Crayfish
You already have permission to use this page under the terms of the license at the bottom right of the page. In this dialogue the action occurs in a box set (single scene = exterior day jetty) so the same format can be used for cinematography or stage.
Crayfish:
A Midwest Scene-Play
Synopsis
Two men from a fishing trawler. There is a strong bond between master and apprentice. The younger crew man is discussing his friend who can’t be trusted with women. The older skipper expounds his love for his wife. The older begins to see some parallels in the lives of the two distant protagonists until they realize that the fears of infidelity may be well founded and they speed for home. Performance time about 10 minutes.
Ad Lib Opportunity
Nudibranch (Type of venomous sea cucumber) poisoning a dog at beach after storm.
Characters
Warren – An old Skipper about 50
Tristan – A young crew about 20
Paulos – Another Skipper, friend of Warren, about 40
Ext. jetty afternoon
Scene opens to the overwhelming sound of seabirds. Both men are dressed for fishing. The setting is an island fishing depot. A crayfish pots or buoys suggest the industry. Tristan and Warren are coiling rope.
Warren
The last pot for the day.
Tristan
The last pot in the last spot and ‘X’ marks the dot!
Warren
Are you a jolly marine poet, eh?
Tristan
steady on mate, I’m not Randolph Stow.
Warren
Good because Randolph Stow was a landlubber, who didn’t know anything about pulling pots.
Tristan
(pause) You know what?
Warren
What’s that Lad?
Tristan
I can almos taste the ‘Chicken Biryani’ that they make at the Asmuni' Café . '(waxing lyrical again) The way they do those spices is just heaven. Just what I need after a day pulling up crayfish pots. Are we going to the bakery?
Warren
No way I am going back to the mainland!
Tristan
Why not?
Warren
I lose a day traveling either way, and always get caught up in something that holds up the fishing. That’s what we’re here for isn’t it, to harvest the bounty of the sea? Not to mention the diesel.
Tristan
We can’t very well anchor out on the edge of the reef overnight if we don’t have a spare battery can we? We’re on the edge of the continental shelf, a days travel west of the islands in the middle of nowhere, how do we get the ruddy engine started?
Warren
We’ll take the battery out of the generator shed.
Tristan
And how do we get the generator started, when we get back?
Warren
We carry it from the boat each day.
Tristan
That thing is heavy. I’ll be bent over like a greenough tree by the time I get home. What a wretched nuisance!
Warren
I’ll give you a hand. Have I told you the story of the two kings?
Tristan
Here we go. No. You have’t told me the story of the two wise kings.
Warren
Well in this story there are two wise kings. One was born on land with a comfortable feather down quilt to keep his booty warm. This king was very close to the land and ruled over all the wheat and all the sheep and he was called the ‘near’ king. The other king was born on a patch of seaweed off the coast. He lived far from the land and ruled over all the creatures of the sea. So whenever the ‘near-king’ goes out to visit the realm of the ocean, he does what whatever he is ‘far-king’ told.
Tristan
(laughing) I’d like to see you shearing.
Warren
Yes but if we order a new battery back-up, today on the supply boat, it will arrive next week.
Tristan
Alright. I’m going to have a swim. What would you like for dinner?
Warren
I thought I might sliver up that Blue Bone Groper we just pulled in this afternoon.
Tristan
(Surprised) Fish? (pause) I’ve been pulling sodden pots all day and you want fish?
Warren
You’re not going to get all righteous I hope, the season has just started.
Tristan
(interrupting) …and we’ve had fish every night. Well not tonight. I’m fed up with seafood, I’m havig a steak.
Warren
well count me out. I’m going to order a new battery from the mainland. I can’t believe the new one just died like that.
Tristan
Want me to throw a steak on for you?
W No, those things are bad for your arteries and your spiritual development.
Tristan
What about the Blue Bone?
Warren
I’ll save that until you get over your little tantrum.
Tristan
Well, would you like me to get out one of those chops you liked? You know, the ones my father bought out from the farm.
Warren
Geraldton lamb? Now you’re talking. You’d better give me three or four, they’re pretty hard to resist.
Tristan Hypocrite, I thought you said red meat was bad for your soul.
Paulos
Hey boys.
Warren
Hell Paulos you ugly bushwhacker.
Tristan
Gooday Paulos.
Paulos
(entering) I’ll tell you something about spiritual development. The new development around here is the spirits are getting testy. The weather has turned and a storm expected tomorrow from up the coast, looks like it’s heading this way.
Tristan
Thanks mate, I’ll go and secure the moorings on the boat, see you soon. (exit)
Warren No worries, make sure you close all the hatches.
Paulos
What’s this about hypocrisy?
Warren
I told him I will not eat meat, but farm chops are OK.
Paulos
How’s that?
Warren
Sweet farm chops are provided by his father, if he eats anything else I have to pay for it.
Paulos
Cheap-skate! How’s the new boy working out?
