The Day of Rebecca

The Day of Rebecca, or Dear Sister Without the Sister, is a play I wrote for myself and the other kids in the neighborhood to act out. I let each of them choose their own names and distinguishing characteristics about themselves. I was Rebecca, Brian was Jack, Rachel was Jessica, but I can’t remember who the other two were. Probably Paige and Aimee. I imagine this takes place in the same fictional Oregon town as Dear Sister and Jimmy Dearest. They have the same police force at any rate.

The Day of Rebecca
Written summer 1996
Age 12

Characters: Jack, Rachel, Rebecca, Elizabeth, Jessica. [Yes, I snickered to myself that two of the girls who had never read Sweet Valley chose the names Elizabeth and Jessica.]

Act 1, Scene 1

(Before school)

Rebecca: Where have you been, Jessica? I’ve been waiting here forever.
Jessica: I’ve been out on a date with Aaron.
Rebecca: All night? I think I’m going to be hearing about this for a long time.
Jessica: Your thoughts are correct. [This is a little risqué for girls 12 and 11 years old.]
Jack: (walking up) Hi guys.
Jessica & Rebecca: Hi Jacki.
Jack: Don’t call me Jacki! I’m better than everyone. My smile brightens everybody’s day wherever I go. [Haven’t we heard this before?]
Rebecca: Not mine.
Jack: I’ll choose to do you a faver, Rebecca, and forget that you ever said that to me.
Rebecca: Oh give me a break. (Jessica starts giggling and Elizabeth walks up)
Elizabeth: (with a big smile on her face) Hello, everybody, guess where I just came from?
Jessica & Jack: Where?
Elizabeth: I just got done helping at the homeless shelter.
Rebecca: At eight in the morning? (Jessica giggles)
Elizabeth: It was the breakfast rush.
Jessica: (Still giggling, Jack cracks a smile on his face but Rebecca still remains solemn.) Can you not just turn the perk down an itty bitty bit?
Elizabeth: What’s a perk. (Jack and Jessica giggle)
Jack: You, Elizabeth.
Elizabeth: I’m a perk? [Single most memorable moment of this literary work. I actually still quote this sometimes.]
Jessica: Yeah, you’re a perk.
Elizabeth: But what’s a perk?
Rebecca: A perk isn’t a what, it’s a thing. And that thing just happens to be your personality problems.
Elizabeth: I have personality problems. (Jack and Jessica start laughing) What’s so funny?
Jack: You, Elizabeth. You’re funny. Do I have to spell it out for you?
Elizabeth: I’m gonna tell my mommy what you said.
Jack: You are 14 year old. Do you really have to act like such a baby?
Elizabeth: I’m not a baby. I’m a big girl.
Jessica: You are not!
Elizabeth: I am too!
Jessica: Are not!
Elizabeth: Am too!
Jessica: Not!
Elizabeth: Too!
Rachel: (walks up and steps between them) Will you two stop arguing like little babies?
Jessica: What are you doing here, Rachel?
Rachel: I have every right to be here!
Rebecca: (still frowning) You do not.
Rachel: I do too!
Rebecca: No, you don’t. It’s not your property. It’s Jessica’s, Rachel. [Probably Jessica’s parents.]
Rachel: Well, if you don’t stop criticizing me, I’ll tell my mom.
Rebecca: No, I’m not. If I were criticizing you I would have insulted you. And informing you of state law does not qualify for criticizing you, so stop wrongly accusing me, okay.
Jack: Hah, that’s what you get for poking your big nose into other peoples business. And now I’d like to know if we could all peacefully attend school together?
Elizabeth: My thoughts exactly.
Jessica: We’re off to go to school, with horrible, terrible Rachel. [I’m thinking Paige was Rachel. We were kind of mean to Paige. Which leaves Aimee as Elizabeth.]

