FOLLOW A STAR

 A 5-minute radio play by Nina Galen

INTRO: SANDHILLS RADIO THEATER PRESENTS "FOLLOW A STAR," BY NINA GALEN.

[SFX night sounds in the Sandhills. A screen door squeaks open, bangs softly shut. Footsteps, then a moved chair scrapes on a wooden porch]

LOU: Come on, Lucy. Let's sit out here a while.

LUCY: (From inside) Ain't nothin' on TV?

LOU: We'll give the dish a rest.

LUCY: Fine with me. [SFX screen door, footsteps, chair]

LOU: You could use a rest too. All that cookin' an' fussin'.

LUCY: Well, for our fiftieth. Kids did most of the work.

LOU: What you'd let 'em.

LUCY: I like things done right. What didya thinka little Edna?

LOU: Darlin' child.

LUCY: She didn't seem a mite pale?

LOU: Naw. She looked fine. Y'know, Luce, I been thinkin'. Life's been good t' us. Even b'fore I got outta the army I knew what I wanted to do: settle down out here in the Sandhills, raise a family, raise cattle. I followed my star, and you, Luce, you followed your star too.

LUCY: My star?

LOU: . You followed me. I was your star.

LUCY: (amused, kindly) Oh, that star.

LOU: What d'you mean, oh, that star?

LUCY: Well...I mean...well, Lou, a gal can have somethin' else in her head besides what she's contracted to.

LOU: Oh? You tellin' me there was some other star you'd rather of followed?

LUCY: I don't know. I guess when I was a girl the thing I wanted most in the world...no, you'd laugh.

LOU: No, no. Say it.

LUCY: Well, I wanted to be a mailman, deliver the mail.

LOU: A mailman? [chuckles] Why Henry's been bringin' our mail for thirty years. You wanted to take away his job?

LUCY: It was before Henry. Before Frank. Before you, even.

LOU: But out here a mailman needs to drive. You don't even drive.

LUCY: You never let me learn. Ever' couple years you traded your pickup in on a new one. You never let me drive 'em when they were new. And you never let me drive 'em when they weren't.

LOU: You coulda lost control on roads like these. Snow? Mud?  How'd you of felt if you'd wrecked a brand new pickup, or even a' old one, costin' what they cost these days.

LUCY: But they never got old, just beat up from haulin' an' jouncin'. Soon's the motor went, or the transmission, you'd trade 'em in on a new one.

LOU: I always drove you to town when you wanted somethin'. And now you're tellin' me that our whole married life you hankered after bein' a mailman, that you was never really happy?

LUCY: Can't say I wasn't happy. I did my duty, cooked for you, slept in your bed, raised your kids, took care of the chickens.  Lou, I think I must have cooked a million eggs these fifty years:  frying', omelettin', bakin'...

LOU: Don't forget that egg shampoo. What a mess. I warned you.  I told you not to use hot water.

LUCY: You never did warn me, Lou. You didn't.

LOU: (Chuckling) What a sight you were. Hair looked good enough to eat.

LUCY: Shut up.

LOU: All it needed was some salt and pepper.

LUCY: Lou, sometimes I felt the ranch and me was like...like a cat with a mouse. Seemed like ever' time I tried to get away a bit, it would reach out its claws and grab me. Ever' time you and me tried to go away a day or two, some awful catastrophe would happen no sooner we were out the door, to bring us back.

LOU: Like when the lightnin' fired them haystacks.

LUCY: Mailmen take the open road. They don't have to stay at home all day. They carry letters with stamps on 'em from all over, bring catalogs. When I was a girl it was like they were God's messengers. I envied 'em.

LOU: You were a good wife and mother. Had no need to take the open road.

LUCY: Anyway, time's come now. I'll be goin'.

LOU: What time's come? You feelin' chilly, Luce? Wanna go in?

LUCY: Time for me to follow my star.

LOU: You mean become a mailman? Pardon me, a mail person.

LUCY: No. Just follow my star.

LOU: What star's that?

LUCY: Look, Lou, you see up there, next to the dipper, that tiny white twinkly one?

LOU: That twinkly white one? Yeah, I see it.

LUCY: Well, I'm goin' up there and git behind that star and just follow it an' see where it leads.

LOU: That's crazy, Luce. Stars don't even move. It's the earth rotatin'. If you wanna follow a star, you gotta start walkin' real fast in a straight line all around the earth.

LUCY: No, Lou. I'm gittin' too old for walkin'. That's why I'm goin'. [SFX: scrape of chair, footsteps on wooden porch.]

LOU: Goin'? Goin' where? Come back here, woman. Lucy! Get off the tractor. C'mon. Don't do this to me. Lucy Thompson!  Get down off that combine right now. Look out, honey. (Angrily, to himself) What the heck's she doing on the barn? (Shouting)  You fall off the roof you'll break your neck! (Pleading, loudly) Luce, honey, don't drift away like that when I'm talkin' to you; you ain't no astronaut. I can't hardly see you no more. (Shouting) Lucy...Lucy... (Slightly fainter, his voice echoing)  Lucy...Lucy....(Echo stops, room ambience, the bouncing squeak of bedsprings. Urgently) Lucy! Come back, honey. Come back.  (Two beats) Oh, Lord. (One beat) She's gone.