ALICE
I should have warned you, Mother has a thing about blood.

Forks on the Right (sample)
By Robb Piggot

This play was a finalist in the 2019 Fertile Ground Festival.

CHARACTERS

MRS. SYCAMORE
ALICE
EDWARD

SETTING

The Sycamore dining room.

TIME
July. Early evening.

(The lights come up on MRS. SYCAMORE, humming happily to herself while polishing a carving knife. Music plays on the record player.)

ALICE (offstage) Mother?

MRS. SYCAMORE In here, dear.

(MRS. SYCAMORE sets the carving knife neatly in the center of the table and wipes her hands with the cloth.)

ALICE (entering with EDWARD)
Sorry we’re late, traffic was a nightmare.

MRS. SYCAMORE
Well, then you should have left earlier –

ALICE
We did, only they closed the –

MRS. SYCAMORE (taking the needle off the record player)
Not to worry, it’s only been twenty minutes – you’re here now and that’s all I care about. You must be the young man my Alice has been telling me all about. Let’s get a good look at you. (to ALICE) Oh Alice, you picked yourself a good one this time –

ALICE
Mother.

MRS. SYCAMORE (winking at EDWARD)
I can always tell. (extending her hand) Margaret Sycamore.

EDWARD (shaking her hand)
Edward Kirby.

MRS. SYCAMORE
So nice to meet you, Ed. Now, Kirby – is that Irish or Scottish?

EDWARD
Celtic, but I’m not quite sure.

ALICE (quickly)
It’s Edward.

MRS. SYCAMORE
What did I say?

EDWARD (changing the subject)
You have a lovely home, Mrs. Sycamore.

MRS. SYCAMORE
Thank you, Edward. We like it here.

ALICE
It’s been in the family for generations.

MRS. SYCAMORE
Of course, it was nothing but farmland when my great-grandfather built the house, but then, so much has changed since I was a girl. Who could have guessed that our quiet little farmhouse on Stone Circle Drive would one day be sharing a fence with a self-storage warehouse.

EDWARD
They call that progress.

MRS. SYCAMORE
I suppose. Doesn’t mean I have to like it. Now, dinner’s almost ready but what can I get you two in the meantime?

ALICE (handing her the bottle of wine)
I brought wine.

MRS. SYCAMORE (taking the bottle)
Oh Alice, you shouldn’t have – not on your salary. Now where did I put that corkscrew? (MRS. SYCAMORE exits.)