In drama eplay, “You Were Never There”, years have gone by when Boe pays his daughter a visit to where she works in order to say hello.

BOE: …How you been?

FAYE: Alright. How you been?

BOE: Got me a job. Working now.

FAYE: Doing what?

BOE: Fixing toilets.

FAYE: You know how to fix toilets?

BOE: Sure do. Your great-grandaddy taught me just about everything I know, pretty much since I was little. Never had a toy shed; he took me to the real shed, with all them real tools inside, and had me swinging a hammer ‘fore I could talk.

FAYE: Really?

BOE: Oh, yeah. Used to be his assistant. Whatever needed fixing around the house, which was pretty much everything, he always took me by his side and showed me what he was fixing. (His mind drifts.) …Yeah…Funny how things you learn young stay with ya.

FAYE: You like fixing toilets?

BOE: It sucks.

They both smile.

I mean, it’s work, and it keeps me, you know; focused on something.

FAYE: Better than no job.

BOE: How long you been working at this here ice-cream parlor?

FAYE: Two months.

BOE: You like it? (lights cigarette)

FAYE: It’s alright.

BOE: Just alright?

FAYE: I like being able to buy myself things.

BOE: Like, what? What things you buy?

FAYE: Got me a phone.

BOE: Did you?

FAYE: Mm-hmm.

BOE: You pay the phone bill each month?

FAYE: Yep.

BOE: Responsible.

FAYE: I guess.

BOE: What else you buy?

FAYE: Clothes.

BOE: That’s good. You’re an independent woman.

FAYE: Not really. Still live home.

BOE: But that’s good, no? No rent.

FAYE: Rather pay rent.

BOE: …How is your mother?

FAYE: Same.

BOE: She treating you right?

FAYE: No better than you.

BOE: (clears his throat)…How old are you again?

FAYE: Don’t know my age?

BOE: Sixteen yet?

FAYE: This summer.

BOE: That’s right.

FAYE: You know when?

BOE: June…

FAYE: June, what?

BOE: June…fifteenth.

FAYE: June tenth, Dad. Least you got the month.

BOE: I was gonna say the tenth! It’s gotten hard for me to get my thoughts fired up quickly. Thought tenth but my mouth said fifteen.

FAYE: (lifts up one shoulder)

BOE: Damnit! Should’ve said the tenth.

FAYE: …You don’t do drugs no more?

BOE: …I can’t. Even if I got too close to narcotics, I’d disintegrate. Sh’t. Kept my brain on the fryer for far too long. Ha!

FAYE: But you drink.

BOE: I’d much rather hear about my baby girl –

FAYE: You smell like beer.

BOE: That’s just the new shaving lotion I use.

FAYE: You ain’t clean shaven.

BOE: Huh?

FAYE: (looks down in disappointment)

BOE: Alright, I’ll level with ya; I had a beer to take the edge off, okay? It’s been a long time since I’ve seen ya, and I’m nervous as hell.

FAYE: Why you nervous?

BOE: ‘Cause I’m stupid, don’t wanna do something stupid is all.

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In the one-act eplay, “You Were Never There”, Faye receives a surprise visit from her father Boe, after he’s been out of jail for over a year.  Faye works at an ice-cream parlor and gives her father free ice-cream.  They talk in the outside seating area together.  Although Boe has good intentions, the past he has shared with his daughter comes rushing back to haunt them.  1 Woman, 1 Man.  Drama/Family drama.

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