Ah-Bu, a short play

A road.

tap tap tap tap tap tap tap

AH-BU is typing on a keyboard. On the side of a road. There is no monitor, no terminal connected to the keyboard. He is just typing.

A bike rides by him, ding ding ding.

Ah-Bu continues to type.

A motorbike putters by, beep beep.

Ah-Bu tap tap tap tap taps.

A three-wheeler passes, emitting lotsa exhaust.

Tap tap cough cough tap tap tap.

A car whizzes by, splashes.

Tap tap tap tap tap tap tap.

A bus lumbers by, intensely honking as if Ah-bu were in great danger. He isn't. It obnoxiously continues on.

Ah-Bu stops for a moment, thinks, finds the word and then tap tap tap tap tap tap taps.

Two girls, MAY and JUNE, slowly stroll by.

May:  What will I do?  I love one...

June: AND you love the other.

May:  It's not true.

June:  Yes, it certainly is.

May:  No, it certainly isn't.

June:  May--

May: I never told you, June.

June: But I can tell, May.

May:  I've done nothing different.

(tap tap tap tap tap tap tap)

June:  O!  (in Chinese) What kind of shoe horn face is this?

(tap tap tap.

Ah-Bu stops.

He stands.

He bows to the girls.

June laughs at him.

He sits back down.

tap tap tap.)

June:  What a moron!

May:  June, be nice.

June:  Look at him, typing idiotically, just sitting there, mindlessly, like a retard. What a waste of a life.

May:  He seems to be quite concentrated on his task.

June:  What task?  He's sitting, on the side of the road, typing on a keyboard, not even connected to anything, not a monitor, not a terminal...does he expect his words to just show up somewhere?  Just, just print out on some random page, all the thoughts he's so uselessly concentrated on, all the fruits of his 'task' just...just...appear? 

May:  He's free.

June:  You know what the definition of insane is?  It's repeating the same action over and over again, expecting different results.

May:  Well maybe he doesn't expect any different results.

June: You must be insane to even empathize.

May: It's not always what you think.

June: May, I know you like the back of my hand--I know you even better than I know myself!

May: Well that isn't exactly saying much.

June:  I've been watching you, listening to you, about the one you love and the other one, too.

May:  You've been listening, but do you hear? There is no other one.

June:  I know there is.

May:   How can you be so sure?

June:  I...

May:   You what?

June:  You...

May:   I what?

June:  You left your e-mail message open...

May:  And you...

June:  You left it open!

May:  You read it?

June:  You left it open for all the world to see.

May:  And so...

June:  Ah-Bu

May:  What about him?

(Tap tap tap tap tap tap tap.)

June:  He doesn't hold back.

(Tap tap tap.)

May:  OK, June.

June:  There is another.

May:  There is.

June:  C'mon, let's walk...

(Tap tap tap...tap tap tap),

June:  ...get away from this moron.

(May does not move.)

June:  Let's go!

May:  No.

June:  Well I don't want to stay here.

May:  You go ahead, then.

June:  What is wrong with you May?

May:  It's Ah-Bu.

(Ah-Bu stops typing.

Ah-Bu puts the keyboard aside.

Ah-But stands and bows to May.)

May:  We married.

Lights out.