Play

Characters:

Joseph Andrew

Emma Anne

Hostess

Waiter

(Joseph holds the door open for Emma as they enter the Olive Garden before Prom)

Emma: (whispers) Thanks

Hostess: Welcome to Olive Garden, table for two?

Joseph: Yes.

Hostess: Right this way.

(Joseph and Emma sit down at a small table)

Waiter: Hi, welcome to Olive Garden, I’ll be your waiter for this evening. May I start you two off with a drink?

Emma (shyly): Iced tea, please

Joseph: Coke, please

Waiter: I’ll bring that right out, with your bread and salad

Emma and Joseph: Thank you

Emma: Did you know that Olive Garden agreed to not give free unlimited breadsticks anymore?

Joseph: Are you serious?? The bread is the best part!!!

Emma: Yup, Michelle Obama thought it was the breadsticks contributing to obesity, and proposed that the restaurant not give out unlimited bread.

Waiter (brings drinks, bread, and salad): are you ready to order?

Joseph: Yeah, I’ll have the ravioli with meat sauce please.

Emma: The stuffed chicken marsola, please.

(Waiter leaves)

Joseph: That’s insane!

Emma (chewing bread): Yup, and kids aren’t allowed to order fries anymore without parental supervision, and McDonald’s now has apple slices mandatory – the portion of fries will be reduced, so you get both.

Joseph: That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard! People have known for years that McDonald’s is bad for you, and that bread is all carbs! So now the government is interfering with the foods we eat, too?!

Emma: I know… Maybe you should write a letter to the First Lady; it was her idea after all.

Joseph (stabbing at his salad): Ya know what, I will! I'll ask her why we can't have bread but we can have all the soda and ice cream we want!

Emma (laughing): Okay sweetie.

(Joseph searches for a pen and napkin)

Emma: What are you doing?

Joseph: Looking for something to start my letter with! I mean, seriously? People know not all foods are healthy, but we're still going to eat them anyway? I mean, I'm pretty sure we're going to have some kind of food at prom tonight, is Michele Obama going to propose that the schools stop doing that, too?

Emma: Can’t you wait until you get home to write the letter? Just enjoy the evening.

Joseph (sighing): Yeah, I suppose. But why is it that we can have soda machines in schools and sell ice cream and energy drinks, but we can't get unlimited bread at Olive Garden?!?!

Emma: Hun, I don't know..

 

Joseph: It's just so dumb! We give out bread to the homeless, we give out bread at church - in fact, Jesus gave out bread at the Last Supper - but we can't get more than one piece of bread?!

 

Emma: Joseph, please just drop it.

 

Joseph (making a mental note of everything he wants to say in his letter to Congress): Fine, sorry.

 

Emma (smiling half-heartedly): It's okay

 

(Joseph continues mumbling under his breath about Olive Garden's agreement to quit serving more than one basket of bread)

 

Emma: So how was the rest of your day?

 

Joseph: Pretty good; we won the soccer game by a lot, so that was great! And now I'm going to prom with a gorgeous girl..(grins)

 

Emma (blushing): Awww, well that's good about the soccer game.

 

(Waiter brings food, and Emma and Joseph continue talking and enjoying their meal before going to the dance)