goodbye, Mom. Goodbye, Dad. Goodbye, Cornelio. Goodbye, Orcheton. Goodbye…”

CLAIRE exits. HARPER SIGURD enters, crossing through the storm pond. A gunshot from a hunting rifle rings out. HARPER is surprised and shaken by the sound. She exits hastily. SKYLA BONE enters. She throws a newspaper onto the trash pile on top of GRANT as she crosses. SKYLA exits. GRANT wakes up.

GRANT: [yawns] Oh, nice! Free newspaper! Hm? Whoa, where did this money come from? Let’s see… $1.85!? That’s a lot of money! People can be so generous. Looks like I’ll be eating well tonight! I might be able to afford a hot dog.

GRANT skims the newspaper briefly.

GRANT: …There’s that weird word again: “Lol.” I love that our sophisticated language continues to evolve to this day.

GRANT gets up and does a few stretches. Afterwards, he reaches into his bag and grabs a granola bar to eat for breakfast. He only eats half of it before putting it away to save the rest for later. CORNELIO “CORNE” NETTE enters.

GRANT: Ahh, what a beautiful day…

CORNE: “Beautiful”? What are you talking about, Grant?

GRANT: Oh, Corne! Top of the morning to you!

CORNE: Top of the morning.

GRANT: Don’t you agree that today is beautiful?

CORNE: Uh, no? It’s so overcast today.

GRANT: Overcast, huh? That term refers to a cloudy, gray sky I believe.

CORNE: Yeah. I learned that word from Need for Speed.

GRANT: What’s that?

CORNE: A racing game.

GRANT: A “racing game”?

CORNE: Yeah, it’s… you know what, never mind. Explaining things to you is a pain.

GRANT: Aw, that’s a shame. I believe that it’s important for one to strive for more knowledge so I really appreciate it when you teach me new things.

CORNE: But you’re an old man. Why do you want to learn things?

GRANT: God, am I really old enough to be called an old man already?

CORNE: Yes, you are. Maybe your age is messing with your sight.

GRANT: I see just fine, Corne. I probably have 20/20 vision.

CORNE: Then how could you possibly look at this sky and unironically describe today as a beautiful day?

GRANT: I don’t know how to describe it. It’s just how I feel.

CORNE: You perplex me sometimes, Grant.

GRANT: “Overcast…” I like that word. It makes it sound like God is casting a blessing over us. Today may be dull and colorless, but it’s only like that so that the future can be even more vibrant.

CORNE: You really have a way of twisting the negative into something positive.

GRANT: Didn’t you know? Optimism is a natural gift that we angels have been given.

CORNE: Isn’t calling yourself an angel a form of blasphemy or something?

GRANT: I don’t know. I don’t go to church.

SKYLA, with hands full of groceries, enters. SKYLA gasps in horror.

SKYLA: Get away from him!!!

GRANT: Ah, top of the morning to you, Skyla!

SKYLA drops the groceries and pulls CORNE away from GRANT.

GRANT: Hey, it’s not good to waste food!

CORNE: What are you doing, lady!?

SKYLA: Young man! You have to be careful around this… thing!

GRANT: Oh, so I’m just a thing now?

CORNE: What are you talking about? Grant’s harmless.

SKYLA: “Harmless”? Just how naive are the children in this village…?

GRANT: Not everyone knows the things that you do, Skyla-

SKYLA: Don’t you dare say my name, you creep! Come with me. I’ll take you somewhere safe. It seems I need to educate the youth of today about Grant P. Anno’s crimes.

CORNE: “Crimes”…?

GRANT: Yes, I’m actually quite sinister and evil. Boo!

CORNE: Let me go, lady!

CORNE escapes from SKYLA’s grasp.

CORNE: I don’t have time to talk to you, nor do I want to! I have plans for today.

SKYLA: I’m doing this for your sake, young man! I’m just trying to make sure you don’t go down the wrong path-

CORNE: I told you to leave me alone! I bet you know nothing about Grant!

SKYLA: I could say the same thing to you! Treating this thing with kindness will only cause you trouble!

CORNE: Grant is my friend! I don’t know what crimes he may have committed, but I’ve known him for long enough to know that I can trust him.

GRANT: …Thank you, Cornelio.

