In Fresh Coat of Paint, Brewster becomes brutally honest with his brother because he feels betrayed when he learns of his brother’s business dealings.

BREWSTER: I look out there, at all my workers, I witness the sweat on their faces, their backs, not one of them have my work ethic, not one. Why do you think that is? What makes a man work harder than the next?

What I feel, this push to move forward, most do not have, but for me, for me, well, it’s the only way I can breathe. Doesn’t matter the elements…I will show up.

This is why they try to stop me, slow me down. Groups. Groups that conspire against me, to bring me pause, but I will cut them all to pieces and eat their flesh over a warm, toasty fire.

I am ruthless, relentless and simply do not care for my enemy, not for one damn second.

Does that make me an evil person? To have this appetite?

When I first started out, all I had was a pair of gloves, a hammer and a chisel, maybe some rope that I would steal from the closest horse ranch, during the night.

You come along, my brother, and you wish to work side by side with me. I have always wanted to have my brother work with me, to feel like we are conquering, together. Always been a secret fantasy of mine. Loyalty, honor, trust…intelligence.

But you are a waste, I’m afraid.

Always inaccurate, always inefficient. I oftentimes wonder how our mother and father could have spawned the two of us.

I am refined, you are haggard.
I am relentless, you are soft.
I am strategic, you are dumb.
I am hungry, you are weak.

I keep you around because you are my blood and because I promised our father that I would look after you. If it were not for my promise to him, I would have cut your head off your shoulders by now.

Did you know that about me?

Well, here you are, working for me, acting like a buffoon amongst my men, and I must tolerate your disloyalty to me.

What would you have me do if you were in my shoes? Should I keep you on and turn a blind eye to your dealings? Perhaps you should have an accident of some sort? …What say you?

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In this one-act ePlay, two brothers go head to head in a battle of greed and independence.

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