The Engineer with a Worried Mind
By Emily Louise Perkins
Written for Clint Zugel
Virtually Produced by Primary Stages
A city street
Nighttime
All is quiet
We see the chest and chin of a man
He is walking with a swagger
He’s wearing a hoodie
He has headphones on
He’s talkin’ to us but he looks up and out, too
So there’s been a lot of home invasions
there were about seven incidents where cash and shit was stolen
all while people were sleepin’ in there houses you know
and they have this whole campaign on the news tellin’ people that it’s just this one guy an’ to lock your doors
So there were two sides of Kercheval my whole life
It’s a street
Kercheval Street
An’ these huge human-sized flowerpots are like a literal barricade that keep folks from driving in from Detroit
it’s all one way traffic right now
and also the flower pots sort of block the view
if you haven’t seen ‘em before they’re pretty and bougie and but like the other side of Kerchival could use some beautification as well and of course they said that’s coming but who the fuck knows
we used to talk about that he an’ I
I grew up on the uh like good rich white, like, suburb side
I’m sensitive about that but it’s what it was for me
There’s like an uh
race divide
an’ so anyways
I first met my friend on the other side of Kercheval
They don’t come over here but I’d hang out over there with them when I was little
Lots of blues cats
Oldtimers
An’ I grew up hearing that music with him by my side you know
he drove like
he didn’t even fucking look where he was going he just went
ya know
I don’ even know what the fuck he would be looking at
Laughs
And that kind of wide open – like total anarchy
giving everything up like that
Tha’s a wonderful thing an’ an’ he
he taught me that
beat
He sniffs
Maybe wipes his eyes
We see him walk up to a front door
It is propped open with something
He looks around to see if anyone is watching
They aren’t
He walks inside and out the back to a weird back garden
people need to be careful about lockin’ their doors anyway ‘cause it’s desperate times out there
I started doin’ this when he died in this car accident
a freakin’ telephone pole for chrissake
an’ they’re out there thinkin’ I’m from the bad side
from Detroit
but jokes on them ya’ know
a kid from their own neighborhood
he tries a doorknob to see if it’s locked
it’s locked
he tries another one
it’s open
he puts his hoodie over his head
he sneaks in
I was broken when we lost him, man an’ an’
I lived and died in that sorrow
I walked around in it
I don’t even know how to say it
He was a musician
but
really he was, like, his own song
And people knew it too
Women knew it and they’d be drawn to it and be destroyed by it or else be propelled by it
Anyway
He fuckin’ died and that kicked me in the ass
so what ‘m’I gonna do with the money
so there’s this idea
a real idea you can look it up online
it’s a campaign they’re doin’ to make Kercheval go both ways
to get ridda the flower pots an’ make like a roundabout so you can drive in and out
he whispers softly
I’m not tryin’a be
Like
fuckin’ Robin Hood or anything but
Before he died we were tripping and we turned around and we both saw the pyramids
We both saw it
Together
And now
I look behind me
An’ I lose faith in this reality you know
It’s not enough
That’s why I’m not scared right now
I inherited all these lies
an’
an’ now I’m usin’ any means necessary ya know
We see him open a drawer
find a wallet
but to be honest I’m still just
I’m still just walkin around in that sorrow you know
He was a song
an’ he came and went
just like the tide
he pockets cash and cards from the wallet
he sings lightly
“Whoa what I want to know is are you kind?”
He closes the drawer