CORNE: Don’t say my whole name, it’s creepy.

SKYLA: Of all things to call him creepy for…

CORNE: I have to get going. See you later, Grant! Lady, please stop harassing him!

CORNE heads over to the cafe and takes a seat. BASE takes CORNE’s order and makes him some coffee.

SKYLA: Grant P. Anno.

GRANT: The only other person who has called me by my full name is my mother.

SKYLA: Shut up! Look, at the moment I have accepted the fact that you’re just going to exist in the village. I’ve accepted it, sure.

GRANT: Did you need to say that twice-

SKYLA: But if you do anything to the children… just know that I will take action!

SKYLA picks up her groceries and exits. If she leaves any groceries behind, GRANT picks it up and puts it in his bag.

GRANT: Wow, she’s still as scary as always. But at least she hasn’t lost her sense of justice. You’ve grown into a fine woman, Skyla.

GRANT takes a deep breath, cleans up the bench, and grabs all of his stuff. He takes a notebook out of his backpack.

GRANT: Alright, what’s on the agenda today? Let’s see… alright! I guess I’ll start by searching the trash cans around town.

GRANT exits. HARPER knocks on the door to the principal’s office.

TOWSACKS: Come in.

HARPER enters the office anxiously, still shaken from the gunshot.

TOWSACKS: Ah, Ms. Harper Sigurd. I’ve been expecting you. Welcome to Orcheton School! I’m Principal Towsacks. I’ve been looking forward to your arrival here.

HARPER and TOWSACKS shake hands.

HARPER: Thank you for having me. Um, sorry if my hands are sweaty, I’m a little nervous.

TOWSACKS: No worries. I understand how it feels to move to an unknown place. Even to this day, I still feel anxious every time I leave the village on business, so I understand-

HARPER: Oh, sorry, that’s, uh, not what I’m nervous about. Well, okay, I guess that’s part of it. Um, sorry, I interrupted you.

TOWSACKS: Take a deep breath. Okay, tell me what has caused you to be so nervous.

HARPER: Well, I was fine on my way here, but then… there was a gunshot and I got scared.

TOWSACKS: …oh, is that all? [laughs]

HARPER: Um, sorry!

TOWSACKS: You apologize too much. Ms. Sigurd, you don’t have to worry about any of those gunshots you hear. There’s a forest nearby that is very popular for hunters. It’s not so unusual to hear the sound of a rifle on occasion.

HARPER: Oh, I see.

TOWSACKS: Are you more relaxed now, Ms. Sigurd?

HARPER: Yes, thank you.

TOWSACKS: Good. Now, let’s get down to business. As you should be aware, Orcheton is quite a small village. Because of this, we only have this one school for all grades. This village is very peaceful, so normally we don’t have any problems. However, several years back, we experienced a certain incident that changed things in this school. Most of our original staff members left immediately after the fact and it’s been a revolving door of new teachers ever since. At some points, we even had to resort to bringing in volunteers from the community to teach despite their lack of teaching experience and expertise. Frankly, I find the current state of this school unacceptable. I firmly believe that schools need real teachers that can provide the students with the education that they require. In particular, our school would truly benefit from an individual who has been trained from a more notable place outside of this village. Therefore, I searched for someone who was neither attached to anyone in this village nor to Ocheton itself. That is where you come in, Ms. Sigurd.

HARPER: Wow, I’m really feeling the pressure right now.

TOWSACKS: I know I’m throwing a lot of my own expectations onto you right now.

HARPER: That’s fine! Um, it’s just that I’m not very experienced yet, to be honest. I’ve only taught for a year so far, so I don’t know how much I can-

TOWSACKS: Oh, you don’t have to worry about that. You’re our only option anyway.

HARPER: Oh, I see… so I’m being hired by default.

TOWSACKS: Don’t think of that as a bad thing, Ms. Sigurd. I’m close friends with your mother.

HARPER: You are?

TOWSACKS: Indeed. I met her a few years back on a business trip. She told me about you and how you were striving to become a teacher. I took that opportunity to recruit you!

HARPER: Even though you hadn’t met me before?

TOWSACKS: Yes! After all, you must be an incredible person with a mother like her. Of course, I just threw my desire out there without thinking much would come of it. After all, I was essentially asking her to dump her only daughter in the middle of nowhere. So to think that you actually showed up here. I never would’ve expected that!