Warren
fine. After the last crew, I didn’t think I’d last another season. What an idiot I picked last year.
Paulos
You are too harsh on them. What happened that was so bad?
Warren I had a hook from the long line stuck through the flesh of my palm, right through the muscle.
Paulos
Uh huh.
Warren
I said to the lad… “Listen I said, I want you to cut the eye off.” I was feeling very green around the gills, not well at all. I told him, “You cut the shank of the hook with the bolt cutters and leave the barb sticking out. When you do this, I am going to pass out. When I do pass out, I want you to push what is left of the hook through the flesh and pull it out the other side”.
Paulos
I don’t understand, this could have happened to anybody, it wasn’t his fault you got hooked up.
Warren
I passed out alright, but when I woke up, I saw that the hook was still in my hand and he had passed out beside me.
Paulos
(laughs) Crikey.
Warren
I had to cut the jolly thing myself, and then prop his head till he came around. It was a long trip. It took a long time to bring the boat in. Things just didn’t work out after that.
Paulos
The wind got into him?
Warren
Maybe the wind did get to him, but he was off the planet half the time. First of all he wouldn’t shut up.
Paulos
He told a lot of stories.
Warren
He was all sounding trumpets and clashing cymbals. He told a story every five minutes, told a yarn every tick of the clock, but they all had the same ending. He had great talent for exaggeration and fabrication, but they were all monotonous in the end. They all ended the same way, with the same line.
Paulos
“…and I didn’t even spill my beer…?”
Warren
…That’s right. But then one day he clammed up. He told me the moon was singing to him and that it gave him a headache. He kept working but he wouldn’t talk, wouldn’t look at me. After two days of dead calm, I couldn’t stand it any longer.
Paulos
What happened?
Warren
We came ashore, or started to…We were way up north, almost to Carnarvon, and when we started down the coast, we got as far as the harbour at Oakajee and he jumped overboard and I never saw him again, He just swam ashore and I never saw him again. He just swam ashore, I have never seen anything like it.
Paulos I heard the flying doctor got to him.
Warren Flying Doctor?
Paulos
Yeah, the party pusher, you know, Narcotic Smugglers.
Warren I doubt it. I was waiting on cheques from the Co-operative when we left. He hadn’t been paid for a few weeks. Besides, we didn’t see another soul.
Paulos
Something peculiar about him anyway.
Warren
Yes, he was one propeller short of a wind farm.
Paulos
unfortunate.
Warren
But never mind. Tristan is worth his wages, I have a good one there.
Tristan
(entering) Hey Boss, the boat is secure, do you want to come for a swim before dinner?
Warren No thanks. It’s still too hot for me, See you Paul.
Paulos
See you both later (exit).
Tristan
What’s wrong you look worried.
Warren
It’s nothing.
Tristan
Come on mate, that’s not like you to hold back. We have plenty of time before we go out again, What’s up?
Warren
It’s just that I haven’t heard anything from the shore.
Tristan
What’s that? I’m not sure I understand, tell me more.
Warren
Well the wife is very tied up with the kids finishing school this year and it’s the first year she hasn’t come to the islands since they were babies.
Tristan
Yeah
Warren And I asked a friend to keep an eye on things.
Tristan
hmm
Warren
Just to give her a hand to get on top of things while I am away out here.
Tristan
She is very capable.
Warren
Well anyway I had hoped he would keep an eye out to make sure everything is all right. And he is not very busy these days.
Tristan
You have to be careful of these navy wives you know. We all try not to think of it, but there must be some temptation for the younger ones to keep moving around when the men are out on the water and far from home.
Warren
He and I go way back. If there was anything going on he would know, he would tell me I am sure.
Tristan
Sometimes the women we trust the most turn out to be rotten eggs and not trustworthy at all. Have I told you what I heard in the club before we came away. Apparently some bloke around here is bragging that he has two on the go, and right under the nose of is friends.
Warren
I don’t think that’s very likely. How could he keep his friends for very long if he carries on like that? How could you keep something like that a secret?
Tristan
I’m just saying that is what I heard. Who is looking after her?
Warren
Well you remember that fellow who injured his back?
Tristan
Slugger?
Warren
Yes
Tristan
You’re joking? Not him! Did you ask him to look after your missus?
Warren
yeah…
Tristan
What washing powder does she use?
Warren
Hey? What? What does that have to do with anything?
Tristan
Well that friend of yours might have a good reputation, and he might have along history with you, but the story heard in the pub, this guy found a new love. Her husband was out of town a lot. When he was away she would put a different brand of washing powder in the laudry window so he knew she was free for the night.
Warren
Grab your things and meet me at the boat. You are going to get your Chicken Biryani after all my boy. We’re going to the mainland and buy our own battery.
(Curtain/fade)
<p style="margin-bottom: 0cm;"==Suggested Credit==:
'Crayfish' by Hamish Darby
http://fiction.wikia.com/wiki/Crayfish_-_royalty_free_dialogue_screen_or_stage_play
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