Act 2, Scene 1

(After school)

Rebecca: (looking at the sky) Do you want to go to the mall, Jess?
Jessica: Okay. Why not?
Rebecca: Why not, indeed. (They take a taxi over, and it waits)

Act 2, Scene 2
(At the mall)

Rebecca: (Looking at a pair of trendy kind of boots with a wry smile on her face) Don’t you just love those boots, Jessica?

[Which back in 1996, might've looked something like these...]

Jessica: (looking mad) I saw them first, so stop drooling over them, and look at something you can afford. [Nice one.]
Rebecca: (sarcastically) But with them, I’ll be as popular as you.
Jessica: (Angrily) No you will not. No one--and I reapeat--no one will ever be as popular as me.
Rebecca: Oh, really? And how’s that?
Jessica: Because I’m too perfect for words, while ther not? [A little conceited, aren’t we, Jess? I wonder who I modeled you after…]
Rebecca: Haven’t you ever heard of sarcasm? (Jessica looks at her strangely) And besides, how can you be so sure that you’re so wonderful and perfect that no one will ever be better?
Jessica: What do you mean?
Rebecca: I’m just saying that you can’t garantee that you’ll be perfect and popular forever. On day you’ll grow old and ugly, Jessica. Maybe. [Yay! I finally spelled maybe right!]
Jessica: Just what are you getting at?
Rebecca: Absolutely nothing.
Jessica: Why don’t I believe you?
Rebecca: Just what are you getting at, Jessica?
Jessica: Absolutely nothing.
Rebecca: Then why don’t I believe you?
Jessica: Let’s just stop arguing like babies. This is really getting rediculous, Rebecca. We should really act our 14 years of age.
Rebecca: You say really too much. And besides, what’s getting rediculous?
Jessica: Will you stop acting like an airhead?
Rebecca: Depends.
Jessica: On what?
Rebecca: (smiles) Do you mind telling me what an airhead is?
Jessica: Stop it, Rebecca. You’re getting on my nerves.
Rebecca: Why?
Jessica: Forget it then! (she walks off stage)
Rebecca: Jessica, get back here!
Jessica: No!
Rebecca: How am I gonna get to the soccer game?
Jessica: Walk!
Rebecca: Fine. I’ll walk.

Act 3, Scene 1

(on the bleachers at the soccer game)

Rachel: Jack! Jack! He’s our man, if he can’t do it, no one can!
Elizabeth: You can do it Jessica! [I guess they’re on a co-ed soccer team?]
Rebecca: Jack! Jack! She’s our girl, if she can do it, I will barf. [You know, hurl would’ve worked so much better there.]
Jack: [In the middle of the game] (sarcastically) Thanks for your support, Becky!
Rebecca: (standing up) No one calls me Becky and gets away with it!
Jack: (Smiling) I’ll call you whatever I want, Rebecca! I’m better than everyone. Especially little schoolgirls like you!
Rebecca: That’s it. (She goes over and punches him in the stomack. He doubles over and falls to the ground) [It was originally balls but I think I changed it because we were acting this out and I didn’t actually want to hurt Brian.] I am no little schoolgirl.

Act 4, Scene 1

(In Rebecca’s kitchen)

Jessica: I can’t believe you did that to poor Jack.
Rebecca: Why not? Wouldn’t you have done the same thing?
Jessica: No.
Rebecca: Why not?
Jessica: Because it’s a mean thing to do, Rebecca. Real mean.
Rebecca: This is Jack we’re talking about. No Mother Teresa. In other words, we don’t--and I repeat--don’t have to be nice to him. [WHY do these people hang out together? They‘re clearly NOT friends.]
Jessica: I’m getting tired of this, Rebecca.
Rebecca: They why don’t we go for a walk. [Oh noes! We know what happens when girls go for walks in my stories.]
Jessica: Sure. It’s better than arguing with you.
Rebecca; (getting up) I’m gonna tell my parents I’m in my room. [Yes, tell her about your alibi.]
Jessica: Why?
Rebecca: I’m grounded for the Jack thing, They don’t even know that you’re here, Jessica. [They must be deaf if they didn’t hear that argument.] (She leaves for a moment, then comes back.)
Jessica: So we’re we going?
Rebecca: How about the ridge? [I smell murder. And a reused plot device.]
Jessica: That sounds simply divine.

