Read Truck Stop for Free Online

Charmaine?
    CHARMAINE: Things have been a bit tough lately Richard.
    MERCER: That’s not good Charmaine.
    CHARMAINE: No it’s not.
    MERCER: And is there someone out there who could make things better?
    CHARMAINE: Yes.
    MERCER: You think he might be listening tonight?
    CHARMAINE: I don’t know.
    MERCER/CHARMAINE: You can hope / I can hope.
    MERCER: There’s always hope.
    CHARMAINE: We used to listen to your show together Richard. After we’d had our tea.
    MERCER: I’m sure you’ll listen together again Charmaine. And if that person out there is listening right now, what would you like to say?
    CHARMAINE: I’d like to say I miss you Tom. Nothing is the same now. Without you. We should have tried harder. [ Savage Garden ‘Truly Madly Deeply’ plays softly. ]We could have spoken about things more and if you come back…
    We hear CHARMAINE break down. KELLY goes.
    AISHA dances in front of the mirror. She practises moves for the party and sings along.
    The music stops.
    INDHU: What sort of party? Who are you going with? Who’s going to be there?
    AISHA: My brother stops, a shadow in the doorway.
    INDHU: Aisha?
    AISHA: He stares at me, at what I’m wearing,
    INDHU: Aisha?
    AISHA: Listens to me lie, goes to his room to sit in the lonesome glow of Call of Duty.
    INDHU: You’re not wearing that are you?
    AISHA: What do you expect me to wear Mum?
    R and B music. SAM and KELLY dress provocatively for NAT ’s party.
    SAM/KELLY: Then.
    SAM: We meet up at Kelly’s.
    KELLY: Mum’s got stuff for us for the party
    SAM: My mum’d never do that the bitch.
    KELLY holds up UDLs in a shopping bag.
    UDLs?
    KELLY: Better than nothing.
    SAM gets a message.
    SAM: Trent wants to see my tits again.
    KELLY: He’s fully boring. He should shove the camera up his arse.
    SAM: Look at what he sent me…
    They look at the phone screen and scream. AISHA arrives.
    KELLY: Where you been?
    AISHA: Cross-examination.
    KELLY: Did the Hillsong story work?
    AISHA: Yep.
    SAM: You can’t wear that. You need sexifying.
    KELLY: I’ve got shit you can wear. Come on.
    Music gets louder. KELLY and AISHA go. SAM dances and drinks quickly.
    AISHA returns dressed in CHARMAINE ’s porn star t-shirt and a skirt that resembles a napkin.
    SAM: The Bombay Bitch! Photo!
    The pose for a photo.
    ALL: SKANKS!
    SAM: Walk to the station for the five o’clock train.
    KELLY: Aisha watches out for her mum.
    SAM: She wouldn’t recognise you hey?
    AISHA: Then just before we go up the steps for the train. Outside the tattoo shop.
    SAM points.
    SAM: Fuck Aish, it’s your mum!
    AISHA freezes.
    Just kidding.
    Frozen curry.
    AISHA: You bitch.
    SAM: Got ya!
    KELLY: And we’re off!
    AISHA: Train moves closer to the city the distant high rises takes shape singing /
    The girls sing the chorus of ‘We R Who We R’ by Ke$ha. They stop singing suddenly. They all drink UDLs and stare.
    KELLY: Girl with a pram. Look.
    It’s Tatum.
    SAM: It’s not.
    SAM/KELLY: It is.
    KELLY: Tatum with her kid.
    SAM: She’s ignoring us.
    KELLY: Maybe we look so hot she doesn’t recognise us.
    KELLY smiles, waves.
    Tatum shows off the kid. What’s his name?
    TATUM: Bailey.
    KELLY: He’s fast asleep.
    SAM: It’s like he’s made of plastic.
    TATUM: Not when he shits.
    KELLY: Kid opens his eyes.
    TATUM: It hurt when I had him.
    SAM: She tells us she and Jed are happy.
    TATUM: He’s got an apprenticeship now. I was gonna come back to school but…
    KELLY: She doesn’t even ask where we’re going. Train stops. She gets off.
    They watch her leave.
    SAM: She used to be real pretty you know.
    KELLY: She still looks okay.
    SAM: Na. She’s fat as fuck.
    KELLY: Needs a personal trainer.
    SAM: And some decent clothes.
    KELLY: Wonder why she called him Bailey?
    SAM: She was eyeing off our UDLs.
    KELLY: What would it feel like to be pregnant you reckon?
    SAM: You’d have to be