Photo by Aleksandra B. on Unsplash

Mermaids are Calling

A ten-minute play by Debbie L. Miller

The Staten Island Ferry, a summer dawn. John, 57 and Randal, 59, are former merchant marine seamen. As the play opens, Randal is pulling John aboard.

RANDAL

[pulls John over the railing] There you go.

JOHN

What happened?

RANDAL

You’re lucky it’s summer and the water isn’t freezing.

JOHN

Did I fall overboard?

RANDAL

Either that or you did it on purpose. Wouldn’t be the first time a seaman jumped ship. You spotted a sea monster or something?

JOHN

Mermaid. You didn’t hear her calling?

RANDAL

No, but then again, I wasn’t drinking all night.

JOHN

Neither was I!

RANDAL

Oh, I forgot you quit.

JOHN

About to get my 5-year pin.

RANDAL

Congratulations. Maybe it was a hallucination — a flashback from your druggie days.

JOHN