Act 5

(At the ridge)

Jessica: It’s nice up here, isn’t it?
Rebecca: No. It’s deadly.
Jessica: Rebecca, what do you mean?
Rebecca: Look at you. You’ve always been popular at school. I’m sick of it. Everyone’s always adored you more than anything. It’s always made me sick that you’re always happy. But with you dead, you won’t be happy. And niether will anybody else. Anybody but me that is. I’ll be happy. [At least it’s a slightly less generic motive than Andy and Izzy’s in Dear Sister]
Jessica: I don’t get it.
Rebecca: I’m gonna kill you, Jessica. Today is the day of Rebecca. [Title!] Say goodbye to the cruel world. [I was fond of this phrase, wasn’t I?]
Jessica: I thought we were friends.
Rebecca: Well you thought wrong. Because we’re not, and we never were. Goodbye, Jessica. (She pushes her.)
Jessica: Nooooo. . . . . .

Act 6, Scene 1

(At Jessica’s funeral)

Elizabeth: I can’t believe she’s gone.
Rachel: I know. To think just 3 days ago, she was here.
Jack: It’s [letters blotted out with drop of liquid and I can‘t figure out what it was supposed to be]age, isn’t it. It looks like Rebecca’s taking it the hardest. Look at her over there all by herself.
Rachel: Yeah.
Elizabeth: You know what, you two.
Jack & Rachel: What?
Elizabeth: When I save the whales, I’m gonna dedicate it to Jessica, The greates person I’ve ever known. [Gag]

* * * * *

It was fun when we acted it out. I think a lot of those kids parents thought I was seriously disturbed. I know there were a few periods of time when Paige and Aimee at least weren’t allowed to play with me. Anyway, next time: My incredibly long epic, The Enemy Within, in which I kill the same character twice!

Berkeley Manor and the Epilogue that Never Was

Well, unfortunately Berkeley Manor turned out to be a bit of a disappointment. I only had two pages written front and back. Since I had the whole story planned out (in my head at least) I was sure I had more written. Oh well. But this one does come with some nifty character profiles so you can get to know them all even though most of them never appear in what I have written.

Lora Marlow - Born 1950. Is 25. Blond hair, blue eyes, tan. Abbie’s aunt and one of her only living relatives. She is a nurse at Benson Berkeley Memorial.

Abbie Marlow - Born 1963. Is 12, and 32. Brown hair, brown eyes, tan. Wears glasses. Lora’s niece. She is in seventh grade and doesn’t like it when Lora goes to work at Berkeley Manor taking care of Wentworth Berkeley.

Wentworth Berkeley - Born 1902. Is 73. White hair, blue eyes. Grandfather of Adam and Nicole. And old, ill man whom Lora has been sent to care for.

Adam Berkeley - Born 1968. Is 7, and 27. Blond hair, green eyes, pale. Grandson of Wentworth Berkeley. He is a genius. While Lora is staying with them he falls in love with her.

Nicole Berkeley - Born 1972. Is 3, and 23. Brown hair, green eyes, pale. Granddaughter of Wentworth Berkeley. Younger sister of Adam, and first test subject.

Berkeley Manor
Written the summer of 1996
Age 11

Laura [If you hadn’t already you will soon learn I am very inconsistent about the spellings of my characters names.] Marlow walked down the crowded hall of the hospital to the nurses station.

“Hello Ms. Marlow,” said a deep stern voice behind her. She turned around to see the angry face of Marla Dane.

“Hi, Miss Dane,” she said in a nervous voice. “What brings you down here to the children’s floor?” [Maybe the fact that she works there?] As if I didn’t already know? she thought bitterly.