HARPER: How am I supposed to react to this…?

TOWSACKS: Therefore, you don’t need to worry about anything! I’ve known your mother for a long time so I’m sure I can trust you!

HARPER: That seems kind of… reckless. Um, sorry.

TOWSACKS: I told you, you apologize too much. Ms. Sigurd, I want to be completely open with you. I know this might be a bit careless of me, seeing that I could potentially scare you away, but that’s a risk that I am willing to take. So with all of that out of the way, do you have anything you want to ask me?

HARPER: Well… could you go into more detail about why you were looking for someone from outside of Orcheton specifically? I feel like there’s something more to it.

TOWSACKS: My, you’re quite perceptive. It wasn’t that I simply wanted someone to come from out of town… I wanted someone from a big city.

HARPER: Someone from a big city?

TOWSACKS: Yes. See, immediately after the incident from those years ago, everyone in this school began to feel uneasy. To this day, there remains this uncomfortable tension between the students and teachers that continues to put a huge strain on this school.

HARPER: You keep bringing up that incident. What exactly happened here?

TOWSACKS: Let’s see… about ten years ago now, a lot of things happened and at the end of it all, a student committed suicide.

CORNE: And I think that’s complete bull!

BASE: Alright, Mr. Nette. Calm down.

CORNE: Sorry. It’s just that I still refuse to believe that she would do that!

BASE: Do you have a reason for believing that?

CORNE: …I know that saying it’s because I’m her brother isn’t enough to justify my belief, but something about her disappearance just rubs me the wrong way.

BASE: I see. So? Why are you talking to me about this?

CORNE: Don’t play dumb! This stupid front you have here selling coffee won’t keep me from knowing that you’re still a private detective!

BASE: Whoa, hey, okay, don’t call this cafe a front. Besides, I clearly advertise my PI work. The sign out there does say, “Base’s Cafe & Consultation Office,” right?

CORNE: I suppose that’s true. What’s the point of this coffee stand anyway?

BASE: This cafe is a legitimate business that I run practically out of necessity.

CORNE: Yeah, right. And can you even call this a cafe when you mainly sell alcohol here?

BASE: What are you getting at?

CORNE: Well, I mean, shouldn’t you call this a bar instead?

BASE: No.

CORNE: But-

BASE: I said no, alright? Listen, detectives don’t make that much money, kid. Especially in a village like this. I run this cafe and sell what I do here so that I can make a living.

CORNE: That’s really sad, actually. I’m sorry.

BASE: I don’t need your sympathy. We’ve gotten way off topic, kid. What do you want?

CORNE: More coffee, please.

BASE: I mean from me! What do you want from me?

CORNE: You make the coffee, don’t you?

BASE: Fine, I’ll get your damn coffee! Geez.

CORNE: As for what I actually want from you…

BASE: So you did know what I meant, asshole.

CORNE: …I’ve heard a lot about you. You’re the greatest detective to have ever worked in this village. And I know that a detective needs a great assistant. See, there’s a certain case that remains unresolved, and I want you to handle it! Unfortunately, I don’t have a lot of spending money since I’m only a high schooler and my parents don’t give enough of a damn about me to give me an allowance…

BASE: It doesn’t help that you're spending the money you do have on my coffee.

CORNE: …So to compensate you, I’ll do everything in my own power to support you with this case! Please, I… I need to know the truth of what happened to my sister!

BASE: You’re quite an ambitious kid, huh?

CORNE: Please! I’m begging you!

BASE: Oh, would you look at the time! I’ve got some business to attend to-

CORNE: Hire me! I’ll work at this bar!

BASE: It’s a cafe!

CORNE: Whatever! I’ll work here!

BASE: Sorry, but I’m not hiring-

CORNE: I’ll do it for free!

BASE: …For free?

CORNE: Yes! I said I’d do anything, right?

BASE: That’s an appealing offer. Alright, watch the place for me, then.

CORNE: So you’ll do it!?

BASE: I’ve got something to do right now. It’s important, if you catch my drift.

CORNE: Thank you, Detective Base!

BASE: Thanks are unnecessary, Mr. Nette. Now, it’s time to look for the mayor’s cat.

CORNE: …What?