Pipeline Monologue Project

Daddy’s Job

(Daughter is at school, Dad is picking her up.)

Bye, Samantha! Have a fun weekend! Hey Dad. Yeah, Mom took me to get my haircut on wednesday. Thanks. School was fun. Mmmhhm. What’s that smell? Is something wrong with the car? Oh. What do you even do at work? Well, then why does Mommy hate what you do so much? Why couldn’t you give it up for her? (Pause) Is it because of this nice car? (Pause) Ice cream? Um. No, I think I just wanna go home and play with Sandy. Grandma’s... again? I don’t wanna! (Whines) Why are there so many meetings? I never get to play with you anymore. Yeah, I like all my toys but I wanna play with you. A big project? What kind of project? Pipeline? What’s tha… 1000 miles!? Well, that does sound pretty important I guess. But I still don’t get why Mommy doesn’t like it. Is it cuz the smell. It is pretty gross. Do ya want me to ask her? I… oh sorry. Ok, well what time are you going to pick me up tonight? I’m sleeping over? I don’t have any clothes or pajamas! And I got school tomorrow! Can’t you just take a day off for once? (Whispers) Well is it really that important? (Pause) Oh, I didn’t say anything. I’ll see you tomorrow then. Bye Daddy. (Pause) Hi Grandma. Yeah, his dumb job. I know.

Family First

(Leaving house)

See ya later, honey! Bye kiddos! Love you, too. Yup, Daddy’s gonna bring in the big bucks! Haha! You guys be good to your Momma, alright. Ahh, ok.

(Walks out the door, walks to car) (Sighs)

(Arrives at work) Hey guys. What’s up? We going back to the James’ house today? Alright. What are we doing there, just putting down some sod right? (Sighs) Landscaping is hard work, men. Wish it paid a bit better though, am I right? (Pause) What about the Daytona’s? Wait, what? Why? Sold half their land? To who? What is TransCanada? A pipeline? Over a thousand miles?! That’s ridiculous! Are we really that desperate? What’s that gonna mean for all our customers? Anybody else sold their land? Really? Aw man. Wonder how much they gave ‘em for that piece of land. They wanna make a deal with me? They can have my 2x2 shed. Haha, yeah! Man, I really need this job though. Only source of income for my family. My wife got the kids to take care of while I’m gone and on top of that she’s thinking of going back to school! I need this! (Pause) Maybe this big old company will hire me. I’ll help with this pipeline thing! Destroying the environment? Oh, please! Isn’t everything doing that these days? I gotta keep my family alive. That’s more important to me! Ya gotta do what ya gotta do. Yeah, I know. Alright. Let’s get going.

Biased Boss

(Walks into boss’ office)

Mornin’ Mr. Clark! How are you doing, this fine morning? (Begins to sweep the floors of the office) Aw man, what’s bugging ya? Ah, the pipeline XL? You mind telling me more about this thing? My co-workers have been telling me bit by bit of what they are all hearing, but I don’t got the whole story yet. Course, I’ll keep cleaning while you talk! You’re the boss! Steele City? Now, where is that? Nebraska? Woah! Any idea how far that is? Woah, what’s that number again? I wanna write that down and tell my husband. He won’t believe this! 1,179 miles you said it was? That sure is incredible, sir! And when is this starting? Ohh, Obama’s a good man, he will never be able to turn down something like this! Sounds great! I’m super excited to see how this goes! (Finishes up cleaning the floors) Alright, Mr. Clark it was nice talking to you. It’s my lunch break now. I’ll see you around, have a good day! (Picks up supplies and walks out of the office) (Hovers outside the office for a second and pops her head back in) One last question Mr. Clark, good, old Mother Nature won’t be harmed in any of this,right? You know I love my trees and fresh air, ha! Nothing to worry about? Alright! I’m getting more and more excited! Bye now! (Walks to locker rooms) (Puts stuff away, grabs lunch and bag) (Walks outside and sits on a bench) (Pulls out phone and searches “Keystone Pipeline XL”) “Say No to Keystone Pipeline?” Hate articles already, gosh! (Pause) (Reads article a little) This oil is under a forest? That don’t sound very good. Hmmm. This plan doesn’t really sound as peachy as I thought it was before. (Continues reading)