“I think you could use a different background to be in all day, instead of this dreary hospital,” Miss Dane said sternly. She was a forty-one year old woman who was as stern as stern could be. [Obviously since it’s the only adjective that describes her.] In fact all her hare was already gray from stress. And her dark grey eyes matched the color perfectly.

“I don’t understand,” Laura said in a quiet voice.

“You know the mansion on top of the hill that overlooks the ocean?” [This has bad Gothic Romance written all over it.]

“Yes. That’s the old Creton place.” [Holy hotpants, Batman! This wasn’t even originally called Berkeley Manor! Creton definitely sound creepy but I like Berkeley better since, you know, that’s what I thought the name of this story was for the past 10+ years.]

“Yes. Benson Creton [Wentworth Berkeley…] owns the place. He is very ill right now, and he needs a personal assistant. And I thought--”

“You thought I would do it,” she finished the sentence for her.

“Why, yes, I was chosen to do it, but I can’t.” [So you pawn it off on the young ones Miss Dane!] “I have to go to England for my sister Margaret’s wedding.” She paused for a few moments. “So will you do it.”

“Sure,” Laura said. This is the opportunity of a lifetime, she thought.

“You will be going there tomorrow morning at 7 a.m. Is that clear?”

“Yes Miss Dane.”

“You will be staying there to assist him, and to tend to his grandchildren. Nicole and Mathew.” [Holy fuck! Adam wasn’t even Adam. Mathew? I am in shock right now people.] “Nicole is only 2, so she will be there all the time. But Mathew is 6 and has been skipped to third grade. So he will be leaving for school at 8:45. But sure to remember that the bus picks him up and that if he is sick, you must alert the school immediatly. All right.” [Shouldn’t you have told her all this before she agreed?]

“Yes.”

“Are you sure you can handle it?”

“Yes.”

“Alright, good. Remember to be on time.”

“Yes, Miss Dane.”

* * * * * *

When Laura got home she found her twelve year old neice--Abbie--waiting in the dining room with a meal.

“Abbie, you cooked dinner,” she said worriedly. “Why did you cook dinner?” [Ungrateful bitch.]

“I learned how to make spegitti today in ‘Teen Living,’” she said proudly. [Teen Living is what they called Home Ec at my Middle School.] “Try it, aunt Laura. It’s good.”

“I’m sure it is, but I already had dinner at the hospital. I’m too full to eat anything else.”

“But all they have are those candy and Coke machines.”

“I had a big lunch.”

“Come on, just try one little bite.”

“Alright. Quite begging.”

“I am not begging!”

“Just let me try some. I want to get this over with, so I can tell you the good news.” Laura picked up a fork and too some spegetti [WTF? Ok, I get it, took], and ate it. “Mmm. It’s very good, Abbie.” For cardboard, she added to herself

“So what’s the good news,” she said excitedly.

“We’re moving!

“What? Why? How? When? Where?” [You forgot Who, Abbie.]

“We’re moving. It’s because of my job. Driving Tomorrow mourning.” [Sounds like a bad band name.] “The old Creton place.

“We can’t move there!”

“Why?”

“Because the Creton place is evil. I was built on an ancent indian burial ground.” [Were you now, Abbie?] “It--”

“Stop it Abbie. Those are all just wild tales, and you know that.”

“But,” Abbie said in a trembling voice, “that place is evil. I can’t move there.”

“Nonsense. We are moving there tomorrow morning. Now go to your room, and pack some of your stuff. Now.”

“Fine!”

Laura watched Abbie walk up the stairs. She wasn’t very pretty--with brown hair, brown eyes, thick glasses, and was very plan--nor very smart. [This is Abbie, not Laura. And I might as well have been describing myself.] Still, there was something true in what Abbie had said just a few minutes earlier. [What? Even though she’s ugly, there’s truth to what she says. What the hell is that supposed to mean?]

* * * * *

The next morning was an exciting one.

