DRAWING FOR DAD

Synopsis: A father receives some surprising artwork from his son.

Characters:

DAD, Aiden’s father

AIDEN, 8 years old; an artist

“DRAWING FOR DAD”

(As DAD enters the kitchen, eight-year-old AIDEN sits at the table, drawing on a piece of paper with a black crayon.)

DAD

Hey, bud, what’re you working on?

AIDEN

A picture of you.

(DAD smiles and walks over to get a closer look. Soon, his smile fades.)

DAD

That’s…That’s a picture of a skeleton, bud.

AIDEN

Pretty good, huh?

DAD

Yeah, but…

(AIDEN takes a red crayon and begins to vigorously color over the artwork.)

And what’s that, bud?

AIDEN

Blood. Lots of blood.

(Looks like we’re in a horror movie scenario here…)

DAD

You said that’s a picture of me?

AIDEN

Yep. Someday we’re all just gonna be skeletons.

DAD

You’re right. But I…I won’t look like that for a while, bud…

AIDEN

No, Dad.

(He pushes back his chair and stands tall, proudly examining his work.

(AIDEN hands DAD the paper.)

Tonight.

(AIDEN exits and confused/concerned DAD is left to stare at the drawing in his hand.)

End of play.

Evan Baughfman is a Southern California playwright and author. He is a playwriting member of PlayGround-L.A., and is a company member with Force of Nature Productions. A number of Evan’s plays are published through Heuer Publishing, YouthPLAYS, Next Stage Press, and Drama Notebook. Evan has also found success writing horror fiction, his work found recently in anthologies by Inkd Publishing, No Bad Books Press, and Black Hare Press. Evan’s own books include: The Emaciated Man, Vanishing of the 7th Grade, Bad for Your Teeth, and Try Not to Die in a Dark Fairy Tale. More info is available at amazon.com/author/evanbaughfman