The Story of Four Animals

Act I

Scene 2

(Lights up; The scene has changed to an alley with two lampposts and a door Upstage right; One lamppost is downstage left; and the other upstage right; The alley has six trash cans; three behind the lamppost downstage left, and three next to the lamppost upstage right next to the door; Toby is walking in stage left; Sits downstage left next to a trash can)

Toby (Shaking his head): Boy, am I glad to get out of that neighborhood!

(Crystal is sitting on a trash can upstage right)

Crystal: Well, well, well, looks whose back.

(Toby gets up and walks upstage right; Sitting down next to Crystal)

Toby: Hey crystal.

Crystal (Looks at him): Hi Toby! (Pause; Concerned) What can I do for you?

(Head down, he swipes one trashcan down with his paw)

Toby: Nothing.

(Crystal is now looking at him with a serious look)

Crystal (Calmly): Well, from the way you knocked my trashcan down something is bothering you. (Pause; Mad) You know, this is only one of two allies in town were alley cats can really hang out. You know, without people yelling at them or throwing stuff at them, so please stop making a mess or you will get me in trouble! Now put that trash can up right please.

(Toby realizing, he has gone too far; Sets trash can back up)

Toby (Guilty): I'm sorry.

(He whimpers 2x)

Crystal (Stroking him with a paw): Oh, it's ok. I'm sorry too, I shouldn't have snapped at you like that. (Laughing) It's just that you got quite the temper. (Serious) So what's troubling you my son?

Toby (Gets up; Slowly pacing back and forth then stops; Looks up at crystal; Confused): Well to get right to the point, there's this orange tabby cat named Milo that I ran into earlier today. And you see, he thinks he's a dog because a pack of dogs raised him.

Crystal (Puzzled): Whoa, a cat that thinks he's a dog?

Toby: That's right, he barked at me when we ran into each other. Not a meow I tell you, but a bark!

Crystal: That is strange. But you have to remember, that you were raised by cats.

Toby (Tilts his head to one side; Confused): What? I don't understand.

Crystal (Sighs): It's time you knew the truth Toby.

Toby: What truth?

Crystal: Well, come over here and sit down, and I will tell you.

(Toby sits down looking at her intently; Crystal looks out into the distance as if remembering something and then looks at him; *Stage flash back if you want, I leave it up to the director*)

Crystal (Slowly): About 5 years ago, during the spring when I had my first litter of kittens; I was lying right here next to this trashcan (pointing to the one she is sitting on). One night, there was this bad storm and the owner of this restaurant (pointing to the door) was so kind, she made a shelter to keep my young ones and I dry from the pouring rain. As we were settling in for the night, I see this car pull up right to the edge of the street. They dropped this big box off which I thought was strange. But I did not think too much about it because trash gets thrown here all the time. As I was getting myself ready to sleep, there was a loud crash of lighting, and all of a sudden, I hear this loud whimpering sound coming from inside the box. Not knowing what to think, I get up and go out into the rain to see what it was. At first, I was unsure, until I looked threw a hole in the box which reveled, a big puppy. Do you know who that puppy was?