* * * * *

But just how exciting we’ll never find out. What was going on with this story is genius-child Adam falls in love with Lora and tells her he wants to marry her. She laughs and tells him he’s too young for her, wounding his pride, ego, and soul. So what does he do but freeze her body and keep her held in the basement until he’s the same age as she is, and then unfreezes her. We’ll see who laughs then. It’s a love story. Or, at least, the closest I’ve ever come to writing a love story. This is one I actually would like to rewrite, but I guess I wouldn’t really be rewriting it since I never got around to the plot.

This next one is the “Epilogue” to a story I never wrote. And by Epilogue I mean Prologue, because it was supposed to be before the rest of the story. But Epilogue is written at the top.

The Epilogue that Never Was
1996
Age 11

Roxanne ran through the dark courtyard drenched in sweat. They were still after her. They wanted her for their ceremony.

So this is what it’s like to die, she thought. [What what’s like? You’re RUNNING.] She knew this was destiny. She knew this was why she was put on Earth. To die. To feel the touch of death.

Roxanne thought she could escape from her families legacy.

The legacy of Evil.

She knew it was going to e hers one day. But she was a fool.

Now Roxanne Walsh [Walsh?! Walsh is the last name of Maggie Walsh, from The LEGACY by John Coyne, which is about a girl, who is the heir to a family’s legacy of EVIL. Still not very original, was I?] was running for her life for being such a fool as to think she was going to survive.

Survive as a seventeen year old Walsh in the middle of the eighteenth century. The year is 1753. A wonderful year indeed. Yeah right.

Roxanne came to the river.

Trapped, she thought. Then she remembered a tunnel that led under it. [Just because it’s convenient, though I‘m starting to think...] She ran down stream some until she found.

Bingo, she thought. [Eighteenth century girls so did not say Bingo.] She slid into it ever so easy. And soon within that, she was on the other side. The she ran into the darkness of the woods, and remembered a story she had heard when she was a child. Her mother had told it to her.

* * * * *

A young woman named Valerie [I guess I really liked the names Roxanne and Valerie] was so happy to see her fiance again. He had been away from some time now.

When he came back, he had brought a young lady back with him. Valerie was insanely jealous. Her fiance kept telling her that she had nothing to worry about. But she didn’t believe him. [Why would she, he had some random girl staying with him.]

So one knight in haste she murdered the poor girl. Then her fiance walked in and told her the girl was his sister. [You can see from an early age I loved dramatic irony.]

She was so ashamed, that before the guy could stop her, Valerie killed herself.

* * * * *

Roxanne didn’t know why she had just thought of the story out of the blue.

Perhaps it wa because that woman--Valerie--was supposed the be her great grandmother. [How could she possibly be when the woman died before she was married? Or maybe that's what started the Evil legacy, an illegitimate child.]

* * * * *

After about an hour, Roxanne stopped and took several minutes to wright in her diary. [So it can be found in whatever story this was supposed to be a part of, of course.] The she put it down on the grassy ridge.

There, she thought. If anyone ever finds this, they’ll know what is going through my mind right now. [Because I sure don’t.]

Then she stood up, and walked to the ledge.

“Goodbye cruel world,” she called out the wind. [I used that in Dear Sister 3, too!]

She knew no one could here her. The wind was too strong.

She was about to end her life. Should she give this a second thought. [Die already!]

No, she decided. She had to end it now. She took a step. Then another, till she was at the ledge. [Wasn’t she there already?] Then she jumped.

And fell forever. [I knew it! Fall into Darkness.]

* * * * *

And there exists no more.

On a completely unrelated note, I'm a succubus. Wicked, huh?

Which creature of the night are you? Your Result: Incubus/Succubus   It's all about feeding, isn't it? You pay them back from their energy, though. You give them something (your drama) that will keep them distracted from life, which you consider a terrible joke.
Vampire
Ghost
Sorceror
Werewolf
Cthulu Spawn
Demon
Which creature of the night are you? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Next time: The Dollhouse Murders. There are murders involved. And a truly awesome sounding dollhouse.