Gingerbread
By Kellie Powell
Gingerbread is a ten-minute play about a conflict between two sisters. Miranda is seven months pregnant with her first child, and due to complications, her doctor has ordered bed rest. Her older sister, Gretchen, has taken a leave of absence from her job to take care of Miranda during the day while her husband (Eric) is at work. As Miranda grows increasingly stir-crazy, she tries every tactic she can think of to convince her sister to let her get out of the house. Finally, Miranda erupts. (Note: "It" is what Miranda calls her fetus/baby.)
MIRANDA:
I just really need to get out of this room. I'm going stir-crazy, Gretchez, I mean it, like Yellow Wallpaper, Cabin Fever, bananas. I'm ready to jump out the window. Being this agitated cannot be good for It! Can't fetuses sense anxiety? What if I hyperventilate? Come on! A tiny walk around the block isn't going to hurt anything! It can't be any different than walking into the bathroom and back into bed again! It's not like It knows the difference!
You can't force me to stay in this room! I can't keep sleeping and reading and trying to knit this stupid, ugly blanket! I can't keep sitting her thinking about how much I miss alcohol and cigarrettes - and coffee! I cannot last another two months! I want this thing OUT OF ME!
(Increasingly hysterical.) You don't know what you're talking about! I'm not even me anymore! It's already taken over my body and now it's taking over my brain! It's going to turn me into one of the pod people! I can't do this!
(Lost and hopeless, she confesses.) I'm not cut out for this. That's why It's not healthy. Because I couldn't take care of It. I tried to cut down my hours. I did. I know you don't believe me, and Eric doesn't believe me, either, but I did try to take it easy. I did try. It just wasn't enough. I'm not good enough. And It knows. It knows that I'm not supposed to be a mom.
